I, the number one master of metaphysics, have achieved legendary status in the entertainment industr

The moonlight, like frost, blanketed the desolate courtyard.

Twelve puppets slowly rose from the shadows behind Zhou Yunshen, each exuding an aura several times stronger than the two puppets from the previous night. They were arranged in a fan shape, their empty eye sockets flickering with eerie green flames, turning the small courtyard into an impenetrable cage.

Lu Fan did not back down.

Behind him stood the woman who had been imprisoned for twenty years. Her withered hand still clutched the hem of his clothes, like a drowning person grasping at the last piece of driftwood.

"Twenty years." Zhou Yunshen didn't rush to make a move. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back, speaking as if he were chatting casually. "Every day at dawn, I come to see her, talk to her, and bring her meals. For twenty years, no outsider has set foot in this courtyard except for me."

He looked at Lu Fan, his eyes filled with admiration but also regret: "You're the first one."

"She is your wife," Lu Fan said.

"It used to be," Zhou Yunshen smiled, "before she went mad."

"She's not crazy." The woman's voice behind Lu Fan was hoarse but clear. "I just don't want to talk to you anymore."

Zhou Yunshen's smile faltered slightly.

The woman slowly straightened up from behind him. Twenty years of huddling in the dark room had hunched her back and made her legs tremble so badly they could barely support her weight, but she still struggled to stand up straight, her cloudy eyes staring straight at her husband from twenty years ago.

"You killed my daughter," she said, "and used her blood to consecrate your unbreakable jade."

"That was a necessary sacrifice." Zhou Yunshen said calmly, "The opportunity that the Zhou family ancestors have waited for for three hundred years, she alone can become the key to unlock this opportunity, it is her blessing."

"She's only three months old," the woman said, her voice trembling. "Her eyes aren't even fully open yet."

Zhou Yunshen did not answer.

Under the moonlight, his profile was refined and gentle, much like a compassionate Buddha statue.

Lu Fan gripped the scroll tightly in his hand.

“Zhou Xuanqing is your ancestor,” he said, “and also a disciple of the Imperial Dragon Sect. He sealed the jade pendant, leaving behind the ancestral precept that ‘only those of direct lineage may open it,’ not so that you would sacrifice the blood of your own flesh and blood.”

"Then he's foolish," Zhou Yunshen said calmly. "He guarded this treasure for three hundred years, passing it down from generation to generation, and apart from himself, not a single descendant was qualified to open it. Such an ancestral precept is not protection, it's a curse."

He looked at Lu Fan, or rather, at the jade pendant on his chest:

"And I will break this curse."

He slowly raised his hand.

The twelve puppets moved simultaneously.

Unlike the two hastily made puppets from last night, these twelve puppets were more solid in form and moved more coordinatedly, clearly natal puppets that had cultivated a bond with their master for many years. They moved without making any sound, only a dense aura of death surged towards Lu Fan like a tide.

"The complete Twelve Yuan Chen Yin Puppet Formation." Zhou Yunshen said calmly, "It took me twenty years to refine these twelve natal puppets that perfectly correspond to the twelve hours of Zi and Wu and the twenty-four solar terms. A hundred years ago, this formation trapped and killed three elders of your Yulong Sect."

He looked at Lu Fan as if he were looking at a moth trapped in a spider web:

"Your master's training is incomplete, your dragon energy is only just awakening, what can you possibly use to break through?"

Lu Fan did not answer.

He pushed the woman into a corner, erected a protective barrier with a talisman, and then turned around.

The jade pendant was burning hot against his chest, and the dragon's energy roared through his meridians.

He recalled the notes his master had left behind, and the words written on the title page—

"Disciples of the Imperial Dragon Sect shall eliminate any remaining members of the Yin Puppet Sect."

It's not about "doing what you can".

It means "must be punished".

He formed a mudra with his hands.

The first move of the Nine Dragons Soaring to the Heavens: Dragon Soars Through the Nine Heavens.

His figure suddenly transformed into a golden afterimage, weaving through the encirclement of twelve puppets. The puppets' sharp claws grazed his clothes, tearing rips in the air, but they could never touch his body.

Zhou Yunshen raised an eyebrow slightly: "Not bad."

With a flick of his fingers, the formation changed abruptly.

The twelve puppets no longer fought individually, but instead formed a cyclical chain of killing according to the order of the twelve earthly branches (子丑寅卯时). When one puppet's attack missed, the next one would take its place; the left flank blocked retreat, and the right flank sealed off any room for maneuver.

This is a battle formation, not a chaotic battle.

No matter how fast Lu Fan was, he couldn't outrun twelve killing intents falling simultaneously.

Three breaths later, he was cornered against the wall.

A Shenkui's iron claw grazed his left shoulder, tearing his clothes and causing blood to gush out.

"The first blood," Zhou Yunshen said.

Lu Fan remained silent.

He glanced down at the wound on his shoulder, and then—

Laughed.

Zhou Yunshen frowned slightly.

"What are you laughing at?"

Lu Fan raised his head, his eyes gleaming with golden light.

