Chapter 124

“All the spirit wood is gone!”

Han Luo stared at Senior Sister Lou, thinking she must be joking.

“It’s true,” she replied, “All our spirit wood reserves have been depleted. But…”

She led him to a secluded chamber and pulled out a pouch from her robes, handing it to him.

“I knew you were working on puppet refinement lately, so I saved this batch just for you. Take it. But this—this is the last of Luoxian Sect’s spirit wood.”

Lin Lou’s expression wasn’t cheerful. Normally, she wouldn’t have missed such a great opportunity to tease Han Luo and at least demand a few sweet words in return. But not today.

“Is it really that serious?” Han Luo asked, surprised by how dire things had become.

Clearly, the battle over resources was fiercer than he had imagined.

“Very,” Lin Lou nodded grimly. “I’ve heard that Chi Xiao, Li Jun, and Wu Dao have all fought in several high-profile battles, defeating disciples from major sects. Their fame has soared, and now they’re ranked among the top hundred. They're strong, and that has made Changshou Sect nervous. They’ve started targeting our resources aggressively.”

She took a breath and continued, “And it’s not just them. Green Willow Sect has also been secretly helping them. On its own, Changshou Sect couldn't possibly have pressured us this hard. But together, they've managed to create shortages and disrupt our supply lines. The only bit of good news is that most of the disciples have already finished refining their treasures. We just need to hold on through this rough patch.”

Lin Lou clearly wasn’t in high spirits. Besides seeing Han Luo, the thing she loved most was watching bright, eager faces come to her to exchange for cultivation materials. Because each time, she knew a stronger disciple was being born—something that greatly benefited Luoxian Sect.

But now, although people still came, there just weren’t enough resources left to distribute. As for Chi Xiao and the others, just like she had told Han Luo before, they were all in a crucial stage of growth. They needed real combat experience, and the sect didn’t want them wasting time guarding a forest.

“Junior brother Han Luo, go back and keep cultivating. If you can, when the time comes, give those bastards a good beating for me.”

If it weren’t for her important duties, Lin Lou would’ve charged into battle herself.

Han Luo nodded. “If the opportunity comes, I’ll be sure to help you vent your anger.”

With that, he returned to Luoxian Mountain with the spirit wood.

“Changshou Sect... I was planning to deal with you later, but it looks like you’re asking for trouble.”

He hadn’t forgotten what happened with the old ghost from Changshou Sect. If not for the substitution talisman and the timely arrival of Uncle-Master Yunyangzi, he might’ve died back then. A dangerous person like that—how could he not take them seriously?

Still, he wasn’t the kind to act recklessly. He needed time to prepare, to uncover their background, and formulate a complete counter-strategy. When he struck, it had to be a fatal blow—crippling Changshou Sect so thoroughly they’d never rise again.

For now, he had to focus on his ongoing puppet refinement. That alone demanded massive amounts of spirit wood. And besides, he was still a disciple of Luoxian Sect. He normally didn’t interfere in personal duels between fellow disciples, but strangling the sect’s resource supply was too much. If Luoxian Sect fell, where else could he hide and cultivate safely?

Perhaps this situation was a blessing in disguise. He still had a batch of humanoid puppets that hadn’t been tested in real combat. This would be the perfect opportunity to see what flaws they still had.

With a wave of his hand, twelve humanoid puppets appeared before him.

“Now, who should I send?”

That night, under the dark sky and chilling wind, four men gathered around a campfire. The leader was at mid-Foundation Establishment, while the others were at the early stage. They sat chatting as flames flickered between them.

“Who would've thought Luoxian Sect would produce three monstrous geniuses? It’s infuriating.”

“Please, they should be the ones angry.”

“That’s right. Our attacks have already cut off their supply of spirit wood. And our senior brother is now organizing a strike on their spirit stone and spirit iron mines. If it works, we’ll cripple an entire generation of their disciples.”

“Exactly. What use are three prodigies if the rest of their generation gets gutted of all resources? Their next crop of disciples will face huge setbacks. Without fresh talent, let’s see how Luoxian Sect plans to rise.”

“Let’s strip every last resource they have. If they dare to call those three monsters back to guard their fields, we’ll see whether they can bear the loss in battle experience.”

“No matter what they choose, we’ve already drained them. The longer those three stay away, the more we widen the gap.”

“You said it. Luoxian Sect is like a turtle. Even with innate spiritual treasures, they’re no match for our mighty Changshou Sect.”

As they continued scheming…

“You’re from Changshou Sect, aren’t you?”

A voice called out from the forest. A man in grey, wearing a ram-shaped mask, stepped out from the shadows.

“Who are you?” one of the men demanded, rising to his feet.

“That’s not important,” the masked man said calmly.

He raised his hand. “Buzz!”

Three third-rank array disks activated, trapping the four men in place.

“What do you want? We’re disciples of Changshou Sect!”

“Exactly the people I’ve been looking for.”

“Attack!”

At the masked man’s command, eleven figures burst forth from within the array and began a savage beatdown, no questions asked. The four enemies were strong, but the attackers had numbers on their side. Each of the eleven wore triple-layered third-rank defensive formations, rendering all counterattacks useless.

The campfire crackled as fists flew—clang, smash, boom!

By the end of the chaos, three of the four had been subdued.

“You think you can hold me?” the mid-stage cultivator shouted, trying to break free.

Only to realize—he couldn’t move.

“No use struggling,” said one of the attackers with a cunning grin. “I spiked your wine earlier.”

It was the rat-masked puppet speaking.

“Begin.”

Following the order from the ram-masked leader, the snake-masked puppet stepped forward. Its long, crimson tongue flicked out as it placed a hand on the man’s forehead.

“Soul search.”

The puppet rifled through the disciple’s memories and extracted every piece of useful intel. Then, in a fluid motion, it shed a layer of snakeskin—taking on the disciple’s exact appearance. Thanks to the soul search, it also inherited his mannerisms and memories. To all appearances, it was now that Changshou Sect disciple.

Three more puppets—Monkey, Dog, and Pig—followed suit, each soul-searching and mimicking one of the others.

The real bodies were quickly collected by the ram-masked leader and stored away.

“Go,” he said.

The array dissolved, and the four transformed puppets left.

“Let’s move,” the ram-masked figure instructed the remaining eight.

They melted into the darkness.

High atop Luoxian Mountain, Han Luo sat calmly, orchestrating it all from behind the scenes.

His puppet arts weren’t yet perfect. A cultivator in the Sea of Qi stage could probably spot some flaws. But that didn’t matter.

By imperial law, cultivators in the Sea of Qi stage and above were forbidden from interfering in sect resource conflicts.

Which made this the perfect cover.

No one would suspect a Foundation Establishment disciple of crafting and deploying so many advanced puppets.

Inside his bronze mirror, four puppets—Snake, Monkey, Dog, and Pig—blended seamlessly into the Changshou Sect's ranks, marching with the enemy toward one of Luoxian Sect’s forest veins…