Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 315 Departure, Digging Dragon!

"These two puppets are given to me. Fellow Daoist, how many puppets do you have left to protect yourself on this journey? Do you have enough spirit stones? Yun'er is about to go into seclusion for cultivation, so she has no use for her spirit stones for the time being, and she has given them all to you."

The witch asked softly. She knew that Su Qing had made a fortune in Baiyun Immortal City and Yubi Cave, but the cost of two third-tier puppets alone was three to five thousand spirit stones, which he had given to her. What should she do if she ran out of spirit stones after going to the Western Sea?
"It's alright, there are plenty of puppets available!"

Su Qing patted the storage bag, which contained as many as eight third-tier puppets and even more second-tier puppets in large numbers, far beyond what the witch could imagine!
They fought another battle with the witch.

Let the witch, who is half-squatting on the ground with numb legs, rest well and do not see her off.

After leaving the building feeling refreshed, he then dragged out Shi Zhifang, who was spying outside, and gave him a good beating.

"That good-for-nothing brat is going astray, daring to peep now!"

"I couldn't see anything. There's a formation blocking the way; I can only see shadows!"

"You can't even look at the shadows, I'm confiscating this tool of the crime!"

"But... this was borrowed from Elder Wu Dan, and I have to return it!"

"Let Wu Dan go through some back channels and see if he has the guts!"

·······
"Even after a thousand miles of farewell, we must part ways. Fellow Daoist Niu, please do not see me off any further. Live a good life with your wives. This storage bag contains the materials for the Ruyi Vajra Leg. Replace it whenever it breaks. It will be no problem for you to use it for three to five hundred years!"

"Fellow Daoist Hai, please rest assured. I remember the sea area where the Hai family's ancestral land is located very well. If I ever go there one day, I will definitely dig up your family's ancestral graves. If I can unearth the remains of your Hai family's ancestors, ah, that's not important. Yes, I understand. If I can unearth the superior Dao technique of the Divine Art of Divine Interaction, that technique called Boundless Divine Power, I will definitely make a copy for you!"

"The Jiuli tribe suffered heavy losses last time. Fellow Daoist Yao, please stay in this city and help them recuperate for a while. You can also win over other cultivators of the Jiuli Curse Spirit lineage. When you reunite with me, I will exorcise evil spirits and solve their problems!"

"Fellow Daoist Guo, please stop crying. Once I've made something of myself outside, I'll definitely send someone to pick you up so you can live a good life!"

"Fellow Daoist Thirteen... never mind, take care!"

Outside the Demon Smoke City, Su Qing was followed by Liang Haishun, Shao Delong, and a few others. They bid farewell to Niu Ya, Hai Changqing, and others who came to see them off.

After pulling the tearful Guo Qiaolian from her arms, Tang Wanqing took her away.

Before Su Qing had taken more than a few steps, she saw a shy, swaying cloud suddenly appear in the sky above her head.

"I told you not to come, why did you come anyway? You're so disobedient!" Su Qing snorted at the witch.

The witch's beautiful eyes swept over Yao Fei, Guo Qiaolian, Tang Wanqing, and the other women below, and she snorted coldly:

"Fellow Daoist has so many beautiful women, yet you are willing to leave them in this Demon Smoke City to be cared for by Yun'er. Aren't you afraid that Yun'er will secretly harm them!"

“Yun’er, you may not know this, but these fellow Daoists are truly unfortunate. I am kind-hearted and could not bear to let them drift at sea with me. Yun’er has a bodhisattva-like heart and entrusted them to Yun’er. I am at ease.”

"What about Yun'er? Isn't Yun'er also all alone and helpless!"

"Fellow Daoist, you've had another episode!"

Witches are so persistent.

Before leaving, Su Qing, who had given her another good scolding, returned to the ground with a dejected expression.

By this time, Liang Haishun, Shao Delong, and the others had all stepped into the slender, long-bodied earth-digging dragon that had fallen to the ground.

The Digging Dragon, a third-tier puppet, is adept at burrowing and can break through formations.

