The old man in gray shirt felt helpless in his heart. He was not as strong as the other party, and the life and death of his family were all in the hands of the other party. He wanted to resist, but the other party was definitely not someone who could only use means like Ma Yao and the other two.
And it will only add to the cruelty and cold-bloodedness.
Seeing the gray-shirted old man hesitating, Li Yan looked displeased.
"Why, you don't want to tell me?"
When the gray-shirted old man heard this, his dazed expression immediately cleared up, and he sighed in his heart again.
He was extremely cautious, and even when he sold some puppets to make a living, he only dared to sell low-grade puppets.
This is why they have not been in trouble for many years and have not been remembered by others.
Just one small negligence in the past forced his family into a desperate situation.
In response to this, when he glanced at the remains of the monk named Ma from the corner of his eye, he was filled with boundless resentment.
“Grandfather, I am an unfilial grandson. If you are still alive and have seen what happened today, I have done my best to protect the inheritance.
But now I'm being targeted by a cultivator above the Jindan level. How can I resist him while he searches my soul? After weighing the pros and cons, I can only preserve our bloodline from death."
The old man in gray shirt had mixed feelings in his heart and could only recite silently in sorrow.
"Dad..."
Before the gray-shirted old man could say anything, Shuang Lianzhou on the other side had already become filled with grief and indignation. He stared at Li Yan with anger in his eyes.
But before he could continue speaking, he was interrupted by the old man in gray.
"Zhou'er, shut up! The senior is asking about the whole story, why are you butting in? I'm not dead yet, you know more about the family heritage than me? How much can you tell?"
The old man in gray glared at his son fiercely as he spoke.
Seeing the strong warning in his father's eyes, Shuang Lianzhou was not stupid, he just didn't want to accept it.
But he immediately shut his mouth, and the young woman named Mingling, with a nervous look on her face, grabbed his sleeve tightly with her hands.
As if she was afraid of losing him, her eyes were full of pleading. Seeing this, Shuang Lianzhou could only grit his teeth and lower his head silently.
The old man in gray was shocked when he saw his son suddenly interrupt him. While he was scolding him, sweat was already oozing from his forehead.
He kept secretly observing the expression of the young man in green robe, fearing that he might suddenly attack and kill someone. This man's methods were extremely bloody, and he did not show his emotions on his face.
The mutilated corpse on the ground on the other side seemed to constantly remind him how terrifying the other party was. Ma Yaoqi and the others probably didn't even know how they died.
But when he saw that the other party remained silent and just looked at him quietly, the old man in gray shirt felt a little relieved.
This time he spoke without any hesitation.
"Senior, I think with your vision, you have already seen some things.
The old man's name is Shuang Chongshan, and that's my younger son and his daughter-in-law.
All of this is caused by the "divine art" inherited by our clan. This set of puppetry is just as you have seen before. It can indeed produce puppets equivalent to the golden elixir level..."
When he said this, he secretly glanced at Li Yan again. The young man in black clothes' eyes were still as calm as water, without any greed flashing in his eyes.
But the more this happened, the more nervous Shuang Chongshan became, because he couldn't guess from the other party's expression how to better respond.
"Is he really not tempted, or is he hiding something deeper? His wolfish ambitions are beyond glimpse!"
Shuang Chongshan was unsure for a moment.
Then, under Li Yan's calm gaze, Shuang Chongshan could only recount his origins and experiences, and he told them truthfully.
He only hoped that after searching his soul, the other party would find that he had not hidden anything and would let the two go.
Shuang Chongshan's family is a small branch of the Duye clan, and originally there were only about thirty people in the clan.
Due to some clan reasons, they had migrated out of the Duye clan a long time ago, and they were also guarded by an early Nascent Soul ancestor.
Their branch inherited a puppetry technique from the Duye clan, called "Shen Jue Shu".
This technique is not possessed by other branches of the Duye clan. After acquiring this technique, Shuang Chongshan and his companions have never lacked resources for cultivation while helping others to refine weapons.
But ever since the Nascent Soul stage ancestor of this branch passed away several hundred years ago, their branch has fallen into decline and has been plagued by crises.
Many cultivators who knew about the "Divine Technique" began to target them, even members of other branches of the Duye clan.
That is an advanced method that can be used to refine a puppet equivalent to the Golden Core level.
As a result, this branch, which was already small to begin with, almost suffered a devastating disaster. One night, they were attacked by a group of nine Jindan masters.
There were only four Jindan cultivators in their clan, but each of them had an extremely powerful puppet magic weapon. In the fierce battle, many of their people were killed or wounded.
But he also killed or severely injured the seven Jindan cultivators who attacked him, and three Jindan cultivators of his own clan died on the spot.
The last Jindan in the tribe fought desperately to resist the last two Jindan of the enemy, and took the opportunity to let his tribe members escape.
Shuang Chongshan and his son escaped in that deadly battle. They didn't know how many other tribesmen survived, and they didn't dare to inquire about the news about their own tribe.
From then on, the father and son wandered around the world until they settled down in a market not far from here thirty years ago.
After they made sure that no one was following them, they rented a small shop in the market. In addition to selling some low-level magic beast materials, elixirs, and talismans, they occasionally refined a few low-level puppets for sale. There were still many cultivators in the world of immortal cultivation who could refine low-level puppets, which were generally only used to serve tea and water and to gather information.
