NOVPUBUpon hearing that he didn’t have to compensate for the door, Wang Xing immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Wu Bin invited Wang Xing to come in and then asked, "Daoist Wang, you said earlier that you detected an unusual scent which led you here. Do you know what exactly happened to him?"
Seated on the sofa, Wang Xing spoke earnestly, "Oh, him? He was afflicted with a Puppetry Technique by someone else, which is why he’s acting like this."
"There are many kinds of Puppetry Techniques in this world, but without exception, they all begin by sealing the person’s consciousness, followed by driving them with vital energy."
"A person under the influence of Puppetry Technique will completely forget what they’ve done, to them, everything seems like sleepwalking, acting entirely on instinct."
"Often, many people wake up from the Puppetry Technique only to find themselves trapped or seriously injured. Therefore, Puppetry Technique is also one of the Forbidden Techniques. Since Wang encountered it, naturally, he had to intervene."
With Wang Xing’s explanation, Wu Bin finally understood.
Simply put, Puppetry Technique is not a kind of remote control magic; it’s more like inputting a command into your target, then the target, based on their own cognition and consciousness, carries out the action.
For instance, if the person performing the Puppetry Technique commanded Song Bing to kill Wu Bin, then Song Bing would look for an opportunity to kill Wu Bin, but the manner, timing, and location would all be random.
If the puppeteer told Song Bing to solve a math problem that he originally couldn’t, then the final result would still be that Song Bing couldn’t solve it.
Therefore, this type of Puppetry Technique can’t be considered very powerful because it doesn’t completely control the other person and there are many uncontrollable factors.
The tap Wang Xing administered to Song Bing’s chest with a wooden stick was actually to release the Puppetry Technique from Song Bing’s body.
This is also why the moment the Puppetry Technique was lifted, Song Bing’s entire body went limp and he fell into an unconscious state.
"Daoist Wang, can you trace the puppeteer through this Puppetry Technique?"
Wang Xing shook his head.
"There’s indeed a faint trace of someone else’s energy on your friend, but this energy is too weak for me to track across great distances. However, if this person were to appear in my vicinity, I would still be able to locate him by the energy."
Wu Bin was somewhat disappointed.
He had hoped to find the person behind the manipulation and go to settle the score himself, but now it seemed that it wouldn’t be possible for the time being.
Wu Bin asked Wang Xing some more questions. Seeing that it was getting very late, Wu Bin simply invited Wang Xing to spend the night in the dormitory, to rest for the evening and then to discuss further the next day.
The next day, early morning.
Song Bing walked out of the bedroom, clutching his chest and showing a pained expression.
"How come my chest still hurts after sleeping all night?"
Just as Song Bing entered the living room, he was stunned by the sight before him.
Wang Xing, wearing an apron, stood in the kitchen, making chicken soup.
And their dorm’s main door was lying on the ground, wide open!
Immediately tense, Song Bing pointed at Wang Xing and demanded, "Who, who, who are you!"
Wang Xing glanced at Song Bing and said with a smile, "Didn’t expect you to wake up so quickly; quite the constitution you have there."
"Does your chest still hurt? If it does, have a bowl of the chicken soup I’m making and you’ll recover quickly."
Song Bing was completely dumbfounded.
"How do you know my chest hurts?"
"Wait, who are you, and how are you in our dormitory!"
"Wu! Old Wu! Hurry up, we’ve got a thief in our dorm!"
Song Bing quickly grabbed a broom beside him and started shouting loudly for Wu Bin.
Wu Bin and Zhu Ling walked out of the bedroom after a while.
Song Bing immediately ran up to Wu Bin and, pointing at Wang Xing in the kitchen, said, "Wu Bin, thieves these days are becoming so brazen, daring to enter people’s homes in broad daylight!"
"Call the police, call them now, I’ll hold him off!"
Wang Xing came out of the kitchen holding two bowls of chicken soup and placed them on the table.
Zhu Ling, having no guard up, instantly brightened up and reached for a bowl to start drinking.
Song Bing tried to stop her but couldn’t, and could only jump around anxiously.
"What are you thinking, Zhu Ling? How can you drink what he’s cooked? He’s a thief!"
Wu Bin also walked over, took a bowl of chicken soup, took a sip, then said to Song Bing, "What thief? This is Wang Xing, Daoist Wang. If it weren’t for Daoist Wang showing up last night, you would have definitely gotten a good beating from me."
Song Bing was taken aback.
"What? What do you mean by that, Old Wu?"
Wu Bin briefly recounted the events of the previous night to Song Bing.
At first, Song Bing couldn’t believe it, how could he possibly do something so atrocious?
Drinking chicken blood raw and then attacking someone with a kitchen knife?
Bearing in mind that Song Bing had always been a good kid from a young age, not to mention killing a chicken, he wouldn’t even dare to catch one.
The saying "too weak to truss a chicken" was coined for people like him.
Wang Xing handed a bowl of chicken soup to Song Bing, just as the people fixing the school’s door arrived.
Upon tasting the chicken soup, Song Bing found it incredibly delicious.
But thinking that he had killed the chicken himself, his mood suddenly became heavy again. Had he not just broken the vow not to kill?
"Song Bing, can you tell us, before you lost consciousness, who was the last person you saw, or where had you gone?"
Song Bing said a bit awkwardly, "Daoist Wang, I don’t even know when I lost consciousness."
Wang Xing patiently said, "No matter, think carefully, you’ll remember. After all, you didn’t walk back to the dorm on your own, so you definitely don’t recall that, do you?"
Reminded by Wang Xing, Song Bing concentrated and something came to mind.
"It seems to be the abandoned library in the southern campus, by the old building."
"At the time, Lin Nan and I finished signing the last shop, and I escorted her back to the dormitory. Then I took a shortcut back, so I passed in front of the old building."
"After that, I have no recollection, until I woke up in the dormitory. Does this mean I lost consciousness near the old building?"
Wang Xing looked at Wu Bin with a puzzled face.
"What’s this old building?"
Wu Bin explained, "The old building was our school’s former library and teaching building, but it was abandoned after a big fire. It’s said to be haunted, and although the school has considered demolishing and rebuilding it, there are always strange things happening whenever construction is about to start."
"The school leaders are rather superstitious so the old building has been left standing. Normally it’s sealed off and students aren’t allowed to wander around; the school would discipline anyone caught trespassing."
Wu Bin took out his phone, pulled up pictures and the location of the old building to show Wang Xing.
Wang Xing took one look and his face changed drastically.
"Isn’t this the Li Fire Formation? The place where the old building is located is the formation’s eye!"
