Mei Qing was greatly startled. Could these two troublemakers actually be siblings of the renowned immortal, Sun Bu’er? It was commonly said that cultivators possessed extremely long lifespans—could that actually be true? Seeing the two men clearly looked frightened of their elder sister, Mei Qing quickly explained, “I was merely making a wild guess. Who doesn’t know the name of the Celestial of Tranquility, Sun Bu’er? How could I possibly recognize her?”
Upon hearing Mei Qing’s words, the expressions of Sun Busan and Sun Buxi eased slightly. Sun Busan even exaggerated his reaction, suddenly slapping his bald head and bursting into laughter.
Mei Qing and the others were puzzled but didn’t dare interrupt, so they silently waited for him to finish laughing. However, Sun Busan’s laughter dragged on far too long, showing no sign of stopping.
After a while, Mei Qing noticed the time was pressing and could no longer hold back. Just as he was about to speak, Sun Busan suddenly stopped laughing and angrily turned to Sun Buxi. “Old Three, I’ve been laughing for ages! You should have stepped in and asked what I was laughing about so I could explain everything to you. Usually you never stop talking, rambling on endlessly whether there’s something to say or not. But now, when I actually need you, you’ve been silent for ages! You nearly killed me!”
Sun Buxi frowned and replied with a bitter face, “My apologies, my apologies. Second Brother, you’re mistaken again… Why are you glaring at me? Didn’t you just tell me not to speak too much earlier?”
Mei Qing, seeing no end to their squabbling, quickly interjected, “Senior Busan, may I ask what it was that you found so amusing just now?”
Delighted that Mei Qing had asked, Sun Busan ignored Sun Buxi and turned his head to reply, “When you mentioned the Celestial of Tranquility, I couldn’t help but laugh. Did you really think my elder sister was that Sun Bu’er from the Seven Masters of Quanzhen? Oh no, not at all! This ‘Bu’er’ is not that ‘Bu’er.’ My elder sister is far more powerful than that Sun Bu’er. Since she’s the eldest in our family, she bosses us brothers around, scolding and beating us at will. She’s truly ‘Bu’er’—meaning she never changes her word. That Celestial of Tranquility—what skills does she even have to dare use the name Sun Bu’er? If my elder sister ever saw her, she’d first twist her ears and ask why she stole the name, then change her name to Sun Bwu or Sun Buliu. Finally, she’d starve her for a whole day! No, no, I got that wrong—how could one meal be enough? At least three to five meals without food!”
Sun Buxi, hearing his elder brother’s words, unusually nodded in agreement, murmuring “My apologies, my apologies” repeatedly.
A small talisman floated gently into the air. Unlike ordinary talismans that were lit on fire, it slowly rotated, as if sensing its surroundings, and then drifted steadily in a specific direction.
Seeing this, Zhao, Yao, and Zhou were greatly surprised, exchanging glances filled with astonishment. After all, few people knew of Mei Qing’s cultivation. Sun Busan nodded approvingly and, with a tone of praise, remarked, “Not bad, kid. This tracking talisman radiates a very lively aura. Impressive indeed.”
Mei Qing’s face turned red, and he felt too shy to respond. Without another word, he simply followed the talisman’s path.
In truth, Mei Qing had never attempted such a technique before. Even his teacher, Bi Zhen, had only a vague understanding, so the first few attempts had been complete failures. Eventually, Bi Zhen had begged her grandmother for a secret technique. Mei Qing had to take seven of his own hairs, burn them into ash, and mix them with vermilion cinnabar. Using a special incantation, he channeled his spiritual energy directly into the seal on the inkstone and the tracking talisman, bypassing the need for precise calligraphy. Only then did the talisman succeed.
Since the talisman contained Mei Qing’s hair, it resonated strongly with his spiritual essence, making it highly effective. However, using such a method for a simple tracking talisman was extremely draining—hardly worth the effort. After finishing it, Mei Qing had nearly collapsed from exhaustion. If the talisman hadn’t worked, he might as well have found a tofu block to run into and called it quits.
The tracking talisman was a type of mother-child talisman, where the child talisman didn’t necessarily have to be drawn on paper but could be inscribed on any object. Mei Qing had secretly marked the inkstone he gave to Hou Shen. Once Hou Shen handed the inkstone to the intermediary, Mei Qing used the mother talisman to trace its path, hoping to uncover the conspirators’ hideout and discover who was behind the plot and their true intentions.
By now, it was already past the third watch of the night. The full moon had shifted toward the southwest, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was just a few days away, making the moonlight especially bright.
The silvery moonlight illuminated the quiet, deserted streets, casting long shadows from the rooftops onto the worn blue bricks, creating stark contrasts of black and white.
