How did Han Li know Gu Shuangpu was a spy?

He overheard Gu's secret voice transmission with a hidden Moulan Dharma Warrior, which his unusually powerful spiritual sense allowed him to intercept—a detail Gu himself confirms suggests late-stage Nascent Soul perception.

What is a flesh puppet (血肉傀儡)?

A custom-made artificial body that perfectly mimics a living cultivator's appearance, aura, and energy signature—enough to fool a Nascent Soul elder's cursory inspection, though it lacks the power or flexibility of a true External Incarnation.

Why don't the bald-browed man and Ma elder just capture Gu Shuangpu alive?

The chapter states that with war imminent, there is no time or inclination for a trial; even a temporarily restrained Nascent Soul cultivator is too dangerous to hold securely, so immediate execution by formation is the pragmatic choice.

Fame Shakes a Region — Exposure

1,726 words

Chapter 745: Fame Shakes a Region — Exposure

"Impossible. Where's the token? I clearly saw him put it into his storage pouch." After a moment, the man muttered under his breath.

Unwilling to accept it, he upended his storage pouch and dumped its contents onto the ground.

A white light sprayed from the pouch's mouth, and a pile of low-grade magical tools and a handful of low-tier spirit stones scattered across the floor.

The moment he saw what lay on the ground, the man's face turned deathly pale. Without another word, a green light flared around him, transforming him into a streak of rainbow light that shot toward the hall's entrance.

A long sigh echoed through the hall. Suddenly, silver light flickered from all four walls, and layer after layer of silver light barriers rippled into existence like waves, forming a massive light dome that trapped the man inside.

The man let out a cold snort. His escape light showed no sign of stopping. Instead, he slapped a pouch at his waist, and a pitch-black pangolin-like spirit beast flew out, charging headfirst into the barrier wall before him.

A dull thud rang out. The silver barrier didn't even tremble; it simply bounced the beast back.

At this sight, the man's heart sank. But gritting his teeth, he spat out a blue flying trident. The instant he did, his flying treasure merged with his escape light, transforming into a thick azure rainbow that slammed violently into the barrier.

Another rumbling thud echoed. The azure light was rudely repelled several zhang back. After a brief spin, it nearly crashed to the floor.

"Brother Gu, there's no need to trouble yourself. This hall is actually the central node of the entire Yellow Dragon Mountain grand formation—and its most heavily fortified point. Since you've fallen into this trap, there's no getting out." A calm, familiar voice echoed through the hall—it sounded exactly like the bald-browed man.

"So you really didn't die. The corpse I killed earlier was a flesh puppet, wasn't it? I'd heard long ago that there was a mysterious cultivator in the Nine Nations Alliance who specialized in crafting flesh-and-blood puppets identical to their owners—indistinguishable from the real thing. I never imagined it was true." The azure light in the barrier converged, revealing a figure—it was none other than Gu Shuangpu of the Imperial Spirit Sect.

By now, his face was pale, his eyes dark and gloomy, but he still managed to maintain an air of forced composure.

"Brother Gu, you certainly know quite a bit about our Nine Nations Alliance's affairs, even about substitute puppets. You're right. What you just killed was merely a substitute I was controlling. Even an Nascent Soul cultivator like yourself couldn't tell the difference, which proves that, at least outwardly, it could fool anyone."

White light flickered outside the hall, and the bald-browed man's figure appeared. Looking at Gu Shuangpu in the light barrier, then at the pool of blood that was once his substitute, he spoke calmly.

"Hmph! What good is outer resemblance? If I weren't afraid of arousing your suspicion and didn't dare thoroughly scan your substitute with my spiritual sense, how could a mere empty shell have deceived me? Besides, I should have realized it earlier. I've spent centuries carefully cultivating the Double-Tailed Emerald Snake; its venom is certainly lethal, but it could never easily kill a Nascent Soul cultivator. My original plan was only to cripple you with it. But when I struck successfully, I mistakenly thought I had underestimated the snake's toxicity. It seems I was overconfident." Gu Shuangpu spoke with a face as heavy as water, a trace of regret flickering in his eyes.

