The Black-Demon Puppet Master Deceived the Righteous Path; Heaven's Heart Valued Mercy and Caution in Killing

Thousand-Coiled Silk.

With a light hook of his finger, Heng Hua sent green threads hanging down toward Fu Xiangfeng.

"Third Brother, grab on."

Xiang Feng reached out and grasped the green threads. The threads of azure spiritual energy were as solid as tangible objects; they coiled around his arm and jerked him into the air.

Seizing the chance, Xiang Feng swung his sword in a backhand strike.

"Waning Moon."

The wind compressed and shot forth like a waning moon, blasting the Immovable Reef completely away.

"Mm, that sword had some real fire in it. Your Sword Qi has condensed almost into substance, and the Waning Moon sword form has taken on its first rough shape."

The Celestial Wind Sword Canon Heng Hua had restored contained three sword forms: "Waning Moon," "Flower Severing," and "Snow Blowing."

He had thought Fu Xiangfeng would need several months to master the three sword forms, yet after only a few days, he had already gained a rudimentary grasp of them.

After steadying himself, catching his breath, and swallowing a pill, Xiang Feng finally had the strength to tease him. "Your flight technique isn't bad either."

"As a Fu Family member, if I couldn't even ride the wind through the air, how could I face all those bamboo-slat beatings from childhood?"

Heng Hua gripped Xiang Feng by the shoulder with one hand while circulating the Scorching Flame Palm with the other.

At that moment, Xiaoyu and Hengshou's support arrived from afar.

Following Heng Hua's instructions, Xiaoyu spread a sheet of ice across the water.

The Scorching Flame Palm blasted through the ice.

With a thunderous boom, the ice surface exploded, and shards of ice and frost filled the sky in a whirling dance.

Together with the fist wind Hengshou sent from afar, the frost drifted toward the old man in black.

"Ice Condensation Curse."

Heng Hua dispersed the Scorching Flame Palm, clasped his left hand, then formed another seal and chanted an incantation. Creation True Qi transformed into an icy attribute. The frost flying through the air became countless tiny needles.

Xiang Feng's eyes lit up as he unleashed another sword form.

Snow Blowing.

The cold wind swept past, like a scene of deep winter snowfall.

The needles filling the heavens shot at the old man from every direction.

"Nether Heaven Black Flame!" The old man drew in a breath and spat out a ball of True Fire.

The blazing light took the form of a horse and galloped two circles around him, vaporizing every ice needle.

True Flame Realm?

Understanding flashed in Heng Hua's eyes. Taking advantage of the moment, he carried Fu Xiangfeng and lightly tapped the water several times before returning to the Colorful-Luan Spirit Ship.

"Third Brother, can you still fight?"

"I was merely caught off guard and suffered a minor loss. Now that I know it's him, there's no problem."

"Who is this person?"

"His name is Mo Xu. Half a year ago, I saved a spirit bird carrying phoenix blood and crossed paths with him."

"So he came seeking revenge? And what kind of things are those puppets?"

Heng Hua watched the old man cast a spell. Black mist dispersed the Golden Bell Shield Technique and freed the three damaged blue-robed puppets.

"They're the handiwork of one of his companions. A puppet master, though I've never met the person."

Xiang Feng had initially thought the puppet master was hiding inside one of the puppets. Yet all three puppets' heads had been smashed apart just now, and there had been no sign of the person.

Surely it couldn't be some short dwarf?

"Sixth Brother, do you think he might be nearby? For puppet arts, doesn't the master have to be close?"

"That person likely used puppet insects to control them from a thousand miles away, like a second Primordial Spirit. You asked me about puppet threads before because of him?"

"That's right. These puppets are hard to deal with—water and fire can't harm them, blades and weapons can't pierce them. Take Hengshou and Xiaoyu inside the ship first. Once I've dealt with this old thief, I'll come help you."

"No need. I know how to deal with these things. If water and fire can't harm them, it only means the water and fire aren't strong enough. If blades and weapons can't pierce them, it only means the blades and weapons aren't sharp enough."

The three headless puppets surrounded them again. Heng Hua met them head-on, a feather fan appearing in his hand.

He also gave instructions to Xiang Feng and Hengshou.

"Hengshou, join Third Brother in dealing with that old man. His cultivation art commands Black-Yin Profound Baleful Intent, so he should be connected to the demonic sects. The demonic baleful energy around his body may also carry poisonous miasma. Take antidote and miasma-warding pills before engaging him at close range."

"Hengshou, use the Heavenly Fire Palm. Third Brother, coat your flying sword in Samadhi True Fire and attack."

Heng Hua waved the feather fan, and raging flames ignited amid the water vapor filling the sky. The three blue-robed puppets were trapped within them.

The Mysterious Fire Vermilion-Plume Fan was a Fu Family spiritual artifact skilled at commanding the essence of Separation Flame.

It was said that among its eighteen black-gold feathers, the five long crimson plumes were tail feathers of the divine Vermilion Bird.

With another wave, Separation Flame surged up, and the puppets turned to ash in an instant.

"Freeze."

