Zong Shen stood on the cliff of the mountain in one of the lower realms, after listening to Su Xian he felt contradicted, standing there his gaze from the horizon where the sky and land meet didn't waver.
after a long time, Su Xian made his way back but stopped when he saw a beautiful young woman leaning on the tree, when she saw him looking in her direction, she made subconscious eye contact. Zong Shen appeared in front of her in a split second and got surprised by her aura which definitely didn't belong to the lower realm they were standing; he joined his hands in greeting form and asked her
"Pardon me for being impudent may I know the cultivator's name?"
"Ye Qiran"
Zong Shen raised an eyebrow hearing her name, frowning he was about to ask but Ran cut him off saying
"I am the one you're thinking the same Ye Qiran daughter of Ye Tianxin" Ran smirked at him proudly
Zong Shen felt funny at her greeting, but he ignored that and asked her "may I know why you were waiting here for me?"
"I want some answers from you"
Zong Shen chuckled "sure if I have them?" he replied offhandedly as he started walking down the mountain
Ye Qiran narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and then walked along with him, she asked him "what's your intention for meeting with Lu Tao Yan?"
"To discuss the curse on her"
"For what?"
"Why else because of certain people in power moved their wish as they like on the innocents who had nothing to do with them, those innocents happened to become my responsibility"
"How did you end up becoming Lu Man Man's Heir?"
"Would you like to know?"
Zong Shen paused his walking and turned toward her and accidentally bumped into her, he quickly caught her and steadied both of them, His eyes widened at the proximity to her, and he unconsciously breathed slowly, Ran became puzzled by his expression and a smile bloomed on her face without her knowing looking at his shy and nervous look
Ran coughed interrupting his daze, she raised an eyebrow at him, Shen blinked his eyes in return, and Ran faked a cough
"You can stop catching me?"
"uh-huh apologies" saying he distanced himself from her and then turned his back towards her in awkward as he faked a few coughs
Ye Qiran shrugged and said "well I want to know everything"
Zong Shen flinched a little at her reminder then he turned toward her saying "if you wish to but Cultivator Ran what you might see will be unsightly, so I hope you are prepared for this"
Ran frowned her brows in confusion at him, then waved him to lead the way Shen nodded as he walked ahead, and they soon reached the mountains with trees attached at heights, that view was so fascinating that Ran stood there mesmerized,
Zong Shen chuckled at her and said "Cultivator Ran don't be deceived by the beautiful appearance" he then took his Sword, injecting a wisp of Qi he tore the illusion into the gruesome reality behind the illusion.
Ran pupils contradicted with what she's seeing, there are skeletons with ragged clothes were tied to the foot of the mountain, and an air of death and evil aura surrounded them as soon as Zong Shen tore the illusion, her breathing became haggard all of sudden she felt someone pulling her towards a cold object she lifted her eyes to see Zong Shen who was catching her with one hand while making a shield on them,
"This...this...." Ran stuttered at the skeleton soldiers coming at them with swords, Zong Shen after making sure they were completely shielded, Shen bolted towards the cave he is most familiar with Ran hugged him tightly as they moved forward
Reaching the cave Shen made her sit on a rock as he shielded the entrance, the skeletons soldiers that chased them were stopped by the shield but they didn't move and were trying to enter, Shen then observed the Ye Qiran's shock, he sighed a little as he stood in front of her blocking her vision
Ran eyes followed Shen until not wavering even once, she finally spoke in anger and confusion "are not they death puppets that's a forbidden art....that should have died thousands of years ago, what is even happening?"
Zong Shen raised an eyebrow at her question and was about to answer her but Ran interrupted him "as soon as you saw this you should have reported it Lady Xiuying and God of death? are you practicing Forbidden Arts?"
Zong Shen felt like if he did not respond immediately, he will die, so he caught her shoulders and said "will you listen to me first and then do the thinking?"
Ran stopped talking and shrugged his hands, she moved away from him a little while looking at him guardingly, Zong Shen chuckled at her and started speaking
"You asked me for the answers Lady Ye Qiran, I am giving you, first let me clarify to you the situation we are in right now the masters of the Death puppets were the people who successfully experimented with the Curse"
then he turned towards the deepest part of the cave and waved her to follow they reached a dim-lit room, they were about 50 people surrounding the base of the cave, some of them are on flat laying on the ground and some are treating and moving continuously,
"The way the forbidden Arts performed was the most terrifying than you can think, when I first came here the puppets were choosing the people as their master, in a way you can see they chose the puppets that they can control can be controlled which happened rarely"
Ran looked at him in utter confusion and her brain was fuzzing with everything she stopped Shen from talking and then leaned at the rock blinking her eyes in pain, Shen stood near as he stretched his a little, to catch her swiftly in case she faints,
Ran gave him a blank look as she stood straight and stabilized herself, and asked him to continue, Shen pursed his lips a little and then started talking at once
"This cave was also a part of the inheritance of my Master Lu Man Man, this cave is the main core of this Realm, when I came here the situation was much worse, the most shocking part was the life force of my Master Lu Man Man was the supply of power and spreading the curse for the officials' experiment"
Ran retorted at him in a loud voice "Aunt Lu Man Man would never do this?!!!!!"