"Heh! I only had that substitute made on a whim. Of course, I never imagined such a dead object could compare to something like an External Incarnation. But even so, using it to bait out a traitor colluding with the Moulan, like Brother Gu, was hardly a waste of spirit stones." Brother Lu laughed without anger.

Gu Shuangpu's face twitched. He fell silent for a long moment. Then, half a beat later, he asked coldly:

"From your tone, it seems you knew I'd come for you. You had a substitute ready in advance. Were you suspicious the moment I arrived at Fire Dragon Mountain?"

"Not at all. Why would I suspect a Great Elder of the Imperial Spirit Sect for no reason? I was tipped off by someone else. I was only half-convinced myself, but now I'm certain. Fellow Daoist Han, Brother Ma, come on out." The bald-browed man shook his head, then called out to his left and right.

At these words, Gu Shuangpu could no longer maintain his gloomy composure. His expression shifted dramatically.

From the stone walls on either side of the hall, a yellow light flashed, and two figures emerged. One was Han Li, whose expression was calm and indifferent; the other was the heavy-faced Ma elder.

"I never expected you to do something like this, Fellow Daoist Gu. What benefits did the Moulan promise you to make you so utterly insane?" The Ma elder spoke with grief, his words laced with regret.

"Hmph! Utterly insane? I was born a Moulan. What's insane about that?" Gu Shuangpu stared at the elder and retorted coldly.

"You're a Moulan?" This time, the bald-browed man and the others were stunned—this was quite unexpected.

"Of course. What do you think could tempt a Nascent Soul cultivator like me? You Heavenly South cultivators have no idea how scarce our Moulan Grasslands' cultivation resources are. Every year, countless low-rank Dharma Warriors who could have advanced miss their best chance at breakthroughs because they lack pills and spirit stones. A hundred years later, they're nothing but bones. Why should you cultivators occupy such fertile lands while we Dharma Warriors must count every single spirit stone? Give us the cultivation resources of the Heavenly South, and within a century, our number of Dharma Warriors could double. With that strength, we could crush the Xu Tu people's Immortal Masters and conquer the entire Moulan Grasslands." As Gu Shuangpu spoke, a flicker of madness flashed in his eyes.

Hearing this, the bald-browed man and the others exchanged stunned glances.

"Crush the Xu Tu? What I heard was that your Moulan main force suffered a decisive defeat against the Xu Tu, and that most of the Moulan Grasslands have already been occupied. That's why you're wagering everything to invade our Heavenly South." Han Li suddenly spoke, his expression unchanged.

"You… how do you know about that? … You eavesdropped on my transmission with Master Le." Gu Shuangpu was startled, then immediately understood. His face twisted with murderous malice as he glared at Han Li, as if he wanted to devour him whole.

"It seems Brother Gu catches on quickly. You can't blame me for this, Brother Gu. Who told you and that hidden Dharma Warrior to be so brazen as to use voice transmission right in front of me? And it just so happens that my spiritual sense is slightly stronger than an ordinary cultivator of the same rank. I overheard your transmission, and that naturally made me alert Brother Lu." Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he spoke calmly.

"Good. Very good. A single oversight, and all is lost. After all these years of hiding in the Heavenly South, to be exposed right before the operation begins—I suppose my fall was not unjust. But spiritual sense only slightly stronger than an ordinary cultivator? Hmph! Aren't you being too modest? Do you think that was an ordinary transmission we used? I don't know of any method that could eavesdrop on our words without being noticed, except for the spiritual sense of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator." Gu Shuangpu stared intently at Han Li, his face ashen, but he still refused to yield, speaking coldly.

"Late-stage Nascent Soul?" The Ma elder was startled.

The bald-browed man was equally shocked, casting a wary glance at Han Li.

