As he spoke, Gu Baiqing looked upward just in time to see Three Bean, in its enlarged form, carrying Mo Xuanli back down.
Mo Xuanli had wounds on his face, but his expression was much more relaxed—especially after hearing his master’s praise on the way back. Even injured, he could still smile.
“All dealt with?” Gu Baiqing asked.
Mo Xuanli nodded. “Reporting to Master, everything’s been taken care of.”
There was no way he could have left his master after learning the truth, but there was no choice. The moment Mo Xuanli realized Wu Hongxi’s identity was suspicious, he had desperately tried to sense whether hidden formations or traps were nearby.
Maybe because puppet master techniques were different, not only were Luo Yi’s control threads invisible, even the formations he laid down were nearly undetectable. He was practically a genius in this field.
But no matter how much of a genius he was, in Mo Xuanli’s eyes, it still wasn’t enough.
After calming down, Mo Xuanli did sense abnormalities. Weighing the situation, he had no choice but to let his master—who had already restored his spiritual power—stay behind to deal with Luo Yi, while he himself rushed out. Not to chase after Hua En, of course, but to dismantle all the formation traps Luo Yi had secretly set during the days he pretended to be Wu Hongxi living at the Wen residence.
All of this was an improvised plan Mo Xuanli thought of in just those few brief moments.
He had calculated everything, but in his haste he still ended up injured. If not for Gu Baiqing secretly ordering Three Bean to follow out of worry, he probably would have been hurt far worse.
And so, under the combined efforts of master and disciple, Luo Yi was subdued.
Or at least, that’s what everyone thought.
Luo Yi gazed faintly at the pair, smiling. “Truly outstanding. No wonder you ranked above my senior brother.”
Gu Baiqing, however, was still utterly baffled about Luo Yi’s identity.
Mo Xuanli simply waved his hand. At this moment he was holding a silver writing brush, its end wrapped with a red cord, its white tip shimmering faintly with golden light.
This was a new form of the God Nine Transformations Mo Xuanli had developed in the past few days, designed specifically for drawing array talismans. It drastically shortened the time needed to set up a formation—perfectly suited to him.
With a stroke in midair, golden runes appeared and instantly struck Luo Yi’s body.
Luo Yi’s puppet guise completely fell away, revealing the appearance of a sixteen-year-old youth.
“So it really is Luo Yi…” Jingzhan murmured. “You… how did you become a demonic puppet master?”
Mo Xuanli turned to introduce him to Gu Baiqing: “Luo Yi, son of the Rufeng Sect’s sect master.”
Gu Baiqing was even more shocked. Who the heck is this now? He never even appeared in the original text!
“It’s me.” Luo Yi sneered, his red eyes fixed on Mo Xuanli. “You must have discovered something, right? Where did I slip up? Even if you guessed someone was behind Hua En, it shouldn’t have been me. My puppet guise— even a tribulation-stage cultivator wouldn’t be able to see through it.”
This was Luo Yi’s secret weapon, something he had painstakingly developed: it could turn a person entirely into a puppet from soul to body, with the puppet master sealed within—providing true protection.
Gu Baiqing rubbed his nose. He had to admit—it was flawless. If not for suspicion, it would’ve been impossible to notice.
Mo Xuanli said coldly, “I truly didn’t know about your so-called puppet guise. At first, I thought Wu Hongxi was just another puppet being controlled.”
Luo Yi frowned, confused.
Mo Xuanli continued slowly, “But we never once told you the little jade person’s name. Yet just now, when the three of us returned, Jingzhan asked directly about Xie Qingrong—and you answered without hesitation, even calling him Young Master Xie afterward.”
Luo Yi’s eyes flickered, but then he smiled. “So it seems that the closer it gets to the end, the less one can afford to relax. I was careless. But just based on that, you judged me so decisively? What if I simply overheard one of you mention it before?”
Mo Xuanli said again: “When you were with Lu Sulan, she often did things no ordinary mortal could. For example—how did she know that blood could break a barrier? And… truth be told, the very first time I met you, I already found you suspicious. I believe from the moment we met, Wu Hongxi was already you.”
At first, Luo Yi didn’t react much, but when he heard the last part, he froze.
“My puppet guise is practically the same as having the real Wu Hongxi do what she normally would, with only occasional interference. How could you possibly have doubted me?” Luo Yi asked in disbelief.
