Chapter 115 - 108: Tool Person
That night, Lü Zhong sat cross-legged.
He had just finished refining a Jade Solidification Pill.
The results were gratifying. It was equivalent to refining two Origin-Nurturing Pills in the past.
Unlike Pills made with the Fire Refining Technique, the Spiritual Qi from a Water Refining Pill was released far more gently. Moreover, the Pill contained less than half the impurities of one made with the Fire Refining Technique.
Setting aside the price, the Jade Solidification Pill was truly an excellent Pill.
After carefully contemplating the changes brought by his increased cultivation, Lü Zhong saw that it was only just past midnight, with a long time still to go before dawn. He took out the book *Puppet Mechanism Beast Introduction* and began to read.
It wasn’t that he wanted to walk the path of a Puppet Mechanician; he simply wanted to learn a bit about the Puppet Dao.
The more he understood about Puppet Mechanicians, the better his chances would be when facing such cultivators in combat.
He opened the first page, which was mainly an introduction to the Puppet Dao.
He gave it a quick read. The opening section, over three thousand characters long, basically boiled down to one point: the Puppet Dao was a path comparable to that of Sword Cultivators or Magic Cultivators, and one could achieve great things by following it to the end.
’This just confirms the old saying: the more you lack something, the more you emphasize it.’
Lü Zhong remained noncommittal and continued reading, turning to the Chapter on the principles of the Puppet Dao.
Although Puppets and Mechanical Beasts both belonged to the same Dao, there were significant differences between them. If the power of a Mechanical Soul-driven Mechanical Beast came from an accumulation of rare materials, then a Puppet controlled by a Spirit Core was the opposite, placing greater emphasis on nurturing its Spiritual Attribute.
’Nurturing a Spiritual Attribute... that’s a bit like refining a Spiritual Artifact.’ The thought made Lü Zhong recall his Earth Wood Spirit Ring. He still had no idea how to begin nurturing its Spiritual Attribute.
’Perhaps the Puppet Dao’s method for nurturing a Puppet’s Spiritual Attribute could also be applied to this ring.’
With this idea in mind, he turned another page.
He didn’t skip any pages, wanting to avoid missing important information.
As he continued to turn the pages, Lü Zhong’s understanding of the Puppet Dao deepened.
Soon, he found what he was looking for.
The Sacrificial Spirit Technique.
Using a special Magical Artifact called a "Sacrificial Artifact," a Puppet Mechanician could refine collected souls, extracting the Spiritual Attribute from them and infusing it into a Puppet’s body. This was the method for nurturing a Puppet’s Spiritual Attribute.
Flipping further, he found a section on refining Sacrificial Artifacts, which included a specialized template for reference.
After a look, Lü Zhong realized that commissioning a Sacrificial Artifact didn’t seem to cost much.
’When I have time, I must try this Sacrificial Spirit Technique.’
After all, Spiritual Artifacts weren’t as easy to refine as Magical Artifacts, so each one cost at least a five-figure sum of Spirit Stones. If he could really nurture his Spirit Ring into a Spiritual Artifact, he would definitely make a massive profit.
...
After daybreak, Lü Zhong began to adjust the book-printing tool. Drawing on his past life’s experience with machinery, he made several improvements that significantly increased its printing efficiency.
He tested it and confirmed the tool could now print smoothly.
"Here, give it a try," Lü Zhong said to the Spirit-Seeking Rat.
Yongling City was not like Yanling Mountain Market. The surrounding Spirit Veins had long been occupied by Cultivation Clans. After centuries of pioneering and development, not a single Demon Beast could be found within a hundred-li radius, and Spirit Medicines only existed in Spirit Medicine Gardens. As such, the Spirit-Seeking Rat’s Spirit-Seeking Talent was useless in Yongling City.
Until he could find a new use for it, he could only put it to work.
After all, it couldn’t eat for free; it had to work to earn its keep.
The Spirit-Seeking Rat rubbed its paws, stood up on its hind legs, and walked to the printing tool. Its dark, beady eyes were filled with confusion, its little head completely clueless about what to do next.
"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK..."
Lü Zhong sighed, not blaming it.
"Watch carefully. I’m only demonstrating this once."
His movements were slow and precise as he broke down the process step by step.
This time, the Spirit-Seeking Rat finally understood.
It tried again. Although it still made many mistakes, with Lü Zhong’s corrections, it managed to print a copy of the Talisman Making Book.
He stopped the Spirit-Seeking Rat and flipped through the Talisman Making Book.
His purpose was not only to check for errors and omissions but also to adjust the book’s layout to prevent it from looking exceptionally cheap, which would affect future sales.
After some adjustments, a new Talisman Making Book was printed.
This time, there were no problems with the Talisman Making Book.
"From now until sunset, you need to print five of these. Understand?" Lü Zhong assigned a relatively low quota to give the Spirit-Seeking Rat some time to adapt to its new role.
"SQUEAK SQUEAK!"
The Spirit-Seeking Rat looked pitiful. It still hadn’t figured out how it had become a working rat, but thanks to the servant contract, it could understand its master’s words.
So, it nodded.
Having assigned the task, Lü Zhong didn’t remain idle either. He prepared to go out and investigate the situation with the street stalls in the city.
He was a newcomer, completely unfamiliar with the place and its people.
If he didn’t do some research beforehand, he might end up attracting trouble.
First was the small, internal market in Changle Square. The merchants and stall-running Loose Cultivators there all sold Low-Tier Talismans, such as Cleaning Talismans and Disease-removal Talismans. The customer base didn’t match his target audience. If he tried to sell the Qingyang Body Protection Secret Talisman here, the initial sales would likely be abysmal.
Leaving the small market, Lü Zhong went to the South City Market.
The South City Market was positioned slightly below the central district but was still a very prosperous commercial area. Even in broad, sunny daylight, the Neon Spirit Stone Lamps here remained dazzling.