A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

The intervention by the Sentient Fiends came at the right time.

The six demon bears stood again after they were completely healed and recovered. Their eyes were clearer, their pain dulled.

Then each of them was handed a glowing bottle by the respective Sentient Fiends assigned to them—a special berserker potion.

This berserker potion formula had been created by Aksai using concepts from the Heretic Dao.

The potion helped the woodland demon bears tap into their natural berserker forms with an even greater power boost than what their late parents had received naturally when they fought against the Verdant Elder.

At the same time, the potion helped minimize the side effects once the burnout kicked in. Aksai had already tested the potions on the demon bears and adjusted the formula to suit their current conditions and constitutions.

It was important to note that these berserker potions could only be consumed by the woodland demon bears, as their bodies had been enhanced using Qi-based methods. If any ordinary demon bear were to drink them, they would implode.

The woodland bears were already familiar with the potions at this point. They drank them as soon as they were handed over, without hesitation.

Their bodies trembled as their muscles swelled and their auras surged. A red tint appeared in their eyes, and the Spirit essence around them boiled like hot steam.

Their Qi essence was stirred as well. Their natural berserker instincts had been awakened.

But this time, the madness was controlled.

Thanks to the potion, they kept their minds clear—ready to return to battle, stronger, faster, and more dangerous than ever before.

Unlike their late parents, who lost their sense of reason in their berserker states, the woodland demon bears maintained their sanity. The transformation no longer impaired their decision-making.

Aksai had observed how the Verdant Elder once turned the natural berserker states of the demon bears against them. Even though Aksai saw the value in the raw power and stat boosts granted by berserker transformations, their agitation, poor judgment in battle, and the severe burnout afterward were clear weaknesses.

So, he had decided to fix those flaws using the special berserker potions.

The potions allowed the demon bears to stay rational during combat, reduced the negative side effects, and even increased the stat boosts compared to the natural transformation.

Aksai had used rare resources he cultivated from both Spirit and Qi civilizations within the Enchanted Everwood Farm to concoct the special berserker potion.

As such, only he could produce these potions in the Dandagar Subcontinent.

***

Meanwhile on the sect elders' side.

The four sect elders stood with tired breaths and tattered robes. Blood stained their arms and sides. Cuts and bruises covered their skin. But they had no time to rest. Eight Sentient Scarecrow Fiends were on them—two for each elder.

Aksai could have assigned more Sentient fiends per sect elder. However, doing that would have put a strain on the sect elders, making them more prone to injuries and exhaustion than intended.

After all, Aksai wanted to train his woodland demon bear captains by making them confront the sect elders. He didn't want to weaken the sect elders too much by making them face too many enemies in a short time.

The first sect elder cursed under his breath as he blocked a downward strike from a scarecrow's wooden scythe. "Damn these freaks! How many more are we supposed to fight?!"

The second sect elder, limping from a deep thigh wound, gritted his teeth. "This is madness. We're being bled dry!"

The puppets moved strangely. Their limbs were stiff and jerky, but their attacks came fast and precise. They didn't show pain. They didn't retreat. They didn't stop.

This was a special batch of fiends Aksai had made especially to train the woodland demon bears. They were more ferocious than his regular puppets.

These puppets also had reduced "shelf life". They were difficult to control as well because they didn't have much residual soul essences embedded in them. It was also difficult for them to follow complex commands.

Their Qi-based body strengthening was also not up to the mark. One could only compare their current mortal forms with a very weak and newbie Argent Body practitioner from Sharang. The only real advantage the puppets unlocked by receiving Qi-based strengthening was near instantaneous recovery speeds even from the most serious injuries. It turned them into durable meat shields.

As for their Aether-based strengthening– it was only to incorporate a much downgraded variant of subroutine neural link fabric.

However, these puppets made up for their shortcomings by being suicidal enthusiasts. They were the kind of soldiers every general could only hope to get in any battle.

Thus, it was only natural that the four sect elders found it difficult to deal with Aksai's puppets even though they were individually much stronger than their opponents. What were they supposed to do when the puppets didn't even wait for them to finish their elemental Spirit spells, attacking abruptly without caring about their well being? And they would recover from any injuries within a short time.

The third sect elder grunted, raising a wind barrier. "It's no use killing these puppets. They are already half dead. They're only trying to wear us down!"

One of the scarecrows lashed a whip-like vine through the barrier, slamming into his chest and knocking the breath out of him. He staggered but managed to hold his ground.

The fourth sect elder, the only woman among them and their mission leader, flicked two talismans forward. "No more complaining. Focus!" Her voice was sharp and full of determination. "Also, try to conserve your strength as much as you can. If we overwork ourselves fighting these puppets, we will be playing into that man's hands."

She froze two scarecrows charging at her and shattered one with a precise strike to its glowing core. The second one lunged. She stepped back and blasted it apart with a controlled arc of lightning.

The fourth sect elder had seen through Aksai's plan to use them as training partners for the woodland demon bears. The only way for her to get out of the trouble she had landed herself in was to target Aksai himself.

After Aksai revealed his trump cards, she had clear insight and a good plan. The problem was with the execution.