[I may make occasional edits. This story has some extremely long paragraphs, so proceed with caution.]
Overthinking Sect Puppet Master heiress and her loyal, devoted senior brother, a living puppet master
Possessiveness x sense of responsibility
The Puppet Sect was invaded and destroyed. To reclaim its mechanical core and rebuild the sect, Wen He used her blood to cast a curse, turning Lu Yunsheng, her senior brother who had died defending the sect, into a living puppet with a human body. Carrying out her sect leader father's dying wish to preserve the art of puppetry, she embarked on a path of revenge.
She strayed into a secret realm of the immortal path and passed through countless illusions where time ran awry. She learned that the realm was terrifying, but the human heart was worse.
Wen He had thought all she needed was revenge. But revenge turned out to be the least important thing of all.
Experiments, medicine, curses.
Faith, greed, immortality.
Puppets animated by curses, substitutes wearing borrowed faces, great shamans summoning souls.
Power or immortality? Gods or shamans?
One game of strategy consumed three generations.
Only after coming down from the mountain did Wen He discover that everyone knew her father, who almost never spoke to anyone. Her senior brother knew everything, yet said nothing.
The destruction of the Puppet Sect, that phrase, that idea: they were all just one of her father's… mechanisms for manipulating her.
The Puppet Sect was like a mascot. Every powerful figure wanted to be on good terms with her and keep the sect under their control, yet none would let her get too involved.
From The Zhou Shamans to The Falcon Pass, it was only when the fire was lit that Wen He realized her father's two plays had everyone completely in the palm of his hand.
Everyone.
The third princess accepted her fate and made a deal with Wen He: she wanted the throne.
Wen He accepted her own fate, too, but refused to follow the path her father had laid out for her.
Two powerful leads. The heroine takes the lead throughout. A tiny bit of horror early on. One-to-one pairing and a happy ending from start to finish.
Notes:
0. Plot-driven, not a wish-fulfillment story. Just telling a story. The writing is a bit like an instruction manual.
1. There are no weak women in this story, and the heroine's thoughts tend to jump around. The romance is a smaller part of the story, and the leads have somewhat warped ideas about love. They both objectify each other, with the male lead being the one who is objectified. They never officially get together, but everything you'd expect is there.
2. The plays featured throughout the story include The Zhou Shamans (silk-puppet theater), The General's Command (elbow-puppet theater), and Three Beatings of Lord Qiaosu (white-puppet theater). Some lines from The Falcon Pass (silk-puppet and elbow-puppet theater) and The Classic of Mountains and Seas: Immortality (water puppetry) also appear. Three to five other plays are mentioned by name or briefly described, without specific dialogue. The author isn't very familiar with the dialects used in these forms of theater, so please feel free to point out anything like missing rhymes in the comments. Thanks!
3. Most of the more obvious romantic moments are shown from the male lead's perspective. I'll add some key scenes in the bonus chapters after the main story ends, which are optional.
4. Bonus chapters after the main story ends will occasionally cover information the heroine doesn't know, including some side characters' stories and subplots. Some will read more like analysis reports and will be marked in the title, so you can read whichever ones you like.
Theme: Keep moving toward your goal
