Chapter 70 The Puppet Ran Away

Chapter 70 The Puppet Ran Away

The cultivation chambers of the Wendao Sect are located on an independent mountain peak, with more than a thousand cave dwellings built from top to bottom, specifically for disciples to cultivate.

The mountain peak is located on a spiritual vein of considerable quality, and the concentration of spiritual energy in the cultivation room far exceeds that of other places. Therefore, it is very popular among disciples, as it is of great benefit to both regular cultivation and breaking through bottlenecks.

As Lou Yuqing approached the mountain peak, she saw many disciples dressed in sky-blue robes flying in and out, creating a lively and bustling scene.

The number of training rooms sounds large, but in reality, it cannot accommodate 100,000 disciples. Especially when the sect holds competitions, the training rooms are always full, and even reservations have to be made months in advance.

Si Nidie jumped off the cloud, stood on the platform, nodded at Lou Yuqing, and said smugly, "Luckily I had the foresight to reserve a cultivation room in advance."

Lou Yuqing nodded in agreement, looked up at the plaque above the cultivation room, and read it aloud: "Five hundred and thirty-six."

Si Nidie took out the token, held it up in front of her, and compared it with the plaque: "That's right, it's five hundred and thirty-six. The location isn't great, but it's not bad either. Let's go in."

The sect has set up cultivation rooms in a pyramid structure. From the foot of the mountain to the mountainside and then to the summit, the number of rooms decreases and the spiritual energy becomes more concentrated as you go higher. Therefore, disciples are scrambling to rent the top-ranked cultivation rooms.

Si Nidie held up the token, infused it with spiritual power, and in the next instant, the token lit up and flew out of her palm, arriving in front of the cultivation room.

With a bang, the magic circle's restrictions were broken.

A line of text appeared in mid-air—

[Notice: Inner disciple Si Nidie, you have paid the corresponding spirit stones. The token is valid for one day. Please return it by this time tomorrow. Failure to do so will be severely punished!]

Si Nidie already knew about this, so she flicked her finger and released a burst of spiritual energy, shattering the words in the void, and then waved at the token.

The door to the cultivation room slowly opened.

Lou Yuqing followed her senior sister inside. The interior was very simply furnished. In a space of thirty feet in diameter, there was only a meditation cushion for cultivation and a puppet in the corner.

However, they came today not to cultivate, but to test the power of their spells.

Lou Yuqing glanced at the prayer mat and then looked away without interest, turning her gaze to the puppet that was a head taller than her.

The puppet was humanoid with clear features, almost indistinguishable from a real person, except that its body had a metallic sheen, making it clear that it was not a living being.

Si Nidie let out a soft exclamation: "This thing appeared without being summoned?"

Lou Yuqing touched the puppet's arm; it felt hard and couldn't be squeezed, and it was icy cold. "Senior Sister, it seems to be made of iron?"

Si Nidie put aside her doubts and said with a smile, "Our sect has many mineral veins, among which there is a kind of ore called iron sandstone. It is flexible and has a strong ability to recover, making it perfect for use as a puppet material. Let me demonstrate for you."

With that, she unleashed her spiritual power and flung it forward. After a whooshing sound, the attack arrived instantly, piercing the puppet's chest and striking the wall directly.

Lou Yuqing didn't even blink.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

As time passed, the fist-sized hole in the puppet slowly healed, and soon it returned to its original state.

That wasn't all. She saw her senior sister clench her fists, her arm muscles bulging, and use brute force to bombard the puppet. In an instant, the puppet became pitted and cratered.

Lou Yuqing commented: "They'd be great as punching bags."

Whether it was her imagination or not, the puppet's mouth seemed to twitch slightly after she finished speaking.

Lou Yuqing looked closely and saw that her senior sister had punched the puppet's face, leaving a mark. Now the mark was gradually disappearing. Perhaps she had just misjudged it?

"Junior sister, it's your turn." Si Nidie gave up her seat.

