The quiet cultivation days in Wangshu City slipped by without a sound, wrapped in calm and focused training.
With You You, split soul of Senior You Ji, personally guiding her, and with Xie Zhaolin's exceptionally powerful Primordial Soul talent along with comprehension accumulated through two lifetimes, her progress in puppet arts skyrocketed.
In just over two months, she could already forge a complete puppet entirely on her own.
Inside the cultivation chamber, a humanoid puppet about five feet tall moved stiffly, following the simple commands she sent through threads of divine sense. Its movements were slightly rigid and delayed, but the joints flowed smoothly, and the core energy circuit ran stably without signs of collapsing or losing control.
The puppet's combat strength was roughly equivalent to an early Foundation Establishment body cultivator. Its defense was decent, but its offensive power was limited. That wasn't due to poor materials, rather, her current refining technique and her precision in carving the energy circuits were still limiting factors.
After all, crafting a puppet wasn't the same as fighting. Puppet refinement required far deeper mastery of artifact forging. To independently create a stable Foundation Establishment puppet was already an astonishing achievement for a beginner.
Xie Zhaolin was very satisfied. The entry threshold for puppet arts was notoriously high. She'd already stepped onto the crucial first step.
"Not bad, not bad, master! Your progress is even faster than You You expected!" You You circled around the puppet and exclaimed, "At this rate, crafting a Golden Core stage puppet or something even higher won't be far off!"
Xie Zhaolin nodded slightly and waved her hand, storing the puppet away. She calculated the time. Only about one month remained before the Tianxu Secret Realm opened.
"Let's return to the sect."
The next day, Xie Zhaolin and Mo Yan quietly departed Wangshu City and rushed back to Qingxi Sect.
However, the moment they stepped past Qingxi Sect's mountain gate, she immediately sensed that the atmosphere was even more tense and strange than when she'd left.
A suffocating pressure filled the air. Far fewer disciples could be seen moving about, and those she encountered hurried past with tense expressions. They avoided conversation and carried vigilance and unease in their eyes.
Patrols from the Law Enforcement Hall were clearly increased, and their cultivation levels were unusually high. Their expressions were grim and murderous.
The atmosphere was several times more tense than when Sword Peak's peak lord Ling, died six months ago.
Xie Zhaolin's heart sank. She exchanged a look with Mo Yan, and she could see confusion in her partner's gaze. Something major must've happened inside the sect during the past half year.
After thinking for a moment, Xie Zhaolin activated the master-servant contract and summoned the slave she'd practically forgotten existed, Liu Feng.
Soon, Liu Feng arrived at her courtyard, trembling. He kept his head lowered, filled with fear. When Xie Zhaolin returned last time without calling for him, he'd assumed the demoness had forgotten about a nobody like him. He'd never imagined she'd summon him the moment she returned.
"Has anything major happened in the sect over the past six months?" Xie Zhaolin asked directly.
Liu Feng shuddered. He swallowed hard before whispering, "R, report to master, something huge did happen. One month ago, Elder Sun from Talisman Peak, she… she fell!"
What? Elder Sun is dead?
Both Xie Zhaolin and Mo Yan exchanged shocked glances.
They remembered Elder Sun vividly. When Xie Zhaolin first entered Qingxi Sect, the woman was among those who plotted against her.
How did she suddenly die? And during such a sensitive time?
"How did she die?" Xie Zhaolin asked with a low voice, a bad feeling tightening in her chest.
Liu Feng's face went pale. His voice trembled. "I, I heard her death was exactly the same as Sword Peak's peak lord Ling six months ago. She sat in her own quiet chamber and died. No wounds on her body, but her Primordial Soul was erased completely. Even Nascent Soul elders couldn't find a trace of her soul!"
Exactly the same death.
The Primordial Soul wiped out completely.
Xie Zhaolin waved a hand, signaling him to leave.
Liu Feng fled as if he'd been pardoned, scrambling out on hands and feet.
Inside the courtyard, only Xie Zhaolin and Mo Yan remained. The atmosphere grew heavy.
If Peak Lord Ling's death could still be explained as Chou Qianzi acting for some unknown purpose, then Elder Sun's death made no sense.
Xie Zhaolin tapped her fingers against the table, brows drawn tight, mind racing through all known information.
She remembered clearly what Elder Wei told her. Array Peak's peak lord, Elder Chou, used her bizarre intimate dual cultivation secret art to bind multiple powerful male elders, establishing a tightly intertwined interest network that let her stabilize her power and influence inside Qingxi Sect.
It was blatant political trading.
That was why Xie Zhaolin had once said Elder Chou was someone who knew how to exploit resources, including herself.
For that reason, they first suspected Elder Chou of killing Ling Jianfeng.
But Elder Sun was completely different. The key point was that Elder Sun was a woman. And based on everything she learned from Elder Wei, and from her own observations, Elder Chou always targeted male elders to maintain her network of interests.
Switching to a woman, and especially a woman openly hostile to her, was irrational. Elder Sun wasn't a peak lord, had little power, and wasn't worth the risk. That wasn't Elder Chou's calculating style.
Even if Elder Chou once hinted that same-sex dual cultivation held its own mysterious benefits, Xie Zhaolin had recognized those words as testing the waters, nothing more.
Besides, Elder Sun clearly disliked and looked down on Elder Chou. The two were quietly opposing forces in sect politics. How could two enemies possibly perform a secret dual cultivation requiring absolute trust and deep soul fusion?
So if the killer wasn't Elder Chou, or if dual cultivation wasn't the reason, what connected Ling Jianfeng and Elder Sun?
Did they share some hidden secret? Did they both meet some special requirement? Or, did they both participate in something buried in darkness?
Xie Zhaolin originally believed that after returning to the sect, she'd focus on fighting for a spot in the secret realm and preparing for open and hidden assaults.
She hadn't expected such chaos to erupt first. It completely disrupted her rhythm.
Just as she tried to untangle the situation, a sharp series of knocks sounded at the courtyard gate.
Outside stood a young inner-sect deacon with a solemn look.
"Elder Mo, the Sect Master commands your immediate presence in the Grand Hall."