Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 136 The True Story of the Name Scroll: The Dragon Girl

The man sneered and, without saying a word, leaped over the courtyard wall. Murong Huan and Xiao Muchen immediately gave chase.

The streets of Fangling County were deserted at night, eerily quiet. There were soldiers guarding the city gates, but they seemed lazy and some were even yawning and squinting. So when a figure flashed past them, they didn’t even notice.

When Murong Huan and Xiao Muchen chased the sound to a dense forest not far from the Prince's mansion, they were attracted by another dragon's roar. The two stopped abruptly, and at that moment, the sound of a flute came from the sky.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a disheveled man in white robes, bathed in moonlight, walking towards them.

When the man's face was fully revealed to them, their gazes froze instantly, for this man was none other than the one Murong Huan had painted yesterday to send the old woman's name scroll.

"Liu Yi?" Murong Huan asked in confusion.

The man was barefoot, holding a book in one hand and a bamboo flute in the other. His white clothes had slight patches, making him look every bit the poor scholar. Yet, under the moonlight, he even had a touch of otherworldly grace.

Although he couldn't compare to Xiao Muchen, he was still quite handsome.

The man smiled and said, "Liu Yi is just an alias in the book. Just call me Liu Sheng."

"Who gave you the list of names?" Xiao Muchen asked.

The man answered frankly, “An immortal, whose origin I do not know, but he taught me a skill, so I can also call him my master. This scroll was given to me by him.”

The person he's talking about must be his master!
Thinking this, Murong Huan asked again, "So you are also a disciple of Master. What is Master asking you to do by delivering this scroll to us?"

"Save one person!"

"Who?"

No sooner had Murong Huan finished speaking than Liu Sheng's expression suddenly changed, and he shouted, "Watch out!"

Xiao Muchen also heard an extremely strange sound, like some huge creature wriggling, and it was moving very fast.

He pulled Murong Huan's hand and suddenly turned around, only to see a huge white python rapidly attacking them.

Xiao Muchen's expression changed drastically. His first thought was to pull Murong Huan behind him and face the giant python himself.

But Murong Huan had already drawn a short sword he carried with him, and was preparing to leap forward and stab at the giant python's enormous head.

Just then, the sound of a flute rang out again. The mournful sound of the flute made the giant python stop quietly, seemingly enjoying the tranquil beauty of the flute's melody.

"Come on!"

Liu Sheng suddenly said something, and Xiao Muchen followed Murong Huan and quickly ran away. But just as the two ran to the next street corner and hid in the shadows, Murong Huan suddenly said, "No, if such a dangerous giant python is left in this mountain forest, the people of this city will surely suffer!"

At this moment, Liu Sheng explained, "Actually, this is not a real giant python. Look, it has a pair of hard, iron-like horns growing on its head. This is a huge mechanism made to imitate the appearance of a dragon, and it can also be called a mechanical dragon!"

"A mechanical dragon?" Murong Huan and Xiao Muchen exclaimed in unison. This was the first time they had ever heard of such a lifelike mechanical device, which looked just like a real giant dragon.

"Could it be that the missing children in Fangling County were eaten by this mechanical dragon?"

Faced with Murong Huan's question, Liu Sheng shook his head: "No, my flute playing can barely control this mechanical dragon. Although it has the ferocity of a beast, it doesn't actually eat people. It just wants to control the person who uses it to eat people!"

"Is that the person we were chasing earlier?"

Murong Huan suddenly understood, and then looked at Liu Sheng with a puzzled expression: "Why can your flute music control this mechanical dragon? Who created this mechanical dragon?" "It was a woman, the Dragon Girl mentioned in the scroll, but she is currently imprisoned in the underground chamber of the Prince's mansion. I have no way to rescue her, so I came to ask you for help. My flute music was taught by my master, and its purpose is to control this mechanical dragon."

"And what is your relationship with this woman?"

The man's expression darkened, and he replied, "She is my mother. Although she is not my biological mother, she has raised and taught me. If she had not saved me and adopted me, I might have died on that day."

That year there was a famine, and many children were sold or kidnapped. I was taken to a place by those men in black, where they made us kill each other. It was a terrible place, inhumane, where there was only a choice between life and death. Cowardice, kindness, and pity for others meant death.

My mother seemed to be from that place as well, but she was very clever and kind. She could control beasts and create mechanisms. She was the one who rescued us children and gave us a chance to live.

Later, I followed my mother and became her real son. She taught me to read and write and encouraged me to take the imperial examinations. We lived peacefully together for a long time, but eventually, those people found us. In order to save us, my mother voluntarily went with them.

I had been searching for my mother's whereabouts, and finally, half a year ago, I found this place and saw the mechanical dragon she had created.

At this point, his tone turned somber, filled with deep sadness.

"Actually, this mechanical dragon used to be a weapon for Mother to protect us. It didn't harm good people, only bad people. But now, it has been taken away by those bad people. I don't know what method they used, but it has become extremely ferocious. Anyone who gets close to it will be attacked, bitten, and killed!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Muchen and Murong Huan immediately thought of the assassin organization that Hongxian and Helan Minzhi belonged to, and hurriedly asked, "Who exactly are these bad people you're talking about?"

“I don’t know that. I only know that it’s a place for training assassins and death squads.” He looked at them and said, “Perhaps my mother knows.”

In other words, only by helping him rescue his mother can we find out what the assassin organization that the red thread belongs to is, and who the leader of this assassin organization is.

The master once gave me a scroll for killing, but now it's for saving lives?

What is his relationship with this assassin organization?
While Murong Huan pondered these questions, Xiao Muchen was also completely baffled.

Just as the two were lost in thought, a large number of torches suddenly lit up the street, and the sound of footsteps approached, with voices shouting, "Minister Xiao, Madam Xiao..."

It seemed that the shout had startled the mechanical dragon, and a white dragon soared into the air like a dragon, accompanied by a deafening roar, which frightened everyone into scattering and fleeing.

"So this is the legendary dragon that eats people?"

Murong Huan took a step forward, about to rush to the rescue, when Liu Sheng hurriedly said, "No need, I can control its ferocity with the sound of my flute!"

After saying that, he began to play the flute again.

As the sound of the flute began, the noisy voices on the street ceased. The white dragon that had soared into the air gradually calmed down and, guided by Liu Sheng, quickly "flew" into the dense forest.

At this moment, Lady Wei and Princess Anle ran over with a group of servants from the Prince's Mansion and saw that the people with Liu Sheng were Xiao Muchen and Murong Huan.

Wei's expression changed, and she forced a smile, saying, "I heard a sound like a dragon's roar in the middle of the night. Fearing that you two might be in danger, I went to check on your residence and found that you were not there. So the prince sent us to bring people out to look for you separately."

"Minister Xiao, Madam Xiao, are you alright?"

Xiao Muchen replied, "It's nothing."

Li Guo'er looked at Liu Sheng with a mixture of surprise and disgust, and said in a shrill voice, "What are you doing here?"

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Zizhuha, Yanzhihu1, Zaimengzhongjianfei, Huohuohuohuoyi, changtanyu, Foqianchenpianpian2015, and others for their subscriptions, rewards, monthly tickets, and recommendation votes.

One more thing: Although I wanted to give up at one point, I persevered thanks to everyone's support. I always feel uneasy if I don't finish a story, so I will continue to finish it tonight. However, the story will not be too long and is expected to be completed by the end of this month.