Xu Fei froze at the sight, assuming these were bodyguards left by the Flower-Faced Ghost Hand to guard the place.
But after a pause, he noticed something off. Why were these twenty-odd “bodyguards” just standing there with cold, menacing expressions, yet not moving a muscle?
Squinting for a closer look, Xu Fei realised they weren’t bodyguards at all, just a bunch of startlingly lifelike wooden carvings!
With that, he leapt off the wall into the courtyard, Zhikong following suit.
Stepping closer, Xu Fei examined the twenty-odd wooden figures. The nearer he got, the more unsettling they became. Their faces showed no trace of being carved from wood.
Yet Xu Fei knew full well they were just statues!
At this, a spark of excitement flickered in his chest.
He realised this meant the Flower-Faced Ghost Hand, whom he’d yet to meet, must be a master of his craft. Even these wooden figures, casually scattered about the yard, were so vividly realistic.
If he could disguise a living person, he’d surely pull off something indistinguishable from the real thing!
“Come on, let’s check it out!”
Glancing at the courtyard’s layout, which wasn’t much different from ones he’d seen before, Xu Fei headed straight for the largest room in the compound, acting on instinct.
But barely two steps in, a clattering sound of mechanisms whirring filled his ears, followed by the sharp whistle of something cutting through the air.
Instinctively, Xu Fei raised a hand to block behind him, muttering under his breath.
“Mountain-Severing Finger!”
A broken blade, snapped in two, sailed past him.
Turning around, Xu Fei saw that the wooden carvings in the yard had sprung to life!
“Puppetry? Now that’s a rare sight!”
The moment he saw this puppet technique, Xu Fei’s mind flashed back to what he’d encountered in Jiangbei. He wondered what connection there might be between this Flower-Faced Ghost Hand’s puppetry and the strange arts he’d seen there.
“Less chatter! This is private property. If you don’t want to die, get out now!”
A deep, resonant voice boomed, leaving Zhikong reeling. To him, it felt like the sound was coming from all directions at once.
For a moment, Zhikong didn’t even know where to look.
Xu Fei, though, wasn’t fazed by such a cheap trick.
He knew it was just the speaker using true energy to project their voice, making it seem to echo from everywhere.
In reality, the source was holed up in one fixed spot.
But Xu Fei wasn’t in a rush to call them out. That wasn’t why he’d come, after all.
He’d never met this person and figured an old-school artisan like this probably didn’t care much for money or material things.
Pondering how to strike a deal to get the Flower-Faced Ghost Hand to agree to a disguise, Xu Fei decided he had no choice but to come clean.
“Are you the Flower-Faced Ghost Hand? I’m Xu Fei. I came here to ask for your help with a disguise. If you’re willing, I’ll meet any condition you name!”
After he spoke, that aged, hearty voice rang out again.
“Hahaha! What a fearless young calf! Since you’re so eager, let’s see if you’ve got the guts to get past these twenty wooden dummies and find me. I’m in the room right ahead!”