However, Shuang Chongshan never dared to take out the higher-grade puppets he had refined.
At this time, with Shuang Chongshan's cultivation and painstaking immersion in puppetry, he was already able to refine a fake pill-level puppet.
Even if he had the best refining materials, with the blessing of the materials themselves, he could refine a puppet that was infinitely close to the early stage of the Golden Core.
His natal magic weapon, the giant red tiger, is a puppet that can exert the power of a fake pill.
Even under the control of someone with strong spiritual awareness, it can briefly exert the strength of an early Golden Core, but after just a moment it will collapse into countless pieces.
He and his son have always been very cautious, fearing that their whereabouts would be exposed, so they have been living in peace all along.
Later, Shuang Lianzhou met a female cultivator from a third-rate sect in the market town, named Mingling. They fell in love at first sight and soon became a couple.
Ming Ling then withdrew from the third-rate sect and came to the shop to help out. Everything was going relatively smoothly.
In order to keep the secret of "Shen Jue Shu", Shuang and his son did not tell Ming Ling some secrets.
So one day eighteen years ago, after many years of building his foundation, Shuang Lianzhou finally completed the refining of his first puppet, which was equivalent to the initial stage of foundation building.
An eight-limbed "Crystal Snow Jade Spider" was an important breakthrough in his practice of the "Divine Art", marking a breakthrough in his puppetry technique to a new level.
However, due to excessive consumption of his spiritual awareness and energy, he became so sleepy that he fell asleep in the refining room.
It happened that Shuang Chongshan went out to purchase some elixirs and talismans during those days, so the shop was handed over to Mingling to take care of.
On the second day, Ming Ling saw that her husband had not left the weapon refining room all night. As a young couple, they had always been very close to each other, so she naturally went to look for him.
This kind of situation where someone would not return home overnight after refining equipment had happened before, so she was not very worried.
But after knocking on the door for a long time, no one answered, which made her panic.
She has been married to Shuang Lianzhou for many years. Although she is rarely allowed to enter the weapon refining room, she still knows that her husband has left a small flag in the bedroom to open the ban on the weapon refining room.
In panic, she opened the refining room and was shocked to see her husband lying motionless on the steps.
But after scanning with his spiritual sense, he saw that his breathing was even and there was nothing wrong with his body, so he realized that he had fallen into a deep sleep.
Only then did she feel relieved. Although she was not a weapon refiner, she knew from what she had seen and heard that this kind of refining was the most mentally exhausting. After the spiritual power was exhausted, the whole person's consciousness would fall into an extreme sleep.
Moreover, she had seen more than once that her husband would fall into a deep sleep after returning to the bedroom.
Ming Ling took out the pill and put it into Shuang Lianzhou's mouth. Then, when she looked around, she found the palm-sized puppet in the refining room.
She was immediately attracted by the thick aura emanating from the puppet.
This was completely different from any puppet she had seen before. The texture and luster of the puppet alone was something she had never seen in the entire market.
The overall feeling of the puppet is smooth and bright. Ming Ling can feel that once someone drips blood to recognize the puppet as their master, the power it will unleash will definitely be enough to kill her with one blow.
Ming Ling was amazed that her husband could refine such a puppet, and then an idea subconsciously popped into her mind.
If this puppet could be placed in a shop, it would definitely attract the attention of customers.
When someone wants to buy it, she can just ask her husband about the selling price. This will definitely bring huge profits to her family and also make her famous in the whole market.
So Mingling immediately took the puppet to the shop in front.
Sure enough, not long after, he was spotted by a burly man and a tall and thin monk who were passing by the door, and both of them had gleams of light in their eyes.
The two of them rushed into the shop and asked Mingling to take out the puppet for them to see.
Mingling was also happy to see this.
Although she was the only Qi Condensation cultivator in the shop, the spirit stones they handed over to the market every month were enough to ensure that even if there were cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage here, no one would dare to snatch them.
But generally speaking, things in the market can only be detected with the eyes and spiritual sense, and cannot be touched with any part of the body.
What's more, the puppets sold by her family cannot be controlled by general spells. They must have matching spells. It would be very troublesome to use them if they were snatched away.
Mingling smiled and let the other party check it.
The two of them only examined it for a few breaths, and they both wanted to buy it. For this reason, there was even a hint of hostility in their words.
When Mingling saw this, she was immediately overjoyed. She had been running the shop for a long time and was very familiar with the competition among customers.
Knowing that the profit that can be obtained will be even greater, especially since these two people look like they are determined to get this thing and monopolize it.
Sure enough, after the burly man and the tall and thin monk whispered a few words to each other, they both knew from each other's words that they were determined to win.
For a moment, no one wanted to take a step back, so they casually asked Mingling which weapon-making master forged this item and whether it could be refined again.
Just when Ming Ling was feeling a little proud and was about to tell the whole story that this "Crystal Snow Jade Spider" was made by her husband.
Unexpectedly, the light at the door dimmed and a tall figure appeared in the store.
The man saw the "Crystal Snow Jade Spider" in front of the burly man and the tall and thin monk at a glance, and his face changed. Then he rolled up his sleeves and put away the "Crystal Snow Jade Spider" puppet.
The man's sudden intrusion and unexpected actions startled the three people in the store.