After collecting the divine water, the two emerged from the pool.
Only once they were standing securely did Yun Lie release Xu Ziqing’s hand. Xu Ziqing remained at his senior brother’s side.
Now that they had obtained what they needed, it was time to return.
But the ruins were still sealed. How were they supposed to get out?
Xu Ziqing swept his spiritual sense across the surroundings, yet could not find an exit anywhere.
He frowned slightly. “Senior Brother, it seems we can’t leave.”
After a moment’s consideration, Yun Lie said, “It must be because of the branching passages.”
Xu Ziqing thought about it and agreed.
Each passage had admitted one person, and there was probably some opportunity or trial inside. Perhaps no one could leave until those trials were complete. But he did not know whether those who emerged from the passages would return to the great hall or be sent directly out of the ruins. If it was the former, they could wait here. If it was the latter, waiting would accomplish nothing.
With that thought, Xu Ziqing said, “I’m afraid we’ll have to enter the passages ourselves.”
Yun Lie nodded. “We’ll take separate paths.”
Xu Ziqing sighed. “It seems we have no choice.”
Two passages remained, and neither had disappeared despite the delay. Evidently, these ruins insisted that every visitor enter one.
The two fellow disciples could only follow the rules.
Xu Ziqing shook his head with a smile. “Well, perhaps something good will come of it. It might be another fortunate encounter.”
Having said their few words, neither indulged in a lingering farewell. They moved in a flash, each appearing before a different passage.
Xu Ziqing turned for one last glance at his senior brother. Then he gathered his attention and stepped inside.
The passage was as brightly lit as daylight.
Far from being narrow, it resembled an ordinary room, with no road to be seen at all.
Xu Ziqing remained alert. Two fierce beasts were crouched motionless on the floor ahead of him. Light flickered in their eyes as though something was gathering within them.
On the stone wall beside them were several lines of writing, every stroke sharp and forceful, carved deep into the stone. They carried an extraordinarily domineering presence.
No one could possibly ignore them.
Keeping watch on the beasts, Xu Ziqing quickly swept his spiritual sense over the writing.
What he read left him utterly astonished.
These ruins had been left behind by a Rogue Immortal, the 238th sect master of the Thousand Puppets and Myriad Marionettes Sect.
As its name suggested, the sect’s greatest strength was the manufacture and manipulation of puppets. Its core disciples inherited a cultivation method called the Hundred-Refinement Puppet Scripture, which enabled them to create exceptionally powerful puppets. The method was rarely taught to outsiders. On the occasional occasions when lower-grade puppets found their way into the world, they still caused a sensation. Cultivators scrambled to obtain them, and some fetched enormous prices at auction.
For a long time, the Thousand Puppets and Myriad Marionettes Sect had enjoyed tremendous prestige. Although it was merely a third-grade immortal sect, no one dared provoke it.
But many years ago, a momentous event had occurred in the great world where the sect was based.
That was right. The Thousand Puppets and Myriad Marionettes Sect did not originate in the Qianyuan Great World. It belonged to another of the nine thousand great worlds.
According to the writing, that world underwent a cataclysm. Many sects sacrificed highly respected Rogue Immortals and mighty experts to survive the calamity and preserve their inheritances. Working together, they refined a special legacy treasure, sealed it, tore open spatial rifts, and hurled it through spatial storms into other great worlds. Their aim was to select successors carefully so their sects’ essential teachings would not vanish, leaving seeds from which their traditions might someday rise again.
The nature of the catastrophe itself was not explained.
The inscription stated only that there were nine trials here. Anyone who passed them all could enter the inheritance hall and obtain the relics of the Thousand Puppets and Myriad Marionettes Sect. Rewards would also be granted after certain stages, so challengers would not necessarily leave empty-handed.
But anyone who failed would be expelled from the ruins and could not remain inside.
After reading this, Xu Ziqing looked at the two fierce beasts again.
Only now did he realize that, lifelike as they appeared, they were not living beasts at all. They were mechanical puppets.
Back when he belonged to the Wuling Immortal Sect, he had ridden black-vulture puppets. From a distance those had looked quite realistic, but anyone sitting on one could immediately tell it was artificial. These two were different. On close inspection, even every strand of their fur was remarkably detailed, making the illusion difficult to distinguish from life.
Xu Ziqing could recognize them only because he now knew they were artificial and had confirmed that no life force existed within them.
The light in the two puppet beasts’ eyes grew brighter. Xu Ziqing understood that they were about to attack.
He drew a deep breath and moved his fingers. Several seeds fell to the floor.
Plants immediately sprang up with a rustle, transforming in green light into two fierce beasts. They stamped their paws and lunged at the puppet beasts!
At the same moment, the puppet beasts roared and hurled themselves forward.
In an instant, all four beasts were clawing and biting at one another.
Xu Ziqing circulated the Myriad Woods Spirit-Transformation Art while carefully observing the two puppets.
