Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 243 Going against the grain, the demonic cultivator deserves to die!
Inside Su Ji's small shop.

In front of Qinghe, Su Qing destroyed her contract with Baibaoge and made her sign a new hundred-year contract with him.

During the hundred years that Qinghe served as his manager, Qinghe received a monthly salary of 30,000 spirit crystals. Under the condition of working all year round without rest, she could also receive an additional full attendance bonus and year-end bonus based on the performance of the year.

In addition, there are various benefits such as receiving internal pricing for puppet crafting services and having puppet guards provided when going out.

"The cost of reforging the sword puppet is approximately 600,000 spirit crystals, which includes the cost of the talisman water used to forge the puppet, the design fee, and other expenses."

Even with a 40% discount, it still costs 360,000 spirit crystals, which is exactly your annual salary. Are you sure you still need me to refine this puppet, without earning a single penny this year?

"You just said that price offhand, didn't you? You just want me to work for free for a year?" Qinghe narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously.

Su Qing, as if insulted, shouted loudly:

"Why do you look at me like that, fellow Daoist? Do I look like the kind of unscrupulous employer? It's only because you're one of us now that I'm charging such a low price. If it were an outsider, I might not even bother to take on this order for less than a million spirit crystals!"

Upon hearing this, Qinghe lowered her head slightly and murmured:
"Whatever you say goes. Qinghe is your person now. The sword puppet has been upgraded to the second tier. Qinghe and this puppet will both serve you."

"If you're so heartless as to charge me a refining fee, then so be it. All crows are black, and you're no different from that Hundred Treasures Pavilion. It was Qinghe's wishful thinking before that she overestimated you."

Su Qing thought about it and realized that what she said made some sense.

Qinghe has prepared all the materials for refining the sword puppet, but it will only take him a few days to refine it.

With the creation of the second-tier sword puppet and its combination with Qinghe, the shop's weaponry was further enhanced, a benefit to him without any cost.

Since they were willing to use the blueprints for the Skyroc ship to redeem her, they might as well win her heart as well.

Bringing in top talent definitely costs a lot!
It's all Xiong Er's fault for being so useless; he hasn't grown up yet and can't shoulder the responsibility on his own!
"Alright, consider this a bonus for your official joining of my shop. I'll refine this sword puppet for you for free. This is a one-time thing, there won't be a next time!"

Amidst Yu Qinghe's excited and delighted compliments, Su Qing reluctantly made the decision not to take advantage of her for free, but instead to be taken advantage of by her.

Let the energetic Qinghe take care of the shop with Xiong Er and Huodan.

Having completely relinquished his responsibilities, he visited fellow Daoists such as Tang Wanqing and Niu Ya.

Even after Tang Wanqing advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, she remained true to her original aspirations, fighting her way from the east city wall to the west city wall, transforming her battles from fighting against demonic beasts to fighting against demonic cultivators.

This woman was resolute and knew what was important. After learning that he was only leading his female cultivators on the city wall, manipulating lizard riders to charge into battle, and that he himself was not in much danger, she understood the situation.

Su Qing left him two lizard knights as a congratulatory gift for his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, and then turned to find Niu Shisan.

After Niu Shisan broke through to the second level of physical cultivation, the Rat King Team's strength increased significantly. In addition, each member was a powerful physical cultivator, and their thick skin and tough flesh made them much more durable than magic cultivators.

Stimulated by the Yunshan Sect's unlimited resources for military achievements.

Niu Ya and Niu Shisan led the Rat King team to charge out of the city gates every few days to fight against the army of the Desire Demon Sect.

Because they were all recruiting rogue cultivators from the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom, the Rat King Team's losses were temporarily manageable. However, according to Niu Ya, after leading his brothers to charge a few more times, they would have to withdraw from the battlefield to avoid attracting the attention of the true disciples of the Desire Demon Sect.

Niu Shisan quietly pulled him into a corner and stuffed him with the materials for three whole sets of Golden Wolf King Heads. Su Qing was moved by his sincerity and love for his sister-in-law and agreed to refine the Golden Wolf King Heads for him.

