txolops Chapter 165 Third-Order Puppet
Chapter 165 Third-Order Puppet
While the Meng family patriarch was talking with Meng Qingyi, in the Yue Kingdom, thousands of miles away...
Huang Yunzi's eyes were also filled with anger: "Dai Sangyu, you bastard Dai Sangyu! I've lived all these years in vain, only to be tricked by a junior like you!"
"Ancestor, I..." Huang Yan began cautiously.
Before he could finish speaking, Huang Yunzi interrupted him.
"You should prepare yourself to marry that girl named Meng Qingyi," Huang Yunzi said calmly, her brows as cold as ice.
If Dai Sangyu's body, which was said to be able to mend the heavens, were still intact, he would certainly not let the matter rest.
But now, the body that mended the heavens is gone, and so is the jade liquid that mended the heavens.
What's the point of continuing to pester and refuse to agree to Alliance Leader Xiao's mediation?
It should be understood that while the Immortal City suffered losses due to the blockade and embargo imposed by the three sects, the three sects also suffered considerable losses. Furthermore, by forcibly stopping caravans and cultivators heading to the Immortal City, they offended other forces and cultivators.
The situation is manageable in the short term, but a long-term lockdown is bound to cause changes.
Of course, most importantly, the number one cultivator in the Western Wilderness personally came to mediate, so he had no choice but to give him face, whether he wanted to or not.
It was precisely because of Alliance Leader Xiao that he was unable to directly kill the master and disciple who broke their promise.
But he remembered this grudge.
……
Because Li Ping had given specific instructions beforehand, Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng came to Xiantao Mountain one after another after learning the details of the mediation and informed Li Ping of the results.
Li Ping was dumbfounded.
He never expected that after more than a year of commotion, the unfortunate ones would be the Meng family, who had nothing to do with the matter.
Generally speaking, cultivation families do not allow female cultivators to marry out; they only recruit sons-in-law.
Even if they were to marry out, it would be through an exchange marriage, or like the Meng family did with Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng, by marrying them off to a low-level female cultivator to win them over.
Meng Qingyi was originally a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator and also possessed a second-tier mid-grade talisman-making skill.
What's even more remarkable is that she is also a rare talent among cultivators—skilled in social interactions and adept at worldly affairs.
During her nearly twenty years as the head of general affairs, she managed the Immortal City in an orderly manner, demonstrating her exceptional abilities.
Anyone with eyes can see that if the Meng family patriarch fails to form his core and passes away, Meng Qingyi will be the next person in charge of the Meng family.
How could the patriarch of the Meng family bear to let her get married?
Of course, Meng Qingyi's status in the Meng family was second only to the Meng family patriarch, and she herself would not want to marry out and become a submissive wife.
But in the world of cultivation, great power originates from oneself.
The decisions made by high-ranking Core Formation cultivators are ones they can only obey obediently; they have no right to object.
Then, recalling that not long ago, Meng Qingyi and the Meng family patriarch had repeatedly come to him to beg him to draw low-level spirit talismans in order to stabilize the price of spirit talismans in the Immortal City.
At this moment, Li Ping could only say that the two of them had become clowns.
Gu Musheng told Li Ping that Huang Yan and Meng Qingyi's wedding date was set for five years from now.
Li Ping nodded to indicate that he understood.
Actually, he felt some sympathy for Meng Qingyi.
After all, the relationship between the two sides is quite good.
……
With the lifting of the three blockades and embargoes, the immortal city's vitality began to slowly recover.
However, Bai Lin seemed a bit down, which Li Ping only found out after asking her.
It turns out that prices in the Immortal City were high before, and other cultivators had to buy spirit rice at high prices, while she could get it for free from the Bai family.
So she felt a special sense of superiority. Now that everyone can buy Lingmi at a normal price, her sense of superiority is gone.
Upon hearing this, Li Ping was speechless.
Speaking of which, Bai Lin has been in Xiantao Mountain for nearly 27 years, and at 46 this year, she can be said to be quite old.
However, cultivators have very narrow social circles, and since Bai Lin has never experienced the struggles of a low-level cultivator, she still retains a bit of childlike innocence.
Li Ping checked her cultivation level and estimated that she would be able to go into seclusion and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage by the middle of next year.
……
At the end of the year, the Seven-Colored Illusionary Butterfly underwent its final treatment of the year.
Li Ping looked at Yu Menghan with a smile, his meaning clear.
To this day, he has been treating the Illusionary Butterfly for three years. According to the agreement between the two parties, he can choose one of the dozen or so precious items that the other party has brought out as a reward.
After checking on the Seven-Colored Illusionary Light Butterfly, Yu Menghan discovered that part of its consciousness had awakened and it could communicate with her.
This surprised and delighted her. Theoretically, the Seven-Colored Illusionary Light Butterfly could absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth to recover after leaving the seal of the Heavenly Profound Crystal.
However, the recovery process may take hundreds of years.
It was nowhere near as fast as Li Ping's recovery from proactive treatment.
Looking up and seeing Li Ping staring at her, Yu Menghan realized that Fellow Daoist Li was collecting a debt.
In high spirits, she waved her hand, and more than a dozen treasures appeared on the table. She said generously, "According to our agreement, Fellow Daoist Li may now choose one of these treasures. Please choose."
Li Ping nodded, and his divine sense swept over the treasures on the table without any hesitation.
He ruled out second-tier top-grade magic artifacts first, since he had no shortage of top-grade magic artifacts after obtaining Yan Liming's storage bag.
If you don't choose magical artifacts, the remaining options are third-tier spirit talismans, talisman treasures, pills, materials, etc.
