The puppet's sudden collapse sent a jarring sensation through Serene's head, much like the sound of stones pelting against a fragile water jar. He was disoriented and reached up to massage his temples in an attempt to soothe the pain. But he couldn't quite grasp what had just happened.

"This young girl possesses incredible strength and a vast inner sea. She just destroyed the puppet.” Lenient's typically casual expression had a touch of worry as he spoke with careful consideration,”she might even be on the level of a Middle Adept. We should seek assistance from Master Patio." Every immortal cultivator possessed an Inner Sea, used to store natural aura.

Serene was still in the aftermath of the headache, his thoughts were not very clear.

He nodded instinctively and said, “Then… should I go to find Master Patio?”

"Yes, Senior Mountain! You must go NOW! She is DANGEROUS!" Lenient shouted with over-exaggerated vigor, the deafening sound reverberating through Serene and intensifying his headache.

By the time Serene started to steer the Ethereal Wooden Canoe to search for Master Patio, his headache had eased somewhat. He felt a nagging suspicion, but couldn't quite pinpoint what had happened actually.

Did that girl really… give a attack?

———

The cave was eerily silent. There was no trace of Flint and Spark. A pile of wood shavings was scattered at the entrance of the cave, upon closer inspection, an inconspicuous pine needle tucked in between the pieces.

Each pine tree in the forest seemed to come to life, extending a flexible branch that could move, tossing Lenient from tree to tree like a rubber ball.

Lenient’s right thigh had been completely sawed off, which was the raw material he had just gave Serene as a gift to make a new puppet, and the left lower leg had begun to grow a small wooden spike. If he sawed off his left thigh and two arms, he would resemble a rubber ball even more.

“Prince! Miss! Wait a moment!” A strange voice shouting came from the side of the woods.

Spark, who was in his wolf form and galloping with Flint on his back, shifted his gaze and saw a black shadow being tossed back and forth between the trees, each fall tearing off countless pine needles.

What the hell is that? Spark ran even harder.

Lenient was dressed in a white two-piece ensemble consisting of an upper garment and lower robes. Over this, he weared a dark green outer robe. During each rise and fall, the two flaps of his lower robes fluttered up like butterfly wings.

As the moonlight slowly revealed Lenient's figure, Spark couldn't believe his eyes. It felt like he was seeing a ghost.

Is that a ghost? Am still in the dream? Spark ran without stopping, his heart pounding crazily.

Watching the accelerating Spark, Lenient sighed and decided to take a desperate chance. The tree that was holding him now assumed a throwing angle, and then with a mighty heave, it launched him into the air.

Lenient soared through the night sky, his white and green robes billowing behind him like a comet's tail. As he arced towards Spark and Flint, he called out, "Please, I mean you no harm! I only wish to speak!"

Lenient crashed into the snow right in the path of Spark's running route. Unable to stop himself, Spark stumbled over Lenient's body and landed hard on his back. Flint was also forcefully thrown down to the ground.

Suppressing the pain, Spark quickly turned over and shot a glare at Lenient, clenching his teeth. Lenient countered with a friendly smile and reached out his right hand to him. Despite lacking feet, he could only support his body with his left hand.

“Nice to meet you, prin…” Before Lenient could finish his sentence, Spark sunk his teeth into the man's arm. To his own astonishment, Spark didn't use all of his strength, but Lenient's forearm still snapped like a twig in his mouth.

The next moment, an event occurred that Spark would regret for the rest of his life. The severed forearm transformed into a pine branch bristling with countless hard pine needles, piercing Spark’s upper palate and tongue.

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“Huinn, Heei ei…(Flint, help me) ” Spark shouted with a slurred voice. Blood filled his mouth, dripping from the corners of his lips onto the snow, creating a series of small red craters.

“Uh, kind of uneven, but it doesn’t matter.” Lenient glanced at the the unevenly bitten sections of the severed arm, then continued in a light-hearted tone, “Nice to meet you! Prince and Miss!”

On her knees in the snow, Flint grasped the main branch and yanked it out from Spark’s mouth. The latter let out a cry of pain at the moment they were removed, but there were still many pine needles embedded in his flesh.

Flint desperately hoped that the strange man truly had no malicious intentions, as he had said. Spark had been jolted awake by the puppet’s scream of agony, unable to see the puppet’s appearance. But the man currently in front of her indeed shared some striking resemblances with that same puppet.

Aside from having his legs sawed off, one of his arms was also bitten off, and he was using his only remaining hand to slowly drag his body into view in front of Flint.

Spark's eyes blazed with anger as he glared at the strange man, making low growling noises from his throat to warn him not to approach any closer. However, the man simply smiled apologetically in response.

There was a moment of quiet, as Flint continued to remove pine needles from Spark's mouth without greeting Lenient. Finally, Lenient broke the silence and spoke up, “Miss, nice to meet you, I am Lenient Pine. I’d like to know what your name is.”

"Flint," Flint didn't even bother looking up, "Flint Winter, if you want my full name."

"Flint Winter, what a lovely name," Lenient said with admiration. His smile made it hard to determine if he was being genuine. "Miss Winter, have you ever visited the Chasm of Abyss?"

Flint stopped in the midst of clearing out pine needles and turned to face Lenient, her expression a mix of confusion and suspicion. “No.” She continued to work for a while again, and then spoke, “Actually, I lost all my memory.”

