“Or you could give up your pills and we’ll let you live,” Broken Serpent offered.

Three Drops Silent Toxin seemed to think about it for a moment, then punched the nearest guy — a bald poison body cultivator — in the face before taking out a knife.

Baddie clutched his nose and took a few steps back, then joined two others in dog-piling Three Drops, who managed to stab a fox-eyed girl in the shoulder before getting dragged to the ground face-down. They started tying him with Qi-reinforced ropes.

What a fuckin’ mess. These cultivators were unorthodox for a reason. I mean, there were so many weak points they could have hit but didn’t. And the knife hadn’t even done much damage.

Broken Serpent grabbed Three Drop’s dark hair and forced him to look up at him.

The guy may have gotten caught, but he had left his enemies injured and was still struggling.

“Last chance,” Broken Serpent said, “give us the poisons or we’ll drag you to the dueling grounds to die.”

Three Drops spat on the man’s cheek.

Disgusted, he wiped the spit off his face. “Death it is!”

I liked this kid. He had spunk.

As the three cultivators lifted Three Drops to his feet, I walked into the courtyard with my hands behind my back, looking like the badass master I was. Then I used my internal Qi to pressure the body cultivators. They froze. The girl with the dagger in her shoulder coughed up a mouthful of blood.

They all stared at me, a little shocked.

“Senior?” Serpent asked through gritted teeth. “I’m sure you have better things to do than talk to us juniors.”

I ignored him and glanced at Three Drops. His dark lavender eyes narrowed at me.

“Become my mentee and I’ll save you from these assholes.”

“…”

“I can also help you with your cultivation.”

He must have gone through a lot of shitty experiences because his expression told me he suspected I’d set this whole thing up. “I don’t need it.”

Well, if he wanted to seek death, I wasn’t going to stop him from being an idiot. He probably had his own circumstances, anyway.

“Alright. I’ll just find another mentee.” I let up the pressure and started walking away.

The six body cultivators began giving Three Drops Silent Toxin small punches that likely stung like a bitch but didn’t do much damage.

“Ow! W-wait! Senior. I was kidding. I agree! Of course, I agree!”

I used Impossible Leap to appear right beside Three Drops. Next, I grabbed the ropes binding him and pulled him out of the brawl like he weighed nothing. I used another movement technique to appear right outside the group of poison body cultivators.

Mentee get! Muahahaha!

They froze when they realized he wasn’t there. Then they turned to me with wide eyes.

I grinned at them. “Scram.”

They quickly scattered into the deeper parts of the outer sect.

“It’s good to see that the cultivators here aren’t total idiots.”

“Senior, are you a rogue cultivator who just entered the sect?”

I set Three Drops down and scanned him with my divine sense.

“Yes. And you can call me Senior Linlin.”

I sliced his ropes off with sword Qi then scanned him with divine sense. Three Drops had 28 bruises and 5 torn muscles. He also had a shit ton of poison in his system. While that was expected from a poison body cultivator, there was something off about it. From what I’d read in the past about this type of body cultivation, the poisons were supposed to be in perfect balance, but his were all messed up. They were, however, fucked up in a way that made it appear balanced. It was kind of like solving a math problem incorrectly, but still getting the right answer. It was no wonder he couldn’t improve.

His situation might be more complicated than I realized. That said, it wouldn’t be impossible to fix.

I handed him a peak-quality generic healing dan. He moved to pocket it greedily — like any money-starved cultivator who thought they could just heal up in a couple of days.

I scowled and grabbed his hand. “Eat it.”

“Yes, Senior.”

When I let go, he carefully put it in his mouth. Moisture gathered at the corner of his eyes. For some reason, I felt like I’d bullied him.

What the hell? That was mine originally.

He sat down to cycle the healing energy. Once his injuries vanished, he stood up and glanced at me. “Senior, are you a body cultivator? I didn’t hear about the sect accepting one this time.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“They didn’t.”

“Oh! Then you must be a beast blood contractor!”

“Got it wrong again.” I took out my guitar and strummed a tune.

He froze with a strained smile on his face. “Can I take it back?”

I grinned. “Only if you throw up the pill I gave you.”

He looked up at the sky as if he regretted his life choices. What a punk. He has the perfect personality for learning the Dao of Rock!

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to force you to learn this instrument.”

He looked excited.

I brought out a drum set. “Instead, I’ll introduce you to percussion. I have a feeling you’ll like this.”

He took a step back and held up both hands. “Senior. I’m not a demonic musician.”

“I don’t remember reading a sect rule that says body cultivators can’t become one.”

“No, but musical cultivators are all physically weak. That will affect my combat abilities.”

I scowled at him. “Don’t assume that. It actually depends on the cultivation method and instrument they play. Do I look fragile to you?”

“No.” He eyed the drum set suspiciously.

“Tell you what. Let me teach you for a week, and put your utmost effort into learning — if you end up hating music, we can go our separate ways and I’ll consider it payment in full for the pill. I’ll also protect you while you’re my mentee.”

“I already can’t refuse.”

“I won’t force you to learn. You always have a choice.” I returned the drum set to the space. “Now, do you happen to know someone else in a similar situation to yourself?”

He grimaced. “You mean a desperate outer sect disciple?”

“Who is also under 30.”

He frowned. “No one who would want to become a demonic musician.”

“Then what about someone willing to try it for a week? Who also has musical talent?”

He struggled for a minute, then hit his hand against his palm. “Oh! There was this fairy I went on a mission with last year who might be interested.”

