After some thought, Zhao Di felt that the gamble proposed by the other side seemed to have no disadvantage for himself.

  As long as you can withstand three moves, you will get the puppet-making method of the foundation period that you have been dreaming of. If the opponent's attack is really fierce and unmatched, you can choose to escape at any time with Mo Cheng's cover.

  There is also a possibility that the old man may not have discovered his own pre-laid formation, if he accidentally steps into the formation while making a move, then he can take advantage of it to trigger the formation and leave with ease.

  No matter how you look at it, exchanging three blows with the opponent seems to be a better deal than leaving just like that!

  "Alright! I'm willing to make this bet with Old Man Feng, but please spare my life and don't hold back. If I lose, I'll use your esteemed Mo Old Man as a human shield at any time!" Zhao Di said with some unscrupulous intimidation.

  The old man smiled wryly and said: "I will stop when I should, if you can't take it, just admit defeat at any time!"

  Zhao nodded, lifted Mo Cheng from under him, moved a few meters to the right, and then gently put Mo Cheng down, saying: "I'm ready, please make your move, Old Man Feng!"

  If the other party also moves in this direction, they will just enter the formation that Yu Rou and I have set up beforehand, and at that time, the situation will be under my control!

  Unfortunately, the old man stood still and didn't move an inch!

  "Beware, the first move will let you witness the foundation-laying period's puppet that I've never forgotten!" As soon as the old man finished speaking, he lightly swung his sleeve and seven light balls flew out one after another, landing in front of him before transforming into seven tiger-shaped puppets, each about one zhang (3.33 meters) in size.

  These scattered spiritual powers are extremely powerful, far surpassing the high-ranking puppets of the Refining Qi stage, and are actually equivalent to the mid-to-late-stage foundation-building cultivators' puppets!

  Zhao Di saw this scene, and his heart was even a little excited, the Thousand Machine Gate indeed had a method to refine such a high-ranking puppet! If he could also get this refining method, create a human-shaped puppet, his strength would increase several times in an instant!

  "Yōu lán, yōu ruò, bù xià shuāi ròu hé fáng hù zhòu zhèn!" Zhao de ordered, at the same time he took out a bright red circular shield and grasped it in his hand. This was a defensive treasure that he had specially refined earlier - the Pure Yang Shield. Although this treasure didn't have any special features in terms of its appearance, its pure defensive power was not bad, making up for the lack of a defensive treasure in his hand.

  Two women suddenly appeared from Zhao Di's body, stirring up the yin energy inside them. They separately set up a weakening curse array and a protective curse array within a range of over ten zhang around Zhao Di. In an instant, the area around Zhao Di was filled with swirling dark winds and dense ghostly shadows.

  The effect of the weakening curse array is to weaken the spiritual attacks within the range of the curse array, while the defensive curse array lays down a layer of protection with yin energy, increasing Zhao Di's defensive capabilities.

  The effects of these two arrays will also be enhanced with the improvement of the array builder's cultivation level. With the current late-stage foundation-building cultivation of the two women, they can weaken the opponent's attack power by 20% and increase Zhao Di's defense power by 20%. These two arrays superimposed on each other instantly reduced the threat to Zhao Di by nearly half!

  "Ghost slaves! Curse technique formation! Hehe, you're not simple, it seems like a Taoist's main cultivation method, but you have ghost slaves that only Ghost Gate cultivators are good at cultivating. And these two ghost slaves have already reached the late stage of foundation building, only one level lower than yours!" The old man exclaimed sincerely upon seeing the two women.

  "I'm ready, Old Man Feng. I'd like to see the unique skills of your esteemed school! What's so special about them?" Zhao Di held up the Emerald Green Jade Ruler and activated a red light shield using the Pure Yang Shield, protecting himself and the two women who were maintaining the curse array within it.

  The old man lightly spat out the word "good", and without seeing any movement, he saw the seven puppets in front of him moving left and right, jumping forward and backward, and from time to time, a beam of light as thick as a bowl mouth shot out from the open tiger's mouth, striking towards Zhao.

  Zhao Di watched as the seven puppets moved in and out with precision, their coordination flawless, seemingly containing a profound formation that not only brought out the full attacking power of the seven puppets but also had a certain degree of cumulative effect. It was extremely mysterious. He too had once commanded a puppet army and had rich experience in this area, having tried to figure out how to arrange his formations to maximize the advantages of his puppet troops' group attacks. Seeing the mysterious coordination of these seven puppets, he couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement and admiration in his heart.

  Unfortunately, it was not the time for him to appreciate and analyze the moves of these puppets. Zhao Di poured a large amount of spiritual energy into the Cuiju ruler, which immediately turned green and dripping with dew. A drop of Cuiju fell from it, transforming into a series of identical Cui rulers that countered the dense beam attacks emitted by the puppets.

  The main effect of the emerald liquid is on illusions, with poor defensive capabilities. Those illusory shadows that emerge are instantly turned into tiny green spiritual lights when shot by the puppet's light pillar, only slightly weakening the light pillar's spiritual power and unable to protect itself. However, fortunately, it continuously releases a stream of green shadowy blades from within, which is quite relentless.

