Chapter 66: Loss Turning to Profit

Wang Changsheng arrived at Wang Changxue's stall and took out the small monkey puppet.

"Ninth Brother, have you really managed to craft a puppet beast?" Wang Changxue asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

To be honest, she hadn't held much hope for Wang Changsheng. If puppet beasts were that easy to craft, there wouldn't be only two shops selling them in White Dragon Valley. Wang Changsheng had previously given her 300 spirit stones, and she had simply returned them to him. She had expected him to give up after a few failures, never imagining he would actually succeed in crafting a puppet beast.

"Hehe, Second Sister, have you forgotten Third Uncle? When I was little, I learned to carve wooden puppets from him. Later, Father found out and scolded me severely, which is why I stopped carving."

Third Uncle, Wang Yaojian, came from a mortal background; his father was a carpenter. When he was six, he was found to possess spiritual roots and was taken to Qinglian Mountain to begin cultivation.

Wang Yaojian had a five-element spiritual root, which meant very poor aptitude. He wasn't particularly interested in cultivation; his passion lay more in carving wooden puppets. By chance, Wang Changsheng saw the lifelike puppets Wang Yaojian had carved and loved them immensely, begging Wang Yaojian to teach him.

From then on, whenever he had free time, Wang Changsheng would go to Wang Yaojian's residence to learn puppet carving.

Wang Yaojian had one wife and one concubine, with three sons and two daughters, none of whom possessed spiritual roots. He treated all the juniors of the 'Chang' generation as his own children. Wang Changsheng was his favorite grand-nephew, and he taught him everything he knew.

Wang Yaojian's carving skills were exceptional. The puppets he created had incredibly smooth, freely moving joints. He even made a humanoid puppet resembling his own facial features, which was remarkably lifelike. Under Wang Yaojian's careful guidance, Wang Changsheng made rapid progress.

This good fortune, however, was short-lived. By chance, Wang Mingyuan discovered that Wang Changsheng was spending his time learning puppet carving instead of cultivating.

Wang Mingyuan severely reprimanded Wang Changsheng, accusing him of being distracted by trivial pursuits. He then burned all the puppets, and from that day on, Wang Changsheng never carved another one.

Growing up, Wang Changsheng thought back on this past incident and felt it was quite absurd. Yet, looking back now, if he hadn't learned puppet carving from Wang Yaojian, he might not have been able to craft puppet beasts.

Of course, there was an even more crucial reason he could craft puppets: his spiritual sense was significantly stronger than that of other cultivators at the same level.

When he was eight, he accidentally discovered that his spiritual sense seemed stronger than that of cultivators at his level, and he casually mentioned it to Wang Mingyuan.

Surprisingly, Wang Mingyuan invited Wang Yaozong, who personally examined him, even using magical artifacts. Nothing specific was found, but it was confirmed that Wang Changsheng's spiritual sense was indeed stronger than others at his level. Wang Yaozong then instructed Wang Changsheng not to tell anyone else.

Wang Changsheng had originally cultivated the Autumn Water Art and had already reached the first level of Qi Condensation. However, after discovering his stronger spiritual sense, Wang Mingyuan instructed him to switch to the Cloud Rain Art, claiming it was an ancestral technique and telling him not to reveal it to anyone.

Both the Cloud Rain Art and Autumn Water Art were water-element cultivation techniques, so Wang Changsheng didn't pay much attention to the change. However, restarting his cultivation caused him to waste more than a year of precious time.

Wang Changsheng didn't think much of it, as a strong spiritual sense wasn't directly helpful for cultivation, beyond allowing him to control a few more spiritual artifacts. He never imagined that a powerful spiritual sense would be beneficial for crafting puppet beasts.

Of course, he used five sets of materials to craft this small monkey puppet. A low-grade first-tier puppet beast usually sells for just over sixty spirit stones on the market.

When Mu Yuyan sold a small monkey puppet beast, she asked for fifty spirit stones, which was definitely cheaper than the puppet beasts in shops.