I watched the battle from the west city wall for a while.

It turned out to be nothing more than a battle between rogue cultivators, with very few true disciples from either side appearing on the battlefield.

Su Qinglian made Niu Shisan take out the stained battle merit exchange list.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the Yunshan Sect was indeed quite generous.

Knowing that monsters are treasures from head to toe, independent cultivators would still charge into battle against monsters even without the incentive of battle merits.

Fighting against the army of lustful demons is not only dangerous and unpredictable, but if you are unlucky enough to kill a poor and uneducated cultivator, the gains from him are far less than those from a demonic beast of the same level.

Therefore, in order to motivate the rogue cultivators, the Yunshan Sect offered far greater rewards for killing enemy cultivators than for killing demonic beasts.

Killing a rogue cultivator at the lower, middle, or upper level of the first tier will grant 100, 500, and 1000 battle merits respectively. If the cultivator is a disciple of the Desire Demon Sect, the battle merits will be doubled. If the cultivator is at the second tier, the battle merits will be multiplied by 100.

And on the battle merit exchange list.

Tier 3 Mid-Grade Puppet - Cyclops (0/1, can be exchanged for 3 million battle merits.)
Tier 3 Spirit Wood (0/1, can be exchanged for 800,000 battle merits.)
Tier 3 Giant Spirit Stone Core (0/1, can be exchanged for 400,000 battle merits).
Foundation Building Pill (3/8, can be exchanged for 100,000 battle merits)

Second-tier demon core (4/32, can be exchanged for 50,000 battle merits).
······
The exchange list contained everything imaginable: third-tier puppets, second-tier magic weapons, pills, formations, and various materials.

As long as you kill enough demonic cultivators and accumulate enough battle merits, rare resources that were once out of reach are now readily available!
"Slay ten thousand cultivators, drink the blood of demons, and with your demonic blood, forge my path to heaven!"

Su Qing read aloud the slogans written in the blood of Yunshan Sect cultivators on the battle merit exchange list, which inspired the rogue cultivators to fight to the death.

For a moment, he was tempted to mobilize his many puppets to charge and fight beneath the city wall.

He wouldn't directly confront the danger anyway, and with the puppets he currently controls, the daily battle merits he gains are greater than the combined strength of the entire Rat King Team and Bear King Team.

After ten to fifteen days of intense fighting, you might be able to exchange for Tier 3 materials and several Tier 2 demon cores.

But the idea was fleeting.

After seeing Niu Shisan leap out of the city wall and rescue a severely wounded and dying member of the Rat King team from the equally bloodthirsty enemy cultivators on the other side.

He immediately left the battlefield without looking back and returned to the vicinity of the small shop.

After visiting Pang Feifan's shop, I discovered that he might have a special talent for fertilization. In just one or two months, he not only fattened up the previously severely injured and dying White Python Demon King, but also added fifty or sixty small snakes to the shop.

After making an agreement with Pang Feifan, they agreed that once his snake swarm grew to a certain size, they would all be slaughtered and sent to his small shop for him to use in refining the Thunder Serpent.

He then went to Shao Delong's shop, and under Shao Delong's proud gaze, he finally put on the second-tier Heavenly Silkworm Armor that Shao Delong had crafted.

According to Shao Delong himself, in terms of pure defensive capabilities, this armor is more than twice as good as the Tiger Armor Puppet he was wearing.

Out of consideration for their friendship, he reluctantly agreed to let Su Qing exchange the Crimson Flame Rainbow Horse, which she had not yet refined, for him.

Su Qing had no objection to this. In any case, he was already wearing the second-tier Heavenly Silkworm Armor. As for when the Crimson Flame Rainbow Horse would be forged, he hadn't given Shao Delong any guarantees.

Finally, he went to the residence of the Cursed Spirit Clan and saw that Yao Fei was unable to restrain herself, so he took care of the matter at her house.