"I laugh at you," he said, "twenty years have passed, and you're still using the same old methods from a hundred years ago."

He suddenly reached out with his left hand, neither dodging nor avoiding, and directly met the oncoming Youkui.

The moment his fingertips touched the puppet's forehead, a very faint golden rune appeared in his palm—

Those were copper coins given to me by Su Mingyuan.

To be precise, it is the residual aura in the copper coin that shares the same origin as the Four Symbols Locking Dragon Formation.

He cannot break the Twelve Yuan Chen Formation by brute force.

But he can fool it.

The aura of the Four Symbols Dragon Locking Formation and the Twelve Yuan Chen Formation share the same origin—because both formations were originally set up by Zhou Yun Shen using the same mental cultivation method. The trapping formation on the outer perimeter of the manor and the killing formation in the core area share the same energy identification system.

When the aura of the copper coin in Lu Fan's palm came into contact with the puppet—

Youkui hesitated for a moment.

It is recognizing.

Is this the "master's" key token, or an intruder?

That moment of hesitation lasted only half a breath.

But for Lu Fan, that was enough.

With his other hand, he formed a sword with his fingers together, gathering dragon energy at his fingertips, and precisely pierced the space between You Kui's eyebrows.

That was one of the puppet's three vital points.

The eerie green flame in Youkui's eye sockets suddenly went out, like an oil lamp that had been blown out.

Zhou Yunshen's expression changed slightly.

"you……"

"Second move." Lu Fan interrupted him, dragon energy condensing in his palm, "Dragon Roars Across Mountains and Rivers."

He didn't yell.

He simply took a deep breath, and then—exhaled gently.

His breath condensed into a pale golden ripple in the air, spreading outwards from him.

It was not an attack.

It is a summons.

Page 37 of the manuscript states: "Dragon energy resonance can awaken the earth's veins."

This manor is built on the only undeveloped ley line node in the east of the city. Zhou Yunshen chose this place because the ley line energy could nourish his formation, making the Twelve Yuan Chen Formation more stable.

But he forgot one thing.

Dragon energy is the natural master of the earth's veins.

The dragon energy that Lu Fan exhaled fell to the ground like a drop of water falling into a pot of oil.

The earthquake trembled.

Beneath the manor, the faint earth vein that had been suppressed for twenty years by the Four Symbols Locking Dragon Formation suddenly awakened.

It's not resistance.

It is a response.

The bluestone slab beneath Lu Fan's feet was cracked.

The crack spread outwards from him in a dragon-like shape—he was the dragon's head, the body was the meandering crack, and the tail pointed directly to the old locust tree outside the courtyard.

The formation backfired.

Zhou Yunshen staggered, blood seeping from his seven orifices.

Of the twelve puppets, three more collapsed to the ground with a thud.

He looked up, and for the first time, horror appeared in his completely black eyes.

"You..." His voice was hoarse, "This isn't the first level of dragon energy. You've refined it to the second level?"

Lu Fan did not answer.

He slowly walked towards Zhou Yunshen, each step landing on a point where the earth's veins throbbed, each step tearing at the foundation of the manor's array.

What he mastered was not the second level.

He only understood one sentence his master left behind—

"The power of dragon energy is not determined by its strength, but by whether one is willing to participate."

He was willing to use his still-unstable foundation to awaken the earth's veins that had been suppressed for twenty years.

He was willing to bear the consequences of the ley lines backlash.

He is willing.

This is enough.

Zhou Yunshen stepped back.

For the first time in twenty years, he felt fear in the manor he had personally decorated.

It's not a fear of power.

It was a fear of something he had long forgotten.

He looked at Lu Fan.

Looking into the young man's eyes, there was a clear, unadulterated determination.

He suddenly remembered twenty years ago.

He remembered his daughter, who was still in his arms as an infant, her eyes not yet fully open.

He recalled the look in his wife's eyes when she knelt on the ground begging him to stop.

That look in his eyes, and the look in the young man's eyes—

The same.

"You..." Zhou Yunshen's lips moved, "You and her...you two..."

He couldn't speak a complete sentence.

Lu Fan stopped three steps in front of him.

“Zhou Yunshen,” he said, “you imprisoned your wife for twenty years.”

"But your wife died twenty years ago."

Zhou Yunshen trembled all over.

Lu Fan stepped aside, revealing the hunched figure behind him.

The woman, supporting herself against the wall, walked forward step by step.

For the first time in twenty years, she took the initiative to approach Zhou Yunshen.

Under the moonlight, her white hair was like frost, her wrinkles like carvings, only her eyes—

Those eyes, which had once knelt and begged, and had once been withered and gray, now held a sense of relief and peace.

"Yun Shen," she called to him, just as she had twenty years ago.

Zhou Yunshen did not respond.

He looked at her face, at the state he had personally shaped her into over the past twenty years.

He thought he had long forgotten.

He thought he no longer cared.

But now, as she stood before him, calling his name in such a calm tone—

His hands trembled slightly.

"For the past twenty years, I've waited for you to come every day at dawn," she said, "not for you to let me out."

