Book 7, Chapter 37: Titan
Bang!
Just as Chang He had accepted his death, a metal hand suddenly appeared in front of him, plucking the oncoming spear out of thin air.
The spear struggled in the hand’s grip but was unable to escape for some time. Eventually, it began to disappear.
Only then did Chang He realize that a giant metal status had suddenly appeared in front of him.
A Titan-Class puppet!
This was the Titan-Class Puppet Su Chen had handed to Ye Fenghan. He had chosen to use it at this moment to save Chang He’s life.
As the spear disappeared, the person wielding it also appeared.
A Harpy elder dressed in elaborate palace uniform was clasping his hands together as he watched them.
“Titan-Class puppet? Su Chen must be quite rich to give you one of these things. He only has four of them, right?” the old Harpy said.
“You’re wrong. Master has fifty of them now,” Ye Fenghan replied coldly.
“Fifty?” The old Harpy was quite badly startled by this revelation. An instant later, however, his eyes lit up. “Then you must be Su Chen’s disciple?”
“Yes, he is!” Chang He proudly announced. “And the only one too.”
“Shut your mouth!” Ye Fenghan said.
Indeed, the elder immediately turned his attention to Ye Fenghan. “Wonderful! Simply wonderful! If I capture you alive, I will be able to force Su Chen to retreat!”
It was a stretch to imagine that capturing Su Chen’s disciple would force him to pull back, but the Harpy elder clung to the idea like a life preserver. Even if he knew that chances were slim, he refused to give up without giving it a try.
He immediately cried out, “Wave of Frost!”
The temperature in the room suddenly fell as a boundless wave of ice energy formed, quickly sealing the room in ice. Only the Demon-Executing Cannon glowed with light, repulsing this wave of frost.
Chang He jabbed forward with his finger.
The Titan-Class puppet charged forwards and unleashed a simple punch. The ice shattered almost immediately, proving incapable of restraining the Titan-Class puppet for even a moment.
The Harpy elder had never planned on using ice alone to seal the Titan-Class puppet, however. The Harpies also possessed Titan-Class puppets, after all, so they knew exactly how to deal with them. The elder began unleashing streaks of light at the charging puppet.
Light was his primary means of attack. Ice was just a supplementary measure.
The old Harpy’s attacks rained down on the Titan-Class puppet, filling the sky with a dazzling display of light that beat down on the Titan-Class puppet in waves.
The Titan-Class puppet, for its part, endured the light storm and continued to unleash punches.
Whereas Intelligent Race members were much nimbler, Titan-Class puppets were extremely sturdy. Their bodies were roughly equivalent in sturdiness to the ground of Wanlai Caves, insulating them from Origin Energy and greatly weakening any Arcana Techniques or Origin Skills they were struck by.
Such terrifying resistance made them very hard to destroy. In a frontal confrontation, even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would have a hard time defeating one.
However, the simple manner in which Titan-Class puppets attacked was their main weakness.
Titan-Class puppets primarily specialized in close-quarters combat. Of course, they could wield Origin Skills as well, but their proficiency in long-range attacks was much lower.
The most important tactic when fighting against Titan-Class puppets was to not let them get too close.
Of course, this alone was not enough.
Titan-Class puppets were powered by Sark’s Nuclei. Even though these variants were far inferior to the original, using one to power a Titan-Class puppet gave them much more sustainability than most powerful cultivators, unless those cultivators carried with them a large amount of Origin Stones and medicines.
As such, battles between Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators and Titan-Class puppets often ended in stalemates.
However, the ability of a Titan-Class puppet to seize the initiative was inferior, and their single-target attacks were far more inefficient.
For this reason, Titan-Class puppets were typically only used on the battlefield, not for one-on-one duels. Even a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator had little to fear from a Titan-Class puppet - if I can’t beat you, I can just run.
The light storm glanced off the Titan-Class puppet’s body. To it, this kind of attack was easily ignorable.
Upon seeing this, Chang He began to cackle with delight.
Tenth-Ring Arcana Techniques could do very little to Titan-Class puppets. As such, victory was almost guaranteed, especially considering that both Ye Fenghan and Chang He were also present.
Chang He said, “Fenghan, let’s join in as well.”
“Shut your mouth and stay put!” Ye Fenghan glared at him.
A thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators were needed to even put up a fight against an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Did he think a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator and a Light Shaking Realm cultivator can do anything?
The Tenth-Ring Arcana Master would have far too many opportunities to kill them.
“Stay behind and keep the barrier active. Also, keep an eye out for him teleporting to where we are to try and take us out first,” Ye Fenghan cautioned.
Upon hearing Ye Fenghan’s warning, Chang He seemed to come to his senses and fell silent, watching the battle unfold.
Upon seeing that the two humans were staying put, the elder chuckled. “You kids are quite smart, but do you really think this is enough?”
As he spoke, his figure flickered and reappeared right beside Ye Fenghan.
Ye Fenghan didn’t seem surprised. He chuckled. “I knew you’d try something like this.”
The elder’s hand reached out to grab Ye Fenghan but pulled in nothing but empty air.
Bang!
Ye Fenghan’s figure dissolved into bubbles.
The old Harpy was stunned. “Flowers in a Mirror?”
“No. Fata Morgana.” Ye Fenghan and Chang He had reappeared on the other side.
Su Chen’s Fata Morgana could achieve a similar effect as Flowers in a Mirror. Pairing it with a Titan-Class puppet would allow him to avoid most powerful attacks.
