As the weird doll continued talking, Mei Rulan entered a mild meditative state and scanned the surroundings, relying not only on her senses but also on her ability to detect qi to scrutinize the situation.

1..2…6.

She was surrounded by six dolls in total. They were wielding various bladed weapons, such as swords, sabers, and knives, and judging on their reaction to the barrage she threw at them earlier, they knew how to use them.

Though perhaps calling them dolls or saying they ‘know’ something didn’t quite illustrate the nature of their being. It was just a thought shortcut.

In truth, they were nothing but human-shaped weapons. Although they resembled a person and had traces of life’s energy within, Mei Rulan couldn’t sense a will or intelligence from any of them except the one who held the talking head.

It’s that doll’s killing intend she reacted to earlier. If not for that, she’d already be dead.

But wait a minute. If such was the case, why was this doll with them there in the first place? If their desire was to eliminate her, they should just send the emotionless ones. Did they really want to talk to her so badly?

….or could this doll be something like a leader…? Its qi signature seemed to be the strongest. Perhaps the others couldn’t move without it being around?

This speculation was pointless. Since the enemy was interested in talking, Mei Rulan decided to use this opportunity to extract as much information as possible.

“I’m listening…”

“My master is very interested in recruiting you…” said the head, the lungs hanging down from beneath it exhaling and inhaling only for the purpose of creating voice.

Was it undead? Couldn’t be. The mangled torso belonged to a yaren.

It’s impossible for a yaren to rise up as undead. Besides, she couldn’t sense any resentful energy coming from it.

“You’re using some kind of trick to control this head. Probably, you can’t talk without it…”

“What a splendid observation! As you might have already figured out, this artificial body doesn’t really have any vocal cords.”

Mei Rulan gritted her teeth. Although the voice of the…creature…was devoid of emotion, it was most certainly mocking her.

“Nonetheless, you’re quite well made if you’re capable of sarcasm.”

“Thank you. However, I’m just one of many. You have no idea what’s about to come…“ The head then made cracking noises and clapped its teeth a couple of times. Was it supposed to be laughter? “But let’s not prolong this too much. Time is of the essence, I’m sure you will agree to that.”

Oh, so they were in a hurry? That meant….

“You work for Songshu sect.” Mei Rulan stated calmly. Although she had no direct evidence of this being the case, she decided to take a wild guess and see how the other side reacts. At any rate, it was clear that Songshu sect had hundreds, if not thousands of these back in the so-called ‘museum’…..

Various different speculations were bolting through her mind, as she was desperately trying to make sense of the current situation, knowing well her life and success of the mission were on the line. Innumerable images were flashing through her mind, as she was weighing different options and possibilities….

Countless human-shaped weapons. The northern sects were preparing for war. They didn’t produce these weapons overnight. The Incident in Chenfei was arranged. The weapons were as capable as human soldiers, no, better than that.

“Songshu sect? Nothing of the sort! We work only for our master, Yao Erzhan!”

Bai Caoren’s body was missing. Bai Caoren was the most obvious culprit. Yet her mansion was burning. Bai Caoren was a genius. They were in hurry because they work for her. They wanted to frame Yao Erzhan. They were feeding her false information. She burned her own mansion to frame Yao Erzhan…

Yet….

“Who is Yao Erzhan?”

“He is the greatest man to live in this day and age. He created us, living dolls, and breathed the life of qi into us. He remembered his past life, when he was a powerful necromancer…”

So did the emotionless voice say.

When talking to a living person, Mei Rulan, although not an investigator by specialization, could usually figure out whether they are lying or saying the truth. By analyzing their body language, their eyes, the tone of their voice and other such secondary characteristics, she could sense whether something was wrong or not…

Yet now, she could feel no emotions. Neither the dolls, who were motionless, nor the head, who spoke robotically, produced any discernible feelings.

Thus, they were perfect messengers. Someone sent a perfect messenger to intercept her. Someone knew who she was. Someone waited for her here.

Someone allowed her to kill four Songshu men, and remove the wards around the cemetery.

A powerful necromancer. In other words, a demonic cultivator who can control the soul, and bind it to living flesh. Yet these dolls had only traces of qi, not a conscious soul. And they were not made out of flesh.

This doll was lying.

They said they were in a hurry. Yet they were taking their time and lying.

