Chapter 1513: Playing God?

The three Great Saints were quite astute and immediately smiled. "We have puppets, let's send the puppets in."

With that, the three quickly summoned their puppets, issued commands, and sent the puppets into Ming Tu.

The strange scene unfolded once more—the puppets went in and lost all connection, standing motionless inside.

Seeing this, Kunpeng Laozu's expression grew even darker as he glanced at the three Great Saints beside him.

The three Great Saints smiled awkwardly but still didn't move. "Don't panic, we have other methods."

Then, the three pulled out iron chains, each with a hook at the end, and flung them forcefully. As long as they could hook Ye Chen, they could drag him out without having to go in themselves.

However, the three hooks, once thrown in, went limp like Kunpeng Laozu's earlier chain, dropping as soon as they entered the Ming Tu restricted area and failing to reach Ye Chen at all.

Again! Again! The three Great Saints refused to give up, showing remarkable persistence as they desperately hurled the hooks. If you knew they were trying to hook Ye Chen, you might think otherwise—they looked more like they were casting nets for fishing.

Yet, every attempt ended in failure. They didn't manage to bring anyone out, and the three ended up exhausted.

Now, not just Kunpeng Laozu, but the other Quasi-Emperors also turned their gaze toward the three Great Saints.

Without a second thought, the three Great Saints shoved the two Saint King cultivators at their side into Ming Tu and shouted, "This is a great opportunity for you to make merit."

Kunpeng Laozu said nothing—as long as Ye Chen could be brought out, it didn't matter who went in.

The two Saint Kings, however, felt like cursing. What a bunch of scoundrels, clearly setting us up, so shameless.

But what could they do, even if they wanted to curse? They didn't dare defy them. If they backed out now, they'd be struck down in the next instant. In this world of the strong, the weak were meant to be bullied—who dies deserves it.

Helpless, the three had no choice but to steel themselves and step inside, their hearts pounding with every move.

Ye Chen's death had been gruesome, and his eyes remained wide open, staring at them. Just the sight was chilling. As Saint Kings, they actually broke out in cold sweat on their backs.

"From what I can tell, this trick of yours isn't working well," said the Yan Long in the great cauldron, smirking as the two Saint Kings drew closer. "Though, your act is pretty realistic."

"Even in death, they won't leave me alone," Ye Chen muttered to himself, maintaining his death-like state while secretly preparing to flip up and take down the two Saint Kings.

Ming Tu was strange—it suppressed his cultivation, and it would do the same to the two Saint Kings. As equals in powerlessness, his physically dominant Saint Body could handle them easily.

But just as he was about to rise, the two Saint Kings suddenly stopped, staring in terror at something nearby. Their eyes bulged, pupils contracted, filled with fear. "Who are you?"

Ye Chen was baffled. What's going on? I'm pretending to scare you off, but what are you two pretending for? Are you trying to scare me, or yourselves?

"Don't come any closer! Stay back!" The two Saint Kings retreated, their faces twisted in horror.

"This acting skill is top-notch," Ye Chen thought with a mix of admiration and sarcasm. Their talent for pretending was impressive—who knows what they're up to, fooling themselves?

Ah! As Ye Chen pondered, the two Saint Kings turned and fled, but after just a couple of steps, blood streamed from their seven orifices, their bodies instantly drenched in blood, dying in a horrific manner.

Witnessing this, everyone outside Ming Tu—whether Quasi-Emperors, Great Saints, Saint Kings, or Quasi-Saint Kings—instinctively stepped back, drawing in cold breaths as their expressions changed dramatically.

What's happening? Xiao Yuan Huang, Kui Niu, and the others exchanged confused glances, completely baffled.

The most stunned was Ye Chen. Still in Ming Tu, he could clearly sense that the two Saint Kings were truly dead, their primordial spirits extinguished. That meant someone real had killed them.

This was getting scary, making even him want to glance back. Was there really someone behind him?

Suddenly, he felt a chill on his back, as if a pair of eyes were watching him.

But he didn't dare move, instinctively thinking his feigned death had fooled some terrifying presence. If he stirred, he might get finished off, and dying again would be a real injustice.

While he was lost in thought, another person entered—more precisely, was thrown in by Kunpeng Laozu. It was a Great Saint level expert who tried to turn and escape but was forced inside with a palm strike.

The same tragedy repeated: The Great Saint rushed to flee Ming Tu, but after one step, blood poured from his seven orifices, his body covered in blood, and he died on the spot.

This time, Kunpeng Laozu and the other eight Quasi-Emperors stepped back instinctively.

A Great Saint had been wiped out right before their eyes. What kind of existence was in Ming Tu? Everyone speculated it was at least Quasi-Emperor level, but the problem was, they hadn't seen anything at all!

Run! Some outside couldn't handle the fear anymore, mostly spectators, and they turned to flee. Ming Tu was too terrifying—no figures in sight, yet four people had died horribly.

Once one started fleeing, it triggered a chain reaction, with groups upon groups of people turning and leaving.

