The old man stared in absolute astonishment at the beautiful Qingyi puppet outside. Throughout his life, he had been obsessed with the arts of puppetry, alchemy, and talismans, yet he had never seen such a beautiful puppet. Typically, puppets were forged from refined iron; even his own masterwork was little more than a hulking armored giant of iron, mimicking a human form at best. How could this young man have carved refined iron into the likeness of a beautiful woman?
More shocking still was the fact that this young man possessed the skill of puppetry. How was that possible? The art was not simple; to achieve mastery required years of dedicated study. It was simply impossible for someone so young. *Perhaps,* the old man speculated, *this puppet was crafted by some grandmaster and gifted to him?*
As he pondered this, his giant puppet lunged at Ye Chen. Qingyi, gripping her Immortal Sword, met the attack head-on.
Chapter 126