Chapter 84 Just a Pawn 03
As the number one person in Lingyuan Realm and the undisputed protagonist of the small world, Xuanwei's cultivation level naturally far surpassed Haoming's. However, Haoming's reckless attack on the puppet effectively restrained Xuanwei, resulting in a stalemate between the two. In the end, their battle destroyed most of the entire Ninth Realm.
Xuanwei was still Xuanwei after all, and Haoming was ultimately defeated and forced to retreat.
However, judging from the glance he gave back before leaving, he didn't seem like he was giving up at all.
Ren Yi: "..."
What deep-seated grudge could there be?
The one who could be entangled with the protagonist for so long couldn't possibly be an ordinary person. This uninvited guest who forcefully broke into the ninth realm is none other than the second-in-command of this world, the Demon Emperor, a "friend" Yuan Que met in the mortal realm when he ran away from home. Both concealed their identities at the time, and when they met again after Yuan Que returned to the Ninth Heaven, their interactions were once again filled with subtle, ambiguous probing.
After several rounds of entanglement, Gong Er's interest in Yuan Que went from being somewhat interested to being very interested. When Xuan Wei was coldly ignoring his little disciple with a "I won't say, I won't say, I won't say" attitude, he took advantage of the situation and brought Yuan Que a lot of warmth. He also stood up for Yuan Que on several occasions when Xuan Wei showed his bias towards the substitute.
Logically speaking, a gentle and considerate second seme who unconditionally sides with the protagonist should be very popular, but this second seme... doesn't look like he'll become the main character.
—Because the prototype of this Demon Emperor is a dragon.
It's common knowledge that dragons are inherently lustful. This Demon Emperor was indeed very good to Yuan Que, but the problem is that he was also very good to other lovers, and he was particularly indiscriminate in his lust. Ren Yi was even invited by him to be the Demon Queen under different identities. Although the Demon Emperor had many romantic relationships, there should only be a few who could be invited to be the Demon Queen. Obviously, Ren Yi was fortunate to be the protagonist.
Goodness, they've even used the same stand-ins.
This good fortune is truly meant to be given to whoever wants it!
Ren Yi was recalling the plot of the second part of the story when Xuan Wei waved his sleeve, and the originally chaotic battlefield was restored to its original state in the blink of an eye. The Purple Jade Flower Field also grew and returned to its original state at a visible speed.
However, Xuanwei was clearly no longer in the mood to admire the flowers. He carried the puppet back into the house (Ren Yi: ...) and placed it on the bed, gently comforting it: "A-Que, you should sleep for a while."
As if reluctant to part, he reached out and tidied the puppet's hair, gently stroking the ends a couple of times before softly saying, "I'll be right back," covering the puppet's lifeless eyes, and turning to leave.
Just now, Haoming clearly seemed ready to do it again if given the chance. Xuanwei couldn't just stand by and do nothing. He would definitely set up defensive formations and traps.
Logically, this should have been a good opportunity to escape, but Ren Yi dared not make any rash moves.
The entire ninth realm was filled with Xuanwei's divine sense imprints, and the room where Ren Yi was located was even more so, with a barrier set up by Xuanwei with his own blood. This was evident from the fact that the room was not destroyed even though the two of them fought so fiercely just now. Ren Yi did not intend to be so stubborn as to try it.
Judging from their conversation, Yuan Que seems to have encountered some accident, and Xuan Wei is trying to use a puppet to summon his soul.
Ren Yi didn't quite remember if this scene had appeared in the plot, since his job only covered the part before his character finished filming and he hadn't studied the later parts of the story in detail. However, it wasn't surprising that this kind of thing happened between the main characters in this world. True feelings are revealed in the face of life and death. Given Xuan Wei's reticent personality, if Yuan Que didn't die once, the two of them would probably have a long way to go before they could be completely honest with each other.
The problem now is that he has taken over the puppet that was originally used to attract Yuan Que's soul.
If Xuanwei finds out, it's easy to imagine that his fate won't be good.
Recalling Xuanwei's strangely gentle expression earlier, Ren Yi felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end.
This protagonist, who has lost his wife, is at least half-mad, if not completely insane!
—We absolutely cannot be discovered!
Ren Yi repeated it to himself, but soon noticed the abnormality on the puppet.
His eyelids twitched, and finally, taking advantage of Xuanwei's absence, he subtly flipped his right wrist. The cuff of his sleeve fell to the side due to the posture, revealing a small, inconspicuous red dot on his pale wrist. In just a moment, it sprouted like a tiny branch from the puppet's flesh.
Ren Yi: "..."
It's a blood curse.
The marks Haoming left on the puppet during a break in his fight with Xuanwei.
This Demon Emperor may seem impulsive, reckless, and unconventional, but it would be naive to think he's brainless. Compared to Xuanwei, who consistently crushes others with his cultivation, this one is the one who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
In short, to sum it up in one sentence—he loves to play dirty tricks!
