Mysterious mirror hanging high

Jing Yu was startled and quickly pulled Wu Zichun to the corner of the street. After confirming that no one was around, he said suspiciously:

"Are you sure you're talking about improving the energy consumption of the Hercules puppet? Does your father have such a great ability?"

"If Fellow Daoist Wu can accomplish this, all the Jindan True Immortals who specialize in puppetry in Xiaoyao Immortal City will call him Master! You can't be exaggerating, right?"

"Really not! Now my father's newly developed Hercules Puppet has reduced its annual cost from one and a half Spirit Stones to one Spirit Stone and forty Spirit Coins."

Wu Buchun whispered, "Don't underestimate the fact that we're only missing ten spirit coins. At least it shows we're on the right track!"

The two of them walked stealthily from the West Street of the Inner Square to the North Street. The Wushan Puppet Society specially rented a courtyard on the North Street as a place for the daily activities of the members. Originally, puppetry was not very popular in the Wushan market, but it has improved in recent years due to the vigorous development of puppeteers such as Wu Qi. However, this place is usually deserted.

For some reason, there was a huge crowd of people in front of the gate of the Wushan Puppet Society today, and the neighbors living nearby formed a big circle at the gate.

"What are you doing?" Jing Yu originally wanted to sneak in to observe Wu Qi's improved Hercules puppet, but now he was blocked at the door by a dense crowd.

"My fellow Taoists! This is Wu's latest improved version of the Hercules Puppet!"

After finally squeezing through the crowd, Jing Yu and Wu Buchun saw an old man with a handlebar mustache and a clerk's hat standing in front of a two-meter-tall wooden puppet. He boasted, "Now we have the general direction. In five years at the shortest, ten years at the longest... I will reduce the annual cost of the new Hercules puppet to less than one spirit stone! I hope all fellow Taoists will come and show their support!"

"Our Wushan Puppet Society also welcomes cultivators interested in puppetry to discuss their experiences at any time!"

"Perhaps in the near future, our puppetry will also be able to come up with a groundbreaking invention that will completely change the way of life of the lower-level cultivators, just like the improved spiritual planting method!"

Most of the tenants who could rent in the inner courtyard were wealthy cultivators in the middle or late stages of Qi training, or high-level cultivators who had raised their physical training to a level comparable to that of cultivators in the late stages of Qi training. This group of people were whispering around the strongman puppet. Several of the high-level cultivators with white hair and wrinkles showed resentment on their faces, turned around and left the crowd, but were accurately captured by the divine sense emitted by Jing Yu.

An alchemist standing next to Jing Yu exclaimed, "Master Wu is incredible! If he could really reduce the annual cost of a warrior puppet to less than one spirit stone, I'm afraid that more than half of the mortal body cultivators in the market would not even be able to afford to live in the shacks outside the market!"

"Who said it wasn't true? Brother Wu, this action will only make people jealous and hate you!" Jing Yu said helplessly.

"Isn't this Master Zhao Dan? I remember you were also a member of the Wushan Puppet Society?" The alchemist twirled his beard and said, "Master Zhao Dan started with Spirit Plant Husband. In just a few years, he flourished in both the art of alchemy and the art of puppetry. He's achieved great success in both arts. I'm afraid his path to foundation building is just around the corner!"

"Well, I'm just a puppet enthusiast. I made one for fun when I was free, but I can't earn many spirit stones. My main job is still alchemy." Seeing Wu Qi being so ostentatious, the cautious Jing Yu was already considering severing ties with the Wushan Puppet Society, and said hurriedly.

"Master Zhao Dan, I like what you said." The alchemist smiled and said, "To put it bluntly, this puppetry is just a minor technique after all. If we really want to talk about the world's most prominent schools, it's still the four old arts, alchemy, weapons, formations and talismans! Among them, our alchemy is the most important..."

"No matter how much the Hercules puppet is modified, it's ultimately just competing with mortals for the rough work that cultivators disdain. What does this mean? It means that when choosing a job, you have to choose one with a high threshold!" The alchemist puffed out his chest. "For a profession like ours, alchemists will never be replaced! This job is as stable as Mount Tai..."

"Haha, indeed, hahaha..."

Jing Yu twitched the corners of his mouth and laughed a few times in agreement. As the crowd gradually dispersed, he was pulled into the yard by Wu Zichun.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, you're here!" Wu Qi smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits upon seeing Jing Yu. He said proudly, "Thanks to the Puppet Flying Boat inheritance you generously shared with me earlier, I gained a lot of inspiration from it, which led to the improvement I made today."

"Oh? I wonder what Fellow Daoist Wu's specific thinking is? Could you elaborate?"

Jing Yu also found it a little incredible that Wu Qi, a Qi-training puppeteer, could optimize the puppet inheritance of Jiu Ming Daojun, so he thought of following Wu Buchun to find out.

"Fellow Daoist, please enter the main hall. The other Daoists have already arrived." Wu Qi said with a smile, "This exchange meeting will be held in advance to help resolve your doubts."

Jing Yu followed Wu Qi and his son into the main hall, and indeed saw that the other puppeteers of the Wushan Puppet Society were already in place. In front of them was a Hercules puppet that had been disassembled into dozens of parts. The puppeteers each held a few parts and observed them carefully.

"My fellow Taoists, in keeping with the Wushan Puppet Society's tradition of selfless sharing, I will now explain in detail the key to improving the Hercules Puppet to reduce its annual consumption..."

Wu Qi was talking eloquently in the main seat, while several puppeteers were listening attentively in the guest seats. Jing Yu also listened to the whole thing with his ears perked up. In the end, he had to admit that this puppeteer who was nominally the most accomplished in puppetry in Wushan Market did have some skills.

Unfortunately not many.

The original [The First Explanation of Life Puppets: The Hercules Chapter] is a simplified version of the incomplete chapter in [The True Explanation of Puppets: The Qi Training Chapter]. Compared with the Hercules puppet authentically passed down by the Nine-Life Taoist Lord, the Hercules puppet in the incomplete version is originally a low-profile version.

However, even this low-profile version of the Hercules Puppet is far too powerful for a remote corner of the world of immortal cultivation like Wushan Market!

Not only is it highly maneuverable, able to run and jump, but it also has a strong ability to adapt to the environment, making climbing mountains and swimming a piece of cake... Even its ten fingers have special adjustment devices, and its flexibility is almost the same as that of a real person, enough to do some very delicate work.

But in fact, the demand for strongman puppets in Wushan Market is not that great. On weekdays, puppets or body cultivators only do some rough work such as carrying or building. To use an analogy from Jing Yu's previous life, that is - he originally just wanted to peel an apple, but ended up getting a Swiss Army knife!

To put it more bluntly, the current Hercules puppet has a lot of performance redundancy.

Wu Qi's idea was very simple. The Hercules Puppet had so many functions, but there was no application scenario in the Wushan Market that could make these functions shine. If all these unused functions were cut off, wouldn't the spirit stone energy consumption required for the puppet be reduced?