Vessel of Worlds

"Spare the courtesies," Andy said, his voice pitched sharp and thin. "I hear you keep inquiry brokers here. Send in one of your more seasoned ones—this seat has questions to ask."

At his level of cultivation, voice and features could be altered at will—even one's build could be shifted slightly in an instant. Though such disguises were easily pierced by cultivators of equal rank.

"Yes! Senior, please be seated in the private room—this junior will send for an inquiry broker at once." The shopkeeper ushered Andy into a separate tea chamber and personally served him a cup of superior spirit tea.

Foundation Establishment cultivators rarely graced a spirit-tea shop—let alone one at mid-stage—so the shopkeeper's deference verged on reverence.

The other tea patrons, sensing the unfathomable cultivation on the newcomer, dared not say a word.

Andy sampled the Star Sea spirit tea. Its flavor was rich and lingering—a different pleasure altogether from the delicate cloud-mist tea of the Kuanglu Mountain Range.

Before long, the shopkeeper returned leading a white-haired old man at the tenth layer of Qi Condensation.

"This junior is Huang Qianhan, an inquiry broker of more than twenty years. Greetings, Senior!" The old man bowed.

"Very good. Sit. Answer this seat's questions to my satisfaction, and you won't go unrewarded." Andy casually laid down a sound-dampening barrier enclosing the two of them. At the sight, the shopkeeper tactfully bowed himself out.

"What would Senior ask? This junior will hold nothing back," the old man said.

"Where in this market can one buy puppets of Foundation Establishment strength?" Andy went straight to the point.

"Senior wishes to buy Foundation Establishment puppets?" the old man repeated with mild surprise, then smiled. "Ah—perhaps Senior doesn't know. In all the Star Sea, the art of puppetry belongs to one school alone: the Thousand Mechanisms Gate, under the Immortal Island of Fangzhang's jurisdiction. And the Thousand Mechanisms Gate treats its advanced puppetry—Foundation Establishment grade and above—as the sect's innermost secret, never to be transmitted outside. Every disciple swears a blood oath against passing it to outsiders. It has been so for thousands of years. Hence throughout the entire Star Sea, only Qi Condensation grade puppets are ever sold. A Foundation Establishment puppet cannot be bought for any price!"

"Only the Thousand Mechanisms Gate? I've heard they are but a middling sect. How can that be?" Andy asked, puzzled.

"Obsession with playthings ruins ambition," the old man said quietly. "They say the Thousand Mechanisms Gate was once a great and powerful sect—it produced towering figures and dominated the Star Sea for a thousand years. But the later disciples proved unworthy, their cultivation falling far short of their forebears', and the sect's strength slowly withered. It's said the Gate's cultivators pour the better part of their energy into refining the puppet arts—spending even their pill money on puppet materials—while their own cultivation lags behind. With the root and branch so inverted, Senior, how could the Thousand Mechanisms Gate not decline?"

The old man clearly held no fondness for the Gate, dissecting its troubles in tones of open disdain.

"Mm. Reasonable enough," Andy said approvingly, then pressed: "But this seat doesn't understand—if the Thousand Mechanisms Gate is merely a middling sect, how has it kept sole possession of this secret art for a thousand years?"

The old man didn't answer at once. After some thought he said: "On that question, this junior dares not pronounce final judgment. But by my guess—the puppet art is no such extraordinary prize after all. They say the materials for a single Foundation Establishment puppet exceed those of a peak-grade artifact by a wide margin; each one costs far more to make than a peak-grade artifact is worth. Limited in use, exorbitant in price—so interest simply faded, and no one covets it. Only the Thousand Mechanisms Gate's cultivators still cherish the art as their sect's inherited treasure."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I see. So outside the Thousand Mechanisms Gate, a Foundation Establishment puppet cannot be had at all?" Andy asked, clinging to a last thread of hope.

