42: Shadow puppetry, become the master.

Moon Shadow Taoist’s heart trembled when he heard Li Yan wanted to obtain the sacrificial incantation.

“Your Excellency still wants to steal the Venerable’s cultivation?”

“I cannot comply! If I betray the Venerable, I will never be resurrected!”

Shadow Demon Resurrection.

Li Yan was no stranger to this term.

From the Blood Shadow Immortal Art he had just learned, he understood many new terms.

For example, [Shadow Demon Resurrection] refers to the ability to revive a Shadow Demon through special means after it has been dispersed.

As long as the Shadow Demon’s main body is not dead, the Shadow Demon can be resurrected through a ritual.

Theoretically, if the main body does not die, the Shadow Demon can be resurrected indefinitely.

So even if Li Yan killed Moon Shadow Taoist now, he would only lose a portion of his cultivation.

Compared to betraying the Venerable, this Shadow Demon would rather die again.

Li Yan saw that he would rather die than comply, so he was not anxious.

He raised his hand and took out a Magic Treasure from his Storage Ring—the Soul-Locking Chain.

“Shadow Transformation Magic Treasure.”

As Li Yan silently chanted, a [Shadow · Soul-Locking Chain] appeared in the hands of his two shadows.

When he chained Moon Shadow Taoist, the latter showed a puzzled expression: “What does Your Excellency intend to do?”

Then, Li Yan’s sub-shadow pulled hard.

Dragging Moon Shadow Taoist forward, following his shadow trace, he began to search for Moon Shadow Taoist’s main body.

Only then did Moon Shadow Taoist panic.

“Your Excellency is not playing fair, you actually want to find my main body?!”

“You… aren’t you afraid of attracting the Venerable’s attention?!”

Li Yan’s sub-shadow, who was dragging the chain in front, spoke: “If the so-called Venerable you speak of could perceive everything, he would have come to save you already.”

“And that Venerable has not yet noticed the situation here, which means the Venerable is very busy and has no time to pay attention to a small Shadow Puppet like you.”

After Li Yan said this, Moon Shadow Taoist truly panicked.

Clearly, Li Yan was right!

The Venerable didn’t have that much energy; he had at least tens of thousands of Shadow Puppets under him, and it would be difficult for him to notice if a few were missing for a while.

No matter how Moon Shadow Taoist struggled, Li Yan followed the shadow trace connecting him to his main body and found a Taoist temple.

“Guan Yue Taoist Temple?”

This Taoist temple was only about three miles away from the small forest, and the main body of Moon Shadow Taoist resided within that temple.

At this moment, Li Yan had already stepped on his Flying Sword, bringing Su Mo to the outside of the Taoist temple.

Li Yan took out a mask, covered his face, and leaped over the wall into the Taoist temple with Su Mo.

When he appeared, there was not a single person on duty inside the Taoist temple.

Instead, several shadows crawled out from the ground of the Taoist temple.

These dark shadows quietly surrounded him, attempting to launch a sneak attack on Li Yan.

But they didn’t know that everything was under Li Yan’s control.

“Burn!”

He casually lit the blood glass treasure lotus lantern, and a flash of scorching white light appeared, followed by a series of shrill wails from the dark shadows, instantly purifying the Shadow Demons of those several Taoist children.

Those dark shadows didn’t even have time to struggle before they turned to ashes.

Li Yan was certain that the blood glass treasure lotus lantern, an ancient demonic Sacred Artifact, when its effects were reversed, had miraculous effects in restraining Shadow Demons.

After eliminating the guarding shadows, Li Yan swaggered through the Taoist temple, hearing the sound of the Taoist children’s deep snoring throughout the entire temple.

It could basically be confirmed that everyone in the entire Taoist temple had become Shadow Puppets.

Because they had become Shadow Puppets, everyone would fall into a deep sleep at night, sleeping especially soundly, with only the Shadow Demons on duty.

After using the treasure lotus lamp to eliminate a few clueless Shadow Demons, Li Yan arrived at the deepest part of the Taoist temple and pushed open the door to look inside.

At this moment, Moon Shadow Taoist’s main body was lying on the bed, sleeping soundly.

Indeed, there was a white crescent moon imprinted on his brow.

“Judging from Moon Shadow Taoist’s main body, he should be a Blood Core Realm first-layer Cultivator.”

“A vast Taoist temple, with hundreds of people, yet no one on night watch; everyone in the entire Taoist temple has become Shadow Puppets.”

