Mysterious mirror hanging high

"Aren't these puppeteers afraid that everyone will learn the puppetry inheritance and starve to death?"

Wu Buchun puffed out his chest, a hint of pride on his face. "My father said that's the concern of mediocre people. If we want to truly promote the development of Puppetry, we must gather the strength of the world's talented people and bring forth new ideas! How is it that in our Wushan Market, Puppetry has developed to this point in just a few years?"

"It's all thanks to the puppeteers who generously shared their secret inheritance that we have achieved the current flourishing scene!"

"My dad said this is called... the spirit of open source!"

Jing Yu twitched the corners of his mouth, rubbed his stiff face, and asked, "Did your father come up with this phrase, too?"

"That's not the case. It's a new term from the puppetry community in Xiaoyao Immortal City. My father thinks it's very appropriate and often mentions it."

Wu Buchun continued, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, since you have inherited the puppetry tradition, you must be interested in the art of puppetry. Why don't you join our [Wushan Puppet Club]? There are many experienced puppeteers in the club who can exchange ideas with each other. By then, your puppetry skills will surely improve by leaps and bounds!"

"My dad also teaches puppetry skills at regular gatherings, so joining is definitely worth it!"

"Haha, let's wait for this." Jing Yu didn't agree immediately. Instead, he said cautiously, "Zhao's strength is low, I'm afraid he won't be worthy of Master Wu's attention."

"Oh! How can you say that!" Wu Buchun shook his head: "Forget it, you should think about it. How about I show you a few more servant puppets?"

After that, he took Jing Yu to another display case and pointed at the slightly smaller puppet inside. "Brother Zhao, please take a look. This is a servant puppet. It can do some simple cave repairs and serve tea and water. The price is very cheap."

Jing Yu narrowed his eyes and asked, "How much spirit stones does this servant puppet consume?"

"Uh... if it's running at full power, it'll cost about one spirit stone a year." Wu Buchun said guiltily, "It's a bit expensive, but the advantage is that it keeps things confidential. Those mortal servants are real people after all. If they run into a gossipy person, they might spill some secrets!"

"Is this a bit expensive? This is too expensive!" Jing Yu curled his lips. "Employing a mortal servant only costs thirty or forty spirit coins a year, and you only get one spirit stone a year, which is close to the hiring price of a first-level body cultivator!"

"I'm afraid this puppet won't sell well, right?"

"It's true that sales are not good." Wu Bushun smiled awkwardly.

"How many spirit stones does the powerful puppet in front consume in a year?"

"After all, the Hercules Puppet has to do some heavy work, and it costs about one and a half spirit stones a year." Wu Buchun said, "My father has recently gathered a few colleagues to improve this Hercules Puppet. If we can reduce the annual cost to less than one spirit stone, the profit margin will be much greater!"

"The annual salary of a second or third level body cultivator is only about two spirit stones, and your power puppet has reduced the annual cost to one and a half spirit stones? No wonder you have taken over a lot of the market."

Jing Yu asked in doubt: "Your father has this ability, can he continue to reduce energy consumption?"

"Well, we have to give it a try." Wu Buchun's eyelids twitched. "Actually, I'm not too optimistic either. The inheritance in that secret realm is extremely extraordinary. It's not something that my father, a mere Qi cultivator, can easily improve..."

"Besides, because of the matter of the strongman puppet, the body-refining guilds in the market have come to negotiate with my [Wushan Puppet Society] many times. It's already a mess. If my father really succeeds, those mortal body-refining practitioners will be completely wiped out. I'm afraid they will be offended to death."

"Although you are so young, you do have some compassion." Jing Yu said with a smile.

"Oh! That's not compassion at all! I just think wasting time on a warrior puppet is pointless! Competing with mortal body cultivators for a few copper coins, how much profit can you get?"

Wu Buchun spoke eloquently, "In my opinion, the puppetry business should focus on high-level cultivators. If a little bit of something slips out from the fingers of those high-level foundation-building cultivators and Jindan Zhenren, it can be worth ten or twenty poor Qi-training cultivators!"

After that, Wu Buchun said mysteriously, "Daoist friend, would you like to see the servant puppet I made?"

Jing Yu had a bad feeling: "You? Are there any special features of the puppet you made?"

Wu Buchun chuckled and said, "It is indeed unique."

After saying that, he pulled Jing Yu's sleeve and sneaked into the inner hall. He pulled a mechanism, and a secret compartment was revealed on the wall of the inner hall. Inside was a female puppet made of unknown material.

Jing Yu looked at the puppet in front of him in silence, and said hesitantly: "Your puppet can't be..."

"Fellow Daoist, you know what you're talking about." Wu Buchun blinked. "The outer skin of my puppet is made of [Jade Fat], and the touch is about 80% similar to that of a real person. The best thing is that it can move on its own after being equipped with a spirit stone. It can perform several common postures..."

Jing Yu glanced at the thick dark circles under Wu Bushun's eyes and asked abruptly, "Fellow Daoist Wu, how old are you this year?"

Wu Buchun said, "I just celebrated my twelfth birthday a few days ago."

Jing Yu was speechless. "Fellow Daoist Wu, considering you were able to draw Qi into your body at the age of six, it's not too slow to reach the third level of Qi training in six years! You still need to exercise some restraint on a daily basis... It would be good to breathe in and out the spiritual energy for an extra cycle."

Wu Buchun continued, "My greatest wish in this life is to create a puppet Taoist companion that is indistinguishable from a real person! I pursue a deep emotional experience, not just pure indulgence. Fellow Taoist, please don't misunderstand me!"

Jing Yu nodded silently, then suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist Wu, when I first came in, I saw you were wearing a mask. What does that mask mean?"

"Oh, that one. My dad made me wear it."

Wu Buchun said casually, "He told me to be sure not to reveal my identity to the customers while I'm in the shop, especially when showing them the puppets I made... He said he couldn't afford to lose face."

"Well, you should wear it next time."

Jing Yu continued, "I want to purchase some puppet materials, probably [Anshen Wood], [Xuanwen Wood], [Shuichen Iron], [Xuanqing Stone]..."

"Okay, I'll go find it for you. Give me a quantity. If there's enough in the warehouse, I can deliver it right away. If there's not enough in stock, I'll have to go to another market."

Once business was involved, Wu Buchun immediately became extremely serious and said solemnly, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, you should consider joining the Wushan Puppet Society. Not only will you be able to exchange knowledge on inheritance, but you can also trade puppet materials at an internal price, which is much cheaper than the original price."

"I'll definitely consider it, I'll definitely consider it." Jing Yu nodded perfunctorily. Not long after, Wu Buchun selected all the spiritual materials Jing Yu requested and completed the transaction. "Thank you for the seven spiritual stones and thirteen spiritual coins. I'll take care of the change for you."

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Wu." After all, Jing Yu had just made a fortune, so he was not stingy with spending spirit stones. He handed over seven spirit stones without hesitation, and before leaving, he cast a fate detection spell on Wu Bushun.

"Ok?"

Jing Yu's expression changed. At this moment, the mysterious mirror in his dantian glowed slightly, and four blue seal characters suddenly appeared on the mirror surface...