Chapter 3: Puppet
Chapter 3: Puppet
Xiao Fuxuans coffin?
Xiao Fuxuan
Wu Xingxue repeated quietly to himself.
His subordinates followed, but made sure that they didnt get too close to the coffin.
Ning Huaishan craned his neck and asked in confusion, What the-why is the Celestial Immortals coffin here?
Good boy, thats more like it.
Wu Xingxue was still wondering who Xiao Fuxuan was, afraid that he would accidentally make a mistake and blow his cover. But thankfully, Ning Huaishans quick mouth helped him avoid some troubles.
But it was certainly weird.
Wu Xingxue didnt know the rules here, but he has read books before.
In those stories, the immortals all treated devils like filth. They stood on opposite sides of the spectrum, and neither one could tolerate the other. Who would place their coffin in the Devil Lords prison?
Unless there was another reason?
As Wu Xingxue pondered, he reached out his hand to brush the side of the jade coffins nails.
He had a bad habit since he was little. Most of the nobles and princes of Que City all had uncommon possessions: Shark pearls, parjana, earthly lanterns, and more. Each name sounded fancier and fancier.
But he wasnt like them.
He was more traditional and mainly liked white jade. He couldnt help but reach forward and test its quality every time he saw one,
"I reckon its fake. Its probably a coffin for his possessions or something."
"But thats still strange. How is burying his possessions different from him being here himself?"
"Youre right! Even the ugly stone statues in a shabby mountain temple can get a bit of the actual immortals spiritual energy, not to mention his clothes and belongings. Those are beyond a bit: they are no different from an actual Celestial Immortal being present. City Lord, you might want to"
But before Ning Huaishan could finish, he turned his head and found the City Lord touching the coffin.
Ning Huaishan: ""
Ning Huaishan: "???"
What in the world?
The scene left the subordinates speechless.
This Devil Lord was indeed hard to read, and his actions were often beyond peoples expectations. When he smiled, it didnt always mean he was happy. When he used a gentle tone, that didnt always mean a compliment.
He was hard to serve and especially hard to see through.
But that was Xiao Fuxuan, that Xiao Fuxuan, who nailed him into the Northern Frontiers. Why why was he touching that?
Ning Huaishan licked his lips before asking slowly, "City Lord, what are you?"
The subordinates exchanged glances before turning to face Wu Xingxue. The person closest to Ning Huaishan suddenly felt that something was wrong. With his finger, He reached out and wrote on Ning Huaishans hand:
[Do you feel like]
Before he could finish, there was a "ping-" sound.
Where Wu Xingxues hands touched, the black coffin nail suddenly popped out, sticking up by almost an inch. There were crushed jade bits on the nail, along with a dim golden covering."
""
The person who was writing with his fingers took a breath and curled them back.
Then there was another noise.
Ping-
Another black nail popped out.
And a third.
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A fourth.
With the loss of every nail, the jade coffin would shake.
Not only the coffin, but the sword cemetery, the huge tree, and even the entire wilderness would shake with it.
Ning Huaishan and the others acted as if they were facing a great threat. They immediately jumped back a dozen meters, shouting, "City Lord, we thought we didnt know you were planning to open the coffin?!"
No, thats not what I wanted to do
Wu Xingxue thought to himself, If I knew any techniques or spells, Id be running faster than you guys.
But unfortunately, he didnt. And not only couldnt he run, but his feet also couldnt even more. The coffin seemed to have some supernatural powers. The second it started to shake, there seemed to be hands growing from the ground, firmly holding him in place.
And so, all the subordinates had retreated to a safety distance, and yet he was still standing beside the coffin, watching the nails come out one after another.
With the last noise, the giant jade coffins lid began to slowly grind open, then fell onto the ground with a loud boom.
Wu Xingxue closed his eyes.
He didnt smell decayed matter as he had expected; there was only the scent of cold snow and floating dust,
Like the deep winters of Que City.
"It opened Ning Huaishan murmured, "City Lord, whats inside?"
Wu Xingxue opened his eyes.
The jade coffin was much taller than normal coffins. From where he was standing, he couldnt see what was inside.
The pull on his legs suddenly disappeared. He took a hesitant step, "Inside is"
Xiao Fuxuan.
Wu Xingxue moved his lips, then unconsciously tightened them.
This was too unexpected.
Inside the jade coffin was none other than the Celestial Immortal himself. It was like the shadow he saw standing on the golden lily, but not completely alike.
There was a layer of frigid air surrounding Xiao Fuxuans body. His eyebrows and the black nails on his ear bone all had a layer of frost on them, looking colder than the jade coffin itself.
Wu Xingxue rested against the coffin and studied what was inside for a long time.
"City Lord, is it only his clothes inside? Or did he also bury some precious possessions here?" Ning Huaishans voice sounded closer this time.
Not hearing a response from him, Wu Xingxues subordinates started to gather around again.
With a glance, they saw Xiao Fuxuans face.
Ning Huaishan immediately retreated to where he was before.
The others were also about to run for their lives, but one of them suddenly said, "Huh? Wait!"
Ning Huaishan, "Are you crazy? Wait for what?"
"The City Lords here, why are you guys worried! And look, its not the actual Celestial Immortal inside."
Hm? Not the actual one?
Wu Xingxue raised his eyes, but was afraid it would create suspicion, so he immediately lowered them again.
Fortunately, Ning Huaishan got his handy-dandy mouth, "Not the actual one?"
"Yeah, did you forget? Those immortals love splitting themselves into corporeal bodies, leaving one here and another three.
Oh, the stories were also like this, when the deities were roaming around the human realm.
Wu Xingxue thought.
"How can you tell?" Ning Huaishan returned with some suspicion.
"Im much older, after all, Ive seen these kinds of things before. Look at his left wrist."
