“Alright, alright, I know I was wrong. I’ll change, I promise.” Xie Qingrong coaxed him good-naturedly, and only then did Jingzhan release his doll head.
“Change, my *ss. We have to find your body immediately. If—ugh, no ifs—we must find it at once.”
“But I can’t sense my body. It must have been sealed. I suspect they intend to refine my body into a puppet. That takes time. No need to panic. They also don’t know my soul-split has come out, so we still have a chance. But if they use my body to attack you, then if you encounter it—you must be cautious. Don’t hold back. Just leave me a living body, that will be enough.” Xie Qingrong said seriously.
“What on earth is this puppeteer trying to do?” Jingzhan asked.
“Earlier, our Zixiao Sect’s guardian Senior Brother Zhu Jian also went missing. According to Wu Hongxi’s description, he must have been turned into a puppet as well. And during this period, one after another, people standing before the jade statue have had their wishes granted—those who wanted to change, were changed. To me, it looks more like they were put under control. I think the puppeteer has stationed himself here, wanting to create puppet people to serve as his subordinates, or perhaps to refine his techniques.” Mo Xuanli slowly analyzed.
“But that doesn’t make sense. How could one puppeteer also control the daily lives of all those ordinary folk? Fulfill people’s wishes, control so many of them—he has that much time to spare?” Jingzhan asked in puzzlement.
Mo Xuanli nodded. “Not only is that point hard to understand, but puppet arts are not completely traceless—they should still rely on spiritual techniques. Even if the attribute differs, there should be some lingering trace. We should have noticed something. Yet what we’ve seen are normal people. Only their soul vitality seems weak, just like Brother Xie. Could it be… split-soul?”
At this, Xie Qingrong finally spoke: “Brother Mo truly sees through at once. In fact, there are different kinds of puppet arts. Not all are the usual kind people imagine, with spirit threads pulling the puppets.”
“I would like to hear the details.” Mo Xuanli humbly asked for instruction. He actually didn’t know much about puppet arts; after all, a puppeteer’s secret techniques were rarely spread. But since Rufeng Sect’s techniques bore some similarity to puppet arts, perhaps Xie Qingrong knew more.
“What you’re talking about are two types of puppet arts. The first is exactly what the townsfolk in Linxun have suffered, where their wishes were realized—that’s called soul control. Specifically, the puppeteer takes half of a puppet person’s soul and plants it into the controller’s body, into their heart. The stronger the controller’s desire for control, the faster the puppet’s soul vitality withers away. Once the person is completely obedient, that’s the moment they die. But on the surface, you can’t tell—they still look submissive and pleasing. At that point, the puppet without a soul will, in turn, drain away the controller’s soul vitality. That’s the backlash of soul control.”
“In the end, when both die, the two of them will become puppets, for the puppeteer to recycle and use again. This method, using souls as threads, leaves almost no trace in the whole process. A casual inspection won’t reveal it. Unless you tie both together and examine carefully, you won’t notice.”
Everyone was stunned. This was the first time they had ever heard of such a puppet technique.
Jingzhan exclaimed: “That’s vicious! Two birds with one stone—eventually all the puppets fall under the puppeteer’s control?”
Mo Xuanli frowned. “But this kind of technique I can’t quite understand. Why go to such lengths? Directly controlling corpses or living people would yield the same result. What’s the point of this roundabout method?”
“You’re right. Because in the end, those puppets are no different from wooden dolls—every move must be manipulated by the puppeteer, clumsy and useless. At most, they’d use them once or twice, then discard them. That’s why soul control was originally developed as a demonic art by the demon clan’s puppeteers, just for amusement—killing people silently, then watching us cultivators realize too late that we couldn’t save them. Vile in the extreme. Later, they discovered it could serve as a way to improve their puppet arts, so it persisted.” Xie Qingrong frowned.
“So either it’s to kill for sport… or to advance their cultivation?” Jingzhan shook his head. “The demon clan really can do anything.”
Xie Qingrong suddenly sneered: “But maybe it’s not the demon clan. Sometimes puppeteers from the righteous side grow envious of that cultivation progress, and they imitate it—only to fall into demonic ways. Either way, it’s vile.”
