40 Debts, After All, Must Be Settled!

He Ping focused his mind, his spiritual platform clear and bright. As he slowly operated the Nine Palaces Bright Moon Ascension Method, a brilliant moon, resembling a silver pearl, reflected in the void of his heart-sea. Under the moonlight's illumination, he could perceive a layer of haze clinging to the soul within his physical shell.

This must be the influence of that evil art on the soul. This power seems to use the heart and soul as soil, parasitizing them. If I had truly fallen for this trick, even if I escaped for the moment, the future would hold endless hidden dangers.

He understood this clearly and immediately reactivated the Nine Palaces Bright Moon Ascension Method, the moon wheel hanging high in the void.

The pristine, flawless moonlight shifted, sweeping toward the dark, sinister haze. A sizzling, scorching sound erupted instantly, and the encroaching shadows retreated like startled insects.

He Ping continued to illuminate the area with the moon formed from his pure consciousness. Under the constant scouring of the moonlight, the haze melted like snow in boiling water; in a moment, most of it had dissipated, leaving only a final remnant of evil miasma cowering in a corner.

"Using the Nine Palaces Bright Moon Ascension Method allows me to check this evil art, but this technique is formidable indeed. Furthermore, it does not seem to be a spell from our Immortal Puppet Sect."

Having identified the spell, He Ping became immediately interested. He realized this evil art possessed two distinct characteristics: first, it could control others through the spell itself. Cheng Zhi's actions just now were clearly abnormal; it seemed he was not acting as an enemy of his own volition, but was being manipulated.

Second, this evil art could be transmitted through mere eye contact, arriving in an instant. It was impossible to guard against, and for backstabbing others, there was likely no more potent a method.

I will temporarily feign being controlled by this art to see what else Chixinzi is planning. If an opportunity arises, I will take this fellow down...

He reached out and squeezed the Nine-Death Substitute Witch Puppet hidden in his sleeve, his confidence surging.

This Nine-Death Substitute Witch Puppet was complex and tedious to refine, but once completed, it could block disasters and calamities for its master nine times.

Relying on this item in his possession, he knew that whether he stayed or left was merely a matter of a single thought.

With this in mind, He Ping feigned being under the influence of the strange evil art, standing motionless on the spot, his figure as rigid as rock.

Suddenly, a low whistle sounded in the forest, and a figure swept past behind him as silently as a bat.

He Ping focused his gaze, and with the help of the moonlight filtering through the treetops, he discovered it was a figure in green robes. The person landed soundlessly and arrived behind Cheng Zhi.

"Chixinzi... Senior..."

After being wounded, Cheng Zhi's eyes were unfocused.

"Don't move."

Chixinzi, draped in green robes, circled behind him and pressed a finger against his crown. Cheng Zhi's eyes immediately snapped shut, and he remained perfectly still, as if in deep meditation.

"This boy hides a secret. If you were to kill him just like that, Junior Brother, then my years of preparation would go to waste."

The Green-Robed Person, Chixinzi, spoke. His voice was harsh, like a knife scraping bone or grinding teeth, making anyone who heard it feel deeply uncomfortable.

"Ha, I almost forgot that you are under the influence of the Seed Demon Technique, Junior Brother, and cannot utter a single word. Since that is the case..."

He unfolded his green sleeves, and dozens of blood-red threads flew out, landing on He Ping's body.

"One begins from no beginning. One splits into three. The ultimate has no end. Heaven is one, Earth is two..."

Chixinzi chanted the incantation at a rapid pace. The blood-red color on the dozens of threads attached to He Ping began to glow, and a powerful, forbidden curse energy condensed within them, surging toward He Ping.

This was the Eight Element Bone Locking Method, one of the Immortal Puppet Sect's hereditary secrets. This forbidden curse used one's own essence blood as a medium; once unleashed, it could seal all of an enemy's methods. Even a master of Daoist arts, once struck by this, would have their five senses plunged into darkness, falling into an eternal abyss.

Chixinzi's study of the Eight Element Bone Locking Method was not particularly deep, but sealing a person's five senses and six consciousnesses was not difficult. The Immortal Puppet Sect possessed too many formidable techniques; once someone fell into their hands and was processed, they would never have a chance to recover.

