Chapter 29: Puppet Materials

  Feng Ling saw the two puppets brought out by Ling Xiao and couldn't help but change his expression slightly.

  He beckoned, and the two puppets floated in mid-air before him. After examining them for a while, he seemed to be slightly disappointed, shaking his head slightly, then turned to Ling Xiao and asked faintly: "Where did you get these two wooden puppets?"

  Ling Xiao couldn't quite grasp what she meant.

  However, thinking of the broken Sect Master token that was split in two because of himself, Ling Xiao's heart slightly hesitated before his cautious side took over. He carefully said: "I, a disciple, happened to see it at a market and bought it because I liked the exquisite craftsmanship of this pair of wooden puppets. However, there is no way to repair them."

  Feng Ling nodded, "The art of puppetry is a long-standing one, but actually, there are not many who excel in this field. Since you've come to me, I suppose you must have heard that my late father had some skills in this area?"

  Ling Xiao respectfully said: "Disciple heard it from Huang Jian Shixiong yesterday."

  "The art of puppetry is most proficient in the three schools of Qianji Gate, Tiandao Valley and Yuling Palace. Each school has its own strengths and weaknesses. My late father once learned a little bit about puppet-making from an elder of Qianji Gate during his travels in the south, but he only knew a little bit about it. As for me, what I've learned is even less than one percent of what my father knew." Fowling explained calmly to him.

  Ling Xiao listened carefully to her explanation.

  "The mechanism of the Thousand Machines Gate's puppet technique is the most widely spread and orthodox. The Heavenly Thief Valley, on the other hand, has derived some cunning techniques from puppets to supplement themselves, creating a new path. As for the Puppet Technique of the Royal Spirit Palace, it was actually just a game created by the disciples during their spiritual refinement, but over time, they became proficient in it. However, the Puppet Technique of the Royal Spirit Palace focuses on cultivating one's own spiritual energy and is less concerned with puppet-making, which differs from the other two schools."

  Ling Xiao listened with rapt attention, these were things he had never heard of before.

  Feng Ling gazed at the two puppets in front of him and continued, "I see that these two puppets are probably from the Qianji Gate. They're quite common, but the materials used aren't particularly rare or precious. However, they're crafted with great precision and ingenuity, making them extremely valuable."

  She seemed to be quite appreciative of these two puppets.

  Ling Xiao couldn't help but ask, "Master Fu, I wonder if you have a way to repair these two puppets?"

  Feng Ling murmured, "These two puppets are made with the spine of a second-tier demon beast, the purple bat, and the trunk of a wooden demon, Tong. The materials don't seem to be damaged and don't need to be replaced. As for the damaged core area, it's not like it can't be repaired..."

  Ling Xiao couldn't help but smile and said: "Please help me repair it, Master Fu!"

  These two puppets, each with at least three layers of Qi refinement strength, and with his control, the two coordinating, he even estimated that if they encountered a fifth-layer Qi refinement opponent, they might not necessarily be unable to fight back.

  If he could repair these two puppets, his strength would surely increase greatly.

  Feng Ling slowly shook his head, "I can also try to repair it, but the materials needed to make the core are not available."

  "What materials are needed?" Ling Xiao asked.

  Feng Ling glanced at him and said straightforwardly, "The core of these two puppets is made from the blood of the purple bat spirit, Sheng Han Mu, and Huo Rong Jin. With just these three materials, they can be restored to their original state. However, this puppet is crafted with great precision, if you were to replace its core with one that has even greater power, it's possible for the puppet's strength to increase further. Are you willing?"

  Ling Xiao felt a great deal of distress, the stronger the puppet's power was, the more he liked it.

  The price will inevitably be even higher. Not to mention the others, just the second-order demon beast's essence blood is worth at least a dozen or so low-grade spirit stones, and as for the other two, he had never heard of them before, let alone know their value... If they were to use new materials instead, it would be even harder to estimate what price they could reach.

  "After hesitating for a moment, he finally said: 'It's still troubling Master Shu to tell me what materials are needed. I'll try to collect them and see which ones I can get.'"

  Feng Ling nodded and said, "The second-order demon beast's essence blood is already sufficient. If we were to use the third-order demon beast's essence blood instead, its value would double, not to mention that with the materials on this puppet body, it would be difficult to bring out its full power. However, if we were to replace the fire-refined gold with Cold Sea Stone and add some Purple Apex Grass, it would definitely allow these two puppets' strength to rise to another level."

  Ling Xiao thanked Fuling and was about to leave, but Fuling called out to him again, saying: "I remember that in the Tianyun Pavilion of our sect, there seems to be a piece of Hanshui stone. You can go take a look. As for the rest, you can only find them in the outer streets of Qiyun Sect."

  "Yes, thank you, Master Fu." After bowing respectfully, Ling Xiao took his leave and went out.

  Ling Xiao emerged from Fowling's cave and rushed straight to the Tianyun Pavilion. He had been refining a lot of elixirs lately, gradually accumulating some contribution points, and still had many pills in his hands. It seemed that Hanshui Stone was only a second-grade material, so buying one should be enough.

  Hansei can hold spiritual energy and is commonly used as a material for making puppet cores. It doesn't have many other uses.

  So Ling Xiao went to the Wan Yun Pavilion and asked at that time, the piece of Cold Sea Stone was indeed still there, totaling more than two taels. He then used 110 contribution points to buy it all down.

  The price of second-order materials is generally much more expensive than that of second-order spiritual medicine, and only slightly cheaper than that of second-order elixir. Therefore, 110 contribution points can buy two or three, which is a relatively reasonable price. Two cold sea stones are also sufficient to make two cores.

  However, Qiyun Sect didn't have a puppet as its leader. As for the Shenghanmu and Ziwucao, they were nowhere to be found.

