Chapter 439: Puppet
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Chunyu Dong stood on the street and looked ahead calmly without saying anything.
Qing Yi turned around and asked him, “Master, should we tell Lu Zhou about this?”
Chunyu Dong’s indifferent expression changed.
He said lightly, “Qing Yi, he’s the Peak Master of Green Peak. In terms of status, you should call him Peak Master Lu.”
Qing Yi’s heart trembled and he hurriedly bowed his head in agreement.
He had followed Chunyu Dong for at least ten thousand years. How could Qing Yi not hear the displeasure in his voice?
“Then… should we inform Peak Master Lu about Xian Ya and Xian Jing?”
“Not for now.”
Chunyu Dong glanced at him and said faintly, “I’ll settle this myself. There’s no need to trouble Junior Brother.”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go.”
Chunyu Dong retracted his gaze and turned to walk towards Lu Zhou’s inn.
“Dear guests, I’m sorry, but there’s no room here.”
Seeing the duo walk in, the shopkeeper hurried forward and apologized.
“We’re looking for someone.”
Chunyu Dong walked in.
Coincidentally, Lu Zhou and Shangguan Dian had just come downstairs.
“Cousin is here. We were about to find you.”
Shangguan Dian smiled faintly.
Seeing that they were relatives, the shopkeeper did not stop them.
The few of them went straight to Lu Zhou’s room. When Lu Sheng and Chu Sihan heard the commotion, they followed them over to listen.
“How is it? Do you have any clues?”
After pouring the tea, Shangguan Dian asked softly.
Chunyu Dong shook his head. “We don’t have any leads yet.”
“Why did you come over if there were no clues?”
Lu Zhou’s tone was aggressive.
This made Qing Yi, who was speaking softly to Lan Yi, roll his eyes at him unhappily.
Lu Sheng happened to see Qing Yi rolling his eyes and could not help but find it funny.
Chu Sihan glanced at Qing Yi lightly, his eyes dark.
Qing Yi frowned. He felt that these people were strange.
Chunyu Dong smiled faintly. “You haven’t officially introduced your disciple to me yet.”
As he spoke, his gaze landed on Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “Me?”
Chunyu Dong nodded slightly. He untied the pouch at his waist and pa.s.sed it to Lu Sheng. “I don’t have much left. Take it as my greeting gift to you.”
Lu Sheng glanced at Lu Zhou. Seeing that he did not speak or object, she hurriedly reached out to receive it.
She untied the pouch and took a look. When she saw the stack of banknotes inside, she immediately beamed.
“Thank you, Uncle-Master!”
Chunyu Dong smiled and said softly, “You’re welcome!”
Lu Zhou glanced at Chunyu Dong and snorted coldly at Lu Sheng. “He bought you off with just a few banknotes. How useless.”
Lu Sheng pouted and did not bicker with him.
Chunyu Dong’s gaze landed on Chu Sihan, who was beside Lu Sheng.
He sized Chu Sihan up for a while before suddenly narrowing his eyes.
Chu Sihan gave him a faint sense of familiarity, but he could not remember where he had seen him before.
“Has Lord Chu been to Yang Cheng Mansion?”
After some thought, the only explanation was that Chu Sihan had been to Yang Cheng Mansion.
“No.”
Chu Sihan replied faintly.
Shangguan Dian raised an eyebrow. “Cousin, you can’t tell who he is?”
“Huh?”
Upon hearing Shangguan Dian’s words, Chunyu Dong looked at him suspiciously. “He does feel a little familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve seen him before.”
“That’s true.”
Shangguan Dian smiled faintly.
Chunyu Dong had only seen the King of Hades before, but not Yan Han. However, he had seen Yan Han before. That was why he could tell at a glance that Chu Sihan was Yan Han.
“Cousin, it seems like I should know Lord Chu?”
Chunyu Dong asked with narrowed eyes.
“Lord Chunyu, you might not know this, but Lord Chu is His Highness Yan Han.”
Lan Yi’s words stunned Chunyu Dong and Qing Yi.
After a while, Chunyu Dong finally understood. “No wonder Lord Chu always gives me a sense of familiarity. So he’s the son of the King of Hades.”
Chu Sihan smiled lightly and said lightly, “There’s no need to give me a greeting gift.”
Chunyu Dong was speechless.
Did he say that he wanted to give him a greeting gift?
His level of thick-skinned was worlds apart from the King of Hades. He resembled his Junior Brother more.
Could he have learned this from his disciple?
“Cough—”
Chunyu Dong coughed lightly and smiled at him. “Speaking of which, I haven’t seen the King of Hades for a long time.”
