A sense of helplessness rose in the grey-robed old man's heart. He was weaker than the man before him, and his family's lives were entirely in the other's hands. He wanted to resist, but he knew the man's methods were far from being as simple as those of Ma Yaoqi's duo.
In fact, they would only be crueler and more cold-blooded.
Seeing the old man hesitate, Li Yan's face showed displeasure.
"What, unwilling to speak?"
Hearing this, the old man's dazed expression cleared immediately, and he sighed again inwardly.
He had taken every precaution, even daring only to sell low-grade puppets to make a living.
That was how they had avoided trouble for so many years, how they had kept from being targeted.
But a single, minor oversight had pushed his family to the brink of annihilation.
As he thought this, his gaze shifted to the mutilated corpses of the men surnamed Ma, and his eyes filled with boundless resentment.
'Ancestor, your grandson has been unfilial. If you have a spirit in heaven, you see the situation today. I have done my best to protect our inheritance.'
'But now, being targeted by a cultivator at Golden Core or above, how can I resist a soul-search? Weighing the options, I can only prioritize the survival of our bloodline.'
The grey-robed old man's heart was in turmoil, and he could only recite this mournful prayer in his mind.
"Father…"
Before the old man could speak, Shuang Lianzhou, on the other side, was already filled with grief and indignation. He stared at Li Yan, his eyes brimming with anger.
But before he could continue, he was harshly cut off by the old man.
"Zhou'er, shut up! Senior is asking about the cause and effect. What are you interrupting for? I'm not dead yet. Do you know the family inheritance better than I do? How much can you even say?"
As the old man spoke, he glared fiercely at his son.
Seeing the strong warning in his father's eyes, Shuang Lianzhou, not being a fool, fell silent out of sheer unwillingness. The young woman named Ming Ling, looking nervous, tightly gripped his sleeve.
As if terrified of losing him, her eyes were filled with pleading. Seeing this, Shuang Lianzhou could only grit his teeth and lower his head in silence.
The old man was startled by his son's sudden interruption. As he scolded him, sweat had already beaded on his forehead.
He kept stealing glances at the green-robed youth's expression, terrified that the man would suddenly erupt in a murderous rage. This man's methods were incredibly bloody, and his emotions were unreadable.
The mutilated corpses on the ground served as a constant reminder of how terrifying the opponent was. Ma Yaoqi and his companion probably didn't even know how they died.
But seeing that the man remained silent, merely gazing at him quietly, the old man's heart settled slightly.
This time, without any hesitation, he quickly spoke.
"Senior, with your insight, I imagine you have already discerned some things."
"This little old man's name is Shuang Chongshan. That is my son and daughter-in-law."
"This all started because of my clan's inherited 'Divine Puppet Art.' This set of puppet techniques, as Senior saw earlier, is indeed capable of refining puppets equivalent to the Golden Core level…"
As he spoke, he once again peeked at Li Yan. The black-robed youth's gaze remained as calm as still water, showing no sign of greed.
But the more it was so, the more nervous Shuang Chongshan became, for he could not guess the other's thoughts from his expression, which would have allowed him to respond better.
'Is he truly unmoved, or is he hiding it even more deeply! A wolf's ambition is impossible to fathom!'
Shuang Chongshan was uncertain for a moment.
Then, under Li Yan's calm gaze, Shuang Chongshan could only recount his origins and experiences, and he did so truthfully.
He only hoped that after the man performed the soul-search and found that he had not hidden anything, he would spare the other two.
Shuang Chongshan's family was a small branch of the Duye Clan. Originally, the clan had only about thirty members.
Due to some inter-clan reasons, they had long since migrated from the main Duye Clan, and they even had an initial-stage Nascent Soul ancestor protecting them.
Their branch inherited a puppet mechanism art from the Duye Clan called the "Divine Puppet Art."
This art was not possessed by other branches of the Duye Clan. With this art, their cultivation resources were never lacking, as they helped others with artifact refinement.
But since their Nascent Soul ancestor passed away from old age a few hundred years ago, their branch had declined precipitously, beset by crises.
Many cultivators who knew of the "Divine Puppet Art" began to target them, including members of other Duye Clan branches.
It was, after all, a high-level art capable of refining puppets equivalent to the Golden Core level.
Thus, this already small branch nearly faced annihilation. One night, they were jointly attacked by nine Golden Core masters.
Their clan only had four Golden Core cultivators, but each of them possessed a formidable puppet magical treasure. In the ensuing slaughter, their clan suffered heavy casualties.
They managed to kill and severely wound seven of the attacking Golden Core cultivators, but three of their own Golden Core members fell in the battle.
The last Golden Core cultivator in the clan fought desperately to hold off the final two enemy Golden Core cultivators, creating a chance for the other clan members to escape.
Shuang Chongshan and his son were among those who escaped that deadly battle. They didn't know how many of their other clan members had survived, and they didn't dare to inquire about their branch's fate.
From then on, the father and son wandered the world until they settled in a market town not far from here thirty years ago.
After confirming that no one was tracking them, they rented a small shop in the market. Besides selling some low-level demonic beast materials, medicinal pills, and talismans, they would occasionally refine a few low-level puppets for sale. There were quite a few cultivators in the cultivation world who could refine low-level puppets, which were generally used for simple tasks like serving tea, pouring water, or basic reconnaissance.
