Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

Chapter 572: Chapter 154: Thief! This is a thief!

“Master? Master!” Liu Er exclaimed in alarm.

He watched in shock as the demon cultivator elder turned into intricate colorful smoke, dissipating on the spot.

Liu Er instinctively reached out to grab it, but caught nothing.

He hurriedly activated various spells, searching all around, to no avail.

“Could Master have died?” A chill coursed through Liu Er’s heart, as he stood rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do.

However, he soon shook his head, muttering to himself: “No, it can’t be. With Master’s profound and arcane methods, how could he have died so easily after merely giving me some guidance?”

“But it is certain that Master has paid a great price this time.”

“Sigh! Having paid such a price for me, I must accomplish my aspirations to repay him!”

After consoling himself, Liu Er hesitantly left the forest.

Moments later, wisps of smoke spontaneously appeared and gathered at the original location.

At first, the smoke was greyish-white, conveying a feeling of age and weakness. But as more smoke accumulated, specks of color began to emerge within the greyish pallor, as if imbued with vitality.

The colors quickly intensified, and suddenly condensed, transforming back into the demon cultivator elder.

The elder’s complexion, his bare skin, was a mix of various hues.

After several breaths, these vibrant colors rapidly dimmed, fading away until his skin looked no different from that of an ordinary person.

The demon cultivator elder’s body shook, and he suddenly opened his eyes, like a drowning person who had been pulled ashore and could breathe again, or as if having escaped a terrifying nightmare to return to the real world.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

His expression also suddenly became animated, full of shock.

“How is this possible?!”

“I only provided a little guidance; how could this trigger such a terrifying backlash, activating my life-saving Divine Skill—Smoke and Mist Escape?”

“This is illogical!”

Shock remained frozen on the face of the demon cultivator elder for the time it takes to brew a pot of tea, before gradually subsiding.

The demon cultivator elder furrowed his brows, deep in thought: “This is not good.”

“Facing a person of astonishing destiny and Lifespan, Divination will bear an unbearable weight.”

“I only considered Xiao Liu previously, calculating the cost of guiding him.”

“But evidently, this guidance affected others more broadly, disturbing other powers, hence this difficulty.”

Thinking this, the complexion of the demon cultivator elder grew even more solemn.

He immediately thought of Ning Zhuo.

“My guidance to Xiao Liu is most unfavorable for Ning Zhuo.”

“Could it be that my suffering from the backlash, my injury and death, are because of him?”

“Hisss…”

“Could it be that Xiao Liu’s failure this time, the Qi Fortune of Liangzhu Country, Mu Lan, are not the main factors, but Ning Zhuo?!”

Thinking this, the demon cultivator elder could no longer sit still.

He stood up immediately, swallowed a Spiritual Pearl, broke his forehead, revealing a bloody eye to observe the Qi Fortune of Three Generals Camp.

He saw a Three-eared Ape sitting still, meditating with its eyes closed, breathing stably.

The eyes of the demon cultivator elder stared at the appearance of the ape, while his bloody eye emitted a profound light, growing increasingly brilliant.

The flesh of the elder himself visibly shriveled at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The Three-eared Ape expanded in his unique vision, growing clearer and clearer.

He observed further secrets.

The belly of the Three-eared Ape was slightly bulging, hinting that the Three Generals Camp’s supplies were not lacking.

As the ape breathed in and out, its belly would indent slightly, and its body would expand a bit—signifying that the Three Generals Camp was growing stronger every moment.

These were all good signs of positive growth.

But the elder was not content with just these; he wanted to see even more of their essence.

He uttered a light command, took a deep breath, his body swelled, turning into a little giant seated on the ground, crushing the surrounding mountains, grass, and trees underfoot.

The elder closed his eyes tightly, his Mana, Divine Sense, Essence Blood were consumed madly, fully powering the blood-red Spiritual Pearl on his forehead.

The eyeball of the Spiritual Pearl twitched, staring straight one moment, glancing sideways the next, moving in circles, then its pupil dilating into countless black dots, which turned into twisting smoke clouds, before suddenly condensing again.

And in the elder’s vision, the Three-eared Ape expanded once more, its body becoming transparent, revealing its true inner nature.

The interior of the ape was very simple.

There was a heart of a yellow-earth color, shaped like a monkey’s head, with a pointed face and hairy cheeks, looking depressed, occasionally beating and emitting the sound of the ape, the sound filled with a deep restlessness.

The demon cultivator elder immediately understood: “This is Xiao Liu’s Lifespan.”

The demon cultivator elder looked next to the lung. The lungs were bright red, filled with strands of blood. These blood strands were straight, without any bends or smooth curves.

And with each breath of the ape, its bloody lungs pulsed in time.

The rhythm was mostly stable, but some parts were chaotic.

Whenever it became chaotic, the bloody lungs would twitch, and the straight blood strands would emit a strange purple light.

“This is the Qi Fortune of Guan Hong.”

“Guan Hong cultivates blood-related Demon Skills, is naturally proud and upright, his right arm injured without cure, which has become a hidden danger.”

Inside the ape, there was also a kidney.

The kidney was full and round, pitch-black. The blackness surged, creating waves crashing against the shore with thunderous impact.

“Zhang Hei cultivates Water Element Skills, is resolute and forceful, and indeed has considerable family assets, a very fitting symbolic representation for a kidney.”

“Strange!”

“Where did Ning Zhuo’s Qi Fortune go?”

Inside the ape were only the heart, lung, and kidney, and beyond that, there was nothing.

If you were to say there were no soldiers, the demon cultivator elder could understand—Three Generals Camp was newly founded, although it had won an ambush battle, it had been recently targeted, morale severely damaged, not to mention many were poached by White Jade Camp.