Chapter 75
Shen Lijun's joy didn't last long.
Awakening a supernatural ability was, of course, a good thing. Generally speaking, only one in ten thousand cultivators could awaken an innate divine ability.
As for acquired divine abilities, they were even rarer—every single one required monstrous luck and heaven-defying fortune.
Shen Lijun's situation could only be described with one phrase: absurdly lucky.
But... what kind of ability was puppet transformation supposed to be?
Other people awakened illusions, soul manipulation, petrification, spatial abilities—and he got turned into a damn puppet?
The moment Shen Lijun recalled being double-teamed and beaten senseless by Lou Yuqing and her senior sister earlier, his face immediately darkened with grievance.
So what now?
Was his future just becoming a puppet and getting punched around all day?
Even if puppet bodies healed quickly, that didn't mean they should be used like this!
Meanwhile, Wei Houming watched Shen Lijun's expression cycle through joy, confusion, grief, and despair in rapid succession and silently pondered.
There were very few disciples within the sect who possessed supernatural abilities. Even he himself had never been fortunate enough to awaken one.
Sending Shen Lijun off to mine spirit ore felt like a complete waste of talent.
But at the same time, the brat's crimes were real. Punishment was unavoidable.
He needed a solution that satisfied both sides.
While Wei Houming was thinking, the surrounding disciples had already exploded internally after hearing Shen Lijun possessed a supernatural ability. Their eyes flickered wildly as they stared at him.
Had they heard wrong?
Shen Lijun had actually awakened a divine ability?!
Forget whether it was useful or not—the mere fact that he had one was enough to make everyone jealous to the point of twisting apart.
Earlier, when they thought Shen Lijun was doomed to die young, many of them had even felt a little pity for him.
Now?
The fact that they weren't collectively glaring him to death was already the last shred of brotherly affection among fellow disciples.
The tied-hair disciple in particular looked so distressed he practically wanted to beat his chest and howl at the heavens.
Why wasn't I the one who awakened such an ability?!
Si Nidie, meanwhile, rubbed at the goosebumps rising on her arms as she endured the increasingly sour atmosphere around her.
Her focus, however, was different from everyone else's.
She was more curious about Shen Lijun's ability itself.
Aside from recovering quickly after getting beaten... it didn't really seem that useful?
Shen Lijun: "..."
Don't think I couldn't tell what you were thinking just because you weren't saying it out loud.
He subtly turned his head. Seeing Lou Yuqing wasn't paying attention to this side, he immediately shot Si Nidie a vicious glare before stiffly turning back around.
Si Nidie curled her lips.
Childish.
Not intimidating at all.
Ling Yunxiao remained detached from beginning to end. Even after hearing Shen Lijun possessed a supernatural ability, his expression barely changed.
Instead, his gaze drifted toward the girl nearby. He wondered if today's drama was finally about to end.
Lou Yuqing continued scrolling through the gossip panel.
[Divine abilities can evolve. Puppetization sounds useless at first, but actually, it's not bad at all.]
[Shen Lijun can evolve into puppets made from different materials.]
[For example, iron-sand puppets possess terrifying regenerative abilities. Even if Shen Lijun suffers severe injuries in the future, he can instantly recover to peak condition.]
[And if he switches into puppets made from offensive or defensive materials during battle—imagine the enemy suddenly discovering their attacks are hitting a puppet body instead of flesh. Wouldn't that be hilarious?]
As her thoughts echoed through the hall, Shen Lijun's mind instantly filled with grand fantasies.
He could practically already see himself standing triumphantly over defeated enemies, casually switching puppet forms while they stared in utter disbelief.
The smugness spreading across his face was so obvious it was painful to look at.
Wei Houming silently turned away, unwilling to witness it any longer.
Then he realized—the surrounding disciples had the exact same expressions.
Every single one of them had clearly started imagining it too.
Wei Houming: "..."
"Shen Lijun!"
His sudden shout exploded through the hall.
Everyone jumped violently back to reality.
