Chapter 59
“This is my unique talent,” Ling Yue replied in a cool voice.
Yun Xiao was taken aback at first, then realized that her question was too presumptuous and might involve the unique secrets of puppetry. She quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Senior Brother Wu, I didn't think it through."
Wu Sinian quickly waved his hand: "It's alright, please forgive me for not being able to answer your question."
Time was of the essence, so the two didn't chat any longer and quickly left the arena to make room for the next person to compete.
The first round of elimination matches was very quick, with only a few players matched with equally matched opponents and able to fight to a standstill. By the time the second day of the qualifying rounds came, the number of participants had been reduced by more than half.
Regardless of winning or losing, there is a consolation prize in the sect competition, while the reward for winning is more generous. Everyone participates in the competition for the honor of the sect, so they will naturally do their best. Therefore, some cultivators won the first match, but were too badly injured and had to give up because they could not participate in the second round of the qualifying competition.
After all, even if there were miraculous medicines, they wouldn't make you completely recover immediately after taking them.
Know when to quit while you're ahead; your life is more important than this, lest you suffer a humiliating defeat next time.
Wen Wan was matched with disciples of average strength in both the knockout and promotion rounds. She has always had good luck in the competition and entered the final of the top 16 without much of a performance.
The Supreme Elder, who had been watching the competition for several days, was getting impatient. His purpose in coming to watch the competition was to find out which disciple had seized the opportunity on the day the celestial phenomenon occurred, but after several days of competition, he had not noticed anything unusual.
There are indeed many outstanding disciples among the various sects, but those who are exceptionally outstanding are few and far between.
Fang Ruo of the Xuanji Sect, though not highly skilled, was able to stand out entirely thanks to his expertise in divination and analysis.
Such trivial skills could not possibly fool him.
Unless his cultivation level is absolutely overwhelming, he has an advantage in any battle. After all, the ability to predict your next move is extremely terrifying.
The remaining disciples who showed exceptional performance were all people I had heard of before, rather than those who appeared out of nowhere after the strange phenomenon.
After eliminating them one by one, only Liu Qingqing and Wen Wan from the Huashan Sect remained.
The one named Wen Wan had incredible luck all the way here. As for Liu Qingqing, she was indeed very talented, but she couldn't compare to the previous one in Kunlun. Therefore, the clues to the strange phenomenon were not in these disciples.
"Go and investigate again, everyone who entered or left the burial ground during the time of the strange phenomenon."
"Yes," Elder Lü replied respectfully.
"Also, find a way to poach that puppeteer." With that, the Supreme Elder vanished instantly.
He wasn't interested in these childish games.
Elder Lü looked at the spot where he had just been standing, lost in thought.
Although that puppeteer failed to reach the finals, his mastery of puppetry was unmatched by anyone else.
Today's competition was witnessed by everyone. Perhaps the art of puppetry can continue to be passed down. If such talents are brought into Kunlun, they will surely achieve great things.
It would benefit both him and the Kunlun Sect, but since they are both among the five major sects, poaching people from the Huashan Sect would not be so easy.
After Elder Lü had made up his mind, he turned his attention back to the arena.
Wen Wan had already lost before the finals in order to hide her strength, which is one of the reasons why no one noticed her.
With her current strength, she has no shortage of resources.
Although most powerful cultivators in the cultivation world live in seclusion, there are always people more capable than you, and there are always mountains beyond mountains. With her current strength, she can easily defeat 90% of people, so the remaining 10% are likely to be dangerous to her.
No one knows how they view this unexpected opportunity, after all, the auspicious omen that appeared at the time caused a sensation throughout the entire cultivation continent.
Most of those powerful beings have already reached their cultivation bottlenecks. They will definitely try their best to thoroughly investigate this matter to see if this opportunity is the final hurdle for them to break through. Perhaps they are just one step away from ascending to immortality. They will definitely be obsessed with this. Before ensuring complete safety, they must hide the fact that the opportunity is with her.
"I heard that Junior Sister Liu achieved second place in the sect competition. Congratulations!"
"Junior Sister Liu is so young, yet she has brought such honor to our Huashan Sect. I admire her greatly."
"Senior Brother He and Senior Sister Mo both made it to the finals. They're really amazing. It seems this competition is full of top talents. It's a pity I couldn't watch them live."
"Senior Sister Mo, I heard that one of our senior brothers has created a puppet that is incredibly lifelike and powerful. Is that true? Are puppeteers really that amazing?"
As soon as the group returned to the sect, the disciples who had heard the news quickly surrounded them, bombarding them with questions.
The elders who accompanied the disciples to the competition had anticipated this situation and had already slipped away. As the most senior among the disciples, Mo Qingyin naturally took on the responsibility of answering the questions of the disciples.
Mo Qingyin pondered for a moment, then said to Wu Sinian, "Junior Brother Wu, would you mind letting Ling Yue come out and show himself to everyone?"
On their way back, the group of people traveling with them had already seen what Ling Yue looked like, but they never expected that a puppet would be so amazing.
