The wind had changed.
Qi Shan Wei felt it immediately as he stepped down from the summit of Cloudpierce Peak. What should have been a cool mountain breeze now carried something thin, sharp — a hidden blade wrapped in air.
Drakonix, perched on his shoulder, growled low.
Ling Xueyao's steps slowed as she narrowed her eyes at the swirling mist. "Something is wrong."
Elder Lu gripped his staff. "Yes. The mountain feels… hostile."
Behind them, Jin Wei followed silently. His heavy armored footsteps echoed with metallic weight, each thud like a war drum beating a warning.
Thud.Thud.Thud.
Qi Shan Wei paused and turned back.
"Jin Wei," he called softly. "Activate detection mode. Scan the surroundings."
Jin Wei's crimson core dimmed, then brightened in a pulsing rhythm. Runes along his cracked armor flickered.
"Hostile life signatures detected."
Ling Xueyao's hand went instantly to her sword.
"How many?" Shan Wei asked.
Jin Wei's head turned slightly.
"Seven. Concealed. Approaching rapidly."
The words struck like thunder.
Elder Lu paled. "So soon…!"
Drakonix hissed, tiny flames dancing along his feathers.
Shan Wei exhaled slowly.
He could run.He could hide.He could panic.
But instead — he stepped forward.
"Form a defensive circle," he said, voice steady."Xueyao with me. Jin Wei behind us. Elder Lu guard the rear."
Ling Xueyao's eyes flickered — a faint gleam of respect.
"You're calm," she murmured.
Qi Shan Wei nodded once. "Panic helps no one."
The Mist Thickens
Fog swirled unnaturally, coiling around them like serpents.The air grew colder.The voices of birds and insects vanished entirely.
Then—
A whisper.
Not spoken.
Hissed.
"Kill the boy before he grows…"
Drakonix screeched, sparks flaring.Ling Xueyao unsheathed her frost-sword, ice qi spreading like a silver mist.
"That voice…" Lu whispered. "Not human."
Shadows moved.
Seven silhouettes emerged — each wearing ragged cloaks stitched with puppet wire, their faces covered by cracked metal masks shaped vaguely like beasts.
Their eyes glowed with eerie green light.
Shan Wei froze.
He recognized the aura in a heartbeat.
"Puppet Hunters."
Elder Lu cursed violently. "Not them! Anyone but them!"
Ling Xueyao frowned. "You know them?"
"They once hunted divine puppets, ancient guardians… constructs like Jin Wei." Lu spat. "Their clan was banished centuries ago for tearing apart Primordial Constructs to steal their cores."
One hunter stepped forward, head tilting unnaturally.
His voice scraped like rusted gears.
"The Golden Guardian has awakened.The boy must die."
Jin Wei stepped forward without needing an order.
"Hostile intent confirmed. Target designation: unacceptable."
The hunters stiffened.
One whispered, trembling with morbid awe:
"It really kneels to him…"
Another hissed:"If a child commands Jin Wei… the future will burn us all."
The leader raised a serrated blade made of puppet bone.
"Kill the boy."
The mist exploded.
The Ambush Begins
The seven hunters moved all at once — silent, swift, unnatural.
One leapt directly at Shan Wei—
Jin Wei blurred.
Despite his size, he moved faster than lightning.
CLANG!
His blade-arm smashed the attacker midair and sent the puppet hunter crashing into a boulder, shattering it instantly.
Another hunter appeared behind Shan Wei—
Ling Xueyao stepped in front of him, sword flashing with frost.
"Frozen Veil!"
A wall of ice erupted, blocking the strike.
Drakonix shot a burst of prismatic flame that forced two attackers to leap backward.
Qi Shan Wei's mind raced.
Seven enemies.All fast.All trained to kill people like him.
He felt fear.
But leadership wasn't the absence of fear.
It was the ability to speak through it.
"Jin Wei, guard Xueyao's left.""Drakonix — target their joints when they leap.""Elder Lu — suppress their movement with vine formations!"
The team moved instantly.
A hunter lunged for Shan Wei—
Jin Wei intercepted, slamming his fist into the ground. A golden shockwave blasted outward, knocking two hunters off their feet.
Drakonix darted forward, wings flaring.
FI-CHIIIR!A tiny prismatic fireball hit a hunter's knee joint.
The metal melted.
He collapsed with a scream.
Ling Xueyao's sword slashed through another attacker, frost sealing his limbs in ice.
Elder Lu stabbed his staff into the soil.
"Binding Vines!"
Green energy erupted, vines from the ground restraining the last two hunters.
Qi Shan Wei exhaled shakily.
We're winning…
Until—
A cold chill swept the entire mountain path.
The mist darkened.
A deeper presence… stepped through.
Someone far stronger.
Someone who wasn't supposed to be alive.
The Puppet Hunters froze and bowed.
"Master…"
Out of the fog walked a tall figure draped in torn black robes.His mask was not cracked metal —it was pure gold.
Jin Wei's core flickered violently.
Ling Xueyao stepped closer to Shan Wei, icy aura rising like a protective storm.
Drakonix pressed against Shan Wei's neck, feathers trembling.
Elder Lu's voice broke.
"No…This can't be…He was supposed to be dead—"
Qi Shan Wei whispered:
"…Who is that?"
Lu swallowed hard.
"The last leader of the Puppet Hunter Clan."
His voice trembled.
"A Supreme Puppeteer…who once disassembled a Divine Realm guardian alone."
The golden-masked figure raised his hand.
"Qi Shan Wei," he said softly.Calmly.As if already bored.
"Give me Jin Wei."
His next words cut through the mist like a blade:
"Or die here."
To be continued..
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