Without much thought, Lou Yuqing formed hand seals, and spiritual energy surged forth, forming purple arcs of electricity in front of her. Then, she pulled her hands to the left and right, and the arcs of electricity instantly grew to a length of over a foot.

"Crackling and popping!"

As the thunder roared, the electric arc, like a wild horse, rushed toward the puppet's brow. Perhaps because she hadn't yet mastered the technique, the electric arc, upon reaching the puppet, veered off course and landed right in the middle of its forehead!

The moment the two made contact, an electric arc immediately spread from the puppet's brow to its entire body, and a purple light flashed, almost blinding Lou Yuqing and the other person.

"ah!"

A faint cry was drowned out by the thunder.

Lou Yuqing's ears twitched, but she didn't hear any other sounds. She frowned, thinking that she had been cultivating too hard recently and had developed a minor health problem.

A moment later.

Looking at the puppet in front of her, which had been electrocuted into a dazed state, Si Nidie stroked her chin and said, "Lightning magic seems to be very effective against iron puppets. There are still some arcs of electricity left. Junior sister, why don't you try hitting it with pure force later and see how much damage you can do?"

Lou Yuqing nodded.

The spells she practiced contained methods for tempering the body with lightning, and through her hard work over the past few days, she had made progress in them.

Then, the puppet was brutally beaten. Lou Yuqing beat Si Nidie, then Si Nidie beat Lou Yuqing.

The puppet transforms—quickly reverts—then transforms again—reverts once more… repeating this cycle many times, always maintaining its original form.

Lou Yuqing's face showed a look of utter satisfaction; this kind of extreme output was simply too exhilarating: "Senior sister, the testing is almost over, let's fight the puppet."

Si Nidie shook her arm and said, "That's exactly what I was thinking." She went behind the puppet, flicked her finger on the back of its head, and tapped it three times.

The puppet is usually stationary. If disciples want to fight the puppet and improve their combat experience, they can insert spirit stones into its head to support its movement.

After a long while, there was still no sign of the puppet's head opening.

Si Nidie thought it was malfunctioning, so she tapped it three more times. To her surprise, the puppet still didn't move. She gasped, "Hiss, did we break it?"

Lou Yuqing scratched her head: "Could it be because I shocked it?" The puppet hadn't recovered for a long time after she used her lightning strike.

“No matter what the reason, we are both responsible for the puppet’s malfunction.” Si Nidie only regretted that she wasn’t a puppeteer, otherwise she could have diagnosed the puppet’s problem without spending a penny.

Lou Yuqing said helplessly, "Should we report the situation now?" They must be the only ones who could damage a puppet made of iron sand.

"Just admit your mistake and it'll be fine. At most, you'll have to pay some spirit stones." Si Nidie thought it through, laid the puppet down on the ground, and called out, "Junior sister, come and give me a hand, it's a bit heavy."

Lou Yuqing patted the storage bag: "No need for that, I have a stroller."

With a flash of light, a small war chariot appeared on the ground. Its front end was sharp and pointed, while its rear end was rounded and heavy. Six wings extended from each side, and the middle could accommodate one person, as if it were going to war.

Si Nidie: "..."

That's an exaggeration.

Everyone else uses tanks to fight, but her junior sister uses them to transport people. It was the first time she realized how incredibly wealthy her junior sister was.

Si Nidie summoned Baiyun: "This will do."

She hadn't thought things through for a moment and foolishly tried to lift the person with her hands.

It should be noted that iron sand is already quite heavy, and it becomes even heavier after being made into a puppet. As a result, once it was moved to the cloud, it fell several tens of inches, almost touching the ground.

Lou Yuqing was stunned for a moment: "Can we still go up?"

It seems to be overloaded.

"It's alright." Si Nidie continued to output spiritual power, and the upper limit of the weight that the white cloud could bear kept increasing, slowly rising and floating back to its original place.

Lou Yuqing leaped onto the white cloud and watched as the cave slowly closed. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed the puppet's body move. Startled, she turned her head away. Before she could speak, the puppet flipped over and fell into the forest below.

