Chapter 65: Making Puppets

To sell her pastries, Wang Changxue loudly called out to potential customers. The effect was quite good; within half a day, she sold three catties of pastries.

Wang Mingzhan and Wang Changsheng would not be leaving White Dragon Valley anytime soon. They needed to help Wang Changxue settle down before they could depart with peace of mind.

Wang Changsheng looked at the cultivators filling the streets and had an idea. He had previously bought a copy of the Mu Clan's Artificing Manual from Mu Yuyan, which detailed puppet creation at the end of its pages. Perhaps he could make and sell some puppet beasts.

All the spirit stones he possessed had been given to Wang Changxue, so he could only ask her for help. After Wang Changxue returned from her stall, Wang Changsheng explained the situation to her.

"Ninth Brother, you want to make puppet beasts to sell? How confident are you that you can make them?"

Wang Changsheng thought for a moment and said, "About 50% confidence! During these four months, we've been roughing it, and when I had nothing to do, I'd read up on the methods for making puppet beasts. Puppet beast creation is similar to artificing. Currently, I can only refine low-grade spirit tools. Not to mention low-grade spirit tools, even mid-grade ones don't sell well. I've observed in the past few days that only Heavenly Armaments Tower and Hundred Refinements Workshop in White Dragon Valley sell puppet beasts, and they require reservations. I want to try, but I don't have any spirit stones left."

"How many spirit stones do you need?"

"One hundred and fifty spirit stones. Making puppets requires buying a lot of tools."

"I'll give you three hundred spirit stones. If you make a profit, we'll split it 40/60. If there's a loss, it's on me. If you fail, I won't be able to provide another three hundred spirit stones, so use them carefully."

Wang Changsheng was touched and patted his chest, assuring her, "Second Sister, don't worry! I won't disappoint you."

With the three hundred spirit stones Wang Changxue gave him, Wang Changsheng bought the tools for puppet creation and eight sets of materials.

Puppets are made from metal or spirit wood and involve three steps: carving the form, inscribing the spirit, and attaching the soul. He intended to create a first-grade low-tier ape puppet. The main materials were thirty-year-old hemlock wood, jade silver powder, and a first-grade low-tier demon rat essence soul. These three items cost thirty-three spirit stones, a price comparable to refining a mid-grade spirit tool.

After purchasing the materials, Wang Changsheng did not rush to make the puppet beast. Instead, he repeatedly studied the puppet beast creation methods. Wang Mingzhan, learning of Wang Changsheng's desire to make puppet beasts, did not stop him. He and Wang Changxue took turns manning the pastry stall.

Seven days quickly passed.

Wang Changsheng's eyes were fixed on a piece of wood in his hand. He held a small knife, carefully carving. The ground was strewn with a large amount of spirit wood shavings, along with several lifelike small monkeys, some of which had distorted spiritual patterns. On the table was a lifelike one-legged small monkey, and Wang Changsheng was carving its final leg.

Time passed slowly. The piece of wood in Wang Changsheng's hand became a small leg, which he attached to the one-legged monkey. An ape puppet was beginning to take shape. To save costs, he had bought some five-to-six-year-old spirit wood for practice. After numerous attempts, his carving skills improved significantly.

Carving the puppet beast into form was just the first step in puppet creation. After carving a small monkey, Wang Changsheng took out a two-inch-long silver knife and began carving on the monkey. The silver knife emitted a faint spiritual energy. This was a low-grade spirit tool, specifically used for carving spiritual patterns, also known as a spirit pattern knife.

A first-grade low-tier puppet needed different elemental spiritual patterns carved onto it, with the specific patterns depending on the creator. Wang Changsheng planned to carve three spiritual patterns: swift movement, solidity, and strength. The swift movement patterns would be on the monkey's legs, solidity patterns on its chest and head, and strength patterns on its arms. Swift movement patterns would increase the monkey's running speed, solidity patterns would weaken enemy attacks, and strength patterns would enhance its own attacks.

He held his breath, picked up the spirit pattern knife, and, following the method for carving spiritual patterns described in the manual, infused spiritual power into the knife. The spirit pattern knife immediately glowed silver, and tiny spiritual patterns appeared one after another on the monkey's legs. The first time he carved, he was extremely cautious, and precisely because of this caution, he did not perform at his best and failed. He had already failed four times; this was his fifth attempt.

He took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the small monkey in his hand. Time passed slowly, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. On the small monkey, each of its two arms had three strength patterns carved, its chest and head each had three solidity patterns, and its two legs each had three swift movement patterns.

After carving the spiritual patterns, he took out a white porcelain bottle and a porcelain bowl. His lips moved slightly, and points of blue light appeared out of thin air in the room, forming a pool of clear water in the porcelain bowl. He picked up the white porcelain bottle, poured some silver powder into the porcelain bowl, and began to chant.

After a little less than a quarter of an hour, his chanting stopped, and several incantations were cast into the spirit water in the porcelain bowl. The spirit water swirled and flew into mid-air. Wang Changsheng tossed the small monkey puppet forward and used his spiritual sense to control the spirit water to envelop the small monkey puppet.

As if guided by some force, the spirit water surged towards the spiritual patterns on the small monkey, and its volume rapidly decreased. Soon after, the spirit water disappeared, and the small monkey floated in mid-air, with glistening silver spiritual patterns appearing on its hands, feet, chest, and head.

He showed a hint of joy, took out a black porcelain bottle from his怀里, uncorked it, and a green light mass the size of an egg flew out. The silver spiritual patterns on the small monkey seemed to possess a special attraction, as the green light mass slowly flew towards the monkey and finally disappeared into its head. The green light mass was actually the essence soul of a first-grade low-tier demon rat; every puppet beast had to have a demon beast essence soul refined into it to be controlled.

Wang Changsheng impatiently patted the back of the small monkey puppet. With a dull thud, a hidden door was revealed. He placed a low-grade spirit stone inside and closed the hidden door. The small monkey seemed to come alive, growing to over a person's height, lifelike, with empty eyes. Controlling a puppet beast was like controlling a spirit tool; it required attaching one's spiritual sense to the puppet beast. Wang Changsheng controlled the puppet beast using the same method he used for spirit tools.

The ape puppet took two steps forward under his control. This feeling was incredibly unique, as if he had gained another self. Wang Changsheng observed carefully and found that the ape puppet's movements were not very natural, indicating that the puppet's quality was not good. However, it should still be sellable.

Just then, a chirping sound came from the spirit beast pouch at his waist. Wang Changsheng chuckled softly, opened the pouch, and the Twin-Eyed Rat crawled out, scrambling onto his shoulder, chirping as if demanding something. In the past two years, Wang Changsheng's life had become much easier. Every now and then, he would feed the Twin-Eyed Rat with first-grade low-tier spirit grains. The Twin-Eyed Rat had eaten a lot of first-grade low-tier spirit grains, becoming much closer to Wang Changsheng and frequently asking him for spirit grains.

Wang Changsheng took out a yellow wooden jar and poured some first-grade low-tier spirit grains onto the table. The Twin-Eyed Rat, smelling the enticing aroma of the spirit grains, immediately jumped off Wang Changsheng's shoulder and landed on the table. Soon, two liang of spirit grains were eaten. Wang Changsheng gave it some clear water and then put it back into the spirit beast pouch.