A third-tier spirit talisman, with power equivalent to a strike from a Core Formation cultivator, can be considered a trump card for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
However, considering that he was about to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, Li Ping believed that with his unparalleled talent, he could draw second-tier high-grade spirit talismans with a 100% success rate.
The power of a second-tier high-grade spirit talisman is worlds apart from that of a third-tier spirit talisman.
However, when there are many of them, the combined power of multiple second-tier high-grade spirit talismans can achieve the same effect as third-tier spirit talismans.
Moreover, Li Ping would not engage in combat with a Core Formation Ancestor before he reached Core Formation.
His enemies are at most late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators; a second-tier high-grade spirit talisman is enough to deal with enemies of that level.
What if we really get targeted by the Core Formation Ancestor?
Of course, you should run as far away as possible; staying behind to wait for death is worse than staying behind.
At worst, we can come back and explain when we're stronger.
After considering it for a moment, Li Ping also ruled out the third-tier spirit talisman from his options.
Li Ping's gaze swept over the remaining materials, pills, and talismans before finally settling on an inconspicuous humanoid doll.
The humanoid doll that Li Ping noticed was only the size of a palm, with four limbs, covered in a layer of dark black scales, and a lifelike face, just like a real person.
Unfortunately, the doll has many marks from being hacked and chopped, as if it had just been through a major battle.
"Could this be?" Li Ping pondered.
Noticing his gaze, Yu Menghan began to introduce it to him: "Fellow Daoist Li, have you taken a fancy to this Myriad Craftsmanship Puppet? Fellow Daoist has good taste. This Myriad Craftsmanship Puppet is as high as the third rank, possessing the combat power to rival a Core Formation cultivator."
Upon hearing this, Li Ping raised an eyebrow, somewhat disbelieving Yu Menghan's words: "A third-tier puppet? Fairy Yu is willing to let me choose from such a treasure?"
"If it were a perfectly intact Tier 3 puppet, it naturally wouldn't have fallen into my sister's hands." Yu Menghan shook her head: "This Myriad Craftsmanship Puppet is severely damaged and can only exert the strength of a mid-Tier 2 puppet. Moreover, although the materials used to forge the Myriad Craftsmanship Puppet are all magic treasure-level, those precious materials used to forge the puppet have been fused together by the person who forged it, making them impossible to separate."
Li Ping looked curious: "I've heard that the art of puppet making has long been lost in the cultivation world. Could this Myriad Craftsmanship Puppet be a relic from ancient times?"
"No, that's not it..."
Seeing that Li Ping was interested, Yu Menghan patiently explained the origin of the Wan Gong puppet in detail.
Li Ping listened patiently, occasionally revealing a thoughtful expression.
According to Yu Menghan, there is a sect in the far north called the Tianqiao Sect. The cultivators of this sect are obsessed with making puppets and have vowed to revive the puppetry technique that has disappeared in the long river of history.
Through generations of research, they actually developed a method for creating combat-ready puppets, and even successfully created second-tier puppets comparable to Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Subsequently, they began their ambitious research into the crafting methods of third-order puppets.
The puppet in front of us is the culmination of the Tianqiao Sect's puppetry skills, embodying the hard work of generations of high-level puppeteers in the sect.
Hence the name "Wan Gong" (meaning "ten thousand craftsmen")!
Unfortunately, Tianqiao Sect later offended someone they shouldn't have.
The Tianqiao Sect was wiped out, and the Wan Gong Puppet, a third-tier puppet representing the highest level of puppetry skills in the Tianqiao Sect, was also damaged.
Later, the damaged puppet fell into the hands of the Yinghai Chamber of Commerce, where it was repaired by the Chamber's weapon-refining master and barely gained the strength of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.
Finally, Yu Menghan also revealed the weapon-refining master's evaluation of the Tianqiao Sect.
"We have the technology, but we're going in the wrong direction. With the resources to craft a third-tier puppet, we could craft several magical artifacts."
Ancient cultivators had a vast amount of resources to squander, so they could freely create puppets. But times have changed. Today's cultivation world is resource-scarce, so where is there room for puppetry?
Outdated techniques will naturally be eliminated.
Attempting to replicate puppetry in today's cultivation world is simply being stuck in the past.
……
After the introduction, Yu Menghan smiled and looked at Li Ping: "Fellow Daoist Li, would you like to choose this Myriad Craftsmanship Puppet? Just put in a mid-grade spirit stone, and you can have an extra Foundation Establishment mid-stage helper. Moreover, its body strength is comparable to a magic weapon, and its defense far surpasses that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator."
Li Ping nodded without speaking, and took the Wan Gong puppet into his hands.
Just as his fingers touched the Thousand Craftsmanship Puppet.
Above the puppet, a line of small characters that only he could see had appeared in the void.
[A third-tier puppet meticulously crafted by generations of puppeteers of the Heavenly Craft Sect, requiring 100 mid-grade spirit stones, one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of thousand-year-old ironwood, and one third-tier spirit soul. Used as nourishment, it allows one to master the Heavenly Craft Sect's method of crafting third-tier puppets.]
……
Meeting Yu Menghan's questioning gaze, Li Ping smiled and nodded: "Fairy Yu, I will choose this Ten Thousand Craftsmanship Puppet as my reward this time."
……
Meeting Yu Menghan's questioning gaze, Li Ping smiled and nodded: "Fairy Yu, I will choose this Ten Thousand Craftsmanship Puppet as my reward this time."
"Okay, no problem." Upon hearing this, Yu Menghan gathered up the other items on the table and turned to leave.
Li Ping was left standing in the courtyard, a look of surprise unconsciously appearing on his face.