“Then lead the way!”

image [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/996145339650293891/1171661563883700224/SPOILER_2_copy.jpg?ex=655d7ddd&is=654b08dd&hm=ef8dd082894523d397661b2b8671b633e53159f074ff2ea51f31fdd86937a770&]image [https://i.imgur.com/9zmJb8l.jpeg]

[https://i.imgur.com/9zmJb8l]

***

Three Drops Silent Toxin brought me through winding streets into the lightly forested section of the sect. Eventually, we reached a large building where smoke from several forges spiraled into the sky. The yard outside was surrounded by tall trees that cast shade on various work tables. One was littered with bones, gears, wires, and tools. A girl with black hair and panther ears tinkered with a human-shaped puppet made out of treated spiritual beast bones.

A woman with white hair and panda ears stood beside her, sneering and whispering into her ear.

She scowled, “Look. I asked you to give me advice, not to berate my choices.”

Panda Ears crossed her arms. “Shadow Panther, your choices are the mistake. All your problems would be solved if you return to building and controlling beast-form puppets. Our technique needs the bones of spiritual beasts to work. The best way to use those bones is to create puppets in the shape of the original beast. All of our control methods are based on that assumption, so what you’re trying to do is stupid.”

Three Drops Silent Toxin pointed to Shadow Panther. “That’s her.”

Perfect! A puppeteer! And, judging by her ears, a beast tamer, as well.

This girl had the potential to be a whole band by herself! As long as she had some musical talent, I could turn her into a rock star. Muahahaha!

I walked over to the table, put my hands behind my back, and puffed up my chest. “I think she just needs to make her own method that works with this sect’s fundamentals.”

Panda Ears scoffed. “And who are you?”

“She’s Senior Linlin, a rogue cultivator who just joined the sect,” Three Drops Silent Toxin mentioned helpfully.

She crossed her arms. “I didn’t know that we had any new rogue puppeteers.”

I ignored her and peered at the puppet Shadow Panther was working on.

Puppets were, essentially, a very complex spiritual tool. While I’d focused mostly on weapons, instruments, and defensive tools, I had certainly made many of these back in the day. Each one earned me a hefty sum of spirit stones and divine treasures for my work.

It was the cost that usually led puppeteers down the path of puppet maker as well. Especially in a backwater area like this that didn’t raise up enough spiritual item smiths.

“I can teach you how to make this work... for a price.”

Her eyes widened.

“While she is our senior, I wouldn’t listen to her if I were you,” Panda Ears said. “Rogue cultivators don’t have a good foundation, and she’s obviously new, so working with her will upset the inner sect disciples.”

Shadow Panther bit her lip. “What’s the price?”

“Be my mentee for at least a week.”

“A week?!” Panda Ears scoffed. “I doubt you can solve a problem Shadow Panther has been working on for years in only a few days.”

I sent her a vicious smile. “Reality doesn’t care about your doubts.” I gestured to the puppet. “I haven’t even scanned this puppet with divine sense but I’ve already picked out three areas she can fix that will help get her puppet working. Can you do that?”

She snorted delicately. “That’s not that hard, since this whole thing is a mess.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s very clever and just needs a few adjustments.”

Shadow Panther turned to me, her eyes sparkling. “If you can actually help me, I’ll be in your debt and I’ll learn absolutely everything you are willing to teach me! I promise to be your most humble and dedicated student.”

Panda Ears stepped forward. “That is, if you’re able to help her. If you can’t, then go look elsewhere for a mentee.”

I rolled my eyes and ignored her. “Just show me the area you have the most trouble with.”

Shadow Panther pointed to the sun-bleached spiritual beast bones that made up the knee joints.

“This joint here. I just can’t get the bones to work right. My puppet always ends up looking unnatural when it walks, almost like it’s flopping around.”

I nodded. “Changing the joints to move bipedally is one of the hardest parts. It seems like you’re using the wrong joint shape for this bone type. Aside from that, you are also neglecting the energy channels. How they tunnel through the bones affects the sturdiness and movement. You’ll have to reshape these bones so the energy channels don’t conflict with the way you’re using them.”

She frowned as she looked over the puppet. Then she paled. “Oh! You’re right. I can’t believe I neglected that.” Her panther ears drooped. “But how do I fix it?”

Unfortunately, Panda Girl hadn’t stopped hovering, so I turned my back to her. “That’s a secret. I can only tell you once we get to my courtyard. I refuse to expose my forging secrets to an outsider.”

“Of course, senior!” She started placing everything into a red bag with a gold panther embroidered on it. “It’s an honor to be taught puppetry by a master like yourself.”

“Ah? Did I forget to mention?” I was too excited to teach someone who could become a full band. It must have slipped my mind. “I won’t be mentoring you in puppetry. Not exactly.”

She froze and slowly turned to me. “But... you obviously know what you’re doing when it comes to creating puppets.”

“Well, I am a master item forger. I have to be to create new instruments.” I pulled out my guitar. “You’re going to be learning about the Dao of Rock.”

Her eyes — which looked a bit betrayed — darted to Three Drops Silent Toxin, who shrugged. “Good times should be shared.”

“Ah. So I’ll learn music... and not puppeteering?” Her face appeared soulless as she spoke.

“I’m not going to force you.”

She smiled wanly. “You’re the only one I know who has tried to work with me at what I want to accomplish without admonishing me. I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

“Well, I don’t want you to give up puppetry entirely. I was actually thinking of a way you could use your human-shaped puppets to play rock.”

Her eyes sparkled. “Really? Then let’s go!”

image [https://i.imgur.com/bU8EYf8.jpeg]

[https://i.imgur.com/bU8EYf8]