Chapter 46

Chapter 46: The First Puppet

Dusk arrived.

The few white-clad disciples could not outcurse Li Xiuyuan, each of them returning with darkened faces, defeated.

Having exhausted his verbal onslaught, Li Xiuyuan finally caught his breath.

“Brother Chen, we do have a friendship. Seeing how hard I’ve worked to scold them today, why not let me off this time? I promise I won’t offend you again in the future.”

Li Xiuyuan wore a mournful expression.

If it were someone else, he could leverage his backing from Elder Wu Youhui to act tough.

But this guy not only had connections to the cave master, but he was also a Demon Cultivator.

Li Xiuyuan had learned through gossip that Demon Cultivators were often extremely cruel and ruthless, merciless killers.

Given these circumstances, he had no choice but to bow his head to Chen Ansheng.

Chen Ansheng glanced at him coolly, “If you want to save your life, that’s possible; it just depends on whether you know how to behave.”

Li Xiuyuan’s eyes brightened, and he relaxed, “Brother Chen, as long as you let me off, I’m willing to be your servant.”

Chen Ansheng thought to himself, “Not bad for a kid; you’ve got some wit. I’ll give you a chance. From now on, be my servant; are you willing?”

Li Xiuyuan froze.

Damn it, I was just saying that casually, and you took it seriously!

However, he didn’t dare to defy Chen Ansheng now; he just wanted to stabilize him, nodding repeatedly, “As you command, from now on, I, Li Xiuyuan, will be your dog. If you tell me to go east, I won’t go west.”

“A teachable child,” Chen Ansheng said with his hands behind his back. “Since you’ve agreed, we need to sign a soul contract to make it official.”

Li Xiuyuan: “???”

A soul contract!

Just hearing the name, Li Xiuyuan understood that signing a soul contract would mean he truly became Chen Ansheng’s servant!

Li Xiuyuan certainly wasn’t willing to agree willingly.

His mind raced as he thought of pretending to sign the contract, waiting for Elder Wu to arrive to rescue him. It would just be a temporary humiliation.

Therefore, he respectfully said, “Please grant me the contract, Master.”

Things were progressing too smoothly. Chen Ansheng knew this kid had a trickster side; there was no way he would agree so easily.

But he decided to give it a try.

Then, Chen Ansheng said, “You relax and enter a state of emptiness.”

Li Xiuyuan pretended to sit cross-legged on the ground, acting as if he had emptied his mind.

Chen Ansheng activated the master-servant contract, a strand of will from the Great Dao invading Li Xiuyuan’s sea of consciousness.

Failure.

The master-servant contract required the other party to willingly agree; neither intimidation nor inducement would work.

“Li Xiuyuan, you brought this on yourself, so don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

Since the master-servant contract couldn’t be established, Chen Ansheng had no choice but to use the puppet imprint.

With Chen Ansheng’s current mental strength, as long as Li Xiuyuan relaxed even a little, he could crush his mental power and take him as a puppet.

“Bow to your Master.”

Li Xiuyuan was oblivious to the failure of the master-servant contract, pretending to be dazed as he bowed his head to Chen Ansheng.

Chen Ansheng didn’t expose him, speaking in a commanding tone, “Good. Now, I command you to completely enter a state of emptiness; otherwise, I’ll make sure you die instantly.”

Fearing he would slip up, Li Xiuyuan genuinely complied this time, keeping just a sliver of awareness to guard against Chen Ansheng.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, thunder seemed to explode in Li Xiuyuan’s brain, a powerful spiritual will surged deep into his soul.

“Ah!”

Li Xiuyuan’s face turned pale as he let out a horrified scream.

At the same time, his eyes quickly lost their sparkle, becoming dull.

The puppet imprint was easily implanted.

“Get up.”

Chen Ansheng lightly commanded.

Li Xiuyuan immediately rose, his body as stiff as a wooden post.

This was the downside of the puppet imprint.

Someone who became a complete puppet would lose their self-awareness, acting like a drifter who only obeyed the commands of the master.

Of course, Chen Ansheng’s technique, inherited from the powerful Immortal Sovereign-level true demon Zhu Feng, differed from ordinary puppet techniques.

That is to say, Chen Ansheng could attach his consciousness to this puppet shell, controlling all its actions, including speech and behavior.

“I didn’t expect you to become my first puppet.”

Chen Ansheng looked at the motionless Li Xiuyuan and sighed.

This kid had plenty of bad intentions, but Chen Ansheng didn’t actually hate him too much.

On the contrary, in many ways, this kid was more like another version of himself.

“Well, it’s your bad luck. But as my first puppet, I’ll give you a privilege; if one day I become powerful enough to lift the puppet imprint, I’ll return your freedom.”

Chen Ansheng murmured and then stopped thinking about it.

He then summoned Li Xiuyuan into the house to begin practicing controlling him with his consciousness.

After about half an hour, he was successful.

As long as it wasn’t someone very close to Li Xiuyuan, others certainly wouldn’t notice any flaws under Chen Ansheng’s conscious control.

After completing all this, Chen Ansheng began to sit in meditation and cultivate.

The next day.

Just before noon, someone arrived.

“Get out here, Chen!”

Hearing the old and furious voice, Chen Ansheng guessed it was likely Elder Wu Youhui coming to demand someone.

Just as Chen Ansheng was worried about how to dispose of the puppet, wasn’t the opportunity coming right on time?

He strolled leisurely, bypassing the massive phoenix tree, and arrived at the fence.

“It is truly an honor for Elder Wu to personally arrive. I wonder what brings the elder here with such urgency?” Chen Ansheng said calmly.

“There’s no time for nonsense.” Elder Wu’s demeanor had calmed down somewhat upon seeing Chen Ansheng. “Hurry and hand over my disciple.”

Chen Ansheng replied blandly, “Are you referring to Li Xiuyuan, Brother Li?”

Wu Youhui glared at Chen Ansheng, “Who else could it be! Kid, don’t think you’re safe just because you’re hiding in this courtyard. If I want to deal with you, the restrictions here won’t protect you!”

Chen Ansheng remained as calm as ever: “As far as I know, this was the residence of the former cave master. If you dare to demolish it, feel free to try; I’d applaud you for being a man.”

“You!” Wu Youhui’s jaws clenched. “You little brat who thrives on borrowed power! Fine, I won’t hold this against you for now. Just hand over my nephew, and I’ll let this matter go; from now on, I won’t make things difficult for you.”

A faint smile appeared on Chen Ansheng’s lips, “Elder, you speak so easily. Yesterday, Li Xiuyuan gathered a group of thugs to insult me and even threatened to skin me alive. Can it be settled with just your words?”

“What do you want?”

Wu Youhui was desperately suppressing his murderous impulse.

“Not much, really. Yesterday, I suffered significant mental distress, potentially clouding my Dao heart and affecting my future cultivation path. Since you want to take someone, shouldn’t you reimburse me for some medicinal expenses?” Chen Ansheng proposed.

“How much do you want?”

Wu Youhui wasn’t in the mood to haggle with Chen Ansheng.

To him, this kid was just courting death.

Eventually, he would fall into his hands, and at that time, he would make him understand why the flowers were so red!