To be honest, it might not be as fast as the Leopard Head Ben or the Dragon Head Ben.

It's not that powerful, but at least Su Qing has several puppets in his storage bag, which would easily deal with it.

But since it represents the face of Yuanlai Tower, and Yuanlai Tower uses money to pave the way, its face is very useful in the Western Sea Immortal Kingdom.

Bai Yunxian arranged for a digging dragon to pick them up, which carried the Thousand Islands and Sky Flag of Yuanlai Tower. It traveled underground, following the trade route of Yuanlai Tower. Within the territory of the Desire Demon Sect, no one stopped them. After leaving the Demon Kingdom, all the large and small immortal kingdoms they passed through would also allow them to pass.

"The underground is deep and dark, with little scenery to see. Fellow Daoist Su, you may cultivate in the VIP room. I will send you a message when we arrive at our destination!"

The middle-aged Taoist priest, dressed in a deep blue robe, smiled and spoke to Su Qing, who was openly and honestly exploring the interior of the Digging Dragon, stealing its internal layout and design.

Upon hearing this, Su Qing withdrew her gaze from the black spirit cages and nodded silently.

Yuanlailou is not a very good place!

The "goods" inside the cage were eight stories high, with more than a hundred rows horizontally and countless columns vertically.

Each spirit cage contains one or more beings of different races and cultivation levels.

There are local demons from the Western Sea, which are special demonic beasts that were captured from the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, such as the unicorn deer, the red-cloud ox, and the flying fish elephant... all of which are exotic demonic beasts, not ordinary animals.

There was a female cultivator from the Demon Kingdom, dressed in a black dress, with a graceful figure, who practiced the Xuan Chi Yu Nu Gong. She was stained with the black aura of the Netherworld Demon and was a disciple of the Demon Sect with the cultivation level of Foundation Establishment. They were all members of the upper class of the Demon Kingdom, but now they were like caged birds, other people's goods.

This is just the outermost layer, and also the least valuable of the goods.

Su Qing looked into the deep, dark depths where arrays were set up along the way, and driven by curiosity, she stepped in.

The further you go, the more complete the variety of "goods" you see, and the higher the quality becomes.

Although Su Qing had anticipated this, he still gained a clearer understanding of Yuanlai Tower, a large organization that spanned several immortal kingdoms and had a Nascent Soul cultivator at its helm.

The things that the Digging Dragon, a puppet specially designed for transporting goods, cannot be inanimate objects that can be put into storage bags!

The goods they transport are sentient beings, and the business they conduct is human trafficking!

They trafficked cultivators in various immortal kingdoms, sending them to mines, to work as laborers on black ships, or to serve as furnace servants in the hands of high-ranking cultivators.

In short, the fate that the creatures trapped in the spirit cage are about to face is even more tragic than that of the spirit beasts trapped by Pang Feifan.

Clearly, this is one of the many dirty tricks that Yuanlailou does behind the scenes, in addition to its open business.

There must be more than just this one!

Having survived the demonic abyss of Baiyun Immortal City and spent three years in the Demon Kingdom, Su Qing knew all too well how filthy the cultivation world was.

The city of Demon Smoke alone governs more than a dozen mortal kingdoms, with hundreds of millions of mortals. They are regarded as domestic animals, like pigs and dogs, by the Desire Demon Sect. Whenever a cultivator of the Desire Demon Sect needs to sacrifice a soul to refine a banner, they forcibly refine the soul of a mortal into the banner, making it impossible for them to live or die.

Furthermore, there are female cultivators from the Demonic Sect who extract the yang energy of young men in mortal realms, causing most young men in mortal realms to die before the age of thirty, let alone achieve their ideals.

The Desire Demon Sect is ruthless. The Yuanlai Tower, the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, the Thousand Islands Kingdom, and the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom—these large organizations and sects are all ruthless.

Yuanlailou is in the business of reselling living beings.

