Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 252 The Witch Draws Symbols, Encountering Danger in the Cave

While Yu Liuyun'er secretly felt sorry for Su Qing, she herself picked up her pen and began to write.

As the brush touched the paper, a surge of spiritual energy coursed through his body, like a tide, surging like waves.

Suddenly, the cave seemed to open its mouth like a giant beast, rapidly devouring the spiritual energy outside. Su Qing could even see the waterfall and spring that concealed the cave pause for a moment.

A surge of spiritual energy flowed into his hand and then into the luminous white talisman brush.

Before even putting pen to paper, the sheer power of the opening strokes was enough to shake Su Qing to her core.

Drawing a fourth-order rune requires such a massive amount of spiritual power. Even after he reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment, he probably wouldn't be able to draw it properly.

He silently postponed the date he planned to refine the third-tier puppet and draw the fourth-tier runes.

Su Qing also took out a talisman pen and a wood spirit servant used as a test subject.

When Liu Yun'er put pen to paper and drew the divine beast runes, she bestowed upon the fire phoenix puppet the aura of a divine beast.

He followed suit, mimicking the wooden spirit servants in a clumsy attempt.

Insufficient magical power, inadequate spiritual attainment, and even the patterns and structures are ambiguous.

It is impossible to imitate successfully.

But after working hard with Liu Yun'er for more than ten days, until the fire phoenix puppet emitted a divine beast pressure that even the Nine Li Unyielding could not resist.

The clumsy, half-baked imitation of the Wood Spirit servant was also a great success.

[Failed to draw a Tier 4 Divine Beast Rune. Divine Beast Rune Proficiency +10. Current Proficiency: 10/5000 (Tier 1)]

The witch was too generous.

I've gotten another high-level rune for free!

Just as Su Qing was secretly delighted and preparing to flatter the witch and congratulate her on successfully drawing the divine beast runes...

But then the witch's body went limp, swaying like a willow in the wind, about to fall.

Before Su Qing could think further, she flashed behind the witch and hugged her tightly.

Looking down, he saw that the witch's face was as white as paper, and she looked weak and listless.

Su Qing appeared anxious, but inwardly she sneered.

How could a Golden Core cultivator be drained dry by a fourth-tier rune!
The witch Anne wants to test me!

"Fellow Daoist, what's wrong? Have you exhausted your magic power and are unable to protect yourself? Can any villain bully you? Fellow Daoist, don't be afraid. With me here, even if a third-level cultivator is in front of you, I will fight to the death to protect you!"

Su Qing looked directly into the witch's slightly weak eyes, her tone extremely sincere.

"Fellow Daoist Su, please remove your hand from Yun'er's chest. Yun'er needs your protection for a few days. It's not that your magic power is exhausted, but that cold poison has entered her body. If you can't hold on during Yun'er's detoxification period, you can wait outside the cave."

Liu Yun'er watched helplessly as Su Qing put his right hand down and placed his left hand in the same spot as his right. She immediately lost interest in him, turned her head away, and let Su Qing grope her all over before adjusting her body into a comfortable position.

Suitable postures for spiritual practice.

As for Su Qing himself, he saw that the cold air emanating from his body was like a mist, instantly turning the entire cave into a frozen wasteland. Even the divine beast fire energy of the fire phoenix puppet beside him was suppressed by this cold air.

Realizing the danger, he quickly fled to the very edge of the cave entrance, but did not follow the witch's instructions to escape directly out of the cave.

This could be due to either the effects of the Jiuli Nourishing Body or the phantom of the fire phoenix nurtured within the sea of ​​consciousness.

As a result, his ability to resist the cold far surpasses that of ordinary second-tier body cultivators.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, there was not much discomfort.

Just as he was about to ask Liu Yun'er what exactly was going on with this cold poison...

But they saw that Liu Yun'er was surrounded by icy cold air, and her whole body was frozen in ice.

The chilling aura had wisps of black lines, making it clear at a glance that it wasn't from the proper channels.

Seeing that the woman was struggling to resist the cold poison, Su Qing cursed himself for being too kind and unable to bear seeing her suffer.

With most of his magical power depleted, a phantom of a fire phoenix burst forth from his mouth, swirling around Liu Yun'er and helping her melt the icy poison.

The second-tier phoenix phantom was also powerless against the icy poison that even Liu Yun'er found difficult to resist.

However, its fiery rainbow light has a great restraining effect on cold poisons, which has somewhat helped alleviate Liu Yun'er's current predicament.

This is all Su Qing can do.

He didn't care much about releasing the divine power of the Phoenix Boiling Sea Pattern from afar to help this witch.

But he wanted him to help her with his own body, to melt the ice on the witch's body with his passionate heart. If things went well, the two of them could make love in this cave. But he ended up falling for her, and the witch became pregnant with his child, and then she became entangled with him endlessly...

He wouldn't have such an outrageous idea.

This cold poison is clearly a result of the witch being tricked by someone else. She is now plotting desperately, probably to deal with the person behind the poison.

