Quick Transmigration: The Foolish Beauty Saves the World

Chapter 286 I am a little fish (41)

The experience of going deep inside the barrier is completely different from what you see from the outside.

The puppets stood very close together, so close that Jingli felt suffocated as soon as she entered.

Ah Huo and Meng Li both had higher cultivation levels and more experience in this cultivation world than Jing Li, so their expressions didn't change much.

However, Ah Huo still noticed Jing Li's expression and gave him a talisman of unknown origin, which clearly relieved Jing Li's sense of oppression.

Ah Huo casually put his arm around Jing Li's shoulder: "The space inside and outside the barrier should be different spaces, so it's normal to feel uncomfortable."

Jingli nodded, shifting slightly uncomfortably. If he weren't still holding Chun Xiaopian, he would have pushed Ah Huo's hand away right now.

They're not really that close yet.

Ah Huo, who had just seemed very attentive, now appeared completely oblivious to Jing Li's awkwardness, and even tightened his grip on her hand.

"Don't move, this place isn't safe. I'll lead you away."

Meng Li said at that moment, "Time is limited, let's find a way out as soon as possible."

Living people cannot enter this barrier. The reason they can enter now is because of the substitutions made by the men that Meng Li invested.

Of course, calling it a replacement isn't entirely accurate, because those men didn't leave this barrier; they were simply teleported here using these men as nodes.

The reason why time is so urgent is that Meng has also discovered that something within the barrier is consuming these souls.

The number of animals killed each time is uncertain, meaning that the barrier doesn't care about these little rats who have gone to great lengths to get in.

What will happen after the soul is completely consumed is still unknown.

However, if they cannot leave in time, they are very likely to suffer irreversible damage.

Upon hearing this, Ah Huo tightened and loosened his grip on Jing Li, conveying the message, "Did you hear that?"

Jingli compromised.

Who told him to be the worst among them? He'd be a real liability if he got separated from the group.

She accepted the somewhat intimate posture with a great sense of peace.

In the darkness, Ah Huo's lips curled into a slight smile. Instead of shrinking the space around Jing Li with her tacit approval, he became reserved and carefully held her in his arms.

This barrier doesn't feel very pleasant.

The original scenery in the snow-capped mountains has completely disappeared, replaced by varying shades of black.

It wasn't that there was no light source; looking up, I saw a moon still hanging in the sky.

Unfortunately, the moonlight seemed to only reach the puppet's head and couldn't penetrate any further.

The ground felt sticky and slippery underfoot, completely different from snow.

There was no rustling sound of snowflakes colliding with each other, only a faint, chilling crunching sound.

When Jingli stepped on something thin and round, he suddenly realized what it was.

Those who died in the massacre.

Darkness amplifies one's imagination, and even Jing Li, who had seen many storms, subconsciously shrank into Ah Huo's arms at this moment.

This fear only lasted a short time. Once Jingli regained her composure, she suddenly sensed something strange.

He lowered his voice and asked Ah Huo, "Why is there no smell of blood here?"

Ah Huo lowered his voice to mimic him, but instead of answering directly, he prompted, "What kind of feeling do you experience within the barrier?"

Jingli couldn't think of a suitable adjective, so she could only describe it as: "The air was still, there were no other sounds, it was very cramped and oppressive, and I felt like I couldn't breathe just now."

Jingli felt Ah Huo nod: "This place is dead."

The man's voice was very soft, yet the words he uttered could steal away the warmth from those around him.

Jingli suddenly had a flash of inspiration and understood another reason why Ah Huo had put his arm around him.

Before Ah Huo embraced him, he could only feel the warmth of Chun Xiaopian in his arms. Without Ah Huo, he might have completely lost his sense of direction in the darkness and only felt that he was walking on a mountain of corpses.

And then what? Will this mountain of corpses slowly devour him?

Anyway, he couldn't feel anything.

Jingli no longer felt uncomfortable at all, and obediently curled up in Ah Huo's arms, trying to keep her back pressed against Ah Huo's arm to make sure she was still safe.

Sensing the movement of the person in his arms, Ah Huo felt that Jing Li roughly understood what he meant, and continued, "If you want to get out of this barrier, what would you do?"

Jingli didn't need to think much; she understood Ah Huo's meaning once again.

"moon."

