Chapter 110 If she bets right, she can turn her life around...
The cold, sharp light, like a frosty crescent moon, swept through the air, cutting through gold and jade, and reflected in Lu Yuanyuan's pupils as if in slow motion.
The room was too cramped, and she couldn't dodge in time. She clearly saw a bright killing intent flash in Yin Xiaozhu's eyes as he turned around and kicked the table against the wall.
The solid, square wooden table, which would require two people to lift off the ground, now seemed like a weightless building block beneath Yin Xiaozhu's feet.
Crackling sound—bang!
The wooden table slammed into Duan Lansheng head-on, shattering into pieces in the air; the sharp sword wind even severed a strand of hair. The next instant, a tall figure swiftly emerged from the flying fragments, their lights colliding violently.
The battle between the Golden Core cultivators shook the earth. The already flimsy little house was about to crumble like building blocks, a large hole appeared in the roof, and the battlefield shifted outside, their movements almost invisible to the naked eye.
The sword's wind swept down grass and trees, uprooting nearby large trees, and sending mud and dust flying into the air.
Taking advantage of the fact that the two were fighting and couldn't pay attention to her, Lu Yuanyuan struggled to get up.
She had just fallen backward onto the ground, and the dizziness from the heavy blow to her head had not yet subsided. Her fingers gripped the bed tightly, and she slid down to the floor quickly. Her knees buckled, and she almost knelt on the ground.
The room looked as if it had been ransacked by robbers. Her gaze swept across the mess on the floor, and soon she saw a box pressed under the collapsed table.
With trembling hands, Lu Yuanyuan put on her shoes, walked along the wall, picked up the box from the ground, and put it into her bosom.
It's like searching high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly.
The box had been safely in Yin Xiaozhu's hands; she had just been thinking about how to trick him into getting it. But when she entered and saw Yin Xiaozhu fall, Yin Xiaozhu seemed to be in a hurry to help her up, and then she invaded her consciousness, throwing her into a state of confusion. Immediately afterward, Duan Lansheng rushed in, so much so that he didn't have time to pick up the box when it fell.
Although she didn't know how Duan Lansheng had found her, now wasn't the time to think about that. In fact, she was quite happy to see the two of them fighting like dogs, battling to the death.
Now that we have the box, it's time to escape.
The thing in the box was clearly a plant from the cultivation world. Even a fool would know that leaving it in the cultivation world would give her a better chance of finding out what it was. However, now, besides going to the mortal realm, she really had nowhere better to hide from the limelight.
In the current situation, it won't benefit her regardless of who wins.
If Yin Xiaozhu wins, she will remain his prisoner. Moreover, he has just discovered her secret, and she is unsure how he will treat her.
If Duan Lansheng wins, she will definitely be taken back to Shushan for interrogation, and she will certainly suffer a bad outcome and be punished.
Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best. Escaping to the mortal realm is the only option left by desperation.
All the considerations were completed in a flash. Lu Yuanyuan put away the box, suppressed the dizziness and nausea, and quickly walked out of the hut. Looking around, she realized that this was indeed not the Spirit Treasure Secret Realm.
This place should have been a flat woodland, but now the ground has been blasted into large craters by the two men. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the blast radius avoided her small cabin. Amidst the chaos, only this cabin barely retained its original shape.
Besides Duan Lansheng, she couldn't see any other people from Mount Shu. Did he come all this way alone?
The cold wind made her feverish brain feel even dizzier. Lu Yuanyuan gritted her teeth and, using the woods as cover, ran away. She had only run a few dozen meters when she suddenly heard a cracking sound in the air behind her.
Lu Yuanyuan turned around and was stunned.
In the Spirit Treasure Secret Realm, she suspected that Yin Xiaozhu had killed True Person Xugu, which was why she had sword wounds all over her body that looked like those inflicted by a Golden Core cultivator.
Although his skin and flesh had healed along the way, he had been injured by a master of considerable skill, and it wouldn't be so easy for him to recover so quickly in just a few days. Facing the ever-approaching Duan Lansheng, Yin Xiaozhu was also more disheveled than usual. As the battlefield expanded, the bloodstains on his clothes seemed to increase as well. Suddenly, spiritual energy surged into his body, and his snake tail slammed into the ground, tearing his clothes apart and revealing a strong, muscular male body.
Duan Lansheng's sword tip visibly paused for a moment, as if in disbelief, and he shouted sharply, "Who exactly are you?!"
The eldest sister of Mount Shu could have anything happen to her, but it's impossible that she has a snake tail and is a man.
The response he received was a heavy slam of the snake's tail down on his front. At the same time, the villager who had been lying motionless on the ground, who had been being manipulated, suddenly leaped up like a puppet and joined the fray, launching an attack on Duan Lansheng. Although every move he made was ruthless and fierce, his head remained limply hanging down, clearly showing a lack of self-awareness.
This bizarre scene unfolded before his eyes, and Duan Lansheng pursed his lips, seemingly unsurprised. However, he appeared unwilling to harm innocent villagers, and his attacks became much more restrained.
Lu Yuanyuan's heart skipped a beat the moment she saw the snake's tail.
She knew Yin Xiaozhu too well. Even if he hadn't originally intended to kill Duan Lansheng here, he would definitely have done so after being forced to release his snake tail. But she had just learned her lesson and knew that, under the protection of the plot, the male lead of "The Enchanting Fairy Tale" could not be completely defeated.
She had already guessed the outcome of this round, and she had very little time left to escape.