Shuang Chongshan, however, never dared to take out any of his higher-grade puppets.
At this point, with Shuang Chongshan's cultivation and his painstaking immersion in the art of puppetry, he was already capable of refining Pseudo-Core level puppets.
If he had top-quality refining materials, he could even refine puppets infinitely close to the initial-stage Golden Core, relying on the inherent power of the materials themselves.
His natal magical treasure, that giant red tiger, was a puppet capable of unleashing the power of a Pseudo-Core.
With a powerful Divine Sense controlling it, it could even briefly display the strength of an initial-stage Golden Core, though it would crumble into countless pieces after a single breath.
The father and son had always been exceedingly cautious, terrified of exposing their whereabouts, so they had lived in relative peace.
Later, in the market town, Shuang Lianzhou met a female human cultivator from a third-rate sect named Ming Ling. It was love at first sight, and they soon became Dao Companions.
Ming Ling left her third-rate sect and came to help in the shop. Life was relatively calm.
To keep the secret of the "Divine Puppet Art," the Shuang father and son did not tell Ming Ling some of the details.
Then, one day eighteen years ago, after many years at the Foundation Establishment realm, Shuang Lianzhou finally completed the refining of his first puppet equivalent to the initial-stage Foundation Establishment.
It was an eight-limbed "Crystal Snow Jade Spider." This was a significant breakthrough in his cultivation of the "Divine Puppet Art," marking his puppetry skills' advancement to a major new realm.
However, the immense consumption of his Divine Sense and spirit power left him so exhausted that he fell asleep right in the refining chamber.
As it happened, Shuang Chongshan was out purchasing medicinal pills and talismans, leaving Ming Ling in charge of the shop.
The next day, when Ming Ling saw that her husband hadn't emerged from the refining chamber all night, her love for him, which had always been as thick as glue, naturally drew her to seek him out.
Situations like this, where he spent a whole night refining, had happened before, so she wasn't overly worried.
But after knocking for a long time with no answer, she began to panic.
She had been married to Shuang Lianzhou for many years. Although she was rarely allowed into the refining chamber, she knew that her husband kept a small flag in their bedroom that could open the chamber's restrictions.
In her panic, she retrieved it and opened the refining chamber. Seeing her husband lying motionless on the steps, Ming Ling was terrified.
But a quick scan with her Divine Sense revealed his even breathing and no abnormalities in his body. She realized he had simply fallen into a deep sleep.
Only then did she relax. Though not an artifact refiner herself, she had learned through observation that this kind of refining was extremely draining on the spirit. After exhausting one's Divine Sense, one's entire consciousness would fall into a state of extreme slumber.
Moreover, she had seen her husband collapse into a deep sleep the moment his head hit the pillow more than once.
Ming Ling took out a pill and placed it in Shuang Lianzhou's mouth. As she looked around, she spotted a palm-sized puppet in the refining chamber.
She was immediately captivated by the dense aura emanating from the puppet.
This was completely different from any puppet she had ever seen before. The lustrous texture of the puppet alone was something she had never seen in the entire market.
The puppet as a whole felt smooth and bright. Ming Ling could feel that once this puppet was claimed by blood, the power it could unleash would be enough to kill her with a single blow.
Ming Ling was amazed that her husband could create such a puppet. An idea then subconsciously popped into her head.
If she could display this puppet in the shop, it would surely attract the attention of customers.
Then, if someone wanted to buy it, she could just ask her husband for the price. This would surely bring in a handsome profit and also build their reputation in the market.
So, Ming Ling immediately took the puppet to the shop in front.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before a burly man and a tall, thin cultivator passing by the entrance spotted it, their eyes flashing with keen interest.
The two of them rushed into the shop and asked Ming Ling to take out the puppet for them to see.
Ming Ling was delighted to see this.
Although she was only a Qi Condensation cultivator in the shop, the spirit stones they paid to the market every month were enough to ensure that no one below the Nascent Soul realm would dare to rob them here.
But generally, items in the market could only be inspected with one's eyes and Divine Sense, not touched by any part of the body.
Moreover, the puppets her family sold couldn't be controlled by common arts; they required specific, matching arts. Snatching it would be a troublesome affair.
Ming Ling smiled sweetly and let them examine it.
The two men appraised it for only a few breaths before both developed the desire to purchase it. Their words even carried a hint of rivalry.
This was not lost on Ming Ling, who rejoiced inwardly. Having managed the shop for a long time, she was all too familiar with this kind of competition between customers.
She knew the potential profit would be even greater, especially since both men looked determined to possess this item and have it for themselves.
Sure enough, after the burly man and the tall, thin cultivator exchanged a few words via voice transmission, they both understood the other's determination.
Neither was willing to back down. They casually asked Ming Ling which artifact refining grandmaster had forged this item and if another could be made.
Just as Ming Ling, feeling a little smug, was about to reveal that this "Crystal Snow Jade Spider" was crafted by her own husband, the light at the entrance darkened, and a tall figure appeared in the shop.
The person saw the "Crystal Snow Jade Spider" in front of the two men, and his expression changed. With a flick of his sleeve, he collected the puppet.
The sudden intrusion and unexpected action startled all three people in the shop.