3 Wait, am I a pill?
As Puppet Godfather got close to the golden skeleton, he stopped his steps a few feet away from it.
He was a being who had lived for thousands of years and only survived until now because he was very cautious in his actions.
A green light flashed in his eyes as he used a wisp of spiritual sense to analyze the ancient skeleton.
Up until then, he and the other two passed through numerous life-threatening traps before they arrived at that cave.
In fact, there were dozen of people just like him who entered those ancient ruins. Yet, only the three of them managed to get to the end alive.
Therefore, he was very wary of the suspicious skeleton. What if it was a trap? Or it had some ancient deadly curse?
Yet, after passing his spiritual sense throughout every inch of it, he left out a sigh of relief.
There was nothing out of place with the bones or the eye-catching jade box.
As so, Puppet Godfather did not hesitate to grab hold of the white jade box with a sway of his hand.
With the box in hands, he once more left out a deep, long laugher.
Finally! After so much sweat and blood shredded, he managed to get his hands on a Primordial Soul Pill!
One had to know he had searched for it for almost three thousand years!
And now, with its aid, he would be the first cultivator since the ancient times to step into the Heavenly Ascension Realm!
By then, he would be a god, and his lifespan would know no limits! He would single-handly reign the Earthly Plane! There would even be a chance for him to ascend to the higher realm.
Yet, in his thoughts, it was better to rule the countryside than serve the emperor. So he would stay down there and engulf himself in forever pleasures!
After daydreaming for a bit, Puppet Godfather finally managed to calm down his mind and focus in the jade box in front of him.
Throwing his crane to the ground, he summoned some dark-green flames on his vacant hand.
Then with a hand-seal, the flames flew to the box's lit and began to burn up the golden seals.
Meanwhile, inside the box, Mark was freaking out. He had heard everything the puppet man had said and could feel the space around him moving and getting hotter.
"What is a Primordial Soul Pill!? I'm no pill! There must have been a mistake here!"
By then, after hearing all the talk about immortality and stuff, Mark had finally gotten to a seemly unthinkable conclusion. Somehow, after eating that strange white orb, he must have died and reincarnated in another world!
He got to that crazy conclusion after remembering the wuxia novels he used to read as a kid. Things like reincarnation, cultivation, and immortals were recurrent in those childish stories!
From all of what he had read, when a soul reincarnated in another world, it would take another body. Yet, his case seemed different from those stories! At the moment, all led him to conclude that he was a pill now! And a very OP one at that!
"Wait, if that's true, it means I'm going to get refined and killed by someone! Ohhh! How the Heavens can be so unjust, to have me reincarnate and die short after!!"
As so, Mark thought he was doomed. He was a legendary pill stuck inside some dark container without even a chance to move. It was over! It was all over! He was going to die right away when the puppet guy opened that place!
While Mark was having a dramatic existential crisis, Puppet Godfather was melting away the last golden seals with his dark-green flames.
Seconds later, a click sound came from the box lit as the last golden line smelted away.
Puppet Godfather had an excited expression on his face as he was about to open the box.
The lit slowly lifted until a milky-white luster leaked out, revealing a thumb-sized pellet.
Yet, the moment the pill unveiled itself to Puppet Godfather, a loud explosion came from behind him.
An azure flash shot at the hand he was holding the jade box with. At the same moment, a ball of purple flames flew in his head direction.
Without time to dodge both attacks, he chose to keep his life. In a flash, the jade box went flying to the ground.
The puppet man quickly turned around. On his back, the demonic man and the old swordsman were standing side by side.
They seemed to have made a temporary agreement to fight Puppet Godfather together. Floating above them were the black banner and nine flying swords.
Also, their faces appeared very drained. And if one looked closely, they would see that half of the banner's skull were in pieces. As for the swords, one of them was missing, and the rest were dim.
Yet, the two puppets that locked them down were laying lifelessly near the cave's wall.