That's at least the method of a Golden Core cultivator; how could he possibly interfere!

Despite this thought, he still stared intently at the witch.

After the phantom of the fire phoenix disappeared, he spared no expense, swallowing a second-tier Qi-restoring pill and summoning the phantom of the fire phoenix again to help the witch.

This happened repeatedly, and as a day and night passed, the cold air in the cave grew stronger and the temperature dropped lower and lower.

The witch's aura, however, became increasingly stable, suggesting that nothing serious had happened.

Only then did he focus his attention on the Taoist techniques he had just extracted from the witch.

[Target of Transformation: Liu Yun'er (Human cultivator, current cultivation level: early stage of Golden Core, Yin-Yang Integration, Yin predominant and Yang deficient)]

[This time, the Daoist technique drawn is: Flickering Finger (a Xuan-level ultimate Daoist technique).]

Number of transformations: 2/3

【Flickering light/fading light】

[Cultivation Path: It evolves from the lower-level Yellow-rank Daoist technique—Spiritual Light Finger. Upon completion of cultivation, it can further evolve into the higher-level Daoist technique—Yin Yang Absolute Breath Light.]

[Current cultivation status of the target: Cultivation complete, having transformed into the Yin-Yang Absolute Breath Light, but due to the limitations of the Transformation Hand level, it can currently only transform into the Bright and Fading Finger.]

【Power: Black and white reversed, yin and yang flickering, can deconstruct and reshape the state of things, aggregate and disperse, all within a finger's reach, can break through realms and restore order, and can also shatter mountains and split rocks (limited to things below the second rank)】 "Flickering Finger, a secret technique of the Penglai Sect. Even if this witch is not from Penglai Immortal Island, she must have a great connection with the cultivators of the Penglai Sect!
However, the superior Taoist technique of this "Flickering Finger" is actually the signature Taoist technique of the Joyful Old Demon, Yin Yang Absolute Breath Light, which is unknown to outsiders.

So, it seems that the Joyful Old Demon is also connected to the Penglai Sect. Could this witch's secret plot also be targeting the Joyful Old Demon?

If Yao Fei is a treasure girl, then Liu Yun'er, whose age Su Qing has never known, is a treasure woman.

The Taoist arts derived from his body never disappoint.

However, this "Flickering Finger" technique is quite famous in the cultivation world of the Western Sea. Even though Su Qing is cultivating in the Cloud Mountain Immortal Kingdom, which is located in the easternmost part of the Western Sea, he knows that this technique is a secret technique of the Penglai Sect.

Upon learning that the witch possessed this magical art, they followed the clues and led to the Yin-Yang Absolute Breath Light and the Joyful Old Demon.

This immediately stirred something within him.

The witch's target was the old devil of pleasure, which was somewhat unexpected for him.

He originally thought that the Golden Core elders of the Desire Demon Sect were the ones who targeted the witch, used her as a furnace, or even planted the cold poison in her.

The witch devised a plan to turn the tide and absorb the villain's power, aiming to take control of the Desire Demon Sect.

Unexpectedly, the witch's plan had nothing to do with the Desire Demon Sect.
No, it may not be unrelated to the Desire Demon Sect!

Because that Joyful Old Demon might not necessarily be unrelated to the Desire Demon Sect!

In a flash of inspiration, Su Qing seemed to have caught a glimpse of the secrets of the Golden Core cultivators.

His gaze shifted to the witch, and seeing that the icy poison surrounding her was beginning to melt slowly, he immediately focused his mind and began to breathe fire.

Although the witch no longer needed it.

But who knows if she saw what was done before!

The phantom of the fire phoenix emerged once more, and seeing that the icy poisonous ice melted even faster as a result, Su Qing immediately revealed a gratified expression of divine blessing upon his lord.

This expression wasn't made in vain, because he could sense that the witch's consciousness had returned to normal, and she could see everything inside the cave!

······
"The strange occurrence of this cold poison happened just as Yun'er's magic power was exhausted. Although Yun'er was prepared, she was still caught off guard. It seems that the person was impatient because Yun'er had not shown up for a long time!"

"Fellow Daoist Su, we must also speed up and finish forging this Fire Phoenix Armor Puppet!"

Several days later, Liu Yun'er was cured of the poison and regained her former charm.

To Su Qing's slight disappointment, the woman didn't even mention his hard work during his detoxification process!

That's so stingy!

He's already taken five second-tier Qi-restoring pills!

Don't even think about me bringing you warmth next time!

Su Qing was heartbroken by Liu Yun'er.

He watched expressionlessly as the puppeteer manipulated the Fire Phoenix Armor Puppet.

However, unlike before, during the subsequent refining process, Liu Yun'er would occasionally offer him pointers.

"Fellow Daoist Su, please take a look. To conceal the puppet nature of an armored puppet, in addition to biomimetic runes, it also requires the use of illusionary heart runes. Wearing this armored puppet, unless one is engaged in a life-or-death battle with an opponent of the same level, it will be difficult for any cultivator other than a high-level cultivator to detect it!"

