Immortality begins with meditation puppets

"It's not about the price. Of course, a lower price is definitely not a problem. The main issue is... well, some things are easier said than said, and I don't know whether I should say them or not..."

Tiger Egg was delighted to hear Wu Gongyi's urgency, because Su Qing had already contacted him before Wu Gongyi approached him, asking him to act as a go-between and find a way to get Lingbao Sect to take on the job!

Yes, this is a win-win situation. As long as the price is agreed upon, everything is fine, and Tiger Egg doesn't need to put in much effort.

As per his master Su Qing's request, Lingbao Sect was to provide better quality than the Three-Legged Crow Clan, while keeping the overall price on par with the Three-Legged Crow Clan, matching their service attitude, and offering better after-sales service.

In Su Qing's view, even the Lingbao Sect could not easily agree to this request; it was something that Tiger Egg needed to try its best to obtain.

But now, before it has even said much, Wu Gongyi himself has already lowered the price. The Three-Legged Crow Clan had already quoted a price that was just barely breaking even in order to win this project. They really just wanted an opportunity to train themselves and didn't expect to make money off Su Qing.

The Lingbao Sect is even more ruthless. They offer a 30% discount on top of their quoted prices. It's not just a question of whether they'll make a profit; they might, no, they'll definitely lose money.

But that wasn't enough. Tiger Egg knew the significance of the Lingxiao Palace Puppet to its master, Su Qing, and to the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom. It was necessary to finalize all the details before it could feel at ease.

"If the price is not a problem, then there should be even less of a problem with other aspects. Tell us what concerns Su Qing may have. Our Array Hall will definitely agree to what we can, and we can discuss what we can't agree to!"

Wu Gongyi understood very well that if Su Qing was capable of forging the first one of the great national treasures like the Arctic Purple Star, he would definitely be unable to resist forging the second and third ones. It was nothing for them to incur some costs in this first deal. Once he witnessed the capabilities of their Lingbao Sect, the orders for the second and third ones would become the long-term source of income for their Lingbao Sect's Array Hall.

Besides, Su Qing didn't create this Lingxiao Palace puppet just for show; he intended to use it to flaunt his power and demonstrate his strength. In the course of battle, some collisions were inevitable. Given the numerous formations on the ship, there were bound to be a few that needed extensive repairs. This repair work would fall to the Lingbao Sect, providing a potential source of profit. Furthermore, the daily maintenance of many formations also required the Lingbao Sect to send people, which would solve the graduation and placement problems for many disciples.

Not to mention that all the array disciples in their array hall, including himself, could gain valuable array-setting experience from refining this series of Lingxiao Palace puppets, allowing them to further improve their array skills.

Wu Gongyi had considered all of these things, and in order to take on this order, he would agree to Su Qing's requests in principle as long as they were not excessive.

"As you know, Master Wu, my master has always been a kind-hearted person who doesn't compete with the world. He believes in making money through harmony and always treats people well in business. He has never had the idea of ​​challenging or re-establishing the hegemony of the heavens. He only wants to do some small business honestly in the existing trade system of the heavens and earn some meager hard-earned money."

Unfortunately, in the present world, some sects are turning back the clock of history and going against the tide of the times, creating tariff barriers, engaging in trade protectionism, and committing commercial extortion. Among them, there are major sects like the Eastern King Sect causing trouble, and it seems that the Primordial Beginning Sect is also involved.

The Eastern King Sect and the Primordial Beginning Sect are both powerful sects in the heavens. In the past, they made great contributions to the myriad worlds. My master, Su Qing, also greatly admires them. This time, when they made such a move, my master only thought that they were confused for a moment and did not want to make too much of a fuss with them. He even sent envoys to try to ease the tension with them.

Unfortunately, these sects were determined to wipe out the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom. They not only restricted the free flow of various goods from the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom within their spheres of influence, but also imposed secondary tariffs on sects and regions that had traded with the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom. This forced sects and regions that had originally maintained neutrality to now dare not trade with the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom.

My Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom was originally one of the vital forces in the myriad realms to fight against evil spirits, so how could they treat me so harshly? The development of my Immortal Kingdom's various industries has come to a standstill, and the cultivation of my millions of cultivators has stagnated. Is this a good thing for my Immortal Kingdom, for the Tianyuan Realm, and for all the myriad realms? Only those evil spirits would want to see this!

Therefore, my lord Su Qing made up his mind to devote all the power of the entire immortal kingdom to creating this Lingxiao Palace puppet. It is not to prove how great he is, but simply to tell all the heavens and myriad realms that the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom has never been one that anyone can bully.

"To be honest, Palace Master Wu, my lord Su Qing created this Lingxiao Palace puppet with the Yuanshi Sect as a hypothetical enemy. Given the relationship between this sect and our Lingbao Sect, my lord Su Qing is somewhat worried..."

