Start slaying demons from the proficiency panel.

Outside Wendeng County, a simple-looking old man sat in the corner of a tea stall at the county gate.

He held a tinderbox and a linen doll in his hand. When no one was watching, the old man pressed the tinderbox hard onto the doll and began to mutter to himself.

"Aunt Chu, the Demon-Subduing Officer has arrived in Wendeng County. Du Luo and I have been discovered. Du Luo is dead, and I have been arrested and imprisoned in the yamen jail."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the doll suddenly burst into flames, turning into ashes in the blink of an eye.

After doing all this, the old man got up and left the tea stall.

……

After the demon who could turn living people into puppets was imprisoned in the deepest part of the dungeon, Ning Xiu sat in the yamen and waited patiently.

It is currently unknown whether there are other puppet incarnations of the demons hidden in Wendeng County, and if so, how many there are.

Therefore, Ning Xiu could only wait for Su Qianqian to send a Demon-Subduing Officer who could identify the problem.

Only after completely eliminating all hidden dangers in Wendeng County could he escort the sorcerer back to Chaotiandu.

Based on his analysis of the sorcerer, Ning Xiu also made some guesses of his own.

Although this sorcerer can control his puppet avatars to move around, he should have a general range of activity, such as the entire Wendeng County, and he can't go any further than that.

That is why this charlatan infiltrated Wendeng County, using Lu Dengke's identity as a cover.

Otherwise, if there were no distance restrictions, he would not have needed to risk his life to come to Wendeng County to cause harm.

After a long wait, just as night was about to fall, figures finally appeared outside Wendeng County from the direction of Chaotiandu.

Three demon-subduing officers, clad in black silver chainmail, rode swiftly into Wendeng County and headed straight for the government office.

Upon learning from the constables that the Demon-Subduing Guard had arrived outside, Ning Xiu immediately went out to greet him. After waiting for so long, the reinforcements had finally arrived.

Su Qianqian was not among the three people who came to Wendeng County this time; instead, there were three men who all looked to be seven or eight years older than Ning Xiu.

This surprised Ning Xiu. Was the matter he reported not urgent enough to warrant Su Qianqian's personal visit?

"Greetings, esteemed gentlemen. I am Ning Xiu, Commander of the Iron Horse Demon Subduer. May I ask your names?" Ning Xiu asked, clasping his hands in greeting.

"Brother Ning, you're too kind. Actually, there aren't three of us. It's just me this time. My name is Ren Qianxing," the man standing in the middle of the three said with a smile, taking out a token of the Iron Horse Demon Subduing Commandant and waving it in front of Ning Xiu to prove his identity.

"Huh?" Ning Xiu was taken aback, then reached out and patted the two men on either side of Ren Qianxing.

Sure enough, it felt extremely hard when I slapped it, and it even made a 'bang' sound. I knew it wasn't a real person as soon as I touched it.

"It's so lifelike and exquisite! I wouldn't have noticed it at all without your reminder. Brother Ren, you have quite the skill. Could it be that you cultivate the art of puppetry?" Ning Xiu withdrew his hand and asked in surprise.

Ren Qianxing nodded: "That's right. I am an eighth-rank puppeteer in the Puppet Dao. I heard that there is a demon in Wendeng County who is good at puppet transformations and is doing evil. Lord Su asked me to come and take a look, and also to help Brother Ning deal with the puppet transformation problem."

Ning Xiu was somewhat unsure of himself since Su Qianqian hadn't shown up in person.

Now that he knew the person in front of him was actually a puppeteer of the eighth rank in the Puppet Dao, he felt instantly at ease.

As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise. If you want to find out the puppet incarnation hidden in Wendeng County, who can compare to a puppeteer who specializes in making puppets?

“That’s great, Brother Ren, come with me, I’ll take you to see that sorcerer.”

Deep inside the government prison.

Lu Dengke's body was placed in a large iron cage. To prevent the demon from suffocating, Ning Xiu unwrapped the blankets covering Lu Dengke's body.

This made it easy for onlookers to see Lu Dengke's miserable skeletal remains and the demon curled up in his ribcage.

Ren Qianxing stared at the demon for a long time, then sighed inexplicably, and then lamented, "What a wonderful possession and body-stealing technique! If it could be developed and promoted, it would surely become another branch of the Puppet Path. It's just a pity that it has degenerated into a demon."

"Brother Ren, what do you mean by that?" Ning Xiu asked.

Ren Qianxing pointed a finger at the demon's head, where Lu Dengke's heart was fused: "This person is like an insect that parasitizes other people's bodies. By fusing with their hearts, he can control the target's words and actions."

At the same time, one's own appearance will begin to transform into the appearance of the deceased; you can tell just by looking at his face.

If I'm not mistaken, we just need to wait a little longer until it grows hands and feet, then it will crawl out of the deceased's body. Finally, it will fill its own body with the flesh and skin of various kinds of livestock, and this demon will be reborn, truly replacing its original owner.

As Ren Qianxing explained, the demon in the iron cage sneered, "You're quite something, actually able to see the effect of my self-created puppet magic."

Ren Qianxing ignored the man and continued, "Fortunately, Brother Ning, you discovered this demon's existence in advance and captured him. Otherwise, it would have been too late by the time he completed his magic."

Ning Xiu suddenly realized why the demon looked exactly like the deceased Lu Dengke.

Emotion is the reason behind this.

“Brother Ren, this secret is interesting, but I don’t really care. This demon may have created many puppet avatars in Wendeng County. Right now, the most urgent task is to find all of those puppet avatars and destroy them, so that Wendeng County can be restored to peace.” Ning Xiu said in a low voice to prevent the demon from overhearing.

