Chapter 60: Another Piece of Gossip Served Fresh. The Feng Shui of This Place Must Definitely Be Flawed...

Lin Zhao felt a bit mentally unstable. He had been rather exhausted lately; after all, one incident had followed another, and his trip to the Kingdom of Qigong was meant to be a combination of business discussions, relaxation, and sightseeing. Yet, look at all this absolute nonsense the Kingdom of Qigong was subjecting him to!

Listen to the kind of things these little creatures were saying.

"Instead of having the leisure for this, you'd better go round up those escaped puppets," Lin Zhao glanced at them. "As for the matter of the Puppet Heaven, we will discuss it with the Lord of Qi. Stop making trouble."

"How is this making trouble?" the puppets complained. "You have no idea how hard these puppets are to manage."

The Lord of Qi raised his gaze, his pupils narrowing into slender slits as he stared directly at them.

At that, the puppets stopped arguing. Some burrowed into the ground while others took flight, scattering out of their line of sight—likely realizing that they were rather grating to be around.

Thus, inside the library, a gentle breeze stirred the scattered scrolls, and Si Li descended beside them, letting out a soft sigh of relief.

With these little nuisances gone, the entire hall instantly felt vast and quiet. A harmonious and warm atmosphere pervaded the space, and even the surrounding books seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Si Li and Lin Zhao exchanged glances, and a corner of Si Li's mouth curled upward. "One can actually wander quite a bit inside the Puppet Heaven."

With that, he picked up a book and strolled leisurely toward the depths of the repository. Beside him, numerous books that had fallen to the floor sprouted two little corners and scampered along in pursuit. Many more leaped down from the bookshelves to join the literary marathon, forming a long, meandering serpent of texts trailing after him.

"This... A-Li, aren't you going to discuss something important with us? Why go off to read?" Looking at his leisurely departure, Lin Zhao was somewhat baffled. "Is he trying to be a slacker getting paid for nothing?"

"The Kingdom of Qigong is wealthy and doesn't lack this bit of compensation." Ji Yaoguang smiled and took his hand. "A-Li isn't wrong; the better we understand this Puppet Heaven, the easier it will be to help solve the problem. Besides, this broken place has been in this state for many years—the malpractice is deep-rooted, so it won't make a difference if it waits another day or two."

They slowly walked out of the library's corridor. Every object here seemed imbued with spiritual sentience; books, vases, sculptures, and even the potted flowers on the windowsill watched the two intruders with curious eyes.

Looking down at the hand holding his, Lin Zhao picked up a book at random and said with a surprised, delighted smile, "Old Tree, look, the illustrations in this book actually move."

"A spiritually infused illustrated book. It tells a love story," Ji Yaoguang said, taking hold of the other side of the book. After glancing at it for a moment, he was drawn in. "And it's a tragic love story..."

After the two of them watched the illustrations for a moment, Lin Zhao remarked with mild surprise, "Wait, the protagonists of this love story are two boys?"

Ji Yaoguang was right in the middle of being moved, and upon hearing this, could not help lowering his voice to say, "The two of them—one turned into a puppet, and the other into a secret artifact. Separated by the ends of the earth, they didn't even have human forms left, yet they still loved each other. Across thousands of rivers and mountains, after decades of struggle, they finally managed to see each other one last time before their spiritual sentience dissipated. And you're actually hung up on the fact that they're both boys?"

"Protagonists of a tearjerker, what's so strange about that?" Lin Zhao coughed lightly. "I'm just surprised that you... you don't seem to mind two boys being together at all."

"In the Witch State, you find all kinds of sorcery. Sometimes after a single battle, one's body suffers massive damage dozens of times over. Changing bodies is like changing clothes—want to be a man, be a man; want to be a woman, be a woman," Ji Yaoguang replied candidly. "So what does it matter whether they are male or female?"

"It doesn't matter," Lin Zhao felt as bright as the morning sun. "I didn't even realize you actually enjoyed reading love stories, Old Tree?"

Ji Yaoguang smiled faintly and replied with dignified restraint, "In the past, I was busy with official duties, reading only sorcery texts and regional state affairs. When I had a rare moment of leisure, I would simply find a quiet place to zone out like a tree, never having read these frivolous books. Having read one now, I must say it is somewhat inspiring..."

It was just that those seven years in the Vast Sea had been somewhat wasted; had he known, he should have brought several hundred sacks of romance novels to study properly.

"Then let's read two more, since we read quickly anyway." With a meeting of minds, Lin Zhao turned around, found the index books in the library, and hauled back a massive stack of volumes.

However, the first book he opened was not a romance.

"Oh, this is a..." Lin Zhao examined it closely. "A research book about the Puppet Heaven? How did this sneak in here?"

Ji Yaoguang said casually, "It doesn't matter, I have a romance in my hand..."

Seeing A-Zhao so engrossed in his reading, then looking down at the heavy tome in his own hand, he instantly lost interest in studying. Tossing the book aside, he sat down beside A-Zhao to accompany him in reading the volume titled *Secrets of the Puppet Heaven*.

Though called a book, it read more like a collection of transcribed diary entries.

...

[I have entered the Puppet Heaven. This place is just like the Kingdom of Qigong, practically identical. I somewhat dislike it, but I saw Mizhu, the person I love. This is a blessing—so much of a blessing that when I died, I felt no fear, only anticipation... I just feel somewhat sorry for my daughter; she is still so young and will have to live all by herself...]

[Mizhu actually doesn't remember me... Fortunately, she still remembers the child. I spoke of many things regarding Qingwan, and she finally believed I was her husband. We are living happily together again. I love the Puppet Heaven!]

[Didn't they say the Puppet Heaven requires no labor? Why do we still need to spend a large portion of every day doing workshop chores? That's not right. But since we've already arrived here, there's no helping it. Fortunately, I can still research my favorite subject—mathematics...]

