The puppets in the estate included both living and dead bodies. In battle, it was impossible to distinguish them, so they couldn’t easily strike. The only way to fight was to spot the control strings during combat and cut them.
But puppet arts were exceedingly troublesome—even if you saw the strings, unless you cut all of them on a puppet at once, the puppet master would instantly reel it back in and send it forth again, endlessly.
This left Mo Xuanli and Jingzhan constrained in their fighting.
But Gu Baiqing knew this was not the key point. No matter how troublesome, given enough time the enemy would still fall.
He told Wu Hongxi not to come down, then leapt down himself.
His main purpose was to guard against the arrays hidden in unknown corners, laid to harm.
In the original account, Hua En should have been easily subdued, but his meticulous mind had set many formations and traps in his hideout. The master, in order to save others, was caught in one, and even with strong cultivation fell to it—let alone anyone else. Later, Mo Xuanli fought alone, and Hua En still escaped.
This time, best if no one fell into the trap, and they could quickly subdue Hua En and settle matters here.
Unable to break through, Hua En’s eyes turned blood-red as he stared at Wen Jiang, still held in Mo Xuanli’s grasp.
Meanwhile, under Xie Qingrong’s direction, they quickly grasped the trick of dealing with the puppets. Gu Baiqing then joined, systematically searching for and breaking the formations in the house, making Hua En’s face darken further.
Suddenly, he seemed to think of something. His fingers twitched, and a figure burst from the crowd with a spell-laden attack—it was the long-missing Zhu Jian.
Zhu Jian, completely under control, charged at Mo Xuanli recklessly.
Recognizing the familiar magic, Mo Xuanli instantly knew who it was. He dared not strike to harm, and could only dodge.
Pressed into danger, Mo Xuanli was forced to release Wen Jiang. After all, Wen Jiang was already dead—there was no need to protect a corpse. But in others’ eyes, it was different.
Seeing Wen Jiang dropped, Lu Sulan thought they meant to abandon him. She rushed forward heedlessly, trying to grab hold of him.
But how could Hua En allow that woman to touch Wen Jiang again? He directly commanded Zhu Jian to kill Lu Sulan.
That could never be allowed. Gu Baiqing, closest by, flew forward at once to block Zhu Jian, protecting Lu Sulan. Yet Wen Jiang was yanked away by Hua En’s strings. Halfway through, however, Jingzhan cut them, and Mo Xuanli struck at Hua En—only to see him twist a strange smile.
Mo Xuanli realized Hua En was looking at Zhu Jian. Earlier, he too had faintly sensed something unusual on Zhu Jian. His expression instantly changed.
“Careful! There’s a formation!”
Mo Xuanli suddenly shouted.
Gu Baiqing knew he was calling to him. Though he obeyed and pulled people back, he didn’t understand at first—for he had checked carefully, and there was no formation here.
But the next second, Gu Baiqing was shocked—because the formation was on Zhu Jian himself. A halo spread from Zhu Jian’s neck, instantly dropping to the ground and forming an array. By the time Gu Baiqing tried to use his spiritual power to pull Zhu Jian and Lu Sulan out, they were already trapped.
He hadn’t expected a person to be made into a formation. Such a thing never existed in righteous methods. And he had relied too much on the “original plot,” so hadn’t thought of it at all.
Jingzhan stood dumbstruck beside him. Xie Qingrong shouted sharply: “Find a way to break the formation! This is a Soul-Seizing Array—dangerous!”
Hearing the word “dangerous,” Gu Baiqing knew at once the power was immense. Jingzhan had already started frantically trying to destroy it, but the barrier held firm. Gu Baiqing could only do as in the original story—using his tribulation-stage power to forcibly shield and protect the two.
Just then, a sudden push came at his back.
Gu Baiqing turned to look—Mo Xuanli, face taut with tension, had appeared behind him.
In an instant, Gu Baiqing, Zhu Jian, and Lu Sulan were all outside the array, while Mo Xuanli was left inside.
