Surprised?

Three days later, Immortal Venerable Lin visited Qingmingzi's residence again.

Ignoring the blue-armored guards who stood like statues in the courtyard of the mansion, he went straight to the door of Qingmingzi's room.

Even before he stepped into the room, his powerful Spiritual Sense had already sensed that Qingmingzi and Liu Shi were inside.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Brother Qingming Sect, sister-in-law, I've come to see you again."

He announced loudly, "Immortal Venerable's Estate's residence, your courtyard has been repaired, and you can move in today. I've hired some people to help you move. After you're done, come to my house for a drink tonight."

There was a moment's silence in the room, then Qingmingzi replied, "Please come in, Immortal Venerable Lin."

For some reason, Immortal Venerable Lin felt that Qingmingzi's speech was a bit strange today, and his tone seemed somewhat stiff.

However, considering that Qingmingzi would soon be drinking his last cup of wine, Immortal Venerable Lin understood. After all, he had helped the Azure Emperor break up many couples before, and Qingmingzi's reaction was relatively calm. He had seen men cry and wail, so he didn't take it to heart.

He pushed open the door and entered. The interior was exactly as he had seen it that day, bare walls and bare ground Qingmingzi and Liu Shi sat facing each other at the only round table in the room, silently staring at each other without saying a word. They looked like two dead people, and the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

Immortal Venerable Lin strolled into the room and library, still with his hands behind his back, and wandered around for a moment before stopping behind Liu Shi. Qingmingzi opposite him and said, "Eh? Brother Qingming Sect, didn't you say three days ago that you were going to buy some furniture? Why is it still like this?"

I'm not buying it.

Qingmingzi calmly replied, "After returning, I thought about it. Although I initially thought that enduring it would lead to a better future, I later realized that enduring it only made me angrier, and yielding only made me feel more cheated. I decided that I shouldn't tolerate it anymore; that's not in my nature, Qingmingzi."

"I see."

While smiling, Immortal Venerable Lin reached out and supported Liu Shi's chair back.

"Brother Qingming Sect, you have quite a bit of integrity, but... I must advise you, everyone has their limitations, you can't always be so single-minded in your pursuit of progress."

Qingmingzi seemed oblivious to Immortal Venerable Lin's rather threatening actions, and said calmly, "Speaking of which, Qingmingzi has another request."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Immortal Venerable Lin knows, my ability to be with Shi'er this time is all thanks to His Azure Emperor's blessing. If His Majesty were truly determined to pursue her, given His Majesty's virtue, talent, appearance, status, and conditions, Shi'er would absolutely never be able to be with me."

Qingmingzi raised his hands and clasped them together, his movements somewhat stiff.

"I have a letter of thanks to His Majesty here. Please, Immortal Venerable Lin, help me deliver it to His Majesty."

"That's easy to do."

Immortal Venerable Lin reached out and took the envelope from Qingmingzi. As he touched Qingmingzi's hand, he suddenly felt something was amiss.

He grabbed Qingmingzi's hand and squeezed it hard. The hand felt cold and hard, not like a human hand at all.

"Metal?"

Immortal Venerable Lin was greatly alarmed. He waved his hand and slashed, severing Qingmingzi's head and revealing the metal cut.

At this moment, Liu Shi, who was sitting in front of him, also twisted her neck into a very strange arc amidst the clicking sounds, looked up at him from below, and giggled. "Immortal Venerable Lin, are you surprised?"

With a dark expression, Immortal Venerable Lin asked in a deep voice, "Just who are you?"

"Your dad."

Liu Shi grinned, and a clear slit finally appeared on her cheek.

Bang!

Immortal Venerable Lin smashed her head with a single palm strike, then looked at the letter in his hand and prepared to tear it up.

But then he suddenly remembered something, stopped what he was doing, smoothed out the wrinkles on the letter, and neatly put it into his pocket.

Then, he unleashed his Immortal Power, shattering the clothes on "Qingmingzi" and "Liu Shi," revealing before him two headless, exquisitely crafted doll-like bodies. Their spherical joints were polished to an impeccable smoothness, and their surfaces were painted to resemble human skin, gleaming with a radiant sheen.

"Um?"

Just then, Immortal Venerable Lin suddenly saw a sliver of light emanating from the puppet's abdomen.

What is that?

He reached out and grabbed, his fingers like metal hooks, easily tearing a piece off the doll's body and revealing its abdomen.

It was a Detonation Talisman, already close to detonation.

"I..."

Boom!

A massive explosion suddenly occurred at the residence of Qingmingzi, the Chief Instructor of the Yang Celestial Army. However, the power of the explosion did not spread but was absorbed by a certain force at the center of the explosion and confined to the area of the room.

A moment later, Immortal Venerable Lin stepped out from the billowing black smoke of the explosion. He was tattered and his face was ashen.

He walked up to the blue-armored guards and angrily shouted, "What are you all good for? You didn't even know when Qingmingzi and Liu Shi were switched!"

"What are you all doing? You didn't even know when Qingmingzi and Liu Shi were switched!"

Unexpectedly, instead of kneeling on the ground trembling and begging him for mercy, the guards in blue armor mimicked his words.

If it weren't for that stiff tone, it would really sound like a parrot mimicking someone else.

"Um?"

Immortal Venerable Lin was startled. He casually sliced open the body of a blue-armored guard and found that it was indeed a cut-off piece of a puppet inside.

Moreover, in the empty abdomen, there was also a Detonation Talisman that was flashing.

The next moment, a second explosion occurred inside Qingmingzi's mansion, and the blast covered Qingmingzi entire mansion.

"Hehe."

As Bai Qiuran and her group flew through a mountain range on the Yang Heaven Continent in their Flying Shuttle, the Puppet Venerable, who was traveling with them, suddenly let out a laugh that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Everyone else was puzzled, but Bai Qiuran, then smiled at her and said, "You've taken the bait?"

"Um."

The Puppet Venerable smiled and nodded.

How effective was your technique?

Bai Qiuran asked again.

It's been broken.

Upon hearing this, the Puppet Venerable shook his head somewhat unhappily.

"I am indeed still far from being a true Immortal Venerable."

"Immortal Venerable Lin is a veteran Immortal Venerable under the Azure Emperor, and his strength is no weaker than that of the former Yang Immortal Venerable."

Qingmingzi interjected, "This... Miss Puppet Master, although you are very strong, it's perfectly normal that you can't defeat Immortal Venerable Lin."

The Puppet Venerable pursed his lips and didn't reply.

She basically only listened to Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan, and was also quite close to Tang Ruowei and Li Jinyao. She could even exchange a few words with the gentle Liu Shi, but she was completely indifferent to Qingmingzi.

Qingmingzi didn't care about this. He turned around Bai Qiuran, "Qiuran, where exactly are you taking us?"

"At this speed, we'll arrive in a few more days."

Bai Qiuran replied, "I've already sent the signal. Once I reach the designated location, I just need to wait for someone to come and meet me."