The puppet ran away?!

A big question mark appeared above Lou Yuqing's head. She hurriedly tugged at Si Nidie's sleeve and said with difficulty, "Senior sister, the puppet seems to have its own consciousness."

Si Nidie noticed that the puppet was gone at this moment. After all, the white clouds had suddenly become lighter. She manipulated the clouds to fly downwards, and suddenly heard Lou Yuqing's words. She looked up in surprise: "Huh?"

She was completely focused on controlling the white clouds and hadn't seen this. Lou Yuqing quickly explained, "The puppet can move; it jumped down by itself!"

Si Nidie: I've seen a ghost.

She looked at the puppet, skeptical, and found that it wasn't in free fall, but was flying away on its own: "..."

Damn it.

Si Nidie couldn't hold back any longer: "I'll go after them!"

After saying that, she transformed into a streak of fiery red light and sped after the puppet.

There's definitely something wrong with that puppet!

Lou Yuqing watched them disappear into the mountains and forests, and did not linger on the clouds. With her Qi Refining stage cultivation, she could not maintain the Foundation Establishment stage spells at all.

Before the white clouds dissipated, she took out her flying artifact and chased after them in the direction they had left. The artifact was quite fast, and she quickly caught up with her senior sister's back.

When she saw the situation in front of her, she was stunned. The disciples were queuing up to reserve a training room, and there were many identical puppets standing on both sides of the road. From the outside, they were no different from the puppet that had escaped.

Could it be that the puppet infiltrated the group?

At this moment, Si Nidie asked the disciple with his hair tied up at the end of the line, "Hello, senior brother, did you see a puppet running over just now? Yes, you heard me right, it could move."

The disciple with his hair tied up remained silent for a moment, then took out ten spirit stones from his storage bag: "Poor thing, my junior sister has a problem with her mind. This is a small token of my appreciation. Please take it to the medical hall to see a doctor."

Si Nidie: "..."

“I understand, Junior Sister. The pressure of cultivation is immense, which has led to some mental issues. However, I am very poor, and this is all I can do to help.” The disciple with his hair tied up sighed.

Si Nidie: "..."

"Senior brother, you're overthinking it. I'm not sick." Si Nidie said this almost through gritted teeth, veins bulging on her forehead and a row of black lines appearing.

The disciple with his hair tied up clearly didn't believe it: "Junior sister, there's no need to hide your illness from doctors."

Si Nidie: "..."

Lou Yuqing overheard their conversation, her expression unreadable. This senior brother's words were well-intentioned, but they had clearly caused an unnecessary misunderstanding.

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was becoming tense, Lou Yuqing immediately spoke up to defuse the situation: "She's really not sick, you don't need to give her spirit stones."

The disciple with his hair tied up asked doubtfully, "Really?"

"Senior sister, the token," Lou Yuqing reminded her.

Si Nidie took a deep breath, took out the token, and although she didn't know what she was going to do, she just did as she was told. To be honest, she didn't really want to communicate with the disciples who had tied up their hair.

On the other side, the disciples in line noticed the commotion and turned to look.

Lou Yuqing then addressed the crowd, saying, "Dear senior brothers and sisters, the puppet in cultivation room number 536 has escaped. It's highly likely that it's among these puppets. If anyone can provide clues or find the puppet's location, I will transfer the right to use this cultivation room to you at the agreed price. You can extend the usage for as many days as you like."

Upon hearing this, all the disciples were moved.

There are regulations that the right to use the cultivation room is non-transferable, but there is one exception: if a disciple ends his or her use of the cultivation room early, he or she can give the remaining time to someone else.

Since the cultivation room does not return spirit stones to disciples, to avoid waste, disciples can trade with others, which is the best of both worlds.

A clever man once discovered the business opportunity in it, renting the cultivation rooms multiple times and then reselling them, making a fortune in spirit stones. After all, some disciples who urgently needed cultivation rooms were not short of money.

