The Power of the Baek Clan
Baek Cheong slightly shifted the direction of her connected Divine Sense to the right. The puppet stepped forward with its right foot, without a single creak. When she shifted the direction to the left, the left foot followed. When she pulled her Divine Sense upward, it held its head high, and when she pressed down, it bowed its waist in a polite greeting.
'Wow, how does it move like this?' Baek Cheong couldn't help but marvel inwardly. Although Yuk Muk had humbly called it a "toy puppet," the complex principles of puppet arts were compressed and contained within the small girl-shaped construct. It was an organic structure where even a beginner could directly control the spirit threads via Divine Sense, and the tension of those threads pulled the joints to create physical movement.
After maneuvering it here and there, Baek Cheong immediately realized the limitation: the entire doll's joints were bound together by a single strand of Divine Sense. 'It would move much more delicately if I split the Divine Sense and connected it to each joint separately, wouldn't it?'
Baek Cheong withdrew the Divine Sense connected to the gem on its forehead. After all, the gem was merely an auxiliary device for beginners. This time, she split her Divine Sense into two thin strands and connected them to each of the puppet's arm joints. The two arms, which had been moving as one just a moment ago, now showed completely different movements, operating independently on the left and right.
Emboldened, she split her Divine Sense into three, then five, and so on. As she increased the strands of Divine Sense to refine the control over the joints, the puppet's movements transcended its stiff limitations and became noticeably precise and fluid. Each of the wooden limbs moved smoothly in response to her control, and soon, it displayed movements so natural and dynamic that it looked as if it were alive.
'Is this puppet a god?' Before she knew it, her Divine Sense was touching every single joint the toy puppet allowed. The small girl puppet tilted its head coquettishly in the palm of her hand, stretched its arms softly to dance like a ballerina, and the varied movements of its light, nimble steps created the illusion that she was watching a real person.
'This is truly amazing.' Lost in the fun of controlling the puppet for so long, Baek Cheong completely forgot that she was sitting in the middle of a banquet hall where the clan's major affairs were being discussed. She wasn't even conscious of the gazes directed at her from all around.
'Well, I suppose I can't hide a talent that's bound to be revealed anyway.'
Meanwhile, Baek Mujin watched his lovely daughter's overflowing talent in silence. He had known from early on that she possessed an extraordinary talent—beyond just her aptitude—from how quickly she mastered spells to how she could handle multiple spells at once.
'In the past, I would have been in a rush to hide it. But at least now, I have enough power to protect my daughter...'
Baek Cheong was still only at the Qi Refining stage, but the Yeonha Baek clan's influence had grown, and they were under the protection of a major sect. Moreover, they possessed absolute dominance within the Yeonha region.
'Only the lightning qi...' The moment she had manifested lightning qi a while ago was an exception. Fortunately, those working in the Yeonha Baek clan—especially in the inner hall—were people with verified identities, even the maids and servants, and he had admonished them in various ways.
"T-this is impossible..."
Meanwhile, the puppet master Yuk Muk, who had been standing with his knees bent in front of Baek Cheong, took a step back, unable to hide his shock. Sending a crude strand of Divine Sense into a toy puppet to make it move was one thing, but to instantly split Divine Sense into multiple strands and control each joint individually? That was a difference as vast as heaven and earth, something that could never be placed on the same level.
The bizarre sight of a mere Qi Refining brat freely splitting her Divine Sense to extract the maximum potential of a puppet was a talent that he, a Golden Core cultivator who had devoted his entire life to practicing puppet arts while being treated as a heretic, could not believe even while witnessing it with his own eyes.
Baek Cheong, who had been deeply immersed in playing with the doll, suddenly came to her senses, lifted her head, and stared blankly up at Yuk Muk.
"Um, Senior."
"Y-yes? Y-yes, yes." Yuk Muk's voice was laced with astonishment.
"What do I have to do to learn puppet arts?"
At Baek Cheong's bold question, Yuk Muk's eyes widened as if they would pop out. Even the nearby mountain hermits, who had been sipping wine and looking for an opportunity to catch the clan head's eye, were startled by her impudent remark and turned their heads to look.
For the clan head's precious youngest daughter to openly ask a mountain hermit she was meeting for the first time as a guest to pass on his craft was rude and audacious, far beyond the common sense of the cultivation world. However, the reaction of Yuk Muk, who should have felt insulted, was completely different from what the people around them expected. His dull eyes gleamed with a strange fervor.
"To show such deep interest in this lowly old man's puppet...!"
Emotions that had been suppressed for a long time seemed to break through a dam; even his stuttering speech vanished. "Do you truly recognize the true beauty and mystery of puppet arts at a single glance!"
Unlike a puppet master whose emotions had dulled after handling puppets for so long, his voice was filled with an extremely agitated and overwhelmed emotion.
