Chapter 1607: Unintentional Child

No need to rush; these answers can wait a day or two.

Dong Rui continued to babble. As a wounded man, nestled in the Demonic Ape’s embrace and with half an arm disabled, his spirits seemed unusually high.

“This fiend-puppet’s body is made of earth and stone; it’s not a living organism! But there are bones inside, and it smells of stale divine blood!” It wasn’t just mud and stone; he had also just seen dark copper-colored bones in Ashmona’s finger fragments.

A body of clay, the remains of a Heavenly Demon, and refined with divine blood—as a puppet, it was certainly a luxury version.

But none of these were living things, none were the “substrate material” Cao Wendao spoke of.

What then was the main substrate that allowed Ashmona to move and fight?

Ordinary metal puppets, like He Lingchuan’s Golden-Armored Bronze General, had beast souls of monsters incorporated as their cores. But Ashmona’s core came from Howling Forest—what kind of monsters could survive there?

However, its characteristic of freely incorporating body fragments was indeed very similar to that of an earth puppet.

“Hmm, an earth puppet?”

Cao Wendao frowned. Though not perfectly accurate, he wasn’t far off; this kid was quite clever.

As he became distracted, the Bat Fiend-Puppet tore a bleeding gash in his arm; the wound was deep, almost exposing bone.

But Ashmona’s attacks also grew fiercer; it leaped and struck the Demonic Ape’s shoulder with a claw, disregarding being directly sent flying by the staff.

The Demonic Ape’s shoulder armor shattered with the impact, and two bloody marks appeared on its shoulder.

Oh no, it was bleeding.

Petrification began to spread, the skin near the wound turning bluish-gray.

The Demonic Ape let out a low growl, ignoring the pain, quickly dug out an entire chunk of flesh from its shoulder, and flung it onto the ground.

A dozen breaths later, that chunk of flesh had turned to stone.

If it had to cut off flesh every time an enemy touched it, that would be too much of a burden.

So Dong Rui pulled a small bottle of divine blood from his pouch. The Demonic Ape took it, too lazy to even open the cap, and tossed it directly into its mouth, chewing and swallowing it along with the bottle.

For these fiend-puppets, properly prepared divine blood was the best restorative for injuries, containing immensely abundant life-force.

Cao Wendao’s disciples had never enjoyed such luxurious treatment; their master would only give them small pills.

After consuming the divine blood, the Demonic Ape’s spirits immediately lifted, and the wounds on its shoulder and palm healed at a visible rate.

Meanwhile, Cao Wendao raised his Demon-Subduing Staff to force back the Bat Fiend-Puppet, and angrily scolded, “Hey, still daring to be lazy?”

How long would his fiend-puppet be lazy for!

Ashmona paused its movements, but the constant jingling of gold rings, each sound an urging command, filled its ears. It shook its head and had no choice but to hurriedly scrape a handful of mud chunks from its body, press them firmly onto the ground, and then mumbled a few words.

Dong Rui perked up his ears to listen, and after a moment’s discernment, realized it was Heavenly Demon speech.

Many of the stone tablets and vessels in the Demonic King’s Palace landfill were inscribed with Heavenly Demon script. Those were items the immortals had sent to True Master Minghui back then, and Dong Rui had learned by comparing them, understanding a few phrases.

Incidentally, “Ashmona” was also a Heavenly Demon word, meaning ‘heartless child’ and implying ‘mischievous.’

Looking at the gray-robed figure now, this name was truly ironic.

A blue light flashed on the ground, and small mounds of earth rose up, instantly transforming into earth puppets, some large, some small, all bizarre in shape, but all with blue light gleaming in their eyes.

Ashmona pointed towards Cao Wendao, and the earth puppets charged forward.

They were remarkably agile, lacking the usual clumsiness of earth puppets. Several of them leaped mid-stride to attack the Bat Fiend-Puppet, their movements no less swift than true wolf demons.

In an instant, the numerical advantage of the two sides was reversed. Dong Rui had only three fiend-puppets, while the opponent, including fiend-puppets and summoned creatures, had over forty!

Dong Rui suddenly commanded, “Go!”

Originally, the Demonic Ape was fighting Ashmona, and the Bat Fiend-Puppet was battling Cao Wendao. At his command, the Demonic Ape twirled its staff, then turned and took a huge accelerated leap, covering a distance of five zhang, and landed with a thud on Cao Wendao’s battlefield.

It landed like a cannonball, knocking down a group of earth puppets. Five smaller ones shattered on impact.

Of course, a blue light flashed on the ground, and the fragments reassembled. Soon the earth puppets stood up again and continued their attack.

Cao Wendao also lost his footing, but fortunately, Ashmona arrived instantly and protected him.

Dong Rui gave instructions to his two fiend-puppets:

“You two, switch opponents.”

Though the Bat Fiend-Puppet had some fear of Ashmona, it still charged forward without hesitation!

The Demonic Ape swung its great staff directly at Cao Wendao, delivering three consecutive downward chops.

His signature three opening strikes were back.

Its weapon was incredibly powerful and heavy, creating whistling winds. Before the staff even arrived, Cao Wendao’s sideburns whipped up.

How could Cao Wendao possibly block the Ape Fiend-Puppet’s staff? He didn’t even dare to parry it with his own weapon.

In the end, Ashmona took on everything; it had to handle all the attacks from both fiend-puppets.

Dong Rui watched intently.

Cao Wendao, gripping his Demon-Subduing Staff, preferred to retreat rather than clash head-on with the Demonic Ape’s staff, right? Not even once.

Even so, Ashmona not only held its own but grew stronger the more it fought!

Dong Rui had an uneasy feeling. Ashmona was rapidly growing stronger during the fight, its power increasing, its reactions quickening, and its use of divine arts becoming more skilled. Conversely, had Cao Wendao rarely let it out before?

It was at this moment that Dong Rui suddenly had a realization.

Finally, after such a long wait.

He immediately puckered his lips and made a strange sound:

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk!”

That’s how country folk called cats and dogs.

Who was he calling? Cao Wendao didn’t understand. This colleague was too noisy; even injured, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut for a moment. His disciples were always quiet; none were like Wei Yishan.

However, the next second, Ashmona, who had just stood up, suddenly began to waver and blur again, just as Cao Wendao had done when shaking the Demon-Subduing Staff earlier.

Cao Wendao was startled, knowing this was how Ashmona behaved when attacked or punished.

But the Demon-Subduing Staff was perfectly fine in his hand, and there was no external object attacking Ashmona…

Wait, no external object.

Could it be?

Ashmona suddenly roared, and to Cao Wendao’s surprise, he felt its pain.

Then its belly rumbled like a drum. Dong Rui saw Ashmona’s abdomen suddenly split open, accompanied by a sharp crack, a long, narrow slit appearing.

Immediately after, a pair of claws reached out, ten long talons digging into the gray-robed figure’s belly, and abruptly struggled outwards—

Half of this creature’s face was still hidden by Ashmona’s abdomen, but a pair of blood-red eyes were revealed, staring directly at Cao Wendao.

That gaze made his scalp tingle.

The next second, this thing shot out!

Both fiend-puppet masters prided themselves on their extensive knowledge, but had never witnessed such a scene: one fiend-puppet emerging from another fiend-puppet’s belly, with no blood relation between them.

The three earth puppets blocking Cao Wendao were still intact, yet Cao Wendao found his vision filled by a red figure and a gaping maw.