Tiger Egg hesitated for a moment, but Wu Gongyi certainly understood the basic meaning.

The significance of the Lingxiao Palace puppet is self-evident, even to someone like Wu Gongyi, who doesn't need Hu Dan to explain it.

The seventh-order puppets and void warships, when combined with the formation, are practically a mobile sect, capable of launching devastating attacks on any force in the heavens that is not suppressed by a seventh-order Dao Lord at any time. Even if they are stationed in the outer void, they are a powerful deterrent to all the heavens and myriad worlds, preventing countless villains from daring to provoke the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom.

This is a force capable of altering the power structure of all realms.

The challenge is not only posed by the Yuanshi Sect and the Dongwang Sect, but also by the rulers of the old order in all the heavens and myriad realms, including their Lingbao Sect.

Su Qing wasn't worried that the Lingbao Sect would tamper with the array projects of the Lingxiao Palace puppets, causing these arrays to turn against them or be completely paralyzed when they needed them. Such unethical and morally bankrupt behavior was something even Su Qing, with his integrity, would not do, let alone a sect as righteous and honorable as the Lingbao Sect.

His only worry was that the Lingbao Sect wouldn't put any serious effort into his Lingxiao Palace puppet, and that some of their most secret skills wouldn't be used on it.

"There's absolutely no need to worry about that. Su Qing should know about the relationship between our Lingbao Sect and the Yuanshi Sect. Although we are brother sects from the same lineage, we fought a battle and split up back then. When it comes to fighting the Yuanshi Sect, no force in all the heavens and myriad realms is more professional than our Lingbao Sect. Go tell Su Qing that as long as he can afford the price, we can sell him our Hunyuan Golden Cauldron. With this treasure, we can set up the Nine Turns Yellow River Formation for him. The combat power of the Lingxiao Palace Puppet will suddenly increase by a level. Who cares about the Yuanshi Sect or the Dongwang Sect? If they dare to act wildly against the Lingxiao Palace Puppet, just see if the Nine Turns Yellow River Formation can take them down!"

Wu Gongyi said nonchalantly, although both he and Hu Dan understood that the Lingbao Sect would never allow treasures like the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron or powerful killing formations like the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation to appear on the Lingxiao Palace puppet. He was just saying it casually and it shouldn't be taken seriously.

However, these words also expressed the attitude that their Lingbao Sect was not on the same side as the Yuanshi Sect and the Dongwang Sect.

This is consistent with the Lingbao Sect's style in the myriad worlds over the years. It is said that the three major sects of the Dao lineage dominate the myriad worlds, and the three sects are the strongest defenders of the old order.

That's not the case at all. Have you ever seen a supreme ruler of the heavens who needs to sell off his ancestral inheritance to make a living? If their Lingbao Sect had really become a supreme ruler of the heavens, they wouldn't have fallen to the point where they have to beg Su Qing for a project just for a formation!

In fact, over the years, the Lingbao Sect and the Taishang Sect have had no real influence over the myriad realms. They have no interest or need to interfere in the internal affairs of the myriad realms, and have never thought of using their strength and status to oppress and exploit the myriad realms in a seemingly reasonable but actually unreasonable way.

Only the Yuanshi Sect did this. While doing so, they also invoked the banner of the three major sects of the Dao lineage, fearing that their sect alone could not suppress the myriad realms. They had to make it seem as if they were colluding with the Lingbao Sect and the Taishang Sect. As a result, the Yuanshi Sect reaped all the benefits, while the Lingbao Sect and the Taishang Sect, apart from taking the blame, did not gain any substantial benefits.

As a result, over the years, Lingbao Sect disciples have grown to hate Yuanshi Sect disciples with a passion, and they understand all too well why their ancestors couldn't stand these bastards and were willing to fight to the death to break up the family.

Therefore, when Su Qing led the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom to challenge the Yuanshi Sect's dominance over the heavens, the Lingbao Sect only wanted to stand aside and watch the show. If they had the chance to kick the Yuanshi Sect, they would be even more satisfied. The Lingxiao Palace Puppet was brought out to deal with the Yuanshi Sect, so how could they hold back? Apart from the Nine Turns Yellow River Formation, which was too bloodthirsty, and the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation, which they couldn't set up, they dared to put all their other best items on the Lingxiao Palace Puppet as long as Su Qing could afford the price!

"Since Palace Master Wu has said so, my master naturally trusts him. Now, there is only one last small request. My master hopes that when your sect sets up the array, my Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom will be allowed to send a group of array apprentices to observe and learn your sect's exquisite array techniques."