Han Li frowned. He hadn't expected this incident to inadvertently expose the strength of his spiritual sense. But then his brows relaxed, and his face took on an unreadable expression, revealing nothing about his depth.

This only made the bald-browed man and the Ma elder more uncertain.

After all, the idea of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator possessing spiritual sense comparable to a late-stage cultivator—no matter how one thought about it, it seemed utterly exaggerated.

"Since you've confessed to being a spy, don't blame us for being ruthless. Though I'd like to spare your life and hand you over to the Alliance's enforcers, war is imminent. I can only let your body and soul be utterly destroyed." The bald-browed man finally tore his gaze away from Han Li's shocking revelation. Turning back, his voice was icy as he addressed Gu Shuangpu in the light barrier.

Without waiting for a reply, he flipped his hand, revealing a silver, shimmering token.

Raising the token, he gave it a gentle shake toward the light barrier.

With a soft sound, a wide swath of silver light shot out, striking the barrier wall and vanishing without a trace.

Inside the barrier, silver light flickered. Countless silver flames materialized out of thin air, each one strikingly beautiful, drifting down from above like falling petals.

At the sight of these silver flames, Gu Shuangpu recoiled as if he had seen a venomous scorpion. His expression turned utterly grim. Without hesitation, he rapidly patted his body several times, summoning layers of colorful light barriers around himself. At the same time, he pointed at the blue flying trident before him. It spun rapidly, then shot upward, transforming into a blue light shield that hovered above his head.

"Let's go. There's nothing more to see. No matter how high his cultivation, he won't last long under this restriction. Soon, he'll be struck by lightning fire and destroyed in both body and soul. Let's discuss the aftermath instead. Though he was a Moulan spy, he was still a Great Elder of the Imperial Spirit Sect. We'll need to explain this carefully to the others in the Alliance, or there might be trouble later." As the silver flames erupted and filled the entire barrier, the bald-browed man seemed to lose interest in watching. He turned to Han Li and the other man with a grave expression.

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Trap Springs: A Spy Unmasked and the Cost of a Single Overheard Transmission

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Flesh Puppets (血肉傀儡) — This chapter introduces a specialized puppet variant that copies a living person's appearance down to the energy signature, used here to fake a death convincingly. In orthodox Daoist thought, creating a perfect replica of a living body treads dangerously close to the territory of altering fate, a taboo bound up with the concept of karmic substitution. In xianxia, such puppets usually demand a piece of the original's essence blood or soul, making them high-cost, high-risk countermeasures rather than casual toys.

The "Resource War" Rationale — Gu Shuangpu's confession is a classic Mortal Stream villain speech: not an appeal to evil, but a tactical argument from scarcity. The Moulan Dharma Warriors need pills and spirit stones to advance; without them, they die as mortals do. This is the Bottleneck Economy distilled into geopolitics—every faction believes it is the victim of an unjust distribution of qi. What makes the speech chilling is not its malice but its logic: it makes ideological warfare impossible because both sides can point to the same constraints.

Voice Transmission Secrecy and Spiritual Sense — Gu Shuangpu's shock at being overheard reinforces a core rule of the cultivation world: the "encryption level" of a private communication scales with the cultivator's spiritual sense. That Han Li, an early Nascent Soul cultivator, could eavesdrop on a senior's secret transmission implies either a hidden technique or a fundamental anomaly in his soul—and Gu correctly pegs him as having late-stage spiritual sense. This is a rare moment where the protagonist's hidden strength is publicly inferred rather than directly displayed, setting the stage for a shift in how his peers perceive him.

Silver-Flame Restriction

A defensive and execution-grade array integrated into the hall's grand formation; the silver flames consume both body and soul with mechanical inevitability, leaving no trace behind.