"The fire phoenix feather is transferred into the golden roc's body. This is a technique of grafting in puppetry. When we puppeteers make puppets, some materials may be unavailable or have become extinct. In such cases, we can take something with similar properties to replace it. By combining the material with runes, we can achieve a similar or the same effect."

"I cannot explain the mysteries of the Divine Beast Rune and the Blazing Fire Rune to you, but I can tell you about the lower-level runes of these two types of runes. The lower-level rune of the Divine Beast Rune is the Demonic Beast Rune, and the lower-level rune of the Blazing Fire Rune is the Yang Fire Rune. If you wish to comprehend these two types of runes, you can start with the lower-level runes!"

“Fellow Daoist Yun’er, when you refine puppets, the runes are mostly biomimetic runes, and the materials are mostly from demon beasts. You imitate various demon beasts and demon kings. Indeed, this can better bring out your talent in biomimetic runes and make better use of the advantage of being able to obtain demon beast materials more easily in the neighboring Hundred Beast Mountains.”

"But puppeteers use two kinds of materials to make puppets: animal materials and spirit materials. They mainly use metal, stone and spirit materials, mixed with the five elements runes. The puppets they make are imaginative and unrestrained. In fact, this is more in line with your puppet-making ideas. If you have time in the future, you can also study some spirit material puppets. In this way, you can go anywhere in the world and not be limited by the materials of monsters and walk with a limp."

······
Su Qing had to admit that Liu Yun'er, who had formal training, had a more comprehensive understanding and experience in puppetry than he did.

Many of the suggestions he put forward were thought-provoking.

Although some are not suitable for him, for example, if he wants to cultivate the Divine Beast Rune and the Fire Rune, he does not need to start with their lower-level runes.

However, methods such as grafting are used to solve the problem of rare materials.

Bionics needs to be paired with the Illusionary Heart Rune to achieve the effect of disguise and transformation using a puppet.

The Path of Refined Materials, based on the Five Elements Runes, ensures that there are enough puppets to refine when monster materials are scarce.

This knowledge and experience will be extremely useful to him now and in the future when he is practicing puppetry.

As for the android puppets that Liu Yun'er mentioned only briefly, the soul-type puppets that study the souls of great demon cultivators, the ghost-type puppets, and even the inspiration-type puppets that refine all things in nature, such as mountains, rivers and land.

Because Liu Yun'er herself didn't have a deep understanding of these puppets, it was difficult for her to explain them thoroughly to him. She could only use them to broaden his horizons and let him know that there were these different branches in the art of puppetry.

From the witch, he also learned about the types of puppets that the various immortal kingdoms of the Western Sea were good at.

Because of the ease of obtaining monster materials from the Hundred Beast Mountain Range, the art of beast puppetry flourishes in the Immortal Kingdom of Cloud Mountain.

The Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom originated from the Talisman Dao Sect located near the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range. The sect's puppets were mainly beast puppets, but in recent years, due to the cultivation techniques, they have also made some progress in soul-type puppets.

The Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom is unique in its creation of puppets made from fire-elemental materials, such as the Fire Crystal Mine, because its inhabitants are half-human and half-phoenix and possess extraordinary talent in fire-elemental abilities.

The Immortal Kingdom of the Demon Tree is therefore dominated by the evil demons, and the puppets they develop are mainly evil puppets, that is, puppets branded with evil patterns.

These puppets often possess unpredictable abilities, and their power cannot be judged by normal standards. Fortunately, exorcism puppets are extremely effective against these types of puppets, so they will not suppress the puppets of other immortal kingdoms from expanding their market due to the evil runes.

The Penglai Immortal Kingdom floats in the sky and dominates the Western Sea in terms of aerial puppets. Because of its dominant position in the Western Sea's cultivation world, it also has extremely high attainments in various other types of puppets besides aerial puppets.

Furthermore, there are many ancient puppet blueprints that have been lost to the world, such as the inspiration-type puppets, which can only be crafted by puppeteers on Penglai Immortal Island.

The Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom, with its numerous islands scattered throughout the Western Sea, utilizes local materials to develop its puppets, primarily focusing on sea beast puppets. The Western Sea also boasts a wealth of materials difficult to find elsewhere, leading to significant advancements in the development of high-quality puppets within the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom over the years.

As for the cultivation world in the Central Plains east of the Hundred Beasts Mountains, Liu Yun'er didn't know much about it. She only knew that they mainly used puppets made of weapons such as swords, spears, and clubs, or android puppets made from the flesh and bones of cultivators.

What Liu Yun'er said was not a closely guarded secret, nor did it directly help improve the puppeteer's skills.

But Su Qing asked the most questions and listened the most carefully.

Because this concerns his future puppet industry!
You have to make a living no matter where you go!

Without thoroughly researching the markets, raw materials, and target audience, how can you know where to sell your puppets? Cultivators are foolish and have plenty of money, and the competition isn't fierce!
(End of this chapter)