"Observe and learn? If you want to learn, then learn! Just be direct! Only your master, Su Qing, would dare to say something so shameless. In earlier years, this would have been a major taboo in the martial arts world, and people would have turned on you on the spot. But things have changed. Cultivation needs to develop, and the times need to progress. We cultivators must have an open and enterprising mindset. We should communicate and cooperate more to promote the progress of all cultivation arts and achieve the prosperity of cultivation civilization. Being stingy and working behind closed doors is no longer appreciated by the world. Our Lingbao Sect will not go against the will of Heaven. You can observe, but we are not responsible for teaching. How much you can learn from it is your skill!"

Wu Gongyi said casually that he understood Su Qing's little thoughts all too well. The importance of the Hundred Arts, Array Artifacts, Pills and Puppets, and Array Dao to a certain power, sect, and immortal kingdom is self-evident. His Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom is currently lacking in resources and has to seek the Dao of Array Dao from outside, but it certainly cannot continue like this forever. It still wants to cultivate a group of useful Array Dao talents for the use of its immortal kingdom.

Without being immodest, in the current myriad realms, when it comes to the strength of array formations, if the Lingbao Sect claims to be second, no one dares to claim to be first. The Three-Legged Crow Clan has the inheritance of the Heavenly Emperor's array formations, but none of them possess the talent of the Heavenly Emperor of yesteryear. They have all sorts of array formations, but none of them can actually materialize and set them up. Although the Yuanshi Sect has been relentlessly pursuing them in recent years, using despicable means such as offering high welfare and high treatment to attract talent in order to compete with them for array formation seeds, they have taken in talented disciples, but they do not know how to train them. They only mislead their students, turning geniuses into mediocre talents. No one with extraordinary talent or who has made breakthroughs in array formations has emerged.

Only their Lingbao Sect, though their lives have become increasingly worse since ancient times, has never lost its core skills. Their sword cultivators still cut people down as easily as slicing vegetables, and their array masters are still peerless in their elegance.

Stealing techniques? Let the array masters of the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom see for themselves. Even if they look for hundreds or thousands of years, they still can't catch up with the formidable advantages that their Lingbao Sect has accumulated over millions of years, with generations of disciples working tirelessly. This is the capital that allows them to be unafraid of being watched or learned from.

Of course, he also understood that Su Qing's expectations for the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom were not to surpass their Lingbao Sect in array formation. He simply wanted the array masters of the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom to broaden their horizons and witness the highest array formation techniques in the heavens, so that their future development in array formation would be smoother. In the future, even if the array formation of the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom could not be developed to the level of the puppet formation that is now unparalleled in the heavens, it would at least not become a weakness of the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom.

Wu Gongyi was easy to talk to, and Hu Dan was also straightforward, signing the contract on behalf of Su Qing. Once Su Qing successfully refined the Lingxiao Palace puppet, the Lingbao Sect could arrange for array masters to enter and set up the array.

"Tiger Egg, don't leave yet. There's something here that needs your help to contact Su Tianjun!"

Seeing that Hu Dan was about to leave with the spirit contract, Wu Gongyi pulled him back.

"Palace Master Wu is going to give my master a kickback? No need. My master said that this Lingxiao Palace puppet will not go through the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom's accounts, but only through the Su Group's accounts. It's all family business, so it doesn't matter who I give it to!"

Tiger Egg assumed that Wu Gongyi had also been influenced by the current trend of spiritual practice and knew a bit about human relationships, so he immediately waved his hand and said no need.

"Kickbacks? I'm already making money off this business, where would I get the money to give you kickbacks? I want Su Tianjun to help me contact the various immortal kingdoms in the cultivation world of Tianyuan West Sea to see if they have any needs related to formations. If they do, our Lingbao Sect can definitely take it on. Don't worry, the price we give them will be fair. We won't rip them off, but there will be a small profit. We'll split it 30/70 with Su Tianjun, with Su Tianjun getting 70% and us getting 30%!"

"The array-based business of the Western Sea cultivation world? How about the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom? They've just been ravaged by demons and are in dire need of rebuilding!"

"Everything is in ruins and needs to be rebuilt, but they don't have any spirit stones. The reconstruction funds were all donated by us. We might even have to contribute some money to set up the formation for them. We can't do this business. I think the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom is pretty good. It has the support of the demon races of the heavens and is rolling in money. Moreover, I heard that the Fire Phoenix Princess has an affair with your master, Su Qing."

"Don't talk nonsense. I've been with my master for so long, turning a blind eye to everything, and I've only ever seen him remain chaste towards his mistress. He's never been involved with any other women. However, if you're talking about my master's relationship with that Fire Phoenix Princess, which is indeed that of close friends, perhaps my master could put in a word with her." (End of Chapter)