Chapter 781 – The Demon Emperor’s Armor … … … When Corpsemancer had finished speaking, he traced his spatial ring, and another puppet came flying out. It was a humanoid puppet that was wearing a set of armor made entirely of bone. Its body burned with dark green corpse fire; simply looking at the flickering flames caused one to feel a chill in their soul. “That’s likely the bat puppet recorded on the Destiny Decree.” “Those ghostly green flames… you shouldn’t be wrong. That’s a puppet refined from the corpse of another Destiny Decree master!” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 Martial artists had a formidable level of soul force, and thus had near-photographic memory. Nearly everyone present had memorized all of the information on the 360 masters of the Destiny Decree. Most of the famous abilities used by these masters were recorded on the Destiny Decree. And the puppet that Corpsemancer had brought out was his strongest puppet yet—the bat. The bat puppet was refined from a Destiny Decree master that Corpsemancer had killed in order to be listed on the Destiny Decree himself. At the time, Corpsemancer’s strongest puppet had been cut down by that master, and completely destroyed. Thus, after Corpsemancer had killed the Destiny Decree master, he used his corpse as the foundation for an even stronger, more powerful puppet. And that was the bat puppet in front of them. By relying on this puppet, he’d managed to become the 330th ranked character of the Destiny Decree. Not only was he using the bat puppet, but he simultaneously used the Evil Hate Scythe. This proved that Corpsemancer had been forced to bring out all of his combat strength! Corpsemancer had become infamous for over 300 years ago; he was now over 500 years old. As for Lin Ming, he was only in his early twenties. They were people from completely different eras. “Being able to force Corpsemancer to this step, regardless of whether he wins or loses, just that is enough to be proud of.” Rong Lin thought out loud. He didn’t know who this youth flying in the air was, but without a doubt, if he managed to live through this, he’d become an extraordinary figure that shook the entire Sky Spill Continent. Huuu-! High up in the sky, strong heavenly winds were surging. The bat puppet then extended its pair of black wings. In only a moment, it arrived in front of Lin Ming. It stretched out its claws, which shimmered with ghostly blue flames, and grasped at Lin Ming’s neck. Lin Ming gripped his spear, his posture becoming as immovable and steadfast as an ancient mountain. The power of thunder and fire poured into the red spear at the same time. The spear issued an excited keening cry as it fiercely shook. Penetrating Rainbow! The power of thunder and fire fused together. A brilliant beam of blazing light cut through the vast blue skies like a sharp sword, and was as bright as a blazing sun as it tore through the void. Lin Ming’s spear solidly crashed into the bat puppet’s claws. Clang! A metallic ringing echoed out in the air. The bat puppet’s defensive power was as strong as if it were a heaven-step treasure. A generic martial artist could forget about ever breaking through its defenses. However, Lin Ming’s attack wasn’t normal; it contained a large success bronze level battle spirit! Kacha! The bat puppet’s claws were abruptly torn off from Lin Ming’s strike! “Accept your fate boy!” Corpsemancer shimmered into existence like a ghost directly behind Lin Ming. His eyes gleamed with manic light as he raised his black scythe then cut towards Lin Ming’s open back. Endless resentment poured outwards, as if ten thousand grieving ghosts were crying in unison. This resentment condensed into substantialized energy and shot into Lin Ming’s spiritual sea. Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Under the dual support of the Samsara martial intent and his battle spirit, Lin Ming’s spiritual sea was simply an unassailable iron wall. As the power of resentment entered his spiritual sea, it was immediately burnt to ash and smoke. Burning Star Flame! The Heretical God Seed trembled. The highly compressed Burning Star Flame then erupted from the Heretical God Seed. This was the power of a heaven-step Flame Essence! Which a sizzling ‘chi chi chi’, all of the spirits attached to Corpsemancer’s scythe were burnt to nothingness. Law of Annihilation, Chain of Stars! Lin Ming thrust his spear outwards. All of the heaven and earth origin energy in a radius of ten miles was stirred up by him, then concentrated into countless fragments of light that sparkled like the endless number of stars in the sky, before it all fell downwards. From far away, it looked like a sparkling galaxy had crashed into the earth! Such an apocalyptic scene left everyone shocked. Bang! With an explosion, Lin Ming, Corpsemancer, and the bat puppet were all thrown backwards. A trace of blood flowed out the edge of Lin Ming’s mouth. However, Corpsemancer’s shoulder had been pierced through by the spear light! When the martial artists of Witch Creek City saw this fight from far away, all of them were shocked speechless. Corpsemancer’s body had gone through the transformative process of puppet techniques. In exchange for a body that couldn’t be called human nor ghost, he’d received a body with durability equal to a treasure. Yet he’d still been wounded by Lin Ming! This was an incalculably strong strike. Bang bang bang! An incomparably brutal melee ensued as Lin Ming collided with Corpsemancer again and again. Their movements were so fast that any martial artist below the Life Destruction realm was entirely unable to even make out their movements. Lin Ming’s body was tough from the start, and he excelled at frontal combat. However, Corpsemancer and his bat puppet were the same. They were in sharp opposition! “Bury the Heavens!” Lin Ming revolved the energy of his Eight Inner Hidden Gates to the limit. He thrust his spear out, and several massive cracks appeared in space. The power of space surged out from these cracks, twisting into a savage spacial storm. The Burning Star Flame ignited atop the red spear, becoming even more vivid and fierce as it fused with the spacial storm. This was the fusion of fire and space! This spear contained Lin Ming’s complete understanding of both the Concepts of Space and of Fire. At the same time, he also poured his large success bronze battle spirit within it. On the other side, Corpsemancer stepped forward, and fused with his bat puppet. Then, with the sound of a wailing ghost, the bat puppet’s body suddenly rapidly inflated, with a number of bones stabbing out from within its body! Ribs, leg bones, arm bones… all sorts of long bones had been turned into white bony lances. At the same time, ghostly green flames burned atop every bony lance! In the briefest of moments, the bat puppet had become extremely hideous. “Take my strongest attack! 