“Because of time.” Mo Xuanli said, “You yourself said that three months ago, you ran into Senior Brother Zhu’s incident and were asked to find help. But even if family delayed you, a normal person shouldn’t take three whole months to appear at Tianxian Prefecture—it’s not even far away.”
“Then why didn’t you mention it back then?”
“Because I had no evidence of your strangeness. I just thought I was being overly suspicious. Not until we confirmed that Hua En had invisible control threads on him did I wonder—could you be the same? I never expected we’d seize the true culprit so directly. I suppose luck was on our side.”
Gu Baiqing was already dumbfounded. The person they’d met, who appeared in the original text, hadn’t even been the real Wu Hongxi? What the h*ll is going on here?!
“So… we never actually knew the real Miss Wu? She was already in trouble long ago?”
At that moment, Zhu Jian stepped forward. “It was me who implicated Miss Wu. Three months ago, a puppet master appeared and attacked me. I was controlled and lost consciousness until thunder woke me up—I then met Miss Wu. I asked her to send a message, but before I finished speaking, the puppet master showed up. Miss Wu died right in front of me.”
Back then, Zhu Jian had only noticed a pair of red eyes. In the original text, he had seen master and disciple capture Hua En, and Hua En soon took his own life—so Zhu Jian hadn’t been able to tell if the one who attacked him then was the same person.
Zhu Jian could now be certain—the one who struck back then had been Luo Yi. His eyes were red with guilt, glaring at Luo Yi with hatred.
“Curiosity comes at a price, whether for her or for you.” Luo Yi sneered. But his contempt was instantly answered by a lightning strike from Gu Baiqing, pain twisting his face as he bent over.
Gu Baiqing’s expression was icy as he looked at this vicious youth. Things had already gone far beyond his expectations. How to deal with him required careful thought.
“Elder, we absolutely cannot let him off lightly!” Zhu Jian shouted. “He also set up a Spirit-Gathering Array in Linxun Town—he wants everyone here dead!”
“What! A Spirit-Gathering Array!” Mo Xuanli was also taken aback.
Gu Baiqing finally exhaled a breath.
In the original story, it was indeed after master and disciple captured Hua En that Zhu Jian awoke and revealed the matter of the Spirit-Gathering Array. Naturally, Mo Xuanli—proficient in formations—knew how dangerous it was. Spirit-Gathering meant gathering all the souls and vital essence within the array.
It had originally been researched by the monks of Wuxiang Temple, intended to release and transcend the spirits of ghostly dead cities. The original intention was good. But later it was discovered that once gathered, the Spirit-Gathering Array had tremendous power. The key was that after the transcendence, the collected essence would transform into spiritual energy. The monks naturally returned this energy to the earth to nourish lands suffused with deathly qi. But others tried to exploit it in various ways, and gradually it was abused into becoming a forbidden art.
After all, once used where living people dwelled, everyone within the array would gradually wither and die. Because the Spirit-Gathering Array was so hard to detect, deaths occurred quietly, without anyone realizing. Some townsfolk would even blame bad fengshui of their homeland. Often, by the time every last person perished, even cultivators might not have discovered it. Meanwhile, the one who benefited could either strengthen their cultivation or practice sinister techniques. In short, it not only violated the Way of Heaven, but was an immense danger.
The cultivation world had decreed: if a Spirit-Gathering Array was discovered, it must be destroyed immediately, and whoever set it up—no need for trial—must be executed.
Mo Xuanli suddenly understood certain things. At first, he hadn’t been able to figure out why Hua En went to such lengths with soul-control. Was it merely to wreak havoc for cruelty’s sake? It had seemed strange. But now, combined with the Spirit-Gathering Array, it made sense.
Without someone continually maintaining it—as the Wuxiang monks had done—the Spirit-Gathering Array progressed very slowly. To kill off all of Linxun Town would take ten years or more. But with soul-control, it was like poking a hole into someone’s body, accelerating the loss of soul and vitality. Not only did it speed up the Array’s collection, it also hastened the death of the puppet. And it remained undetected, while saving the caster’s own power.
It was, in fact, an extremely clever method.
That was also why Xie Qingrong’s split soul had burned out so fast. He hadn’t had time to escape for help before being trapped inside the statue of the immortal. It wasn’t that his spiritual power had failed—there had been a Spirit-Gathering Array underground constantly draining his soul’s essence, causing him to misjudge the time he had left.
