abnabooks Chapter 28 The Perverted Old Woman
Chapter 28 The Perverted Old Woman
Everyone else has left.
Upon hearing this...
Zhang Xuan glanced at Li Tianran with resentment.
He turned and left.
The blood-red patterns on the stone pillar had completely darkened, leaving only the pool of blood on the bluestone slab still glistening with moisture.
It was impossible to tell whether it belonged to Zhang Xuan, Li Tianran, or the young woman on the ground.
Zhao Ling also glanced at Li Tianran.
Her lips moved.
In the end, he didn't say anything, turned around and left.
With long strides, he disappeared into the gray fog of the square.
Shen Qing was still standing beside the stone pillar.
She looked at Li Tianran with a complicated expression.
A long time passed.
She pulled up the collar of her Taoist robe to cover the collarbone that Zhang Xuan had exposed.
They left too.
I didn't look back as I left, but I paused for a moment when I reached the edge of the square.
Then keep walking.
Disappeared.
Only Li Tianran remained in the square.
And there's that human head on the ground.
He looked down.
The blood on the head had dried completely, the hair was stuck to the face, and the eyes were half-open.
He squatted down, reached out, and closed those eyes.
When your fingertips touch a woman's eyelids, they feel icy cold.
It's as cold as Master Han's fingers.
Zhao Ling is, and so is Zhang Xuan.
These heretical practitioners are as cold as the dead.
He stood up.
They headed towards Master Han's cave.
The cave dwelling is at the end of the square.
The stone door was half-open, and a dark red light shone from inside.
The energy seeping from the patterns on the wall is like pulsating blood vessels.
Li Tianran felt uneasy, but he still went inside.
Master Han stood with his back to him in front of a stone platform.
A puppet was placed on the stage.
It is life-size, and its skeleton is a pale white.
The bones were covered with a layer of grayish-white skin, stretched very taut, like dried animal hide wrapped around a frame.
The puppet's face was turned towards the cave entrance, and its facial features were already present.
Eyebrows, eye sockets, bridge of the nose, lips.
Every detail is meticulously crafted, as if replicating a specific person.
A young man.
Gray hair.
There are two recessed holes at the temples, the corners haven't been inserted yet, but the positions have been prepared.
Dark red, like congealed blood.
Li Tianran's gaze lingered on that face, and his heart raced.
He was very familiar with that face.
When he saw himself in the reflection of the water tank, he also had white hair, dark red horns, and a bronze complexion.
She looks remarkably like him!
The only difference was that the puppet in front of them had a younger face.
Younger than him, and whiter than his current bronze face, as white as a dead man.
The moment Li Tianran saw the puppet face, he had a bad feeling.
"Come here." Master Han didn't turn around.
He lowered his head slightly and walked over, stopping beside her.
Han Laomo didn't look at him.
His gaze fell on the puppet's face, its grayish-white eyes remaining motionless.
The stone chamber remained quiet for a long time.
She stretched out her hand; it was a very thin hand with distinct knuckles and neatly trimmed nails.
The fingertips landed on the puppet's forehead, followed the brow bone down, gliding over the eye sockets, over the bridge of the nose, and down to the lips.
The movements are very slow.
It's like caressing a living person, with a perverse emotion.
"His name is Han Sheng."
The sound was very flat.
My son. He's been dead for three years.
Han Laomo's fingertip stopped on the puppet's lips, without moving any further.
Li Tianran felt a chill run down his spine.
The son died, so they used him to make puppets?
"He was born without any spiritual roots."
"I searched all over the Eastern Region, but no one could help him cultivate. Later, I found the Blood Puppet Technique."
Old Demon Han paused for a moment.
"The Blood Puppet Technique can transform mortals into puppets without requiring spiritual roots. It took me three years to refine him into a Foundation Establishment puppet."
Her fingertips moved from the puppet's lips to its chest.
There was a depression there, about the size of a fist, and it was empty.
It seems something is missing and hasn't been embedded yet.
"On the day he succeeded in his mission, he called me 'Mother'."
Master Han's fingers tightened slightly.
"Then he stopped moving. The blood jade failed to be refined, and his consciousness dissipated the moment the blood pact was established."
I sealed him inside this puppet, preserving his body, but his consciousness is gone.
Han Laomo turned his head and looked at Li Tianran.
His face was reflected in his grayish-white eyes.
White hair, dark red horns, bronze skin...
"You look a lot like him."
She withdrew her hand from the puppet's chest and reached out towards Li Tianran.
Her fingertips landed on his forehead.
She also traced her fingers down his brow bone, across his eye sockets, across the bridge of his nose, and down to his chin.
It's exactly the same action as touching a puppet.
"But you're braver than him."
She withdrew her hand.
"He's obedient; he does whatever I tell him to do. If I tell him to sit there and wait, he waits."
I waited three days, and when I came back, he was still sitting there, in the same posture. That silly kid is too dull.
Old Demon Han paused for a moment.
"I told him to cultivate himself, and he did. I told him to do something, and he did it."
He has no thoughts of his own, no opinions of his own, and I can't feel the feeling of being a mother in him...
His grayish-white eyes stared at Li Tianran.
"You're different. You dared to steal spiritual herbs, dared to secretly learn cultivation techniques, dared to draw your sword against Zhang Xuan, and even dared to confess your crimes."
Her lips twitched, as if she were smiling.
"When he still had a sense of self, he never dared to admit his mistakes. Every time he did something wrong, he would just sit there and not say a word."
When I asked him, he spoke very softly, as if afraid I would hit him. But I had never hit him; what mother would bear to hit her own child?
The stone chamber remained quiet for a long time.
Li Tianran swallowed hard, his palms sweating.
He looked up and saw blood seeping from the wall, illuminating the puppet's young face.
White hair, empty eye sockets, and slightly parted lips.
It was terrifying.
Master Han was facing Li Tianran.
"It's very difficult to create a Foundation Establishment puppet."
"My last failure was because I was missing a key ingredient: the complete soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator."
"No Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Blood Spirit Sect was willing to offer their soul to me. I searched for three years, and finally I found one."
She paused for a moment.
"Another disciple is needed to assist. When the blood jade is embedded, another person's spiritual power is needed to stabilize the puppet's meridians, otherwise its consciousness will dissipate again."
Han Laomo looked at him.
"Are you willing or not?" The tone left no room for argument.
Li Tianran looked at her, unable to understand what she was thinking.
Why choose yourself?
In this situation, does he have the option to refuse?
"This disciple is willing."
Master Han's lips twitched again.
"it is good."
She walked back to the puppet.
My hand landed on its forehead, my fingertips running through the two tufts of white hair, gently combing them.
The movements were very gentle, like touching a sleeping child.
"Han Sheng, your mother has found someone to help you."
"This time I'll make sure you wake up. You have to live like a man."
Han Laomo's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of waking his skeleton son.
Li Tianran lowered his head and stopped looking.
"Go ahead, start tomorrow."
"Come to my cave every night, and I will teach you how to refine blood jade."
Master Han did not turn around.
Her greyish-white eyes gazed tenderly at the face of her puppet son.
"This disciple takes his leave."
Li Tianran carefully withdrew from the cave.