Journey to the End of the Night Chapter 1503 - 937: Aberration (2)

Yin Baishuang's expression was unusually serious: "I have never witnessed such a situation. Mechanical Puppets are naturally devoid of emotion. I can even state with certainty that there is no one controlling these out-of-control Puppet Armies from behind. Yet, they appear to possess independent consciousness, knowing how to round up the city's inhabitants like livestock into a designated area. They prioritize eliminating cultivators within the city, along with defenseless elders, before occupying the city and sealing off the outside world."

The immediate thought was that Yin Baishuang would take action to eliminate the Mechanical Puppets within the city. However, the city's populace was in a state of panic, and now, upon beholding the Mechanical Puppets, they seemed to face a formidable adversary. Who could have imagined that the Mechanical Puppets from Shifang City, intended to uphold peace and protect humanity, defending against demons and eradicating evil, would one day become uncontrollable, turning to slaughter humans? Their methods were more ruthless, more cold-blooded, and more heartless than those of the Demon Sect."

Baili An listened patiently to all of this, completely confirming that Qingzhi's words were indeed not false. Moreover, the situation in Shifang City was likely even more dire than what 'One Drop of Blood' had managed to ascertain. The facts indeed turned out as he had suspected: the Witch Plague rampaging within Shifang City had indeed spread outwards. Even though the crisis in Shifang City had been resolved, the insidious threat lurking outside had not been thoroughly eradicated. He even opened the city gates wide, inviting guests from Shifang. If someone with malicious intent were to introduce an infected Mechanical Puppet, it could undoubtedly be exploited to escalate the issue once more.

In the nearby vicinity alone, Baili An had encountered the chaos instigated by the Puppet uprising; the frequency was indeed too alarming. He could only imagine that in the Mortal World, across the Four Seas, any city or county that had acquired Puppet Mechas would now be ensnared in dire predicaments.

"How were those out-of-control, frenzied Mechanical Puppets in Wusu County dealt with?" Baili An inquired.

Yin Baishuang responded: "The materials used for the puppets in Shifang City are exceptionally specialized, making their destruction exceedingly difficult. They are impervious to water and fire, and remarkably resistant to blades and swords. Furthermore, their numbers are immense. The puppets, after going berserk, are significantly stronger and more terrifying than they are in their normal state. Even if their furnace core circuits are destroyed, they can still move and kill effectively, making them very troublesome to handle. Consequently, we had to excavate a colossal pit and inter them all within. Then, employing arrays, we harnessed the power of the Five Sacred Mountains to suppress them beneath Houtu. Finally, we painstakingly exhumed the puppet remains one by one, having the talisman masters in the city dismantle them thoroughly for complete annihilation."

Although this method was effective and safe, it was undeniably a protracted process.

Baili An stated: "May I be permitted to view that Heavenly Pit?"

Yin Baishuang nodded: "You may, but the Thunder Power within you has not yet dissipated, and your cultivation has not fully recovered. The Mechanical Puppets within the Heavenly Pit will self-repair as long as they have access to Spiritual Tung Oil and still pose a significant danger. You must exercise caution and refrain from recklessness."

Shortly thereafter, guided by Yin Baishuang, Baili An arrived at the edge of the Heavenly Pit. Surrounding the immense pit, excavated by human labor, were wooden stakes. Upon these large, conical structures, rough hemp ropes affixed with Spirit Talismans were tied. To an unaware observer, it would appear as though a malevolent entity, like a hundred ghosts, was suppressed beneath the pit.

An opening had been left at the front of the giant pit. The aperture was not substantial, only allowing a single Mechanical Puppet to enter or exit at a time. The entrance was veiled by a faint, pale yellow light barrier. Baili An observed Mechanical Puppets with damaged bodies desperately assaulting the light barrier in an attempt to escape.

Stationed at the entrance were a full ten members of the city's Guard Army. One of the guards held a small, brightly colored yellow flag in his hand. With a sweep of the small flag, the light barrier vanished. The Mechanical Puppet then charged out, akin to a rabid dog. Its eye pupils, once resembling furnace stones, were now polluted to a deep purple hue, and it emitted a beastly roar from its mouth.

Immediately, two guards, displaying remarkable quickness of eye and hand, drew their swords, forcefully piercing the Mechanical Puppet's arms. They pinned it brutally to the ground, then swiftly twisted to viciously dislocate both of its arms. Black Tung Oil splattered across the ground, emitting a foul stench. Following this, three more guards stepped forward to dismantle its legs and head.

