Chapter 1223: Puppets

Moves and blows flew between the Meteorite King and Dusksnow Morningstar in furious frenzy as both parties called upon their greatest strength and combat arts.

The king’s ultimate goal was to facilitate Morningstar in becoming a titled king, upon which the genius would then oversee his dying wish. Regardless, the Meteorite King wouldn’t go easy on his challenger in the process.

Though he appeared on the wane and sinking fast, that was just the result of splitting oneself into two. In reality, he was nowhere near the brink of death, despite having his strength whittled away.

Dusksnow Morningstar specialized in the bow and arrow. With the air beneath his feet, he quickly shifted through various positions and sent arrow after arrow whistling through the air like shooting stars.

Even one as strong as the Meteorite King was quite bedraggled from facing such an aggressive attack.

However, panic remained on the sidelines from beginning to end. He knew that he would be the ultimate victor as soon as Dusksnow Morningstar became a titled king. So while more arrows drilled through his body, his eyes grew brighter from all the injuries.

Growing numbers of living beings within Meteorite Peak lost their lives and a vast stream of flesh and blood essence surged into the king’s mind, strengthening his mental prowess.

Morningstar was in the full throes of a berserk battle rage; fires that sparkled like the stars burned around him. He’d completely forgotten everything—the only thought in his mind was to defeat the enemy in front of him.

Defeating the Meteorite King would make him a full, titled king!

In his burning obsession, he failed to notice the increasingly sinister smile on the king’s face.

The Meteorite King was completely on the back foot now. Though he was releasing all of his strength, he was still no match for the young genius.

Dusksnow Morningstar was only a hair's breadth away from ascension. He would reach the apex when he killed the Meteorite King!!

“GO!!” He pulled his bow all of the way back and coalesced a hundred and eight thousand arrows of light, releasing a hail of projectiles on his opponent.

“Well met!” roared the king.

Hummm.

Gray light blossomed from his body and formed a huge shield in front of him. Although his plans hinged on his own death, he still didn’t take the matter lightly. He had to ensure that Morningstar clearly defeated him in proper combat—only then would the boy’s mentality be perfect without flaw and smoothly ascend to kinghood.

Boom!

A fraction of a breath passed before Morningstar’s arrows viciously bit into the king’s shield.

Craaaaack. Crumble!

Ugly cracks snaked across the enormous shield before it fell apart.

“Die!!” Eyes wide with bloodlust, Morningstar’s longbow erupted with light and formed the image of a titanic bow with an even bigger arrow of light on its string.

Hummmm.

Resonating with an ear splitting hum, the arrow sprang from the bowstring and bore down on the center between the Meteorite King’s brows.

The king gave up the fight in this moment. He couldn’t defend against this harrowing arrow, nor could he avoid it.

He’d lost. Or rather, he’d won!

Booooom.

White brilliance filled the sky over Meteorite Peak. Countless beings lifted their heads, forgetting to defend themselves from the vicious ghosts and awful scarabs in front of them. They stared dumbly in the direction of Dusksnow Morningstar and the Meteorite King.

A king had fallen!

Dusksnow Morningstar was about to become a new king!

“What?!”

“Who dares ruin my plans?!”

Two furious roars rang from the air. One belonged to Morningstar, and the other to the Meteorite King!

White radiance faded away to reveal a smear of fey purple interposed between the two combatants.

The Purpleclad Duke!

He’d stopped Morningstar’s fatal blow with a single hand!

“How dare you deny my dao, Purpleclad Duke?!?!” Morningstar screamed with rage. He was only a breath away from becoming a titled king and could already vaguely sense the greatest treasure of the realm—the Hongmeng Tower!

As ephemeral and nonexistent as that breath was, it’d turned into a moat that could not be crossed!

The Meteorite King was likewise stewing in a fit of wrath. If the genius had become a king, then the boy would be his. Everything had been ruined by this strange man in purple!

To everyone’s great shock, the Meteorite King acted in concert with Dusksnow Morningstar to lash out offensively at the Purpleclad Duke!

“Purpleclad Duke, you stop Morningstar. I’ll go kill the king!” came a loud shout from the air as six vivid figures appeared in the sky, forcing the king back with a combined blow. At the same time, five other figures descended from the void and sent Dusksnow Morningstar flying.

The duke’s blood was roiling from the fearsome blow that he’d taken and he was moderately injured. Having both of his opponents beaten back at the same time gave him some breathing space.

“My thanks, fellow daoist!” He quickly made use of the time to heal and recover.

The Purpleclad Duke had sensed Lu Yun’s presence when the latter shattered the Ghost Hits Wall layout. Lu Yun had revealed himself earlier to inform the duke of his deductions, which was why the man then disregarded his personal safety to prevent Morningstar from killing the Meteorite King.

Meanwhile, the greatest fruits of Lu Yun’s labor over the past three years in the Hongmeng were on display—six puppets!

He’d crafted them using puppet dao of the supplemental paths. With the bountiful treasures of Starcloud treasury as their foundation, he’d perfectly integrated the six highest orders of the chaos into puppet dao and etched a Thousand Obliteration Formation of the Six Royals into each of them!

Most importantly, an entire premium purple crystal vein was embedded in each of the puppets. Not only would they provide endless strength to the puppets, but they would also seamlessly conceal the ripples of the chaos orders and formation.

The six puppets could call upon peak superior realm power. However, they couldn’t become titled kings since they were puppets.

Displaying marvelous teamwork, the six blasted the Meteorite King into the ground.

“Bastard!!” Morningstar flew into a fit of fury and violently flared his aura, sending Miao Qimiao and the others flying while he dove at the king like a man possessed.

“Dusksnow Morningstar, calm down for a moment!” roared the Purpleclad Duke as he landed in front of the genius.

“All those who deny my dao will die!” Morningstar lifted his longbow and smashed the weapon down on his obstacle. Though he practiced the dao of bow and arrow, his close combat capabilities were also uncommonly strong.

“Then I’ll beat you into listening!” snorted the duke. He’d voluntarily vacated his position after the genius rose to fame, not wanting to clash with Morningstar.

All of those concerns had gone out the window at this point. Reality also confirmed the truthfulness of Lu Yun’s words. The vicious ghosts and scarabs that’d been wildly slaughtering all living beings in the mountain had turned their attention to Lu Yun’s six puppets.

These six puppets possessed the power to threaten their king. If they killed the Meteorite King, then all of the king’s schemes would have been for naught.

etvolare's Thoughts

So this Meteorite King is... planning on eating Morningstar after he becomes a king...?