Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 252 The Theory of Fourth-Order Puppets

Inside the pavilion.

Upon hearing Li Ping admit that the second-tier high-grade puppet in the courtyard was one he had personally crafted, he was deeply moved.

For a moment, Gaoji Daoist within the Jiezi World fell silent.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice tinged with regret: "I never imagined that besides myself, there would be other fellow disciples from the Heavenly Craft Sect who survived that day. Fellow Daoist Li, may I ask who your puppetry master was?"

At this point, the identity of Gaoji Daoist had been basically confirmed.

Although the Tianqiao Sect has been destroyed, its lineage has not been extinguished.

Besides him, there were other cultivators from the Tianqiao Sect who escaped the annihilation of the sect, and that person even passed down the puppetry technique.

The man in front of me, Li Ping, is most likely a descendant of that lineage.

Although the art of puppetry in the world is not limited to the Tianqiao Sect.

However, Li Ping's puppet is almost identical to the puppet of the Tianqiao Sect from a thousand years ago. Even some of the flaws in puppetry techniques that he discovered and solved over the past thousand years are present in Li Ping's puppet.

Could this be a coincidence?

As for the puppetry technique, it was passed down, but the "Myriad Spirits Divine Technique" was lost.

There's nothing strange about this.

After all, more than a thousand years have passed, so it's normal for a martial arts technique to be lost.

The only thing that made Gaoji Daoist somewhat sigh was that his disciple and his descendants did not seem to have much talent in puppetry.

Such an obvious flaw, such a simple optimization... It has been thousands of years and it has not been solved. It is not as good as an old man who is only a remnant soul.

Since Gaoji Daoist was only a remnant soul, Li Ping was confident that he could control his life, death, and whereabouts, and was not worried about him exposing his true nature.

So when he heard Gaoji Daoist's question, he shook his head slightly: "Who is my teacher? I think you misunderstand, senior. My puppetry skills are self-taught, based on my own talent and by studying a destroyed third-order puppet of your sect. I have no other teacher."

"Researching how to destroy third-tier puppets? Puppet techniques learned on his own?" Gaoji Daoist was truly shocked this time.

Without any lineage or teacher's guidance, he independently researched and created a second-tier high-grade puppet. What does that mean?

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an extraordinary talent; Li Ping's talent in puppetry is simply terrifying!

"What? Is puppetry difficult?" With the intention of intimidating Daoist Gaoji, Li Ping said calmly, "If I had enough spiritual materials, I could also make a third-tier puppet."

As he spoke, he summoned all six puppets he had crafted and lined them up in the courtyard.

Six puppets, four offensive and two defensive, all of which are of the second-tier high-grade level.

"This?" Gaoji Daoist was speechless.

Even Xiao Yunzhi was somewhat surprised. She knew that Li Ping had more than one second-tier high-grade puppet, but she did not expect that he had as many as six.

That's equivalent to six late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators!

Even with her Core Formation Realm strength, it would take her a while to deal with so many puppets!

"Fellow Daoist Li's talent in puppetry is truly unparalleled," Gaoji Daoist said slowly, this time expressing his sincere admiration for Li Ping.

Even in front of Li Ping, he felt inferior.

"I've studied this for over a thousand years, and I've only barely gained any confidence in crafting fourth-order puppets. It's like I've wasted my life. If Li Ping used his talent in puppetry to research the crafting of fourth-order puppets, let alone a thousand years, he could probably craft one in less than a hundred!" Gao Ji Dao Ren thought to himself.

As a tech geek, Gaoji Daoren was somewhat dejected at the moment.

But as the only surviving cultivator from the Tianqiao Sect, he was incredibly excited, thrilled that the Tianqiao Sect's puppetry techniques might be carried forward and developed by Li Ping.

Let the fame of the Heavenly Skill Sect resound throughout the cultivation world!

"I wouldn't call it unparalleled talent, just a little bit of cleverness." Li Ping shook his head indifferently, then asked, "By the way, could you please give me the last four levels of the 'Myriad Spirits Divine Technique' that you have, senior? I'm willing to pay a certain price in exchange."

The reason Li Ping asked so politely was that he already knew this from Xiao Yunzhi.

After Gaoji Daoist used a secret method to refine his remnant soul into a puppet, he was no longer human, but had become a kind of artifact spirit.

In this state, Gaoji Daoist is unable to use the methods of a Core Formation True Person, and even a Foundation Establishment cultivator can easily subdue him.

However, similarly, soul-searching techniques, which target the soul, were useless against him.

If the soul-searching technique were effective, Li Ping would have already made him explode with gold coins; there would be no need to say anything more to him here.

"The Myriad Spirits Divine Technique? No problem, I already promised Fellow Daoist Chiyan, this is just a small matter." Daoist Gaoji agreed readily.

The next moment, a black jade slip flew out from the world he was hiding in and floated in front of Li Ping.

Upon seeing this, Li Ping couldn't help but smile. He grasped the jade slip in one hand and then immersed his divine sense into it to read it carefully.

Upon seeing this, Li Ping couldn't help but smile. He grasped the jade slip in one hand and then immersed his divine sense into it to read it carefully.

After a few moments, having finished reading the internal cultivation method on the jade slip, Li Ping's face showed a mixture of surprise and slight doubt.

To his surprise, what Gaoji Daoist gave him was indeed the complete fifth level of the "Myriad Spirits Divine Technique".