The automaton ceased all movement, yet its severed limbs still writhed with frantic energy, desperately attempting to rejoin its form.

Among the ten guards present, two were adept talisman masters. With swift hand seals, they conjured two Light Talismans in the air, concluding their gestures with a sword-finger pointing forward.

The trio of guards, wielding great battle axes, let out a resounding war cry, their coordinated strike perfectly timed.

The axe head cleaved through the mechanical puppet’s chest, exposing its central core, which was already predominantly crystallized with a purple hue.

Like sharp blades, the Light Talismans pierced the central core, detonating in a brilliant orange flash that utterly annihilated the spiritual pattern circuits within.

The purple crystals clinging to the central core gradually lost their color, fading to gray before crumbling into dust.

The puppet’s metallic shell likewise lost its luster, its limbs dangling lifelessly to the ground, the acrid tung oil burning into ash.

A single mechanical puppet had demanded the combined efforts of ten cultivators; only through their unified strength could it be completely annihilated.

The ten cultivators appeared to have expended a significant amount of spiritual power.

One of them casually kicked the shattered puppet carcass aside.

Each retrieved a spirit stone to replenish their depleted spiritual power, then resumed waving their flags, unleashing more mechanical puppets for destruction.

Baili An inquired, "How many mechanical puppets are buried within this chasm?"

Yin Baishuang responded, "Three hundred and fifteen units."

Baili An stated, "Too slow; at this pace, it will be exceedingly troublesome."

"What do you mean?" Yin Baishuang looked puzzled.

Baili An glanced back at Ying Ji and softly uttered, "Mother..."

Ying Ji understood that her son was always sharp and possessed his own unique perspectives.

Observing his demeanor, she surmised he was likely devising a strategy to deal with these rogue puppets.

As a mother, she could not deny her son’s request.

She replied, with a flick of her crimson sleeve, her gaze dismissive as she ignored the ten guards.

A potent aura directly lifted the entire upper layer of the pit, spanning over a hundred meters in diameter!

The vast excavation was fully revealed, and a colossal black mass within writhed in agitation, much like a disturbed hornet's nest.

The ten guards barely had time to register their shock before Ying Ji calmly shifted her hand, instantly forming an intricate spirit seal that silently descended.

With a deafening boom!

The pit, already dozens of meters deep, suddenly deepened by an additional hundred meters!

The puppet mechas within were crushed, their metallic bodies reduced to countless slivers of iron.

Their central cores burst like overripe grapes.

And those thick purple crystals were pulverized by the overwhelming force into mere powder.

The group of ten, who had been arduously ‘chopping wood’ and ‘lighting fires’ at the edge of the giant pit, had not even let their frustrations subside before they were rendered speechless and sank to their knees.

Ying Ji calmly retracted her hand, accepting the ten guards’ awestruck gazes.

Li Jiujiu watched as that single palm strike obliterated the mechanical puppets capable of nearly destroying an entire county, leaving behind only steel sheets as thin as paper. His legs trembled uncontrollably.

This grandmother was truly too formidable.

Baili An turned to Yin Baishuang and asked, "Little Shuang, did you discover the issue?"

Yin Baishuang, looking at the now harmless pit, stated with a visibly displeased expression, "Those puppets in the pit were actually... evolving and merging?"

Ying Ji’s palm strike appeared devastatingly swift, allowing no time for any reaction.

Yet, she had deliberately held back, permitting Baili An and Yin Baishuang to clearly observe the precise situation within the pit.

The instant the surface was lifted, they distinctly witnessed the puppets within, their metallic bodies dissolving and warping on their own.

As if being smelted in a fiery furnace, they were fusing and decomposing into one another, their cores intermingling attributes without any sign of conflict or complementarity.

And these soulless puppets even knew to dispatch individual units towards the entrance to feign resistance, thus buying precious time.

If all three hundred-plus puppets had successfully fused, who knew what unprecedented monstrosity might have emerged.

Perhaps from this point forward, an entirely new, bizarre species would appear within the Six Realms.

Yin Baishuang shivered, beginning to grasp that this might be more than a mere puppet uprising.

Behind this occurrence, a more significant conspiracy might be veiled.