Chapter 107: Hunshi

[Do you think just anyone can inherit my Puppet Techniques? Are you saying you’re so foolish that you can’t even properly grasp such an opportunity?]

Foolish, huh…

Although he couldn’t know the exact identity of the one speaking, by this point, it was impossible not to realize that the one who made this tower was at least no ordinary being.

It was most likely that not only the Puppet Techniques he said he would teach, but also the Puppet he called his final masterpiece must be extraordinary.

However.

[You don’t seem to understand at all what an unbelievable stroke of luck it is for you to inherit my Puppet Techniques.]

“Well. That remains to be seen.”

That wasn’t reason enough for him, the Emperor of the Galactic Empire, to lower himself to this guy.

But the punk didn’t seem to think so.

[It’s troublesome to compare my Puppet Techniques with other Puppet Techniques.]

His pride could be felt in every single word.

[The essence of Puppets is ‘imitation’. The essence of Puppets is that they are created to imitate something. It’s a sad reality that even such a basic fact has been forgotten.]

[Most Puppet creators want to make stronger, more special Puppets. That’s no different for me. However.]

[Unable to let go of a craftsman’s stubbornness, they only cram in their own desires. That’s how Puppet Techniques have been established and solidified.]

Uh, excuse me, mister. I ain’t gonna understand even if you explain.

The mysterious voice poured out as if filled with resentment.

[More special abilities. More brilliant ideas. More unexpected functions. Well, I don’t know about the current era, but it’s common for creators to project their own egos and realize their desires.]

Did he notice Karlstein’s boredom?

[Gah! Listen properly! I’m telling you how ridiculously fortunate this opportunity is for you!]

Haha. Right. There are always people like this.

Karlstein exercised a bit of patience. After all, he wasn’t uninterested in this situation.

[At any rate!]

Okay. Yeah. At any rate?

[I thought that to create the strongest Puppet, I needed to imitate the strongest being. My goal was to embody the essence of the subject exactly, discarding any personal desires.]

The strongest being, you say…

[And I, with my not-so-narrow knowledge, finally found it. A being that could be called the strongest.]

Oho.

Even Karlstein couldn’t help but be interested at this point.

[‘That’ appeared suddenly without any precursor. It was as if it had simply dropped from thin air without a trace.]

Is that so?

[‘That’ revealed itself for only 3 days. And during those 3 days, it destroyed the Three Purities1 Dao Sect, which was the greatest cultivation sect across all Immortal Realms, and slaughtered countless powerhouses of the Immortal Realm. No one could stop it.]

“…”

Karlstein had heard something about this world. That the territory of Immortals wasn’t a world composed of just one dimension.

The strongest across all Immortal Realms…

[A being that single-handedly created a dark age in the Immortal Realm in a short period, called ‘Hunshi2‘ by gossipers.]

They say that eventually, all the strongest in the Immortal Realms joined forces and succeeded in repelling it. However, they only drove it away, not killed it.

[That’s probably a rumor appropriately distorted to suit the tastes of the major powers. The prevailing theory is that ‘Hunshi’, which slaughtered countless powerhouses, disappeared instantly even after winning.]

Afterwards, the Noble Archers were established, and forces were formed to guard against and prepare for the invasion of certain beings.

[A truly unbelievable being, one that could actually be called beyond the heavens. I could understand why the major sects took the lead in erasing its existence.]

[Tsk tsk. But no matter how much they erase and distort the records, they can’t change the truth.]

The guy’s voice sounded triumphant.

However, even Karlstein had to become serious at the next words.

[Hunshi is a being that blurs the boundary between ‘reality’ and ‘unreality’.]

“…?”

[And my final masterpiece is a Puppet that imitates that ‘Hunshi’.]

The boundary between… reality and unreality?

[What do you think? Can you still say you’re not interested?]

Karlstein was silent for a while.

Because something came to mind.

No way…

No, that can’t be.

At the very least, the being he was thinking about wouldn’t show such ‘human-like’ movements as this guy was describing.

[Huhu. Seeing that you’re silent, it seems you’ve made your decision.]

The mysterious voice had changed to a confident one before he knew it.

[Haha. So come in obediently as my disciple, if only to receive my masterpiece.]

Sigh… No. It must be a useless thought.

This is a problem that can be verified later.

It wasn’t something to worry about right now.

Right. What’s important now is negotiating with this guy.

Until now, he had casually refused, but that wasn’t Karlstein’s true intention.

“I had a fun time listening. But is that the end?”

[What?!]

The reason Karlstein was going this far was because…

[Why? What on earth is your reason?! Did you not hear what I said? It’s that very ‘Hunshi’! Just uttering it makes everyone tremble in fear!]

