Not knowing whether the person in front of him was an enemy or a friend, evil or good, Yun Xian made a prompt decision, raised his hand, and Taiping flew over with a buzzing sound, and the tip of the sword stabbed fiercely into the ground!
But this attack missed. Yun Xian was clearly attacking her arm, but he saw it twist into an inhuman arc in that instant. The joints clicked loudly and curled up. At this angle, it looked like it had been broken.
Qiao Lingshan suddenly woke up and reached for her sword: "Who is it?!"
"Lingshan, you're finally awake!" Yun Xian said, "This doesn't seem to be a human!"
Before Qiao Lingshan could react to what was being said, she was met with a bright smile in her sleepy eyes. She almost gasped for breath: "What the hell is this?!"
The Taiping Sword arrived, and Ling finally woke up, screaming, "Ah ...
I don't know what right a magic sword has to shout so loudly.
In fact, in a calm, sunny setting, this "person" wouldn't be particularly frightening. His smile, though broad, wasn't sinister, and his features were delicate. But in the dim, gloomy moonlight, his muscles appeared stiff and somewhat eerie. Especially since his expression was so still, his smile didn't seem genuine, like one of those paper figurines used in funeral supplies, with rouge on his cheeks and ink on his eyes. His entire body exuded an inhuman aura.
Two people, two swords. Yun Xian, now the symbol of the Sword Pavilion and the spiritual banner of the Eastern Realm, carried a much heavier burden. Her skills, however, needed improvement, and she didn't dare fight too violently, lest she disturb others. Even so, her offensive was still fierce, and coupled with Qiao Lingshan's several sword energies, it was like a net, impossible to escape.
However, when these attacks fell on the opponent, they were like a drop in the ocean and disappeared in an instant.
Yun Xian stared at this "person" with his eyes, and seeing Qiao Lingshan's anxious expression, he said, "Stop it."
Despite the two of them attacking like this, she showed no intention of fighting back, maintaining that strange smile and simply dodging. Even more incongruous than her smile was her behavior—Yun Xian felt as if her head and body were disconnected. Her face was smiling, but her movements were slow and subdued. She looked incredibly strange.
Although Qiao Lingshan still didn't understand what was going on, she stopped obediently.
The offensive subsided, and the two sides faced off. This "person," holding a fluorescent bead robe in his hand, chuckled with satisfaction, then quickly jumped out of the window and disappeared without a trace.
No matter how light her movements were, there would be a sound when she landed, not to mention in Yun Xian's ears. Yun Xian jumped off the edge of the bed barefoot and finally found the reason why he hadn't noticed her coming up -
Her limbs clung to the wall like a spider, as if she were walking on flat ground. How could there be any sound when she walked like that?
Yun Xian: “…”
This reminds me to use this trick next time I'm on a stealth mission. Not being discovered is the best, but if I'm discovered, I can also scare the target to death. It's really a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.
"What on earth is this?" Qiao Lingshan, still in shock, asked in confusion, "When did this kind of local specialty appear in our Eastern Realm?"
"...It's much better than the local specialties of the Southern Realm, isn't it?" Yun Xian casually stuck Taiping into the ground and thought, "Did you feel the fluctuations of spiritual energy from her just now? I did, but it was intermittent. Sometimes I could feel it, and sometimes I couldn't. And that expression... I think I know what she is, and her relationship with the legend is also clear."
"Me too. I rarely feel the fluctuations of spiritual energy, but it's not like the spiritual energy of a cultivator. It's more like... a formation." Qiao Lingshan looked at Yun Xian and said hesitantly, "Is this a wooden puppet?"
"It's a puppet." Yun Xian said, "But whether it's made of wood remains to be seen."
Previously in the Northern Realm, Xiao Wu had kidnapped an unfortunate elder of the Xingyan Sect who was passing by, and customized a puppet body for Senior Nan Ronghong to temporarily carry his spiritual consciousness. The puppet's body was engraved with formations, and its head could turn to the back. Its skin looked smooth, but it was still far from that of a human, and naturally no one was as agile as him.
