It was common knowledge that one thousand two hundred spirit stones could not buy a custom handmade puppet from the Yanshi Sect's inner disciples.
The puppet body before them had been made by the current sect master himself three years ago. At the time, it had cost two million spirit stones, not even counting the clothing and accessories. The hair ribbon he had left by the pool alone was worth over a hundred thousand.
An ordinary Yanshi inner disciple's handmade puppet started at at least two hundred thousand.
Just then, the young woman turned around and lifted her clear, bright eyes to look at him.
Fu Tingyun tilted his chin up, looking down at the small whorl of hair on the crown of her head.
Unless she was crazy, stupid, or blind, there was no way she would trade him for that piece of trash worth one thousand two hundred.
Su Xiaoyuan shifted her gaze away and smiled sweetly at her best friend. "Thanks, Kaishan."
Fu Tingyun turned his head away.
Su Xiaoyuan really was reluctant to give up this face, and she didn't want one of those greasy male-model puppet humans either. But ultimately, she had bought a puppet human for practice. If it couldn't even take off its pants, then no matter how authoritative the face was, it was useless.
Without practice, she couldn't pass the inner sect exam. Without entering the inner sect, she couldn't pursue Fu Tingyun. And without pursuing Fu Tingyun, she couldn't go home.
An hour had passed, and neither of them had managed a proper bath.
Ruan Mianmian said, "It's about time for the meal. Want to go eat?"
After all that commotion, Su Xiaoyuan had no appetite. She shook her head. "I'll just take a Fasting Pill. I'm a bit tired and want to go back to sleep."
Ruan Mianmian nodded. "I won't eat either. There's no Pixiu stir-fried pork tonight anyway. Let's go." She was a Golden Core Stage Body Cultivator and had long since achieved Bigu Fasting. Eating was purely for pleasure.
Su Xiaoyuan glanced at the Song Jinshu puppet cowering and trembling in the corner, wondering what he had just been through.
"What about him…" she asked her best friend cautiously, afraid of setting her off again. "Return him tomorrow?"
Ruan Mianmian gnashed her teeth. "No! He deceived my feelings. I'm keeping him to work like a horse and an ox! He's also going to help me and the one-thousand-two-hundred make the beds!"
Su Xiaoyuan was speechless.
Ruan Mianmian roared at the puppet human, "Get over here, Song Jinshu!"
The puppet human clamped his knees together and stood up with pigeon-toed feet. "At your command, Master."
Then he curled himself into a ball and literally rolled over.
Su Xiaoyuan was speechless.
The two of them brought their respective puppets and chatted as they headed back to the outer sect disciple dormitories.
Fu Tingyun quickly learned from their rambling chatter that this place was the Yunyu Sect, and that the young woman was an outer sect disciple of the Yunyu Sect who had somehow, by some stroke of luck, come into possession of this puppet.
Fu Tingyun had some knowledge of every named sect in the Three Realms, and he also knew what the Yunyu Sect—one of the three major factions of the Hehuan Sect—did. He vaguely remembered that a few years ago, his third senior sister had been entangled with one of the Yunyu Sect's elders for a while.
But all of that was far removed from him. No Charm Cultivator would be foolish enough to approach him.
Fu Tingyun looked around. The vegetation here was lush and the Spiritual Qi dense, though it contained too many impurities—far less pure than the towering, sheer cliffs of Longji Peak.
Not ideal, but tolerable. After all, he only had to endure three months.
Just then, the young woman stopped in front of a small courtyard. Their destination had arrived.
Each outer sect disciple of the Yunyu Sect had their own small courtyard, though smaller than those of the inner sect disciples. After all, some practices were too loud and easily disturbed others.
Su Xiaoyuan waved goodbye to her best friend and pushed open the wooden door, which was slightly ajar.
Her courtyard had never hosted any guests other than Ruan Mianmian. Although a Puppet Human didn't count as a person, she was still so nervous that her heart raced.
"The courtyard is a bit small."
Small was an understatement. Fu Tingyun didn't understand why anyone would call this a courtyard.
Su Xiaoyuan inexplicably felt looked down upon by this Puppet Human again. But he was dressed so well—his previous owner must have been very wealthy, perhaps a rich man with a large estate.
She wondered how he had ended up in a secondhand warehouse.
Was it because his brain was broken?
She reasoned it out: a wealthy owner would certainly not buy a congenitally intellectually disabled Puppet Human. This one had probably been scrapped and that was why he had ended up on the secondhand market.