This was common practice; goods sold at small stalls were cheaper than those in shops. If the prices were the same, why would anyone buy from a stall? At least in a shop, if there was a quality issue, one could seek redress. Stall owners' whereabouts were uncertain, and if you were cheated, there would be nowhere to complain.

Wang Changxue suddenly understood and chuckled, saying, "Of course I remember! If Third Aunt hadn't intervened that time, Third Uncle would have spanked you raw. How many spirit stones do you plan to sell this puppet beast for?"

Wang Changsheng thought for a moment and replied, "Low-grade first-tier puppets sell for sixty spirit stones on the market. We need to be cheaper to sell them, so how about fifty?"

"Fifty? Isn't that too little? How about fifty-five?"

Wang Changsheng shook his head. "For just five spirit stones difference, why wouldn't people go buy from Heavenly Soldier Tower? Besides, this puppet beast I crafted isn't that good; it'll sell better if it's cheaper. Second Sister, you must be tired. Go back and rest! I'll watch the stall."

Wang Changxue didn't object. After giving a few instructions, she left.

Time passed slowly, and dusk began to settle.

All the pastries at the stall had sold out, leaving only the small monkey puppet. A few cultivators inquired about the price but didn't buy it; they thought it was too expensive, and Wang Changsheng wouldn't agree to their low offers.

Wang Changsheng wasn't discouraged. If he couldn't sell it, he would keep it for himself. The White Dragon Mountain Range was rich in demonic beasts, and having a puppet beast would make exploring safer.

He took out the Mu Clan's Artifact Forging Manual and began to read through it.

"How much for this puppet beast?"

A gruff male voice reached Wang Changsheng's ears.

Wang Changsheng looked up to see three men and one woman standing in front of the stall. Leading them was a burly, forty-something man with a bushy beard. He was tall, heavily built, and had a fierce, intimidating appearance.

Wang Changsheng forced a smile and said, "Fifty spirit stones. It runs quite fast, has strong arms, and is an excellent choice whether for luring demonic beasts or covering your retreat."

"Can I try controlling it? If its movements are fine, then it might be acceptable."

"Of course."

Without needing an introduction from Wang Changsheng, the burly man opened the hidden compartment and inserted spirit stones. Judging by his skilled movements, it seemed he had used puppet beasts before.

The burly man manipulated the small monkey puppet to take a few steps, then had his companion summon a shield, and controlled the monkey puppet to punch the shield.

"This puppet beast isn't very flexible. Fifty spirit stones is too expensive; forty would be more appropriate."

"Friend, you jest. My cost price is forty spirit stones. Forty-eight, you must allow me to make some profit!"

After some haggling, Wang Changsheng sold the small monkey puppet for forty-six spirit stones.

After selling the monkey puppet, Wang Changsheng packed up his stall and went home.

Back at his residence, he had a wonderful night's sleep.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, he began crafting puppet beasts again.

With his previous success, his crafting success rate improved when he made puppet beasts again.

Using three sets of materials, he spent five days crafting two monkey puppet beasts.

The two monkey puppet beasts sold for forty-seven and forty-eight spirit stones, respectively.

The three puppet beasts sold for a total of 141 spirit stones. With a cost of 300 spirit stones, he incurred a loss of 159 spirit stones, but he still had three bottles of Jade Silver Powder and three demonic rat souls left.

Wang Changsheng then bought four more sets of materials and continued crafting puppet beasts.

He spent seven days crafting three monkey puppets. After selling them, he incurred a loss of over ten spirit stones.

Wang Changxue, believing Wang Changsheng had talent in this area, invested another five hundred spirit stones to encourage him to improve his success rate.

Wang Changsheng was deeply moved and became even more diligent when crafting puppet beasts.

He purchased twenty sets of materials all at once and spent over a month crafting seventeen monkey puppets.

As his crafting attempts increased, the quality of Wang Changsheng's puppets gradually improved. Their selling price slowly rose from forty-six to fifty spirit stones. Even so, the monkey puppets sold out quickly as soon as they were displayed.

What started as a loss slowly turned into a profit.