"Heh heh... This boy is the last disciple taken in by that old ghost Wu Yousheng. I was wondering what kind of formidable character this fifth successor of the Immortal Puppet Sect might be. Who knew he only had this much ability..."

Chixinzi had originally been somewhat worried that this fifth successor might have inherited Wu Yousheng's true teachings. Who would have expected that with a small trick, he would be captured so easily? Once his consciousness, five senses, and all his bodily apertures were sealed by the Eight Element Bone Locking Method, he would be at his mercy to kill or torture as he pleased.

Just as he was feeling smug, a dark force suddenly surged back from the blood-red threads extending from his ten fingers, flowing in reverse like an undercurrent—

"This!"

Chixinzi was seized by great panic. His fingers froze in the air, and his lips trembled. His vision suddenly darkened, the surrounding scenery blurring. A faint, buzzing sound like bees rang in his ears, and an intense sense of exhaustion washed over his heart like a tide.

"Damn it!"

The Green-Robed Person felt his mouth go dry. For some reason, his feet felt as if they had been nailed to the ground, unable to move an inch. Only then did he realize how perilous his situation had become.

Just moments ago, the curse power of the Eight Element Bone Locking Method had been pushed back in its entirety, guided by some obscure force.

In an instant, his five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—were being stripped away. If his other perceptions were sealed in the next moment, he would become no better than a walking corpse, left to be manipulated by others.

Chixinzi had initially mistaken this for a backlash from his own curse, but he finally realized that he had been caught in his own Eight Element Bone Locking Method. The blood-red curse threads released from his fingers had become the medium for transmitting the restriction.

"It's... you—"

He struggled to lift his head. In his increasingly blurred vision, he could see He Ping on the other side, the man in the ghost mask sneering.

"How is it... Senior Brother Chixinzi? The taste of the Eight Element Bone Locking Method is not so pleasant, is it!"

It's you!

Chixinzi did not speak, but his heart was filled with shock. He could not help but ask himself, "Why was this boy unaffected by the Seed Demon Technique?" and "How did he return the Eight Element Bone Locking Method?"... A myriad of doubts surfaced in his mind, but the desperate reality allowed him no hesitation—

The Green-Robed Person held his breath and bit the tip of his tongue. The stinging pain made him shudder, and he spat out a mouthful of essence blood.

Boom!

The blood stimulated the surrounding threads, and the blood-red luster on them grew brighter. On the other side of the threads, He Ping let out a soft "Oh."

Suddenly, the threads in the air tightened violently. He Ping's eyes lit up, knowing Chixinzi still had some reserves, and prepared to focus his counterattack.

Unexpectedly, disaster struck from an unforeseen direction. Chixinzi let out a roar and pulled back with all ten fingers. With a "snap" in the air, the dozens of threads shattered completely. Chixinzi's vision went black, he spat out another mouthful of blood, and, suffering both physical and mental trauma, he flew backward and slammed into a tree behind him.

"This fellow is ruthless!"

He Ping also suffered a hidden loss, a metallic taste rising in his throat as blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. Chixinzi had forcibly withdrawn the curse power of the Eight Element Bone Locking Method mid-execution. The backlash of this power inevitably impacted his own internal organs, but through this decisive act, he had severed the threads connecting them.

"Go!"

Chixinzi slammed into a tree and let out a sharp shout, two bursts of golden mist erupting from his sleeves.

It turned out that his arms had been intentionally severed at the elbows and replaced with Severed Ghost Hands.

The Severed Ghost Hands could detach and maneuver at will; now, they flew through the air, guided by Formless Strings, their fingertips flickering with golden light as they locked onto He Ping's aura from afar.

He Ping felt the pressure, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end as a prickling itch took hold. The black energy between the index finger of his right hand spread from his nail to the first knuckle.

This was the sign of practicing the Shadow Calling Technique. Once this evil art was cultivated, the God of Nine Shadows would be awakened, simultaneously eroding the practitioner's flesh; during this process, the fingertips were always the first to be affected.

Under the moonlight, He Ping's palm suddenly traced an arc, his movement exceptionally sharp, and the black shadow beneath his feet suddenly elongated.

At the critical moment, his shadow also traced a strange arc, slamming into one of the incoming Severed Ghost Hands. The force of the impact sent the ghost hand veering off course, where it collided with another ghost hand flying on the left.

With a loud "bang," the two collided with the metallic ring of iron striking iron. Carried by their immense momentum, they flew off into the bushes on the side and vanished from sight.

