Chapter 148

When Song Pianxian saw Yu Yi approaching, her momentum subdued:

“Why did you come over?”

“Just to take a look.” Yu Yi walked closer, pulling at her sleeve adorned with golden lotuses, and peered at the demon cultivator on the ground, scrutinizing him for a few moments.

“Do you recognize him, Friend Yu?”

Yu Yi pondered for a moment, then said, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be a celestial-grade technique called ‘Shadow Puppetry’ used by demon cultivators.”

Before Elder Qin could ask, she truthfully explained what she knew:

“This kind of technique can only be practiced by demon cultivators, who can attach their spiritual consciousness to puppets. Although the puppets are crude and cannot withstand much probing, their cultivation is only half-complete, but the brilliance lies in being able to control multiple puppets at once, as if having dozens of avatars.”

These were all gleaned from the stack of demon and demon cultivator jade slips given to her by Manzhi, and the techniques that could be collected by the Demon Queen were not inferior.

“Shadow Puppetry…”

“Even with half-completed strength, wouldn’t it be at the Yuan Ying stage, or even Nascent Soul or Tribulation Crossing?”

“I suppose it’s the demon cultivator who planned this. Are they here to supervise, or to gather information about us?”

Yu Yi paused, then approached Song Pianxian’s side amidst the discussion, looking at the remaining demon cultivators in the trapped spirit array, and said slowly:

“I guess there’s not just one shadow puppet.”

Yu Yi’s tone was casual, but it startled everyone, who then looked towards the trapped spirit array, their expressions wary.

Song Pianxian stepped forward, placing Yu Yi behind her, guarding against other cunning tricks of the demon cultivators.

Suddenly, silence fell within the trapped spirit array.

Even the cultivators further away seemed to sense a different signal. Those who were resting took out their artifacts and looked towards the trapped spirit array in the middle, as if facing a great enemy.

In the deadlock, Yu Yi casually adjusted her crane cloak and softly said:

“By the way, there’s a technique among the shadow puppets—they can merge into one puppet, greatly increasing their strength. If they follow their plan, they must be intending to secretly attack high-level cultivators.”

“But unfortunately for them, Tianfeng City set the venue in the maze, which limits not only cultivators but also demons. Perhaps it’s because of this limitation that the shadow puppets lost control for a moment and were discovered by cultivators.”

After saying these words, Yu Yi’s voice rose, as if she was conversing with the demon cultivators hiding behind the shadow puppets in the trapped spirit array, her tone still sweet:

“Now that your abilities have been exposed, there’s no longer a chance to secretly plot against cultivators. Are you still going to hide?”

A bit further away, Zhang Shuhuai held his breath. He was amazed at how many tricks the shadow puppets had, but even more rare was that Yu Yi knew about them. Otherwise, if the elders saw this inferior puppet on the ground, they might have underestimated it and been severely injured by the merged shadow puppets.

This time, there was finally a response from the trapped spirit array.

“What an eloquent little girl.”

The voice was extremely strange, with several voices mixed together, male and female, old and young. Each word and tone overlapped, as if spoken from the same mouth.

The moment they spoke, Song Pianxian locked onto these speaking demon cultivators, or rather, the shadow puppets.

The shadow puppets stood upright, rigid like dead trees, unaffected by the wind. As they looked up at Song Pianxian, their eyes were devoid of expression, empty and soulless.

In unison, the shadow puppets spoke with identical lip movements:

“Today we have witnessed your abilities. In time, we will meet again.”

After speaking, the shadow puppets fell to the ground, just like the puppet Song Pianxian had seen before, like a pile of decaying wood, motionless.

“They’re leaving just like that?”

“There’s no choice. If we can’t catch the real body, killing the shadow puppets is pointless.”

“From what he said, there will be a battle in the future. We should inform Lord Qiancheng.”

Amidst the various discussions, Yu Yi’s gaze turned cold.

Standing by Song Pianxian’s side, she could see clearly that when the shadow puppets spoke, all those dark, empty eyes were fixed on Song Pianxian.