Heng Hua cast the Immobilization Technique, then sent green threads drifting through the air to bind the black beetles escaping from the flames.

"As expected, puppet insects. You planted demonic insects inside cultivator puppets. Did you truly think I hadn't noticed?"

Creation True Qi surged out, and Thousand-Coiled Silk shredded the demonic insects.

"Puppet masters excel at puppet-thread arts. What do you think of my Thousand-Coiled Silk?"

In secret, Heng Hua cast another spell.

A thousand miles away, a disheveled old man seated on a reef suddenly coughed up blood.

"Damn it! I actually ran into a fellow practitioner?"

Thinking of the puppet insect he had refined for a hundred years being reduced to nothing, the old man's heart ached terribly.

At the instant Thousand-Coiled Silk destroyed the puppet insect, an eerie puppet art had traveled back along the threads.

The old man was startled. "Reverse Soul-Seizing Technique? What a sinister brat—he wants this old man's life!"

Yan Qianyu spat out three mouthfuls of essence blood. When Heng Hua's puppet art traveled in reverse, attempting to free every puppet under his control, he used the curse power contained in his essence blood to erase it.

After doing all this, Yan Qianyu's face had turned ashen.

He had suffered a huge loss. To help that old bastard Mo Xu, he had lost a puppet insect and an entire crab-servant set, while his own vital energy had been badly damaged. He would need three months of secluded cultivation.

"Damn it, Mo Xu, you'd better compensate me properly—"

Suddenly, Yan Qianyu's expression changed again. He took out Mo Xu's spirit-bound jade token and saw that it had shattered. The black-robed old man Mo Xu was already dead.

"Mm... a Foundation Establishment puppet master, around the third layer of Foundation Establishment? But his blood and vitality were withered. His lifespan should be nearing its end."

After forming their Foundation Establishment, cultivators' lifespans increased to five hundred years. Once they refined Samadhi True Fire, they could gain another two hundred years. When they harmonized Water and Fire and formed Jade Fluid into Elixir, they could gain another three hundred years. It was precisely because of these three increases in lifespan that the Nine-Layer Foundation Establishment was divided into the three lesser realms of Foundation Establishment, True Flame, and Mystic Womb.

Heng Hua gazed into the distance and used the Supreme Mystery Sect's Spirit-Sensing Communion Mystic Method.

With the mystic method's enhancement, Heng Hua guided his heart-ape to attune itself to heaven and earth, sensing the subtle changes in spiritual currents.

"Four hundred seventy—no, four hundred eighty years old? With only a few decades left, he likely had no time to seek revenge on my brother."

Then he turned to look toward the old man in black.

Like Xiang Feng at present, the old man possessed True Flame Realm cultivation. But he had been unable to defeat Xiang Feng when Xiang Feng was still in the Foundation Establishment Realm; naturally, he was even less capable now.

Not to mention Hengshou supporting him from the side. Within only a few exchanges, he was utterly outclassed and beheaded by Xiang Feng's sword.

Seeing the old man's head separate from his body, Heng Hua froze for a moment and thought to himself, Come to think of it, I've never killed anyone in all my life.

The corpse floated on the water as Xiang Feng cast a Corpse Dissolution Curse.

Within black light, the corpse turned to powder and scattered away on the wind.

"Heng Hua, how was my Flower Severing strike?"

Flower Severing was a life-demanding strike, the killing sword of the Celestial Wind Sword Canon.

Once the sword was drawn, blood would inevitably be seen.

"So-so. Not as good as Liuhui's."

When puppet master Yan Qianyu sensed his companion's death, he hurriedly took out a communication jade token and contacted his other associates.

"Our interception of Fu Xiangfeng has failed. If you people at the Profound Heart Altar have anyone free, send a few more."

"No one is free. We're preparing to blockade Coiling Dragon Island. If you have time, come here first." The person on the other end of the jade token replied, "What is Fu Xiangfeng worth? As long as Fu Danwei is gone, won't Cypress Sovereign Hall be clay for anyone to knead?"

Hearing the arrogant words of the Profound Heart Altar's demonic cultivator, Yan Qianyu's anger flared.

Damn your ancestors. If that old man didn't currently need life-extending medicine and have to beg your demonic sect, you brat would have been refined into a puppet by your grandpa long ago!

"Fellow Daoist—"

Not far away, a young woman rode a Jade Dragonfly Vessel to the reef.

"Could I trouble you for directions? How do I get to Black Swan Island?"

Yan Qianyu looked at Fu Liuhui, then at the Jade Dragonfly Vessel beneath her feet. His expression turned strange. "This vessel—are you from the Fu Family? What is Fu Xiangfeng to you?"

"Fellow Daoist knows my elder brother?"

Fu Liuhui revealed a faint smile and was about to step onto the reef to speak with him when a black shadow suddenly emerged beside Yan Qianyu and slashed toward her neck.

Rip—

Before it could come close, the black shadow was blasted a hundred yards away by Sword Qi.

"Attacking outright? Then it seems you are my brother's enemy?"

A crane's cry rang from the sky. Huang Qiong swooped down upon the black shadow, using her sharp beak to destroy the mantis puppet.

Another puppet had been destroyed.