This was even considering the presence of high-level cultivators. Xingyan Sect could naturally make puppets, but the puppets generally didn't have high IQs. Some disciples spent a fortune and painstakingly crafted wooden puppets, but they'd easily crash into a wall even when asked to clean. Furthermore, few people would make these wooden puppets resemble humans so closely—they had human form but no intelligence, which made them look a bit unspeakably strange.
This was why the two had fought for so long before they could truly determine that it was just a puppet. Across the Four Realms, even if the current Xingyan Sect's leader personally crafted a puppet, he wouldn't be able to create one like this. It was more agile than a human, possessing immense autonomy, and even exhibiting some human emotions—it even laughed strangely when it snatched the Yinzhu robe away!
"Since there's a puppet, then someone must be controlling it." Qiao Lingshan asked puzzledly, "Who is so powerful that he can create such an ingenious puppet? Why would he stay in such a small town like Tianyi?"
With such abilities, he would be treated as a guest of honor wherever he went. Even if being a puppet was his second choice, who wouldn't want to have an extra layer of security?
Yun Xian looked at the gloomy moonlight outside the window and blinked.
"...I think it's because no one is controlling it that it's running out and playing around like this." Yun Xian said thoughtfully, "If someone is controlling it to steal these things, it doesn't make sense. The owner would be furious if he spent so much effort just to get the flashing toilet poke. The only explanation that makes sense is that it steals shiny things just because it likes them - although it's a bit weird for a puppet to say that it likes them, it's weird enough in itself."
Qiao Lingshan remained silent, and it was unclear whether she agreed or disagreed. After a while, she muttered something softly.
Yun Xian didn't hear clearly: "I didn't hear clearly, what did you say?"
"Did the dress get stolen just like that?" Qiao Lingshan said indignantly, "Although the dress is ugly, it's not cheap. It would be too cheap for it to be stolen just like that. If nothing else, take it back and let Feng Ye wear it."
"..." Lingshan, please let Feng Ye go. Can't the child wear normal clothes? Can't he have a healthy childhood? Yun Xian wanted to complain but stopped, afraid that Qiao Lingshan would fly over from the bed and pull her ponytail. In the end, she could only comfort him, "It's okay, it's okay. Now that we have found some clues, we will definitely catch the mastermind soon. When the time comes, make it spit out everything it stole. The little puppet must learn its lesson!"
The next day, everyone finally gathered in the west of the city.
Yun Xian and Qiao Lingshan were relieved of their worries and slept until dawn. But now, Qi Zhiye looked unhappy again. Qiao Lingshan whispered, "Fellow Daoist Xue, what's wrong with him?"
Xue Lingxiu said with a gentle smile, "Don't worry about him. His face is just like that. Even if he pickled vegetables in a jar for half a year, it wouldn't stink that bad."
As soon as Yun Xian saw Xue Lingxiu's expression, she knew Qi Zhiye had been unlucky again yesterday. Her specific judgment was this: if Qi Zhiye had a sour face for no reason, Xue Lingxiu's face would have been even more sour. Now that Xue Lingxiu looked quite energetic, it meant that Qi Zhiye had seen his misfortune. If Qiao Lingshan asked him another question, he would answer immediately.
"That's not good." Qiao Lingshan took an apple, broke it in half and gave it to Yun Xian, saying, "We also encountered something last night, so this is a good opportunity for us to talk."
Xue Lingxiu finally spoke.
It turned out they had encountered a similar puppet yesterday, this one with a crying face. It refused to fight back or respond, and simply refused to leave. It only stared at Qi Zhiye, showing no interest in Xue Lingxiu. Xue Lingxiu almost thought Qi Zhiye was wearing a wig, but then she realized he was even more flamboyant than him. He'd even disguised himself, and still refused to remove the glittering red gem on his ear. The puppet tried to pull it off, nearly ripping his earlobe.
But it was obvious that it was his mother's heirloom, and Qi Zhiye would never give the earrings away. So the situation became tense, and finally the two men and the puppet were deadlocked for a long time. Seeing that it was almost the middle of the night, the puppet finally agreed to withdraw.