Manzhi swayed her fox tail as she approached:

“These shadow puppets are quite ugly. Their master must be a male demon cultivator, very rough in craftsmanship.”

Yu Yi wasn’t in the mood for banter with her. She spoke coldly:

“I will kill him.”

Oh?

Manzhi quickly understood. What else could make Yu Yi angry? She looked with interest at Song Pianxian, who was checking the situation in the trapped spirit array, and said:

“At least he’s at the Harmony stage. You can’t beat him.”

Yu Yi didn’t deny it, just made a sound of acknowledgment. She glanced at the demon cultivators in the trapped spirit array and sighed softly:

“There aren’t enough demon cultivators here.”

“Far too few,” Manzhi agreed. “Let’s wait for the Beique Immortal Palace.”

Are there demon cultivators in the Beique Immortal Palace? Yu Yi was about to ask when she noticed Song Pianxian returning. She changed the subject:

“How is Chu Feng?”

Man Zhi didn’t respond immediately.

Yu Yi looked at her strangely.

“The injuries aren’t too severe, but she shouldn’t use her hands too much for the time being,” Manzhi said, twisting her body, her fox tail swaying slowly, as if hesitant to speak.

Song Pianxian joined the conversation: “In that case, let Master Chu watch the disciples compete, and I’ll take people to explore the maze.”

“Have you found a clue?”

“Yes, just now, several elders found that the memories of these demon cultivators are extremely fragmented and difficult to interpret. It seems they were guarding against us probing their minds.”

“I’ve examined the memories of the remaining demon cultivators. Sixty percent of them have a memory of a cave. It’s rumored that a thousand years ago, there was a spectacular sight in Tianfeng Province called the Snow Cold Jade Cave. The elders suspect that the demon cultivators came from there. Therefore, I’ve decided to lead a team of elders to investigate.”

Yu Yi said, “I’ve also heard of the Snow Cold Jade Cave. I remember… it’s also known as the Ninety-Nine Cave, indicating that the passages inside are almost infinite, and no one has ever been able to walk through it completely. So, it’s indeed a good place to hide.”

“Yes, we must go on this trip.”

As Song Pianxian spoke, she called Tang Miao over. Honestly, it took Song Pianxian a while to adapt to seeing her disciple change from male to female. She didn’t ask Tang Miao for the reason behind the change; she simply gave her some instructions. Tang Miao obediently nodded, her expression admiring and respectful.

In the past, when her disciple was a man, Song Pianxian didn’t think much about it; she just threw him out for training. Now, looking at the other cultivators around wielding their weapons, and considering Tang Miao’s relatively low cultivation level, and her transformation into a delicate female, Song Pianxian couldn’t help but worry a bit more. She couldn’t help but give a few more reminders.

“Here, I have some artifacts suitable for you, as well as some with other attributes for your teammates,” Yu Yi suddenly said, her voice soft.

Tang Miao received the storage bag filled with various artifacts, feeling extremely touched.

“Thank you, Senior Sister Yu Yi!”

The artifacts given by Senior Sister Yu Yi were the best quality among those of the same level, rare to find elsewhere. Every time Senior Sister made a move, she gave so much to herself. This time, she even considered her teammates. To speak disrespectfully, it was even more thoughtful than their Master.

Tang Miao sniffed and said firmly, “Disciple will definitely not disappoint Master and Senior Sister’s expectations.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Yu Yi said gently.

“Got it!”

With Senior Sister’s thoughtful storage bag in hand and Master’s earnest instructions, Tang Miao left, frequently looking back as she walked.

Behind her, Song Pianxian glanced at Yu Yi.

Yu Yi blinked innocently.

Song Pianxian didn’t say anything, but a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of her lips as she reached out to ruffle Yu Yi’s hair before turning and walking away.

“Let’s go, we should set off too.”

“You’ve messed up my hair,” Yu Yi complained half-heartedly, but she followed closely without missing a beat.

The people from the City Lord’s Mansion soon arrived and took the demon cultivators who had been searched out of the maze. The remaining participants were all Daoists involved in the competition.

