Chapter 1601: Invisible Game

A demon puppeteer controls their creations to harm others, usually operating from the shadows. Cao Wendao, having been ambushed, was naturally at a disadvantage from the outset. Therefore, Cao Wendao was confident he could turn the tide of battle if he could just pinpoint Wei Yishan.

He immediately released three flying snakes. They were brownish-tan with patterns, their slender bodies equipped with wings, and fleshy, high crests on their foreheads. On closer inspection, these were mutated cobras, their wings formed from deformed membranes bulging from behind their heads. Despite their unusual anatomy, their flying skills were superb, allowing them to even hover in mid-air.

As soon as they appeared, they darted into the jungle to scout. These flying snakes possessed the keen senses of serpents, able to detect a prey's body temperature from ten feet away, which allowed them to determine its size, shape, and vital points. Cao Wendao knew Wei Yishan was not far and might even be disguised, but the heat emanating from a human body couldn't fool the flying snakes.

The three flying snakes quickly completed one sweep, then expanded their search radius outwards. As one flew past Cao Wendao's back, he heard a peculiar "whoosh" sound. The flying snake fell from mid-air, a bloody hole piercing its body. The object that pierced the flying snake immediately plunged into Cao Wendao's back! It passed straight through him.

Wei Yishan's second demon puppet had finally appeared. Not content with just piercing a hole through Cao Wendao's chest, it spun in mid-air and unleashed two more bloody punctures. With vital organs pierced, how could Cao Wendao possibly hold on? He toppled forward, face down, and lay prone. The bat demon puppet, still in mid-air, then turned its attention to the Ghost Ape.

By this point, the Ghost Ape was almost completely engulfed by the mud slugs. The bat demon puppet's neck swelled, and it spat a mouthful of acid at the ape. Strangely enough, the mud slugs, normally impervious to water and fire, hissed as the acid burned a hole through them, accompanied by wisps of white vapor. It worked!

The bat demon puppet flapped its wings, creating a small whirlwind. It then spat violently again, and the acid atomized into a mist in the wind, spraying all over the mud slugs. This inconspicuous, pale yellow mist, however, caused the mud slugs to rapidly shrink and instantly dehydrate as it enveloped them. Both slugs and leeches fear strong acids. The formerly plump and bloated mud slugs shrank to the thickness of a palm, their bodies losing all resilience, and they detached themselves from the Ghost Ape and fell off.

The Ghost Ape spat several times, "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!", having just gotten a mouthful of the sticky, foul-smelling, corrosive slime. It walked over to Cao Wendao, looked at him, then used its staff to flip him over. Cao Wendao's eyes were tightly shut. He was dead? The master of Red Lodge, a grand demon puppeteer from the Celestial Palace, who almost never failed, had fallen dead in less than two rounds? Dong Rui was still somewhat incredulous, so the Ghost Ape tentatively poked the corpse a few times with its weapon. "Hmm, quite elastic."

Immediately after, the Ghost Ape performed a signature move: It grabbed Cao Wendao's corpse and tore it in half with lightning speed! With a squelch, a mist of blood burst forth, and intestines and blood spilled everywhere. Even if Cao Wendao was faking his death, being ripped apart by hand would certainly make it real. The Ghost Ape then leaned close to the ground, sniffed carefully a few times, and nodded. It was indeed the smell of human blood.

By this time, the two remaining flying snakes had flown far away, and the stream bank suddenly grew quiet. A dozen breaths later, with nothing else happening on the battlefield, a person finally emerged from the woods. Dong Rui. Cao Wendao's death didn't seem feigned, so Dong Rui had to come out to clear the battlefield and collect the spoils. Besides, Qingyang was only one or two li away, and he didn't have much time to waste. Killing the head of a demon puppeteer organization would yield exceptionally rich rewards. The thought of how much valuable information he could obtain from his opponent made Dong Rui itch with anticipation.

He didn't want to get too close to the enemy's corpse, so he stood ten feet away and observed it for a moment longer. Blood flowed from Cao Wendao's wounds, his face was unusually pale, and he looked a little swollen. Did this guy eat too much salt for dinner? Just as Dong Rui was about to go forward and search the corpse, he suddenly noticed something strange about Cao Wendao's wounds—they had turned yellowish. The blood flowing from them had also changed from dark red to orange-red, though it wasn't obvious in the dim light. Furthermore, his wounds seemed to contain radiating filamentous or perhaps flocculent material.

Dong Rui's suspicions immediately rose. He took a large step back, pointed at Cao Wendao, and told the Ghost Ape, "Poke him again..." Before the word "him" left his mouth, Dong Rui's mind raced, and he suddenly received a warning. He was not a warrior after all, not as nimble as He Lingchuan. But the Ghost Ape beside him, in tune with his thoughts, grabbed its master, disregarding the undignified posture, and made a huge leap. It was too late, however.

Just as it grabbed Dong Rui, the ground beneath its feet subtly sank, and a colossal, abyssal maw suddenly appeared! This mouth, when fully opened, reached a diameter of ten meters (three zhang), its edges lined with a row of fine, serrated teeth. Of course, "fine" was relative to the size of this mouth; each tooth was the size of a human palm. A mouth this large was more than enough to swallow two Ghost Apes. It burst from the ground like a giant shark attacking prey on the ocean surface, giving no time to react. With a loud "snap," the monster's massive maw slammed shut, and it leaped out of the ground due to its own momentum.

This was clearly a massive, reddish-brown fish, its two eyes located on top of its head, which could tilt upwards for focus. Its body was covered in dark gray speckles, allowing it to camouflage as large rocks or riverbeds underwater. Its body length was also about three zhang, meaning that when it opened its mouth to its fullest, its mouth-to-body ratio was severely disproportionate. The prototype for this strange fish, called a fanpibiao, lives near the estuaries of islands in the South China Sea and ambushes prey in shallow waters. However, its natural size typically doesn't exceed three feet, and even as a demon, it wouldn't exceed five feet, nor would its mouth be absurdly large. Cao Wendao had enhanced, or rather, specialized it, exaggerating its mouth's proportion and incorporating the characteristics of a mudskipper. He had forcibly turned it into a semi-amphibious monster capable of swimming in water and moving underground, though only in damp subterranean areas. Its belly also contained a separate space, making escape difficult even for the Ghost Ape once swallowed by this creature.

Cao Wendao was skilled at creating insect puppets, but his craftsmanship extended far beyond just those! When he set up camp by the stream, he released this creature as a guard. It typically moved in water and underground. While Cao Wendao faked his death, he simultaneously ordered it to dive underground, position itself directly beneath Dong Rui and the Ghost Ape, and launch a surprise attack. A demon puppeteer hidden in the shadows was the most dangerous. By walking out of the jungle, Dong Rui had relinquished his greatest advantage. Instead, Cao Wendao had hidden in the dark recesses of the jungle, and the tables had turned.

However, his happiness was short-lived. As the fanpibiao landed back on the ground, it unfurled its sail-like dorsal fin and spun around a few times, as if swimming freely in water. Previously, when he commanded this behemoth to ambush targets, it succeeded nine out of ten times. But this time, Cao Wendao's face darkened because he discovered that the fanpibiao's belly was empty. This ambush had actually failed? He noticed a shadow flicker in the trees. It was now Cao Wendao's turn to heighten his vigilance. He casually drew the belt from his waist and flicked it lightly.