"I figured, given that medicine cauldron's penchant for stealing, it wouldn't be possible for it to return empty-handed. So I asked Qi Xingye to count all the jewelry in the storage ring to avoid any mistakes." Xue Lingxiu's smile widened as he spoke, finally laughing out loud. "He took a total of twenty-three pieces of jewelry, and not a single one was missing. But I felt something was amiss. Then I looked again and saw that his entire cassock had been taken away... Now, apart from Master Mingguang, there's nothing else to prove he's a monk, hahahahaha!"
Yun Xian and Qiao Lingshan couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Hahahahahahahahaha!!"
The unlucky Qi Xingye looked at the others quietly, and for the first time, his golden eyes showed something otherworldly. Yun Xian saw his expression and immediately stopped laughing. He scratched his head and said, "What a nice weather today."
"Yes. The sun is so strong." Xue Lingxiu said, "Maybe it's just being kind and letting your robes dry in the sun."
Qiao Lingshan was about to burst into tears: "..."
…
After finishing all this nonsense, Yun Xian discovered something else: "Wait, you just said, 'You won't fight back?' You can hit it?"
"Why can't I hit it? Otherwise I wouldn't have known it was a puppet." Xue Lingxiu took out the needle box. The tip of the thickest needle was slightly warped, like the marks left by chiseling on a hard object. He thought: "However, such a nimble puppet is truly rare in this life. It's more like a special hard stone than wood..."
"Lingshan and I slept together yesterday. It seemed as if both of our sword energies were directly absorbed by the formation on the puppet's body and couldn't hurt it at all." Yun Xian said.
She wanted to ask an unrelated question, but was afraid Xue Lingxiu would scold her. What criteria did Fellow Daoist Xue use to decide whether to use a needle or a fan? Did it depend on his mood?
"Yes, there is indeed a formation." Xue Lingxiu said, "But it only absorbs a portion of the surface. Some of it can still seep in, so it won't be absorbed completely."
Qi Zhiye had just been ridiculed and was in a bad mood, but he still said, "Buddha's energy is the same. It blocks some and penetrates some."
That's really strange.
Is it a specific immunity to sword energy? Is it all sword energy in the world, or is it just for Jiange?
I'll try to catch a few more people later and do some variable analysis.
"I wonder how many puppets there are. This makes me even more certain that no one is behind them." Controlling just one puppet like this would require immense concentration, let alone more. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to do it. "The recent resurgence of the legend of the Sad and Happy Mother is probably related to this. It's hard to say, though, whether these puppets were created based on this legend. After all, they look quite scary, yet harmless."
They only care about money and not their lives, and they won't even fight back, so they are indeed harmless.
Qi Zhiye finally recovered from the depression of losing his cassock and said with a gloomy look, "Also, the altar..."
"The altar appears, and the puppets emerge," Yun Xian said. "I have a hypothesis. I wonder if these puppets were originally sealed in the altar, and now that the seal has loosened, they've all escaped and are causing trouble?"
If this is the case, it makes sense to say that the altar was left behind by Aixi Niang herself.
The people of ancient times are incomparable to those of today. Just because the current Xingyan Sect leader can't create such a sophisticated puppet that can move independently doesn't mean that people back then couldn't. Even those in ancient times could ascend to heaven, but I haven't seen anyone today do it.
Qiao Lingshan said: "Yeah."
"Oh, right, we've been talking for so long." Yun Xian looked around for a while, his brows slowly furrowed. "Where's the eldest brother? Why hasn't he come yet?"
Whenever she sent a letter, Su Chi would always be the first to appear.
"I find it strange too..." Qiao Lingshan said, "Even if Senior Brother Su has been at odds with you lately, it wouldn't be like this. He's always very reliable at times like this."
"Yeah." Why does it sound so strange? Yun Xianyi wondered, "Wait, who said he was upset with me recently? Aren't we just fine?"
Qiao Lingshan: “…”
You see, that's why Su Chi feels uncomfortable.
As soon as the two finished speaking, a streak of light suddenly appeared in the distant sky. Yun Xian's heart tugged, as if inspired by something, and he quickly raised his eyes to look in that direction.
