roccoschili Chapter 278 I am a little fish (33)
Chapter 278 I am a little fish (33)
This time, Meng Li didn't rush to leave. Instead, she "unnecessarily" cast a spell to conceal Jing Li's presence. The two of them, holding Chun Xiaopian, hid among the crowd as they came out and secretly spied on each other.
The reason for doing so is quite simple.
The illusions within this formation are all different, and they reveal a great deal of information related to the destruction of the Spirit Puppet Immortal Abode.
This may play an important role in their continued exploration of formations.
After all, no one knows where the clues to leaving this blessed land are hidden.
Judging from the people who came out, there were quite a few people in this formation, but this time it was not bad. Apart from the three of them, there were no evil cultivators. The majority were still sect disciples, with two or three rogue cultivators.
The remaining twenty or so people are not in good condition.
From their conversation, Jingli pieced together some information.
As they guessed, the formation consisted of different scenes, with each scene containing three to five people belonging to the same larger scene. Several people needed to work together to break the predetermined script within that scene in order to break the formation.
For example, Jingli, Mengli, and Chun Xiaopian are in the scene of the Imperial Preceptor's Hall.
As the Imperial Advisor, Meng Li must find a way to prevent the entire sacrifice from being completed outside the illusion.
As a puppet to be sacrificed, Chun Xiaopian cannot be fooled by the fake Meng Li into obediently following the procedures.
Both of them were powerful enough that they chose to simply flip the table and not act out the scene.
Jingli, as the sacrificial dancer, is actually the most difficult part of the entire formation, because in theory, he cannot trigger any actions that could complete the sacrifice.
But his sacrifice began the moment he stepped onto the flower boat.
However, there's a reason why he's considered a lucky charm; he is indeed incredibly fortunate.
Their scene was the core of the entire formation, and naturally the most difficult to break. But they happened to be inside the scene, and they had both props and energy, so they made it through without any major incidents.
"It seems that there are substitutes for us in every scenario, and once the key plot is triggered, we will be replaced forever."
Meng Li transmitted her voice.
It's like in the scene in the movie, if he really went to save Chun Xiaopian and encountered the puppet silk, he probably would never be able to get out of this formation.
Thinking of this, Jingli couldn't help but feel a chill of fear.
He looked at the monk who was drooling and trying to eat his hands and feet. No one was with him, and no one knew him.
It seems that no one survived in that scene.
Jingli recalled that it seemed to be a small alley, where, besides this person, there was a rouge shop and a shabby shop belonging to a witch doctor.
Perhaps it was precisely this relatively simple scenario that made people lower their guard and fall into their trap.
Jingli nodded to Mengli and walked over to her.
"What do you want to eat?"
The monk looked up blankly, opened his mouth and said "Ah ah" twice: "Hungry, eat, want to eat, useless, hands, feet, are all good, head, is the best to eat."
As he spoke, he drooled again, rubbed his stomach, and his expression was a mixture of satisfaction and pain.
Jingli thought for a moment, then took out a roasted spirit bird leg and asked, "This, leg, would you like some?"
The monk waved his hand: "I don't want this, I want the iron lump."
Jingli was slightly surprised. A lump of iron, could it be a puppet?
He retracted the spirit bird's leg: "Sorry, I didn't."
The monk shook his head again, sniffing around Jingli like a puppy: "You have it! You have it! Please, let me have a bite!"
Jingli was somewhat surprised. He did indeed have puppet parts on him, all of which were in his spatial storage. He probably left some traces of them before putting them away.
Meng Li then walked over, tossed a Clarity Pill to the cultivator, and then took Jing Li away.
"This person has been almost assimilated by the formation. It is unknown whether he can regain his senses after taking the pill. We can only wait and see."
Jingli nodded.
Meng Li gave the cultivator this pill because she believed Jing Li wouldn't act without reason. Jing Li knew this, so she told Meng Li her thoughts:
“In the illusionary array, he played the role of a beggar, with a very large belly.” Jingli gestured to his own belly. “I just asked him about it, and the hands and feet he mentioned were the hands and feet of a puppet.”
The entire scene in the back alley was lost; apart from the beggar, no one knew any other clues.
Jingli continued, "In the scene we're in, people are being sacrificed to puppets, seemingly to make the puppets more human-like."
"But based on my probing, the puppet doesn't want to be human, and even seems unwilling to be compared to humans."
Meng Li frowned, then nodded slightly.
"Therefore, the reappearance of the Spirit Puppet Burial Tomb is probably due to some injustice."
While there aren't many clues yet regarding the specific injustice, we have a general direction.
The truth is certainly not as the rumors suggest. The Imperial Advisor only attracted heavenly lightning in order to create the Puppet King. There is a clear faction between the puppets and the puppeteers. Furthermore, the practice of sacrificing living people to the puppets was not something that the Imperial Advisor promoted alone, nor is it as simple as it seems.
There are still some details missing, and we can only continue to search for them as we go.
The puppet's abdomen had been removed, and Jingli followed Mengli forward. Before long, the cries behind them had all disappeared, and only darkness remained around them.
Jingli took a moment to check the system space and found two more cards with simple line drawings of puppet feet in her item card slot. They had also broken two more formations, leaving only four formations in total, including Jingli's side.
6058 also left a message to let everyone know they were safe. Most importantly, they had found a way to get to the central formation and planned to try it out.
Jingli also reported that she was safe and sound, leaving a message with the information she and Mengli had discovered about the Spirit Puppet Immortal Abode, along with her own speculation: [The legendary array eye, the Bell of Rebirth, doesn't necessarily need to be destroyed as the legends say. The puppets here possess spirits; if you encounter danger, go find the big-bellied beggar.]
Having said all that, Jingli and Mengli continued onward to the next formation.
The next formation wasn't as complicated. The illusion was a high-temperature space. Just like the first formation, you could find the core of the formation and break it step by step. It was very simple for Meng Li and Jing Li. Before Chun Xiaopian had even woken up from her nap, they had already come out and even obtained a lot of precious spiritual plants in the high-temperature environment.
Meng Li eventually broke the formation, and as she left, she also heard a song similar to the first formation—
My body is torn apart, my soul is scorched, I will be trapped in a cage forever;
I am willing to use heaven and earth as a furnace to forge my body, and I am willing to use karmic obstacles as flames to scorch and refine my soul;
With your passing, I offer my eternal life...
Then, they obtained the puppet's neck.
The neck was thinner and thinner from bottom to top, and its length was abnormal, segmented, which reminded Jingli of the old woman who stood behind him at the beginning of the second formation.
Rubbing the goosebumps off his body, Jingli pulled his neck back and recorded the information about the song that Meng Li had obtained.
Aside from the second story formation, each of the other formations has a hymn that corresponds to an element within that formation.