Looking at Moon Shadow Taoist’s true body, he, a Blood Core Realm first-layer Cultivator, had already been approached by Li Yan, yet he hadn’t noticed anything.

Why?

This was the consequence of becoming a Shadow Puppet; if the Shadow Demon wanted the main body to sleep, it could make him sleep extremely soundly.

Li Yan stepped forward and patted Moon Shadow Taoist’s face, and Moon Shadow Taoist groggily opened his eyes.

But his pupils were unfocused, and his face was full of bewilderment.

“This Shadow Demon is truly powerful; it can turn the main body into a Puppet.”

“Many people who become Shadow Puppets don’t know until they die that their shadows can act on their own at night.”

There is also a difference between Shadow Slaves and Shadow Puppets.

For example, Elder Su Chongyue of the Su Family, he is a Shadow Slave.

Shadow Slaves know that they have become slaves, but they cannot resist.

But Shadow Puppets are different.

People who become Shadow Puppets do not know that their shadows have developed self-awareness.

The latter is Moon Shadow Taoist; he gets sleepy at night and immediately falls asleep.

When he falls asleep, the Shadow Demon can begin to act without restraint.

During the day, it parasitizes the main body to absorb cultivation, and at night, it goes out to hunt for food; this is a Shadow Demon.

At this moment, Moon Shadow Taoist’s shadow was also brought back into the room.

When the Shadow Demon saw Li Yan’s main body, he widened his eyes: “You… you have two shadows?”

“Your Excellency, who exactly are you?!”

Facing the Shadow Demon’s shock, Li Yan did not answer him.

Instead, he began to bite his fingertip and wrote the Shadow Puppet Art incantation on Moon Shadow Taoist’s shadow.

Seeing this, the Shadow Demon immediately understood what Li Yan was going to do.

This Li Yan found Moon Shadow’s main body precisely to control him!

“You… where did you secretly learn the Venerable’s Shadow Puppet Art?!”

“No! Please don’t erase my consciousness, please…”

Before the Shadow Demon could let out a roar, in the next second, Li Yan’s palm wiped across the floor, erasing the runes on the shadow.

This wipe made the dark shadow instantly calm down.

He became an unconscious Shadow Puppet, standing foolishly to the side.

Using the secretly learned Shadow Puppet Art, Li Yan turned the tables and made Moon Shadow Taoist’s shadow his Puppet.

Li Yan crooked his finger: “Tell me, who is your master.”

The Shadow Demon replied blankly: “You are my master.”

Seeing that the Shadow Puppet Art had successfully taken effect, Li Yan eagerly asked.

“Tell me, how did you find me? Why were you looking for me?”

The Shadow Puppet answered everything, whatever Li Yan asked, it answered.

“The Su Family sent someone to tell me to find a young Cultivator who escaped from Jingxu Sect.”

“You fit the description of the person the Su Family was looking for very well, so from the moment you entered the village, we started watching you.”

Hearing this answer, Li Yan frowned.

From the moment he appeared outside Mi Mountain City, he had already been targeted, no wonder.

“What is the relationship between the Su Family and you all?”

Li Yan continued to ask, wanting to extract all information from this Shadow Puppet.

The Shadow Puppet truthfully said: “Su Family Head and Blood Shadow Venerable are good friends; they are both Shadow Demons born at the same time.”

“The Su Family issued a search warrant, and we just followed orders.”

Indeed.

Su Family Head was also a Shadow Demon, firmly controlled by her shadow.

Li Yan then curiously asked: “What about the Venerable? Is Blood Shadow Venerable the City Lord of Mi Mountain City?”

The Shadow Puppet shook its head: “No, although they are both called Venerables, they are not the same person.”

Having extracted all the necessary information, Li Yan directly stated his demands.

“Now, brainwash Moon Shadow Taoist and tell him that I am the son of his good friend, here to stay in the Taoist temple for a period of time.”

The Shadow Puppet nodded: “Understood, Master. I will rewrite Moon Shadow Taoist’s memory and make him accept your presence by default.”

“Then, tell me the sacrificial incantation; I want to steal the Venerable’s cultivation! Can it be done?”

Li Yan said this tentatively.

The Shadow Puppet also did not hesitate: “As you command.”

Then, the shadow drew the sacrificial Formation on the ground.

This also meant that Li Yan could steal Blood Shadow Venerable’s cultivation anytime, anywhere!

Watching the Formation being drawn on the floor, Li Yan raised his hand and pressed it down.

[Sacrifice Effect Reversed: You are absorbing Blood Shadow Venerable’s ability.]