Two two

The puppet seemed unable to master controlling those impossibly long legs, taking slow, deliberate steps that only intensified the sense of pressure. Su Xiaoyuan instinctively stepped back, unknowingly pressing her back against the wall, unable to suppress a shiver.

It was said that some powerful beings emitted an overwhelming aura, causing others to tremble at the mere sight, even weakening their knees to the point of falling to their knees. As an outer disciple of the Hehuan Sect, Su Xiaoyuan had no chance to witness such mystical phenomena—but now, her legs felt weak. She was actually sensing an oppressive aura from a puppet!

If she ever voiced this, Ruan Mianmian would surely mock her for a whole year.

The puppet slowly approached and stopped before her, lowering its head as if scrutinizing her through its mask. It was tall—at least a full head taller than Su Xiaoyuan—and standing there, it cast her entirely into shadow.

The puppet raised its left hand slowly. Its hand was pale—an inorganic, uncanny whiteness—blue veins subtly bulged on the back, the nails faint in color, and the fingers long and powerful. Su Xiaoyuan felt as if her throat were being gripped tightly; for a moment, she genuinely feared it was about to strangle her.

But the puppet’s fingers merely brushed past her cheek before lifting the mask from its face.

Su Xiaoyuan’s lips parted slightly, eyes wide with astonishment.

This puppet was stunningly handsome!

The Hehuan Sect might lack many things, but beauty was not one of them. Yet even the sect’s elite inner disciples paled in comparison to this puppet. The mass-produced faces outside looked greasy and artificial by contrast.

Its bone structure was exquisite, the jawline alluringly defined, paired with enchanting peach blossom eyes. Such eyes might normally seem frivolous, but the puppet’s cold, indifferent, lifeless gaze dispelled all that, leaving only an air of superiority.

Su Xiaoyuan even felt a strange illusion that she was being looked down upon by a puppet purchased for merely twenty spirit stones.

Ruan Mianmian, seeing the puppet’s true face, gasped sharply. The discarded scoundrel puppet she had been carrying on her shoulder dropped to the ground with a bang, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Coughing from the dust, Su Xiaoyuan finally regained her senses. She looked down at her trembling right hand, unable to believe her luck.

“This puppet…” she wondered aloud, “Could it be defective?”

Before she could finish, the shop owner rushed over. “Mistake, mistake! This isn’t old stock—it was the clerk’s error…”

Ruan Mianmian cut him off fiercely. “We agreed that whatever we draw is what we get. If you go back on your word, I’ll smash this shady shop to pieces!”

Su Xiaoyuan hurriedly grabbed her friend’s sleeve, quietly urging, “Forget it, Kaishan. This puppet looks valuable—it’s probably just a mix-up…”

The shop owner was nearly moved to tears. “Such a beautiful little fairy, and so kind-hearted too.” He slapped his thigh, gritting his teeth. “Today, I’ve truly taken a loss! We can’t let good deeds go unrewarded, right?”

Su Xiaoyuan’s eyes sparkled like stars. “Really?”

The owner turned away, covering his eyes. “Hurry and claim your master rights, take him home quickly! If you wait too long, I’ll regret it for sure!”

Su Xiaoyuan felt like she was dreaming. After so many years of bad luck, surely she had saved all her fortune for this draw.

“Thank you, boss!” Her clear eyes gleamed with gratitude.

“No need to say more, cough cough,” the owner averted his gaze, “Just hurry and seal the contract!”

Su Xiaoyuan had never raised a puppet before and had no idea what sealing a contract meant. She looked utterly bewildered.

Ruan Mianmian explained, “Puppets don’t have souls, but like humans they possess spirit veins that can cultivate. Some high-level puppets surpass their owners in cultivation. To prevent puppets from rebelling, legitimate ones have spirit-blood arrays.”

As she spoke, she condensed her spiritual power into a thin needle and pricked her finger to demonstrate. “By fusing your blood into the puppet, you gain full control, no fear of backlash, and can issue commands.”

Ruan Mianmian squeezed out a drop of blood and pressed it to the scoundrel puppet’s brow. “Song Jinshu, from now on I am your master.”

The blood swiftly absorbed into the puppet’s brow, which emitted a metallic clip-like sound. “At your command, master.”

Su Xiaoyuan: “...”

Ruan Mianmian, pleased with her new puppet, turned to Su Xiaoyuan. “Got it?”

Su Xiaoyuan nodded.

Having just learned to absorb qi into her body, she couldn’t yet condense her spiritual power into a needle to prick herself. Ruan Mianmian took her hand. “Tsk, so tender—afraid to hurt yourself, huh?”

Before she finished, she swiftly pricked Su Xiaoyuan’s finger.

Su Xiaoyuan had been afraid of pain since childhood. After system modification, her skin was even more delicate and sensitive; a slight prick caused her eyes to redden and tears to flow naturally.

Tiny coral-like blood droplets bubbled from her fingertip.

Su Xiaoyuan looked up at the aloof puppet, hesitating.

For some reason, whenever she met those cold peach blossom eyes, she felt frozen and stiff all over.

“Hurry!” Ruan Mianmian urged, fearing the shop owner might change his mind.

Summoning courage, Su Xiaoyuan extended her left index finger, the blood droplet barely an inch from the puppet’s brow—but then she froze.

Ruan Mianmian asked, “What’s wrong?”

Su Xiaoyuan couldn’t explain, a vague sense of foreboding rising within her—as if doing this would bring terrible consequences. “Kaishan, maybe we should…”

Before she could finish, Ruan Mianmian lunged forward, grabbed her hand, and pressed it firmly onto the puppet’s brow.

