Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 29 Immovable Heavenly King
The next few days.

Business is booming in the central area.

The residential area is peaceful and serene.

The hunting area was bustling with activity.

Nothing bad happened in the entire market, except that the demonic cultivator who had previously caused trouble had not made any further moves in the past two weeks.

Su Qing was extremely satisfied with such a peaceful and stable life.

These past few days, he has been busy day and night, staying in the courtyard and not venturing out, focusing solely on crafting puppets.

The harvest was also extremely gratifying. Putting aside the general-purpose puppets like the Iron Horse and Wooden Ox, which didn't require much technology, he successfully crafted nine Lizard Warriors alone.

Four of them were bought by cultivators who came to purchase them over the past few days, bringing him more than 5,600 spirit crystals, which made his empty wallet, which had been empty after purchasing materials for magic artifacts, bulge again.

At the same time, he worked his way up his proficiency in crafting lizard warriors to 126/200, with a success rate of over 60%.

Regarding runes:

Bionic Rune: 1254/5000 (Tier 2).

Intelligent Rune, Proficiency: 468/5000 (Tier 2).

Combat Rune, Proficiency: 47/5000 (Tier 2).

Immortal runes, proficiency: 2489/3000 (Tier 1).

Material rune, proficiency: 48/5000 (Tier 2).

All five types of runes have been upgraded, and what is particularly gratifying is that both the Intelligence Rune and the Combat Rune have been upgraded to Tier 2.

Even the material runes have been upgraded to the second tier due to the forging of the Iron Horse and Wooden Ox, so the initial success rate of using the Azure Steel Leg should not be too low.

The only thing that's not satisfactory is the progress on the Immortal Path Runes.

This rune is the key to crafting the meditation doll, but it hasn't reached the second tier yet, so he can't start crafting the meditation doll for the time being.

After all, unlike the witch puppet and the lizard puppet, they don't have big clients who supply them with materials so that they can smoothly transition in the early stages.

Not only can the meditation dolls not be sold to generate revenue, but the cost of the low success rate in the early stages leading to failed refining processes must also be borne entirely by him.

Therefore, he was reluctant to start refining the runes until they met the requirements.

"It won't make a difference if I spend another half a month or a month. As I keep grinding, my Immortal Runes should reach the second tier by now!"

Su Qing comforted himself, reminding himself not to be impatient. It wasn't a big deal if his cultivation was a little slower for now; making money steadily was his top priority.

As long as there are enough spirit crystals, it won't be a problem to have ten or eight meditation dolls meditating together in the future.

I pushed open the courtyard gate and went to the central area to buy some daily necessities.

As his physical condition improved, his consumption of spirit rice and spirit meat increased day by day, and his daily food expenses soared to more than ten spirit crystals. In the past, he would not have been able to afford it, but now, he works so hard to earn money every day, how could he treat himself badly?
Today I'm lucky. Someone hunted down a tusked boar. This monster tastes similar to a wild boar from my previous life, but it's chewier. After the Wood Spirit servant cooked it, it tasted delicious. He spent over a hundred spirit crystals to cut off half of it and take it back.

In addition, he purchased several Qi-restoring pills from the Treasure Pavilion, each pill costing him over a hundred spirit crystals.

"I wonder when prices will stabilize. If they keep rising like this, how will those rogue cultivators who dare not hunt demons survive!"

Looking at an elderly body cultivator selling his family's inherited combat techniques at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, Su Qing couldn't help but sigh, "Fellow Daoist Su is quite kind-hearted, even thinking of other rogue cultivators?"

Tong Xin smiled and flattered him. He knew that other rogue cultivators might not be doing well lately, but this Fellow Daoist Su was making a fortune. In this day and age, who would dare to buy more than a dozen Qi-restoring pills at once!

Su Qing shook her head.