18,000 Deaths!” In the blink of an eye, all of those bony lances, as well as the black scythe, shot towards Lin Ming. 18,000 was not some random number, there really were that many attacks. The attacks overwhelmed covered the sky, blotting out the sun, and blocking all avenues of escape. From afar, it looked like both Lin Ming and Corpsemancer had been trapped in a sea of bones! Xiaoxiao’s heart tightened. “Chi!” “Chi!” “Chi!” “Chi!” Mournful wails reverberated through both the clouds and earth—as if the entire world was crying together. Lin Ming revolved the Heretical God Force to the limit, his eyes blazing like two twin infernos. The Flame Essence atop his spear seemed ready to explode at any given moment. “Break!” With ‘Bury the Heavens’, several thousand bone lances were crushed to pieces. However, over 10,000 remained, which shot towards Lin Ming the same as before! Lin Ming waved his spear as if it were a dancing red flood dragon. Shattered bone lances were everywhere, and bone dust endlessly rained down from the skies. A strong heavenly wind wildly surged through the skies. Lin Ming’s black hair flapped in the wind. He tirelessly waved his spear, as if he didn’t know what exhaustion was—he was like a demon god incarnate! “Bury the Heavens!” Lin Ming ignored everything, and consecutively used Bury the Heavens twice. A dazzling black light was suddenly ejected from the sea of bones, directly sent flying into the horizon. Soon afterwards, countless brilliantly dazzling golden lights shot out from every all over the sea of bones. A sun seemed to rise within the sea of bones, emitting golden light as sharp as a sword that could cut through everything. The countless bones in the sky began to disintegrate like collapsing sand sculptures. An immeasurable amount of bone dust flew everywhere. It covered the skies, becoming a white fog that filled the heavens and earth. “Go die!” Lin Ming forcefully cut a path through the sea of bones, thrusting his spear at Corpsemancer. At this time, Corpsemancer had already separated from the bat puppet, and they were floating several dozen feet away from each other. Corpsemancer’s blood red eyes had turned vacant. At some unknown point, the black Evil Hate Scythe had returned to his hands. Black corpse flames ignited into a blazing inferno atop the scythe’s edge. “Nether Strike, Locking Yin and Yang!” With a slight movement of his lips, Corpsemancer spoke these words. Then, all of the resentment within the black scythe suddenly fused into a single mass, which locked the surrounding space! Lin Ming’s spear had already been thrust out. However, Corpsemancer had no intention of dodging this strike. Instead, he used the Evil Hate Scythe to cut towards Lin Ming’s waist! Lin Ming only felt the power of resentment wrap around his body; he found himself unable to dodge! If he were to bring out the Burning Star Flame, then he could reduce the power of resentment to nothing in just a few breaths of time. But by then, Corpsemancer’s attack would have already struck him. Their attacks were completely designed such that they would perish together! Lin Ming had absolute confidence in his own defensive ability, but Corpsemancer did too! Whose defensive power was superior? This thought flashed through Lin Ming’s mind, but he instantly rejected it. In this situation, with his strongest attack that also had his large success battle spirit poured into it, no matter how strong the Corpsemancer’s strength was, it would still pierce through his skill! Lin Ming didn’t believe that Corpsemancer didn’t value his own life above all else. “Bury the Heavens!” Facing this inescapable blow, he simply didn’t think of avoiding it. Instead, he poured all of his true essence into the red spear, issuing out his final, most brilliant strike! The power of fire and the power of space had perfectly fused together. The might of this spear was earthshaking! However, Lin Ming didn’t stab towards Corpsemancer. Instead, he threw his spear towards the bat puppet. “Go!” The red spear flew out from his hands, crossing the skies like a blazing rainbow! With a light piercing sound, the bat puppet’s head was pierced by the spear light. It’s skull was cracked apart, and brain fluid shot out! At the same time, Corpsemancer’s scythe cut into Lin Ming’s waist. Lin Ming’s bodily protective true essence was instantly melted away, and corpse fire burnt through Lin Ming’s clothes. The scythe seemed as if it would split him apart. However at that moment, the scythe’s blade was actually blocked by something. As Lin Ming’s robes burned away, it revealed a jet black armor. This was the Demon Emperor’s armor that Lin Ming had taken out from the Cosmic Melting Furnace! The Demon Emperor’s armor could weaken the majority of an attack, but it wasn’t an absolute defense. Some of the leftover Yin energy rampaged through Lin Ming’s body, recklessly tearing through his meridians. Lin Ming’s complexion paled, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Corpsemancer’s final attack had severely wounded him. If it weren’t for the Demon Emperor’s armor, Lin Ming might have died here. It was hard to say whether or not his body’s physical defense could withstand Corpsemancer’s strike. “It’s over?” “What happened?” Everyone looked on, dumbfounded, at Corpsemancer’s scythe that was embedded in Lin Ming’s waist. As for Lin Ming’s spear, it was stuck through the bat puppet’s head. Corpsemancer stood stock still in front of Lin Ming, completely uninjured. “Did the bat puppet block that youth’s final attack for its master?” “No wait, why do I feel that the youth intentionally attacked the bat puppet?” “Not unless that youth is an idiot. In a fight against a puppet master, you definitely have to attack the main body. Only an idiot would attack the puppet!” The final exchange of moves had happened too fast. Almost no one had been able to clearly see what happened.