Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 3 Wood Elf Servants and Spider Doctor

"I've fallen from grace. I never imagined that my first pot of gold after transmigrating to the cultivation world would come from the business of making flesh puppets!"

Inside the room, which was equipped with a soundproof array, Su Qing counted the more than five hundred spirit crystals she had just acquired, as well as the mountain of puppet materials, and said with some shame.

But you can't blame him.

Five years ago, when he transmigrated to this world of cultivation, he also wanted to be a carefree immortal, traveling to the North Sea in the morning and Cangwu in the evening, eating the morning glow and drinking the white dew, and singing with his sword.

However, because his cultivation had not yet broken through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, he was expelled from the mountain gate and reduced to a rogue cultivator who had to bow down for a meager living. After that, he realized the cruelty of the cultivation world.

To survive in the world of cultivation, one either needs a powerful background or high cultivation level. At the very least, one must achieve something in the various arts of cultivation, just like he is now. Otherwise, one cannot even afford to rent a house on the outskirts of this market and will end up wandering in the wilderness, living in constant fear under the threat of demonic beasts, evil spirits, and treacherous cultivators.

"No matter where you are in the world, craftsmen will never lack food!"

Su Qing sighed and then opened her personal panel.

[Su Qing]

Current condition: Deficiency of both Qi and Blood.

【Lifespan: 24/72】

[Spiritual Root: Unbearable to look at]

[Inherent constitution: The appearance of rotten wood]

[Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Level 3]

[Main cultivation technique: Rejuvenation Technique.]

[Cultivated Taoist arts: Guiding wind, metal and wood sword.]

[Puppet Master Realm: Mid-Tier 1]

[Can craft puppets: Wood Spirit Servants: Proficiency 1000/1000, Success Rate 100%]

[Spider Doctor: Proficiency 5000/5000, Success Rate 100%]

[Passionate Pair: Proficiency 146/200, Success Rate: 73%]

[Iron-Legged Horse: Proficiency 26/200, Success Rate 13%]

[Wooden Ox: Proficiency 100/100, Success Rate 100%]

[Iron Horse: Proficiency 100/100, Success Rate 100%]

······
When the success rate of any puppet provided by any panel exceeds 100%, a new puppet blueprint will be unlocked. The next puppet blueprint is: Meditation Doll.

······
Personal panel? System? Hacks? Cheat codes?

It doesn't matter!
Six months ago, when he was still struggling to make a living by repairing farm tools in Lingtian District, this panel that only he could see appeared.

After six months of exploration.

Su Qing has fully understood its function.

Crafting puppets, regardless of success or failure, permanently increases proficiency. As proficiency increases, so does the success rate!

Moreover, the puppet blueprints they provided were all puppets that had never appeared in the current cultivation world!
For example, right now, there are tiny, humanoid figures, about three inches tall, bustling around inside the house.

[Puppet Name: Wood Spirit Servant]

[Quality: Tier 1, Mid-Grade]

[Type: Tier 1 Small Support.]

【quantity: 786】

[Refining Ingredients: Wood Spirit Flower (one flower), Spirit Wood (100 grams), Essence Blood (one drop).]

[Function: Takes care of the owner's daily life; there is a very small chance that it will develop sentience.]

Wood Spirit Flowers are found everywhere in the cultivation world. In spring, they can be picked up at will and are practically worthless.

Spirit Wood, a first-tier material, weighs between three and five spirit crystals per piece and weighs several thousand kilograms.

Too much essence and blood can be fatal, but if it's just a drop, even though he's currently deficient in both qi and blood, he really doesn't care about that one or two drops.

Therefore, the cost of creating this wood spirit puppet is approximately zero.

However, the more than seven hundred lively wooden spirit puppets inside the house were of considerable help to him.

He relied entirely on his Wood Spirit servants to take care of daily chores such as washing clothes, cooking, preparing medicine, and cleaning.

These little figures can also be used for some simple operations when crafting other puppets.

What's even more impressive is that Su Qing can share the vision of these little people and place some of them outside as guards. Because of their small size and ability to hide, they are completely undetectable to others if they are not paying attention.

Cheap and easy to use!
That's the beauty of the system producing puppets.

What pleased Su Qing even more than the Wood Spirit servant was another new type of puppet provided by the panel.

Looking inward, one sees spider-shaped puppets, hundreds of times smaller than dust particles, moving around various parts of the body.

[Spider Doctor] [Quality: Tier 1, Mid-Grade]

[Type: Micromedical]

【quantity: 3826】

[Refining Materials: Spirit Pearl Thread (trace amount), Quartz Crystal (trace amount), Essence Blood (trace amount)]

[Function: Resides within the body, allowing for healing of internal and external injuries at any time; lacks means to cope with mental shocks, elemental invasions, and curse damage.]

Spirit Pearl Silk and Quartz Crystal are both top-grade first-tier materials, and are quite valuable.

However, if it's only a small amount, the cost is negligible.

