—The Corpse Puppet Technique was a puppet art recorded in the Formless Secret Scroll, one that could control corpses.
The Corpse Puppet Technique wasn't corpse refinement. Put simply, it was merely a spell that treated corpses as puppets and controlled them.
Corpse fiends and walking corpses were formed when the dead had harbored deep resentment in life and, by some fortuitous chance, were buried in a baleful yin-earth hollow. After absorbing too much yin energy, they became stiff corpses.
Even the weakest wandering corpses and walking corpses weren't something ordinary people could handle. The corpses controlled by the Corpse Puppet Technique were only for show; they had no real strength.
"After all, if I wanted nothing more than to kill, using Paper Doll Spirit Puppets or Wood Demon Puppets would be more convenient. Besides, with these people's abilities, they can't stop my Milo Blade..."
When it came to killing, the Milo Blade—which could pluck its strings from afar and slice through gold and jade—was far more powerful. But He Ping hadn't come on this trip simply to kill.
This time, He Ping had used the "people of the He Mansion," controlled by the Corpse Puppet Technique, as bait. He had also deliberately entered the mountains along the eastern route with the Long Wind Society, all to make the enemy underestimate him and see what Xiao Hao of the Long Wind Society was really up to...
As it turned out, Xiao Hao and his men had indeed fallen into his trap. When the Long Wind Society's members saw the murdered people of the He Mansion come back to life, they were scared out of their wits. Most had little courage left to fight back. In the end, they were either intercepted by the Corpse Puppets, killed by the Wood Demon Puppet in the sedan, or captured on the spot.
The Long Wind Society had been a renowned power in Suian City. Now that they had lost their leader, Xiao Hao, along with a whole group of their core elites, they would disappear from North Prefecture.
"Next, I need to deal with these Long Wind Society members. More than seventy of them came to ambush me, and another fifty or sixty are keeping watch near Pingding Valley. I can leave that group alone for now."
Nearly a third of Xiao Hao's group from the Long Wind Society had died. The rest had all been tied up.
However, He Ping had no intention of sparing them. They weren't useful enough to keep alive. He planned to extract their information, then turn them all into Corpse Puppets and control them with the Corpse Puppet Technique. That would make his next moves easier.
After capturing Yan the Second, one of the Long Wind Society's leaders, He Ping began torturing him. He pried plenty of secrets from the man.
"The Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders aren't Prefect Sheng's subordinates... Those people belong to a power called Chongyang Palace..."
Yan the Second was one of Xiao Hao's men. Because of his connection to Xiao Hao, he knew a little about the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders.
The so-called Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders weren't Prefect Sheng's military officers, nor were they retainers of the Sheng Family.
"Chongyang Palace... It must be a cultivation sect, not a martial world faction. Just the black iron armor worn by the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders is beyond what a martial world sect could produce..."
He Ping recalled the complex runes engraved on the plates of the black iron armor worn by Purple-Complexioned Face and Qi Huiying. It was what the cultivation world called Rune Armor.
Rune Armor didn't have to be worn by cultivators. Even an ordinary person wearing armor like that could activate the runes and summon a protective aura.
Wearing this Rune Armor, which was almost a magical artifact, Purple-Complexioned Face and the others could become impervious to blades and spears, and generally resistant to water and fire. Their strength and defense would both be enhanced. On a battlefield, the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders, relying on this armor, would be a meat grinder.
"Judging by this, the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders are only a little weaker than that One-Horned Mountain Demon. I could handle them, but it wouldn't be worth the trouble. Better to let them fight that One-Horned Mountain Demon and weaken the monster..."
He Ping couldn't help calculating his options. He glanced at Yan the Second, who was tied to a tree, and questioned him again.
"You said that Xiao Hao, the 'Smiling Leopard,' was Prefect Sheng's trusted aide and a hidden agent planted in Suian City. Then he must know plenty about Sheng Qingzhi. Tell me: what's the relationship between Sheng Qingzhi and Chongyang Palace?"
The Long Wind Society's rise had a great deal to do with Sheng Qingzhi. Everyone in Suian City knew that Xiao Hao was Prefect Sheng's sycophant. But what outsiders absolutely didn't know was this:
Xiao Hao had originally been a household servant of the Sheng Family, to which Sheng Qingzhi belonged. In truth, the "Smiling Leopard" wasn't a hunting dog Prefect Sheng kept outside; he was a "house dog" kept in his private residence.
This was a secret told firsthand by Yan the Second, the Long Wind Society's second-in-command. Hearing it, He Ping's thoughts stirred.
(That reminds me—who exactly is Sheng Qingzhi? He's only a prefect. As a government official, how did he get involved with a cultivation sect like Chongyang Palace?)
"I... I don't know either."
Yan the Second looked at the black-robed man in the ghost mask before him, his heart pounding with nerves.
Even to an old hand like him, who had weathered many storms, this black-robed man seemed like a fiend of unspeakable cruelty.
Ever since capturing them alive, the fiend had tortured him and the Long Wind Society's members. Even more terrifying, the fiend clearly knew some kind of unorthodox art. He could kill people, bring them back, and refine them into something like corpse fiends.
The fiend had even demonstrated it right in front of Yan the Second. He first grabbed two of the gang members and pierced their Heavenly Spirit and Great Vertebrae acupoints with two four-inch gold needles. The two men died on the spot. Before long, they "woke up" again, but after returning from the dead, they had no sign of life. They had become nothing more than walking corpses.
What was baffling and eerie was that once they had changed into that state, the fiend could control their movements like a puppeteer working strings.
"Among you, only those who are useful to me and can provide valuable information have a chance to live. The rest of you have only one other chance: to be made into Corpse Puppets..."
The black-robed man's voice was cold, hoarse, and low. From his tone, he seemed to have no hesitation at all about turning living people into Corpse Puppets.
"Chances are for the clever. Yan the Second, do you know or don't you?!"
"I'll talk, I'll talk..."
Yan the Second's heart lurched, and he hurriedly spoke up.
"Boss Xiao said the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders belonged to one of Prefect Sheng's senior fellow disciples. He was a Daoist. Prefect Sheng asked him for the thirteen riders under his command."
"Where is that Daoist now?"
After putting on the mask, He Ping spoke using ventriloquism.
His voice had an indescribably strange quality. Back on Earth, people jokingly called that kind of voice "throat cancer voice." A superhero in a famous movie used the same peculiar tone whenever he fought crime at night.
"The Daoist seemed to have something urgent to take care of. He left Beizhou Prefecture a while ago."
Yan the Second answered honestly.
He Ping questioned the man some more and learned that the Long Wind Society and the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders had a secret way of contacting each other. It was something they used to send messages in time when capturing Cheng Zhi.
"The signaling item is still on Xiao Hao. It's called the Jade Insect Flute. They say that if you play it, the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders can learn your location and rush over."
Hearing this, He Ping immediately had the Wood Demon Puppet search Xiao Hao's corpse. Sure enough, it found a jade flute of brilliant green. It had been crafted with exquisite beauty, and an artisan had carved a cicada with four thin wings into one end of the flute.
As he turned the Jade Insect Flute over in his hands, He Ping casually made Yan the Second an offer.
"Listen carefully. I'm going to give you a chance to do something for me. If you do it well, I'll give you a chance to live."