“You’ve been hiding here just for this? A Spirit-Gathering Array—you’re trying to cultivate some demonic art!” Jingzhan shouted angrily.
But Mo Xuanli felt something off. Clearly it had been a foolproof plan—yet because of Xie Qingrong and Zhu Jian’s successive intrusions, there had been slip-ups. But then… why had Wu Hongxi appeared right before them?
Mo Xuanli suddenly spoke: “I don’t believe in coincidences. There’s no way you just happened to cross paths with our carriage. Everything was premeditated—you were waiting for someone. Because you captured Senior Brother Zhu, you knew Zixiao Sect would definitely send disciples. Maybe not us, but disciples nonetheless. So your scheme isn’t just about Linxun Town. You want…”
Luo Yi’s pupils trembled—only to hear Mo Xuanli directly reveal his entire plan.
“You want to turn us all into living-controlled puppets, make us your chess pieces, and infiltrate the great sects?” Even Mo Xuanli was shocked after saying it aloud. This was a colossal scheme.
“You’re talking nonsense. I don’t understand.” Luo Yi still forced a smile.
Mo Xuanli’s expression was extremely grim. “Perhaps by the time you thought of this plan, the Spirit-Gathering Array itself was no longer important. Even if we discovered and destroyed it, it wouldn’t matter. Your true aim was to keep us here, to capture us—including Jingzhan. With us as your insiders, that’s far more useful than one array. If ordinary disciples had come, they wouldn’t have detected the Array, and you could simply turn them into puppets—best case scenario.”
“H-he… he doesn’t have that kind of ability!” Jingzhan protested. “If we really fought desperately, he wouldn’t necessarily take us down.”
Mo Xuanli’s gaze flickered. “Maybe he could. Even now… if he properly used the Array to attack, capturing us might’ve been possible. Only… we interrupted it ahead of time.”
Jingzhan was too shocked to speak. Gu Baiqing, however, was thinking of the original ending—Xie Qingrong being returned to Rufeng Sect, while Wu Hongxi, with their letter of recommendation, could easily enter any sect.
If such a traitor existed, then when Mo Xuanli was later exposed in the original story—denounced by all—just how much of that had Luo Yi’s hand behind it? And now, hearing how grand his ambition truly was, it was fortunate that this time he ran into the male lead and Elder Luofeng, hidden under disguise, who ruined his plan.
Luo Yi’s blood-red eyes bored into Mo Xuanli. Though a waste in terms of cultivation, in scheming he had never thought himself inferior to anyone. Yet this time, before this person, he truly conceded. To see so clearly while still in the middle of the game—he was a terrifying opponent indeed.
But still, he was one step short.
“Oh? Really interrupted, was it?” Luo Yi sneered.
“To trigger the Spirit-Gathering Array to attack, the array setter must be in danger. Since we’ve already captured you, as long as we don’t kill you before breaking the formation, there won’t be a problem.” Mo Xuanli analyzed coolly.
Gu Baiqing’s face suddenly changed. No—that wasn’t right. The array setter was…
Luo Yi began to laugh. But Mo Xuanli interrupted again: “So the one who set the array isn’t you. It must be Hua En or Xie Qingrong. You controlling them works just as well. Hua En may not be in our hands, but he must be over at Wen Jiang’s coffin shop. I’ve already set a barrier over the entire hall—he’s trapped and can’t get out, and you can’t control him. As for Xie Qingrong, I don’t believe you’d let him handle something this dangerous.”
One sentence made Luo Yi’s expression change several times. Gu Baiqing, Jingzhan, and Zhu Jiandu—who had only just met him—were all stunned as they looked at Mo Xuanli.
Even without knowing the full cause and effect, this person was on guard to such a degree. His mind was simply too meticulous.
“Wait, what about Qingrong!” Jingzhan’s shock finally ended, and he immediately asked. From the very beginning, he had been unable to sense Qingrong through the bond they shared.
Luo Yi seemed extremely disdainful of Jingzhan. He gave him a cold glance and said bluntly, “None of your d*mn business.”
“You’re the one who captured Qingrong—what exactly have you done to him! He’s your senior brother, and yet you’d harm him!”
“Baili Jingzhan, you really are as noisy as ever. How could my senior brother stand to tolerate such an annoying, clamorous thing like you!” Luo Yi sneered dismissively.
“You…” Jingzhan was practically choking.