[As expected, I am the most brilliant mathematics teacher in the academy. I have solved the laws of change for triangular number theory and plane curves under certain conditions. It's a pity that the achievements made in the Puppet Heaven cannot be sent back to the Kingdom of Qigong. But mathematics is so marvelous; what does fame matter?]

[Today, I discovered something amiss. The Puppet Heaven was born over three thousand years ago, but calculated by normal mortality rates, a total of over seventy million souls should have become puppets here. Yet according to my statistics and calculations, there are no more than ten million active puppets, and the vast majority of those are souls from the last few decades. Then, where have the rest of the souls gone?]

[I just tried to inquire about where the former souls went, but found no clues. It was as if anything related to it had been erased... I've felt someone lurking around me lately.]

[I heard the Puppet Heaven must fend off a great disaster, and I have been selected as a component part of the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet. I have a premonition that I won't be coming back.]

[I have recorded important news and evidence in this book. To avoid detection, I concealed the message within numbers. I hope someone in later generations will discover the functions within my mathematical discourse, find this book, and pass on what I know.]

[...I remember now. Many years after my memories were reduced to a blank slate, I solved the puzzle I left behind...]

[It's a fake! Everything is a fake! We've been deceived. There is no immortality, no happiness. We are merely materials, we are simply nutrients for the Puppet Heaven!]

[Beware... that Lord of Qi is no longer the Lord of Qi...]

The book ended there; the subsequent pages had been torn out.

Lin Zhao and Ji Yaoguang looked at each other in dismay.

"This—this pointing is far too obvious. It's practically an 'Open Letter Denouncing the Malpractices of the Lord of Qi and the Puppet Heaven,'" Lin Zhao remarked emotionally, toying with the book in his hand. "Lord Qingtian of Ji, are you going to seek justice for these puppets?"

Ji Yaoguang fell silent for a moment before slowly replying, "Putting aside the lack of evidence, even if this were true, we could only threaten the Lord of Qi not to treat these puppet spirits this way—neither A-Li nor my jurisdiction extends to the Lord of Qi. Furthermore, if he were to fall, the more than ten million citizens of the Kingdom of Qigong would have no other allied state to take them in. The reason the Witch State is exceptionally lenient toward the lords of Heavenly Witch States lies precisely in this: even though the Witch State provides many materials for the founding of these states, these nations are ultimately built by their people through arduous trials and relentless labor."

Despite the hierarchical relationship of superior and subordinate in terms of strength, these internal affairs of the allied states were exceedingly difficult for the Witch State to forcibly manage.

"No evidence..." Lin Zhao mused, turning over his store of knowledge... well, it probably wouldn't be needed, but it was no big deal! He reached out and patted the Old Tree on the shoulder. "Brother Yaoguang, your witchcraft is powerful. Use your ability to sense how many souls there are in this Puppet Heaven."

Ji Yaoguang calmed his mind and sensed the surroundings. "There is some interference, but it didn't affect me. In this Puppet Heaven, there is a total of 1,376,924 moving puppets, already excluding those seven administrative puppets."

"Brother Yaoguang is amazing!" Lin Zhao wrapped his arms around his neck, gave him a hug, and casually tossed the book back into the pile. "So the actual situation is already this much worse than what the book stated? This book's intelligence is completely outdated, yet it still had the nerve to come make a grievance report!"

The book aggrievedly crawled out on its four corners, extending a spine to point in a certain direction.

"You want us to follow you?"

The book jumped up and down, bent its body hard in a nodding motion, pointed in a specific direction, and flipped its pages frantically, as if the sky would fall if they didn't go right now.

Lin Zhao and Ji Yaoguang exchanged a glance. Lin Zhao stood up and said casually, "Lead the way."

This was the confidence of having the Old Tree around: carrying a max-level character for a carry, having top-tier equipment pilot the run. The feeling of being the boss was simply fantastic!

The little book had originally acted all stealthy, but upon receiving Lin Zhao's permission, it immediately straightened its spine and ran swiftly down the path in a swaggering manner, eventually dropping to all four corners as it sped along.

Following this, the sky around them gradually grew dim, turning into a pitch-black night filled with brilliant starlight.

The surrounding vegetation grew denser, and before they knew it, they had left the city far behind, approaching the wild forests at the edge of the mountains.

If it were in the past, Lin Zhao would certainly have felt guarded against such a dense forest. However, with the Old Tree by his side, the woods were just home—there was nothing to be afraid of!

Holding hands and humming a tune, he walked right in.

There was a passageway within the forest, but at a glance, it was a two-meter-high fissure. Beyond the fissure lay a brightly lit study room, from which the rustling sound of writing could be heard.

"Is this Puppet Heaven practically riddled with leaks everywhere by now?" Lin Zhao walked slowly to the edge of the fissure, watching the little book leap back and forth across it to signal them to enter. He couldn't help but sigh that the Kingdom of Qigong was truly doomed!

"The puppets of a micropoliticist are always like this; they constantly run into various issues and get repaired. After the repair, the original problem disappears, but even more issues arise, or worse, they get broken beyond fixing," Ji Yaoguang smiled slightly. "The Puppet Heaven has been in use for nearly three thousand years; running into some problems isn't surprising."

"Speaking of which, where is the Lord of Qi? I've been here for so long, why hasn't he come out to see you?" Lin Zhao pinched the resilient muscles of the Old Tree. "Given your status, he really ought to come out and pay his respects."

"The Lord of Qi detests seeing people and usually communicates with others through puppets," Ji Yaoguang smiled and said. "He ordinarily stays hidden inside the castle of the armillary sphere. Both A-Li and I haven't seen him in person for a long time."