Upon completion of the first level of refinement, one's divine sense can be increased by 20% from its original level, granting the ability to simultaneously control three puppets with a divided spirit.

Upon completion of the second level of refinement, one's divine sense increases by 40%, allowing one to control nine puppets simultaneously.

Upon reaching the third level of refinement, one's divine sense increases by 60%, allowing one to control twenty-seven puppets simultaneously.

Upon completion of the fourth level of refinement, one's divine sense increases by 80%, allowing one to control fifty-four puppets simultaneously.

Upon reaching the fifth level of refinement, one's divine sense doubles, allowing for the simultaneous control of 108 puppets.

……

Li Ping was pleasantly surprised because of the powerful effects of this technique.

His divine sense was already 50% stronger than that of other cultivators of the same level. Once he mastered the fifth level of the "Myriad Spirits Divine Technique", his divine sense would be twice as strong!

In other words, by then, his spiritual sense will be about three times that of cultivators of the same level, and even several times stronger than that of cultivators in the early stage of Core Formation!

The benefits of having a strong spiritual sense are self-evident.

Not only can one wield multiple magical artifacts during battle, but the power of these artifacts is also enhanced. Furthermore, it makes it easier to learn the various arts of cultivation, such as alchemy and weapon crafting, greatly increasing the success rate.

Most importantly, a strong spiritual sense is also a great help in breaking through bottlenecks!

For example, during the Foundation Establishment stage, Li Ping was able to successfully establish his foundation without any incidents because of his strong divine sense.

If one can possess a divine sense stronger than that of a cultivator in the early stages of Core Formation during the late Foundation Establishment period, the success rate of breaking through the Core Formation bottleneck will naturally increase significantly!

Li Ping cultivated the "Ze Shui Yang Sheng Jue" (a cultivation technique), absorbing enough innate Qi, which caused a qualitative change in his magical power, increasing his chances of successfully forming a core by 50%.

He has gathered enough materials for the Condensing Essence Pill. When he refines the pill, he will increase the success rate by 15%, which makes it 65%.

If he possessed a vast divine sense that surpassed that of a cultivator in the early stages of Core Formation even before he reached the Core Formation stage.

His success rate in breaking through to the Core Formation stage is estimated to be over 95%, which is still not as good as that of a Heavenly Spiritual Root, but not by much.

However, the success rate of Core Formation is actually not very meaningful to Li Ping.

If you're not afraid of getting hurt and can try an unlimited number of times, there's practically no difference between a 50% and a 95% success rate.

……

The reason why Li Ping was both pleasantly surprised and puzzled was...

This is because he felt that the "Myriad Spirits Divine Technique" was still incomplete, and it seemed that there was more content to come.

Gaoji Daoist is now like a fish on a chopping board, completely at his mercy.

Therefore, Li Ping did not hide his thoughts and asked directly, "It seems that what you gave me, senior, is not the complete cultivation method."

Upon hearing Li Ping's question, Gaoji Daoist readily admitted, "Fellow Daoist Li, you are right. This technique is indeed not complete, because when the Tianqiao Sect obtained this technique, it only had five incomplete layers."

Then, under the explanation of Gaoji Daoren.

Li Pingcai learned that the "Myriad Spirits Divine Technique" was not an original creation of the Tianqiao Sect cultivators, but rather something that a Core Formation True Person in the sect obtained from an ancient ruin.

Although subsequent generations of cultivators from the Tianqiao Sect entered the ruins to explore and try to find the contents beyond the fifth level, they all returned empty-handed.

Therefore, the Tianqiao Sect only has these five incomplete chapters.

Upon hearing this, Li Ping was speechless.

He never expected that this spiritual cultivation technique was actually a series of incomplete fragments.

In that case, when will he be able to complete the entire technique?

Or is it that if half of a foot-long hammer is taken away each day, it will never be exhausted?

Thinking of this, Li Ping shook his head in frustration: "Never mind, five floors are enough!"

……

After explaining the cultivation method, Daoist Gaoji then asked, "Fellow Daoist Li, would you be interested in making a deal with me?"

"Oh? Senior, why don't you tell me about it?" Li Ping said with a look of great interest.

From Xiao Yunzhi's words, he already knew that Gaoji Daoist made a deal with Xiao Yunzhi. He gave Xiao Yunzhi a piece of ten-thousand-year-old cold jade and the method to refine the magic treasure Sun and Moon Ring in exchange for Xiao Yunzhi's promise to kill the Ice Dragon in the future!

Now, what kind of deal does Gaoji Daoist want to make with him?

Gaoji Daoist's calm words came from within the Jiezi World: "I have lived in this inhuman and ghostly form for over a thousand years. Although my cultivation has not improved at all, I have made considerable progress in the art of puppetry."

"Back when the Tianqiao Sect was wiped out, the highest-grade puppets they could produce were only low-grade third rank," Gaoji Daoist said with a hint of pride. "But after thousands of years of research, I have created methods for crafting mid-grade and high-grade third-rank puppets! Even the crafting plan for fourth-rank puppets—if given another hundred years, I am confident I can perfect it!"

He stated the terms of the deal: "I will exchange these research findings for Fellow Daoist Li to craft a fourth-tier puppet for me in the future, so that I may rebuild the Heavenly Craft Sect's lineage. What do you say?"

Especially the fourth-tier puppets, which are top-tier combat power in this world, comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators.

With such a puppet in his hands, wouldn't he be able to roam the world freely?