Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 568 - 529: Entering Chrysanthemum Garden is as Deep as the Sea

Chapter 568: Chapter 529: Entering Chrysanthemum Garden is as Deep as the Sea

It was just a few breaths’ worth of time.

In this once bustling small town, the scholars, common folk, and prostitutes...

seemed controlled by countless invisible threads, moving in uniform steps from all directions toward Duke Wu Temple, singing and dancing as they went:

"Carving wood and pulling strings, beauty and white hair just the same. Twirling sleeves before the light, casting long shadows. Joy and sorrow, partings and reunions, indistinguishable laughter and cries. Facing each other, all are guests in the Yellow Millet Dream..."

They encircled Wu Wencai and the woman who had violated the "Theater Rules," ushering them into the center and into the temple.

Behind them, hundreds, thousands... more and more people gathered, yet surprisingly orderly, without any noise or accidental stampedes.

The boisterous sound of gongs and drums contrasted sharply with this.

"Tak tak... tak tak..."

The remaining eight people only felt cold all over, their teeth chattering uncontrollably, all huddled in a corner too frightened to move, not even Senior Brother Song Qian were exceptions.

Wang Yuan and the Great Fate saw much more than these mortals did.

As the townspeople passed by them, they keenly noticed that most of these people’s bodies displayed little normal flesh.

Some were partially flesh, while other parts had turned into the wooden structure of puppets.

But the vast majority had already become completely wooden, with joints connected to long, taenia-like threads moving in and out.

Lying down, sitting up... their bodies completely controlled by the threads, with only the brain thoroughly reduced to an ornament.

It was chilling.

It also made Wang Yuan and the Great Fate take even more care to hide.

"Tak tak... The place where we first appeared really was one scene in this puppet show, this whole town is a theatrical stage!

Is this the power of the Heavenly Official?

My ability in Colorful Play Tower in the ’Yan Master’ arts, doesn’t even qualify to tie His shoes..."

Song Qian, a mage and a Yin God in life, had noticed something off about this place from the start.

Though the practitioners of the Six Desires and Mortal Dust Dao in the [Colorful Play Tower] also mastered the art of puppet manipulation, they understood it quite well.

But even for someone embodying the great achievements of this Daoist Skill, transforming someone into a puppet also required adhering to extremely strict Precept Taboos.

Not to mention them, even a slightly vigilant mortal would not fall for it.

Ability: After setting the puppet tether lines, depending on the range distinguishability, satisfying different conditions allows turning living and newly deceased people into living puppets.

Within one li and outside of ten feet, when a puppet repeats "one two three, wooden man" three times, if the opponent hasn’t moved, they will be captured.

However, if during the transformation process they are subject to a heavy impact from external forces, they can be returned to normal.

Once the secret is known, even an ordinary person, just by running away the moment they hear "one two three, wooden man," can escape unharmed.

But this Puppet Theater is entirely different.

The rules are more incomprehensible and absolute – even if Green Seal Sage came here, once a taboo is broken, escape becomes impossible.

Those who had just been fantasizing about a wonderful life in the Heavenly Realm, upon seeing this sight, suddenly felt like cold water was dumped on them.

Muttering to themselves:

"Isn’t it said that the mortal world is full of oppressive tyrants and greedy nobles, with only the Thirty-Three Heavens being a paradise?

I’ve seen countless followers sell their fields and houses, sell their sons and daughters, eat poorly themselves just to donate money to the temple to have a good life after death.

Could it be that those Temple Officials had been deceiving us all along?!"

Before others could respond, a somewhat hoarse, unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded by their ears:

"Wrong! Greatly mistaken!

One mustn’t look only at the surface, what is there wrong with life following a set script?

Soon you will understand, this ’Puppet Theater’ is actually the happiest place in the entire Yellow Millet Village, even in the Thirty-Three Heavens!"

Senior Brother Song and the possessing Wang Yuan felt a chill down their spines and suddenly turned around.

They hadn’t noticed that a "person" had somehow stationed themselves right behind them.

It was an Old Temple Official dressed in lavish ceremonial robes.

Undoubtedly, in the spiritual sense of Wang Yuan and the Great Fate, this was also a lifelike wooden puppet, with hair like silver threads and eyes like gems.

While other puppets uniformly started the temple fair, he alone could move freely about.

It was somewhat difficult to discern whether this "nonconformity" stemmed from his brain or the dozens of threads hanging on him.

This Old Temple Official bowed gently to the crowd with a kindly face:

"I invite you, ’audience,’ inside the temple to participate in the ’Fate Lots Drawing’ ceremony for two new members.

When the ceremony is over, you will surely have a drastically different view of life in the theater."

[4. If a performer invites you to cooperate in the performance, please be sure to agree.]

[5. Only after the performance concludes can the audience proceed to the next destination.]

Even though they knew agreeing would inevitably lead to unknown risks, given the example set by their two companions, none dared to defy the rules.

They had no choice but to follow the Temple Official into Duke Wu Temple obediently.

The first thing that caught their eyes inside was not the statues or the altar, but a huge semi-transparent curtain hanging from the center of the temple’s main hall.

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