After this happened several times, the upper echelons of the training room noticed something was amiss. Why was this disciple coming to the training room so frequently? And the crucial point was that he was given to someone else after only a short while.

The Enforcement Hall received a report and sent people to investigate. They discovered that someone from the Great Wisdom Joint Cultivation Chamber had started a business and earned 10,000 spirit stones in just a month or two.

This terrifying number is something that an ordinary disciple would probably have to earn over a hundred years to achieve!

Because these two disrespected the sect and violated its rules, they were punished by being sent to cultivate the wilderness. Cultivating the wilderness was a tough job, as they had to face countless powerful creatures and were prone to death.

From then on, no disciple dared to take advantage of the loophole.

They were queuing up for a training room vacancy, not really expecting anything, but then a huge windfall fell from the sky, and everyone immediately took the bait.

Even the disciples who had tied up their hair couldn't resist the temptation, and they all had a regretful expression on their faces, as if to say, "Junior sister, why didn't you say so earlier? It would have been fine if I had just left it to you."

"I'll find you a puppet right away. I hope you'll keep your promise!" someone shouted to Lou Yuqing.

Lou Yuqing looked behind him and smiled, "They've already started to take action. If you don't go looking for them soon, it might be too late."

When he turned around, he saw that everyone else had run to the puppet and were examining it. He cursed under his breath and immediately joined the search for the puppet.

Si Nidie looked at Lou Yuqing approvingly: "Junior sister's move is good. Many hands make light work. This guy who's pretending to be a ghost won't be able to hide for long."

Lou Yuqing chuckled.

She and her senior sister stood by and watched, so that they could catch the puppet as soon as it started moving. These puppets in front of them were decorations, or you could say they were the puppeteers' failed creations. They did not have the abilities of normal puppets and could be easily distinguished.

Taking advantage of their numbers, the disciples managed to inspect most of the puppets.

Just then, the disciple with his hair tied up walked up to a puppet, raised his hand and touched the back of its head. He was an expert in this area; he could tell the puppet's authenticity simply by inserting a spirit stone into its head and observing its reaction.

In the blink of an eye, the puppet leaped up, dodging his touch, and while still in mid-air, slashed his neck, stunning him before flying away without a backward glance.

"It's here!" Si Nidie narrowed her eyes and transformed into a streak of light to give chase. The other disciples were not to be outdone, clinging tightly to the puppet's tail. In an instant, the sky was dyed in all sorts of colors.

Lou Yuqing couldn't catch up with them using her magic weapon. Thinking of the lightning escape technique she had learned a few days ago, she immediately mobilized the spiritual power in her body. In the next instant, arcs of electricity, like snakes, spread all over her body.

"Crack!"

Thunder roared, and the girl's figure disappeared from the spot.

The speed of the Lightning Escape Technique is almost the same as teleportation. In the blink of an eye, Lou Yuqing caught up with the crowd. With another flash, she directly surpassed everyone and became the leading star in the meteor shower.

This scene attracted the attention of many passing disciples. After watching the meteor shower for several seconds, they suddenly realized, "Wait a minute, what is that thing flying ahead?"

"It looks like a puppet from the training room," someone said uncertainly.

"puppet?"

Ling Yunxiao glanced curiously in that direction. He had just returned from a mission and was on his way to report to the Enforcement Hall, so he left after only a few glances.

After passing the assessment that day, he originally wanted to go to the solitary confinement room to take care of Hao Tianping, but Captain Wei said that he was a promising talent and, after asking for his opinion, placed him in the overseas dispatch team with higher quality requirements.

"Disciple has successfully completed the mission, eliminating all the troublesome demonic beasts and bringing their corpses back to the sect." As Ling Yunxiao replied, five demonic beasts of different shapes appeared on the ground.

These demonic beasts all had Foundation Establishment stage cultivation in their previous lives. Ling Yunxiao fought against five of them single-handedly, not only killing them but also without causing much damage, which is enough to show his strength.