"I fear not." The old man paused, then added: "And with Senior's cultivation, such a puppet would serve little purpose anyway—better to add two fine peak-grade artifacts. A puppet's agility falls far short of a wielded artifact, and puppets devour spirit stones besides. If Senior wants puppets to keep house, guard the door, and pour tea, a few hundred spirit stones will buy high-tier Qi Condensation puppets more than equal to the task."

"This seat understands." Andy asked several more questions, and having received satisfactory answers, tossed the old man a few spirit stones and left the chamber.

So Foundation Establishment puppets were beyond reach—that plan would have to wait.

It seems a visit to this Thousand Mechanisms Gate will be necessary someday, Andy mused.

Since Foundation Establishment puppets couldn't be bought, he would simply stock up on better Qi Condensation ones instead.

Andy lingered in the market for the better part of a day, buying a great deal—mostly auxiliary materials for alchemy and forging, plus two or three of the more formidable formation sets.

This return home would mean a long seclusion, and he needed formations of strong defensive power to watch over the dwelling. He had once owned plenty, but most were now damaged or destroyed.

Beyond that, he finally managed to buy several rank-two flood dragon cores—enough to refine two or three furnaces of elementary Dragon Transformation Pills. Enhanced by the small bowl, they should give his Ice-Wind Snake an excellent chance of advancing to a rank-two spirit beast.

Had flood dragon cores not cost more than double the price of ordinary ones, he would certainly have bought more.

With two bulging storage pouches, Andy returned to West Star Island.

After his customary circuit of the market, he delivered a large payment of spirit stones at Farview Peak, then wasted no more time there, making straight for his own island—Luojia Island.

The moment he neared the Luojia range, the disc in his hand told him: within the Six-Wheel Spirit-Severing Formation, someone sat motionless—waiting, it seemed, for him.

Drawing closer, he sensed the person's Qi Condensation cultivation—and found it familiar. So he descended slowly before the visitor.

On a small hill sat a young woman in a green dress, legs crossed, perfectly still.

Andy recognized her at a glance: the girl Xiao Ying who had once served him at the Mystic Change Pavilion. Only now she stood at the twelfth layer of Qi Condensation.

Her face was unchanged from twenty years ago—features exquisite, a trace of girlishness still between her brows. At her Qi Condensation level, no beauty-preserving technique could have held twenty years wholly at bay. It seemed that Youth-Preserving Pill of long ago had, in all likelihood, gone to this girl.

"This junior, Xu Ying, greets Senior!" The girl came forward joyfully and made her courtesy.

"You've been waiting here for me deliberately? Do you not know I dislike visitors disturbing my dwelling?" Andy said with displeasure.

"Senior, please calm your anger—Xiao Ying had no choice. It was my Young Mistress who ordered me to do this. The reasons are all in this jade slip—Senior will understand upon reading it." Flustered by his frown, the girl hurriedly explained, then sent a green jade slip drifting slowly toward him.

Andy opened his right hand and grasped at the air; a ribbon of purple qi wrapped the slip and drew it swiftly into his palm.

Nothing amiss, he judged—the Primal Unity Qi had detected no hidden restriction or trap upon it.

He sank a portion of his spiritual sense into the slip and read.

The contents were brief; Andy finished in moments, and a flicker of surprise crossed his face. "Is everything Fairy Yun says true?"

The girl smiled. "Senior may rest assured—every word. For this matter, the Young Mistress had Xiao Ying wait here for you for years. Had Senior not returned within two more years, the opportunity would have been lost!"

"Then you've been put to real trouble." Andy smiled, produced two beast cores, and tossed them to her. "Take these as payment for your years of waiting. And kindly carry word back to Fairy Yun: I accept. We'll meet here in two years."

"Rank-three beast cores! Thank you, Senior, for such generosity!" The girl received them with overflowing delight, bowed her thanks, and departed Luojia Island on her flying artifact.

Andy watched her figure dwindle into the distance, his expression settling into thoughtful silence. After a while, he deployed several formations within the Six-Wheel Spirit-Severing Formation, then entered his dwelling.