The wrinkles on Yan Qianyu's old face twisted viciously as fury surged within him. Damn Fu Family! How many puppets have I lost because of you today?!

However, Yan Qianyu had already realized that this girl had only recently entered the Foundation Establishment Realm. She was a little girl at the first layer of Foundation Establishment, while he was about to enter the True Flame Realm, his inner fire gradually taking shape.

Kill her! Then turn her into a puppet. Later, send her before Fu Xiangfeng and let him see his own sister's fate with his own eyes.

Thinking of Fu Xiangfeng's angry, grieving face made Yan Qianyu feel somewhat better.

With all his strength, invisible puppet threads shot out one after another, sealing off Fu Liuhui's retreat completely.

"Little girl, blame it on being Fu Xiangfeng's sis—"

The puppet threads snapped one by one, and Yan Qianyu could no longer maintain his expression.

"How is that possible? Is this girl carrying some secret treasure? How can she snap my spiritual threads?"

A puppet master's puppet threads were incomparably tough, no worse than magical treasures.

"Puppet threads?"

The young woman raised her hand, her slender jade-white fingers pinching a soft thread.

"I heard Sixth Brother mention that puppet masters are not skilled in direct combat, and all their battle strength lies in their puppets. Yet puppet threads alone are impossible to guard against, the ultimate art of the puppet-master lineage. Some puppet masters even coat them in poison."

Hearing the young woman's pleasant voice, Yan Qianyu was about to play along and secretly dispatch a puppet for a sneak attack when his eyes suddenly widened. He lowered his head to look at his chest.

At some unknown moment, a streak of Sword Qi had already pierced through his heart.

The young woman spoke apologetically. "To prevent you from producing any strange and bizarre tricks, it is better to end the battle sooner. My apologies."

Inside his chest, razor-sharp Sword Qi swiftly severed one meridian after another. Its purity was even greater than Fu Xiangfeng's Sword Qi!

And her strike had been so fast that Yan Qianyu had not even seen her draw her sword!

"A sword—a sword cultivator?"

A sword cultivator, peerless in battle, hailed as the strongest in slaughter and warfare, able to break through realms and fight those above them?

"You—Fu Xiangfeng... he..."

Yan Qianyu's vision darkened as he vomited blood without end.

He wanted to control his remaining three Foundation Establishment puppets. Yet the moment he moved his true essence, the Sword Qi inside him pierced deeper through his five viscera and six bowels.

Sword radiance rose from her fingertips. The young woman still wore that calm expression. "Third Brother's swordsmanship is inferior to mine. Therefore, it is no injustice for you to die beneath my sword."

As the light intensified, thunderous roars echoed through the sky, and bolts of lightning struck toward the reef.

"Sixth Brother once said that when facing a puppet master, one must never let down one's guard from beginning to end. So I shall send you on your way with this Golden Thunder Sword Qi."

The thunder sword crashed down. Fu Liuhui rode the Jade Dragonfly Vessel and drifted away.

After traveling far away, she watched the reef and the old man's corpse be destroyed together. The young woman sighed and bowed toward Coiling Dragon Island.

"Your granddaughter has broken her vow against killing today."

Though Fu Danwei possessed a fierce temperament, he often admonished his children and grandchildren:

Heaven's heart was benevolent, pitying and nurturing all living beings.

Though cultivators like them possessed arts that reached the heavens and granted longevity, they should also understand the principles of the Heavenly Dao. So long as a matter was not excessive, they should leave a thread of life behind.

Cypress Sovereign Hall honored his instruction, rarely killing human cultivators while traveling abroad.

Fu Liuhui had left the island alone, yet she also followed the rules of her uncles and elder brothers, setting three killing precepts for herself.

Those of great wickedness could be killed.

Those who sought to kill me must be killed.

Enemies who blocked my path to the Dao should be killed.

Beyond these three kinds, minor quarrels and disputes of pride were not worth Fu Liuhui breaking her killing precepts.

Fu Liuhui had originally thought that, while traveling outside, she could keep these three precepts for some time.

Yet on the very first day she left home, she encountered someone who wanted to kill her.

The first time she killed someone, she felt none of the imagined panic or fear. Nor did she feel joy or exhilaration.

She was as calm as ever. It could not stir even the slightest ripple in Fu Liuhui's Dao heart.

Only the sword case on her back trembled, as though the Yuanjun Sword were dissatisfied.

"A mere Foundation Establishment puppet master is not worthy of making me use the Yuanjun Sword. Don't worry. On this journey, there will surely come a time for you to leave your sheath."

Supplement:

Puppet masters were one of the hundred arts of cultivation, commanding puppets. Looking across the two thousand years of the Tianyi Calendar, the most famous puppet master was undoubtedly Yan Qianyu.

This man's cultivation was extremely poor, and his puppet arts were shallow. Yet because he fought three of the Four Auspicious Ones of the Fu Clan in a single day, his name became widely known.

In Donglai, people often joked: "I can defeat Yan Qianyu, so I stand on the same level as the Fu Family's Four Auspicious Ones."

—Tales of the Three Ancients of Donglai Continent