Wu Xingxue looked.
On the inner side of the wrist on the left hand, there was a small black mark, just like the lily from before.
So that meant, this wasnt the Celestial Immortal after all? Just an empty shell?
The subordinates continued to discuss, but Wu Xingxue didnt listen.
Because he was thinking about a problem
Since this wasnt the Celestial Immortal, and the corpse didnt have any signs of coming back alive, then who opened the coffin?
He immediately lowered his head to look at his own hand.
He was starting to believe that the so-called City Lord didnt completely disappear from this body yet. Perhaps there were still some spiritual powers of his left on the hand.
But wait
When he touched the coffin, he didnt use even the slightest strength, it was really nothing more than a touch.
Besides
If the original owner of the body was still here, with his abilities, it was a piece of cake to snatch his body back. Why would he leave him to have his body until now?
While all sorts of thoughts were popping into Wu Xingxues mind, he suddenly noticed that there was something under the "Xiao Fuxuan". He slightly curled his hand, only revealing a corner of the item.
Could it be a jade statue?
Wu Xingxue hesitated, then muttered his head, "Although youre just a shell, I still have to apologize, please excuse me."
He uncurled the ice-cold corpses fingers and took out what was underneath.
It was a jade figure made with excellent carving skills. But the figure didnt have a face, and so he couldnt tell who it was supposed to be. It did, however, have a long sword in his hand, and a flower platform beneath his feet.
In Que City, statues that had platforms only had one purposeto worship deities.
He wondered if it was the same here.
If it was a deity, then the sword in his hand could mean that this was the Celestial Immortal.
Wu Xingxues thumb unconsciously brushed against the carved flowers as e though.
As he touched, he suddenly felt his heart jumphe heard a voice.
[Have you gone to Chunfan City, at the west of Meng City? There is an exceptional person there named Yi Wusheng]
Wu Xingxue: ""
He almost tossed the statue away.
But thankfully, since he had been through all sorts of situations in Que City, he knew how to maintain a calm expression.
Whos talking? Why can I hear such a voice?
Wu Xingxue looked around; his heart thundering inside his chest.
Is it because Im holding this statue?
Wu Xingxue remained silent for a second, then touched that flower again.
Nothing.
Whats the matter? Was I hallucinating?
Wu Xingxue studied the statue and mumbled in his head.
[Do you want to return? Go find him.]
Suddenly, that voice appeared again.
Wu Xingxue tightened his fingers.
Although this was very out of the blue, the words "do you want to return" were exactly what he wanted to hear.
Do you want to return?
Of course.
He wanted to go back to Que City so bad.
A place where there were no devils and demons, no hell like Northern Frontiers, and no clanging Heavenly Chains.
A place where there were no Immortal Capital and Devils Den, where people and horses came and went freely.
Chunfan City
Yi Wusheng
He subconsciously repeated those two words, then mocked himself.
You must be hallucinating. Wu Xingxue said to himself.
You dont know who said this voice, nor if it is directed to you. Perhaps theres just some spiritual energy left on this statue, which happened to match what you want. How foolish of you to think its real.
He shook his head. Just as he was about to return the statue to its original position, the blurry sound came again.
[These shells are so handy. Hold the wrist, insert your spiritual energy, and the puppet comes to life! If it is some well-known person, then its a big win. Hell be obedient and strong are you obedient?]
""
Wu Xingxue threw the statue back into the coffin without another thought.
He was quite respectful, as he purposefully made sure not to throw on the Celestial Immortals body. The statue hit the bottom of the jade coffin with a bong, startling Ning Huaishan and the others.
"City Lord, you cant do City Lord?" Ning Huaishan didnt finish, because he saw the City Lord lowering his waist and reaching into the coffin.
He saw Wu Xingxue holding onto Xiao Fuxuans wrist, and pressed his thumb on the wrists black mark.
Isnt that how you make a puppet?!
Everyone was stunned in place, "City Lord! Dont tell me, that youre going to make the Celestial Immortals shell your puppet?!"
Wu Xingxue wanted to say no. Would I dare? Besides, do I even know how?
In fact, he didnt know himself why he reached to touch that mark. To prove that the voice was just a fraud? But to be honest, he couldnt prove anything. The voice said specifically that he must input his spiritual energy.
He didnt have that sort of thing, so he could only press, to see if something would happen.
Before he even finished thinking, he suddenly felt something jump under his thumb.
It was very light, like the veins of a living being.
Wu Xingxue: "?"
Hold up a second.
With shock, he quickly looked up, only to see the dead man in the coffin slowly open his eyes.
Ning Huaishans scream sounded, "It worked! It really worked! City Lord! Look, the puppet came to life! His eyes opened!"
Their City Lord almost fainted.
His eyes did open.
But the scary thing was that he didnt do anything, and the eyes opened by themselves.
Wu Xingxue didnt even get to say anything before he felt a blur in front of his eyes.
A huge force landed on his body, then the sky started to spin. He subconsciously closed his eyes.
No one saw how the puppet came to life, they only felt that hurricane of snow formed in front of the coffin.
All the swords in the sword cemetery started to vibrate. The sound of metal hitting was mixed in the howling wind, almost indiscernible from the chains on Wu Xingxues body.
By the time the blizzard lifted, the puppet had pressed Wu Xingxue to the ground. In his right hand, he held a sword from the sword cemetery. The sword spun, aiming downwards.
Wu Xingxue opened his eyes, only to see the tip of the sword only inches away from his face. The cold sword aura came for his face, but stopped immediately at his neck.
He wasnt hurt, but the danger didnt seem to cease.
He looked at the frost coming off from Xiao Fuxuans eyebrows as he lowered his head to look at him.
After a long time, he called out his name, "Wu Xingxue."