"Lost all your memory?" Lenient's eyebrows raised slightly, his tone a mix of surprise and intrigue. "How fascinating. And yet, you remember your name?"

Flint's hands paused briefly as she considered her response. "It's... complicated," she said, her focus didn’t shift from pine needles in Spark’s mouth, “But now, I need to find my memories back.”

Lenient's smile widened, his single hand pressing against the ground as he dragged himself slightly closer to Flint. "Then perhaps I can help you. I have an unexplained familiarity with you. And the Abyssal Pavilion, acturally where I reside, holds many secrets, Miss Winter. I'd be honored to guide you there."

Before Flint could respond, Spark's ears flattened against his head. Lenient’s invitation for Flint triggered a fierce growl that quickly turned into an angry bark. The sudden movement caused the pine needles embedded in his mouth to drive deeper into his flesh. His bark transformed into a sharp yelp of pain, and fresh blood began to trickle from where the needles had punctured deeper into his gums and tongue.

Flint patted Spark's head and pleaded, "Spark, don't move!" Her hands worked quickly to remove the needles, drops of red blood staining the ground beneath them.

She shot a wary glance at Lenient, who maintained his eerily pleasant expression despite the wolf's hostile display.

The blood flow had increased now, staining Spark's fur around his muzzle a dark red. Each attempt to growl or bark only seemed to worsen his condition, but the wolf's eyes never left Lenient's mutilated form, blazing with a mixture of pain and defiance.

“Are you the puppet at the entrance of the cave from just now?" Flint finally looked up from tending to Spark's wounds, her eyes narrowing as she studied Lenient's face. Despite her desire to retrieve her memories, the unexpected invitation made her wary.

"Am I the puppet?" Lenient echoed Flint's question, his pleasant smile never wavering despite Spark's hostile display. "Yes and no. Perhaps you've fallen in love with a puppet?" His single hand made a graceful, almost theatrical gesture. "If you have, you're welcome to imagine me as him. Who knows - maybe we were even lovers in a past life."

Flint paused in her final check of Spark's cleaned wounds, her expression a mixture of skepticism and mild irritation at such a frivolous suggestion. The wolf beneath her hands tensed, a low rumble building in his throat until Flint's steadying touch silenced him.

"Thanks for the entertaining thought, but I need to go." Flint's voice was cool and practical as she mounted Spark's back, her movements efficient and purposeful.

As she was ready to leave this strange encounter behind, Lenient's voice shifted to something more serious.

"Before you go," Lenient called out, "I should tell you - I've sensed something in you -"

"Wait! That force within you—" Lenient shouted, but Spark and Flint were already in motion. "It's not one of the six elements!" His words scattered in the winter air like falling snowflakes, ignored and lost.

Without a moment's hesitation or even a glance back, Flint gripped Spark's fur, and the wolf burst into motion. They vanished into the forest like a fleeting shadow, leaving only disturbed snow and silence in their wake.

Lenient's voice trailed off into the empty air. His outstretched hand slowly dropped to his side as he watched the last traces of their presence fade from view. With his mutilated body and single remaining arm, he lowered himself to sit in the snow, the white powder crunching softly beneath him.

A gentle wind stirred the pine branches above, sending a shower of snow crystals dancing around his solitary figure. His ever-present smile had faded just slightly at the corners, though whether from disappointment or resignation, it was impossible to tell. He sat there, a broken puppet in the growing silence of the winter forest, while fresh snow began to dust his shoulders.

Spark's paws pounded against the snow as he raced through the forest, carrying Flint on his back. But the sound of rustling pine branches made his ears twitch – their persistent pursuer hadn't given up.

Amidst the dense forest, a figure dressed in all white with a green outer robe navigated through the treetops. Moonlight peeked through the pine needles gaps, illuminating his wild movements as he was flung from tree to tree, each one acting as a temporary launchpad. It was like a twisted game of catch, but with bizarre and unsettling sight to behold.

"Just a moment of your time!" Lenient's voice rang out cheerfully, completely at odds with his mutilated form as he was suddenly hurled toward them.

Spark swerved sharply to the right, causing Flint to grip his fur tighter to maintain her balance. Lenient sailed past them, crashing into a snowbank before being scooped up by another tree's extended branch.

"My apologies for the poor aim!" Lenient called out as the trees launched him again. This time, he came even closer, forcing Spark into a desperate dodge that made Flint sway precariously on his back.

As the trees prepared to throw Lenient for a third time, a powerful gust of wind suddenly swept through the forest. The branch made its third toss for Lenient in the wind, but Lenient’s trajectory was halted by an even stronger gust of air that followed.

"Enough of this chase, Lenient." A commanding voice cut through the night air.

Two figures emerged from the shadows: Serene Mountain, and beside him, the imposing presence of Wind Patio. The latter's robes barely moved despite the swirling air around him, his Early Legend level evident in the way the very forest seemed to hold its breath in his presence.

Lenient's perpetual smile brightened as he looked up from the snow pile and saw his master and senior fellow apprentice. He dragged himself towards them with his only arm awkwardly.

"Can we invite Miss Winter to go to the Abyssal Pavilion together?" Lenient said with that signature pleasant smile that never quite reached his eyes.