[You scared me again!]
Lou Yuqing shuddered and immediately began complaining internally.
Everyone else: "..."
Same.
A trace of embarrassment flashed through Wei Houming's eyes before instantly vanishing beneath the thick skin expected of someone in a high-ranking sect position.
"Disciple present!"
Shen Lijun straightened reflexively and answered loudly.
He knew his punishment was finally coming.
And honestly?
It was impossible not to be nervous.
His only hope now was that he wouldn't be sent too far from the sect.
If possible, it'd be even better if he could occasionally return.
Otherwise, after enough time passed, Qiu Yan would definitely forget about him.
And those substitutes lingering around her lately?
None of them were good people.
Thinking of that, Shen Lijun's expression instantly turned sour again.
The reason he'd gotten drunk last night was because he'd discovered Qiu Yan had recently been asking about some inner disciple named Gu Qinghong—or whatever his name was.
He looked average anyway. Far inferior to the original.
And he already had a dao companion too.
Even though Shen Lijun mentally criticized Gu Qinghong from head to toe, the thought that Qiu Yan would rather pay attention to a substitute like that than give him a single chance made his chest tighten painfully.
So he drank.
And then he ruined everything.
Still... maybe this wasn't entirely bad.
At least now he knew he wasn't dying from some incurable condition. With this divine ability, he still had a future ahead of him.
As Shen Lijun thought this through, the tension in his brows gradually eased. The fists hanging stiffly at his sides slowly relaxed as well.
Whatever punishment came—he would accept it.
"Inner disciple Shen Lijun," Wei Houming said leisurely, clearly aware everyone in the hall had pricked up their ears to listen, "hear your sentence. You are ordered to compensate the sect for the corresponding amount of spirit stones. Any objections?"
Shen Lijun froze.
Then cautiously asked, "Elder Wei... did you perhaps forget something?"
He was still waiting to hear the actual punishment.
Lou Yuqing blinked in surprise.
This was different from what the gossip panel had shown.
So the future really had changed because of the butterfly effect.
Good.
That saved her from needing to interfere with Shen Lijun's sentence herself. She knew full well Captain Wei wasn't easy to fool. If she stepped forward recklessly, it would definitely attract suspicion.
And then she'd have to figure out how to cover that up too.
At that moment, Si Nidie's voice quietly transmitted into her ear.
"Junior Sister... do you really think Elder Wei would let him off with just some spirit stone compensation?"
Lou Yuqing turned around in confusion, only to see Si Nidie constantly rubbing her arms.
"Senior Sister, what are you doing?"
Si Nidie sighed weakly. "My goosebumps finally went down earlier, and now they're back again. I have a bad feeling Captain Wei is plotting something horrible."
Almost the moment she finished speaking, Wei Houming calmly continued, "Actually, yes. There is one more thing I forgot. When the people from the cultivation rooms arrive, you'll understand once you go with them."
He smiled faintly.
For some reason, the smile looked incredibly sinister.
A chill instantly crept up Shen Lijun's spine.
His instincts screamed danger.
"...Could Elder tell me now instead?" he asked cautiously. "This disciple wishes to accept punishment sooner rather than later."
Wei Houming seemed to genuinely consider it for a moment.
Then he raised a brow and said loudly, "The puppet in cultivation room 536 is damaged. Since you can transform into a puppet yourself... go replace it."
The hall fell deathly silent.
Lou Yuqing and Si Nidie slowly turned to look at each other, identical shock written across both their faces.
So that was the plan...
Captain Wei was literally sending Shen Lijun off to become a training-room punching bag.
And calling the puppet "damaged" was obviously just an excuse!
Shen Lijun naturally understood that too. But what could he even say?
His face turned completely lifeless as he forced out a stiff smile.
"...How long is the punishment period?"
Once word spread, countless disciples would definitely come specifically to compare him with real puppets.
He could already envision the nightmare.
So all he could do was pray: Please let the duration be short.
Very short.
The surrounding disciples, meanwhile, watched eagerly with bright eyes.