While the two were still locked in a stalemate, she used both hands and feet to painstakingly climb up the hillside, only to hear the whooshing sound of swords flying through the air. Startled, Lu Yuanyuan hurriedly hid in the bushes and saw many familiar figures landing nearby on their swords, and heard their voices.
"Master! This way! Lan Sheng arrived first—"
"That's... a snake's tail? How could this be!"
"Look, there's a third person among them!"
"Look closely, everyone. It seems to be just a person without weapons. Don't you think his appearance is a bit strange...?"
Xu Yuanzi narrowed his eyes, and his aged yet imposing voice drowned out the crowd's discussion: "That should be a puppet controlled by puppetry techniques."
"Puppetry? Does such a thing really exist in this world? I've never even heard of it in the cultivation world!"
"So, when we came here, we passed through the village where villagers had gone missing. The drunken old farmer said he saw the missing people walking on their hind legs like puppets in the fields before dawn. It wasn't that he was drunk and saw things wrong, but that it really happened?"
Lu Yuanyuan opened her eyes slightly.
From these few words, she reconstructed how these people came to find her.
She said that Yin Xiaozhu was naturally suspicious and probably wouldn't have left any obvious clues, which would have allowed Duan Lansheng to find them so quickly and accurately.
It seems he didn't slip up himself. The problem lies with his friend.
If she wasn't mistaken, it was because Yin Xiaozhu had to stay with her and couldn't leave for the time being. But he desperately needed the contents of the box, so he had to ask his friend, who could manipulate puppets, to bring it over. This friend, whom she had only heard but never seen, wasn't exactly cautious by nature. He used a villager as a puppet to run errands, and as a result, another villager witnessed the whole thing.
Coincidentally, the people of Shushan followed the general direction and arrived near that village, where they heard about this strange incident.
Master Xuyuan, being knowledgeable and experienced, immediately realized that this might be the puppet technique rumored in the demon realm. He asked about the direction in which the villager disappeared and came directly to find him.
Duan Lansheng took the lead and arrived at the hut. He saw a villager standing stiffly at the door with a blank expression. After delivering the items, Yin Xiaozhu's friend stopped controlling him, so the villager naturally stopped moving.
Recalling the strange events that had occurred in that village, Duan Lansheng instantly guessed who was inside the house. His choice of target also suggested that he suspected Yin Xiaozhu was controlling the puppet.
Qi Chang shouted, "Everyone, surround them! Make them stop first, and while you're at it, check if Junior Sister Lu is around!"
A dozen or so disciples responded and flew away on their swords, while the remaining disciples dispersed and began searching the surrounding woods.
Unfortunately, the person searching in her direction was Qi Chang.
Lu Yuanyuan crouched down, using the dense weeds to cover her body, watching Qi Chang gradually approach. Her overloaded brain was already struggling to function.
what to do?
What should she do?
The mountain was already surrounded by Shu Mountain disciples; there wasn't even a cave where she could hide. Dragging her feverish, weak body, she could only put up a desperate resistance; even if she tried to escape on her sword, she would surely be intercepted by Qi Chang.
If she doesn't want to go back to Shushan, shouldn't she go to Yin Xiaozhu's side and work together to escape the encirclement first?
Even worse. Yin Xiaozhu's true colors have already been exposed, and with Xu Yuanzi present, his chances of winning are slim. If she openly helps him in front of so many people, she will definitely be accused of collusion afterward.
So, besides surrendering and being taken back to Mount Shu in disgrace, what other options did she have?
Lu Yuanyuan swallowed, and her eardrums crackled.
In just a few days, countless important choices confronted her. The cruelest thing about reality is that it never gives her time to think things through or weigh the pros and cons; she has to make a decision immediately.
Suddenly, Master Xuyuan's words flashed through her mind.
"That must be a puppet controlled by puppetry."
He meant it was right.
It seems that although Master Xuyuan guessed that this was puppetry, he did not fully understand the principles of puppetry.
When the system gave her the puppetry manual, it also mentioned that this was a technique not found in righteous cultivation sects. Although the system was ruthless and always forced her to do things she didn't want to do, it never lied about its explanations of the world's structure.
Even Master Xuyuan couldn't explain it clearly, so it was even less likely that others would understand the intricacies of puppetry—not even top students like Qi Chang and Duan Lansheng.
She was willing to take the gamble, and that's what she was betting on!
Being brought back to Mount Shu doesn't mean she's left with no options. If she gambles correctly, she can turn her life around.
...
The weeds on this hilltop were half a person's height. Qi Chang, his expression serious, cautiously surveyed his surroundings when he suddenly noticed a rustling sound in the grass. The next instant, some animal leaped out.
It's just a big-tailed squirrel that hops around.
Qi Chang breathed a slight sigh of relief, remained still, and watched the squirrel leap into the woods before continuing forward. After walking a dozen meters, he suddenly heard a grinding sound coming from the grass.
Qi Chang was startled, then quickly stepped forward. As he parted the weeds, he saw a young girl lying on the ground.
Her face was deathly pale, her hair disheveled, her eyes closed, and her jaw grinding. The veins on her right hand bulged as she gripped her own neck tightly, her expression one of agony, as if she wanted to strangle herself. But at the same time, her left hand gripped her right wrist tightly, as if two conflicting forces were battling within her, her left hand preventing her right from killing her.
Qi Chang's expression changed drastically, and he cried out in a hoarse voice, "Junior Sister Lu!"
The disciples who were searching the area heard his call and gathered around. When they saw what he was seeing, they were all stunned.
"What's wrong with her? Is she trying to strangle herself?"
"Her right hand seems to be out of her control, everyone come and grab her!"
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