Mo Xuanli was silent for a moment, then agreed: “Indeed vile. Then Senior Brother Zhu… and you…”
Xie Qingrong appreciated Mo Xuanli’s perceptiveness. “Your Senior Brother Zhu and I are probably the second type, called human control. That’s the most common. Human control divides into controlling the living and the dead. Dead control means using a soul freshly separated from a body that just died, turning them into puppets—souls intact, conscious, obedient. This is a puppeteer’s favorite kind. But there’s a flaw: once the dead fulfill their last wish, they lose all sense and become lifeless, the same end as soul control.”
“So you two fall under the living-control type of human control?” Jingzhan asked nervously.
“Yes. Living-control is the best kind: it can be permanent, and the original cultivation power can still be preserved to help the puppeteer. The difficulty lies in how hard it is to succeed in refining.” Xie Qingrong explained slowly. “But once the control succeeds, the victim is completely at the puppeteer’s mercy.”
“Can it be undone?” Jingzhan asked.
“Cutting off the control line is basically rescuing them. But with soul control, only the puppeteer can put the soul back. And if the puppet’s soul has already dissipated, becoming a true puppet, then there’s no saving them.” Xie Qingrong said. “As for human control, breaking the line is enough.”
“Then we must find the puppeteer.” Jingzhan said. “But we’ve been here two days and haven’t run into any suspicious person. How do we search? Could we start from those townsfolk who were affected?”
“Useless. Once they’re under the spell, the puppeteer doesn’t bother with them anymore. You can only wait for the puppeteer to come for you. He should want to capture cultivators as puppets. It’s just that, with so many of you together, it’s inconvenient for him to strike. Maybe when he’s confident, he’ll act. Or, once I adapt a little more, I might be able to sense where my true body is.”
After sorting things out, everyone felt the crisis pressing near, yet had no way forward, and their frustration deepened.
They found a tree and sat down to rest, waiting for Wu Hongxi to come find them.
During this time, Mo Xuanli and Jingzhan asked more questions. Some Xie Qingrong remembered, some he didn’t. Gradually, Mo Xuanli fell silent, his gaze toward Xie Qingrong growing deeper.
Meanwhile, Gu Baiqing went over everything he had heard, matching it with the story in his mind. Roughly, he had pieced together the truth of Xie Qingrong’s part in the original plot.
Xie Qingrong’s split-soul must have perished inside the jade statue. Without it, his true body became a living corpse—that was the perfect material for living-control. Thus, Xie Qingrong was easily turned into the puppeteer’s strongest puppet. But later, when Mo Xuanli defeated the puppeteer and cut the line, it was equivalent to saving him. Still, not knowing Xie Qingrong’s true situation, Mo Xuanli had only assumed he was wounded and unconscious, and sent him back to Rufeng Sect.
The Rufeng Sect had kept Xie Qingrong’s condition a secret for reasons unknown, and since others had no clear understanding of the Soul-Splitting Technique, they always assumed Xie Qingrong was merely injured. It wasn’t until three years later, when Xie Qingrong, under someone’s control, slaughtered the entire sect, his whole body radiating demonic aura, that people realized he had become a puppet controlled by the demon clan—a living corpse that could no longer be saved. At that time, Mo Xuanli’s true identity was also exposed, and everyone immediately linked the two together, concluding it was Mo Xuanli’s doing.
Later, when Mo Xuanli rose to the rank of Demon Lord, he indeed took Xie Qingrong as one of his subordinates. The real puppeteer stayed hidden in the shadows, while Xie Qingrong acted as a puppet frontman. Because of this, Baili Jingzhan lost without even fighting—he hated Mo Xuanli, yet could not bring himself to fight his former brother.
In the decisive battle to eradicate demons, however, the puppeteer and Xie Qingrong suddenly turned on Mo Xuanli, attempting to kill him. Though they were instead killed by Mo Xuanli, looking back now, it all seemed very strange.
But at that time, to Gu Baiqing, it was just the death of a minor supporting character, not worth detailed description and irrelevant to his task, so he naturally hadn’t thought deeply about it. Now that his goal was to prevent everything from happening, he wasn’t going to dwell on the “truth” as written in the original text.
What came next was the real test.
Not long after, Wu Hongxi arrived. They were somewhat lucky—because as soon as they had left the Immortal Temple, the two factions started fighting each other. By the time people realized the Immortal’s hand was missing, they all pointed fingers at the Zhou family. But of course the Zhou family denied it, and things just devolved into endless quarreling.