Su Qing spent over ten spirit crystals at the Treasure Pavilion to buy a piece of spider silk about an inch long and a quartz crystal the size of a fingernail. With just these materials, after deducting the failed attempts, he obtained more than three thousand spider doctors who were ready to serve inside his body at any time.

It was precisely because of these things that he was able to mend his body, which was almost tattered and leaky, that his lifespan was able to increase from his fifties to his seventies.

"It's a pity that the Wood Spirit Servant and the Spider Doctor are not suitable for export. Given the cost-effectiveness of these two types of puppets, if they were exported, both the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and the Cloud Mountain Sect might forcibly kidnap me and make me a tool for crafting puppets!"

In this dog-eat-dog world of cultivation, Su Qing knew that his status as a former disciple of the Yunshan Sect couldn't protect much of his interests.

In comparison, while the business of making flesh puppets is a bit shabby, at least no one will kidnap you for it.

"Given my current success rate in crafting bionic puppets, crafting over thirty witch puppets would consume at most forty or fifty sets of materials. I could then craft some witches to sell in small quantities at the market or supply them to Tang Wanqing. As for the remaining materials, I should find an opportunity to dispose of them!"

A set of materials for a witch puppet is worth over fifty spirit crystals.

Excluding the storage bag, just the cost of materials alone would earn him over ten thousand spirit crystals from this deal.

"Ten thousand spirit crystals can be exchanged for one low-grade spirit stone. I never thought my current assets could be valued in spirit stones. Who says puppeteers don't make money? I think it's more profitable than alchemy and weapon crafting!"

Among the various arts of cultivation, the four arts of array formation, alchemy, artifact crafting, and talisman making are the most prestigious. In comparison, the art of puppetry is easy to learn but difficult to master, and its status is slightly inferior.

Su Qing was quite dissatisfied with this. If it weren't for the Yunshan Sect's prejudice against puppeteers, he, who was already a first-level low-grade puppeteer at the time, would at most have been demoted to an outer disciple even if his cultivation level was not up to standard, instead of being expelled from the Yunshan Sect.

"After all is said and done, cultivation level is everything!"

Compared to his success in the art of puppetry, the progress of his own magical cultivation was a source of great frustration.

Given the appalling rating displayed on the panel, it seems quite normal for such a spiritual root to have slow cultivation progress.

If the path of Dharma cultivation is blocked, then the path of physical cultivation is more popular; a few years ago, big muscle men were quite trendy.

That won't work either!
Its rotten wood-like structure is only slightly better than an unsightly spiritual root!

Su Qing didn't have any good solutions either, so she could only try to find a way by following the puppeteer. There might not be a way when the car reaches the mountain, but as long as there were enough spirit crystals, there would always be a way.

Attended by the Wood Spirit servants, Su Qing finished eating and bathing. It was already 9 PM. Su Qing, whose magical power cultivation was about to break through the bottleneck, did not hesitate to take out a yellow pill from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

They cursed the alchemist inwardly, calling him utterly heartless for selling a single first-grade pill for 120 spirit crystals—it was practically robbery.

But after the pill entered his stomach, as its medicinal power circulated throughout his body, he gradually became immersed in cultivation and no longer had any other distracting thoughts.

The next morning.

After taking three Yellow Sprout Pills in one night, Su Qing finally broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and became a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. He exhaled a long breath and ended his cultivation session.

"If one doesn't reach the Foundation Establishment stage by fifty, there's no hope for the Great Dao. I'm only twenty-four and at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Even if I take pills to cultivate, my future path isn't very optimistic!"

He shook his head and sighed.

After tidying up briefly, and with the help of a group of wood spirit servants, we began today's work.

Cut the wood and assemble the witch's skeleton.

Cut animal hides and fit them into flesh and bones.

Then, prepare the talisman water and draw biomimetic runes.

Su Qing was already very familiar with this process, and she was performing it smoothly and effortlessly.

In less than half an hour, a witch puppet was completed.

"After reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining, my magical power became even stronger, and the number of puppets I could refine in a day increased by more than 30% compared to before..."

The more powerful one's magic, the more puppets one can create, and the higher the rank of the puppets one can create will also be.

This made Su Qing feel that the three Huangya Pills she swallowed last night were well worth the price.

"Three hundred spirit crystals is nothing, I earned it back in less than half an hour!"

Thinking of the price of the witch puppets, Su Qing felt a surge of excitement. His hands kept moving, and with the help of the wood spirit servant, he successfully crafted six puppets in a row before stopping. During this time, he only failed to create one puppet. Such a success rate was enough to make any puppeteer envious.

[Passionate Pair: Proficiency 153/200, Success Rate: 76.5%]

"At the current rate, we can refine more than twenty witch puppets a day. In less than three days, the success rate of the Passion Puppet will be maxed out. Then we can unlock the meditation doll blueprint. I wonder what wonderful use this puppet will have."

At the dining table, the lunch prepared by the Wood Spirit servants was delicious and visually appealing, and Su Qing ate with great pleasure, which put her in a very good mood.

But her good mood only lasted for a moment. Suddenly, the scene before her eyes changed, and Su Qing's expression immediately changed drastically.

(End of this chapter)