Over time, he and Yao Fei became friends.

This time, I only accepted sixty spirit stones from him.

There was really no other way. The Cursed Spirit Clan in Baiyun Immortal City numbered only tens of thousands. Yao Fei was the clan's holy maiden and had the right to use the clan's property for her own purposes. However, the clan's property was limited, and it couldn't all be used by her alone. The other clan members also needed to make a living.

He was a kind-hearted man, and seeing that the treasure girl was eager to sell all her treasures, he could only fight a cheap battle with the mountain demon and thirty-six high-ranking Buddhist cultivators.

What puzzled him was that the vajra was clearly a Buddhist treasure like the merit wooden fish, yet the small and large wooden spirits were unable to establish a bond with it and become high-level Buddhist cultivators.

This made him plan to go back and have all the puppets try out the treasure, to see who would be destined to receive it.

Anyway, it was not meant for him. He had tried it. The vajra was heavy and hard. When he swung it, it was powerful and had a seven-colored Buddhist light effect.

It's fine for performing or hitting people, but it has absolutely no effect on exorcising evil spirits.

There is currently no one available to use the vajra or any puppet.

This job left the thirty-six high-ranking Buddhist cultivators exhausted and dispirited. The mountain demon, however, was quite addicted to filming the octopus monster. As long as he had enough spirit stones, he could film for another three days and three nights without any problem.

After the treatment was completed, another treasure of Dao patterns was unearthed from the treasure girl.

The completeness of the Jiuli Dao patterns was thus increased to one in a thousand.

The Blood Slaughter Technique has been enhanced and can now be stacked up to twelve times, with each layer adding 15% more power.

The thirteenth attack could unleash three times the power.

It is worth mentioning that the Blood Slaughter Technique can be imprinted on his various puppets in the form of Blood Slaughter Runes.

He has already branded first-tier blood-killing runes onto the puppets, including Tiger Egg, Flowing Shadow, Flying Dragon, and Little Peng King.

A first-tier Blood Slaughter Rune can only be stacked three times at a time, and each stack can only increase its power by half a percent.

It may seem like it has little use, but it is actually very useful!
Because he can share the number of stacked layers with the puppets!

He wore the Tiger Armor Puppet, soaring through the sky like a dragon, combining with the Roc King Puppet's incredible attack speed.

It might only take the blink of an eye to stack up the Blood Killing Technique!
According to his calculations, with the Tiger Armor on his body and the Flying Dragon on his face, the Overlord Dragon Roar Spear, stacked with twelve layers of Blood Killing Technique, is not much weaker than a third-tier body cultivator in terms of pure destructive power. He dares not say that he can compete with a third-tier body cultivator, but crushing those below the third tier is as easy as taking candy from a baby.

In addition to the Blood Killing Technique, the effects of Nourishing Health, Incantation, and Combat Skill have also been greatly enhanced.

I sighed inwardly, thinking that there are few treasure girls like Yao Fei in the world, and we should cherish her even more in the future.

Even regarding the agreement they had made before, he excluded Yao Fei this time, telling her that it would be enough for her to send twenty or thirty cursed spirit warriors who were willing to sacrifice themselves and curse their opponents.

As for her, there's still a small part of her treasure that hasn't been fully explored, and he's unwilling to let her risk her life.

After bidding farewell to Consort Yao, he went to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion to replenish some puppet materials and to inquire about current prices.

It was discovered that, apart from puppets and magical artifacts which saw a surge in price, the prices of other items actually increased instead of decreasing.

Tong Xin learned that due to the great battle between the two cities, the Golden Core cultivators and true disciples of the Yunshan Sect and the Yumo Sect had rarely made a move.

Nowadays, it's all about independent cultivators from their respective immortal kingdoms killing each other.

Compared to the simple demonic beasts, the clever and unscrupulous rogue cultivators not only couldn't break each other's moves, but also risked being tricked and killed by the sixth brother on the other side if they were not careful.