He wasn’t very familiar with this kid, only knew that Luo Yi’s health was poor and his spiritual root weak, making him nearly unable to cultivate. The sect master of Rufeng Sect had tried to alter his constitution, but to no avail. Having such a talentless only son was a humiliation, so Luo Yi rarely appeared in the cultivation world.
When Jingzhan went to Rufeng Sect to find Xie Qingrong, he had occasionally seen him. The boy always hid behind Xie Qingrong, watching people with a gloomy stare.
Perhaps because his mother died early, and most fellow disciples looked down on him as the young master, only Xie Qingrong treated him well. So he became overly dependent on Xie Qingrong. When Jingzhan sought Qingrong a few times, Luo Yi would glare at him as though someone were trying to snatch away his treasure.
In the past year or two, Xie Qingrong had almost never allowed him to come to Rufeng Sect, handling matters via formation contact. But Jingzhan never listened, and Qingrong couldn’t do anything about him. As a result, he had barely seen Luo Yi since.
Could it be that the reason Rufeng Sect was being so secretive about Xie Qingrong going on this mission alone… was because it involved the sect master’s only son—and that this son had already fallen into demonic ways and committed atrocities?! If word got out, what face would Rufeng Sect, one of the Four Great Sects, have left?
Jingzhan was so furious he drew his spirit sword and leveled it at Luo Yi. “I won’t even mention the rest—don’t forget who it was Qingrong lost his eyesight for! You ungrateful little beast! And now you’d even try to turn Qingrong into a puppet! Release him at once, or I’ll kill you where you stand!”
This was a secret no one else knew: Xie Qingrong’s blindness was because of Luo Yi.
When Luo Yi was young, he refused to face the truth that he was useless, so he often did dangerous things to prove his strength. Once, he nearly died to a beast, and Xie Qingrong saved him—but at the cost of his eyes.
The flawless senior brother thereafter bore a flaw everyone lamented. But Xie Qingrong demanded those who knew to keep silent, never letting it spread.
When Jingzhan said this, Luo Yi’s emotions finally shifted. He glared viciously at him. “That’s between me and my senior brother. What does it have to do with you? Don’t talk like you’re so close to him.”
“You brat!” Jingzhan exploded, raising his sword to stab him full of holes—when suddenly Mo Xuanli said: “Hold it!”
Jingzhan froze mid-action, glaring at Mo Xuanli with killing intent.
Mo Xuanli suddenly transformed his brush into a whip. With a sharp crack, the long whip lashed straight toward Luo Yi’s chest.
Luo Yi tried to move, but was pinned down by Gu Baiqing’s Morning Snow, unable to budge. He could only stare, eyes nearly splitting, as God Nine Transformations hooked the little jade figurine from his chest and flung it into Jingzhan’s arms.
Jingzhan was caught off guard, fumbling in shock. He hadn’t expected Qingrong to be hidden in Luo Yi’s arms. But why, at such close distance, hadn’t he sensed him?
“Qingrong!” Jingzhan cried out at once, but Xie Qingrong gave no response. Jingzhan assumed it was because his spiritual energy was depleted again, and hurried to save him.
“You—!” Luo Yi glared viciously at Mo Xuanli, but Mo Xuanli said lightly, “If you want to hide something, you should hide it somewhere you don’t care about.”
At first, Mo Xuanli also thought Luo Yi was shielding his chest because it was his weak point. But after hearing the exchange between Luo Yi and Jingzhan, and recalling the Immortal Statue, he suddenly understood.
Perhaps Luo Yi’s true weakness wasn’t himself, but Xie Qingrong.
So shielding his chest meant shielding Xie Qingrong.
Still young, and caring too much, his lack of experience made him easy to see through.
“Master, let me. Go help Jingzhan. Since Xie Qingrong was captured without resistance and the Three Beans didn’t even notice, he must be under control. There may even be strings of control in his split soul. Lightning force can effectively dispel them.” As Mo Xuanli spoke, God Nine Transformations coiled tightly around Luo Yi’s neck, choking off his lifeline.
Luo Yi truly hadn’t expected this man to be so sharp—more terrifying than even his senior brother.
But Luo Yi wasn’t afraid. In the end, these people were destined to die here anyway.
Suddenly, the earth trembled. In an instant, heaven and earth changed color, as if something was awakening.
Everyone’s faces shifted. They felt a powerful suction from the ground beneath, pulling them down and pinning them in place.
The spirit-gathering array was transforming into a killing array.
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