While instigating wars and profiting from them in various immortal kingdoms, Baibaoge also reaped the wealth of cultivators in many Golden Core immortal kingdoms by manipulating the exchange rate of spirit crystals and spirit stones. What they did was even more disgusting than Yuanlailou.

The law of the jungle prevails, and there's not much to say about it. Su Qing, Liang Haishun, and the others had long since adapted to the rules of the cultivation world.

However, the sight of the helpless and miserable creatures inside the spirit cage inevitably reminded them of the White Cloud Immortal City, which was countless times larger and more terrifying than this spirit cage.

Feeling empathy for their plight, the group couldn't help but feel compassion. They generously opened their wallets and bought several centaur and cat-eared girls who were crying the most pitifully and had the most unique and charming appearances from the manager of Yuanlai Tower. It wasn't that they had any lustful intentions.

Since there are no middlemen taking a cut, the prices are cheap and affordable. Even Qinghe bought a few beast slaves, planning to resell them after going to sea to earn some hard-earned money.

Aside from the numerous spirit cages, the Digging Dragon didn't have anything particularly impressive. The runes drawn inside were secretly hidden inside the puppet by the Dog Puppet Master, making them invisible to outsiders. It's unclear who he was trying to protect himself from!
Having failed to learn the technique, Su Qing was about to return to his meditation room when, as he turned around, he suddenly noticed a group of beings in the spirit cage prison who were completely different from the atmosphere and customs of the Western Sea cultivation world.

The wooden horse, constructed primarily of mortise and tenon joints, resembles a puppet but exudes a life-giving aura. Hundreds of them are contained within a single spirit cage. It is unlikely to be a puppet demon that has awakened intelligence like Xiong Er and Hu Dan. It must be a new type of puppet that he has never seen before.

A towering, humanoid statue, as tall as a mountain, cast entirely from stone, it must be a spirit or monster. Yet, its body is covered with numerous runes. Although it is currently covered with second-tier spirit-suppressing talismans, these runes are silent and still. However, judging from the occasional battle roars of the stone monster, it is not hard to imagine what a war beast it would be in its prime.

With the body of a fish and the wings of a bird, and a voice like that of a mandarin duck, this small, magical beast seems to possess the bloodline of the ancient mythical creature Yingyu. It is kept in a cage filled with spiritual spring water, and is carefully cared for by a dedicated person who feeds it meat and grass. It seems that if the little beast is not pleased, it will die in front of people.

······
These were all things that Su Qing had never seen in the Cloud Mountain Demon Kingdom.

This earth-digging dragon traveled from east to west. These goods were certainly not found in the demon kingdom east of the demon kingdom, so they must have been plundered from further east!
Further east of the Demon Kingdom lies the Central Plains cultivation world, the Tianyuan Dynasty!

Unlike the fragmented cultivation world of the Western Sea, the cultivation world of the Central Plains is like that of ordinary people. The imperial court holds discussions, enfeoffs various kings, and the major sects can only rely on the imperial power and act according to the king's authority.

Legend has it that this dynasty possesses four imperial Dao patterns—the weapons of slaughter. Physical cultivation flourishes, while magical cultivation is weak. Kings and generals can condense the qi and blood of countless physical cultivators into one place. They once gathered a million soldiers and generals, crossed the Hundred Beasts Mountain, and destroyed the once prosperous Nascent Soul sect in the Western Sea cultivation world.

More than 100,000 years ago, within this dynasty, due to a power struggle over the throne, the dynasty collapsed, resulting in a chaotic situation with numerous martial kingdoms and warring kings.

Otherwise, the unified Tianyuan Dynasty would be a sword hanging over the heads of all cultivators in the Eastern Wilderness, Western Sea, Northern Border, and Southern Frontier, with no one able to stop its advance!

Even now, the Central Plains only has the Wu Kingdom and no imperial dynasty, so it is not something that cultivators from other regions can bully.

The fact that the Yunshan Sect, driven out of the Wu Kingdom, could only eke out a living in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, yet still managed to wreak havoc in the Western Sea cultivation world, is clear proof of this.