The spirit-blood array activated; crimson threads spread like a spiderweb over the puppet’s body.

“Quick! The name!” Ruan Mianmian insisted.

“Ah?” Su Xiaoyuan blinked.

“The puppet’s name,” Ruan Mianmian said, “Think fast, or it’ll be too late!”

Panicked, Su Xiaoyuan’s mind went blank until a name suddenly popped out: “Fu Tingyun…”

The moment she said it, regret flooded her. She was about to ask if she could change it when the mark on the puppet’s brow flashed rapidly—signaling the blood contract was sealed.

“Can the name be changed?” she asked Ruan Mianmian.

“Once set, it can’t be changed,” Ruan Mianmian replied. “Unless you find a specialist to wash off the current contract and seal a new one—and that’s expensive!”

“Alright then…”

She was relieved that Fu Tingyun was the puppet’s original name from his mortal days as a sword master, unused after his ascension to the cultivation world. The books specifically mentioned that almost no one in the Three Realms knew his real name; he was only addressed by his title.

Anyway, the real Fu Tingyun would never know.

Like naming a kitten Einstein or Napoleon—what did it matter?

The shop owner stared blankly at the glowing contract mark, then came back to his senses after a moment. “See? Isn’t that perfect! Told you this shop deals fairly with everyone.”

He pulled two scrolls from his dimensional pouch and handed them over. “These are instructions for the puppet. Take them home and read carefully—I have other business.”

Su Xiaoyuan carefully stored the manuals in her storage pouch, then glanced at the puppet’s proud profile.

Thinking of its purpose, she blushed and lowered her head, tugging the puppet’s sleeve softly. “Let’s go…”

The puppet stiffly lowered its head, glanced at her hand, then raised its left hand and brusquely brushed her hand away.

The contact of their fingers felt like an icy shock to Su Xiaoyuan. She instinctively withdrew her hand and whispered to Ruan Mianmian, “I think he doesn’t like being touched…”

Ruan Mianmian rubbed her temple. “He’s a puppet—not human. Not even alive. How could he feel likes or dislikes?”

“But just now he—”

The shop owner interjected, “That’s just because the puppet’s been stored too long without movement, got stiff. Soak it in warm water and it’ll be like new.”

Su Xiaoyuan realized she might have overthought it. Without consciousness, puppets had no emotions—that’s why they were called puppets. Besides, for twenty spirit stones, what else could she expect?

She spoke to the puppet in a coaxing tone, “Sorry, Fu… Fu Tingyun, shall we go?”

The puppet lifted its chin, fixed its gaze ahead, and strode out, treating Su Xiaoyuan as if she were invisible.

Ruan Mianmian stomped angrily. “You’re his master, but you act like a shy little bride! It’s like the world’s turned upside down!”

She then jumped onto the puppet’s neck, kicking its chest with her heel. “Song Jinshu, move out!”

The puppet emitted a soft groan, flexed its legs and waist, and dashed toward the door.

Watching her friend’s embarrassed posture, Su Xiaoyuan felt something was off, but seeing Ruan Mianmian giggle uncontrollably made her doubt herself.

The owner saw them off at the door. “Remember to soak them in warm water plenty—it’ll make them as good as new.”

The two happily left the shop. Su Xiaoyuan waved back to the owner and sighed, “There are still good people in the Three Realms.”

The owner watched their backs disappear into the crowd, then turned back inside, rubbing his hands with a rosy glow. “Tonight, I’ll add a dish. I’ll head to the Western Market for two pounds of raccoon pork belly—make a little stir-fry.”

Humming to himself, he walked upstairs lightly.

Two clerks arranged goods inside. One wondered, “What happened? The boss looks so happy.”

The other whispered, “Finally got rid of that ancestor. How could he not be happy?”

“You mean ‘that ancestor’?”

“Who else?”

“Thank heavens. Ever since the boss took that ancestor in, not a single peaceful day.”

“No one knows what sort of puppet that was. Hope it wasn’t made by some evil cultivator…”

“Maybe. Who else has a puppet with such a sinister curse? The last buyer’s gone dazed, and two curse-breakers went mad trying to undo it. Thank the Ancestor Yanshi for letting it go.”

“Selling it without a curse-break—won’t that cause trouble?”

“Since the contract’s sealed, it should be fine… If anything happens, just deny it was sold here. Worst case, pack up and run! Don’t overthink it. Besides, we get stir-fry tonight!”

Su Xiaoyuan and Ruan Mianmian returned to their sect with their puppets and hurried to find Elder Qin, only to learn at Apricot Blossom Dock that he had urgent matters and was away.

“Looks like we won’t be setting up the formation today,” Su Xiaoyuan said, disappointed but secretly relieved. The longer this was delayed, the better.

Ruan Mianmian had a bright idea. “The owner said to soak them in warm water to soften them. Let’s take them to the Mandate Bath and give them a thorough wash.”

Su Xiaoyuan’s cheeks flushed deeply, almost steaming from embarrassment. “Ah! Isn’t that too fast?”

“Don’t you want to inspect your goods? Besides, we can start training even without the formation,” Ruan Mianmian pulled her along. “Remember the key points of the Mandate Bath?”

Su Xiaoyuan was at a loss. “Maybe I should go back and get my notebook…”

“That’s too much trouble. Just wash them casually.”

She glanced at the puppet Fu Tingyun’s handsome jawline and sighed, “Alright then…”