Chapter Overview

Ever had that sinking feeling when your perfectly laid trap is sprung—but you're the one inside it? That's exactly where Gu Shuangpu, Imperial Spirit Sect elder and secret Moulan agent, finds himself in this masterfully executed chapter of the Heavenly South war arc. The bait (a flesh puppet substitute) has been taken, the doors have sealed, and the grand formation that should protect Yellow Dragon Mountain is now the cage holding him. What follows is a cold, clinical unmasking: the traitor is caught, his cover blown not by heroic detective work but by Han Li's casually superior spiritual sense picking up a transmission he wasn't supposed to hear. The chapter gives us a rare glimpse into the enemy's perspective—the resource desperation that drives the Moulan invasion—before the silver flames fall. No epic showdown, no last-minute rescue. Just the quiet, mechanical inevitability of the system closing in on a weak link.

Key Plot Points

Gu Shuangpu, having "killed" the bald-browed man earlier, searches the body for a critical token and finds nothing—the first crack in his confidence.
The hall's grand formation activates in full force; Gu's spirit beast and flying trident are both repelled by the silver barrier, confirming he is thoroughly trapped.
The bald-browed man reveals his "death" was a staged flesh puppet, a custom-made substitute indistinguishable from the real thing—setting up a core xianxia undercover tactic.
Han Li, Ma elder, and Lu emerge in sequence; the trap was set on Han Li's tip-off after he overheard Gu's voice transmission with a hidden Moulan Master Le.
Gu Shuangpu confesses his origin as a native Moulan, framing the invasion as a desperate resource war in which his people are crushed between the Heavenly South and the Xu Tu tribes.
Han Li casually drops the bombshell that Moulan has already lost most of its territory to the Xu Tu, upending Gu's narrative and exposing the invasion as a last-ditch gamble.
The bald-browed man begins the execution by triggering a silver-flame restriction that will reduce Gu to ashes—there will be no trial, no mercy, not in wartime.

Reading Guide

Pay close attention to how the "trap within a trap" is set up: the bald-browed man's "death" was not desperate improvisation but a premeditated performance, complete with a flesh puppet that fooled a Nascent Soul elder. This is peak Mortal Stream paranoia—never assume an enemy's death until you've pulverized the soul.
Gu Shuangpu's confession is the emotional core of the chapter. Read it not as a villain monologue but as a system analysis: the Moulan are losing on two fronts, and their invasion of the Heavenly South is a strategic gamble born of structural desperation. The narrative refuses to make him cartoonishly evil, which makes his inevitable execution colder.
Han Li's role here is subtle but significant: he didn't kill anyone. He overheard, deduced, and tipped off an ally. His contribution is intelligence warfare, not combat—a reminder that in the Dark Forest, the most dangerous weapon can be a cultivator's ears.
The silver-flame restriction is worth noting as a systemic detail: even a Nascent Soul cultivator is helpless against a fully activated grand formation. In the Mortal Stream, terrain and preparation matter as much as raw power—and a well-placed array can neutralize a fighter far above your weight class.
Watch for how Gu Shuangpu's exposure of Han Li's spiritual sense creates a ripple effect: the Ma elder and Lu now know there is something special about Han Li, and that knowledge will reshape how they value him in the coming war.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

How did Han Li know Gu Shuangpu was a spy?: He overheard Gu's secret voice transmission with a hidden Moulan Dharma Warrior, which his unusually powerful spiritual sense allowed him to intercept—a detail Gu himself confirms suggests late-stage Nascent Soul perception.
What is a flesh puppet (血肉傀儡)?: A custom-made artificial body that perfectly mimics a living cultivator's appearance, aura, and energy signature—enough to fool a Nascent Soul elder's cursory inspection, though it lacks the power or flexibility of a true External Incarnation.
Why don't the bald-browed man and Ma elder just capture Gu Shuangpu alive?: The chapter states that with war imminent, there is no time or inclination for a trial; even a temporarily restrained Nascent Soul cultivator is too dangerous to hold securely, so immediate execution by formation is the pragmatic choice.