The old Harpy’s grab was unsuccessful. At the same time, a spear emerged in the Titan-Class puppet’s hand, which it threw at the old Harpy.
This was one of the few long-range attacks the Titan-Class puppet possessed. The attack’s power was roughly equivalent in strength to the Eighth-Ring Lightning Spear.
The Harpy elder calmly swiped at the air with his hand. A light screen appeared in the sky, swallowing up the heavy spear flying through the air.
An instant later, however, the Titan-Class puppet charged forwards once more, bounding forwards as it brought its iron fist crashing down towards the old Harpy.
This seemingly simple strike was actually even more powerful than the Origin Skills the Titan-Class puppet unleashed. The old Harpy could not afford to react slowly and could only teleport away once more.
At the same time that he reappeared, however, a Three-Legged Golden Bird crashed into him.
Even though the old Harpy immediately revolved all the strength in his body to resist, the blow still sent him reeling.
Dammit, he had actually gotten hit by this brat?
Not too far away, Chang He asked, “Didn’t you say not to attack?”
Ye Fenghan replied seriously, “You can attack if the opportunity presents itself.”
Chang He asked, “When would be a good opportunity?”
Ye Fenghan replied, “Just then.”
Chang He asked, “Then when will the next opportunity come?”
Ye Fenghan rolled his eyes. “How should I know?”
The Titan-Class puppet immediately whirled around and continued to attack.
The Harpy was practically the size of a mosquito compared to the Titan-Class puppet.
Unfortunately, this puppet wasn’t able to do anything to the mosquito. The mosquito utilized its agility to avoid the puppet’s attack, searching for opportunities to capture Ye Fenghan. Even so, Ye Fenghan was quite slippery himself, and he also possessed quite a few ways of escaping himself. In addition to Fata Morgana, he also had blood clones and Whitetower Teleportation. Whatever skills Su Chen had developed, Ye Fenghan had learned. He used them in a rotation, and kept a barrier active on his body to prevent the Harpy elder from getting the better of him.
The elder could do nothing about this.
As such, the three of them entered a stalemate.
Even so, this stalemate would need to be broken sooner or later.
The elder tried his hand a few more times. Finally, after Ye Fenghan had evaded his attacks a few more times, the elder said, “Is that all you have? You keep using the same skills over and over.”
Ye Fenghan replied, “As long as you can’t catch me, these skills are sufficient.”
The Harpy elder suddenly guffawed. “Do you really think there’s nothing I can do to you? I’m sorry to disappoint!”
He pounced once again, reaching out to grab Ye Fenghan. Just as his hand was about to wrap itself around Ye Fenghan’s head, however, he suddenly shot off in a different direction and raked his hand through the air.
Bang!
Both Ye Fenghan and Chang He were sent flying by the vicious attack.
He had seen through their technique?
Both Chang He and Ye Fenghan were stunned.
“Found you!” the elder giggled.
Ye Fenghan hurriedly activated Whitetower Teleportation but found to his surprise that the space around him suddenly seemed to be restricted, making it impossible for him to move.
“Trying to run?” the elder harrumphed.
Even though he did not specialize in spatial techniques, he was still a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master. Sealing an area of space for a short period of time was no problem for him. Most importantly, his opponent was not a master of spatial techniques either. If he had been facing Su Chen, this sealing technique would have been a joke.
But now, Ye Fenghan had nowhere to run.
The old Harpy exerted a tiny bit of force, causing the barrier to neatly shatter.
Just as he was about to fully capture Ye Fenghan, he saw the Titan-Class puppet charging towards him out of the corner of his eye.
The elder calmly waved his hand. An iron statue sprang to life behind him, charging forwards to meet the Titan-Class puppet.
So he actually possessed a technique like this that bordered on the level of a legendary Arcana Technique, yet had waited until this very moment to use it.
The iron statue kept the Titan-Class puppet at bay, allowing the elder to continue reaching for Ye Fenghan.
But just as he was about to grab Ye Fenghan, he suddenly realized that Ye Fenghan’s expression was calm and collected.
This is......
The old Harpy had been in countless battles and had accumulated a wealth of experience.
He knew as soon as he saw this expression that something was wrong.
Suddenly, Ye Fenghan’s body began to glow with an intense white light.
The light seemed to penetrate to the very core of his being, tormenting him and filling him with pain.
How could this be?
What kind of technique was this?
Why can I not use any of my Arcana Techniques?
Why can I not control him?
The elder’s shock was apparent. Was his opponent really a mere Spirit Burning Realm cultivator?
And why did it seem as if a sun was rapidly forming before his very eyes?
In fact, he could see more than a sun.
Because the puppet’s movements suddenly changed as well.
It jumped into the air like a real martial artist, unleashing a barrage of vicious attacks that almost immediately shattered the barrier he had
Why?
Why had the Titan-Class puppet suddenly become so agile?
They were only pretending!
The two humans were pretending, and even the puppet was pretending!
The old Harpy wanted to retreat further, but found that there was nowhere else to go.
Ye Fenghan was already reaching out in his direction, not giving him any opportunity to flee.
The white light on his body was beginning to fade very rapidly.
But before it faded completely, the old Harpy would not be able to escape.
There was nothing he could do but watch the Titan-Class puppet bring its weighty fist down onto his head.
The last thing he heard before he died was, “You were waiting for an opportunity, but so was I, and so was it......”