Chapter 335: Human Puppet

This sudden reversal caught Hua Tianxiong completely off guard.

"Th-this is..."

His entire demeanor worsened, and an expression of disbelief immediately surfaced on his face.

Although he was at the early stage of Jin Dan, his cultivation had been piled up entirely through pills, leaving his combat experience severely lacking.

He would struggle even against a cultivator of the same realm, let alone one at the mid-stage of Jin Dan, a full major step above him.

"What? Did Your Excellency travel a thousand li just to haggle with me?" Qin Ming asked with an amused expression as he looked at Hua Tianxiong.

Hua Tianxiong's facial features twitched, and his eyelids jumped uncontrollably.

Given his shrewdness, he quickly deduced the ins and outs of the situation.

Where in this world are there so many bargains to be found? Clearly, the other party had planned this long ago, targeting him specifically.

Hua Tianxiong couldn't help but secretly regret letting momentary greed cloud his judgment.

Yet, the traits ingrained in one's bones are not so easily changed overnight.

A third-stage late-period Soul Bead is not something so easily obtained; it was too late for regrets now.

"Oh? Hehehe!"

"So, Fellow Daoist is one of us!"

"I see now... In that case, I agree to exchange Core-Formation spiritual items with you."

"What do you think?"

Fine beads of sweat seeped from Hua Tianxiong's forehead, his spine turning cold, as he could only hope that reinforcements from behind would arrive here quickly.

At this moment, he was merely feigning cooperation with Qin Ming, trying to buy some time.

Qin Ming also saw through Hua Tianxiong's little trick, revealed a faint smile, and said lightly to him, "I suddenly don't want to sell the Soul Pill anymore."

Saying this,

Qin Ming paused briefly before continuing, "I have a treasure that is destined to be with Fellow Daoist Hua; I wish for you to take a look."

"Uh... what treasure?"

Hua Tianxiong's fat face twitched, and an ominous premonition arose in his heart.

"It is not convenient to view it here; I will take you to a place where you can appreciate it properly!" After speaking, Qin Ming's gaze suddenly turned sharp.

He released a powerful spiritual pressure to lock onto Hua Tianxiong, and in the next instant, his entire figure vanished into thin air.

Hua Tianxiong's eyes filled with panic as he felt a massive force of divine consciousness firmly control him, leaving him unable to move.

Immediately after, his vision blurred, and he felt a large hand strangely appear behind him, lifting his entire body up.

After a moment of disorientation,

when Hua Tianxiong opened his eyes again, he was astonished to find himself in a strange space, resembling a blessed grotto-heaven.

"This..."

But what brought him even greater despair followed: three powerful third-stage Demon Kings were surrounding him, staring at him with tiger-like intensity.

Among them, the rat demon even spoke in human language, saying mockingly, "Master, what do you intend to do with this fat-headed, big-eared cultivator?"

"You don't plan to make him till the land, do you?"

Qin Ming smiled faintly, waved a single hand, and a black rune appeared in his palm.

Then, under Hua Tianxiong's terrified gaze, he struck this black talisman into the other man's body.

Given Hua Tianxiong's strength, he naturally could not offer any resistance.

"Ahhh!"

Immediately after, a piercing scream echoed throughout the Small Xiao Lingjing; Hua Tianxiong clutched his head, his features twisted, rolling and struggling on the ground.

Simultaneously, torrents of information flowed continuously into Qin Ming's mind.

From Hua Tianxiong's childhood, fleeing disaster and famine to reach the Immortal Realm, struggling to survive with not enough food to fill his stomach.

Then, after more than ten years of scrambling and fighting, he became a shop assistant to make a living.

Next, by a stroke of luck, he saved an elder of the Brother Li Huo Palace who had collapsed in the firewood shed of the backyard, beginning his rapid ascent, soaring straight up, advancing triumphantly... and awakening his spiritual body.

With the support of the Brother Li Huo Palace elder, he advanced to the Jin Dan stage after a hundred years, established the vast Thousand Mechanisms Merchant House, broke into the top ten of the Wan Dao Shang Alliance, and enjoyed endless wealth and glory... all of Hua Tianxiong's memories from this journey flashed through Qin Ming's mind.