“I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s none of my business.”

[Y-You! H-Have you gone mad! !%@#$^%!@#$^]

The guy’s excited voice echoed in his skull.

That’s right. Puppet creator. I can tell just by seeing you ramble on and get excited like this.

He knew he had the upper hand. Because the one who needed him more than anyone else was this guy.

To make such a great masterpiece and yet try to persuade him to become a disciple?

The upper hand in negotiations was decided from the start.

“Putting aside whether it’s Hunshi or whatever, I don’t see at all how you’re such a great being?”

[Haah…. How have I come to be disrespected even by such a youngster… Time is truly fleeting.]

“Haha.”

There was something puzzling while listening to the guy’s words.

I wonder if… Puppets might be somewhat connected to Avatars.

Of course, there would be a difference between simply controlling and directly possessing.

Yet he couldn’t recognize my Avatar at all.

His words were grand, but this was a matter of verification.

Believing the punk was a completely different matter.

To believe his words without question?

Karlstein, at least, hadn’t lived so lightheartedly.

It might be good to join hands with the guy for research related to Avatars. It seemed to have reached a standstill recently.

However.

The method of persuasion was wrong.

Huh? No matter how you look at it, isn’t this guy the desperate one?

He might be more insignificant than I thought.

[Kuuuuk!]

Should I loosen up a bit at this point?

“Well, if you agree to all my conditions, it might be worth considering…”

[What did you say?!]

If the punk had a body, he might have grabbed the back of his head.

“Shall we talk slowly?”

[Eek!]

True engineering nerds were usually weak in negotiations.

As such, handling the guy was all too easy.

***Boom-

“Dodge! Run away!”

“Quickly spread this news!”

“Everyone run!”

“Kyaaak!”

“Grand Elder!!”

“Uwaaak!”

“Survive and deliver the news to the Southern Alliance!”

Under his gestures, countless screams echoed into the sky.

The screams became melodies, and their cries became rhythms that pleased the man’s ears.

The man, wrapped in five-colored clouds, took comfort in their despair and drank from his cup of alcohol.

“It’s truly frustrating that not even a clue appears. So shouldn’t I at least fill my selfish desires for consolation?”

Below him, as he sat in mid-air drinking from his cup, blood became rivers and seas, giving off a thick smell of fishy sanguine.

“Hmm. It seems I’ve filled about 40 percent.”

The man gazed ecstatically at the crude needle floating in the air.

“It was worth it to actively accept Lower Realm missions after all.”

It’s not like the man would be happy to be burdened with troublesome missions.

However, he silently accepted them only when dealing with Lower Realm missions.

Because there were no eyes watching.

Because there was no need to hide his true nature.

Moreover, it was also to carry out another secret mission from a different affiliation.

“This must be what they call killing three birds with one stone. Hehe.”

The man’s eyes turned blood-red.

As he waved his hand, a giant hand formed from the sea of blood, grabbing a resisting cultivator and dragging them into the sea.

“Kyaaak!”

“You bastard! How dare you commit such atrocities while wearing human skin!”

“Unforgivable!”

“You will surely face retribution.”

Below the man, cultivators who were still resisting were being swept up and swallowed by waves of blood.

“Don’t be sad. You have been of great help in refining my Blood-Draining Needle.”

Even while taking hundreds of thousands of lives, the man’s expression showed only extreme calmness.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, the man raised his body and tilted his head.

“What’s this?”

The starlight in the mirror hanging at his waist began to fade.

“Escape? No. That’s not it.”

Seeing that there was still starlight remaining, it didn’t seem like they had fled to another Immortal territory.

“But the signal is unstable.”

What could have happened?

Not all beings that drift in from other dimensions are strong. In other words, they can die at any time even in the insignificant Lower Realm.

Tsk. Of all times.

Judging by the unstable signal, it seemed the target’s condition wasn’t good. If he was late, he might not even be able to retrieve the corpse and fail to complete the mission.

The mission from the Noble Archers, his superficial affiliation, was practically mandatory.

The man made a troubled expression as he looked at the sea of blood spread out below.

“I need to hurry.”

Of course, the man had no intention of stopping the refinement of the Blood-Draining Needle.

The man formed Mudras3 and began to blow blue energy extracted from his mouth into the blood-red needle.

Woong-

The sea of blood began to churn violently and condense.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

Endless screams echoed.

1. Sanqing may refer to: Three Pure Ones, or Sanqing in Chinese, the three highest Taoist deities; Mount Sanqing, mountain in Jiangxi, China.2. This means Chaos Era/World in its literal translation. However, since it seems to be a being, I just did the romanticization.3. A mudra is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.