Everyone knows that Xicheng in the southwest has a strict ban on cultivators bringing spirit pets or spirit beasts into the city. Break the rules, and even the head of a sect or its venerable founder will spend a few days in jail.
Everyone also knows that, to the young mistress of the Beast Valley next door, the rules are just there for her to trample on. Every few days, she brings her spirit beasts into town for a leisurely stroll, swaggering around until the authorities invite her in for tea. The jail food is even personally served by their city lord.
And everyone knows that the city lord and the young mistress have been childhood friends since birth. One follows rules to the letter and refuses to bend; the other does as she pleases and loves to tease. They’ve been trading jabs and pranks ever since, never expecting their antics to set off a whole chain of unexpected events.
A girl raised by jackals, an old man blessed by the gods, a Demon Lord who loves reading and taking exams rather than killing or setting fires, and a mountain that stood for a thousand years before suddenly vanishing without a trace... One absurd prophecy after another comes true, while a world-shaking conspiracy lies behind all the strange happenings.
People always think they have everything in the world under control: taming beasts, bending people to their will, and wielding power over everything weaker than themselves.
But is that really true?
Where does the art of control truly come from? When people congratulate themselves for mastering it, how can they know they aren’t the playthings being manipulated by it?
(This is the sequel to The Art of Puppetry. You can enjoy it even if you haven’t read the first book~)