None of them had expected Wei Houming to pull something like this.
At first glance, it sounded almost like deliberate humiliation.
But after thinking deeper, it actually was a form of leniency.
At least Shen Lijun would remain inside the sect.
And yet somehow... the punishment also felt disturbingly ingenious.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, Wei Houming calmly spoke two words.
"Three years."
Shen Lijun: "......"
He had completely lost the ability to speak.
"You exploited the cultivation room loophole for three years," Wei Houming said mildly, a trace of anticipation hidden in his smile. "Now you'll spend three years repaying that debt. Any objections?"
Lou Yuqing muttered internally: What a twisted sense of humor.
Back then, Captain Wei had seemed so stern and upright.
People really did change.
Still... she quite liked this version of him. If she ever accidentally got caught up in some trouble while spectating gossip in the future, maybe Captain Wei would go easier on her out of shared bystander solidarity.
Ling Yunxiao watched the girl secretly enjoying herself and unconsciously smiled as well.
He didn't quite understand why. But seeing her happy somehow made him feel happy too.
And if he couldn't understand it—then so be it.
It wasn't important.
Down below, Shen Lijun suddenly felt like some people appeared alive on the outside while actually having died long ago.
He bowed stiffly. "This disciple... has no objections."
Wei Houming nodded in satisfaction.
"Very good. Additionally, during your punishment period, you are forbidden from secretly absorbing spiritual energy from the cultivation rooms again—if discovered... the punishment will be doubled."
The final words landed heavily.
Shen Lijun's heart skipped violently.
"This disciple wouldn't dare!"
He absolutely did not dare admit that, for one brief moment earlier, he had genuinely considered doing exactly that.
This Enforcement Hall elder was terrifyingly perceptive.
Standing before him felt like being stripped naked and examined down to the bone.
"That's good."
Wei Houming's eyes sharpened slightly.
"I'll assign people to supervise you. You'd best repay the spirit stones owed to the sect as soon as possible. After a certain period of time... the sect will begin charging interest."
Shen Lijun's throat instantly turned dry.
After painstakingly saving for years, he only possessed slightly over two thousand spirit stones.
He still owed more than eight thousand.
Just thinking about it made his vision darken.
"This disciple... probably won't be able to repay it anytime soon," he admitted bitterly.
Wei Houming waved a hand casually.
"That's fine.
The cultivation room staff informed me that several puppets in other training rooms are malfunctioning as well.
When you're free, you can fill in for them too.
The pay is fifty spirit stones per month.
At this rate, the debt should be cleared in about a dozen years. How about it?"
The moment those words fell—the eyes of every disciple present lit up.
Fifty spirit stones a month?!
Don't move!
Let them do it!
Outer disciples only received ten spirit stones monthly. Even inner disciples only got double that.
A fifty-spirit-stone job was unbelievably tempting.
"Elder Wei!" the tied-hair disciple immediately shouted, raising his hand high. "I think I can do it too!"
The instant one person spoke, everyone else exploded.
"Elder, I've got ten years of experience enduring beatings! Let me do it!"
"Ten years? That's nothing! I've got a hundred years of endurance experience! In terms of toughness, even puppets can't compare to me!"
"A hundred years? Stop bragging! If you're that capable, come outside and let's see who survives longer getting beaten!"
Sleeves rolled up instantly.
The entire hall erupted into chaos.
Meanwhile, Shen Lijun—the actual person involved—had been completely forgotten.
Lou Yuqing and Si Nidie silently lowered their heads, trying their best to appear invisible.
These people were truly blinded by money.
Had they all forgotten how terrifying Captain Wei's expression had looked earlier?
"You all think I should give you the job?"
A cold voice suddenly echoed through the hall.
The tone wasn't loud. Yet the pressure behind it crashed down like a mountain.
Everyone instantly froze.
Then collectively shrank into silent quails.
Right.
They'd gotten too excited over spirit stones—and completely forgotten they were standing inside the Enforcement Hall.