Aside from Niu Ya and Niu Shisan, who only cultivate their bodies and not their minds, resulting in extremely strong bodies but weak spiritual sense, they can only charge into battle themselves and cannot control powerful magical artifacts or puppets to fight.

Most magic cultivators still chose to stand on the city wall, protected by formations and magic cannons, and manipulate magic weapons and puppets to fight against the rogue cultivators on the other side from a distance.

Among them, Hai Changqing, who recently broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, shone brightly with his cultivation technique of "Divine Interpretation Together".

One person controls twenty lizard knights, a mixed crew of hounds and horse heavy cavalry, blood demon puppets and other miscellaneous puppets.

Without sustaining any harm himself, he killed countless enemy cultivators. In any case, according to the information Tong Xin obtained from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion of the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom, Hai Changqing was already on the Desire Demon Sect's kill list, and he could forget about ever surviving in the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom again.

"I can understand why Hai Changqing couldn't stop killing and ended up on the Demon Kingdom's kill list, but why am I on that list too, even ranked higher than him!"

Su Qing took the kill list from Tong Xin and saw his name, Su Qing, next to the Golden Core cultivators and true disciples of the Yunshan Sect.

He was immediately enraged, felt extremely wronged, and cried out that he was innocent.

Leaving aside the fact that he is loyal to one side while serving another, flexible in his bottom line, and wavering in his stance, he has made puppets for witches, fought with demonic cultivators for people, and has some connection with the Desire Demon Sect.

Since the start of the battle between these two cities, he has been at home refining puppets all day long, without spilling a drop of blood from the opposing cultivators. How come he has been put on their kill list?

"Fellow Daoist Su, don't say you're wronged. You're not wronged at all. Although you didn't kill any enemy cultivators, quite a few of them died because of you."

The three hundred lizard knights of the Yunshan Sect dominated the battlefield, and under the leadership of more than twenty body cultivators, they inflicted heavy casualties on the army of the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom.

The other rogue cultivators also made some gains from the lizard knights they bought from your shop. Moreover, those lizard warriors would self-destruct at the drop of a hat, causing the rogue cultivators from the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom to now avoid green-skinned lizards, fearing that they might explode at the slightest provocation.

"You've provided so many puppets here, do you think it's unfair that they put you on their kill list?"

Tong Xin explained the situation to him in a tone that implied he was full of sins and could not be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Su Qing, however, still felt wronged. How could the puppeteer be blamed for the puppet killing someone?
Which of those professionals—alchemists, array masters, talisman makers, and weapon refiners—could escape involvement?
Wow! They really can't escape responsibility.

Su Qing glanced down slightly and saw that the names of Liang Haishun, Helian Xian and others were listed. Even Guo Qiaolian, who was treating patients in the clinic, was not spared.

Since everyone else was so unlucky, he felt a little better, but he was still somewhat resentful.

Because he did not see any members of the Yuan and Lin families on it!
Speaking of puppets, the Lin family sells far more than he does.

If we're talking about killing, the Yuan family's skeleton demon corpses have killed far more than the lizard riders.

However, neither the Yuan nor the Lin families made the list, which is quite unfair.

"Both the Yuan and Lin families have Golden Core cultivators in charge, and each has related industries. Since the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom wants to win these two families over to its side, it will naturally not include their clansmen on the kill list, so as not to cut off their path to join the Desire Demon Sect."

The Yuan and Lin families are also very sensible. In the two major battles between Golden Core cultivators more than a month ago, neither of their Golden Core cultivators participated, thus preserving the possibility of switching sides at any time!

Tong Xin spoke in a tone that suggested he knew everything, like a know-it-all, trying to make him feel unbalanced.

After hearing this, Su Qing understood.

The reason is that the Yuan and Lin families still have value in united front work, so they are popular with both sides.

As for people like him and Liang Haishun, they were not even worth the attention of the Desire Demon Sect. Their stance and whether they were fence-sitters were of no concern to them.

They really have a snobbish attitude and look down on people!

(End of this chapter)