“Yeah, I killed her. What’s the problem?”
Facing Gong Shangyu’s doubt, Lu Li’s tone was exceptionally calm, as if he had merely swatted away a bothersome mosquito.
His voice even carried a hint of naturalness, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“That thief put up a stubborn resistance and tried to self-destruct, but in the end, I found her weakness and killed her with a single strike. What? Do you, Young Master Shang, think there’s something wrong with that?”
Looking at Gong Shangyu’s shocked expression, as if the sky had suddenly collapsed overhead, Lu Li’s curiosity deepened.
On the other hand, Gong Shangyu was left speechless by Lu Li’s nonchalant attitude.
Her lips parted and closed several times before she managed to force out her voice.
“Uh… n-no, nothing wrong… I just… just didn’t expect Senior’s reaction to be so swift…”
Huh?
Killed?
Really killed?
That rebirth figure was killed just like that by Master…
The flood of information overwhelmed her mind.
After the initial shock, an indescribable, dark sense of secret joy and excitement uncontrollably surged forth!
Ahaha…
Master killed her well!
Killed her well!
Hehe…
This is great!
One less rival for Master!
No matter if she was Fourth Junior Sister, Third Junior Sister, or some other fox spirit who knew Master from a past life!
Anyway… dead is good!
Dead means she can’t fight me for Master anymore!
This thought grew in Gong Shangyu’s heart like a poisonous vine, speeding up her heartbeat and even causing her fingertips to tremble slightly from the vile delight.
However, Gong Shangyu’s joy did not last long.
The memories of living with her junior sisters in the previous life quickly resurfaced in her mind like an uncontrollable, festering sore, flashing before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
The times they trained and played together, their occasional quarrels, and how they supported each other in times of crisis…
Those once-vivid faces, those shared beautiful moments,
Even with competition and friction, there had been some warmth and affection.
No matter what, even the senior sister she hated the most, Feng Lingshuang, had once been a sister close as family to her…
Gong Shangyu hated that her junior sisters competed for Master’s favor, but she had never imagined killing them outright!
Sigh… in the end, they were all sisters from the same sect…
Thinking of this, a faint sense of regret and sorrow quietly spread through Gong Shangyu’s heart, diluting the secret joy that had just surfaced and making her mood complicated once more.
But immediately after, a deeper fear crept up, chilling her spine and gripping her in an instant!
So, even rebirth figures with cheat systems can die?
And die so easily?
Just like that… dying by Master’s hand?
Realizing this, Gong Shangyu felt a bittersweet sorrow for the dead.
After all, if it were her, killed by the Master she loved dearly as a villain, she would surely feel a searing pain tearing her apart inside.
Therefore, whenever Gong Shangyu thought that the woman killed by Lu Li might have been, like herself and Junior Sister Gu Qingying, a rebirth figure who loved Master and returned with a system, a sharp ache stirred deep within her heart.
As Gong Shangyu sat on her carved large bed, clutching her chest in melancholic sadness, Lu Li suddenly commanded from beside her,
“Someone! Quickly bring in the remains of that female thief so Young Master Shang can take a look.”
At his words, two guest officials from the Danding Pavilion entered carrying a stretcher covered by a white cloth.
Gong Shangyu’s heart instantly tightened in her throat.
Her gaze, tinged with sorrow, fixated on the human-shaped outline beneath the cloth, and cold sweat broke out in her palms.
She was clearly both afraid to see a familiar face and eager to confirm the identity.
Just as Gong Shangyu hesitated, Lu Li suddenly stepped forward and casually lifted the white cloth.
Seeing this, Gong Shangyu instinctively tried to cover her eyes, but what lay beneath the cloth was not the bloodied, grotesque corpse she expected, nor any familiar face she had imagined.
What was exposed before her was a finely crafted but severely damaged puppet!
The wooden and metal hybrid torso bore clear sword scars and scorch marks.
A hole was pierced through the chest by Lu Li’s spirit sword.
Through the hole, broken mechanisms and a shattered, dim crystal core could be faintly seen.
The face was smooth and featureless, with only two glistening jewels emitting an indescribable sinister and eerie aura.
“Hm? This is…”
Staring at the puppet, all of Gong Shangyu’s pent-up emotions—
the secret joy, the regret, even the fear—
froze solid in that moment, then burst like a popped balloon, vanishing completely.
She stared blankly at the puppet, her mind unable to process.
Huh?
Not a real person?
Just a puppet?!
Then an indescribable relief like surviving a disaster swept through Gong Shangyu’s whole body, nearly causing her to collapse.
Phew… thank goodness!
Not a junior sister…
So Master only killed a puppet…
Although this meant the trail was cut off again and the mastermind still lurked in the shadows, at least it wasn’t the worst outcome she had feared.
Her own Master had not knowingly slain a former disciple himself.
Gong Shangyu let out a long breath, her taut nerves finally relaxing, only then noticing her back was soaked with cold sweat.
“Just as you see it…”
Lu Li’s voice suddenly sounded beside her, tinged with inquiry,
“That female thief from earlier was not a real person, only a finely made wooden puppet.”
“The real one is likely still at large. Young Master Shang was just unusually agitated just now.”
“But… you recognize this? Or know something about its origin?”
Lu Li’s gaze fell on Gong Shangyu’s face again.
Like Gong Shangyu, a rebirth figure, Lu Li was also a transmigrator curious about the identity of the demonic sect thief who could wield the basic Sword Formation of the Xu Ling Sect.
Faced with Lu Li’s sudden question, Gong Shangyu stiffened, quickly collecting herself and forcing calm as she shook her head.
“Senior Lu, I don’t recognize this thing. I just find it hard to believe that the demonic enemy who nearly overwhelmed us in battle was only a puppet.”
“Therefore, I was shocked for a moment. And that demonic sect thief only sent out a puppet, yet we struggled in the courtyard for so long…”
“Had it not been for Senior Lu’s presence, we might all have been wiped out.”
“So… it’s hard to imagine the true strength of the mastermind behind this…”
She tried to make her explanation sound reasonable.
Yet inside, a storm of thoughts churned.
A puppet so lifelike… and immune to my Time Stop Domain…
At this, Gong Shangyu’s pupils sharply contracted.
Because, as far as she knew, in the entire Kong Xuan Realm, only her Fourth Junior Sister from the previous life—Mo Qingyou—could make such a sophisticated puppet.
Mo Qingyou, it really is her…
Gong Shangyu’s face turned deathly pale as images of a familiar silhouette she had seen years ago in the capital of Wei Kingdom and memories of those guest official fighters she lost there flooded her mind.
Hehe…
I didn’t expect it!
It really is her!
Thinking this, Gong Shangyu felt a wave of relief, but then a new question surfaced in her heart.
But… why would she collude with the Yin Corpse Sect to do something like this in Yangzhou City?
Mo Qingyou… what exactly are you planning?
Why ally yourself with the demonic sect thief, standing against the righteous path, even against Master and me?