They were stalling her…

When that realization hit Mei Rulan, all hesitation left her, and without a word of warning, she fired another barrage in a wide cone around. That was just a smokescreen for her main attack- a charge straight at the doll with a talking head.

As expected, as soon as that doll was threatened, all the lesser ones blindly jumped to its defense. They didn’t try dodging the small fire bullets shot at them, but took the shortest possible route towards her, not making any additional movements that could slow them down, neither dodging nor blocking….Thus they were all hit.

But despite being set on fire, not one of them was slowed down. Just like they couldn’t think, they couldn’t feel pain, either.

Yet, perhaps flame wasn’t the best choice of the projectile

Mei Rulan shot these bullets instinctively, as fire was the expression of qi she had the highest aptitude for. She was so stuck on analyzing the information presented to her, that she forgot the basic knowledge about elemental interactions that govern this world.

Because these dolls were coated in porcelain, and their main bodies were made out of clay, they were naturally fireproof. They hardened upon being exposed to significant amounts of heat, and although the elaborate clothes they were wearing before, and the human-like expressions meticulously crafted upon their porcelain masks melted away, their combat ability wasn’t at all affected, and they didn’t sustain any meaningful damage.

But, they were too slow.

The blade Mei Rulan was wielding, that cursed sword that ended the life Bao Zimo, was no ordinary weapon.

On her way to Yafan, she made several endurance tests, trying to gauge its strength and durability. Yet no matter what she swung at, be it a tree or even a rock, this sword was able to cut it, and not a single scratch or dent was formed on its pristine, steel surface. It didn’t need maintenance, either.

Therefore, she was confident she could settle this fight in one swing. As long as her theory was right…!

One of the hands of the enemy was occupied. It would have to drop the mutilated yaren corpse to utilize its full defensive potential.

It would not make it in time.

It threw the small knives it held in the other hand in her general direction, but there was no aim or force involved in this swing. Thus, she ignored it. The blades grazed her skin and cut some of her clothes, but didn’t cause anything more than surface-level cuts.

The doll raised both its arms to protect its head…or rather, the jade crystal lodged in the necklace warped around it, where most qi energy was concentrated.

Mei Rulan’s sword made a wooshing sound as it cut through the air. Although its sharpness was second to none, she still had to put all her strength into the swing to truly make it count.

And soon enough, a decapitated arm and clay head rolled on the ground. The blade hit the crystal too, but didn’t manage to damage it- instead it knocked it away by the sheer force of the impact, and it flew out of the pendant, rolling away on the ground.

As soon as it was separated from the doll that was wearing it, all the nearby enemies stopped and fell over, as if the invisible strings controlling them were cut.

But not before just one of them lodged its blade in Mei Rulan’s thigh.

She hissed in pain and fell over. She didn’t know how much damage she sustained, but that wasn’t important now.

She took out a small box and ate a couple of pills. The sedating medicine she fed Zhanzhan was occasionally used on humans during surgeries and other such- other than calming the patient down, they had the crucial effect of slowing the heart rate and lowering the blood pressure, as well as relieving pain.

She took a couple of deep breaths, and carefully took the blade out. Fortunately, since she could still move this leg, none of the nerves were damaged.

Next, she warped a piece of cloth around and hoped by the time she gets to treat it seriously, the bleeding would stop……

Zhanzhan escaped. No matter, that girl was already dead. There was no meaning to pursuing her now- especially considering the trap she just fell in, and her wounded state.

She gazed upon the fallen humanoid shapes around her. Just in case, she shot several icicles at them, piercing their torsos, and pinning them firmly to the ground.

These dolls knew who she is, and waited for her. How, why, didn’t matter now.

She limped towards the jade crystal which rolled some distance away and inspected its surface. The massive amounts of qi she felt from it didn’t disappear, even though its owner was destroyed.

Was it some kind of power source? She carefully picked it up. It was ice cold to the touch. Bai Zihan would surely want to take a look at it….perhaps if the Wuyun sect could learn the secret to creating these weird clay soldiers, it could finally realize its ambition of world domination.

Though if the secret to making them had, like that doll said, something to do with the forbidden practice of necromancy, Mei Rulan had no doubt it would end up locked forever in the depths of Kiyi vault or destroyed in a furnace.

She put the crystal in the pocket of her travel robes and left the scene as quickly as her wound allowed. She chose to escape through the woods, rather than go back to Yafan where her mount and other belongings were lodged….