With prices soaring, many independent cultivators are struggling to make ends meet, leading some to take desperate measures. Those with a modicum of integrity might venture into hunting grounds to risk their lives, but the boundaries of independent cultivators are always flexible, and many more will likely have to switch careers to become tribulation cultivators.

This is naturally not a good thing for him.

But there was no need to tell Tong Xin about these concerns. He pointed to the elderly body cultivator who was still haggling with the shopkeeper and asked:
“Although that fellow Daoist is old, his eyes are focused and his blood is surging. He is at least a peak first-level body cultivator. His family's combat skills are definitely extraordinary. Why are you unwilling to take him in?”

Tong Xin followed his gaze and immediately replied:
"Fellow Daoist, you may not know this, but this man is named Tu Da. His cultivation and combat skills are quite impressive. He was once a well-known rogue cultivator in several nearby markets. Our Hundred Treasures Pavilion even hired him to escort goods before."

"But three years ago, in order to break through to the second rank, he risked his life to fight a second-rank demon beast. He was seriously injured by the demon beast. Although he survived, he damaged his foundation and his path to enlightenment was hopeless. Now he can't fight anyone. If he fights, his old injury will relapse and he might die on the spot."

As for his family's inherited combat skill, it is the Immovable Heavenly King Technique, a low-grade Xuan-level skill, which is a physical combat technique and is indeed quite remarkable.

But this old Taoist priest has been reselling this combat technique dozens of times in the nearby markets over the past two years, and has privately sold it to countless people. Such a combat technique, which is almost common knowledge, is naturally of no interest to our Hundred Treasures Pavilion!

"Oh, it's actually a low-grade Xuan-level combat skill. That's quite rare..." Su Qing said with some interest.

"If you are interested in this combat technique, please let me help you acquire it. This old Taoist is very good at judging people by their appearance. If you go to negotiate, there's no guarantee he won't ask for an exorbitant price!"

Tong Xin couldn't understand why Su Qing, a puppeteer, was interested in body-cultivating combat techniques. Judging from his appearance, which resembled that of a young master from a noble family, he didn't seem like someone who could cultivate his body!

But this didn't stop him from serving Su Qing diligently. Su Qing was now not only the shopkeeper's favorite, but also a major client of his, Tong Xin, so he naturally had to take good care of her.

Seeing Tong Xin go up to bargain with the old Taoist, Su Qing, who had only mentioned it briefly and didn't really have much interest in combat techniques, thought that it would be good to get a combat technique cheaply to try it out, so he let him do his thing.

"What a loss! What a loss! The Immovable Heavenly King has an unparalleled physical body. If I weren't desperately short of money, how could I have let your Hundred Treasures Pavilion take such a big advantage!"

A short while later, the old Taoist priest, complaining about the loss, walked out of the Treasure Pavilion with more than three hundred spirit crystals in his pocket.

Su Qing, who had purchased a Xuan-level combat skill for about half the market price, left the Treasure Pavilion satisfied.

Upon arriving at the Gao family's butcher shop, they conveniently replaced another batch of Wood Spirit servants.

He has been replacing the samples almost every day for the past few days, but he has not found anything.

This made him optimistically estimate that the evil spirits might really be gone.

Even today, when he saw those two eerie human head lanterns reappear in the images stored by the Wood Spirit servants.

He was then terrified.

"The evil spirit hasn't left! Even the first-order golden light array of the Gao family's butcher shop couldn't stop it. Seven days later, it's back to reap the rewards!"

Su Qing cried out in alarm, sensing that the evil spirit seemed even stronger than before.

"As long as we don't provoke it for now, we should be fine. It will only target the people at the Gao family's butcher shop. If things really get out of hand, the people from the White Cloud Sect will naturally deal with it. With my current preparations, there shouldn't be any safety issues!"

Having the lizard warriors guard the courtyard, close the doors and windows, and affix exorcism talismans, Su Qing calmed her mind and unfurled the Immovable Heavenly King Technique.

(End of this chapter)