Chu Sihan said coldly, “He’s still the same. Nothing has changed.”
Chunyu Dong nodded and did not speak further.
Lu Zhou yawned and asked him to leave. “It’s getting late. Let’s talk tomorrow morning.”
Chunyu Dong lifted his eyes and looked at him. “Junior Brother, can I borrow a guest room?”
This place had already been booked. Lu Zhou and the rest only had six people. They took up five rooms, so the other rooms were almost empty.
“Up to you.”
Lu Zhou looked at Lu Sheng and Chu Sihan and said, “Rest early. We still have to deal with those refugees tomorrow morning.”
The duo nodded.
Shangguan Dian said to Netherworld, “Netherworld, bring Lord Chunyu to find an empty room.”
“Yes!”
Netherworld walked forward and said to Chunyu Dong, “Lord Chunyu, please!”
Chunyu Dong stood up and nodded at them before following Netherworld out with Qing Yi.
Lu Sheng, Chu Sihan, and Shangguan Dian followed them out.
—————
The next day, at the government office.
Chu Sihan sat in the court, while Qing Yi and Lan Yi stood beside him.
Below them stood more than fifty refugees.
“I would like to ask everyone, do you want to return to your villages to live, or do you want to go somewhere else?”
In the court, the refugees looked at each other. Finally, someone said, “Lord, the commoners have discussed it yesterday. We still want to return to our respective villages.”
Although some villages had become empty now, everyone still wanted to return to their original hometowns.
It was for no other reason than that sense of belonging.
“Since everyone has decided, let’s do this.”
Chu Sihan looked at the crowd and said lightly, “From tomorrow onwards, the officials will open the granaries to help you through the difficult times until the autumn harvest.”
When the refugees heard that, they immediately shouted excitedly, “Lord is wise!”
Chu Sihan nodded slightly. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll end this here.”
Seeing him get up and leave, Mdm Tong hurried forward with Kai Chun and Kai Dong.
Chu Sihan stopped in his tracks and looked at Mdm Tong. He asked lightly, “Mdm Tong, do you have other questions?”
Mdm Tong nodded. “There are only three of us left in our village now. I want to go to Huang Yang Town to find my son and daughter-in-law, but I don’t know the way. Can I trouble the Lord to send us there?”
“Granny, are you going to Huang Yang Town too?”
Lu Sheng squeezed out from the crowd and smiled at the three of them. “Coincidentally, we’re returning to Huang Yang Town tomorrow. Why don’t you follow us tomorrow?”
“Really?”
Mdm Tong was elated and hurriedly thanked them. “Then I’ll thank Miss and Lord first!”
Lu Sheng shook her head. “You’re welcome. It’s on the way.”
The others had dispersed and were preparing to collect food outside the government office.
Lu Sheng let the three of them return to the inn first. She would get the carriage to fetch them tomorrow morning.
Chu Sihan told the rest of the officials that the government office would be temporarily managed by Qing Yi and Lan Yi. The officials did not dare to say anything.
Some of them followed County Magistrate Zhuo before, so they naturally knew about Qing Yi and Lan Yi.
It was only now that they knew clearly that Chunyu Dong was not one of the Crown Prince’s men, but Chu Sihan’s men.
As a result, they did not even dare to fart when they heard that the office woud be temporarily managed by Qing Yi and Lan Yi.
They had seen how powerful these two people were.
After Chu Sihan let the others disperse, he prepared to leave.
However, after taking a few steps, he suddenly turned back and asked Qing Yi, “I heard that you swallowed a lot of refugees?”
Qing Yi’s face darkened. “I don’t eat everything.”
“But I heard from General Tang that you swallowed more than a hundred villagers.”
Chu Sihan’s voice was still faint and one could not tell if he was happy or angry.
“Your Highness, you might not know this.”
Lan Yi walked forward and explained, “Those so-called refugees were just illusions created by the two of us to scare those soldiers.”
Chu Sihan nodded slightly. “Let’s not talk about that for now. Then, what’s the matter with knowing the truth but not reporting it?”
Qing Yi and Lan Yi were slightly stunned when they heard that.
Lan Yi said indifferently, “It’s a long story.”
“Really?”
Chu Sihan glanced at the door and said lightly, “There’s a teahouse not far away. Let’s sit down and talk.”
Lu Sheng raised her hand and said, “I want to listen too!”
Chu Sihan nodded dotingly. “Then let’s go together.”
Qing Yi and Lan Yi looked at each other and nodded at the same time.
The four of them entered the teahouse and asked for a room.
After the tea was served, Lu Sheng pasted a Soundproof Talisman at the door.