They knew that Yuanlailou was powerful, had many connections, and was very bold.

Su Qing never expected them to be so audacious and to have such a wide-ranging business, even daring to sell the creatures of the Wu Kingdom.

Because at this moment, he took another step forward several hundred feet, and in this spirit cage, he saw a group of mortal cultivators whose appearance, attire, posture, and accent were all very different from those in the Western Sea cultivation world!
The female cultivator, with her hair styled in a double-looped bun, wearing a rudang (a type of traditional Chinese jacket) underneath, a sleeveless short coat over it, and a long skirt, lowered her head and wept.

The shirtless, burly male cultivator was covered in various runes on his front and back. Even though he had been locked in a cage for an unknown period of time, the inner furnace of his body had not been extinguished. He was still full of energy and roared angrily at the people outside with his eyes wide open. He looked much more energetic than the demonic beasts locked outside.

“Fellow Daoist Su is interested in these Wu Kingdom cultivators? These cultivators were all bought by us from the Wangxi Wu Kingdom. The female cultivators are skilled in making clothes, dancing and music. With a little training, three or five female clothing makers can set up a clothing shop, and with a little training, seven or eight female musicians and dancers can support a red sleeve shop.”

These male cultivators are also quite remarkable. Even though they are mortals, they all possess rune martial arts skills. When they team up in groups of three or five, they can fight against first-tier demonic beasts and first or second-tier body cultivators. Their internal energy furnaces and the runes on their bodies complement each other, making them no weaker than the body cultivators in my Western Sea who possess profound-level combat skills.

These martial arts cultivators are extremely popular in the cultivation world of the Western Sea. During my six-month stay in the Demon Kingdom, the elders of the Demon Sect and many aristocratic families ordered more than a thousand martial arts cultivators from me.

If it weren't for the small quantity of goods this time, and the fear that they would sell too quickly in the Demon Kingdom, leaving no martial arts cultivators for later customers, this entire batch of Digging Dragon's goods could have been sold out within the Demon Kingdom alone!

The caravan manager, who had arrived at some unknown time, noticed Su Qing focusing his gaze on these martial arts cultivators and couldn't help but ask a question.

One of the earth-digging dragons was a huge caravan that traveled west and east, passing through several immortal kingdoms.

To be the manager of this caravan, one must not only control the earth-digging dragon with one's divine sense, but also lead hundreds of warriors and more than a thousand accompanying support personnel.

Rao Tingshan's skills were also quite remarkable. Although he had only condensed a mid-grade Golden Core and had no hope of reaching the Nascent Soul stage, he had led teams outside for many years and had experienced many battles. His Taoist skills were superb and his magical power was profound. If they were to fight, even some late-stage Golden Core cultivators who had been cultivating in sects for a long time might not be his match.

He has considerable skill and excellent eyesight.

This time, at Baiyunxian's request, he came to Moyan City to pick up someone.

Although he was dealing with Liang Haishun, he could tell at a glance who was the center of this group.

He was not old, his bone age was not yet over a hundred, and he had not used any magical artifacts or techniques. Just the pressure of the condensed and undissipated qi and blood around his body made his protective spiritual light feel a series of stinging pains.

The body cultivation skills of this fellow Daoist Su before me are rare among the body cultivators I have ever encountered. Only a few retainers in the Prince of Pingxi’s mansion have given me a similar feeling.

The fact that he could so brazenly display his physical cultivation level made Rao Tingshan wonder if he was hiding even more powerful methods.

After all, when a cultivator travels, the most important thing is to keep a secret. What he shows to others is what he wants to reveal, but what he hides is what can be deadly.

Rao Tingshan had no intention of making an enemy of Su Qing or trying to figure out his true intentions. He spoke up now simply to make friends with a powerful fellow Daoist.

Having more friends means having more options. As a caravan manager who travels the trade routes year-round, having more options is always a good idea.