“Xuanli!” Gu Baiqing realized—it was the Void Spirit space. Mo Xuanli had forcibly flashed into the array, trying to pull them out. But his strength wasn’t enough. So he chose to push them free, leaving himself within the formation.
The formation activated, and a blinding light instantly engulfed Mo Xuanli’s figure.
But Mo Xuanli did not escape.
The fluctuations of spiritual energy forcibly threw everyone out of the house.
Jingzhan tightly held the Jade Doll and sprang upward, ready to rush in and save him—but saw that the seemingly weak elder brother had already charged in. Among the ruins, he found the unconscious Mo Xuanli.
“Xuanli—” Jingzhan hurried forward.
“Hua En?” Gu Baiqing lifted his head, his gaze sharp as he searched for the puppet master.
But all the puppets had collapsed to the ground—Hua En had already fled. Just now, Mo Xuanli had given up pursuing Hua En to come back and rescue them, giving him the chance to escape.
Gu Baiqing felt as if a breath had been caught in his chest. Even though he knew the system had given no warning, Mo Xuanli had no life-threatening injury, his heart still tightened.
“He got away—d*mn it! To let us suffer such a loss… if I catch him, I won’t let him go,” Jingzhan said angrily.
“Jingzhan, save the others first. I’ll check on Brother Mo,” Xie Qingrong said, jumping down to Mo Xuanli’s side. He sat cross-legged, placing a jade hand on Mo Xuanli’s wrist. “Older Brother Mo, I know a bit of medicine and understand this kind of formation. Let me examine him—okay?”
“I’m counting on you,” Gu Baiqing said.
Xie Qingrong nodded.
In fact, cultivators generally have some knowledge of Soul-Seizing Arrays. They are attacks that impact the spiritual sense—not a matter of cultivation strength, but of how much the sea of consciousness can endure.
If the sea of consciousness were the ocean, a Soul-Seizing Array would be like an undersea earthquake, with the effect measured by how large a wave it could stir.
Everything is recoverable; it is only a matter of time and the degree of damage caused.
Soon, Xie Qingrong gave his verdict: “It may cause confusion of consciousness. At most, three days to recover. As for the degree of confusion, we can only judge when he wakes.”
Gu Baiqing lowered his head to look at Mo Xuanli in his arms and exhaled in relief. Luckily, it wasn’t severe.
Perhaps without the support of a puppet master’s magic, the entire underground estate began to collapse. For now, they had no choice but to use spiritual power to lead everyone out.
By the time they returned to the surface above the tomb, dawn was breaking.
The first to awaken was Wu Hongxi. Upon waking, she saw a group lying on the ground—Jingzhan and Xie Qingrong identifying puppets, Gu Baiqing tending to Mo Xuanli, and Three Bean beside them again.
Wu Hongxi hurried forward to ask what happened.
Jingzhan spoke: “The people in the east are dead. Detached from the puppet master’s control, they will soon rot. If no one from Linxun Town claims them, we will cremate them to prevent them being used by another puppet master. The ones in the west are alive. Their puppet strings are cut, so they’re fine for now, but we can’t let them go. They must remain unconscious—only when we’ve killed the puppet master will they truly be safe.”
Wu Hongxi was shocked, but on closer look, she realized none of them—dead or alive—were from Linxun Town. She didn’t know where they had come from. But thinking about it, if so many from Linxun Town had disappeared at once, someone would have noticed.
After discussion, Gu Baiqing instructed Three Bean and Xie Qingrong to stay behind to watch over Mo Xuanli, while he and Jingzhan, guided by Wu Hongxi, led the living into the woods beside the cemetery. Jingzhan used magic to put them all into unconsciousness and sealed them within a formation invisible to ordinary eyes.
When they returned, they gathered the corpses to a clearing for cremation.
Wu Hongxi prayed nearby for the dead to find peace in reincarnation. Jingzhan and Gu Baiqing pondered their next move.
