Chapter 157 — The Puppet Array
CHAPTER 157
The Puppet Array
Six wooden puppets waited inside the final trial circle.
Their arms held padded poles, and small bronze plates covered the joints. Lines cut into the stone joined each puppet to the control post at the centre. A clear crystal on the outer desk counted valid strikes and completed targets.
He Zhen supervised this trial himself.
“You have twenty breaths,” He Zhen said. “Disable the marked joints or reach the central post. Striking the same target twice earns nothing. Breaking the floor earns a repair bill.”
Xiahou Lie looked disappointed.
Gongsun Ce smiled for the first time that morning.
The prince entered with three small discs tucked between his fingers.
He didn't throw them immediately. He watched the first puppet turn, stepped outside the pole and tapped a disc against its elbow plate. A soft click locked the joint for half a breath.
That was enough to move behind it.
The next disc caught another puppet's knee. Gongsun Ce used the resulting stumble to cross between two overlapping poles, turning his shoulder at exactly the right moment.
He reached the central post with seven breaths remaining.
The crystal brightened, recording a strong result.
He Zhen checked one disc after the prince left and nodded at the ordinary construction. It used permitted personal tools and precise timing, not a hidden attack on the trial machinery.
Gongsun Ce put it away with obvious satisfaction.
Yuan Kuang chose a more direct route and broke four marked joints with his spear. Bai Chenxi completed five before the last pole forced her to change position. Xiahou Lie shattered one entire arm, was told it counted as one joint rather than three, and grumbled without arguing.
The trial gave everyone a clear number.
Shi Feng watched the control lines while the attendants replaced the broken arm.
The simple qi loop was visible whenever a puppet moved. Force travelled from the post to a shoulder joint, split toward the elbow and returned through the line beneath the heel.
He understood the principle from furnace formations. A controlled supply, a directed task, a returning flow. Xu Changhe's journal contained modest diagrams for gate mechanisms and practice dummies built on similar loops.
That didn't mean he could construct these six puppets.
It meant he could recognize where one movement stopped supporting the next.
He drew his sword when He Zhen called his name and entered the circle.
The first pole came from his right.
Piercing Current touched the marked wrist plate before the swing finished. Shi Feng moved past the disabled hand and turned his blade toward the second puppet.
The low pole tried to catch his knees.
Turning Wave guided it upward. He didn't stop the whole puppet by force. He let its own motion lift the pole away while he stepped across the line beneath its feet.
The return channel flashed.
There.
Shi Feng struck the marked ankle plate during the brief change in supply.
The second puppet stopped with one foot raised. Its body blocked the third puppet's approach, giving him an open path toward the centre.
He could have smashed directly through the rest. That would make the trial a demonstration of strength rather than a useful check of the sword method he'd been practising.
He chose the method.
A pole swept across his back. Returning Tide brought his sword around from beneath his elbow, caught the wooden shaft and carried its tip into the fourth puppet's shoulder plate.
A bright click sounded.
He Zhen straightened at the desk.
Shi Feng didn't notice the movement. He was watching the next return channel, counting the breaths without moving his lips.
Two puppets remained active. Their poles crossed in front of the control post.
He sent one short sword stroke between them, touching the marked plate on the post without cutting the supply lines buried beneath it.
The crystal lit.
Four breaths remained.
He Zhen looked at the sword before looking at the result.
“That returning movement,” He Zhen said. “Who taught you?”
Shi Feng stepped out of the circle and sheathed his blade.
“Xu Changhe's notes,” Shi Feng replied.
The delegate's face changed.
It was a small change, but clear enough that the nearest attendant lowered his brush and waited.
“Where did you find them?” He Zhen asked.
“In a ruin passage,” Shi Feng said. “He died there. I have his badge and journal.”
He Zhen glanced at the waiting candidates. There were still scores to record and a trial to finish. Whatever the name meant to him, he kept those duties in place.
“Will you bring them after the session?” He Zhen asked.
“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.
He Zhen nodded and called the next candidate.
Shi Feng left the circle with the result stamp still damp on his plate.
Duan Yichen waited beside the tool table.
“You made the puppets hit each other,” Duan Yichen said.
“They were standing close,” Shi Feng replied.
“I also stood close,” Duan Yichen said. “They hit me.”
Shi Feng looked at the padded mark on his friend's sleeve and smiled.
“Different timing,” Shi Feng said.
Duan Yichen rolled his shoulder and glanced toward He Zhen.
“That name mattered to him,” Duan Yichen said.
“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.
He didn't explain the ruin in the crowded trial court. Xu Changhe's journal deserved a quieter place than a water table surrounded by people comparing scores.
Sima Lan entered the circle as they spoke. She disabled three joints and touched a fourth just before the time ended. The last pole struck her shoulder hard enough to make her wince.
She waited for the recording crystal to settle, then bowed to the desk and left.
Her score would be close.
When all twenty-seven candidates had finished, He Zhen sealed the trial sheets and sent them to Lu Yong's clerks.
Only then did he approach Shi Feng.
“I have a room beside the equipment court,” He Zhen said. “We can speak there.”
Shi Feng nodded. He checked that his everyday bag remained secure, then followed the delegate through the side gate.
The old journal waited in his ring beside a plain badge that had travelled farther than its owner ever would.
It was time to return both.