Looking back now, the provocative look the latter gave before leaving was almost entirely an act, meant to force Xuanwei to repair the barrier and give him time to activate the Blood Curse. The Blood Curse feeds on the puppet; Xuanwei didn't discover the seed of the curse immediately. By the time he returned after setting up the barrier, the Blood Curse would likely have already taken root in the puppet's core.
For Xuanwei, although a formed blood curse is difficult to break, it is not impossible. However, compared to exorcising a blood curse that has already taken root in a puppet, it is probably easier to extract the core and make a new puppet.
Haoming's action was purely to disgust Xuanwei.
However, when the same situation happened to Ren Yi, it was not just as simple as "disgusting".
Ren Yi dared not underestimate the friendliness of this world's consciousness towards outsiders. If this puppet were destroyed, his soul would have no place to reside and would be exposed to this world without any protection. He himself did not know what the outcome would be. Furthermore, even if Xuan Wei couldn't bring himself to harm his precious disciple's face and chose not to destroy the puppet, Ren Yi was not sure whether Xuan Wei would notice the puppet's abnormality when exorcising the blood curse.
— Haoming has really given him a very difficult problem.
Ren Yi gritted his teeth, put his left hand together, and mobilized a tiny bit of immortal power. The red dot that had just sprouted was quickly wiped away.
Erasing a newly formed blood curse is easy, but that's not what's difficult for Ren Yi.
He had just finished mobilizing his immortal power when he immediately restored his original posture, without even changing the wrinkles on his sleeves.
Almost instantly, another figure appeared in the room—it was Xuanwei, who had left earlier.
Ren Yi thought to himself, "That was close." If he had been even a fraction slower, his soul would have been pulled out of the puppet by now.
The slight fluctuation of immortal power just now could not escape Xuanwei's notice. Judging from Xuanwei's cautious manner towards the puppet, the latter was definitely going to examine the puppet from head to toe. He quickly sank his soul to the deepest part, not even daring to rely on the puppet's five senses this time, completely severing the connection between his soul and the outside world.
*
Outside the Nine Heavens, the master who set up the blood curse also realized that the curse had been broken.
Haoming's face, which had been slightly smiling, suddenly turned cold. He spat out a mouthful of blood to the side without expression and sneered, "You're quite cautious."
Ren Yi felt that cutting off the connection and playing dead in time that day was an extremely wise move, because when he felt that the time was about right and reconnected to the puppet's five senses, he found that the room's defense level had increased many times over—it was like a transformation from a safe house to a top-level prison.
The system displayed a three-dimensional image to Ren Yi in his mind's eye. High-risk, blood-red warnings filled almost every corner of the room, and there was also a big boss, Xuan Wei, who was becoming increasingly close by.
System: [...host, host.]
The system's trembling voice betrayed its despair. They were already in a terrible predicament, trapped in a puppet that wasn't even a proper disguise. Now, with such a treacherous environment, it was difficult enough to survive, let alone retrieve the system fragments.
Furthermore, living like this without moving is worse than being dead!
Ren Yi took a deep breath and reassured the system: [Don't worry, people can always find a solution.]
System: QAQ~
It didn't see any way out of this completely hopeless situation. Anyone who could come up with a solution couldn't be human! Not even a system!!
Ren Yi had no idea that amidst the soft, tearful voice of his system, a boomerang-like remark had struck him from a roundabout angle, and he was now indeed starting to get a clue.
Considering that the fragments of the system fell onto the Immortal Soul, and the Immortal Soul was on Xuanwei, it seems that his current situation of falling into this puppet that is inextricably linked to Yuan Que is not entirely a bad thing.
If anyone else wanted to obtain the Immortal Soul from the Emperor, it would be extremely difficult, but what if that person was "Yuan Que"?
Xuanwei wouldn't refuse.
Ren Yi felt he could take a risk, for example... impersonating Yuan Que.
According to Haoming, Xuanwei created this puppet to attract Yuan Que's soul, and now that he is residing in the puppet, this is the perfect opportunity.
Although both "pretending to be the destined protagonist in front of the main character" and "making underhanded moves in front of the emperor of the Nine Heavens" are pure acts of courting death, Ren Yi recalled the back-and-forth between the main characters in the past plots of this small world, and he felt that this method might actually be quite feasible.
That being said, this risky approach, which could easily lead to death, still forced Ren Yi to be more cautious. At the very least, he needed to gather information to find out what had happened to the protagonist.
Moreover, too much time has passed in this world. Although Ren Yi still remembers a lot of the plot, his impression of Yuan Que has long since faded to a mere shadow of his stereotypical features. Relying on such a faint impression to play Yuan Que, it would be difficult to deceive not only Xuan Wei, but also anyone who is even slightly familiar with Yuan Que.
Fortunately, there is a ready-made solution to the latter problem.
Xuanwei stayed by the puppet's side, remaining silent most of the time, but occasionally bringing up past events, from which Ren Yi could glean some information about Yuan Que.
Although Ren Yi felt that this image differed somewhat from his impression, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and discrepancies with reality are inevitable. He wasn't really aiming to replace Yuan Que; he just needed to impersonate him for a few days before arousing suspicion and take the opportunity to trick Yuan Que into handing over the Immortal Soul.
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