"She won't tell me, perhaps because she herself doesn't know the secret either. You are a true immortal, you must know more than she does. Wouldn't it be better to ask you than to ask her?" From years of social experience, Wang Jue had grasped a good measure of women's vanity. Hearing Li Bingyu mention Zhang Yuqiu, he deliberately portrayed Zhang Yuqiu as inferior to Li Bingyu, hoping to stir up the arrogance within Bingyu. He wished that while her head was swimming with flattery, she might reveal some clues about the Ding Hun Zhui (Soul-Nailing Cone).

However, ever since suffering a setback at the hands of Li Xiaoshu, Li Bingyu had become impenetrable. She harbored a natural hostility toward men. Realizing Wang Jue was deliberately elevating her status above Zhang Yuqiu, she grasped the intent behind his words by about seventy percent. Knowing he intended to use her by making Zhang Yuqiu seem clueless, she seized the note from Wang Jue’s hand under the torchlight and touched it to the flame. A small blaze instantly caught the paper, turning the treasured script to ash.

"You... what are you doing?" Wang Jue stared at Li Bingyu in shock.

"Now no one knows the secret on that note. I only need to kill you, and the secret will vanish from the world forever with your soul," Li Bingyu said calmly, a hint of viciousness flashing in her eyes. The pitiable look she wore when Zhang Yuqiu stroked her was entirely gone, as was the expression of reverence she once held upon learning Wang Jue’s true identity.

Wang Jue involuntarily stepped back. "I see. You've turned into someone else again, controlled by the Puppet King, just like Wen Shu was. Constantly shifting, impossible to predict."

Li Bingyu smiled faintly. "That's actually true. If the puppet were a wooden doll, what you see is merely the doll being manipulated by strings, moving its limbs to perform for the audience. But if the puppet evolves into a person with character and personality, what you witness is erratic behavior and psychology. That is the difference between a true puppet and a wooden puppet. I am a living puppet now. You can guess all you like about who is controlling me, but you will never know their true face. That is the essence of the game."

His words left Wang Jue stunned. When he first met Li Bingyu, she was weeping beside a candlestick. After hearing what Hou Dayong said, he thought she might be different from the other living dead. Now, it seemed, a puppet was always a puppet. The moments they displayed their humanity were merely when the Puppet King was too preoccupied to mind them, having momentarily slackened the strings of control. If a puppet were to break free from the Puppet King’s control through its own thoughts, it would be futile; ultimately, the Puppet King would simply mend the broken string and resume the manipulation.

Thinking this, Li Bingyu drew a bronze-handled dagger from her waist and advanced on Wang Jue step by step. Wang Jue had no desire to fight her, so he retreated one step after another. When his heel touched the edge of the pool, a strange impulse surged through Li Bingyu. She dropped the dagger and lunged wildly toward Wang Jue. Wang Jue had no choice but to take a large step backward, tumbling into the icy pool. Looking at Li Bingyu again, she seemed transformed, standing blankly by the water's edge, her eyes filled with a confused expression, as if everything she had just said and done had been carried out by someone else. Wang Jue cursed inwardly, took a deep breath, sank into the water, and swam forward through the tunnel at the bottom of the pool.