Inside Yu Huai's disquietingly grand hall where a chilly wind and evil aura reigned over everything, Wu Qi and Yu He sat shoulder to shoulder in front of Yu Huai, with the one hundred and eight coffins placed not far away from them. Beneath each of them was a hassock made of Spirit-returning Grass. From time to time, bits of energy would flow into Wu Qi's body from the hassock. It was the favorite thing of the Oracles. The energy produced by the Spirit-returning Grass could effectively slow down the aging of their bodies, as well as counteract the erosive effect due to the evil aura the ghosts and deities had caused to their bodies.
Wu Qi stared blankly at Yu Huai. A gray ball of flame, about the size of a human head, floated in front of him. A few pale bones were slowly melting in the cold flame. Every now and then, Yu Huai would reach his skeletal hand into the flame, gently stroking the bones with his finger to gradually mold them into the shape of little puppets.
There was a total of three pale bone puppets. When they finally took shape, Yu Huai gave Wu Qi a glance and said in a deep voice, "Give me three of your hair!"
Wu Qi hesitated. The Oracles of the human race mastered various cruel arts, and who could tell what Yu Huai wanted his hair for? Even though Princess Zhang Le had inherited the Dao of Ghost and Deity, today's human race had developed countless more violent and ferocious arts, many of which were horrible things that she did not know and could not resolve.
But soon, Wu Qi plucked off three long hairs of his and gave them to Yu Huai. In any case, he was now Yu He's right-hand man, and Yu Huai could not be stupid enough to harm him. On top of that, he found the appearance of the three bone puppets strangely familiar. They should be some instruments of substitution, and not forbidden things that could kill or do harm.
The ferocious-looking Yu Huai took the hairs, brought them before his nose, and gave them a quick sniff. Then, he lifted his head, looked at Wu Qi in astonishment, and said in a hoarse voice, "Amazing! You are so full of blood and energy! Mm, even if you weren't blessed by our Ancestors today, it wouldn't take you long to break through the Nine Stars Realm of the First Pangu Heaven. I am glad that Yu He has found you as his helper!"
Suddenly there were tears of blood trickling down from Yu Huai's eyes, eighteen drops in total. When each drop of the sticky blood fell from his chin, it would fly lightly up and turn into a twisting, black rune that hovered above the three little puppets. As that happened, Yu Huai began to incant some spell under his breath while he tied Wu Qi's hairs to the three puppets. Following that, a jet of gray air towered into the ceiling from behind his back, and a ghostly figure gradually appeared in it while emanating a powerful pressure. Like Yu Huai, the ghost had no flesh, and only a gray skeleton.
As the ghost's hands slowly waved in midair, the runes formed from the eighteen drops of blood suddenly twisted, and soon turned into eighteen little black skulls that flew to the three puppets. Each puppet had six black skulls inserted into their bodies, and their once pale bodies had now turned pitch black. Then, Wu Qi's hairs, which were tied around the puppets, kindled at the same time. A green ghost flame had burned the hairs to ashes, leaving only pale-green marks that spotted the puppets.
After taking a deep breath, Yu Huai continued the chanting as his finger waved again and again over the puppets. Gradually, Wu Qi felt that some unspeakable connection was established between him and the three puppets. He perceived that there was a great evil and fierce force hidden in the three puppets. It felt like a fearsome dragon that was trapped in the ice, as if it could burst out at any time to hurt people.
And, the source of this evil power came from the ghost floating behind Yu Huai. Wu Qi could clearly sense that the ghost possessed the same horrible power as the three puppets. It seemed to him that the three puppets were just three small passages, and the three evil forces in their bodies were just three leads. When the puppets were destroyed, the three passages would be opened immediately to allow the power of the ghosts to appear on the world and strike a fatal blow to some unlucky people.
Yu Huai had finally completed the last step. After the ghost flame between them merged into the puppets, he grabbed the thumb-sized puppets and shoved them into Wu Qi's hands. "Hide them well," he said with a deep laugh. "They are the Soul-grabbing Puppets. If anyone dares to attack you with a spell, they will be attacked by my Prime Ghost, 'Bone Ao', and their souls, flesh, and blood will become food for him."
Wu Qi tightly grasped the three Soul-grabbing puppets, which were actually three life-savers!
He stared at Yu Huai and asked in a deep voice, "Why is Your Excellency so sure that someone will do something to me?"
Yu Huai's neck gave a terrible quack as he cocked his head slightly to one side. "It is not hard to tell that even with my butt," he said with a chuckle. "That old b*stard Yu Miao was brutally beaten by you on the arena, and it is said that you have shattered his treasure of producing offspring. It will be the strangest thing under the heaven if he does not get back at you!"
After letting out a few strange laughs, Yu Huai did not hesitate to tell Wu Qi some things that happened inside the Yu Clan.
Wu Qi's head reeled when he heard the tales. He could guess a lot of messy and nasty things that happened within powerful clans, but what Yu Huai told him was unimaginably queer. It was such a hideous mess that it made Wu Qi be lost in wonder.
Simply put, Yu Mu, the current Clan Leader of the Yu Clan in Zhong Province, was not Yu Miao's blood brother. The two were actually cousins. Yu Mu came from the Yu Clan in Liangzhu, the capital city of Great Yu Dynasty, where the root of the Yu Clan resided. On the other hand, Yu Miao was the lineage son of the Yu Clan in Zhong Province, and he was the eldest son. According to common sense, Yu Miao should be the Clan Leader of the Yu Clan in Zhong Province, as well as the Grand Oracle of the Directorate of Celestials in Zhong Province.