  The essence of a second-order demon beast, although there are several types, are all relatively powerful demon beasts such as the Golden Horned Python and the Azure Gold Eagle, which are not very suitable for making this puppet.

  So Ling Xiao could only reluctantly leave Qi Yun Sect and head towards the town to take a look.

  He had long since become familiar with the route and his cultivation had broken through to the third layer of Qi Refining, so his speed was much faster. Therefore, it only took him a little over an hour to arrive in the middle of the town.

  In the bustling streets of the city, there were still thousands of low-ranking cultivators gathered in this small area, either buying or selling.

  Ling Xiao made his way through the crowd, heading towards the back of the market, where the larger shops were located. There was a greater possibility of finding what he was looking for there than among these disorderly scattered stalls.

  But just as they were halfway there, they suddenly realized a commotion in the crowd behind them.

  Ling Xiao turned his head back, and all he saw was a flying boat, over ten feet long, wrapped in a mass of red light, rushing through the air. The light was only three or four feet off the ground, and the crowd along the way was forced to scatter; but the speed of the flying boat did not decrease at all, leaving behind a trail of red light as it sped by.

  Top-grade Flight Token!

  Ling Xiao's eyes lit up as he immediately recognized it as a rare and exceptional flight artifact.

  It's worth noting that the Law Treasures are even rarer than Dan medicines and materials. For example, among the thousands of outer sect disciples in Qiyun Sect, most of them only use low-grade or medium-grade talismans, not to mention high-grade ones. Even among the inner sect disciples, high-grade talismans are not commonly seen.

  Top-grade talisman, without considering how much its power surpasses that of mid-grade and high-grade talismans, just the wealth and background it represents are enough to intimidate others.

  In such a small town, although flying is not prohibited, there are too many monks, so low-flying would naturally disturb others, so it's generally implicitly forbidden.

  The man who just swaggered by so hastily naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people. However, most of the people here are just scattered cultivators without any background, and that person can use top-grade talismans, obviously not an ordinary identity. So most of them took the attitude of "one less trouble is better than one more", and endured this anger.

  Of course, not everyone can hold their breath for this either ——

  Just as Ling Xiao shook his head and was about to leave, a dissatisfied hum suddenly came from behind him, the voice clear and melodious, extremely pleasant to hear.

  "Hmph, it's just a top-notch talisman, what's there to show off about?"

  Ling Xiao turned her head to look back, but saw a delicate and lovely girl wearing a yellow goose dress behind her. She was born with a delicate and lovely face, just like a porcelain doll, which made people involuntarily feel pity and love. On her shoulder, a silver fox with a snowy white body was lying, its eyes rolling around, showing an indescribable spirit.

  And she was still pouting and grumbling: "So rude! Can't you see there are so many people here?"

  Ling Xiao's face was slightly flushed with sweat. Just now, he had caught a glimpse of him and already recognized that this "uncouth" person was actually his disciple from the Qi Yun Sect.

  The eldest son of Sima Ting, the elder of Menzhong, is Sima Jiong.

  Simaditian is one of the two most prestigious alchemy masters in Qiyunzong, the other being Fowling.

  But Sima Gong's fame was far earlier than Fu Ling, so most people regarded Sima Gong as the first person in Zhong Qi Yun Zong to refine Dan. Sima Gong had a son in his old age, so he spoiled Sima Huo, this only son, extremely. He had heard that the latter was arrogant and unruly, and today he saw it, indeed, the name was not in vain. Of course, this is absolutely not a good reputation that people like, even Ling Xiao is a little ashamed for him.

  But it's none of his business, he turned around and thought about leaving.

  But then the girl whispered a suggestion from behind, "Xiaobai, let's go teach him a lesson."

  Who is she talking to?

  Ling Xiao turned his head back in curiosity, only to see the girl staring intently at the silver fox on his shoulder, which also raised its head and let out excited "squeaks".

  She couldn't help but shake her head secretly, this young girl was indeed inexperienced in the ways of the world. How could she say such things in a crowded place like this? Although she had lowered her voice, the monk's ears and eyes were far sharper than ordinary people, and among the surrounding crowd, there were probably not a few who had heard her words.

  It's said that Sima Huo has an old ancestor who cultivated the Seven-Layered Foundation, and he himself is at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Moreover, his body is protected by a top-grade talisman... With such strength, how can one easily offend him?

  Besides, Sima Zhi's behavior was somewhat arrogant, but it wasn't a huge mistake.

  No matter how you look at it, there's no need for such an excessive sense of justice...

  It was none of his business, and Ling Xiao shouldn't have interfered. But seeing the girl's bright and lovely face, her innocence, he couldn't help but worry that she didn't know what she was getting herself into, and would offend someone without realizing it.

  "Miss, I think this person's identity is not ordinary, and he has a high-quality artifact to protect himself. It's better for you not to mess with him..."

  The girl obviously didn't expect someone to suddenly interrupt her and was startled. She looked up, watching him warily, "Who are you?"

  His face was full of defenses, as if written with a few big words "I don't trust you".

  Ling Xiao hastily waved his hand to indicate that he had no ill intentions, "I'm just afraid you'll offend someone for no reason—"

  The girl, however, scrunched up her nose in discontent and let out a coquettish hum of displeasure. "Useless coward!" she said with a snort. With that, she took the silver fox and swiftly disappeared into the crowd.

  It was originally a kind reminder, but she was despised by her instead. Ling Xiao couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. However, looking at the girl's agile and mysterious movements, and the silver fox on her back which seemed to have a mind of its own, it seemed that she had some background and means after all. There was no need for him to intervene unnecessarily.

  Putting all these behind him, he turned around and walked towards the innermost part of the town.