Chapter 164: Chapter 164: Tier Three Puppet

At the same time, thousands of miles away in the Yue Kingdom.

Huang Yunzi’s eyes were also filled with rage. "Dai Sangyu... you wretched Dai Sangyu! To think I’ve lived all these years, only to be played for a fool by a junior like you!"

"Ancestor, I..." Huang Yan began cautiously.

Before he could finish, Huang Yunzi interrupted him.

"Go and prepare to marry that girl, Meng Qingyi," Huang Yunzi said flatly, his expression as cold as ice.

If Dai Sangyu still possessed her Heaven-Repairing Physique, he would never have let this matter rest.

But now, her Heaven-Repairing Physique was gone, and with it, the Heaven-Repairing Jade Liquid.

So what was the point of dragging this out and refusing Alliance Leader Xiao’s mediation?

After all, while the Immortal City had certainly suffered from the three sects’ blockade and embargo, the three sects’ own losses were not insignificant. Moreover, by forcibly stopping caravans and cultivators on their way to the Immortal City, they had also offended other powers and cultivators.

It was fine in the short term, but a long-term blockade was bound to cause other problems.

Of course, the most important factor was that the Western Wilderness’s top cultivator had personally come to mediate. It was a show of respect he had to make, whether he wanted to or not.

And it was precisely because of Alliance Leader Xiao that he couldn’t just go and kill the master and disciple who had broken their promise.

But he had committed this grudge to memory.

...

As Li Ping had previously instructed, once Zhang Tie and Gumu Sheng learned the details of the mediation, they came to Immortal Peach Mountain one after another to report the results to him.

Li Ping was dumbfounded by what he heard.

He never expected that after more than a year of turmoil, the ones to get the short end of the stick would be the Meng family, who had little to do with the original incident.

Generally speaking, Cultivation Clans don’t marry off their female cultivators; they only recruit men to marry into the family.

Even if they did marry a woman out, it would be through a reciprocal marriage alliance or, as the Meng family had done with Zhang Tie and Gumu Sheng, to win someone over by marrying them to a low-tier female cultivator.

Meng Qingyi was a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and she even possessed Tier Two Middle Grade talisman-crafting skills.

What was even rarer was that she was one of the few cultivators who was socially graceful and adept at managing worldly affairs.

In the nearly twenty years she had served as the manager of general affairs, she had kept the Immortal City running in perfect order, a clear testament to her capabilities.

Anyone with eyes could see that if the Meng family’s ancestor failed to reach Core Formation and passed away, Meng Qingyi would have become the next leader of the family.

How could the Meng family’s ancestor bear to marry her off?

Of course, Meng Qingyi’s status in the Meng family was second only to the family’s ancestor; she herself would never have been willing to marry out and become a subservient wife.

But in the Cultivation Realm, strength is absolute.

When a high-tier Core Formation Cultivator made a decision, they could only obey. They had no right to object.

He then recalled how, not long ago, Meng Qingyi and the Meng family’s ancestor had both come to his door, pleading with him to draw low-tier Spirit Talismans to stabilize their price in the Immortal City.

Now, Li Ping could only think that the two of them looked like absolute fools.

Gumu Sheng informed Li Ping that the wedding between Huang Yan and Meng Qingyi was set for five years from now.

Li Ping nodded to show he understood.

In truth, he felt a bit of sympathy for Meng Qingyi.

After all, the two of them were on fairly good terms.

...

As the three sects lifted their blockade and embargo, the Immortal City’s Primordial Energy also began to slowly recover.

Bai Lin, however, was in low spirits. Li Ping only learned why after asking her.

It turned out that before, when prices in the Immortal City were exorbitant, other cultivators had to pay a high price for Spirit Rice, whereas she could get it for free from the Bai family.

This had given her a special sense of superiority. Now that everyone could buy Spirit Rice at normal prices, that feeling was gone.

Hearing this, Li Ping was left speechless.

Speaking of which, Bai Lin had been on Immortal Peach Mountain for nearly twenty-seven years. At forty-six, she wasn’t exactly young anymore.

However, cultivators had very narrow social circles, and Bai Lin had never experienced the struggles of a low-tier cultivator, so she still retained a shred of childlike innocence.

Li Ping checked her Cultivation and estimated that by the middle of next year, she could enter seclusion to attempt her breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.

...

At the end of that year, after performing the final treatment of the year on the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly, Li Ping looked at Yu Menghan with a broad smile, the meaning in his eyes self-evident.

By this point, he had been treating the Illusory Light Butterfly for three years. According to their agreement, he could now choose one of the dozen-or-so precious items she had offered as payment.

After checking on the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly, Yu Menghan discovered that a portion of its consciousness had awakened, and it was able to communicate with her.

She was overjoyed by this. In theory, the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly could now leave the seal of the Celestial Profound Crystal and recover by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi on its own.

However, the recovery process would take several hundred years.

It was nowhere near as fast as recovering with Li Ping’s active treatment.

When she looked up and saw Li Ping watching her, it dawned on Yu Menghan that Fellow Daoist Li was here to collect his payment.

In her excellent mood, she waved a hand, and more than a dozen treasures appeared on the table. "According to our agreement," she said magnanimously, "Fellow Daoist Li may now choose one of these treasures. Please, make your choice."

Li Ping nodded and swept his Divine Sense over the treasures on the table without hesitation.

He first ruled out the Tier Two Top-Grade Spiritual Artifacts. After obtaining Yan Liming’s Storage Bag, he was not lacking in Top-Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

With Dharma Artifacts off the table, what remained were things like Tier Three Spirit Talismans, Talisman Treasures, Pills, and materials.