Upon hearing him speak, Su Qing sensed the goodwill of this caravan manager, whose status at Yuanlai Tower was similar to Bai Yunxian's. She nodded slightly, smiled, and asked softly:

"I have no roots or foundation, and I have no intention of opening a clothing shop or a red sleeve workshop. Although these male cultivators are strong and powerful, they are fierce and unruly. Instead of buying their services, I would rather buy a few second-tier demon beasts, lotus maidens and lotus spirits."

What interests me is that the cultivation world of the Central Plains and the cultivation world of the Western Sea made a non-aggression pact in that demon kingdom ten thousand years ago. All the generals of the Martial Kingdom and the sect leaders of the Western Sea made a vow to abide by this pact.

Over the years, apart from the Yunshan Sect gaining tacit approval from the Western Sea cultivation community to enter the Western Sea, the Central Martial Kingdom has never committed any offenses against the Western Sea cultivation community.

"How dare Guibaolou rob people and sell living beings within the Martial Kingdom? Aren't you afraid of being held accountable by the Martial Kingdom, damaging relations between the Central Plains and the Western Sea, and thus being ostracized by the Western Sea's cultivation community?"

Merchants are profit-driven; it's not surprising that they'd risk everything, even danger, to find gold if the profit is good enough.

However, the things that Yuanlai Tower is doing now are risky enough to overturn the tower's years of accumulation. In comparison, the benefits brought by these first and second-tier martial arts cultivators and alien elves are insignificant.

You can pick up gold barefoot in a sea of ​​knives and fire, but picking up nails is really crazy.

Seeing Su Qing's puzzled expression, Rao Tingshan shook his head and chuckled, then whispered:
"Fellow Daoist, do you know where the foundation of my Yuanlai Tower lies?"

"The Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom is a collection of thousands of islands in the Western Sea that formed an alliance and established an immortal kingdom. They exchanged goods and resources in the Western Sea and gradually developed into the behemoth that is Yuanlai Tower. It started from the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom and later gave back to the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom!" Su Qing said simply.

During his three years in the Demon Kingdom, although he and his master disliked each other, they occasionally talked. He learned from him many secrets that ordinary cultivators in the Western Sea cultivation world could not know, but were tacitly understood at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul levels.

Yuanlai Tower is backed by the Thousand Islands Fairy Kingdom.

The Hundred Treasures Pavilion relies on the Penglai Immortal Kingdom.

The Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom secretly operates an organization called the Divine Mechanism Pavilion, which sells puppet artifacts and cultivates creation in various immortal kingdoms.

The "Worry-Relieving Shop," which sells wishing treehouses that can help people solve their problems and relieve their desires, is backed by the Demon Kingdom behind the scenes.

Even in the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom, there are organizations like the Killing Pavilion in various immortal kingdoms that train spirit assassins and specialize in assassination to slaughter weaklings and amass wealth.

Almost all businesses that can make money, especially big money, are controlled by these Golden Core sects and Nascent Soul Immortal Kingdoms. This is also the reason why many independent cultivators, even those with superb skills, still struggle to make a living.

“Since you know that my Yuanlai Tower is a property of the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom, you must also know that in the past, my Thousand Islands Kingdom was excluded from the alliance of the Central Plains and the Western Sea due to the exclusion of the Penglai Immortal Kingdom. That alliance was signed by the Penglai Immortal Kingdom. What does it have to do with my Thousand Islands Kingdom and my Yuanlai Tower?”

"They're allowed to do legitimate business with the various martial kingdoms of the Central Plains and make a fortune, but my Yuanlai Tower isn't allowed to work hard doing business they look down on and dare not do?"

Rao Tingshan laughed unrestrainedly, seemingly unafraid of being exposed for selling living beings in the Wu Kingdom, or rather, they wished for it to be exposed!

If the cultivators of the Central Plains Martial Kingdom were to become enraged by this incident and launch an attack on the Western Sea cultivation world, the Thousand Islands Kingdom, far away in the Western Sea, would certainly not be the first to suffer.

The Demonic Kingdom of Desire was the first to be affected, and the Penglai Kingdom could not escape blame!
(End of this chapter)