Who knew if the dreadful presence in Ming Tu might come out and start killing? If it did, many would suffer. They'd come to watch, not seek thrills—better to leave early.

Thus, the dense crowd thinned out, with more and more people escaping, including many from the ten thousand races, afraid of being thrown in to die. It was too horrifying.

Let's go! Kunpeng Laozu turned and left, even he, a Quasi-Emperor, was afraid. With his level of insight, seeing nothing made it all the more frightening. He had reason to believe Ming Tu was haunted.

With him gone, the other eight Quasi-Emperors followed suit. Ye Chen was already dead, so the ten thousand races' wanted order was fulfilled. No need to stay—Ming Tu's restricted area was just too eerie.

With the Quasi-Emperors gone, who dared linger? The vast expanse, once filled with hundreds of thousands of cultivators, scattered in an instant, rushing toward the nearest ancient cities, eager to escape this land.

Not everyone left, though. Xiao Yuan Huang, Kui Niu, and their group remained—the only six still standing outside Ming Tu. Once the crowds had cleared, they called out to Ye Chen.

Ye Chen jolted awake and scrambled up, not looking back as he bolted out of Ming Tu in a panic.

Once out, he turned to look. Apart from the hazy mist and the two Saint King corpses, he saw nothing. The yin feng gusts grew even colder, howling eerily.

"Did you see anything?" Ye Chen asked Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang. "Was there anyone behind me earlier?"

"Nothing at all," the six shook their heads. "In the blink of an eye, those two Saint Kings were done for."

"What about you?" Ye Chen turned to the Yan Long in the cauldron. "Did you notice anything strange?"

"Didn't see a thing!" Yan Long scratched his head, clearly just as confused.

"Then this is really weird," Ye Chen scratched his head too, utterly puzzled. He'd only been pretending, but it had led to real deaths—two lives lost.

"Both in Ming Tu, why did they die while you're fine?" The group stared at Ye Chen with wide eyes. "This is unbelievable. Is there some relative of yours in there?"

"Stop joking." Ye Chen narrowed his eyes, fixing them on Ming Tu. This was strangely against all logic, and he couldn't figure out what had given him this privilege to survive.

"Don't come without harm." In the haze, Ye Chen seemed to hear a faint voice, hoarse and ancient, devoid of emotion, like a puppet speaking.

"Who?" Ye Chen whipped around, his words startling the others so much they nearly wet themselves on the spot.

"Scaring us like that—you've got issues!" The group scowled darkly. "We're already on edge, and you pull that? People can actually scare each other to death."

"Didn't you hear a voice?" Ye Chen raised an eyebrow, eyeing the group tentatively.

"Where's the voice? Don't scare us!" They huddled together instinctively, scanning their surroundings. Normally fearless, they now felt a chill on their backs.

"What's going on?" Ye Chen rubbed his head; he'd clearly heard someone speaking.

"Now you're so vulnerable." The faint voice echoed again, making him turn sharply toward the endless Ming Tu. This time, he heard it clearly—it came from inside.

His eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at Ming Tu, but he detected no abnormalities, only that ancient, desolate sound lingering in his ears and mind, carrying an eerie power.

"Let's go, quick! This place is way too creepy." Xiao Yuan Huang was the first to turn and leave.

Kui Niu and the others didn't lag behind, taking a few steps before turning back to drag Ye Chen along.

Ye Chen was a bit on edge, glancing back at Ming Tu even as they pulled him away.

From a distance, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a dreamlike, illusory figure—a graceful woman in white robes, dancing elegantly in Ming Tu. Amid her fluid movements, she even turned back with a smile toward him.

It wasn't until Xiao Yuan Huang and Kui Niu opened a teleportation domain gate that Ye Chen reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

Ming Tu was indeed mysterious, and today's events made it even more so. Four had entered, three had died, only he survived. That faint ancient voice—he could hear it, but Xiao Yuan Huang and the others couldn't. And that dreamlike woman—was it an illusion or real?

Everything was a puzzle, adding another layer of mystery to the already ominous Ming Tu.

The group didn't stop, using the teleportation domain gate to leave the Southern Domain and enter the Western Desert.

Only then did Ye Chen slowly clear his thoughts and smile at Xiao Yuan Huang and the others. "This is far enough. Our earlier farewell doesn't count. Tonight's parting is the real one for us brothers."

"Farewell my foot! We left without planning to go back." Xiao Yuan Huang smoothed his golden fur. "Who knows how many years we'd be sealed away? I'm too smart to waste away like that."

"I, the boss, have decided—we're taking you to roam the world." Kui Niu flung his hair dramatically and struck a pose.

"I have a dream: to win over all the women in the world." Da Di Wu Xiong adjusted his collar with his signature move, speaking profoundly, which drew Chuan Shan Jia, Bei Ming Yu, and Xian Wang He into the moment. The four instantly shifted into bragging mode, looking ready to form a group.

"Can we not talk nonsense?" Ye Chen glanced at the six, feeling an itch to smack them.

"Not nonsense—let's talk about you repaying that debt. We think it's time you paid up."

"Or maybe... let's chat a bit more?"