It was clear that the two had sacrificed a large part of their magical treasure's power to escape the puppet's gasp.
"Hehehe! If its a fight to death you want, a fight to death it is!"
Having said so, Puppet Godfather fetched his crane from the ground. Then, holding it in front of his body with his two hands, he began to chant in an ancient language.
Seeing the puppet man's movement, the other two immediately launched two powerful attacks at him. First, the big demonic banner spat out a great ball of flames, which transformed into a giant skull.
And what followed were nine slashes of azure energy. They seemed to fuse, taking the form of an azure lotus.
Yet, when the two powerful attacks were about to strike, Puppet Godfather finally finished his chant.
His crane began to grow countless green vines. In a second, they had already wrapped up into a giant green being.
Standing in front of Puppet Godfather, the green giant received both attacks unmoved. Yet, both his hands received considerable damage.
However, seconds later, the destructed parts began to regrow at a visible pace.
"Let's see how both fellow daoists do against my Undying Swamp Puppet!"
"Let's attack now! That old fart isn't joking! That cursed beast really has an undying body! An ancestor of my Yin Clan once fought this freak and came out with grave injuries!"
After the demonic man said so, the duo did not hesitate to launch multiple attacks. Therefore, the three cultivators began a fierce battle.
As the two magical treasures held the green puppet in a stalemate, the duo used the chance to attack Puppet Godfather directly.
Yet, the old puppet man's apparent weakness was just a facade. After cultivating for god knows how much time, he had already cultivated to the limits of his Broken Heavenly Puppet Art!
His whole body was as durable as magical treasures, and it seemed he did not feel pain.
That ordinary crane of his multiplicated into four as two additional arms suddenly grew from his back. Each one of them wielded a crane that now had become notably sharp.
Therefore, as the three powerful beings fought a bloody battle, a faint white sphere was crawling by the side of the cave.
Every time some missed energy attack came in its direction, it would give a little leap forward in a panicked manner.
That thump-sized orb was none other than Mark in his new pill body!
After he fell out of the jade box, he discovered something life-changing!
Even as a pill, he seemed to have some strange mental energy that allowed him to move around!
Discovering such a magnificent piece of news, the first thing that came to his mind was to escape!
At first, when he saw those three men throwing some shiny energy balls around, together with some mysterious flying swords, the banner, and the green giant, curiosity struck him.
Yet, when a loose attack wrecked a large hole in the wall beside him, his survival instincts kicked in, and he immediately began his slow escape.
By now, he already had a plan for his escape! Every time he activated his strange mental energy to the maximum, his pill-body seemed to become ethereal. It was like he became a vague mist.
As such, a crazy idea struck him! What if he tried to possess the body was one of those puppets in his mist form?
As things were going, he did not have any other better idea, so it was worth giving it a try. Based on the novels he read as a child, there was a possibility it would work!
Then, as the fight went on, the little white orb slowly got to the male puppet, unnoticed by the three powerful beings.
Rolling slowly, he finally got to the puppet's head. Gazing at the handsome vessel, Mark was delighted. Although he was not ugly in his past life, with that body, he would be quite a savage back on Earth.
Yet, the moment he began to concentrate his mysterious mental energy, something unexpected happened!
Out of nowhere, a large ball of purple flames came in flying. It hit the male puppet flying. Also, the powerful attack had hit its legs directly.
Before, when the puppet man was controlling it with his energy, that attack would result in almost nothing.
However, without the protection of any energy, its legs were burnt to oblivion.
"NOOOOOOO! MY PERFECT BODY! MY DREAMS!" For a second, Mark had a mental breakdown seeing his perfect vessel made useless.
However, it served as a warning for him! He had to possess a vessel and get out of there the fastest possible!
Then, he turned around and gazed at the nearby yellow-dressed girl.
"At least I'll be a gorgeous girl for some time..." Mark thought to himself in self-mockery.