Yes, in the endless darkness, the moon is the only light, and those caught up in it cannot help but look up at the moon and move towards it.

"Yes, just like them."

There's no need to think about who "they" refers to here.

They are those puppets.

Then people became puppets.

Of course, it's not that simple.

It is those souls that have lost consciousness that gradually synchronize with the puppet.

Therefore, this formation is more of a transformation field than the snow mountain outside the barrier.

The living snow mountain devours the living, drawing their souls into the barrier of death, making them part of the puppet.

Once you understand this, finding a way out isn't difficult.

Just like the first formation, when they find themselves in a place resembling a bronze cauldron, they only need to break through it through a series of methods.

The formation they are currently in is clearly part of a node where the living soul puppet was born.

Snow-capped mountains, low temperatures, square blocks of snow, a space between life and death.

Combining these factors, Jingli became even more certain of her previous ideas.

It was a scene they saw before leaving the formation where he became a dancer—a graveyard with the sound of children crying.

The formation they were in was likely located inside a huge coffin large enough to hold puppets.

Jingli had already shared this information with Mengli, so Mengli had already thought of this almost as soon as she entered the barrier and sensed the presence of death throughout the space.

During this short period of time, she was not wandering aimlessly, but rather using her spiritual power to draw runes that could break the barrier as she walked.

This talisman is extremely complex and can be considered a forbidden or evil technique used to alter life and death.

Coincidentally, this kind of rune was mentioned in the incomplete manuscripts that Lu Mingguang collected before entering the blessed land.

Meng Li was quite strong, and Lu Mingguang was knowledgeable and experienced. The two of them repaired the rune at the time, but neither of them thought they would need it in the future.

If this rune were actually used on the living dead, Meng Li might reconsider.

But now, in order to save their lives, they don't have so many concerns.

Besides, she's a heretical practitioner.

Whether it was because time flowed slowly within the barrier or because the darkness blurred perception, Jingli had no idea how long she had been walking before she heard Meng Li's voice:

"Burning Spring, Little Koi, protect me."

Her voice was very close, but Jingli still couldn't quite pinpoint her exact location.

Ah Huo, also known as Fen Chun in Meng Li's words, sensed Jing Li's confusion and naturally took the small piece of spring from Jing Li's hand. With his other hand, he grasped Jing Li's wrist and led him towards Meng Li's direction.

Jingli used energy to create a shield, enveloping all four people inside.

Ah Huo was there to stabilize Meng Li's spiritual power, which had become somewhat unruly due to excessive consumption.

Once the situation stabilized, Jingli gently said to Ah Huo, "Hold Xiaopian tight."

"Xiao Pian?" Ah Huo's voice clearly showed a moment of doubt, then he realized what he meant and chuckled softly, "I know, I won't do anything to him."

Jingli gave a soft hum.

He still remembered Meng Li asking Ah Huo if he would absorb Chun Xiaopian.

Even though they were both born in the spring, Jingli was still a little reluctant to part with them.

After all, Chun Xiaopian had been with him since she was just a tiny tentacle, and now she had finally grown into a little chubby dumpling. This little chubby dumpling had saved him several times.

If Ah Huo really absorbs it, after leaving the blessed land and Ah Huo returns to Lingxiao Sect, where will Jingli find a little dumpling again?

Jingli didn't realize that in this world, he had already designated Chun Xiaopian as his own possession.

After saying this, the two fell silent and focused on protecting Meng Li.

Meng Li, true to her style, finished the rune with a clean, decisive stroke. As the final stroke fell, a sound like vomiting was heard in the scene, and it seemed as if a rushing current was flowing beneath them, sweeping them forward.

Just when Jingli suspected he would be overwhelmed by the corpses in the barrier, the feeling of being pulled into the blessed land saved him once again.

The next moment, he entered a sturdy wooden space, which, judging from its structure, appeared to be a ship.

No need to guess, this ship is another one of Boss Meng's vehicles.

Before Jingli could land, Mengli flicked a spell from her fingertips, and Jingli felt his damp clothes suddenly dry. Mengli had cast a cleaning spell on him.

Ah Huo, Meng Li, and even Chun Xiaopian were all sitting cleanly in the bright and spacious cabin, with a teapot and snacks even on the table in the middle.

It's impossible to imagine what the "water" supporting this ship actually is.