  The light pillar pierced through the shadow of a ruler, then entered the weakening curse array, and was immediately hindered by the yin energy, with its speed slightly reduced. The thickness also suddenly became smaller, these light pillars hit Zhao Di's pure yang shield that activated the red light mask, the latter shook several times, and easily resisted these light pillar attacks. Some light pillars didn't even break through the seal of yin energy and disappeared after exhausting their power midway. After a fierce attack lasting for several breaths, the puppet still couldn't break through Zhao Di's defense. The old man praised: "Not bad! The first move is considered passed! This Tianyin bamboo is my life-bound magic treasure, let it be the second move! You'd better be careful!"

  The old man said, waving his large sleeve, and the seven puppets immediately stopped attacking, quickly shrinking and flying into the old man's sleeve.

  Then he opened his mouth and a tiny, emerald-green bamboo flute about the size of an inch flew out from it, quickly transforming into one that was two feet long.

  The old man put the bamboo flute to his lips and blew it gently, producing a flute sound like heavenly music that was so captivating!

  "It's indeed a sound wave attack!" Zhao Di had expected as much. The Tianyin Bamboo was also one of the well-known spiritual bamboos in the cultivation world, although it wasn't as famous as the Six Roots Clear Bamboo, but it was still a common material for crafting magical artifacts. As someone skilled in crafting artifacts, Zhao Di naturally wouldn't be unfamiliar with it.

  This bamboo has the characteristic of emitting invisible sound waves to attack, stunning people's minds, and also comes with a hint of illusion power. If a low-level cultivator listens to the beautiful sound emitted by the flute or panpipe made from this bamboo, they may even become dizzy for several days, with only the heavenly music in their mind.

  Zhao Di, who had long been prepared, took out the Mind-Confusing Bell at the same time as the old man took out the Tianyin Bamboo Flute, and quickly offered it in mid-air to transform into a giant golden bell about ten feet in size.

  "Dong!" A loud sound burst forth from the golden bell, shattering the beautiful flute melody transmitted by Tianyin Bamboo and simultaneously producing a powerful, invisible sonic wave that shot towards Tianyin Bamboo!

  The two waves of sound collided fiercely between them, and after a loud whistling noise, they actually annihilated each other!

  "Huh!" The old man let out a soft exclamation, feeling slightly surprised. Although he hadn't used his full strength in the previous attack, the sonic wave attack he had unleashed was no trivial matter, yet it had been so easily defended against by his opponent, which left him somewhat astonished!

  The young man in front of him is probably stronger than he imagined!

  At this thought, the old man actually revealed a hint of a smile and continued to play his bamboo flute lightly.

  A melodious flute sound rose, making people feel as if they could see some fairies coming to hear the music and dancing. Under the flute sound, Youlan and her sister unconsciously followed the melody of the flute, dancing with their hands and feet, with a look of intoxication on their faces, completely absorbed in it.

  "Bang!" A loud noise, instantly awakened the two women. The two women's faces were slightly red, and they looked embarrassed, without waiting for Zhao Di's orders, they proactively hid in his sleeves. This sonic attack was not something they could help much with, on the contrary, because their cultivation was too low, they were easily tempted by the flute sound.

  A gust of wind burst out between the two again, and Jin Zhong still withstood this wave of sonic attacks, but seemed slightly strained.

  The old man's face showed a look of approval, but he still blew the heavenly bamboo flute for the third time.

  Zhao Di slowly and calmly activated the golden bell again, while lightly patting his waist. A giant python with emerald green and snowy white colors suddenly emerged from it, instantly growing to over ten zhang in size. It was Zhao Di's demonic beast, Ice Wind Python!

  The moment the giant python appeared, it followed Zhao Di's instructions and opened its big mouth. A gust of invisible hurricane blew out from its mouth, rushing straight towards the old man. This was a divine ability that Bingfeng Python possessed only after advancing to a fourth-level demon beast.

  "Fourth-level spirit beast! Hurricane technique!" The old man who had experienced many things was secretly shocked.

  The wind assisted the sound wave, and the sound wave produced by the Ming Xin Zhong originally fell short, but was suppressed by the Tian Yin Zhu. However, with the support of this hurricane, it actually withstood the attack. With a loud "bang", countless small wind blades burst out from the point of contact between the two, and the third wave of attacks from the Tian Yin Zhu flute was also blocked by Zhao Di.

  The old man saw this and put away the bamboo flute, no longer launching a sonic attack. Zhao Di also recalled the Ice Wind Python and several magical artifacts to his side, cautiously watching the old man.

  This old man is indeed a great elder of a sect, a master in the later stages of cultivation. These two moves were almost resisted by Zhao Di with all his might, while the old man seemed to still have some spare energy and did not show his full strength! It was wise that he didn't rashly engage in a life-and-death battle with this person!

  "Very good!" Zhao Di's performance was far beyond the old man's expectations. He didn't hide his approval at all, saying: "You also received the second move, next is the third move, you'd better be careful! This move is rarely used by me, but every time I use this move to deal with cultivators who are not as strong as me, it will definitely take effect in one move, without exception! Although your strength far surpasses that of fellow cultivators at the same level, I'm afraid you won't be able to defend against this move!"

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