“Will the puppet master completely disappear? What if we can’t catch him? The people of Linxun Town—” Jingzhan said frustratedly. “I didn’t expect such a weak-looking puppet master would be so difficult to deal with. No wonder my brother told me to come down the mountain to gain experience. Sometimes cultivation alone isn’t enough.”
Gu Baiqing paused. He also wanted to complain—why was such a small puppet master so hard to deal with? Perhaps Hua En had hostages, perhaps they didn’t understand puppet arts or were limited by the formations—but something felt off.
If this puppet master were a high-cultivation demon, it would make sense. But he was clearly an ordinary human who had just entered this path. For him to best them all was frustrating no matter how one looked at it.
The more Gu Baiqing thought, the deeper his frown became—he felt the mist of mystery thickening.
“Alas!” Jingzhan sighed heavily. “And Qingrong’s true body—what if that puppet master takes him away? Then what about Linxun Town?”
Gu Baiqing saw Jingzhan genuinely worried about Xie Qingrong and reminded him: “It’s fine. The puppet master will come back.”
“How do you know?” Jingzhan asked anxiously.
“He still cares about someone in our hands. He will do everything to get them back,” Gu Baiqing said. “Maybe it won’t take long.”
“You mean Wen Jiang, but Wen Jiang—”
Before he could finish, a shocking cry rang from the cemetery—Lu Sulan’s desperate scream. Clearly, she had discovered the truth.
Wen Jiang was dead.
They hurried back and saw Lu Sulan clutching Wen Jiang’s corpse, wailing uncontrollably.
“Why didn’t you save him? Why? You all look so capable, but you—” Lu Sulan’s eyes were red with grief, shouting at them in desperation.
Wu Hongxi’s eyes reddened too. She had already heard the situation and stepped forward. “Sister Lan… when Wen Jiang went missing, he was already dead. It’s not that my friends wouldn’t save him—it’s that what they saved was his corpse. You saw it yourself. Wen Jiang wouldn’t move at all. It was all the puppet master controlling him, and Hua En is the puppet master. Sister Lan, please accept his passing…”
Lu Sulan shook her head endlessly, unable to accept it. But Wen Jiang’s body in her arms was cold and stiff—it was a corpse. No matter how desperately she tried to warm him, it was impossible. Wen Jiang truly was dead.
Wu Hongxi could only comfort her. Lu Sulan cried until her voice was hoarse, screaming to the sky: “Hua En, come out! Hua En, kill me too! You have such a cruel heart—you could do this, how could you bear to kill him? Didn’t you love him? What right do you have to kill him!”
After exhausting herself, Lu Sulan finally fainted.
Wu Hongxi, her eyes red, looked back at the others.
There was nothing they could do but help return everyone to the Wen estate. Another commotion ensued. Wu Hongxi tried her best to explain everything. In their grief, the Wen family finally found a crucial piece of information—that Hua En would not give up, and would return to seize Wen Jiang’s corpse. Such madness, such lawlessness, was unbearable for the Wen family. But Hua En was no longer a normal human; even appealing to the authorities would be useless.
The Wen family knew that those behind Wu Hongxi were Daoists, so without them asking, they knelt and begged them to stay and protect them. The Wen family planned to hold a three-day mourning period, skipping the festival, then cremate Wen Jiang, leaving no chance for Hua En. They also hoped Gu Baiqing and the others could catch Hua En and rid the people of his threat.
Thus, they stayed at the Wen estate.
The Wen family arranged rooms for everyone. The unconscious Zhu Jian was given his own room, but to prevent accidents, Jingzhan still placed a formation in Zhu Jian’s room. According to the original events, Zhu Jian would not wake for several days.
Gu Baiqing voluntarily chose to share a room with Mo Xuanli, since Mo Xuanli’s condition was uncertain—it would be irresponsible not to watch over him.
Gu Baiqing sent Mo Xuanli back to rest and left Three Bean to watch over him, then went to discuss matters with Jingzhan and the others.
The following events could no longer rely on Mo Xuanli’s involvement, so Gu Baiqing directly told Jingzhan his plan.
