"No rush. Hear the rules first."
Once Li Chen agreed, Zuo Hao seemed in no hurry after all and began explaining again.
"Since time is limited, we'll focus solely on facial appearance. I'll have someone cut down a tree nearby for materials and make several large boxes, then inscribe restrictions on them to block sight and Divine Sense."
"All we need to make are heads from the shoulders up and position them at the tops of the boxes."
"When inspecting them, you must stay at least ten feet away. No approaching any closer, and no touching."
"To prevent cheating through expressions or movements, I'll first seal both stakes with a secret potion and a Soul-Stabilizing Nail, putting them into a state of suspended death. That way, even a real person will be no different from a wooden puppet and won't convey any extra information."
He gave a rough explanation of the contest's rules, but Li Chen's brow only furrowed as he listened.
You An exclaimed, "You've got quite a polished routine here. Don't tell me you do this all the time?"
Hearing him, Zuo Hao smiled conceitedly. "I've studied this method since childhood. I've faced over twenty Skin-Painters in forty-nine contests and have never lost!"
"You're the twenty-third Skin-Painter to compete against me, and the third inheritor of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting. But I'll keep winning all the same!"
"Not necessarily," Li Chen said irritably.
Zuo Hao gave a couple of snorts. "No time to waste. Let's begin."
As he spoke, he beckoned for Zuo Shan to go cut down a tree.
At his command, spiritual light drifted over Zuo Shan's body. Armor-like components began assembling across his skin, forming a suit of mechanical War Armor that covered him from head to toe.
"That's a 'Battle Warrior'!" You An's pupils contracted slightly as he lowered his voice to tell Li Chen, "He really is strong. That Battle Warrior War Armor is like my Heavenly Soldier War Armor-both are higher-grade models among the two-star types."
Li Chen said nothing. In his eyes, Zuo Shan was only a secondary concern. The real issue was Zuo Hao himself.
As the son of a Grand Artisan, he might possess a Three-Star Puppet bestowed by his father, or even a four-star puppet as his trump card. That would be something neither Li Chen nor You An could truly stand against.
Before long, Zuo Shan felled a tall tree as thick as a bucket nearby, carried it over on his shoulder, and threw it to the ground with a crash.
Beside Zuo Hao, the coldly beautiful Sword Slave who had remained silent all this time drew her longsword. Keen Sword Radiance flashed, and the tree was swiftly cut into several sections.
You An was startled again. "Sword Qi taking shape! That requires cultivation at the Tenth Level of Qi Refining or higher, doesn't it? Fuck, she's his Sword Slave?"
Li Chen also felt that this woman was stronger than the runaway slave from the Lei Family he had encountered before. Of course, that was partly because the runaway had not been in peak condition. Generally speaking, these locally born House-Born Slaves had lower Sword Dao cultivation than true Sword Cultivators of the same level.
Still, Sword Dao was one thing, and sword techniques another. With the support of the various methods Puppet Masters specialized in, even if their actual cultivation fell short, the strength they could unleash was difficult to judge.
The Art of a Hundred Crafts was widespread across the Eastern Victory Continent. Even a guard like Zuo Shan possessed apprentice-level proficiency. His skills might not amount to much in a true Puppet Master's eyes, but cutting timber and making wooden boxes were certainly no trouble. Under everyone's gaze, he quickly made several two-foot boxes, each perfectly square, with snug mortise-and-tenon joints and only one side left open without a lid.
"I'll help too." You An likewise possessed rudimentary apprentice skills, a craft he had learned at the Heavenly Crafts Academy before becoming a Rogue Cultivator. Although he had ultimately failed to become an official disciple of the Creation Sect, on Earth in Li Chen's previous life, he would probably have qualified as a top-class carpenter.
Within a short while, all ten boxes were finished.
Zuo Hao beckoned for the Sword Slave to bring Old Hou beside the Flying Chair. Then, under Li Chen and You An's watchful eyes, a dark-gold nail about two inches long appeared in his hand, gleaming with a metallic sheen, and he drove it toward Old Hou's chest.
With a wet puncture, the metal nail sank in. Zuo Hao then took out a crimson pill the size of a longan and stuffed it into Old Hou's mouth.
Old Hou immediately began to stiffen and freeze, as though someone had cast an immobilization spell on him.
A few breaths later, even his aura began to vanish. Like a corpse, he closed his eyes and could no longer move.
That's a Soul-Stabilizing Nail! Li Chen was inwardly alarmed.
You An also said in horror, "That's essential for refining a human puppet!"
Human puppets were things that only Puppet Masters at the Master Artisan realm or above, with some understanding of the essence of life, could refine. Similar to the living corpses Li Chen knew of from his previous life, they were a highly unusual type of puppet.
Fortunately, Zuo Hao did nothing further afterward. Judging by the Craftsman status indicated by his magical robes, he indeed should not have mastered the methods for refining human puppets.
While the Sword Slave lifted Old Hou bodily and placed him inside a box, Zuo Hao beckoned to Zuo Shan. Immediately afterward, he drove another nail into Zuo Shan and fed him a pill as well.
Zuo Shan followed in Old Hou's footsteps, standing stiffly like a living dead man, unable to move.
The Sword Slave put him into a wooden box as well, casually taking away the Message-Transmitting Ring that had originally belonged to Old Hou in the process.
"Take him and five boxes with you. The contest begins now. Meet back here in two hours."
Zuo Hao smiled at Li Chen with utter confidence. "Don't think about running. If you run, your friend dies."
Li Chen remained silent. He watched Zuo Hao beckon and release several Mechanism Devices shaped like flying claws, which clamped onto the wooden boxes and lifted them all into the air. Only after Zuo Hao turned and left did he say helplessly to You An, "Let's do as he says."
You An stepped forward and shouldered the box containing Zuo Shan. Li Chen picked up the other four boxes, and they headed back together.
Before long, they returned to camp and set down the boxes.
Looking somewhat grave, You An asked Li Chen, "Are you confident you can beat him?"
Li Chen signaled for You An to switch off his Message-Transmitting Ring as he had, then spoke in a barely audible voice. "Confident, my ass. Didn't you hear him say he's studied this method since childhood?"
"Even if I'm talented and can grasp the basics faster than he did, I can hardly compete with the resources and conditions his Grand Artisan father can provide. In a contest like this, I'd lose far more often than I'd win."
You An fell silent at that. He had once been the son of an aristocratic clan himself. How could he fail to recognize that Li Chen was speaking the plain truth?
Li Chen continued quietly, "Besides, whether I'm confident or not is another matter. Why should we obediently do what he says?"
"People like him are as unreasonable as madmen. He seems in a good mood right now, as though winning or losing is all he cares about and he has no other intentions. But what if he turns on us once the result is decided?"
You An was startled. "If he really turns on us, we'll be fish on a chopping board, left for anyone to butcher... No, actually, even if he doesn't turn on us now, it's hardly any different!"
Li Chen's lips moved as he concentrated his magic power to transmit his voice. "Exactly. Only those who surpass others in strength and wits can avoid being at their mercy!"
"We'd be complete idiots to actually compete against him. He wants a contest. We want his life!"