Half an incense stick later.

Hua Tianxiong stopped screaming and lay on the ground, trembling.

"Wh-what did you do to me?" he asked tremulously.

"Hehe, I merely planted a restriction inside your body; there is no need to be nervous," Qin Ming said with a strange smile.

Upon hearing this, Hua Tianxiong's face turned pale and powerless, and he immediately sank his consciousness to sense internally.

Indeed, just as the other had said, a black talisman was floating quietly within his sea of consciousness.

He had a feeling that this black talisman controlled his life and death; if he dared to make any move, he would surely die miserably.

The soul-crushing pain he had just experienced was something he would rather die than go through again.

He, Hua Tianxiong, was a man of iron bones; although he did not fear death, he feared pain! "No need to look further; this black talisman was refined exclusively by me; even a Yuan Ying Qin Zhenjun cannot remove it," Qin Ming said lightly.

Hua Tianxiong asked with a grim expression, "Fellow Daoist, I have no grievance or feud with you; why must you do this..."

"What exactly do you want?"

"Hehe! No grievance or feud?" Qin Ming chuckled lightly, then transformed once again into the appearance of Shopkeeper Lu.

After seeing this clearly, Hua Tianxiong acted as if he had seen a ghost, pointing at Qin Ming and stammering, "You... it was you all along..."

He recalled the cultivator he had met briefly not long ago on Qilin Island.

"From now on, you must obey my every command."

"If you harbor even a single bad thought, the black talisman will transmit it to me."

"And then, you will die a terrible death."

Qin Ming's expression was calm, as if he were stating something utterly trivial.

Hua Tianxiong's face contorted in struggle; he understood clearly that his own life had already fallen into the other's hands.

After thinking for a long while, he deflated like a punctured ball and accepted the unfair fact of his fate.

"May I ask how I should address you, Daoist friend? What would you have me do?"

Qin Ming smiled faintly at the sight. "You may call me Master. From now on, simply follow my orders. Who knows, if I'm in a good mood someday, I might even spare your life."

He had already obtained quite a bit of information from Hua Tianxiong's memories, so there wasn't much more he needed to ask him.

He only said to him: "After you go back, carry on as before. When I need you to do something, I'll contact you through the black talisman."

Hua Tianxiong's jowls trembled as he finished listening. He bowed respectfully to Qin Ming and said, "Yes, Master."

"Mm, you may go back first."

"Your men outside are running around in circles looking for you."

"Oh, and three months from now, the trade fair at Five Elements Mountain — you must go in person." Qin Ming finished speaking and, without giving Hua Tianxiong a chance to explain, sent him straight out of the Small Xiao Lingjing.

The outside world.

Shopkeeper Wei, leading the people of Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, was searching everywhere near the mountain range for traces of the two.

A white-robed elder exuding the aura of mid Jin Dan, his brows tightly furrowed, said to Shopkeeper Wei: "That's odd? I clearly sensed the Guild Leader's aura appearing here — how did it suddenly vanish? And not even a trace left behind?"

Shopkeeper Wei was frantic as well; after all, this transaction was his responsibility to receive, and if anything happened to President Hua, he'd be in deep trouble.

"Elder Xiao, this junior truly does not know."

Just then.

A streak of purple escape-light arrived in an instant from afar. When the light dispersed, it revealed Hua Tianxiong's figure.

But his face was pale, his expression so gloomy it looked as if water might drip from it.

"President Hua, you're safe — that's all that matters!"

Shopkeeper Wei, seeing Hua Tianxiong unharmed, hurried forward with a plastered smile, nodding and bowing as he spoke.

Hua Tianxiong, seeing him in such a state, was instantly furious.

He himself had been enjoying the attentions of beauties on the seventh floor today, everything perfectly fine.

If not for this fellow suddenly barging in and leading him straight into a massive pit, things wouldn't have come to this.

The more Hua Tianxiong thought about it, the angrier he got.

Slap! Hua Tianxiong's palm struck Shopkeeper Wei across the face, instantly sending him flying dozens of zhang away.

Blood sprayed through the air; a row of Shopkeeper Wei's teeth were knocked out, his right cheek swelling up high.

……

(End of chapter)