But a long time ago, because of some unknown reason that even Yu Huai could not tell, Yu Mu was suddenly assigned by the Yu Clan in Liangzhu to Zhong Province, to take the place of Yu Miao's father, Yu Lingling, who was the Grand Oracle of Zhong Province at that time. Yu Lingling was seriously wounded during a battle with a Gold Immortal from Heaven, and when he died, Yu Mu immediately took his place and became the ruler of the Yu Clan in Zhong Province.
Besides taking over the position of Grand Oracle in Zhong Province, Yu Mu had even taken over Yu Miao's betrothed, who was still young at that time. As the eldest daughter of a hermit Clan Leader who possessed the bloodline of a God, not only did she represent a powerful force, her blood was bound to have an innate energy that could help a man break through bottlenecks and achieve great power.
Not only had Yu Miao lost his position as the Clan Leader and his prestigious status as the Grand Oracle, even his betrothed had become the wife of another man. Eventually, he broke out in a rage and caused bloodshed. But, under the violent suppression of the Liangzhu Yu Clan, as well as the direct intervention of the hermit Clan Leader, Yu Miao's counterattack ultimately made those members of the Yu Clan who were loyal to him suffer greatly. As a result, he was forced to submit to Yu Mu.
Due to Yu Mu's strong background and suppressive overall strength, Yu Miao had no other choice but to accept the position of Left Minister of Directorate of Celestials in Zhong Province, as well as becoming the Chief Elder of the Yu Clan. No matter whether it was his influence in the clan or the real power he held in Zhong Province, he was losing out to Yu Mu in a big way.
But, after many years of hard work, Yu Miao had eventually grasped a very strong power in the clan. In order to avoid any serious impact on the growth of the Yu Clan in Zhong Province, Yu Mu had made some concessions to Yu Miao from time to time. But, Yu Miao pressed on at every opportunity he found. Although Yu Mu was still sitting safely on his high seat, his descendants were greatly affected.
What upset Yu Mu the most was that his wife, the lady who possessed the bloodline of a God, Yu Huai's mother, was extremely weak in her ability to reproduce. Over the years, Yu Mu and her only had one child, Yu Huai, who was also influenced by his mother's bloodline. He had exhausted all his efforts, and just gave birth to one son, Yu He.
To make things even worse, Yu Mu's wife was the jealous type. If Yu Mu had dared to take in a concubine, the concubine, along with her own clan, would have vanished within three to five days. Therefore, Yu Huai was the only son he had after so many years.
On the other hand, Yu Miao had never stopped taking in wives and concubines. At present, among the second generation clan members, about ten percent were his sons. And, out of the more than one hundred lineage sons of the third generation who had come of age and were of the same generation as Yu He, thirty-seven were Yu Miao's grandsons.
So, even though Yu Mu was still firmly in control of the Yu Clan in Zhong Province, Yu Miao had an overall advantage in the competition among the second and third generation! As a result, Yu Huai and Yu He's power over the Yu Clan was greatly suppressed. And, although they were Yu Mu's own descendants, they were always on the losing side when facing the many brothers and uncles who were from Yu Miao's lineage.
What was more terrifying was that Yu Miao was still producing children to this day! His youngest twin sons were seven months old, and he had several wives and concubines who were pregnant, while his children were working as hard as planting machines. Of all the grandsons he had, more than a dozen of them already had children of their own!
Yu Huai stared at Wu Qi with an odd expression as he mumbled, "It is that old b*stard Yu Miao's proudest achievement in life to overwhelm my father with so many sons and grandsons. Yet, you have crushed his precious balls with one brutal knee strike. That's why I said it's impossible for him not to get back at you! Also, as father is being tolerant of him, it's also quite impossible for father to fall out with him just because of you!"
Wu Qi clicked his tongue, sucked in a cold breath, and said with a bitter smile, "This is to say, I've destroyed Elder Yu Miao's proudest treasure?"
Yu Huai nodded slowly. "You have ruined the last dignity that was left in Elder Yu Miao's life! He may not be so shameless as to kill you himself, but all sorts of retaliation will surely follow. After all, he has so many sons and grandsons!"
After a moment of pondering, Yu Huai said again with a frown, "It's not only his own sons and grandsons. Of all the clan members in outer heavenly realms, most of them are close to him, and will obey his commands. Not considering anything else, there are as many as one hundred Protectors of the Land in outer heavenly realms who are from the Yu Clan, and control more than hundreds of thousands of soldiers, as well as many formidable experts!"
Yu He suddenly raised his head and said angrily, "Father, how can we just let that old b*stard keep pushing and scheming against us, and yet we are not allowed to counterattack? Until now, father has no real power in the clan, and it was only until the year before the last that I was finally appointed as a county Grand Oracle... If this situation continues, what will be our position in the clan when grandfather passes away?"
Yu Huai frowned as his face darkened.
Wu Qi stuck out his chest and said with a haughty smile, "Don't be worried, Your Excellency Yu Huai! Just let them have their revenge! I have no fear of them!"
But before his words could fade, one of the three little puppets he had suddenly melted down in silence.