Above the sky, the flowing light dissipated, and the emblem of Jiange slowly appeared, with a small sword hanging upside down in the air, meaning to ask for help!
When he saw the flowing light, Yun Xian quickly stood up and flew towards the direction of the message on his sword.
"No way?" Qiao Lingshan's pupils shrank slightly, and she murmured, "Is this a distress signal sent by Senior Brother Su?"
Just how terrifying is that opponent?
"Junior sister." Su Chi stood among a large group of dancing crying-faced puppets and raised his eyes expressionlessly and said, "You're here."
Everyone: “…………”
"Big Brother, what's wrong with you, Big Brother? I thought it was a big deal."
Yun Xian took one look and roughly guessed what was going on. It seemed that this puppet was indeed at least immune to the sword energy of the Sword Pavilion. However, Su Chi had no other moves and was only filled with sword energy. He didn't know when he had been surrounded by the puppet and hadn't been able to get out yet. He was really helpless and could only ask for help.
Xue Lingxiu and Qi Zhiye went to drive away the group of stubborn puppets. Yun Xian stepped forward and said, "Big Brother, why don't you just give them what they want? I don't see anything shiny on you."
Even now, Su Chi still said, "No."
"What's so special about hiding it so tightly..." Yun Xian leaned forward to take a look. He saw a sword tassel hidden in his fair palm. It turned out to be the one he had given him before. This was probably the only shiny thing on his body. "It's not very expensive. I can buy it for you next time."
Su Chi still shook his head: "No."
He refused to give it, and he couldn't be driven away. The stalemate lasted for who knows how long. Yun Xian's heart softened. He was as soft as steel but had a soft heart. He was about to say something, but then he became alert again.
No! This cannot be encouraged. If they continue to be inflexible, they will suffer great losses.
"Where is this?" Qiao Lingshan stood not far away, not moving forward, but observing her surroundings. "The center looks like a basin, but looking down from here, it's all foggy, and I can't tell what it is. Why are there so many puppets in this place? Is the altar nearby?"
"Big Brother, I'm asking you," Yun Xian asked, "How did you find this place?"
"I didn't look for them." Su Chi said calmly, "I just followed them."
Each time, the methods he provided were simple, but difficult to implement. These puppets stole and escaped at lightning speed, leaving Yun Xian feeling inferior. She looked up at the rolling hills, wondering where they hid their stolen goods.
It couldn't possibly have been eaten. Could it have also been sealed inside the altar? The altar's emergence must have caused a tremendous stir, and it should still be in a weakened state.
"There's poisonous miasma in the forest, and there are also many brightly colored poisonous insects and poisonous beasts. This place is definitely not habitable." Xue Lingxiu went in and took a look. His sleeves were stained with some unpleasant-looking green blood, and his face was also quite green. "The variety of insects in your Eastern Realm is beyond my imagination."
"Brother Xue, I forgot to tell you." Yun Xian said calmly, "Remember to keep your mouth shut when you sleep in the East Realm, otherwise you'll easily swallow a lot of cute little creatures."
Xue Lingxiu's face turned even greener: "?"
Yun Xian said cheerfully, "I'm just kidding! Haha, I'm just kidding!"
The group was about to circle around to check if there was really a seal when Su Chi suddenly said, "Someone is coming."
"Someone's coming?" Qiao Lingshan frowned. "Is it with a clear purpose, or did they just stumble in by accident?"
Su Chi: “The latter.”
With so many people flocking to the Eastern Realm, it's normal for them to stumble upon this place. Furthermore, while this basin looked somewhat secretive, who knew if it was just a trick? The altar wasn't necessarily nearby. Yun Xian was just about to investigate what those puppets were planning to do by gathering here when he heard another goose-like cry.
It's so familiar.
It was Tang Yu again. No one knew whether this girl was too unlucky or too lucky. She could always attract attention with her distinctive voice at the critical moment. Yun Xian and Qiao Lingshan looked at each other, making sure that their faces were properly covered before they flew over on their swords.
