In the world of Sword of Coming 2 (剑来2), profound power often hides within the most mundane of objects. During the journey to Qidun Mountain (棋墩山), the painted puppet carried by the mischievous boy Li Huai (李槐) proves this point spectacularly. When the Ghost Queen, Madam Chu (楚夫人), unleashes her domain of the dead upon Red Candle Town, her binding spells and resentful energy paralyze Li Baoping (李宝瓶) and Lin Shouyi (林守一). All seems lost until Li Huai's simple doll intervenes, shattering the supernatural siege. This event raises a compelling question: what is the true nature of this puppet, and where does its power to counter a formidable ghost cultivator originate?
A God's Legacy
The puppet's journey begins with Wei Bo (魏檗), the former mountain god of Qidun Mountain. After his golden statue was destroyed and cast into the river, fragments of his power and legacy remained woven into the land's spiritual veins. The doll was one such artifact, concealed deep within the mountain's roots. It was no ordinary carving. Its core was crafted from rare Yinchen Mu (阴沉木), a supernatural wood nurtured over centuries by the mountain's vital energy and the lingering traces of divine worship. This foundation granted it a nascent spiritual awareness.
Its painted surface held further secrets. The pigments were not simple colors but a complex blend of cinnabar and rooster's comb blood, substances renowned in Daoist practice for their pure Yang properties. The intricate patterns traced upon the wood echoed the esoteric symbols of Daoist talismans and the hidden mechanisms of Mojia (墨家) engineering. This combination created a vessel inherently resistant to Yin-based malevolence.
The most crucial element, however, was a secret technique fused into the puppet's very being. Wei Bo had simplified and infused an ancient divine art known as the substitute disaster technique. Originally used by terrestrial deities to deflect heavenly tribulations and transfer harm, this essence allowed the puppet to manifest a perfect duplicate of its owner, a doppelganger capable of absorbing catastrophic fate on their behalf.
A Destiny Fulfilled
The puppet finding its way to Li Huai was no mere accident of fortune. The boy possesses an exceptionally dense and potent destiny, a chaotic luck that naturally attracts both opportunity and calamity. He required an object that could grow alongside him, transforming his rampant fortune into a protective force. The puppet, by his side, was continuously tempered by this vibrant destiny. This symbiosis neutralized potential backlash from the powerful magic it contained and unlocked its potential to evolve with its young master.
In the deadly atmosphere of Red Candle Town, these qualities combined to dismantle Madam Chu's sorcery. First, the substitute disaster technique activated. When her soul-binding spell targeted Li Huai, the puppet's mechanism triggered instantly. It created a flawless copy that intercepted all the Yin energy and spiritual lockdown. Witnesses saw the puppet's surface crack violently, while Li Huai himself remained free and unharmed, the curse seamlessly transferred.
Second, the puppet's inherent properties disrupted the ghost domain's foundation. Madam Chu's power drew from the deep-seated Yin and resentment saturating the town. While the Yinchen Mu originated in a Yin-rich environment, its long immersion in the mountain's balanced energy, combined with the potent Yang pigments, created a paradoxical effect. At the peak of its activation, a faint golden light—a signature of pure Yang energy—emanated from the doll, dispersing and purifying the surrounding malignant aura. This severely destabilized the ghost domain's cohesion.
Finally, Li Huai's own extraordinary destiny played a decisive role. Madam Chu's lantern-constructed domain imposed rules that suppressed conventional magic. However, the boy's overwhelming fortune, amplified by the divine legacy within the puppet, generated a natural field of exemption. It did not clash with the domain's rules on their level but simply bypassed them, allowing other allies' talismans and martial techniques to find purchase. Furthermore, the puppet's perfect duplicate created profound targeting confusion for Madam Chu, whose spells required precise spiritual coordinates, breaking her concentration and diffusing the power of her onslaught. Thus, the puppet's triumph was no contrivance, but the inevitable result of divine craftsmanship meeting its destined owner.