In the original account, Hua En fled, and they could only tell the people the truth for the moment. Mo Xuanli smashed the Immortal Statue the next night. This time, Gu Baiqing suggested Jingzhan use magic to imitate the Immortal Statue appearing to the people, deceiving them.
They would claim that the blessings given before were tests. Those who could control their desires would bring peace and happiness to their families; those who could not would harm those under their control—thus using intimidation to restrain them.
Although Gu Baiqing knew few could truly suppress their desires, that was no longer something they could prevent. Reaching this step was their limit.
Jingzhan and Xie Qingrong agreed to this plan, though they worried whether Hua En would return. For now, they had to wait a few days to see.
Returning to his room, Gu Baiqing first checked Mo Xuanli. Seeing him frown in discomfort, he felt a pang of concern and reached out to smooth his brow.
Suddenly, he felt the body beneath him stiffen. Gu Baiqing instantly realized—was he awake? Pretending to sleep?
For a moment confused, he reached to push Mo Xuanli.
The instant he touched him, Mo Xuanli sprang up, curling into the foot of the bed like a frightened child. His wide, sharp black-and-white eyes glistened with terror, his breathing rapid, trembling.
Gu Baiqing thought he was in pain and was about to help him, but Mo Xuanli began fumbling on his body and drew a dagger. He gripped it tightly before him, eyes fierce with a desperate will to protect himself.
Gu Baiqing froze at the bed’s edge, astonished: “Xuanli? What’s wrong?”
Mo Xuanli’s expression filled with fear. He didn’t know why this person knew his name. When he woke here, everything felt strange. He had been hiding in ruins, evading pursuit, but his body was burning with fever. Despite desperately trying to stay awake—knowing that falling unconscious might mean never waking—he had failed. When he opened his eyes, he was here. The only explanation: he had been captured.
The person before him radiated the same aura as those who had chased him—cultivators. Cultivators wanted to kill him. He had to escape.
Mo Xuanli watched Gu Baiqing warily, trembling all over with obvious fear, yet his eyes scanned the surroundings as if searching desperately for an exit.
Gu Baiqing had never seen Mo Xuanli like this. He froze. “Xuanli, don’t tell me you’ve lost your memory. Do you even remember who I am? Or, do you remember Gu Baiqing?”
Could it be this cliché? A memory-loss arc?
But from Mo Xuanli’s unchanged terrified expression, Gu Baiqing hopelessly reached a conclusion—Mo Xuanli did not remember him. Consciousness disorder should not cause this.
Gu Baiqing felt a blow. Seeing Mo Xuanli so frightened, he stepped back and called to Jingzhan. Then, he said to Mo Xuanli, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. Do you remember who you are?”
“I am no one. Since you won’t hurt me, let me go,” Mo Xuanli said anxiously, gripping the dagger even tighter as though it were his only anchor in this world.
At that moment, Jingzhan and Xie Qingrong arrived.
Mo Xuanli saw another cultivator approaching, recognized a familiar mark on his robes, and his face turned pale. Without hesitation, like a fish struggling in a net, he tried desperately to escape.
But the moment he leapt from the bed, Gu Baiqing grabbed him firmly. “Don’t be afraid. We really aren’t bad people. Calm down and listen.”
Still, Mo Xuanli struggled violently, his voice trembling, even breaking into sobs. “Let me go!”
Jingzhan looked dumbfounded. “My heavens!”
“It’s the Soul-Seizing Array…” Xie Qingrong said in astonishment.
As Mo Xuanli thrashed like a madman, Three Bean could no longer stand aside. He leapt in front of Mo Xuanli. “Xuanli, calm down—you’ve hurt him.”
Indeed, Mo Xuanli’s struggling had caused the dagger to cut Gu Baiqing’s arm.
Gu Baiqing worried whether Three Bean speaking would further trigger Mo Xuanli, when suddenly Mo Xuanli froze. He stopped struggling and murmured:
“Three Bean… you are Three Bean? Three Bean… you can speak?”
