Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

Chapter 1561: Chapter 644: Intelligence_2

The remaining intelligence recorded Tan Zhu’s deeds, and they almost converge.

In his early years, Tan Zhu wandered in the Northwest States, often wearing a green bamboo hat and a gray hemp long coat, with a string of black wood tokens hanging at his waist. Each time he killed someone, a shallow mark would appear on the black wood token.

There were rumors that he was excessively murderous, killing without pause. However, upon reviewing those old cases, it could be known that those he killed often participated in secret dealings—be it trafficking living souls, refining forbidden pills, or breeding evil creatures.

The old case of Yinquan Crossing.

Three Golden Core Demon Cultivators died violently overnight at the ferry, their bodies uniformly kneeled on the riverbank, their hands reaching into the water as if trying to retrieve something unseen.

The intelligence recorded another layer of truth: Tan Zhu had infiltrated the ferry seven days prior, disguising himself as an old boatman. He ferried back and forth daily, waiting for the three Demon Cultivators, then led them to the middle of the river and poisoned them.

The old case of Black Water Swamp.

A Nascent Soul Loose Cultivator reared a Poisonous Jiao in the swamp, feeding it with living cultivators, causing its scales to grow increasingly hard and its poison ever more fierce.

Despite Tan Zhu’s cultivation level being far inferior to that person, he lurked by Black Water Swamp for a full three months. During this period, he disguised himself as a fisherman, a hunchbacked medicine farmer, and a vendor selling fishbone lamps, to figure out the situation.

Three months later, on the night the Poisonous Jiao shed its scales, a massive white fog suddenly rose from the swamp, dense as milk, obscuring sky and moon.

The Nascent Soul Loose Cultivator pursued into the fog, but by the time he finally broke out of the fog array, the Poisonous Jiao had already been stripped of its reversed scale, and its Jiao Soul had been harvested.

The old affair of Cold Crow Ridge.

There was once a small gathering of Evil Cultivators on Cold Crow Ridge, specializing in trading souls, severed limbs, and Yin attribute treasure materials, gathering a group of cultivators operating in the shadows.

Tan Zhu disappeared there for four whole years, silently, as if he had melted into the ridgeline’s wind and snow.

On a snowy night four years later, a great turmoil suddenly broke out on Cold Crow Ridge, with frantic internal strife erupting within the small gathering. Seven leaders accused each other of being traitors. Some cut off their tongues in their dreams, some burned all dark accounts to ashes, while others clutched their most precious soul bottles and jumped off a cliff.

Tan Zhu appeared only on the final night of that chaos, pushing open the empty Council Hall door and taking away a black wooden box from the dust-covered altar.

The end of the intelligence contained a small line of text: That black wooden box might contain what Tan Zhu truly sought—something related to longevity, to his life’s limit, and very likely related to his joining Nanming Village to vie for the Nanming Fire Furnace.

"Tan Zhu’s actions often involve conspiracies. His recent behavior, however, is leading from the front, a stark departure from his usual style." In his heart, Ning Zhuo reviewed.

The lamplight illuminated his profile, serene as water between his brows, only the depths of his eyes seeming to contain a stirring undercurrent.

The true nature of these old cases was not included in the ordinary intelligence, further verifying Ning Zhuo’s previous speculation: Tan Zhuo’s "unintentional" discovery of the Sun Raising Yang Locking Cloud Altar, and his deliberate killing of Yue Qingshan in the Five Battles Martial Arts, were intentional.

"But what is the specific plot? Still far from knowing."

Ning Zhuo sighed softly and continued to use his Divine Sense to browse the Jade Slip.

Heaven-reaching Hook.

The Jade Slip recorded the circumstances and appearance related to this Taoist Artifact.

In mid-air, a wisp of extremely fine white thread appeared. The thread was as thin as moonlight drawn into a strand, hanging from the void, with a small black-and-white hook suspended at its end. The curvature of the hook was so perfect it didn’t seem like a mortal thing, the tip of the hook emanating a faint blue cold light, circulating relentlessly like a lone star in the cold night.

Before Ning Zhuo’s eyes, the scene of the Red Robe Guest’s death involuntarily resurfaced.

In the midst of a bright day, a sea of blood surged, the Red Robe Guest with overwhelming demonic power nearly brought the entire battlefield into his rhythm.

Then, that line dropped from the sky, light as a spider’s silk, cold as a moon blade, yet upon touching the Blood Shadow’s palm, it erupted with unimaginable power.

For a person like the Red Robe Guest, even he was forcibly dragged from the pinnacle of victory into the abyss of oblivion!

The Jade Slip detailed that the Heaven-reaching Hook’s origins are extremely ancient, with deep roots connected to the "Fishing Skill" of the Cultivation Hundred Skills.

