Chapter 21: The Flute and the Puppets
The shadows lurch forward.
Pale arms. Hollow faces. Twisted joints. They move like broken dolls—fast and erratic, yet strangely coordinated.
Liu Guan Yi narrows his eyes.
> "Wraith puppets… refined from living souls."
He steps forward. The sword at his side unsheathes itself with a sharp clang.
A wave of dark wind rushes past as the first puppet lunges.
Sword Escape.
His figure blurs.
In an instant, he appears behind the puppet. A clean slice splits it in two, black mist rising like smoke.
The others follow—five... ten... twenty of them. Surrounding him.
He doesn't move.
> "Let's test the second form."
Cutting Edge.
A flash of silver.
A line cuts through the night—precise and cold. Five puppets freeze mid-air, then crumble like ash.
But they keep coming.
From deeper within the forest, a flute plays again—clearer this time.
Liu Guan Yi's brow furrows.
> "So the real puppeteer still hides."
The ground beneath him trembles.
A larger figure rises. Eight arms. Bone-white body. Human-like face stitched shut. A high-level wraith puppet, at least late Rank 3.
It lets out a shriek that shakes the trees.
The smaller puppets stop moving. They kneel before the giant one.
> "A commander puppet…" Liu Guan Yi whispers. "You're worth using my fist."
He tightens his right hand into a fist.
Heaven-Shutting Punch.
The air trembles. The sky seems to dim for a moment as he throws a single punch.
BOOM!
The giant puppet is blown into the trees, crashing through several trunks before exploding in black mist.
All remaining puppets collapse instantly—like broken strings on a puppet.
Silence returns.
But Liu Guan Yi stands still.
> "No core," he says. "Someone is controlling them from afar."
He turns his gaze deeper into the forest.
> "You're watching, aren't you?"
From the trees… a faint giggle echoes.
A young girl's voice.
Then it fades.