Everyone else thought the Zhou family was doomed, but the Zhou clan didn’t believe it. They simply said they would go back and wait for the Evil God to come for them. In the end, only a small group of devout followers remained kneeling and praying for forgiveness, and the matter didn’t touch them at all.
Wu Hongxi let out a sigh of relief and said, “Did you find something out? Hurry and tell me why you broke off the Immortal’s hand.”
This time Jingzhan didn’t hide it from her. After all, the young girl was already deeply entangled, and since she had spiritual roots, she was bound to encounter such things again in the future. It was better to let her have some awareness. So he said directly, “Let me show you a little trick.” With that, he took out the jade doll.
The moment Wu Hongxi saw the doll move and speak, she was completely stunned. Xie Qingrong worried she might be frightened, and spoke gently, but unexpectedly Wu Hongxi quickly accepted it all and even showed great curiosity. Only then did Xie Qingrong realize she truly possessed spiritual roots and fate with immortals—had he not been so weak back then, he might have chosen her to help.
“Is this an Immortal?” Wu Hongxi asked.
Mo Xuanli gave her a brief explanation of the situation.
At the end, Wu Hongxi suddenly shot up to her feet and said, “Then isn’t everyone in danger? So many people have prayed—if we’re slow in catching the puppeteer, won’t they all…”
“In fact, the key is to remind the controller to reduce their desire for control. That way, the victim’s soul won’t be consumed so quickly, giving us a chance to find the puppeteer and release them. But if the control is too strong, it will still end in mutual destruction.”
“Then hurry and tell everyone!” Wu Hongxi turned to rush out, only to see the three men still sitting still. “What’s… wrong? Are you worried they won’t believe you?”
“Casting a spell to trick them is possible,” Jingzhan said. “Though they may not actually be able to restrain themselves… But doing so would startle the snake, and we’d fail to catch the puppeteer. In the end, they would still die.”
Wu Hongxi’s eyes turned red, her body weakened, and she collapsed back down. “What do we do then…”
Gu Baiqing couldn’t bear it, so he stepped forward to comfort her. “It will be soon.”
“Can’t we ask for help from outside?”
“That puppeteer’s strength isn’t that high. Qingrong alone can’t handle it, but the few of us together are enough. If we summon too many powerful cultivators, we’ll just startle the snake again,” Jingzhan said.
In the original text, their master had high cultivation but was hidden, and so had escaped the puppeteer’s notice. Judging by the situation back then, their current strength was just barely balanced—if they wanted to save everyone here, they could only proceed without outside aid.
After explaining everything, it was already evening, so they decided to head back.
While passing by a lonely grave mound, Gu Baiqing suddenly asked, “By the way, Hongxi, do you know who lies in this grave? We just saw Madam Wen paying respects here.”
“Huh?” Wu Hongxi, distracted until now, froze when she heard that. “But grave mounds like these belong to those without kin—surely not even a friend is left. Why would Sister Lan be offering sacrifice here?”
Gu Baiqing repeated what Lu Sulan had said. Wu Hongxi was even more shocked. “Wasn’t Brother Wen Jiang supposed to have gone missing on his own? Wait, Sister Lan is pregnant? Impossible, absolutely impossible. Brother Wen Jiang has been missing for so long—how could she be pregnant? I’m sure of it! I even stayed in her room last night. There’s no such thing—how could Sister Lan speak nonsense like that? This concerns her reputation!”
Hearing Wu Hongxi put it like that, Lu Sulan’s actions became even stranger. Mo Xuanli grew wary and handed Wu Hongxi a talisman. “If anything happens while you’re staying there, tear this, and we’ll come at once.”
Gu Baiqing felt reassured by Mo Xuanli’s caution.
But then Xie Qingrong suddenly said, “Strange… could she have worshipped at the wrong grave? That mound is empty—there’s no body inside.”
No body? Could she really have mistaken the grave? Or had the corpse been stolen to be made into a puppet? Or perhaps he never died at all?
Mo Xuanli and Jingzhan exchanged a glance. “The timing is too coincidental. This could be a clue.”
