Chapter 20: The Formless Divine Scripture

As soon as these words were spoken, the middle-aged man in black robes underwent a sudden change in expression, immediately scanning his surroundings with intense vigilance.

Ultimately, his gaze even landed on Li Musheng, who was not far away.

"What are you looking at me for? Look over there!"

Li Musheng pointed a finger, signaling him to look into the valley.

At that very moment, Meng Shan and Yuan Mei—who had been planning to take advantage of the masked woman's heavy injuries and encirclement to escape—suddenly felt the world spinning around them.

In the next instant, the two of them collapsed straight to the ground.

Meanwhile, the scruffy scholar who had been following them and receiving their protection all along slowly straightened his body.

"Senior Sister was so obsessed with mastering that 'Blood-Phase Poison Claw Technique' that she ultimately became careless."

The scruffy scholar shook his head. The dull, wretched appearance he had worn earlier had long since vanished, replaced by a cold, indifferent, and extremely confident demeanor.

"Stop talking nonsense, good Junior Brother, and act quickly! If you don't move now, I'm afraid Senior Sister will be beaten to death by these villains!"

The masked woman had endured a punch from the elder, and the swirling greenish-black poisonous aura around her body had been almost entirely blasted away, causing her to violently cough up a mouthful of blood.

"It seems I misjudged you. So, this poisonous woman killed so many of our alliance members just for a scholar like you."

The middle-aged man in black robes narrowed his eyes. However, as soon as he finished speaking, he struck without any warning.

The Thousand-Leaf Wind-Destroying Palm was silently unleashed. The true qi within his body intertwined like wind-blown leaves, instantly condensing into a two-foot palm print that carried the momentum of wind and thunder, launching a sneak attack directly at the masked woman.

Clearly, he intended to deal with the masked woman, who possessed poisonous techniques, before dealing with the scholar.

After all, the scholar's strength was unknown; if the two of them joined forces, the ensuing situation might become uncontrollable.

"Careful, Senior Sister! If you survive this move, you'll be safe!"

The scholar suddenly spoke with a smile, while the masked woman's face turned ashen.

Having just blocked the elder's punch, her injuries had worsened, and with this palm strike from the middle-aged man, she feared it would cost her half her life.

"You're something else. I won't be able to protect you anymore, so you'll have to look out for yourself!"

The masked woman spoke through gritted teeth, mobilizing all the remaining true qi in her dantian into her claws in a desperate attempt to resist the mountain-splitting two-foot palm print.

At the same time, the middle-aged man in black and the other two elders suddenly underwent a drastic change in expression, as if they had sensed something.

They suddenly discovered that, for some unknown reason, their bodies had become extremely stiff.

The flow of true qi within their dantian and meridians became incredibly sluggish. Their limbs, bones, and muscles seemed to encounter a powerful, invisible resistance, making it difficult to move according to their will.

"What is happening?!"

The middle-aged man's eyes filled with terror. He was certain he hadn't been poisoned, but he could not understand what was wrong with his body.

In an instant, he and the other two elders all turned their gazes toward the scruffy scholar, who had not yet made a move from beginning to end.

Facing the gazes of the three men, a mocking smile appeared on the scholar's thin, sallow face.

Then, he spread his five fingers and made a sudden grasping motion, causing wisps of true qi to condense and scatter from his fingertips.

The middle-aged man and the two elders widened their eyes as they saw transparent threads manifest in the air, densely connecting their bodies to the scholar's fingers.

With a slight curl of the scholar's pinky finger, one of the elders' arms rose uncontrollably.

In the next moment, the elder raised both fists and smashed them down toward his own head.

Although the elder desperately circulated his martial true qi in an attempt to snap the dense threads connected to him, he was utterly unable to do so!

This was because the martial true qi within his body was also being controlled by those threads; the true qi he had cultivated through day and night breathing felt as if it no longer belonged to him.

"It's actually the Formless Puppet Technique."

Seeing this scene from outside the valley, Cang Yinyue let out a gasp of surprise.

Noticing Li Musheng's gaze, she explained softly

"The Formless Puppet Technique originates from the 'Formless Divine Scripture,' which was the highest martial manual of a sect called the 'Myriad Aspect Demon Sect' hundreds of years ago."

"However, the Myriad Aspect Demon Sect was destroyed hundreds of years ago. In recent years, some remnants of its legacy have occasionally appeared in the martial world, but they haven't caused much of a stir."

"The strength of the Formless Puppet Technique lies in its ability to condense qi into threads that are colorless and formless, silently invading an opponent's body and true qi. It is extremely difficult to detect, and once controlled, one's life and death are in the hands of the user."

As she spoke, Cang Yinyue turned her gaze toward the valley.

At this moment, under the scholar's manipulation, the middle-aged man and the two elders were all uncontrollably self-mutilating.

Although all three were Grandmaster-level martial arts experts, and because they had been planning a sneak attack on the masked woman, they were not only uninjured but had also not consumed much strength, the result was the same.

Once controlled by the Formless Puppet Technique, they were helpless and unable to break free.

Even if they were in their peak state, the result would be the same; they wouldn't even be able to commit suicide by choice.

"Your technique is truly formidable, Junior Brother. It's a pity my talent isn't enough, otherwise, Master wouldn't have only passed down the poison techniques to me."

The masked woman dragged her heavily injured body to the scholar's side.

The scholar's fingertips twitched, manipulating the middle-aged man to strike one of the other elders in the face, causing half of the man's face to collapse into a bloody mess.

The other elder then punched the middle-aged man in the shoulder, deforming the entire scapula and leaving a bloody crater.

"Don't say I didn't avenge you, Junior Sister. Are you satisfied with this?"

The scholar turned his head toward the masked woman, a smile playing at the corners of his eyes.

The masked woman stared coldly at the three men. She casually tore off her veil, revealing the hideous, greenish-black scars on her face.

Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, she said

"If you can hand them over to me to practice the Blood-Phase Poison Claw Technique, I would be even more satisfied!"

Hearing this, the scholar shook his head.

"Don't be in a hurry. Once I catch those two over there, they will all belong to you, Senior Sister!"

As he spoke, the scholar tilted his head, a faint, ambiguous smile on his lips, as he stared directly at Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue.

"Not good!"

Cang Yinyue's expression changed drastically. Just as she was about to lead Li Musheng away, she found her movements suddenly becoming stiff.

With a thought, a shadow attempted to emerge from her body and extend toward the soft blade at her waist.

But halfway through, the shadow abruptly froze and dissipated. Cang Yinyue's gaze darkened instantly.

"I was careless. This is actually a complete Formless Puppet Technique."

She had some knowledge of this technique; the versions that had circulated in the martial world for hundreds of years were all incomplete fragments, where the user's control range did not exceed ten feet.

But the distance at which the scholar was currently wielding the Formless Puppet Technique was clearly far beyond ten feet.