Chapter 202: The Second Divine Demon Challenges the Everlasting Puppet [Part 2]

The Second Divine Demon Challenges the Everlasting Puppet [Part 2]

Each of them had something.

A reason to move forward.

A person waiting for them.

A goal burning inside their hearts.

Norman had none.

After that night of drinking, the three of them had left Sovereign Blessed Land to seek their own paths.

Only Norman remained.

Lost and adrift...

He had no one waiting for him.

Nothing he had to do.

Nothing he could point toward and say—

That.

That is why I must become stronger.

He was like an orphan carried from the Chaotic Era into this new world.

Like one who had been abandoned.

For a moment, Norman’s mismatched eyes became slightly distant.

Perhaps this was why he had accepted the Patriarch’s arrangement.

If he had no path...

Then he would make one.

If the Patriarch had named him a member of the Salvatore Family’s Rank, perhaps that could count as a path.

If so—

He would walk that path to its very end.

No matter where it led.

No matter how many enemies stood before him.

That was why today had come.

A divine demon standing before Puppet Peak.

"I challenge the Everlasting Puppet to battle!"

Norman spoke softly.

But behind him, the two divine and demonic phantoms roared in unison.

Their cries exploded across the sky.

The clouds themselves were scattered.

The entire Sovereign Blessed Land seemed to tremble beneath their voices.

"Ah! You’ve got it wrong!"

A hurried voice suddenly rang out.

A young woman in green robes appeared before the wooden hut.

She moved quickly, almost stumbling as she positioned herself between Norman and the door.

Her long hair fluttered in the violent pressure.

She clearly understood how dangerous the situation was.

Yet she refused to retreat.

Facing Norman, she seemed flustered.

Her fingers nervously curled against the fabric of her sleeves.

But her gaze remained resolute.

"Norman! You’re mistaken—there’s no Everlasting Puppet here!"

She swallowed.

"This is Puppet Brother’s home. All he does is carve wooden figures and fold paper dolls."

She glanced nervously toward the wooden hut.

"He... he just happens to have carved puppets, so we lovingly call him ’Puppet’—he’s not the First Rank!"

Her voice became quieter.

"Puppet Brother’s cultivation... isn’t even as good as mine..."

The young woman forced herself to stay brave.

The pressure surrounding Norman was frightening.

Yet she stood there anyway.

Norman said nothing.

His gaze merely passed over her.

For an instant, the terrifying aura behind him seemed ready to crush everything.

But then—

It vanished.

He silently diverted his pressure away from her.

The young woman felt the invisible weight disappear from her shoulders.

She breathed out quietly.

She hadn’t even realized she had been holding her breath.

"Sigh—"

Just then, a soft sigh drifted from within the wooden hut.

It was neither loud nor imposing.

Yet the entire atmosphere changed.

The Divine Principle and Demonic Principle seemed to fall silent.

The young woman froze.

Norman’s eyes narrowed.

The old wooden door opened further.

A plainly dressed youth with a wooden expression stepped slowly out.

His clothes were simple.

His hair was slightly messy.

There was nothing extraordinary about his appearance.

No overwhelming aura.

No dazzling phenomenon.

No terrifying pressure.

He looked like someone who could disappear into a crowd and never be noticed.

But the instant he appeared—

Norman’s gaze locked onto him!

The two stared at one another.

For a moment, neither spoke.

The wind passed between them.

A leaf drifted slowly downward.

Then the plainly dressed youth finally sighed again.

"Truth be told, I’m not one for conflict. I don’t have much greed for anything."

His voice was calm.

Almost lazy.

He looked toward Norman.

"All I want is to live well."

He paused.

His eyes moved toward the people gathered around the mountain.

"But some things, you just can’t let go of."

His expression finally became a little more animated.

"The title ’Everlasting Puppet’ was bestowed by the Patriarch himself."

A faint irritation appeared between his brows.

"To be called ’Second Everlasting Puppet’ instead..."

His expression grew more animated as he spoke.

"That doesn’t sound right!"

The crowd fell silent.

The young woman in green stared at him.

"Puppet Brother, you..."

Her eyes widened.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

The brother she had always worried about being bullied—

The quiet man who spent his days carving wooden figures and folding paper dolls—

Was actually the Salvatore Family’s most mysterious...

Most unfathomable...

First Rank!

The surrounding crowd exploded.

"Leandro Salvatore IS the Everlasting Puppet!"

"Good heavens!! How is that possible?! I’ve never even seen him cultivate!"

"Unbelievable!! This is just unbelievable!"

Many who had seen Leandro before cried out in shock.

They had encountered him before.

They had spoken with him.

They had even watched him perform seemingly mundane things.

But nobody had ever connected that harmless-looking youth with the legendary First Rank.

"What? You say he doesn’t cultivate? No—I always see him at the training grounds!"

Someone immediately shouted from the crowd.

Another person scoffed.

"Nonsense. I saw him in the alchemy room. He’s quite amusing."

A third person jumped in.

"Bullshit! Yesterday, I saw him fighting ancient battle souls in the Martial Arts Tower. I tried to talk to him and he ignored me—very aloof!"

The crowd grew increasingly confused.

Everyone had apparently seen a completely different Leandro.

One claimed he trained constantly.

Another claimed he spent his time refining pills.

Someone else insisted he fought ancient battle souls in the Martial Arts Tower.

And yet another person probably had an entirely different story.

Listening to the crowd, Leandro’s personality seemed to be different in everyone’s telling!

The young woman in green looked at him as though she had just met him for the first time.

So this was Puppet Brother?

The quiet man who had never seemed interested in anything?

The person she had secretly worried would one day be bullied by the more aggressive members of the family?

She felt her mind spinning.

Then—

BOOM—RUMBLE!!!