Name: Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master
Rating: 4.6 (35 reviews)

Chapter 143: Cheating Again!

Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master or Advent of Immortal Truth is the latest novel of Gu Zhen Ren

In the heart of a volcano, the mechanical fairy palace left by the ancients longed for a successor.

The mother sacrificed her life to obtain the treasure seal of the fairy palace, entrusting it to Ning Zhuo on her deathbed.

Buddha Heart Demon Seal!

“To transcend oneself as Buddha, to lead others to become Demons.”

The bearer of the seal, by lightly engraving the Heart Demon Seal, could control mechanisms as if they were feathers. While others wielded it, exhausted in spirit and heavy in mind; Ning Zhuo could command it with ease, light and graceful as in a dance.

Ning Zhuo said, “Mother, your child will surely fulfill your trust and claim that fairy palace!”
Indeed:

The chance encounter with a spirited secret, where skill merges with supreme logic.

Universes open to new realms, where natural beauty rivals the heavens.

Ancient bells transmit the law, dancing under the moon’s pure radiance.

With the true form embodying myriad things, who in the world could contend!

Prologue

The Young Puppet Master

The Ning Family council hall.

The Spirit Lamp emitted a bright light.

The Ning Family patriarch, the young lord, and a group of family elders were all gathered here.

A few jade slips were passed around in their hands, which recorded the entire process of this year’s major family examination.

The patriarch rubbed the jade slip in his hand, his eyes slightly closed, as the scenes recorded in the jade slip appeared in his sea of consciousness, replaying continuously.

Unlike previous years, this year he paid special attention to the puppetry section of the examination.

The content of the puppetry exam for the Ning Family had changed; it involved controlling marionettes.

The young cultivators infused their mana, sending it through the strings directly into the marionette puppets.

Through the dual effects of spiritual sense and mana, the marionette puppets were made to move and perform various actions; however, even the best-performing young cultivator could only make the puppet perform walking, aerial somersaults, and rolling on the ground during this exam.

Overall, the performance was rather dismal.

The patriarch slowly opened his eyes, withdrawing his spiritual sense from the jade slip, and placed it gently on the desk beside him.

“This family exam didn’t reveal any budding puppet masters among our younger members,” sighed the Ning family patriarch.

The elder of the academy felt the pressure and quickly spoke up, “Patriarch, fellow elders, our Ning family excels in talismans. In the hundred arts of cultivation, puppetry is a minor specialization. Our family has very little foundation in puppetry, and the teachers in the academy who teach puppetry are all mediocre. How can we expect to cultivate a seed of puppetry?”

The Ning family patriarch reassured, “Rest easy, I’m not blaming you. The Puppet Immortal City of Magma Palace was built by the ancestors of the three sects to suppress the eruption of Fire Persimmon Mountain and is hidden within it. To access the immortal treasures and puppetry heritage of Magma Palace, the best approach is through puppet masters.”

“Our Ning family only discovered the Magma Immortal Palace this year. The other two major families and the city lord have been ahead for a long time. They had the opportunity to secretly cultivate seeds for puppetry, but we could not.”

“We are the latecomers, too late. Only by recruiting outsiders with heavy rewards to serve as our guest officials can we have a chance to compete.”

The Ning family patriarch took out a jade slip: “This contains records of the Fire Persimmon Immortal City and the famous puppet masters around it; pass it around and have a look.”

After all the elders had looked over it, the Ning family Patriarch said, “We need to make contact with all the puppet masters that we can find and try to win them over. Especially Young Puppet Master! He is a puppet master within Fire Persimmon City, with considerable skills, and should be our primary target.”

The young lord said, “The identity of the Young Puppet Master is mysterious; he has never appeared publicly. His puppets sell well but they are only sold through the black market that takes place once a month.”

“The black market is controlled by Sun Lingtong. This person is an external disciple of the No-Void Sect, making it very difficult for us to actually meet the Young Puppet Master.”

The Ning family patriarch frowned, “Xiaoren, I don’t want to hear about problems, I need solutions.”

The young lord Ning Xiaoren sweated from his forehead and quickly assured, “Yes, father. I have already sent people to try to make contact with him personally, and we will surely have results soon!”

The Ning family patriarch then stroked his beard, “Good. I shall await the outcome.”

After the meeting, the young lord of the Ning family immediately summoned his subordinate, Ning Ze.

“Ning Ze, you are the procurement manager of the Ning family, a position you would not have gotten without me backing you. I tasked you with making contact with the Young Puppet Master, yet you have made no progress. What exactly have you been doing?!” the young lord furrowed his brow.

Ning Ze was a middle-aged man who had a face reflecting years of stress. If possible, he would rather not have anything to do with this task.

“Young Lord, I am ashamed of failing the trust you placed in me; my incompetence is inexcusable.”

“But the Young Puppet Master is really difficult to communicate with. Haven’t I repeatedly tried to engage with him at the black market, purchasing the Up-and-Down Ruyi Ropes while persistently advising him, yet he remains unmoved? He refuses to discuss anything beyond the transactions.”

“The Young Puppet Master is too mysterious. I’ve tried every means to inquire about him, but that only angered the black market owner Sun Lingtong. I not only lost manpower but was also framed and had to pay a large sum of spirit stones. I’ve been covering this expense myself so far…”

“Enough!”

The young lord interrupted, brimming with displeasure.

“You’ve been played, and that’s embarrassing enough. Do you also want the clan to bear the cost of your mistakes?”

“This time, our family needs to purchase 80 Up-and-Down Ruyi Ropes; you handle it.”

Ning Ze was shocked.

“Eighty ropes? That many?!”

The young lord said, “Leverage this significant deal and make it into an all-out effort. You’ve been in touch with the Young Puppet Master many times without advancing any talks of cooperation.”

“Such performance really makes me doubt your capabilities, Ning Ze.”

Feeling the pressure, Ning Ze repeatedly assured him that he would do his utmost.

….