With the assistance of wooden spiritual roots cultivators and medicinal pills, some of the injured disciples were almost fully recovered. The Tianfeng Association would officially begin.

The cultivators dispersed, each heading in their own direction towards the scattered pearls.

The maze was not devoid of life. The landscapes that once existed in Tianfeng Province, every blade of grass and every tree, could be found in the maze. Therefore, the disciples’ figures quickly disappeared into the jungle, no longer visible.

Yu Yi watched as Han Lin, draped in a black cloak, followed the Shijue Academy team into the depths of the maze. She calmly deepened the imprint to ensure it remained effective.

Han Lin was unaware of this. Since narrowly escaping from Lingyun Sect, he had been living like a creature of the night, always moving at the slightest disturbance. Now, unexpectedly falling into the hands of Lingyun Sect again and seeing Yu Yi, he was terrified, afraid to make a sound.

He secretly decided that once he left the maze, he would immediately leave Tianfeng City, leave Shijue Academy, and find a hiding place in another province…

Tang Miao led the team towards the other side. At this time, the artifact they used to control the wind was one of the artifacts Yu Yi had just given them, the Lingfeng Kite.

This kite was probably prepared for female cultivators, ornate and delicate, only usable once, and there were dozens of them, capable of being controlled like mounts for demonic beasts, with speeds comparable to seventh-rank demonic beasts.

As their teammates watched, Tang Miao and Qian Duoduo, two beautiful girls, sat on the kite, resembling fairies. Watching them made people’s hearts beat faster. When it was their turn, they turned into large bears crouching on the beautiful paper, behaving like little wives.

—But it was so easy to use! This artifact was really fast, stable, and enjoyable!

Zhang Shuhuai and Yu Wei led the disciples of Lingyun Sect to flee into the distance. They were the only ones keeping up with the team. They took the lead, chatting along the way.

“This time, we must shine brightly for our Lingyun Sect.”

“That’s right. Our Big Senior Sister just now was dazzling enough. Hey, even Junior Sister Yu Yi knew about things that all the elders didn’t.”

Listening to the disciples’ discussion behind him, Zhang Shuhuai smiled knowingly as the topic shifted from “our Lingyun Sect is really strong” to “picking between Junior Sister Yu Yi and Big Senior Sister.”

He glanced sideways and saw Yu Wei, usually solemn, walking beside him. He teased, “Are you planning to make a big move?”

Yu Wei furrowed her brows slightly and shook her head. “No… I was just thinking…”

“Senior Brother Zhang, don’t you find Junior Sister Yu Yi a bit strange just now?”

“Hmm? I didn’t notice anything. What do you mean?” Zhang Shuhuai raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“I can’t really pinpoint it,” Yu Wei furrowed her brows even tighter. Initially, she hadn’t thought anything was amiss, but just now when she heard her fellow disciples mention Yu Yi, her intuition started nagging at her.

After pondering for a while, she suddenly exclaimed, “I remembered!”

“You did? What is it?”

“Do you remember when Junior Sister Yu Yi forced the demon cultivator to reveal himself? She kept calling them demons and cultivators,” Yu Wei hesitated, “Maybe I’m overthinking it, but those words sounded unusually odd.”

It’s like…

It’s like Yu Yi is neither a cultivator nor a demon, but an existence outside of both.

But how could that be? Yu Wei tapped her head with the fan handle.

She must be overthinking it.

…

The disciples all disappeared from sight, and the supervising elders also left together. Song Pianxian set aside the matters here and prepared to lead another team to the Snow Cold Jade Cave.

While waiting, Song Pianxian admonished the kitten not to run around when they reached the cave. The kitten mumbled and nibbled on her finger joints, acting cute.

At that moment, Chu Feng approached her.

“Master Chu Feng, weren’t you supposed to oversee the Tianfeng Assembly? Why are you still here?”

Song Pianxian was also surprised. She raised her eyebrows and withdrew her hand from the kitten’s mouth, asking, “Master Chu, what’s the matter?”

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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Ruu

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