"By the way, Fu Tingyun," she asked, pretending to be casual, "do you remember who your previous owner was?"
"I remember."
Su Xiaoyuan had only asked offhandedly, but she hadn't expected him to actually remember. "Who was it?"
Fu Tingyun didn't answer. He gave her an indifferent glance, leaving her to figure it out herself.
Immortal Venerable Lingyue had no obligation to answer anyone's questions.
Sure enough, it was no good without giving an instruction. Su Xiaoyuan sighed inwardly and asked again, "Fu Tingyun, who was your previous owner? Please answer."
"Fu Tingyun."
"Yes, your name is Fu Tingyun." Su Xiaoyuan slowed her speech, using the patient tone of a kindergarten teacher for the youngest class. "But what I'm asking is who your previous owner was. Can you tell me? Fu Tingyun?"
"Yes."
"Who was it? Fu Tingyun?"
"Fu Tingyun."
"Yes, you remembered your own name so quickly. That's great!" Su Xiaoyuan, afraid of wounding the Puppet Human's possibly nonexistent self-esteem, praised him with a smile.
The Puppet Human lifted his thin eyelids and shot her a glance from the corner of his sharp eyes, then turned his head away.
Was he angry? Could Puppet Humans also feel impotent rage?
Su Xiaoyuan sighed and gave up. At least his face was truly handsome, and his legs were truly long.
His legs were far too long. She stood on her tiptoes and carefully measured—she estimated that this Puppet Human was about thirty centimeters taller than her, at least one meter ninety.
The door frame of the small wooden house reached only to his forehead. Su Xiaoyuan hadn't thought the house was very short before, but when he stood in front of the door, the house suddenly seemed miniature.
She took out a key from the Storage Pouch at her waist, opened the door of the small wooden house, and pushed it inward gently, saying, "Please come in… it might be a bit messy inside…"
Su Xiaoyuan lowered her head in embarrassment.
When Fu Tingyun was young, he couldn't stand chaotic lights, colors, and sounds. Later, as his Cultivation Base grew deeper, he became less particular about his environment.
Those colorless, shadowless lamps in the Wuji Hall had been custom-made years ago; he simply couldn't be bothered to replace them.
He lowered his gaze and caught a glimpse of the small stretch of neck exposed above the girl's collar, the fine down gilded gold by the setting sun. He withdrew his gaze.
Since he was here, he might as well make the best of it.
Su Xiaoyuan felt embarrassed not because the room was actually messy—she had just tidied it that morning.
It was just that she had lived in this small dormitory for a year, and it counted as her home in this world. Bringing a Puppet she had known for less than a day back home gave her a sense of shame and unease, as if her private space had been invaded.
Watching the Puppet Human bend down and duck his head to step over the threshold, her heart leaped to her throat.
In the cramped space, the Puppet Human's presence and sense of oppression were even stronger.
That sense of "overwhelming pressure" she had felt when she first saw him in the warehouse came crashing down on her once again.
Su Xiaoyuan felt her breathing grow labored. She hurried to the south-facing window and pushed it open as wide as it would go.
The evening breeze blew into the small room, billowing the white window gauze.
She turned back and saw the Puppet Human bathed in the setting sun, his eyes slightly closed, so beautiful it made one forget to breathe.
Su Xiaoyuan decided to keep him.
Even if the chastity belt wouldn't come off, he could just stay in her room as a decoration.
Fu Tingyun looked around, closed his eyes, and nearly suffocated.
He turned his head and glanced at the young girl.
This place was more than just a little messy—every "a little" that came out of this person's mouth was utterly untrustworthy.
Ever since he had wiped out the Demon Den and sealed the Chaos Realm at fifteen, he had never seen such a chaotic place.
He could not understand how such a narrow, cramped room—smaller than a box—had been stuffed by her with so many, such tiny, such disordered, indescribable things.
Su Xiaoyuan saw the Puppet Human quietly surveying his new home, and following his gaze, she reviewed her cozy little room herself, feeling quite satisfied.
Small as a sparrow, but complete in every organ.
Against the east wall was a small single bed with a frame, with two layers of gauze canopy—one white, one pale mint green—embroidered with daisy petals.
