Chapter 1521 - 1079: Each Field Has Its Own Mastery (Part 2)
But she quickly realized—among the tens of thousands of abandoned puppets strewn across the mountains, there were actually still souls sealed inside them! Their puppet bodies had lost their power source, yet the souls were still alive, alone, and enduring...
They put themselves in that position and imagined: their own souls, obviously able to think and have ideas, yet forced to be trapped forever in a puppet body that could never move again.
How hopeless that would be!
Fortunately, there was this Lord City Lord, who had somehow used some unknown method to gather the trapped souls together and jointly forge a city like a Peach Blossom Spring.
No wonder the boatman didn’t take money, that girl gave up being a cultivator to be a mere fisherman, and those cultivators who clearly had no Spiritual Power yet could still use Sword Flight—in the end it was only a dream, so of course there were endless "resources" to squander.
They were all living souls who had been sealed and then abandoned, who could only pretend they were still alive and still free in this way!
Only now did they also understand—when Niu the boatman mentioned the Eldest Sister Wang who had once lived under the sea, because her memories were so blurred she couldn’t restore the true appearance of life on the seabed, she couldn’t have her wish fulfilled and could only live in the city making fish and meat soup.
It seemed that if her memories had been clear, Lord City Lord would have been able to use her own abilities to help her relive scenes of life under the sea.
"Th-those little children..." Yun Shu thought of the little girl and her companions.
The boys and girls were all only four or five years old, so young, yet their souls had already been sealed into puppet bodies! The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it was—just what kind of Puppet Master could be this vicious!
𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
Yan Zheng turned her sharp gaze toward Yun Shu and Yun Ying, sized them up for a moment, then her eyes lit up as she said, "You two are puppets as well?"
Then she shook her head. "No, you’re not puppets from the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect. The puppet body refining technique of the girl on the left is somewhat similar to that of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect; the one on the right, whether the materials or the craftsmanship, is relatively inferior."
The little children you mentioned just now—their origins are actually not the worst.
Most are children from somewhat powerful mortal families who fell ill, had no medicine that could cure them, and were about to die young. Their families couldn’t bear to lose them, and since they had money and connections, they sought cultivators from the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect, who drew out their souls and sealed them into puppets.
However, gaining a puppet body is like gaining a warped sort of immortality.
The parents’ love for their children might indeed continue, but once their parents, relatives, and siblings all grow old and die, once the children of their siblings, even their grandchildren, all die of old age, they themselves are still childish-looking puppets.
After too long a time with no one left to support them, these puppet children—who were never of much use to begin with—are eliminated and thrown into the dump. Heh! Those utterly deranged Puppet Masters of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect would never care what becomes of the souls they’ve sealed.
In their eyes, uselessness is a sin, and being discarded is what you deserve."
Yun Shu thought of when she had just arrived at the little courtyard, living every day in fear, most afraid of being "useless."
For a puppet, being useless meant being dismantled and thrown away. The parts could be recycled and refined again, but the soul would become worthless trash, left to live or die on its own.
Mr. Jiang had spent a long time helping her overcome that fear carved deep into her bones. Hearing the City Lord’s words now, she instantly felt once more that sensation of her body bound, unable to decide for herself, facing at any moment the terror of being abandoned, and couldn’t help shivering.
"You talk first, I’ll go deal with the one outside." Jiang Yuan had already prepared the Array he’d traded from Du Li, opened the door, stepped out, then closed the door behind him.
As the doors of Anping Hall shut, the boundless darkness under his Earth Mirror Book Passive Skills instantly shifted its scene.
The green mountains, clear waters, and bustling city vanished; in their place rose hills formed entirely of piled-up puppets, undulating one after another. The huge black shadow that had been furiously pounding on the door a moment ago also revealed its true form—a mass of pale gray Demonic Energy compressed together.
There was an Array blocking the outer edge, so the invading Demonic Energy wasn’t much in quantity.
Without more Energy to support it, it would be hard to completely corrode the countless puppets spread across the mountains, each crafted with superior Refining Materials and inherently suffused with dense Spiritual Energy.
City Lord Yan Zheng had racked her brains to temporarily bind it, only then presenting such a stark contrast in front of Jiang Yuan, a scene that could be grasped at a glance.
To be honest, this looked exactly like the Strange Tales he had read as a child.
A traveling scholar encounters a manor on a desolate mountain at night, spends a tender night with a girl in the manor, only to wake and discover he is lying among mass graves in the wild hills.
Right now he was like that scholar who wandered into an uncanny realm. Though there were no rosy sleeves and sweet fragrances, when he entered it was like a Peach Blossom Spring; when he stepped out and saw its true face, it was as if he were standing in a field of mass graves.
Puppets missing arms and legs were everywhere, yet their appearances were disturbingly lifelike; just looking at them triggered his uncanny valley response.
The bound Demonic Energy "moved with difficulty," coiling around a puppet with only an upper body, trying to corrode it. Sealed within this puppet was the soul he had just seen in Anping Hall—Qin Suyang, a young man who looked to be in his twenties.
Facing a mass of energy, Jiang Yuan thought about it and realized he really didn’t have any Magical Treasure that could collect it.
So, he clicked to summon Guest Cang Lingdong.
A few seconds later, the progress bar finished, and Pavilion Master Cang, suddenly summoned, stood before him, utterly confused. He then came to his senses and bowed. "Mr. Jiang, for what matter have you called me?"
"Might I trouble Pavilion Master Cang to refine away this Demonic Energy?" He pointed at that not-so-large mass of Demonic Energy and said helplessly, "This Secret Realm has been invaded by Demonic Energy, and for the moment I really don’t have a way to deal with it. I can only trouble you to make a trip."