Why didn't you check when you went there, but waited until you came back? When asked, you said you didn't know. Wu Sinian was the type to do big things quietly. Even Wen Wan and Luo Zifan, who lived on the same mountain peak as him, only found out when the puppet was basically completed.
Seeing so many eyes on him, Wu Sinian hesitated, but still nodded and warned him with concern, "Don't get too close, and you can only look, not touch."
Each puppet is the puppeteer's life's work, and He Kuanglingyue is Wu Sinian's life's work, and it is so perfect that he can't bear to let anyone else touch it.
When Ling Yue was released, a group of disciples stared at him like wolves. If Ling Yue were a real person, he would definitely blush with embarrassment being stared at by so many people.
"Wow, is this really a puppet? Its skin is flawless, even better than mine!" a female cultivator exclaimed after observing it.
"Who on earth said that puppeteers have declined and can't even make a puppet? They've fooled me so badly! Who would want to be a poor and miserable sword cultivator when they can learn to make puppets from such a skilled puppeteer!"
"Is this really a puppet? Senior Sister Mo, did you have someone put it on fake to make us happy?"
Mo Qingyin glanced at Wu Sinian, who understood and put Ling Yue away.
"Hey, wait a minute, I haven't seen enough yet."
A group of people, not yet satisfied, said impatiently.
"Alright, everyone, that's enough. After all, these are Junior Brother Wu's personal items. If you're still interested, you can arrange a time to ask Junior Brother Wu for some knowledge about puppetry."
Mo Qingyin continued, "Most puppetry techniques have been lost, which is why the profession of puppeteer has declined. However, our sect now has a junior brother with profound puppetry skills. Disciples who are interested in puppetry should seize the opportunity to learn from him."
This was what Mo Qingyin discussed with Wu Sinian on their way back.
Many people interested in puppetry have had to choose other professions because of its loss. Now, an opportunity has presented itself to them. If possible, Wu Sinian also very much wants to pass on the art of puppetry. He does not want the art of puppetry to die out with him.
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"Elder Meng, Elder Lü from the Kunlun Sect has come to visit."
Inside the study of the sect leader's hall, Elder Meng, who was acting as the sect leader, was reviewing the affairs of the sect when someone suddenly came to report.
He put down the scroll in his hand, his expression unchanged: "Have you told me why I have come?"
The outer disciple who reported replied, "They said they came to request a disciple from our Huashan Sect. Please come to the main hall for further discussion."
Do you want a disciple?
If any sect has a disciple that is coveted by another sect, they can come and ask for the disciple. As long as all three parties agree and have no objections, it's fine. After all, some outstanding talents shine even brighter in their own fields.
But unless someone is extremely rare, other sects won't come looking for them.
Although the disciples who went to Qingyun City to participate in the competition were all elites of their Huashan Sect, which sect didn't carefully select its disciples for the competition? Which disciple in the sect caught the eye of the five major sects, Kunlun, and even came to poach them?
"I was unaware of your arrival, and I apologize for not being able to greet you properly." In the blink of an eye, Elder Meng appeared in the main hall.
"Oh? Brother Meng, you're too kind. It's been a long time. How have you been?" Elder Lü said politely.
"I heard from Zou Wen that Brother Lü came to ask my Huashan Sect for a disciple. I wonder which of my disciples is so lucky to catch Kunlun's eye?" Zou Wen was the outer disciple who had just delivered the message.
"Brother Meng, what are you saying? The Huashan Sect is full of talented people, each one outstanding. Even if I were shameless, I wouldn't dare to take more than my share, wouldn't you agree?" Elder Lü said after praising him, and then continued, "It's like this, in this competition, there is a puppeteer in the Huashan Sect named Wu Sinian, whose puppetry skills are quite good. The Supreme Elder wants him to return to our Wanjian Sect so that he can inherit the puppetry secrets left by his predecessors and pass on the puppetry skills once again."
Back in the day, besides sword cultivators, the most outstanding members of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect were also puppeteers. However, as time went by, puppetry declined generation after generation, leading to a lack of successors and the sect gradually fading from the literary world.
While the puppets created by Wu Sinian still have a lot of room for improvement in combat power, their appearance is impeccable and they are in no way inferior to the top puppeteers at the peak of puppetry. If he can absorb the texts on puppetry from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, there is probably still a chance for puppetry to be passed down.
The reason why puppetry declined is that it is difficult to make the puppets look so similar to humans. Many puppeteers spent a lot of time on shaping the puppets in pursuit of perfection, which led to a lack of skill and the gradual loss of various secret techniques.
"A puppeteer?" The elder who was traveling with the disciple did mention it when he came to report earlier, but the disciple did not make it to the finals, so he did not inquire further.
"Yes, Brother Meng, our Wanjian Sect has many rare books on puppetry. If he comes to our Wanjian Sect, he will be a puppeteer that we will cultivate. We will certainly not treat him unfairly." Elder Lü continued, "We are also heartbroken by the loss of puppetry. Now that such an excellent puppetry technique has appeared, we hope to help him pass it on."
"The Supreme Elder values talent and is willing to exchange it for the intermediate-level spiritual vein outside the West Mountain of my Ten Thousand Swords Sect. Elder Meng, please consider this carefully."
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