Chapter 2561: Once Again Forced to Improvise

"Holy crap!" Everyone in the Doukou Garden had been watching the show quite comfortably, but caught off guard by this line, they all gasped in unison. This little brat might not know that Hu Xin's core had been swapped, but she still remembered Hu Xin's opinion of her from before!

She felt a bit wronged: "Quite a few people here don't like me."

She was a yao-puppet; while the guards and yao-puppet masters found her cute, they also remembered her identity.

The Blood Demon had even readied himself to strike.

If Duan He Yun grew suspicious, how could she take him and these two guards down without alerting the Lingyun Palace?

Duan He Yun's cultivation wasn't ordinary either.

Fortunately, Duan He Yun's attention was entirely on A-Lian — or rather, on his own research. What the hell was Hu Xin? In his eyes, she was no different from a wooden stake. So he didn't spare He Lingchuan another thought, not even a proper glance, merely pressing:

"Since when did you become able to sense others' feelings toward you?"

Everyone inside the Doukou Garden let out a long breath.

Phew, thank goodness, thank goodness.

Only then did Zhu Xiuer have the leisure to gossip: "Did Duan He Yun once have a daughter named A-Lian?"

He Lingchuan couldn't speak to answer right now, but he knew the answer.

Sixty years ago, Duan He Yun had a daughter named A-Lian with his first wife; she was pretty and lovable, and he treasured her like the apple of his eye. But the child drowned at age five, and Duan He Yun was devastated.

So many years had passed; He Lingchuan never expected that he would actually treat his own test subject as A-Lian's replacement.

But yao-puppet masters are one of the strangest groups under heaven — if they don't have a personality, they have a quirk. According to the data Cang Yan gathered, some yao-puppet masters even maintain improper relations with their own creations, so Duan He Yun's transference of affection isn't all that shocking.

"Mhm—" A-Lian blinked her big eyes. "About seven days ago, I think."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared." A-Lian said softly. "Didn't dare say."

Duan He Yun rubbed her hair: "If something like this happens again, tell me promptly."

A-Lian nodded obediently, then asked him: "Do I still have to serve as He Lu Tian Shen's vessel?"

Duan He Yun said gently: "That problem will be solved."

Those words were debatable, but A-Lian revealed a relieved smile, then buried her head in his embrace.

The Blood Demon, however, sneered: "This little girl's a liar! A liar's liar!"

The Mirror immediately pressed: "How do you know?"

"Look closely at her pupils — they didn't dilate, they constricted. She understands perfectly well what Duan He Yun's words mean, that's why she's afraid." The Blood Demon stated with certainty. "But on the surface she still has to pretend to be ignorant and gullible, burying her head in Duan He Yun's arms — also afraid he'll spot her tell."

"So Xiao Ping wasn't wrong, huh?" The Mirror exclaimed. "Such a young age and already so scheming."

"You can't judge her mind by her appearance and age." The Blood Demon just chuckled. "From the moment I was born, I saw through the rotten darkness of this world."

"Who can be like you?" The Mirror habitually retorted, then continued: "She's only been born half a year, and she was made from fragments of the Hidden God Lord — do you think the Hidden God Lord's true self would be that calculating?"

"Most likely not." It wasn't that the Blood Demon looked down on True Immortals, but an aggregative fungal organism — by nature it shouldn't have those twisted guts, right?

Right then Dong Rui was also in the Doukou Garden pondering: "This little girl is interesting; I really want to see her production ratio."

Immortal Ming Ke asked humbly: "Didn't Duan He Yun say she was made from fragments of the Hidden God Lord?"

"The sea stars we saw in the Baiwan Mountain small world — they're all fragments of the Hidden God Lord. Which one of them has this kind of intelligence?" Dong Rui analyzed. "You could say A-Lian's sentience is a fluke, one in ten thousand, but as yao-puppet masters we're more willing to believe something in there played a key role. Look at Duan He Yun's expression — he's clearly pondering this too."

Immortal Ming Ke interjected: "Could it be God Blood? You all use God Blood when making yao-puppets, right?"

The Mu Kingdom and Lingshan have destroyed quite a few Heavenly Demon experiment sites; today's Immortals are no strangers to yao-puppets made with God Blood.

"Of course God Blood is used! That's a correct piece of nonsense." Dong Rui rolled his eyes. "But how God Blood is used is extremely particular. You have to know — given the Hidden God Lord's own power, ordinary God Blood has zero effect on it."

The immense power contained in God Blood stimulates the bodies of ordinary creatures and yaoguai to mutate — that is the basic principle of yao-puppet crafting.

But the Hidden God Lord's power far surpasses ordinary Heavenly Demons; God Blood cannot produce that effect on it.

"Then... can it still be used?"

"It definitely can; otherwise the barrier between the Hidden God Lord's fragments and a human blastocyst would be absolute, and fusion would be utterly impossible!" Dong Rui gritted his teeth. "I just haven't figured out what role the God Blood plays in between!"

This topic is too new; he has no time to research it, no time!

Zhu Xiuer cut off everyone's discussion: "Hey, can we not rush to exclaim in admiration first? What do we do now? Hurry up and come up with a plan! Do we want to find a way to take down this surnamed Duan? He definitely has the passage seal for the Liuli Sea!"

She was anxious like a spider on a hot pan.

"If we move against him, the entire Lian Valley will surely shake. Can we still go to the Liuli Sea?" Dong Rui opposed. "The Hidden God Lord is our primary target."

Duan He Yun comforted A-Lian a few more words, then stood up to leave.

The Hu Xin played by He Lingchuan stepped forward and spoke in a low voice: "Master Duan."

Time waits for no one; he had to improvise again.

Hu Xin had stood off to the side like a log earlier; Duan He Yun had certainly seen her, but his full attention was on A-Lian and Xiao Ping.

"The thing I told you to fetch — how did you end up giving it to Xiao Ping?"

He Lingchuan realized: so the Ancient Text and the Nine Linked Rings were things Duan He Yun had instructed Hu Xin to obtain.

"Master Duan, it was Master Xiao who sent Xiao Yun to demand them from me."

Duan He Yun merely muttered a random rebuke and was about to leave, clearly in no mood.

He Lingchuan glanced again at A-Lian in the garden; this girl was staring at him too.

He pulled a small cloth bag from his sleeve, opened it for Duan He Yun to see:

"Master Duan, these are candies brought back from Baisong City. Can Miss A-Lian eat them?"

A-Lian's nose was sharp; the moment the bag opened, she caught a whiff of sweet fragrance and immediately stood up from the ground.

Not only do children love candy, adults also like sweets. Baisong City has many craftsmen; fruit cakes and pastry shops line the streets.

Duan He Yun took a look — the bag held sesame peanut nougat, plum hard candies, soft glutinous mung bean cakes, and various other candies he couldn't name.

"She can."

A-Lian is no ordinary girl; even if it were gut-shredding poison, she could drink it like sugar water.

(End of Chapter)