Chapter 29 Puppetry

The slightly damp underground cell was filled with the aroma of burning herbs. Luo Xuanyi instinctively began to analyze the herb and discovered it was Xuandu moss, used to refine healing medicine. In the semi-darkness of the iron cell, the panting of people and the subtle rustling of clothes created a strong sense of oppression.

The iron cells all looked similar, but one caught Luo Xuanyi's attention. It was the one closest to the underground prison gate, and it was the only one without the Xuandu moss burning in the corner. A closer look revealed that the person inside was different from the others, with a strange dullness and stiffness.

It's a bit like an enlarged version of a mechanical puppet.

Chen Rong smiled and said, "It should be said that the mechanical puppets are smaller versions of them. These people were sent from Huaxue Ridge. They were originally used to refine a puppet technique. After the failure, there was no way to deal with them, so they could only be made into mechanical puppets. That's why they are divided into these."

"There's no way to deal with it? Can't these people try the medicine?"

"No, they are already just walking corpses with only shells left. It is said that this puppetry was modified by True Lord Beilian. Their souls had already dissipated before they were sent here. The only benefit is that their bodies can remain in the world for a long time."

After hearing Chen Rong's words, Luo Xuanyi had a flash of inspiration in her mind. To seize this hint, she quickly said, "Since these people are only used to refine puppets, can you give one of them to me? I also want to try to refine mechanical puppets."

Chen Rong shrugged and agreed immediately, "The people in the underground prison are originally provided for cultivation. If you need to refine medicine, just let me know and I will send them directly there. If you want to refine a mechanical puppet, I will also send it along with the array talisman paper and so on."

"No need to send them to the Zhaojian Palace, just send them to my villa down the mountain," Luo Xuanyi said excitedly. Eager to study these puppets, she decided to go into the dungeon and select them herself. There were some differences among the thirty-two figures. Some had only one arm left, while others had intact torsos but signs of decay around their hearts. After carefully selecting a figure with all four limbs intact, Luo Xuanyi remembered her original purpose for today.

"Oh, right, Master wants me to learn alchemy. I want to watch the furnace being made and learn..." Before she could finish, Chen Rong immediately responded with a solemn expression upon hearing the word "Master." "Shall I send the furnace over right now, or to the other courtyard?"

Luo Xuanyi thought for a moment and shook her head: "Send the alchemy furnace to Zhaojian Palace."

Chen Rong quickly made preparations, and then another Danxin Pavilion disciple, Li Li, came to deliver the blueprints. He tied a rope around the puppet's waist and followed Luo Xuanyi to drag the puppet to the villa at the foot of the mountain. He turned around and left, very silent.

Luo Xuanyi didn't care about these things. She immediately closed the door and carefully examined the puppet before her. It was a girl, approximately ten years old. Due to the puppetry, her body had been partially deformed. Her face and right leg were completely swollen and distorted. Her skin was a pale bluish-white. Through Luo Xuanyi's eyes, she could see a complete network of light veins radiating faintly throughout her body.

To test the truth of Chen Rong's words, Luo Xuanyi first took out a small knife used to cut herbs and gently scratched the puppet's arm, leaving no mark. He continued to increase his strength, but still couldn't scratch even a white mark on the skin. Luo Xuanyi then took out an iron hammer, but even with the Iron Transformation Technique applied to it, the puppet remained motionless despite repeated blows.

An eternal body, an indestructible appearance. Perhaps this is the key to escaping this ephemeral body!

The light disappeared in the sleeves. Luo Xuanyi immediately took off her clothes to see more carefully. She picked up a pen and paper and began to draw carefully. She looked up from time to time to see if the light had changed. Fortunately, the light seemed to be fixed.

Dozens of blueprints were destroyed. The setting sun shone through the window lattice. Four hours had passed before Luo Xuanyi finally put down her pen, stretched, and exhaled, looking with satisfaction at the intricate blueprint in her hands. These rays were the final manifestation of the puppetry technique, which altered the puppet's properties. Theoretically, even if one didn't understand all the basic principles, possessing such a blueprint and adjusting one's spiritual energy according to it could transform a person into a puppet. But that wasn't how it worked. Luo Xuanyi had no whimsical ambition to transform herself with this blueprint; she wanted to explore the strengths and weaknesses of puppetry.

Putting the blueprint away for the moment, Luo Xuanyi unfolded the talisman paper used to craft the mechanical puppet and examined it closely. The ochre-colored talisman paper was slender, like a belt, approximately three feet long and five inches wide. It was painted with alternating cinnabar and a distinctive red ink, a pattern resembling a man being torn apart. Luo Xuanyi tried to copy the pattern with ordinary paper and pen, but after finishing the last stroke, the paper spontaneously combusted. Unable to record it with pen and paper, Luo Xuanyi memorized the talisman paper, tucking it into her sleeve.

Replacing her body was something she had been considering for a long time. This body had been riddled with holes from the initiations and drug testing. It wouldn't collapse because of the Buzhou shield, but she knew her own body well. Furthermore, the Buzhou was only a magical weapon given to her by Taoist Hua Shen. There was no telling if Taoist Hua Shen would detect her attempts to escape and reclaim it. If she was caught off guard, she might collapse into a pool of drug liquid before she could even react.

Indeed, Luo Xuanyi had long sought an opportunity to escape, at least from Ruoyu Peak. This place was a veritable killing ground. Through the special vision she had gained after her initiation, she could see that everywhere was crowded with souls, unable to disperse. According to the book she had read from Taoist Hua Shen, before the ghost realm existed, humans could reincarnate. However, after the ghost realm emerged, those who died and could not enter it were forced to wander the mortal world. With luck, they might suddenly awaken and encounter an opportunity to become a ghost cultivator. With bad luck, they would be captured and used to refine magical tools and instruments.

Staying here, she was not born with a poisonous body like Su Yang, nor was she narcissistic enough to think that she could impress Taoist Hua Shen and make him stay. No matter how she thought about it, it would only lead to death.

However, the current known shortcomings of puppetry were too fatal. While the bodies of these puppets would endure, their souls would dissipate, which, for her, would be death. Therefore, the soul issue must be resolved. However, Luo Xuanyi had a concern: the puppet before her looked very different from the ones she had seen in the classics.

Ancient texts record a form of puppetry that involved forging a pair of blood relatives together, one becoming a puppet and the other a soul-calling bell. The puppet would obey only the commands of the soul-calling bell, bearing a unique mark imprinted with the bell. While the puppets forged in this way could not perform delicate feats, they would expand several times in size, possessing strength exceeding ten thousand pounds, and be invulnerable to swords, spears, water, or fire. Their only weakness was that if the soul-calling bell were broken, the puppet could no longer be summoned.

If True Lord Bei Lian wanted to refine puppetry, he should have also refined the Soul Summoning Bell. However, the puppet he sent had no trace of the Soul Summoning Bell. Perhaps he was trying to make improvements, just like Taoist Hua Shen?

A puppet was modified that could obey orders and respond even without the soul-calling bell, as if it still had a soul.

It was still early in the morning, and thinking of Shen Ranming who was staying in the Weird Weapon Pavilion, Luo Xuanyi made up her mind to go to Huaxue Ridge to investigate.