"I'm waiting for you to turn around."

Zhou Yunshen's lips parted slightly.

"I know you won't," she continued, her tone devoid of resentment, merely stating a fact, "You're too proud, Yun Shen. So proud that you'd rather continue down the wrong path than admit you made the wrong choice in the first place."

She paused, then said softly:

"But today, you're finally scared."

Zhou Yunshen's pupils suddenly contracted.

He was afraid.

He was genuinely afraid.

It wasn't that they were afraid of Lu Fan, nor were they afraid of the backlash from the earth's veins.

He was afraid of her.

He feared that she would use such a calm tone to reveal the truth he had dared not face for twenty years—

He was wrong.

The mistake was made the moment he killed his daughter.

The next twenty years were nothing more than constantly making up for the initial mistake.

The more you try to fix it, the more wrong it becomes.

"That's enough," he said hoarsely. "There's no point in saying this."

"I know it's pointless," the woman nodded. "So for the past twenty years, I haven't said a single word."

She looked into his eyes and finally said:

"Today is the first and the last time."

She turned and walked towards Lu Fan.

"Young man," she said, "take me with you."

Lu Fan nodded.

He didn't look at Zhou Yunshen again.

He helped the woman, stepped over the pile of puppet wreckage, and walked out of the courtyard.

Behind him, Zhou Yunshen stood motionless.

He did not order the remaining puppets to pursue.

They didn't chase after them.

Under the moonlight, this man in his sixties showed a bewildered expression for the first time.

Like a spider trapped in its own web, finally realizing there's no way out.

At the entrance of the courtyard.

The woman suddenly stopped.

She didn't turn around, but simply said softly:

"It's not that Senior Brother Xuanqing's jade pendant can't be opened."

"You're not worthy."

Her figure disappeared into the moonlight.

Zhou Yunshen stood amidst the wreckage, motionless for a long time.

……

Outside the manor.

Lu Fan helped the woman through the old locust tree.

The opening was about to close after three breaths, and he used the copper coin to prop it open for the last moment.

The woman suddenly grabbed his wrist.

"One of the puppets he made," she said, "was empty."

Lu Fan looked down at her.

"Every month on the fifteenth, he goes to the mass grave outside the city," the woman said softly. "Nominally, it's to refine puppets, but actually it's to prolong his life. His cultivation technique has backfired too badly, and he's already exhausted, only kept alive by the blood and energy of living people."

"A mass grave outside the city?"

"In the western suburbs, at Qingsong Ridge," the woman said. "Thirty years ago, that was the site chosen for the Zhou family's first piece of land. When construction began, an unnamed ancient tomb was unearthed. The body of the tomb's occupant remained incorrupt for a hundred years and was refined by Zhou Yunshen into the first natal puppet."

She paused:

"That puppet is still with him to this day."

"But once the natal puppet is completed, it is linked to the master's life; if it is damaged, the master will be seriously injured," Lu Fan said.

"Yes." The woman nodded. "That's why he hid that puppet very well and never showed it to anyone."

She looked at Lu Fan, her eyes filled with complex emotions:

"If you want to completely sever his foundation, you must first find his natal puppet."

"Where?"

The woman remained silent for a moment.

"I don't know," she said. "But for the past twenty years, he would go alone to the third basement level of the manor on the third day of every month. There's a secret room there, and even I don't know the entrance."

Lu Fan noted it down.

He helped her out of the manor grounds and towards the car waiting by the roadside.

Su Qin leaned out of the driver's seat and her eyes suddenly reddened the moment she saw the woman.

"Aunt……"

The woman looked at her, stunned.

"You are... Mingyuan's daughter?"

Su Qin nodded vigorously, tears welling up in her eyes.

The woman gently took her hand.

"How is your father?"

"He..." Su Qin's voice choked with emotion, "He's waiting for you."

The woman remained silent.

Then she smiled.

My first smile in twenty years.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go home."

……

The car drove away from the east of the city and headed towards the old villa in the north.

Lu Fan sat in the passenger seat, watching the night view rushing past the window.

My phone vibrated.

It was a message from Yu Tinglan.

"President Ding has launched a counterattack through public opinion. The illegal land use issues of Zhou's three projects have been anonymously reported, and relevant departments have intervened in the investigation."

"Zhou Li was taken away by the police for questioning this morning, and Wang Zhentao is trying to find someone to help him."

"Also—Qingsong's body was found in a river on the outskirts of the city this morning. The forensic doctor initially determined that he drowned, but there were no signs of a struggle at the scene."

Lu Fan looked at the last line of text.

The pine tree is dead.

To silence them, or out of fear of punishment?

He recalled what the man in black robes had said last night—"The person the sect leader wants is your jade pendant."

The pine tree had completed its task of guiding the way, but it knew too much and had already failed.

To the Yin Kui Sect, he was already a discarded pawn.

"What about Zhou Yunshen?" Yu Tinglan asked again.

Lu Fan did not reply immediately.

He looked out the window; in the direction of the city to the east, there was only a blurry halo of light.

"He's still alive," he finally typed, "but soon."