"You said it was a toy puppet, Senior, but each one, with its precise movements, was a wonderful work of art." Baek Cheong replied, mixing sincerity with pretense. She felt like she could learn puppet arts for free if she played her cards right.
"I would love to pass on my life's vision to you...!" Yuk Muk's eyes sparkled with sincerity, his wrinkled eyes turning red at having met someone who understood him. However, the Baek clan head was subtly pressuring him with a glance.
"It is not a matter I can decide and offer immediately..."
Barely suppressing his surging emotions, he opened the spatial artifact in his robe again. He took out a jade slip he had kept preciously inside and handed it to Baek Cheong with trembling, extremely respectful hands.
"If it is an introduction to puppet arts, the contents of this jade slip will suffice. Although it is only the most basic of basics, it will be of help in gaining knowledge when you first encounter puppet arts."
Yuk Muk's attitude was not a ploy to demand something in return. It was closer to a pure tribute to a genius student who had recognized his lonely path. If he were a Nascent Soul great cultivator, he would have kidnapped her on the spot to make her his disciple, but he had no choice but to endure.
"Thank you!" Baek Cheong didn't refuse the gift and accepted the jade slip. Because they were exchanging the jade slip so casually and freely, it looked like he was just handing over some trivial cultivation manual. However, knowledge of a craft as rare and thoroughly ostracized in the cultivation world as puppet arts was an incredibly precious item, worth whatever price was called, even if it were just an introductory book.
'Got it!' But Baek Cheong didn't care about the value of the jade slip. She just tucked it away, her eyes shining with the joy of having acquired a new toy.
"It is truly a grateful thing for the puppet master to do. To so readily accept our youngest's pestering like this." Baek Mujin, who had been watching the situation until the end, set down his cup and expressed his gratitude to Yuk Muk in a gentle voice. Even if it had started as a coincidence born from a gift thrown to curry favor with the clan head, the result that had fallen into his youngest daughter's hands was knowledge that was truly precious and coveted even from the Yeonha Baek clan's perspective.
'An opportunity to draw Golden Core mountain hermits into the Yeonha Baek clan.'
Baek Muyeong, who had been watching the conversation from near the head table and calculating in his mind, naturally rose from his seat. He approached Yuk Muk with his signature, skillful merchant's smile and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Due to the noisy banquet hall, the exact conversation and secret agreement that passed between the two could not be heard from Baek Cheong's seat. However, as soon as the short conversation ended, a bright glow and deep gratitude could be seen on Yuk Muk's face.
It was clear that in exchange for handing over the precious jade slip to Baek Cheong, Baek Muyeong had secretly promised Yuk Muk a preferential contract with unconventional and favorable conditions that he had likely never experienced in his life. The Yeonha Baek clan's thick network of connections was always built in that way. It was a method of binding the other party within the clan's fence and deepening the relationship by providing a reasonable and overflowing reward for any favor received, even if it meant cutting one's own bones.
And the eyes of the other Golden Core mountain hermits, who had watched the series of events unfold in front of the head table with bated breath, were gleaming as if they had discovered an opportunity. The Yeonha Baek clan, which ruled the south, was showing immense goodwill even to the craft of an old hermit treated as a heretic. They couldn't help but think that if they offered even a fragment of the craft they had polished their entire lives, an enormous reward and the Baek clan's solid preferential treatment would immediately follow.
Above all, even for renowned mountain hermits, the one who bows first and moves to occupy the position first is the one who monopolizes better treatment and resources.
Before the harmonious banquet had even reached its final stage, the Golden Core mountain hermits, who had valued their dignity, put down their wine cups and jumped up from their seats one after another. Seo Un-bong, a white-haired man who had spent 400 years on dragon-searching arts to pinpoint the earth's veins, was the first to rush to the head table with quick steps.
"Baek Clan Head! If it concerns the exploration of new spirit veins in the clan's territory, this old man will devote the rest of his life to it, even if it means breaking his bones!"
And before his words had even finished, Jang Cheol-ryu, known as an artifact refiner, followed him, gasping for air. "I have a jade slip here that compiles even the shallowest basic knowledge of artifact refining! I will gladly share it for the learning of the Yeonha Baek clan's rising generation!"
After that, they rushed forward like a dam bursting. A bizarre scene unfolded where Golden Core mountain hermits threw away their dignity and clamored to offer their crafts and loyalty to the Yeonha Baek clan for a pittance. Even if it wasn't a secret technique that would shake the foundations of their own existence, various introductory jade slips of crafts that were hard to find even with spirit stones, the locations of hidden rare herb colonies, and clues to as-yet-unexcavated secret realms were being poured out like a mountain at Baek Mujin's feet.
'Wow, this is truly insane.' Meanwhile, Baek Cheong stared blankly at the bizarre scene of offerings. Her father was skillfully handling the situation created by her uncle's silver tongue, milking them for everything they were worth. She felt like she was seeing even a fragment of the true power of the Baek clan.