Jingzhan stepped forward and stomped down with a heavy blow. The mound flipped open instantly, even the grass mat inside was torn apart, startling Wu Hongxi at the side. But inside, sure enough, it was empty.
“Hongxi, here’s a small task for you. Go back and find out who exactly Madam Wen is truly worshipping,” Jingzhan instructed.
Wu Hongxi was equally stunned, suspecting it must be related to puppets. She nodded immediately.
After that, the group returned to town. Though the streets still seemed in some disorder, they at least found a place to eat. After sending Wu Hongxi back, the four of them returned to the brthel for a short rest.
As soon as Xie Qingrong stepped inside, he asked, “Brothel? You’re staying here?”
“Eh? I was just about to ask—now that you’ve turned into a jade doll, can you see?” Jingzhan reached into his robes and felt around.
“No, I can’t see. I can smell, I can hear.” Xie Qingrong poked his head out from Jingzhan’s collar.
“We only came here to stay because we had nowhere else to live,” Mo Xuanli explained.
Jingzhan chuckled, “Why so flustered? It’s not like Qingrong is a tigress of a wife coming to check up on you.”
Xie Qingrong could only shake his head helplessly. “So improper.”
As they happened to head upstairs back to their rooms, Jingzhan carried on with his nonsense: “Sorry, Xuanli. I know I said I’d share my room with you, but now that the main wife is here, I have to attend to him. You’ll just have to squeeze in with your brother.”
If Xie Qingrong could make expressions right now, it would definitely be one of disgust.
“Don’t spout nonsense. I’ve set up an array inside to sense my true body. Jingzhan is acting as my protector. Too many people would be inconvenient,” Xie Qingrong explained.
The two of them were strangely in sync. They hadn’t planned it beforehand, yet Xie Qingrong immediately understood and followed along with Jingzhan’s improper joke.
Mo Xuanli nodded. “Mm, fine. My brother and I will take some time to check near the Immortal Temple, see if anyone is watching.”
Gu Baiqing knew it was useless, but still cooperated with a nod.
“It’s better to go after midnight. Puppeteers prefer to act at night,” Xie Qingrong reminded.
“As expected, all bad deeds are done at night,” Jingzhan joked, patting the jade doll in his arms as he walked into his room.
Gu Baiqing could only once again return to his room with Mo Xuanli, comforting himself that at least the place wasn’t being used for sleep.
The two rested briefly, then went out again after midnight.
This time outside, they were surprised to see people still bustling about. At first they thought it was over the matter of the Immortal statue, but upon asking, they learned that the day after tomorrow was the town’s very important, very lively festival, and everyone was preparing.
Gu Baiqing recalled that in the original, because the townsfolk of Linxun valued the Immortal Temple, they planned to make the temple the destination of the festival procession. But then Mo Xuanli had smashed the Immortal statue on the spot, and told them the cruel truth. Instead of gratitude, the townsfolk felt only resentment.
It was like during the New Year—if someone doesn’t say “Happy New Year” but instead insists on making you unhappy. Even if what they say is true, even if they say it for your own good, your heart still feels bad.
This time, they would have to find another way.
As Gu Baiqing was thinking this, he suddenly noticed Mo Xuanli had stopped walking, staring blankly at a street stall selling children’s toys.
“What is it?” Gu Baiqing asked.
Mo Xuanli jolted, quickly shook his head. “Nothing.” He even hurried two steps forward, as if to avoid seeing those things.
Gu Baiqing looked puzzled. At that moment, Three Bean, who had been nestled in his robes to avoid the night wind, suddenly spoke: “This festival is the same as the one from Xuanli’s hometown. He had heard of it, and he was very much looking forward to it back then. But he never got to celebrate it even once.”
Why never once? Gu Baiqing’s gaze flickered.
He didn’t ask about Mo Xuanli’s past. As the reader, he might know even better than Mo Xuanli. He didn’t want to recall it, afraid that if he softened, he would start to spoil Mo Xuanli. But “spoiling” was a very dangerous word for their master-disciple relationship.
Gu Baiqing couldn’t allow it.
So he had to put on a colder front, prioritizing business above all else.
While he was bracing himself mentally, Mo Xuanli suddenly stopped, pulled out a talisman, and set it aflame.
The two exchanged a glance, then rushed immediately toward the Wen residence—Wu Hongxi was in trouble.
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