Wang Jue, realizing the short fellow was merely a brute, felt a surge of secret delight. He then adopted an accusatory tone toward the two elders seated on the stone bench. "You two can judge the truth for yourselves. I've brought back Li Bingyu; she will do whatever you command. If the Li Bingyu they brought back is genuine, she too will surely obey the Puppet King's commands."

The fake Li Bingyu thought to herself: Good heavens, Wang Jue's art of deflection is magnificent. In a few moves, he’s managed to shift the entire conflict onto others. If those two old fools listen to him, they won't bother distinguishing between the real and fake Gao or Ai brothers, and will instead turn against me and the real Li Bingyu.

Hearing the feigned short man speak, the old man and old woman exchanged a look, their gazes fixing intently upon the real Li Bingyu, who had just entered. The real Li Bingyu suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching her head and crying out in anguish, "No, no, don't make me go, I don't want to..."

The two elders remained silent for another two minutes; the atmosphere in the entire hall seemed to congeal. Sensing the shift in the surroundings, Hou Dayong, disguised as the fake Li Bingyu, suddenly snapped back to action. He snatched the dagger from Fan Jia's hand and viciously stabbed it into Xiao Shu's shoulder.

A sharp cry echoed: "Ah..." Bright crimson blood welled up from the wound. Xiao Shu glared at the fake Li Bingyu, his face a mask of fury. But at that very moment, the real Li Bingyu lunged forward, shoving the fake one aside, shielding Xiao Shu tightly behind her, and declared with sorrowful indignation, "No matter who you are, you will not harm him, or your end will be dreadful."

Seeing the subsequent Li Bingyu’s unexpected action, everyone froze, utterly uncertain which of the two standing there was real and which was false. Hou Dayong sighed internally, realizing that if he didn't eliminate the real one, this entire spectacle could not be concluded.

Thus, the fake Li Bingyu lunged at the real Li Bingyu with the dagger. The real one first shoved Xiao Shu aside, then executed a perfect backward somersault, using the momentum to land atop the stone table. Spotting a dagger tucked into the waist of a nearby puppet, she flipped down to retrieve it, engaging the fake Li Bingyu in a duel against herself. Their fists and feet met; whatever move the real Li Bingyu employed, the fake one instantly countered. They fought in a dazzling flurry throughout the hall, making the task of distinguishing between the two an absolute impossibility.

Just as the two were locked in their ferocious exchange, the short man suddenly rushed toward Li Xiaoshu, dagger brandished, poised to plunge it into his chest. Simultaneously, both Li Bingyus flipped and leaped toward Li Xiaoshu, stabbing their respective daggers into the short man's ribs, one on the left and one on the right.

The short man shrieked and collapsed onto the floor. The tall man who had accompanied him rushed over to help him up, then quickly slit his own wrist vein, dripping his blood into the wound. The tall man whom Wang Jue was impersonating stood nearby, stiff and vacant-eyed. The true identities of the two opposing factions were now glaringly self-evident.

The old woman slammed her hand on the table and stood up in anger, shouting, "All of you, stop this immediately." She walked over to the genuine and false Li Bingyus, shook her head, and stated, "It no longer matters which of you is real and which is fake; you are both no longer mine." She then addressed the tall man impersonated by Wang Jue: "You never anticipated the depth of affection between those two brothers, did you? Even when turned into puppets, it doesn't mean memory and feeling are lost. Just like that real Li Bingyu, who fell in love with someone she shouldn't have and broke free from my shackles. This is the difference between an Undying Body and a spirit—only through life's trials do they learn what is most precious in this world, something the spirits are utterly incapable of perceiving."