Mu Ziying was already used to Meng Yao and her gang’s bullying tactics. As for the newly-arrived Ye Qing, Mu Ziying was ambivalent toward her. But… Ye Qing’s intervention gave rise to a different sort of feeling inside Mu Ziying.
Teacher Ye was the first and only person inside the Netherworld Academy to stand up for her.
“I will soon be kicked out of the Netherworld Academy anyway. Teacher Ye, you don’t need to waste your efforts on someone like me.” Mu Ziying kept her head lowered, her soft, childish voice tinged with a sense of helplessness.
She already knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay on, so she didn’t want to implicate Teacher Ye Qing.
As Ye Qingtang looked at the little girl who had her head lowered the entire time, she couldn’t resist reaching out to stroke her head.
“Who said I am doing this for you? That student was breaking the academy rules. As a teacher, I have the authority to punish her. This has nothing to do with you.”
Although Mu Ziying didn’t acknowledge her as her teacher, she was still under her care. How could she let others bully her student?
Mu Ziying knew that Ye Qingtang was only saying this to make her feel better.
“Teacher Ye…”
“I can see that the workmanship of this puppet is very exquisite. Did your family make this for you?” Ye Qingtang didn’t want this little girl to continue wallowing in her guilt, and so changed the topic.
She could tell that this puppet was very important to Mu Ziying.
At the mention of her puppet, Mu Ziying’s expression shifted. She shook her head. “I made it myself.”
“Wow, you are quite talented. Not bad.” Ye Qingtang smiled.
Mu Ziying was taken aback. Cheeks flushing, she buried her head in the puppet. Even her ears had turned red.
Ye Qingtang was about to laugh when she saw that Mu Ziying had raised the hand of the puppet to make a thank-you gesture at her.
It made Ye Qingtang feel an even stronger urge to laugh.
This girl was a bit strange but still rather likable.
Suddenly, Ye Qingtang recalled a technique that she had seen in her past life. She opened her hand and five lines of light shot out from her five fingers, swirling around the limbs of the puppet.
Mu Ziying felt the puppet in her arms move. She lifted her head in astonishment and suddenly saw her beloved puppet float into mid-air. The puppet then made a hugging gesture.
It was like… the puppet had come alive!
Mu Ziying’s eyes went round with shock. She was completely dumbstruck.
The little puppet circled around Mu Ziying, whose mouth fell open in amazement. By the time Mu Ziying calmed down, she realized that Teacher Ye had one hand raised. One could vaguely see transparent lines of light linking the tips of her fingers to the puppet.
“Teacher Ye!”
“Do you want to learn?” Ye Qingtang smiled at Mu Ziying, who looked extremely eager.
Mu Ziying immediately nodded.
Ye Qingtang continued. “This is called the Spirit Control Line. It is a cultivation technique to control puppets. I will teach you if you want to learn.”
The Spirit Control Line was created by a Puppet Grand Master 300 years into the future. One just had to infuse spirit energy into a puppet to cement a contract between it and the master. The person could then control the puppet even from thousands of miles away. The puppet could even be made to look and behave exactly like a real person. As long as the Spirit Control Lines didn’t break off, no one would know it was merely a puppet.
Fortunately, Ye Qingtang knew the cultivation technique of the Spirit Control Line. But this kind of technique, which enabled one to even commit murder from afar, was not suitable for her.