He Ping intended to use the shadow technique again to kill his enemy, but the soft ground beneath his feet exploded like gunpowder. With a deafening roar, dozens of golden figures burst from the earth—they were all Severed Ghost Hands, their palms, harder than metal, stabbing toward him in a dense swarm.

In that split second, He Ping's figure jerked upward in a bizarre fashion, as if he were a marionette being yanked into the air by a giant hand.

Leaping into the sky, his movements became increasingly light and ethereal. His black robes fluttered incessantly as he nimbly glided through the air, dodging the pursuit of the Severed Ghost Hands while firing off several blood-red threads.

Swish, swish, swish!

The threads flew out—the same ones he had imbued with the Eight Element Bone Locking Method earlier. As soon as they touched the Severed Ghost Hands, they turned the tables, manipulating the ghost hands to crash into one another.

Amidst a continuous clanging of metal, the ghost hands were knocked away one by one. He Ping landed on the ground, but before he could steady himself, a figure coiled around him from behind.

"Chixinzi, you're courting death!"

He struck back with a Milo Blade. The green-robed figure suddenly shifted, barely sliding away, and the Milo Blade swept past, hacking the green shadow into countless fragments.

"Hahahaha!"

Amidst a burst of strange laughter, Chixinzi split into two. It turned out he had used a technique akin to Garment Armor Evasion, using the green robe to deceive He Ping for a split second. Though the old ghost had taken a blade to his brow and was covered in blood, he grinned wildly.

He Ping sensed something and reached toward his back, only to discover that something had been stuck to him.

"A talisman?"

He twisted his head, catching a glimpse of what looked like a yellow talisman, though at this angle, he couldn't see it clearly.

Is this Chixinzi really from my Immortal Puppet Sect? Between all these evasion techniques and mixed-in talismans, which sect does this guy actually belong to...

Just as He Ping prepared to tear it off, a sharp pain erupted in his back. He let out a pained cry as the blood-red runes drawn in cinnabar on the talisman lit up, radiating thick black energy. Countless snake-like Demon Maggots crawled out from within, beginning to gnaw at his flesh from both inside and out.

Seeing this, Chixinzi sneered, thinking to himself, "Kid, this talisman is a spiritual charm refined using the Seed Demon Technique from the Sanyuan Devil Palace, known as the 'Demon Maggot Curse Evil Skeleton Eating Talisman.' Once struck by this, don't expect to die an easy death!"

The black, snake-like Demon Maggots swarmed over He Ping's body. These bizarre maggots secreted an acidic fluid; once they latched onto a target, they turned the flesh into boiling blisters, corroding all the way to the bone.

He Ping's face was riddled with holes, the corrosive venom distorting his features as they melted into black liquid and dripped away.

Just then, Chixinzi suddenly realized something. His gaze shifted to "He Ping's" body, and he saw a wooden wrist fall away from the corpse.

"A wooden hand?"

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

He lunged forward, his large sleeves sweeping out to disperse the Demon Maggots into black flames. With a dull thud, the Wood Demon Puppet, now corroded into rotten wood, crashed to the ground.

A ripple of seemingly shaken emotion stirred in Chixinzi's eyes.

"Could it be... that this brat has mastered the 'Nine-Death Substitute Witch Puppet'?"

The words slipped from the lips of the green-robed Chixinzi.

BOOM!

A tree in the distance was shattered by a massive force as if it were dry kindling, its tough wood fibers splintering with a dry, cracking sound. This was followed by a series of destructive crashes and the rustling of leaves echoing through the forest as trees collapsed with heavy thuds.

"He's here!"

A strong sense of crisis welled up in Chixinzi. He whipped his head around to see several paper puppets, carrying lanterns and bearing a white sedan, moving in a straight line. They smashed through the trees in the dense forest, hurtling forward at breakneck speed.

At the same time, a voice rang out from within the sedan.

"Senior Brother Chixinzi, your Severed Ghost Hand technique is truly impressive. This junior brother, lacking as I am, has refined a Paper Puppet Spirit Art and would like to ask for your guidance."

Inside the paper sedan, the corners of He Ping's mouth curled upward. He had only one habit in life: if he was plotted against, humiliated, or bullied... he would always find a way to pay it back.

—Debts, after all, must always be settled!