Ren Qianxing nodded and replied, "Yes, I know."

Ning Xiu glanced at the demon: "Brother Ren, you've met the demon now. Let's go outside and discuss our plans."

"Row."

As soon as they stepped out of the prison, Ning Xiu asked, "Brother Ren, do you have any solutions? If you need any manpower, just let me know, and I will cooperate fully."

"Puppet masters generally control puppets using three methods: with strings, with the soul, and with talismans. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Judging from the demon's appearance in the prison just now, he wasn't controlling the puppet with strings."

Controlling puppets with strings is the hardest way to leave traces, while the latter two methods of puppet control are relatively easier to find. Brother Ning, please stay at the yamen and rest for now. I will handle this matter alone.”

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

Having obtained the information he wanted from the sorcerer, Ren Qianxing immediately took action, leaving the yamen with his two puppets.

Although he didn't know this person, he was still very reassured because Su Qianqian had specially arranged for him to come, and he was a puppeteer from the Puppet Dao.

After Ren Qianxing left, he returned to the room Dong Fu had arranged for him in the yamen and began his chanting of scriptures for the night.

Counting the days, the golden bead in his hand is almost ready to be fully reddened.

The night grew deeper.

The entire Wendeng Yamen was eerily quiet.

Two constables carried lanterns and patrolled around the yamen to prevent outsiders from sneaking in.

Although the chances of this happening are very low, we still have to be careful.

Just then, several figures suddenly leaped in from outside the wall. Before the two constables could even react, their bodies began to melt horribly.

In an instant, the ground was covered in blood, and there was no one left but the clothes of the deceased lying in a pool of blood.

"The prison is over there. Be quick, don't let the Demon-Subduing Commander notice."

Several figures sped across the rooftops of the government buildings and soon arrived at the entrance to the prison.

Four jailers stood outside the door. The area was brightly lit by braziers and torches, and anyone who approached would be detected immediately.

But these figures made no attempt to hide; they leaped off the roof and rushed toward the prison entrance.

"Someone's breaking into the prison!"

"Quickly, sound the drum! Inform Lord Ning!"

Before the jailers could do anything, the figures had already arrived in front of them.

Blood gushed from the seven orifices of the four jailers, which was then sucked into the mouth of one of the figures.

In an instant, the four men had lost all their blood and collapsed as mummified corpses.

Those mysterious figures had already disappeared inside the prison entrance.

……

"Ok?"

Ning Xiu, who was chanting sutras for Jinzhu, suddenly stopped.

He sensed that the room had inexplicably become somewhat cold, which was not a normal sign.

He immediately used his spiritual eye observation technique and saw that wisps of evil energy were constantly drifting in from outside the door and window.

Although these evil energies weren't very strong, they were enough to indicate that the problem had become somewhat serious.

Before this, there was no evil spirit in the Wendeng Yamen, but now it has suddenly appeared.

This means that there are a large number of evil spirits or demons here at this moment, otherwise such a commotion could not have been caused.

"Could it be... no good!" A thought flashed through Ning Xiu's mind. He quickly stuffed the golden pearl into his pocket, got up, and ran out of the room.

There was nothing in the Wendeng Yamen (a government office) that could attract evil spirits, so the problem must lie with the sorcerer I imprisoned in the Yamen jail today.

Could it be that there are more than just two sorcerers hiding in Wendeng County, and he has other accomplices?

Taking advantage of the quiet of the night, they planned to break the prison and rescue the sorcerer.

Ning Xiu absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen. That demon still had many secrets hidden within him, and he needed to escort him back to the Demon Subduing Division and hand him over to a specialist for severe interrogation.

There can be absolutely no room for error.

[026] The Secret Treasure of the Golden Pearl: Heavenly King Vajra Skill

Inside the prison, blood flowed everywhere.

Each prison guard lay dead in a pool of blood, their deaths gruesome and tragic.

Four strange figures dressed in black robes, their limbs and faces shrouded in black mist, arrived in front of the cell where the demon was imprisoned and forcefully pulled the entire cell door open.

"It's you four. I didn't expect you four to obey Aunt Chu's orders." The demon slowly emerged from Lu Dengke's chest and said, looking at the four people who came to his rescue.

"The matter of gathering the essence of a thousand people cannot be delayed. It is no longer realistic to go to other villages and counties to collect essence. Where is your spirit-gathering banner now?" the leader questioned.

"He was discovered and taken away by that Demon-Slaying Officer, and now I don't know where he's hiding."

"what?!"

The four were all shocked: "How could you let the Demon-Subduing Commander discover the Spirit-Gathering Banner?"

"You don't know, this Demon-Subduing Officer who came to Wendeng County this time is quite wicked. He seems to have the ability to discern spiritual energy, and his personal strength is not to be underestimated. Even the ghosts I summoned with the Spirit-Gathering Banner couldn't do anything to him."

After the demon crawled out of Lu Dengke's chest cavity, it couldn't help but start complaining bitterly.

But the four sorcerers standing outside had no interest in listening to him; they were here on orders to rescue people in Wendeng County.

Saving people was just a side task; their biggest mission was to bring back the Spirit Gathering Banner, which contained vital energy, to Chaotian Capital.

The Spirit Gathering Banner is currently not in the hands of the demon, and it will likely cost them a considerable amount of money to retrieve it.

"Take him with us. The Demon-Subduing Officer has imprisoned him here, so the Spirit-Gathering Banner should also be hidden inside the yamen. Let's search for it now."