"Thank you, fairy." Jingli landed steadily on the ground and thanked Mengli.

Meng Li pointed to an empty seat, indicating that Jing Li should sit down. Ah Huo poured him a cup of tea and placed a snack in front of him.

After Jingli thanked her again in a low voice, Mengli glanced at Ah Huo and scoffed, "You're the one who's prepared everything better."

It turns out that the tea served during this outing was prepared by Ah Huo, which is consistent with his image as a spoiled young master.

Although Meng Li's words were slightly sarcastic, they didn't sound distant at all. Instead, they convinced Jing Li that the two were very familiar with each other.

It was more familiar than he had previously thought.

Jingli didn't feel jealous or anything like that. To him, Meng Li in this world was like an older sister and a master. Although he was familiar with Ah Huo, there was no clingy feeling between them.

He just felt that there must be other secrets between them.

This secret is also related to Keiri herself.

"Little Koi, do you still remember the ship you were on when you became a dancer?"

Meng Li's words pulled Jing Li back from her reverie. Jing Li immediately answered seriously, as if answering a teacher's question: "Well, the ship was initially moving on the street, then a lot of people came and reached out to the ship, and then it turned into blood."

Meng Li took a sip of tea and turned her face towards the window, which was covered by a curtain: "Does it look like it?"

Jingli's eyes widened slightly.

Everything unfolded more dramatically then, and he was also busy struggling with the clothes he was wearing, while the array was more realistic, so Jingli didn't immediately connect the two.

"So, a large portion of the population... is expecting sacrifices, is that right?"

Meng Li nodded: "Connecting these two scenes, it's like life and death welcoming each other, isn't it?"

Jingli recalled those people, their state of being like bones covered with human skin, their frenzied state, as well as the human corpses, cold puppets, and gradually dissipating souls within this array barrier.

For a moment, he couldn't tell which side was life and which side was death.

"In the earliest days, there was a branch of puppetry that used people as puppets, but it fell out of favor for various reasons."

Initially, puppets were simply used as substitutes for cultivators. Puppet masters would give new "life" to the dead by dividing their own divine consciousness, thus enabling them to complete specific tasks.

However, this method cannot stop the decay of the corpse, and its effectiveness is limited. Furthermore, if the divine consciousness is fragmented too much, the memories and perspectives that merge after being retrieved are complex enough to drive a Golden Core cultivator insane.

Later, paper puppetry and mechanical puppetry emerged.

Neither of these two puppetry techniques requires the projection of divine sense. For example, paper puppets only require a little blood, while mechanical puppets require both blood and spirit stones.

What made the Spirit Puppet Immortal Abode famous was the latter: mechanical puppetry.

These puppets are easier to control, have no thoughts, and are exceptionally sturdy, making them ideal for standing on the battlefield.

However, for some reason, Lingku Immortal Abode began to study using human souls as the driving force for puppets.

Then, living people began to want to become puppets.

Meng Li recounted the history of the puppets, paused briefly, and took another sip of tea: "Based on the information you mentioned earlier, I think it might be the emperor of the Spirit Puppet Immortal Abode, or other important ministers, or even the Imperial Advisor."

"I lost someone important to me."

"So, they wanted to bring this important person back to life in this way."

Jingli listened intently, and unconsciously said, "This method must have been successful, so those puppeteers who lost important people on the battlefield also followed this method to trap the deceased in puppets."

Meng Li nodded: "But people are still just flesh and blood."

"Therefore, people began to want to become puppets."

In this way, the line that is more in line with the legend is made clear.

"Then why did the puppets and humans seem to be at odds with each other in the main hall?" Jingli asked, voicing her thoughts.

Ah Huo brewed another pot of tea and offered some guidance: "Legend has it that when the Imperial Advisor first tested the soul-driven puppets, he used prisoners of the enemy army."

Jingli felt a little incredulous.

“They became puppets, but their consciousness wasn’t forever a puppet!” He spoke with increasing fluency. “They were born under the Grand Preceptor, reborn within the puppets, hating the Spirit Puppet Abode while enjoying their steel bodies, yet still wanting… to return to the past…”

The cabin fell silent; no one answered, and no one denied it.

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(The Blessed Land instance is about to end~ This world will probably end in about twenty more chapters~)