Mei Qing and the others silently followed the drifting talisman, leaving the hidden courtyard and heading westward.
As for the brothers Sun Busan and Sun Buxi, they had vanished from sight the moment the journey began. Although Mei Qing’s spiritual perception was sharp, his focus was entirely on the tracking, leaving no room for distraction. He simply assumed the two were somewhere nearby, either ahead or behind the group.
In the distance, the sound of a night watchman’s clapper echoed, followed by his long, drawn-out cry: “Mind the lanterns!”
The talisman seemed to drift slowly, but it actually moved quite fast. Fortunately, the person being tracked appeared to be walking normally along the streets, without using any supernatural abilities like passing through walls or flying.
Turning a corner, the road became narrower, lined with shops whose shutters were tightly closed, revealing no light. During the day, this place would be bustling with traffic and lively crowds. But now, under the night curfew, the entire street was empty and silent.
After passing through the shops, the path became increasingly uneven, entering a residential area. The maze of narrow alleys was surrounded by towering walls, and the group moved cautiously through the shadows, their expressions growing more serious.
Zhao Dayou was familiar with the city’s every street and alley, and he softly guided Mei Qing and the others, pointing out crossroads and dead ends. The talisman seemed to accelerate, and Mei Qing sensed that the inkstone they were tracking was drawing closer.
Just then, a cloud of mist suddenly gathered near Mei Qing, and from the shadows, Sun Buxi’s figure gradually materialized. He whispered to Mei Qing, “My apologies, my apologies. Young master, I stealthily advanced ahead and saw only one person. But that person seemed… off. He had no trace of life force at all. He didn’t seem to be using any technique either—he moved more like a puppet.”
Mei Qing frowned at this. He had learned enough to know that puppet techniques were generally frowned upon by the Daoist sects. This night’s affair was shaping up to be more dangerous than expected.
Puppet techniques were divided into methods of controlling ghosts, objects, or even people. While major sects occasionally used them for minor tasks like cleaning, the fact that this puppet could perform such a complex task as retrieving an object was highly unusual. It could even be the result of someone binding a soul into a ghostly form.
Mei Qing thought for a moment and said, “Then we should move closer to avoid losing him. If anything happens, we’ll be able to react more quickly.”
Everyone nodded. Just as they were about to quicken their pace, the tracking talisman suddenly shot forward like an arrow, accelerating sharply.
Mei Qing and the others were startled. Sun Buxi reacted quickly, taking a few calm steps and effortlessly keeping pace with the talisman, moving as if strolling through a garden.
Mei Qing and the others were a bit slower to react. As they finally caught up and started running, they suddenly heard Sun Buxi exclaim, “Hmm!” Looking up, they saw the mother talisman suddenly stop mid-air, waver uncertainly for a moment, and then swiftly fly back into Mei Qing’s arms.
Mei Qing was shocked, unable to understand what had just happened. Ahead, Sun Buxi let out a low growl, halted abruptly, and formed a spell seal with his fingers. “Divide the Five Elements, shorten the distance—swiftly!” As he spoke, his thin figure suddenly seemed to expand, and with one step, he leapt several zhang forward. With another step, he turned the corner and vanished from sight.
Although Mei Qing had also learned the Five Elements evasion techniques (elemental shunshu), these were not intended for traveling, so he and the others had to run after him on foot. As for Sun Busan, he hadn’t appeared at all since they set out—who knew what he was up to.
They rushed forward, turned the corner, and looked up—only to be startled once again.
There was Sun Buxi, still chasing forward like he was walking on clouds. Not far ahead of him was a very strange figure.
This figure was nearly nine chi tall, dressed entirely in black, wearing a large felt hat. Thick ropes were tied around his waist, hands, and feet. He didn’t seem to move his legs at all but floated silently like a dark cloud, keeping pace with the group’s fastest sprint.
Though the figure moved swiftly, Sun Buxi’s technique was even faster. Just as he was about to catch up, the figure suddenly split in two!
It was as if something had cut the figure from top to bottom—starting at the head and splitting down, while the legs remained connected. The legs, which hadn’t moved before, now began to sway slowly from side to side, creating a deeply unsettling sight. Moments later, the black figure fully separated into two identical forms, both wearing felt hats and black robes.
Then, each figure silently drifted into a different alleyway, just as before.
Sun Buxi’s face paled. He murmured, “My apologies, my apologies. Could this be what Elder Sister called the ‘Ten Thousand Puppets’? Oh no, this is bad. What should Second Brother do now?”
Though Mei Qing and the others didn’t understand what the “Ten Thousand Puppets” were, an ominous feeling settled in their hearts.
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