Chapter 220 (Part 1): The Ultimate Art of War

Was Youye angry?

Actually, not really.

The two underlings who died weren’t that close to her—theirs was a standard superior-subordinate work relationship.

Her exaggerated display of grief was just a means to win loyalty.

she did nothing, her subordinates would grow distant and the group would become hard to manage.

The mission wasn’t over yet. She still needed these cannon fodder to work hard.

Throwing out a few harsh words and claiming she’d demand answers from Wanhuagu cost her nothing.

Besides, wasn’t Wanhuagu practically begging for criticism with their antics?

Youye didn’t mind using “seeking justice for her fellow disciples” as an excuse to squeeze some compensation out of Hua Jian.

Sisters were sisters, but debts had to be settled openly. At most, she’d kick some commission back to Hua Jian afterward.

“Be careful with these spirit beasts—some of them are hidden Wanhuagu weapons!”

At the mention of Wanhuagu, the Tianmomen cultivators all grimaced.

Running into Wanhuagu’s setups at a time like this was absolutely revolting.

Who would’ve thought that after defeating every other enemy in the secret realm, they’d still have to fight Wanhuagu’s discarded secret weapons?

“Damn Wanhuagu! Have they no shame?!”

A few Tianmomen cultivators cursed at Wanhuagu in frustration.

But most of them showed little reaction. How to put it—they were already used to this kind of thing.

Wanhuagu was always like this. Getting schemed against by them actually brought a sense of security.

If Wanhuagu ever behaved too well-behaved, they’d start feeling anxious, convinced that Wanhuagu must be brewing some massive conspiracy to be acting so tame and unnoticed.

Take the Ascension Gathering ambush a few years back, for example.

Wanhuagu had been utterly normal during both the preparation and early execution phases.

Just when everyone thought they’d changed their ways, they silently pulled off something massive.

They straight-up shattered the Ascension Gathering’s secret realm, humiliating the Right Path in a major way.

So it wasn’t that Wanhuagu causing trouble was scary—it was Wanhuagu not causing trouble that was scary.

Because when they weren’t causing trouble, they were definitely causing bigger trouble somewhere you couldn’t see.

In this secret realm, Wanhuagu had been constantly stirring things up.

The entire realm was saturated with their schemes, which meant they weren’t holding back anything too big this time—they just wanted to swindle a few suckers.

Using a secret realm that was doomed anyway to make money while field-testing new weapons, treating the cultivators inside as free testers—this was all peak Wanhuagu behavior.

Perfectly normal. This was the Wanhuagu everyone knew and loved!

“If they didn’t scheme against us, would they even be Wanhuagu? Just stay alert.” The other Tianmomen cultivators comforted their dissatisfied companions.

It wasn’t like Wanhuagu had forced them to enter. They’d walked in themselves, and now they were blaming Wanhuagu for their misfortune—that just made them look like sore losers.

Though the Magic Path didn’t care much about reputation, as a major demonic sect, honor among equal-ranking sects still required accepting losses gracefully.

You scheme against me today, I scheme against you tomorrow—that was just the way of things. No need to get worked up.

“Right. I’ll settle accounts with Wanhuagu later. I’ll definitely make them cough up something good!”

……

“Oh wow, Linglong, did you hear that? She wants to settle accounts with me!”

Watching the resolute expression on Youye’s face, Hua Jian giggled.

‘As if. You think you can get one over on me?’

Ambush? Clever tricks? All in your imagination. Wanhuagu hasn’t arranged anything in this secret realm. Don’t believe me? Go ask our two Ling Emperor shijies.

Even if Youye managed to pry some information out of Wanhuagu’s lower-ranked disciples, she’d never figure out what those plant monsters really were.

After all, these things were entirely Hua Jian’s own creation, with zero connection to Wanhuagu proper.

The Wanhuagu cultivators who’d worked in this secret realm didn’t have the slightest clue where the monsters came from.

“If I were her, I’d demand compensation from you too. Those things are absolutely miserable.” Linglong actually agreed with Youye’s sentiment this time.

Hua Jian’s surprises were just too surprising. Ordinary people couldn’t handle that sort of thing.

Thank goodness Tianmomen was a demonic sect that didn’t care much about their disciples’ lives.

If those little surprises of Hua Jian’s had eaten disciples from a Saint Sect, she’d be completely done for.

The first cultivator had been eaten alive, one bite at a time, in the most gruesomely bloody fashion imaginable!

And the second one was even worse—he endured agonizing torment before being burned to ashes by his own sectmates’ flames.

If something like that happened to Saint Sect disciples, they’d fight Hua Jian to the death.

A few words of compensation wouldn’t begin to cover it.

“Maybe study fewer of these clever tricks and learn some proper spirit techniques instead!”

Why are you spending all day researching those creepy positions and underhanded tactics? Wouldn’t it be better to practice standard spear techniques and movement arts?

In response to Linglong’s demand, Hua Jian insisted she was learning normal spirit techniques—she just couldn’t use them right now since she was hiding her identity.

Besides, these clever tricks didn’t even require research. One turn of her brain and the inspirations just kept flowing, unstoppable.

“I can be good at both, you know.” Hua Jian raised both hands, insisting that these weren’t underhanded tricks but genuinely practical abilities.

“And besides—if I can send these little guys who I don’t mind losing to do dangerous things instead of going myself, why wouldn’t I?”

Hua Jian’s philosophy was simple: never risk yourself if you don’t have to.

No matter how strong she was, no matter how good her one-on-one combat, sending fearless soldiers to grind enemies down was always better.