The Fishing Skill initially was just a technique for taking things—bait for luring, line for pulling, rod for releasing, and hook for fixing opportunity. However, the path of cultivation is long, and this skill gradually evolved into more mysterious pathways, now capable of fishing for objects, souls, lives, and even causes and effects!

This made Ning Zhuo think of Luo Si’s Forget River Crossing Line, Hook of Three Lifetimes. The Hook of Three Lifetimes can forcibly extract mana, life, and spirit from enemy cultivators. The Forget River Crossing Line uses the flow of Yin souls in water to manipulate targets like puppets on strings.

Heaven-reaching Hook takes it a step further!

It has entered the realm of Taoist Artifacts.

The distinction between a Taoist Artifact and a Magic Treasure lies in the contained principles. To some extent, it can be viewed as a Magic Treasure that has mastered Divine Skills!

What it fishes for is not ordinary vitality or souls, but the most fragile turn at the boundary of life and death.

This is the principle it contains.

Once triggered, it will follow the principle forward and ultimately reach the result at the other end.

The trigger condition is clear: the wielder must themselves be in a life-and-death crisis.

At this moment, between the wielder and the enemy, there will arise a serendipitous encounter, forming an extremely narrow "Life Gap," enabling the Heaven-reaching Hook to fall.

The Heaven-reaching Hook is not a casual killing tool; each drop requires precise alignment.

The first half of the intelligence eased Ning Zhuo’s tension slightly. But the latter half cast a shadow on his heart.

"Heavy Array Peak?" Ning Zhuo’s pupils narrowed almost imperceptibly.

The intelligence pointed out that this Taoist Artifact has various hidden connections with a certain high-level figure from Heavy Array Peak.

Ning Zhuo’s expression remained serene as he swiftly accepted this new situation.

He had long understood a principle: within the upper echelons of any force, there will inevitably be internal conflict!

The Ning Family has internal struggles, Fire Persimmon Immortal City has internal clashes, and White Paper Immortal City is even more of a whirlpool of interconnected interests.

The peaks of the Myriad Images Sect rise in multitude, with powers interlocking like teeth, inheritances vast as smoke, and interests unfathomable. The grander the appearance of a giant mountain of cultivation, the more turbulent the internal undercurrents. Disciples compete, Elders compete, mountain veins compete, even the usage rights of the Sect’s Spiritual Treasure can turn into bloody battles.

Power is the only indivisible thing in this world! Principles, pretenses, sentiments, and sect rules, all grand expressions and solemn plaques, are but tools of convenience in front of power.

After seeing the words ’Heavy Array Peak,’ Ning Zhuo’s mind became as clear and steady as a reef revealed in the receding tide.

As the main peak, power is likely and naturally exerted.

Moreover, the source of this intelligence is suspicious, and its truth is hard to discern.

"But if Heavy Array Peak is behind it, then I am likely embroiled in the Myriad Images Sect’s upper-level power struggle."

Ning Zhuo smiled slightly.

Seek wealth and safety amidst danger!

Since he was to reach high, he would eventually have to face the high winds and snows.

Where there are people, there is the Worldly Society, avoid it he cannot, he shall face it.

Nanming Village itself is his way of entering the fray, it is the path he chose, he will not turn back.

"But for now, I am not yet qualified to sit behind the scenes, acting as a composed player. The pieces in hand are too few, the foundation too thin, and though my reputation has started to show, it is as ephemeral as dew, unable to withstand the storms."

"What I can do is lead by example, charging ahead!"

Ning Zhuo continued to review the intelligence.

Three Brave of Xiang Sect.

Related images emerged in Ning Zhuo’s Divine Sea.

Three figures stood side by side.

Triplets from the same womb.

Their builds were almost completely identical, shoulder width, arm length, facial contours, all seemed carved by the same knife. Yet, upon closer inspection, each possessed distinctly different temperaments and features.

The one on the left had a dim white lamp mark on his forehead, eyes sunken like ancient wells, and pupils gleaming with a cold luster.

This person was named Xiang Hundeng, who focused on cultivating the Upper Dantian of the Divine Sea, practicing the cultivation technique "Life Lamp Observation." His power of Divine Soul was unparalleled, excelling in Soul Illumination, Chaotic Thoughts, and Suppress God, often holding a Life Lamp. Where the lamplight touched, the souls of enemy cultivators would emerge in the lamplight, thoughts slowed like trapped in a quagmire, and Divine Sense gradually pulled from their bodies.

In the middle, one had cuffs surrounded by faint grey mist, with breath deep and long, and a magic power aura as deep as an abyss and as vast as the sea.