Xuan Nü and Li Wuyang swiftly returned to the secret chamber deep within Cardinal Hall, bringing the sealed shadow puppet with them. Master of Qingwei Temple, the Inspector, and the others had long been waiting there. At the sight of the captured puppet, all of them revealed looks of astonishment.
"This is the traitor? It isn't even a living being, but such an exquisitely crafted creation!" The projection of the Ling Xiao Sword Master stared at the puppet, sword intent flickering in his eyes as though he wished to see straight through it.
Wonderful Sound Bodhisattva recited a Buddhist invocation. Buddhist light enveloped the puppet, and after examining it closely, she said gravely, "This object's core contains exceedingly malevolent death qi, and its construction is bizarre. It is beyond the means of ordinary artifact refinement in this world. The concept behind its creation is practically... the creation of an entirely new form of 'life' under absolute control."
Xuan Nü placed the puppet on the formation platform at the center of the chamber. Her jade hand hovered above it as Annihilation Divine Light, like the most precise surgical instrument, began stripping away layer after layer and analyzing the puppet's internal structure. Li Wuyang assisted at her side, using Chaos Nirvana power to stabilize the process and prevent the core's self-destruction mechanism from being accidentally triggered.
As the outer runes and energy channels were gradually unraveled, the puppet's incomparably intricate yet sinister internal structure was laid bare before them. Its energy core was not a conventional spirit stone or inner core, but a dark-red crystal nucleus that continuously rotated, formed from highly condensed laws of deathly stillness fused with unknown soul fragments. Around the crystal nucleus were countless hair-thin energy circuits gleaming with eerie light, forming an extraordinarily complex control and information-processing