The screams came from the opposite side, separated by a foggy basin. The few people did not fly directly over the basin, but made a big detour and finally saw the two groups of people confronting each other through the branches and leaves.
One of the parties had a mess of clothes all mixed up, and it was bound to be the same style as Yun Xian. Yun Xian looked closely and even saw the same style as Ji Rongxue. It was almost early summer, and she was still wearing furry clothes. I wonder if she felt hot.
On the other side were the people from Jiange, all dressed in their school uniforms, a sea of blue and white, and holding swords. Yun Xian took a quick look and saw familiar young faces. The leader had a solemn expression, looking much more mature.
"Yingluo!" Yun Xian said in surprise, "She's out too?"
Qiao Lingshan glanced at Yingluo, then looked at her again, and pouted slightly without leaving any trace.
When they first left Jiange, Yun Xian and Ying Luo grew up together, and she was the enemy. Now...
"What?" Qi Zhiye asked coldly, "Are you going to fight?"
As expected, the mixed-style team on the opposite side was not a good group at first glance. They saw Jiange coming here, so they followed him, thinking they could get something good. However, when they arrived at this remote place, they didn't get anything, so they were in a bad mood and came to cause trouble.
"You're the largest sect in the Eastern Realm, and that's all you have?" the leader of the mixed group asked. "And what's the point of being dressed so neatly?"
"No need to be so provocative." Yingluo's expression was very cold. "I just don't want to take action."
It was obvious that the mixed group leader wanted to spy on Yingluo's strength in preparation for the altar later. Seeing that Yingluo didn't fall into his trap, he spoke dirty words and was about to provoke her, but a white light flashed before his eyes, and justice fell from the sky!
Yun Xian used the hilt of his sword to whip them, causing their eyes and mouths to become crooked, and they could only lie on the ground and cry out in pain.
The people in Jiange were holding their breath, and when they saw this mysterious master suddenly coming, their breathing stopped.
Who is this? Do they know each other?
"Who are you?!" the man lying on the ground said angrily, "Do I know you?!"
"You don't have to know me, and you don't have to know my name." Yun Xian stood facing the group with her hands behind her back. Not only did she not pretend to be happy about her success, she even had a faint embarrassment of beating up a child. She lowered her voice and said slowly: "Get out!"
Too weak, really too weak.
Seeing the huge disparity in strength, the mixed group was very sensible and ran away in disgrace, leaving behind a sentence before leaving: "I will definitely come back!!"
Yun Xian: "..." Who are you? Gray Wolf?!
After they left, only the people from the Sword Pavilion remained. Yingluo looked at this mysterious and sage-like master and asked cautiously, "Senior, may I ask who you are..."
Yun Xian waved his hand and said calmly, "No need to be so respectful. I am the eighth elder of the Ao Qiong sect. I was just passing by and offered my help. I have always won people over with my virtue, so this is my due."
"..." Yingluo gradually sensed a strange aura from her. As she was scanning her body, she heard the Sword Pavilion disciple behind her excitedly say, "Elder Aoqiong is truly extraordinary. He wins people over with his virtue, and his mind is so profound and powerful!"
"Elder, what do you do for a living?"
"Elder, what is the name of your sword?"
Yun Xian turned gracefully, sword in hand: "This sword of mine is called 'De'."
Everyone: “…”
There was a moment of silence before another clever Sword Pavilion disciple took the initiative to speak, "Elder, forgive my daring question, but what exactly does this Primal Chaos Land mean? Could it be the name of a place?"
"No. If that's the case, it's too shallow." Yun Xian stroked his nonexistent beard and shook his head. "Speaking of chaos, I think of Tai Chi. Speaking of Tai Chi, it naturally comes from Taoism. The six words of Taoism, retreat... That's all. The secrets of heaven cannot be revealed. I can't say too much. You can figure it out for yourself!"
Damn it, I accidentally let it slip!
Just as she turned around and tried to slip away, she heard Ying Luo's cold voice reach her ears: "Yun Xian, your acting is so bad that it's infuriating to both humans and gods."
Yun Xian: “…”
What a mistake! I might as well just go up and make some noise. Too much talk leads to mistakes!
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