"Pfft!"
Duan Chen spat out a mouthful of blood.
This was a flaw he deliberately exposed to the puppet. As he coughed out the blood, his gaze suddenly changed. Using this mouthful of blood, he smeared it onto his Thousand Illusions Pandora.
With a final turn, the Thousand Illusions Pandora was thrown from his hand, smashing fiercely towards the silver-white puppet that was advancing on him. It struck the silver-white puppet directly, immediately transforming into a shield.
Instead of defending against Duan Chen, the shield form actually protected the silver-white puppet that the Thousand Illusions Pandora had hit.
But this was exactly what Duan Chen wanted. Because, under its effect, the protective shield formed by the Thousand Illusions Pandora protected the silver-white puppet but could not protect him in the same way.
Instead, it merely became a shell for the puppet.
Once encased in this shell, it was like a hibernating silkworm, unable to resist any longer.
However, this time was extremely limited.
Duan Chen needed to seize the limited time to break through the countless puppets and reach the core controlling the entire desert arena.
In his eyes, there was only that single, softly glowing desert core floating in mid-air, emitting a yellow light.
This core seemed to possess a special magic, drawing the gazes of all living beings around it.
Even Jun Ci, upon seeing this yellow desert core, couldn't help but cast a greedy glance towards it.
But he was a man of self-control.
As he looked, Jun Ci sensed the greed within him and slapped himself hard. His face twisted, and blood even flowed from the corner of his mouth.
But he quickly regained his senses from the greed.
He nervously averted his gaze, preventing himself from noticing the yellow desert core again.
However, not everyone possessed Jun Ci's clear-sightedness.
At least, the woman in front of Duan Chen did not.
Seeing a woman, who should have possessed speed talent, suddenly rush out before him and head directly for the desert core without regard for anything else, a flicker of mockery flashed in Duan Chen's eyes.
There's a saying: "Good advice is hard to sell to a damned fool." Since someone wanted to court death, he saw no need to find a way for them to survive.
He had struggled and persevered in this desert arena, not to be stabbed in the back by others.
Since such people existed, he would let them see the terrifying consequences of approaching the desert core recklessly without any defense, once they were ensnared by its allure.
The woman, reaching the desert core before Duan Chen, suddenly smiled.
Her smile widened, like a clown's.
Her smile stretched all the way to her ears as she joyfully grasped the desert core and tried to lift it.
However.
To the woman's surprise, the instant her fingers touched the desert core, her entire being was absorbed into it.
Like becoming a blob of slime, or some kind of decaying liquid, the desert core directly transformed the woman into that flowing viscous substance, carrying a foul odor, and absorbed her completely.
Afterward, the yellow light emanating from the desert core grew brighter and brighter.
Duan Chen suddenly felt the pressure suppressing him, the pressure from the desert arena, intensify.
However...
What surprised him was the crackling sound coming from the puppet behind him.
The puppet's eyes even showed a hint of pain.
Then, Duan Chen noticed that the eyes, which had seemed to possess some emotion, became even more vacant.
Duan Chen thought that it must have discovered something...
But it wasn't the most important thing.
To break this desert core, only one thing needed to be done.
Only the puppets could break the desert core.
This was something he couldn't see with his True Eye or God's Eye.
But after absorbing Wang Qi last time, the ocular techniques he awakened were not limited to just these two.
The Jìgǔ Sight.
The eye that could see the past, present, and future, now all resided within him.
He saw the past of this desert core, and thus saw how it was made. Just now, he saw the method by which this desert core could be broken.
Without hesitation, Duan Chen picked up a puppet, injected spirit energy into its body, and directly severed its limb.
After tearing off the puppet's arm, Duan Chen injected his spirit energy into this half-arm, which instantly began to glow brilliantly, continuously absorbing the spirit energy from Duan Chen's body.
This was an involuntary absorption; if Duan Chen lacked self-control, he would have been completely drained.
Gritting his teeth, even drawing blood from his gums, he swung the puppet arm in his hand and smashed it fiercely onto the desert core.
With a *ding*.
The heavens and earth seemed to fall silent for a moment. Behind Duan Chen, the silver-white puppet encased in the Thousand Illusions Pandora's shell instinctively tried to stop Duan Chen.
However, Duan Chen was not slow; in fact, his speed was lightning fast.
Holding the puppet's arm, he hammered it repeatedly onto the desert core, like swinging a sledgehammer.
Soon.
Under Duan Chen's forceful blows, numerous cracks appeared on the desert core, but it did not stop. This was not the ultimate result Duan Chen desired.
This harmful object, which was also connected to a mysterious entity, had to be dealt with immediately.
Bracing himself for the possibility of another heavy blow from the silver-white puppet, Duan Chen, disregarding everything, raised the puppet's arm to strike again.
However, the expected puppet attack did not come.
Duan Chen was surprised, but without looking back, he heard Jun Ci's weakened voice from behind him.
"You focus on cleaning up that thing in front of you. I'll cover your back."
A wave of warmth surged through Duan Chen's heart, and a brilliant smile spread across his lips.
He replied softly.
"No problem."
Again and again.
*Crash*.
The core that had stood in this secret realm for many years finally shattered at this moment.
It scattered into countless yellow fragments.