“Alright, speak slowly.”
Lu Sheng sat back down and smiled at the two of them.
Lan Yi said in a low voice, “The two of you already know about the drought in Yong Fu Town without us saying anything.”
Chu Sihan and Lu Sheng nodded.
Lan Yi continued, “When we first arrived, we wanted to beat the Crown Prince at his own game and let him walk into his trap. We didn’t expect to discover a strange thing.”
“What strange thing?” Lu Sheng was curious.
“We realized that some refugees tend to become irritable. When the moon rises at night, their eyes will emit a red light and they lose their rationality. They bite anyone they see. At that time, Qing Yi and I captured a few and brought them back to show Lord Chunyu. After Lord saw them, he said that these villagers had been refined into puppets and could no longer be saved.”
“Puppets?”
Chu Sihan frowned. “Isn’t that a forbidden technique from the Immortal World?”
He had heard from his father a long time ago that someone had once used mortals to be refined into puppets, causing the deaths of many people.
That was why these spells were cla.s.sified as forbidden spells.
“That’s right!”
Lan Yi said indifferently, “These villages are all downstream of the river. There are mountains and rivers nearby. Logically speaking, a drought should not have happened.”
Lu Sheng frowned. “You’re saying that there’s something strange about this drought?”
Lan Yi nodded. “The drought this time was very unusual. That was also the reason why Lord Chunyu wanted to investigate. We didn’t expect to meet you here.”
“What has this got to do with you hiding the matter of the drought for the Crown Prince?” Chu Sihan asked.
“Of course!”
Qing Yi snorted coldly. “We didn’t hide the matter for that idiot, the Crown Prince. We were thinking about the safety of the other citizens. One has to know that if a hundred puppets were placed in town, who knows how many people will die?”
Chu Sihan raised his eyebrows. “How did you know there were hundreds of them?”
Qing Yi’s expression froze.
Could he say that the hundred villagers he swallowed were not illusions but puppets?
He snorted. “That’s not important.”
“Are the remaining villagers normal villagers?” Lu Sheng asked.
Lan Yi shook his head. “I don’t know for now. When they first become puppets, they usually won’t attack until the night of the full moon.”
“The night of the full moon?”
Lu Sheng’s heart jumped.
She asked Chu Sihan, “It’s March 15 today, right?”
Chu Sihan nodded. “Yes!”
“Those villagers will leave tomorrow morning. If they are all puppets, then tonight…”
Lu Sheng stopped speaking.
The other three looked at each other and their expressions became solemn.
Lu Sheng looked at the three of them and suggested softly, “Why don’t we go back and discuss with my master and Uncle Demon King? With them around, there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
Lan Yi blamed himself. “I forgot to mention this to Master.”
If Chu Sihan had not suddenly mentioned how Qing Yi swallowed people, he would have forgotten about it.
If those puppets escaped because they forgot, the consequences would be dire.
Chu Sihan said to Qing Yi and Lan Yi, “Go to the government office first and get them to distribute the items as soon as possible. Then, send all the refugees back to the inn.”
“Yes.”
The duo nodded.
Lu Sheng and Chu Sihan rushed back to the inn and told Lu Zhou and Shangguan Dian about this.
“You’re saying that someone who secretly cultivated a forbidden technique escaped to this place and even refined those villagers into puppets?”
When Lu Zhou heard that, his expression became serious.
Chu Sihan nodded. “Yes.”
Shangguan Dian narrowed his eyes. “Could it be that the person who secretly cultivated the forbidden technique injured Bailian?”
“Very likely!”
Lu Zhou said in a deep voice, “Back then, Chunyu Dong was accused of secretly cultivating a forbidden technique. Now that he’s here, the person who cultivated the forbidden technique is also here.”
He laughed coldly. “Could it be that he wants to mislead us again so that we will pin the blame on Chunyu Dong?”
“It should be a coincidence.”
Chu Sihan said in a low voice, “I heard from Qing Yi and Lan Yi that they did not know about the drought and the puppets back then. They came over to plot against the Crown Prince.”
“Really?”
Lu Zhou frowned slightly. “Since it wasn’t to frame Chunyu Dong again, why did the person who secretly cultivated the forbidden technique spend so much effort to turn those villagers into puppets?”
Chu Sihan and Lu Sheng shook their heads at the same time.
They knew even less about what Lu Zhou knew.
“I remember something from the past.” Shangguan Dian suddenly spoke.
The few of them looked at him at the same time and heard him say, “Do you still remember the reason why the refinement of puppets back then was cla.s.sified as a forbidden technique?”
Lu Zhou nodded. “Of course.”