From Paper Craftsman to World-Suppressing Immortal

"Clang... clang... clang..."

Suddenly, the sound of a gong resounded in the deathly silent village.

Upon hearing the sound of the gong, the young boy hurriedly extinguished the oil lamp, ignoring Zhang Zhixuan, and quickly shrank under the table.

Zhang Zhixuan gripped his magic sword, holding his breath and focusing intently on the direction from which the gong sound came.

"Clang... clang... clang..."

The sound of the gong grew closer and louder until it stopped outside the village house where Zhang Zhixuan and his companion were hiding.

"They're here."

Zhang Zhixuan leaned to the side, peering through the crack in the window. He saw the five people and the sedan chair come to a steady stop outside the door. The man who had been banging a gong to clear the way stood at the entrance with a grin on his pale face, shouting in a hoarse voice, "Please, groom, get into the sedan chair!"

The sound echoed clearly through the deathly silent village.

"They've come looking for...they've come knocking on our door..."

Inside the room, the little boy trembled all over, his face turned deathly pale, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

"We're doomed! It must have been those paper swallows you released that alerted the Goddess Huai! Now we're all in deep trouble!"

"Don't panic, stay calm, there are tall people to hold up the sky if it falls."

Zhang Zhixuan frowned, looking at the trembling boy cowering under the table, and said, "I'll handle what happens outside. It won't involve you. Just stay hidden. No matter what noise you hear outside, don't come out, understand?"

"Then... what are you going to do?"

The boy, his eyes red-rimmed, looked at Zhang Zhixuan, his voice trembling but still filled with worry for Zhang Zhixuan's safety: "They're here to kidnap you to be their groom! You! You have to run!"

"Don't worry, I have my own way of doing it."

Zhang Zhixuan glanced around the room and pointed to the wooden bed against the wall: "The table is too conspicuous. The bed is low and wide enough. Crawl in and hide. I'm leaving."

"You..." The boy bit his lip, hesitated, and finally nodded silently, crawling under the bed with both hands and feet.

Zhang Zhixuan watched as the boy hid under the bed, covered his mouth, and lay on the floor looking at him. Zhang Zhixuan smiled faintly, nodded to the boy one last time, and then strode to the door.

"Clang... clang... clang..."

The gong-beater outside the courtyard gate struck the gong again, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Please, groom, come out and get into the sedan chair!"

At such close range, the sound of the gong and the hoarse, piercing shouts irritated Zhang Zhixuan.

Zhang Zhixuan frowned, thoroughly annoyed. He took a deep breath, reached out and pulled open the latch. With a creak, the old wooden door was fully opened.

The scene outside the door came into full view.

The man in the long robe who was banging the gong was standing at the door. His pale face was almost pressed against the door, and his sunken eye sockets were like two dark holes. He didn't look like a living person at all.

Behind him, four identical sedan chair bearers stood stiffly on either side of the black sedan chair, with the same pale faces and deep-set eyes, staring blankly at Zhang Zhixuan as he opened the door.

"Groom, please get into the sedan chair." When the gong-beater saw Zhang Zhixuan come out, he forced a cheerful expression on his pale face and slightly raised the wooden mallet in his hand, as if to strike again.

"Alright, alright, stop banging your head on the floor, can't you do anything else?" Zhang Zhixuan cursed impatiently.

As he spoke, Zhang Zhixuan activated his treasure-gazing eye.

"With the eye of discerning treasure opened, one can observe people and animals above, examine objects below, and even see through demonic auras, ghostly presences, and evil shadows. All non-human beings have nowhere to hide."

In an instant, the scene before Zhang Zhixuan's eyes completely changed.

Before him, there was no one at all. The people banging gongs to clear the way and the four sedan chair bearers were all wooden puppets. Several wisps of the souls of the dead were sealed inside their wooden bodies and controlled by evil magic, making them puppets to patrol the streets and arrest people.

He looked up at the black sedan chair again, and saw a dark gray aura rising into the sky. The figure in the bright red wedding dress sitting inside was entangled with the dark gray corpse aura and the eerie green demonic aura. Zhang Zhixuan could no longer tell whether the person sitting inside was a corpse or a demon.

"Playing tricks." Zhang Zhixuan snorted coldly, drew his magic sword, and without saying a word, summoned six paper puppet soldiers.

Six paper puppet soldiers, clad in paper armor and wielding paper knives blessed with four talismans, emerged from the Hundred Trades Mustard Seed Pouch and pounced on the gong-beater and four sedan chair bearers the moment they landed.

The gong-beater let out a sharp screech, slamming the gong down hard, sending black sonic waves hurtling straight toward the paper puppet.

However, the six paper puppet soldiers had no hearing and no soul or spirit, so this attack was completely ineffective against them.

Zhang Zhixuan commanded a puppet soldier to leap up, and with a swipe of his paper knife, he split the gong in two. Then, with a backhand slash, he cleaved the wooden figure striking the gong in two.

The moment the wooden figure was destroyed, the vengeful spirit sealed inside let out a wail, and Zhang Zhixuan threw out a thunder talisman that blasted it into ashes.

At this moment, the four sedan bearers' originally stiff limbs suddenly became incredibly flexible, and sharp ghost claws grew from their hands as they pounced on the paper puppet soldiers. In the blink of an eye, they were fighting with the other paper puppet soldiers.

At this time, Zhang Zhixuan's paper crafting skill was at its maximum level, and the combat power of the six paper puppet soldiers was far greater than before. Moreover, with the presence of the paper fairy, their attack power, defense power, and resistance in all aspects were greatly enhanced. In just three to five rounds, the four sedan chair carriers were all killed, and their wooden bodies were chopped to pieces. Zhang Zhixuan then threw out thunder talismans to eliminate those vengeful spirits. In just a few minutes, the battle was over.

"They look intimidating, but they're just a bunch of noobs."

Having dealt with the gong-beater and the sedan chair bearers, Zhang Zhixuan looked up at the black sedan chair. Just as he was about to give orders to the paper puppet soldiers, he suddenly heard a series of creaking sounds coming from the village.

He turned his head sharply and saw that all the tightly closed doors of the houses in the once silent village were now open.

One by one, the villagers came out of their houses.

The villagers were all expressionless, with empty eyes, carrying sticks and farm tools in their hands. The eerie green light from the locust flower lanterns hanging outside their houses illuminated their blank faces, making them look particularly strange.

At this moment, all the villagers walked step by step along the street toward Zhang Zhixuan, and in an instant they surrounded him.

Upon seeing the scene before him, Zhang Zhixuan's heart sank instantly.

Just as the young boy said, these villagers were still living people, but their souls had been partially extracted, and they were being manipulated like puppets.

If he acts recklessly and kills without restraint, these controlled villagers will inevitably suffer casualties.

But if he doesn't take action and lets these villagers rush at him, he'll probably end up in a bad situation.

Zhang Zhixuan frowned, hesitant to act rashly.

Just as he was caught in a dilemma, a woman's voice suddenly came from inside the sedan chair.

"Why are you so angry, my lord? It's just an invitation for you to get into the sedan chair and spend the night together. Why are you resorting to violence?"