Going out personally always carried the risk of failure. But sending these little ones—even if they failed, it didn’t matter.

“I think you’re just prejudiced by how they look now, thinking they’re a bunch of monsters.”

Hua Jian argued passionately that Linglong was just a shallow appearance-judger who looked down on these plants’ aesthetics.

“Once I polish their bodies and make them as beautiful as real people, we’ll see if you still say that!”

Beautiful like real people on the outside, but undying puppets with monster insides?

Linglong imagined that scenario and felt Hua Jian was heading down yet another crooked path.

“I’m also researching whether I can let other people besides me control these puppets. If I can succeed—”

Linglong quickly pressed her tail against Hua Jian’s mouth. Enough, enough—please just stop talking.

You’re going way too far!

If Hua Jian’s words got out, she’d instantly become a major threat in the Right Path’s eyes.

So young and already this unprincipled—what would she be like when she grew up?

‘This woman cannot be allowed to live. She must be nipped in the bud, or she’ll turn the world upside down!’

Yeah, Tiandao Sect would probably come marching in with slogans to vanquish Hua Jian.

“Some things are fine to think about in your head, and even if you do them, don’t let anyone know—understand?” Linglong covered Hua Jian’s mouth, speaking with utmost seriousness.

“I’m not stupid. Of course I’d do this secretly—no one else would ever know.” Hua Jian chuckled twice.

It was precisely because she trusted Linglong that she’d shared this at all.

After all, even Xia Nong and Huaxin Rui didn’t know about this secret.

And in Hua Jian’s plans, those two little followers of hers were going to be the first round of test subjects—the results were meant for them to use.

That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone threatening her by going after the people around her.

If someone wanted to harm her two little followers, fine—their bodies were disposable anyway.

She’d just collect their souls and build them new bodies.

“But my strength isn’t quite enough right now. There are many things I can’t do perfectly yet.” Hua Jian sighed.

Ideas were ideas, but achieving them was another matter.

She was only a Ling Wang Realm cultivator. Creating puppet bodies indistinguishable from real humans was a bit beyond her current level.

The human body had far too many details and designs. Her current soulforce control precision wasn’t nearly enough to perfectly replicate one.

Whatever she made would end up being just a shell with no substance.

It could move, sure. But how it moved, whether it moved like a real person—that was anyone’s guess.

She might even end up creating uncanny valley movements, turning everything into a horror movie set.

“You’ll get better with time. Just work hard and don’t stray down the wrong path.”

“I thought you’d tell me not to do this at all.”

Based on Hua Jian’s understanding of Linglong, shouldn’t she be grabbing her shoulders right about now, lecturing her over and over about absolutely not doing such wicked things?

But Linglong didn’t seem to oppose what she was doing?

How strange.

“Even if I told you not to, you wouldn’t listen. Besides… you’re not like those demonic cultivators, right?”

Creating human-shaped puppets and controlling them with soulforce wasn’t actually a taboo.

The Right Path’s clone techniques used similar spirit arts.

What was forbidden was using taboo materials to shape bodies, then forcibly cramming other cultivators’ souls into those puppet bodies, turning them into a puppet army.

If both parties consented, then a cultivator replacing their own body with a sturdier puppet body wasn’t a big deal.

Though normally no one would do that anyway—the human body was an incredibly precise treasure, and not even a Spirit Lord or Saint Level cultivator could guarantee they could produce a puppet body with every detail perfect.

A puppet was just a puppet. It couldn’t compare to a true flesh body. The simplest example: puppets couldn’t cultivate.

Perhaps due to the manufacturing materials, puppet bodies might be physically stronger than normal bodies, and they could release spirit techniques using spiritual power.

But their cultivation ceiling was locked in place. Unless they changed bodies, that was all they’d ever have.

So when given the choice, no cultivator would give up their flesh body for a puppet one.

But some demonic cultivators, for personal gain, would trap cultivators’ souls within puppets, brainwashing and controlling those souls until they became the puppets’ cores.

That was the genuine Magic Path method—something the Saint Sects absolutely could not tolerate.

“Puppets are fine, but forcing people is not. Understood?”

“Understood. You know me—I’m a good person. I’d never do something so despicable!” Hua Jian immediately declared she wasn’t some low-class villain who forced others into things.

Her approach was all about consent. If Xia Nong and Huaxin Rui didn’t want it, of course she wouldn’t force them.

Besides, if those two girls could still use their own bodies, she wouldn’t need to make puppet bodies for them anyway, right?

At most, she’d have them use puppet bodies when venturing into dangerous areas to prevent accidents.

“You can trust my character. How bored would I have to be to go after your Right Path Saint Sects?”

This sentence made Linglong frown. She reached out and pinched Hua Jian’s cheek. “Do you really want to stay in Wanhuagu?”

What did she mean by “your Right Path Saint Sects”? With that phrasing, wasn’t Hua Jian putting herself on the side of the demonic Wanhuagu?

Hua Jian hadn’t expected a casual slip of the tongue to be interpreted that way by Linglong. She immediately began pleading for mercy.

“Just a habit, just a habit! I’ve been around Wanhuagu people this whole time. I can’t exactly say ‘your Wanhuagu, our Right Path,’ now can I?” She explained rapidly, assuring Linglong she would never betray the Right Path.

Though, strictly speaking, she’d never actually joined a Right Path Saint Sect.

At most, she’d signed an intent-to-join form—and before she’d even officially started, Wanhuagu had snatched her away.

Never joined, so how could she betray?