A Tier Three Spirit Talisman had power equivalent to a single strike from a Core Formation Cultivator and was considered a trump card for any Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

However, Li Ping considered that he was about to break through to the Mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. At that point, thanks to his unparalleled talent, he would be able to draw Tier Two Upper Grade Spirit Talismans with a one hundred percent success rate.

The power of a Tier Two Upper Grade Spirit Talisman was, of course, worlds apart from that of a Tier Three Spirit Talisman.

However, in large enough numbers, the combined power bursting from multiple Tier Two Upper Grade Spirit Talismans could produce an effect similar to that of a Tier Three Spirit Talisman.

Besides, Li Ping had no intention of engaging in Magical Combat with Core Formation Cultivators before he reached that stage himself.

At most, his enemies would be Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Tier Two Upper Grade Spirit Talismans were more than enough to deal with foes of that level.

’And what if I really do get targeted by a Core Formation expert?’

’Then I’d run as far as I possibly could, of course. Stay behind and wait for death?’

’At worst, I’ll just come back for revenge once I’m strong enough.’

So, after a moment’s consideration, Li Ping also eliminated the Tier Three Spirit Talisman from his list of options.

His gaze swept over the remaining materials, Pills, and Talisman Treasures before finally landing on an inconspicuous, humanoid doll.

The doll that had caught Li Ping’s attention was only palm-sized, complete with all four limbs. It wore a suit of fine, dark scale armor, and its face was so lifelike it looked like a real person.

Regrettably, however, the doll was covered in numerous nicks and gashes from blades and axes, as if it had just survived a great battle.

’Could this be...?’ Li Ping wondered.

Noticing his gaze, Yu Menghan began to explain, "Has Fellow Daoist Li taken an interest in this Myriad Work Puppet? You have a good eye. This is a Tier Three puppet, possessing the combat strength to rival a Core Formation Cultivator."

Upon hearing this, Li Ping raised an eyebrow, finding her words hard to believe. "A Tier Three Puppet? Would Fairy Yu truly be willing to offer such a treasure for me to choose from?"

"If it were an undamaged Tier Three Puppet, it naturally wouldn’t have ended up in my hands," Yu Menghan said, shaking her head. "This Myriad Work Puppet is severely damaged and can only exert the strength of a Mid-stage Tier Two. And although the materials used to refine the puppet are all Magical Treasure Level, they were all fused into a single whole by the refiner and are absolutely impossible to separate."

A look of curiosity crossed Li Ping’s face. "I’ve heard that the Puppetry Technique has long been lost to the Cultivation Realm. Could this Myriad Work Puppet be a relic from ancient times?"

"Not exactly..."

Seeing Li Ping’s interest, Yu Menghan patiently began to explain the Myriad Work Puppet’s origins in detail.

Li Ping listened patiently, a pensive look crossing his face from time to time.

According to Yu Menghan, there was once a sect in the Land of the Far North called the Celestial Skill Sect. The cultivators of this Sect were obsessed with creating puppets and had sworn to rediscover the Puppetry Technique, which had vanished into the river of history.

After generations of research, they actually managed to develop a method for refining combat-ready puppets, even successfully creating Tier Two Puppets on par with Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Afterward, they ambitiously began researching the method for creating Tier Three Puppets.

And the puppet before him now was the magnum opus of the Celestial Skill Sect’s puppetry, the culmination of the painstaking efforts of generations of the sect’s high-tier Puppet Masters.

Hence the name ’Myriad Work’!

Unfortunately, the Celestial Skill Sect later provoked someone they shouldn’t have.

The Celestial Skill Sect was annihilated, and the Myriad Work Puppet—the Tier Three Puppet that represented the pinnacle of the sect’s Puppetry Technique—was damaged in the process.

Later, the damaged puppet fell into the hands of the Ying Sea Commerce Association. It was repaired by one of the association’s Artifact Refining Masters, allowing it to barely regain the strength of a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Finally, Yu Menghan relayed that Artifact Refining Master’s evaluation of the Celestial Skill Sect.

"They had the skill, but their direction was wrong. With the resources needed to create one Tier Three Puppet, you could refine several Magical Treasures.

"The ancient cultivators had boundless resources to squander, so of course they could create puppets with abandon. But times have changed. The current Cultivation Realm is starved for resources. How could there possibly be a place for the Puppetry Technique?

"An obsolete art will naturally be eliminated.

"Trying to revive the Puppetry Technique in today’s Cultivation Realm is nothing short of archaic obstinance."

...

After finishing her introduction, Yu Menghan smiled at Li Ping. "So, Fellow Daoist Li, do you wish to choose this Myriad Work Puppet? Just by inserting a single Middle-tier Spirit Stone, you gain a helper at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment level. Furthermore, its body is as durable as a Magical Treasure, and its defenses far surpass those of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator."

Li Ping nodded without a word and took the Myriad Work Puppet in his hand.

The instant his fingers touched the Myriad Work Puppet, a line of small text, visible only to him, appeared in the air above it.

[A Tier Three Puppet, meticulously refined by generations of the Celestial Skill Sect’s Puppet Masters. Can be absorbed as nourishment to master the Celestial Skill Sect’s Tier Three Puppetry Technique. Required materials: 100 Middle-grade Spirit Stones, ten feet of thousand-year-old ironwood, one Tier Three essence soul.]

...

Meeting Yu Menghan’s questioning gaze, Li Ping smiled and nodded. "Fairy Yu, for my payment, I choose this Myriad Work Puppet."

"Very well. No problem." Upon hearing his choice, Yu Menghan put away the other items on the table and turned to leave.

Only Li Ping remained standing in the courtyard, an irrepressible look of delight on his face.

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