Chapter 924: Not Just a Glance

"Just looked at you?"Everyone frowned. What did that mean?They had clearly asked how it lost, implying a specific move or technique. If it didn't want to explain, that was fine, but why the poetic language? Was it going to follow up with "and I could never forget your face again..."?That was a popular border song on the Master Teacher Continent, one many people knew. They were asking a serious question, and a mere puppet shouldn't be spouting song lyrics.Elder Mi and the others shook their heads.

"I..."Seeing their expressions, the puppet looked as if it were about to cry. "I mean, he just looked at me... and I lost!"

"Just a look?"Everyone was dumbfounded. They had heard of defeats in a single move, or a winner decided by one palm strike or sword thrust, but never someone surrendering just from a glance!"Are you saying the person who came to challenge you yesterday didn't attack, but simply looked at you, and that made you surrender?" Elder Xu Changqing seemed to grasp something and couldn't help but ask."Yes..." The puppet nodded, almost in tears of relief that someone finally understood."Yes?"Zhao Bingxu, Elder Mi, and the others exchanged bewildered glances. You're a puppet, guardian of the Record Mountain, and the Dean just looked at you and you surrendered? Even if you wanted to curry favor, you didn't have to be so obvious! What kind of fairness and impartiality was that?

"Could you describe the combat situation in detail from yesterday?" Unlike the others, Elder Xu Changqing asked."Alright!" The puppet nodded without hesitation and recounted the battle scene.Upon seeing Zhang Xuan, it had launched an attack. Just as it was about to reach him, the young man simply smiled, and the light in his eyes converged at a point in the air. The others saw nothing out of the ordinary, but the puppet reacted as if it had seen a ghost, hastily retreating. The speed of its retreat, combined with its forward momentum, caused its meticulously crafted body to violently collide with itself. It was severely injured before it even made a move!

"Is this... a flaw in the puppet's construction?" While the other deans were still wondering if the puppet was exaggerating, the Dean of the Heavenly Crafts College swayed, nearly falling over.Puppets were artifacts of the Heavenly Crafts, different from human construction. The spot where the Dean's gaze had converged was precisely the puppet's greatest structural flaw. In a fight, a mere touch there could render it useless, incapable of further combat! Furthermore, it would be irreparable afterward!This meant that, at the instant the puppet attacked, the Dean not only found the flaw in its technique but also the vulnerability in its construction! The glance without an attack was a warning, a reminder. If the puppet hadn't been perceptive enough, it would likely have been torn to pieces.Given such danger, the puppet naturally dared not engage, which led to its internal forces clashing, resulting in injury before it had even made a move.

While it sounded simple, achieving it was incredibly difficult.The puppets in the Record Mountain were the culmination of countless years of research by generations of predecessors, integrating extensive combat experience from numerous master teachers. Their combat prowess surpassed even that of seasoned soldiers.Moreover, just as no two leaves are identical, even puppets made of the same materials by the same Heavenly Craftsman could have different flaw locations and manifestations. To be able to spot such a vulnerability with a single glance and pinpoint the issue in its crafting—what kind of perception was that? How profound were his combat improvisation skills?"He can do that?""I've heard of defeating the first-level puppet in a single move... but I've never heard of someone losing simply by being looked at, without a single strike being made!"Once they understood what had happened, everyone started pulling at their hair in disbelief. As top ten elders of the Master Teacher Academy, each of them had lived for at least 500 years, witnessing and experiencing countless battles. They had seen overwhelming power, single moves that swept through armies, and unbeatable foes... but they had never seen an enemy become severely injured simply by being looked at!Yet, now, the evidence was right before their eyes!Before, they had always felt that the Dean entering the Record Mountain would surely achieve something unprecedented, but their wildest guess was merely that he would surpass Dean Mo Liuzhen in terms of challenge completion time. Now, it seemed their imaginations had been far too simple...He cleared the challenge without using martial arts or techniques; he accomplished it simply by "looking." Who else could possibly do that?

"Let's go to the second level..." Suppressing the shock in their hearts and no longer paying attention to the still-confused and somewhat despairing puppet, Zhao Bingxu and the others hurried to the second level.

Just like the first level, the guardian puppet sat slumped on the ground, lifeless, like a defeated rooster."He... he looked at me twice, and then I got injured..." the puppet explained.Everyone's mouths twitched, and they hastily moved to the third level."He looked at me three times..." The third puppet said with a mournful face."A Cocoon Seal Realm cultivator, defeating Semi-Saint level puppets, crossing a major realm, and still not making a move, just looking three times?" Everyone swayed.They had guessed that Master Zhang was powerful and would clear the challenges easily, but they had never imagined he would clear three levels by merely looking, and, crucially, shatter the combat confidence of so many puppets.His way of clearing the levels was simply too effortless, too easy!When they had challenged the Record Mountain, they had been beaten to a pulp, almost dying. Yet, he only needed a few glances, and the puppets completely lost their confidence. Did the difference have to be so vast?