Opposite the bed was a standard five-tier small wooden cabinet, but she had repainted it and replaced the drawer handles with little cat paw shapes. Beside the cabinet were several stacked wicker chests holding seasonal clothing, bedding, handkerchiefs, hair ribbons, and the like. Next to those was a washbasin stand, holding a bronze basin, a small wooden foot-soaking bucket, a clean cloth towel hanging, and a small porcelain cup for brushing teeth, a homemade toothbrush, and green salt tooth powder in a porcelain box…
Although cultivators could clean their bodies with magic spells, she had spent eighteen years as a modern person, and the habits she had formed were hard to break. She always felt that without water, she just couldn't get clean.
Under the south window was a small wooden table that served as both a desk and a vanity, and occasionally had to double as a dining table. On it were stacked wooden boxes full of small odds and ends, a brush holder carved from bamboo root, various bottles and jars, charcoal pencils and paints she had made herself, seashells and pretty stones picked up from the beach, gemstone bead strings bought at the market, a phoenix eggshell of unknown authenticity, Flood Dragon Scales, a Spirit Paper Frog that would croak and hop all over the room with just a bit of Spiritual Power injected into it…
Beside the table was an easel she had bound together herself with bamboo poles and hemp rope. On the wooden board was clipped a half-finished quick sketch—fan art she had drawn for a 2D ship she had shipped in her past life…
Even though she was a coward, the ships she shipped were wild!
Su Xiaoyuan hurriedly lunged toward the easel, took down the drawing board, and flipped it face-down on the table.
She stole a glance at the Puppet Human and saw that he was only indifferently surveying his surroundings. She secretly let out a breath of relief.
The setting sun was shining right on the painting, and the glare was harsh—he probably couldn't see it, right?
Yet Fu Tingyun had taken in everything in the entire room with a single sweep of his eyes, including the thing she had frantically hidden away.
It was a half-finished painting, depicting two seductive-looking men locked in an embrace, kissing.
The drawing technique was quite crude—did she know that herself?
Hiding it away in such a panic like that—she probably did.
Su Xiaoyuan patted her burning cheeks, then picked up a translucent round-bellied glass bottle from the table, filled with fruit candies she had made herself.
We transmigrators who come to another world all like to recreate some foods from our original world, to ease our homesickness.
In the world of cultivation, aside from exotic flowers and fruits rich in spiritual power, there are also some ordinary mortal fruits. Elder Sang's Huanhua Island has an orange grove, and these candies were made from the oranges she picked there.
She was just about to pour one out to eat when she suddenly met the Puppet Human's eyes.
Her parents had taught her since childhood that eating alone was impolite.
So she first asked the Puppet Human: "Fu Tingyun, can Puppet Humans eat things?"
A twelve-hundred-tael piece of trash couldn't, but a high-grade Puppet Human like him could.
It was just that eating served no purpose—he couldn't absorb spiritual power from food or pills, and whatever he ate would quickly melt away and dissipate without a trace.
But what she asked was whether he could, so he answered: "I can."
"Have you ever eaten candy? Fu Tingyun?"
Fu Tingyun had begun Bigu Fasting at the age when he was still nursing, and had never eaten any solid food in his life.
"No."
"Then try some," she said, handing him the bottle. "These are fruit candies I made myself."
The Puppet Human didn't take it. He didn't need to.
But Su Xiaoyuan thought he simply didn't understand, so she poured one out into her own palm.
The pale orange translucent candy rolled around on her palm, glinting in the setting sun. A fresh, slightly tart fragrance was carried off by the cool breeze, filling the room.
"This is candy. It's very sweet. Try it," Su Xiaoyuan said to the Puppet Human.
The Puppet Human remained unmoved.
"Don't you know how to eat?" Su Xiaoyuan muttered, then picked up the candy and held it to his lips. "Open your mouth, Fu Tingyun."
Fu Tingyun parted his lips and took the candy from her fingertip into his mouth.
Su Xiaoyuan felt a faint dampness at her fingertip and hastily withdrew her hand, her face burning again.
She hadn't known that a Puppet Human's lips and tongue were moist just like a real person's.
There was an inexplicable tickle in her heart, as if she'd been licked by a feline.
"Um… you still don't know my name, right…" Su Xiaoyuan rubbed her fingertip, making small talk to ease the awkwardness. "My name is Su Xiaoyuan. You can also call me Xiaoyuan. Repeat after me—Fu Tingyun—Xiao, Yuan."
Fu Tingyun felt threads of an unfamiliar taste melting on the tip of his tongue. So this flavor was called sweet.
His gaze fell on the girl's face, where the setting sun cast patches of light. Her luminous skin was dyed the color of orange candy.
The candy on his tongue had already melted, but the taste lingered for a long time.
"Xiao, Yuan."