Their movements were extraordinarily agile, without the slightest hesitation. Surging spiritual power emanated from their bodies, as abundant as that of early Golden Core cultivators.
From this, he deduced that spirit stones must have been installed inside them. Their energy was therefore different from the demonic essence within living demonic beasts.
After watching for a while, Xu Ziqing decided not to prolong matters. He fed another ten percent of true essence into his two green beasts, making them even stronger. When they found an opening, they immediately leapt onto the puppet beasts’ backs and bit through their necks!
Like living creatures, the puppets struggled violently before gradually falling still. Then their bodies broke apart into fragments.
Among the fragments lay a low-grade spirit stone, still giving off wisps of spiritual energy.
Xu Ziqing withdrew his green beasts and drew in a sharp breath.
His surprise was understandable. Earlier, he had merely thought these puppets exceptionally lifelike. Now he discovered that a puppet with the combat strength of an early Golden Core cultivator needed only a single low-grade spirit stone to fight with such agility for so long. A sweep of his spiritual sense told him that more than half the energy in that stone remained!
It appeared that one low-grade spirit stone might keep such a puppet beast operating for nearly an hour.
No wonder the Thousand Puppets and Myriad Marionettes Sect had been held in such high esteem!
Having passed the first trial, Xu Ziqing was genuinely startled by what he had learned.
Then a series of creaking sounds came from one side.
He looked over to see a hidden door slowly opening in the wall.
Footsteps followed. Twenty more puppet beasts, each with the power of an early Golden Core cultivator and no weaker than the first two, emerged through the door.
But these twenty were not enemies. They stood in neat ranks before Xu Ziqing. The foremost held a tablet between its teeth and spat it directly into his hand.
When Xu Ziqing probed the tablet with spiritual sense, he immediately understood a set of hand seals for controlling the puppet beasts.
To command one in the future, he needed only to drip blood from his fingertip onto its forehead, send in a thread of spiritual sense, and use the seals to make it recognize him as master.
It was wonderfully convenient.
At his present cultivation level, these puppets would not be particularly useful. He put them away for later.
Once the twenty puppet beasts disappeared, the room changed in an instant, becoming considerably larger.
This time, four fierce beasts crouched ahead of him.
Each still possessed early Golden Core strength.
After the previous battle, Xu Ziqing remained calm.
With a wave of his hand, four green beasts appeared before him, slightly larger and possessing somewhat more true essence than the puppets.
Once again, the beasts fought savagely, throwing the entire chamber into chaos.
Xu Ziqing had already calculated their abilities, so the green beasts soon tore the puppets apart.
The hidden door opened again. This time forty puppet beasts emerged, along with another crystal tablet and another set of hand seals.
These puppets were not greatly different from the previous twenty. Their refinement techniques apparently varied, but their strength was equal, and a single low-grade spirit stone could power each one. Their materials, however, seemed harder and less easily damaged.
Xu Ziqing put them away and faced the third trial.
Now there were four puppet beasts with middle Golden Core strength.
This was somewhat more difficult, but Xu Ziqing himself had reached the peak of late Golden Core. He still had ample true essence and could produce sufficiently powerful green beasts to destroy them.
His reward was thirty-six puppet beasts with middle Golden Core strength.
The fourth trial consisted of four late Golden Core puppet beasts.
Xu Ziqing spent more than half his true essence and had to produce more than ten green beasts of equivalent strength in succession before he finally destroyed them.
Were it not for the wondrous nature of his legendary cultivation art, which returned half the true essence invested in a defeated green beast, he might have exhausted himself completely and even been forced to use other methods.
Fortunately, the reward was substantial: sixteen puppet beasts at the peak of late Golden Core.
Even then, the fifth trial did not appear.
Instead, a majestic voice filled the chamber. “Challenger, do you wish to continue the trials?”
Xu Ziqing knew that refusing would mean being transported out.
But…
During the previous trials, he had gained a great deal of experience in beast-versus-beast combat from watching his green beasts fight the puppets. This would greatly improve the flexibility with which he transformed the myriad woods into myriad living forms. Even if he obtained none of the sect’s greater treasures, these insights alone would make continuing worthwhile.
He had no reason to retreat. Nor, as a man who had chosen this path, would he shrink back!
Almost without hesitation, Xu Ziqing answered, “Yes. I’ll continue the trials.”
The voice replied, “You have two shichen to rest and recover. The fifth trial will begin afterward.”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “Thank you. I understand.”
He sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation method, replenishing the true essence he had expended.
Four hours later, Xu Ziqing opened his eyes.
His vision suddenly went dark.
The brightly lit room had vanished. Before him now stretched a road one zhang wide.
At its far end stood two snow-white human figures.
Meanwhile, in the other branching passage…
The same two puppet beasts, each possessing early Golden Core strength, charged forward as soon as the light in their eyes came alive!
The plainly dressed man showed no change in expression. In the next instant, his figure blurred, passing soundlessly between the two beasts.
Behind him, both puppet beasts exploded with a tremendous crash.