"The fourth level features a puppet at the late-Semi-Saint stage. Once 'Saint' is involved, whether it's Semi-Saint or Sub-Saint, things are entirely different. Perhaps... it won't be resolved with just three or four glances..." Seeing the gloomy atmosphere, with everyone feeling oppressed, Elder Mi couldn't help but say.Although the others shared this feeling, no one dared to speak. These elders, representing the pinnacle of the Master Teacher Academy in terms of vision and strength, had never once made a correct judgment regarding this Dean. Even if they wanted to say something, they couldn't articulate why.

"Let's go up and see..." Shaking their heads, knowing that further speculation was useless, the elders moved in unison towards the fourth level of the Record Mountain.This level was wider than the previous three, a platform several dozens of feet in circumference. A tall puppet lay motionless on the ground, its head tilted, eyes glazed over, looking utterly devoid of purpose."Did the Dean... look at you four times, and that's why you ended up like this?" Elder Xu Changqing couldn't help but ask as he approached.Could it be that this one, like the previous ones, was defeated by the Dean using the same method?"Four times?" Struggling to get up, the puppet shook its head, so ashamed it wanted to burrow into the ground. "Not that many... He just glanced at me, then said 'Lie down,' and then, and then I became like this..."

"Just a glance? And a command to 'lie down'?"Everyone looked at each other, utterly bewildered. Previously, the prolonged gazes focusing on the puppet's flaws and vital points, rendering it unable to exert its power and leading to automatic surrender—while hard to fathom—could at least be somewhat understood. But this... a quick glance, a command to lie down, and you just comply... that was too obedient!"No, wait..." While others were confused, only Jiang Qingqin seemed to realize something, her pupils contracting. "Could it be... the voice carried a magic sound?"To make a puppet comparable to a late-Semi-Saint lie prostrate with just a single command, no other method besides a magic sound came to mind."Yes, it carried a magic sound, and it directly targeted my weaknesses... I couldn't resist!" The puppet was filled with dejection.The opponent's strength wasn't particularly high; in fact, in its eyes, it was somewhat low. Yet, upon entering, with a single glance and a single command, it just lay down... its heart was filled with an overwhelming sense of defeat.

"Directly targeting weaknesses? Magic sound masters are strongest at attacking the soul... You are a puppet, completely devoid of a soul, so how was it attacked?" Elder Xu Changqing was utterly puzzled.The other elders also shared this confusion. The reason magic sound masters were feared was their ability to bypass physical defenses and directly attack the soul. While puppets possessed a form of sentience, they were formed from an amalgamation of spiritual herbs and beasts, without a distinct soul. Even if Jiang Qingqin were to perform a seven-star level magic sound, it would be like "playing a lute to a cow"—utterly useless. So how could a single sentence make it lie on the ground?"His magic sound didn't attack my soul; instead, it made my body resonate... If I had dared to continue attacking, I would have immediately cracked apart and turned into dust..." The puppet shook its head, its eyes filled with both reverence and fear."Resonance?" The corners of the elders' mouths twitched.Such an attack truly existed and was highly effective against puppets. However, the prerequisite was an extremely deep understanding of the various materials used in the puppet's creation, as well as detailed knowledge of the new substances formed after their refinement. Otherwise, no matter how much one prepared or how resonant the magic sound, without the precise counter-measure, it would be futile.To arrive at the fourth level, glance at the puppet, immediately know what materials it was made of, and then know exactly what kind of magic sound to use against it... was this not overly exaggerated?Dean, are you truly here to challenge, or are you just here for a stroll, casually dispatching a few puppets?

"The puppet on the next level has reached the peak of Semi-Saint and is proficient in combat techniques. At that level, even I wouldn't find it easy to win. Dean... perhaps it won't be so easy for him this time!" After asking a few more questions and clarifying what had happened on this level, Zhao Bingxu said."Let's go see!" Knowing that speculating here was futile, the group continued forward and quickly arrived at the fifth level.Just like the fourth level, a puppet lay on the ground, unable to move, still twitching intermittently."What happened?" The Dean of the Heavenly Crafts College, having finally managed to repair it, rushed over and asked."That person... told me to 'lie down' twice. I didn't obey the first time, but after the second, I ended up like this..." the puppet explained."Two commands?""It seems the Dean didn't clear this level as easily as the last; it took him two commands to make it lie down...""The puppet on the next level possesses Sub-Saint strength, and the Dean is only at the Cocoon Seal Realm. He can't possibly defeat it by just shouting 'Lie down' three times, can he?""Why not? After what you've seen on these past few levels, do you still have doubts?""This..." Hearing the puppet's words, the elders' mouths twitched uncontrollably. Unable to restrain themselves any longer, they hurried towards the sixth level.