Kui Houming's eyes revealed surprise. He had originally asked Ling Yunxiao to investigate thoroughly before sending reinforcements, but he had solved the problem by himself.

The disciples are always young and impetuous. Kui Houming shook his head with a smile. He didn't object to this, as long as his safety could be guaranteed. However, he still had to give them a warning, lest they get too cocky.

"Ling Yunxiao, do you know your mistake?" Kui Houming asked sternly.

The young man honestly replied, "This disciple knows his mistake."

“You’re quite clever. Next time you do a mission, don’t be careless. You can’t be this lucky every time. What if something unexpected happens? How will you handle it alone? You need to know that the more people you have, the more strength you have…” Kui Houming lectured him at length.

Ling Yunxiao listened quietly without arguing. He knew the other person was doing it for his own good. Although he didn't like being lectured, the other person was, after all, his senior and his boss.

"You've worked hard, give me the token." Kui Houming, with his appreciation for talent, couldn't help but share many insights. However, he knew when to stop and stop there.

Ling Yunxiao handed over the token.

Kui Houming distributed contribution points: "Keep the mission rewards safe. If you need anything, go to the sect's contribution building to exchange for them. They have a full range of things like pills, talismans, and magic tools. I've also included law enforcement points for you. In the future, if you want to advance, in addition to cultivation, points are equally important."

Ling Yunxiao accepted the token: "Thank you for the reminder, Captain. This disciple will take his leave."

Take a break, the next task should be coming soon.

Just as he was about to leave, a commotion arose at the entrance of the Hall of Law Enforcement, and a large group of people squeezed in.

The one in the lead was none other than Lou Yuqing.

Ling Yunxiao stopped in his tracks, glancing over there. Seeing the girl's spirited expression, he felt a ticklish sensation in his heart, as if a feather had been tickled by him.

Kui Houming's attention was drawn to this, and he didn't notice Lou Yuqing's little actions. He looked at the iron puppet that Lou Yuqing had pushed in front of him and asked, "Xiao Lou, what's going on?"

Lou Yuqing, head held high and chest puffed out, said, "Captain Wei, this is the suspicious object I caught!"

The puppet was quite fast and almost escaped the group's encirclement. Fortunately, she had lightning escape techniques and quickly caught up with it, then used lightning strikes to render it unable to move.

Lou Yuqing was secretly thrilled when she felt everyone's attention focused on her. She never expected that among so many senior brothers and sisters, she would come out on top.

The first time she was watched by so many people was when she rode the Crimson Hoof Spirit Boar.

Although everyone was somewhat disappointed that they had not obtained the transfer qualification for the cultivation room, their curiosity about the strange puppet drove them to the Hall of Law Enforcement.

Besides, if the other party still chooses someone else to transfer the qualification after the matter is over, wouldn't it be a pity if they didn't go? It's better to keep such a good thing in our own hands than to let someone else have it.

Upon hearing Kui Houming's question, they immediately became excited. They had all heard Lou Yuqing mention it on the way here, and several voices suddenly rang out in the hall.

Kui Houming pressed his palm down and said sternly, "Stop!"

The disciples dared not act rashly and kept their mouths shut, but they could not hide the amused expressions on their faces.

"Xiao Si, you speak," Kui Houming called out.

Si Nidie was still in shock at how amazing her junior sister was. Upon hearing this, she reflexively straightened her back and said in a firm voice, "Disciple is here!"

Then what?

Kui Houming: Death Stare.jpg

He had noticed that Xiao Si was distracted.

Si Nidie knew something was wrong and looked to her junior sister for help. Her junior sister was very helpful and transmitted her voice: "Captain Wei wants you to talk about the puppet."

“Yes, yes, that’s how it is,” Si Nidie quickly got into the zone. “My junior sister and I rented a training room to hone our basic skills. At that time, the puppet was still fine. When we wanted to spar with it, we found that the back of its head couldn’t be opened. We thought we had broken it, so we wanted to take it to the foot of the mountain to tell the training room what happened. But the puppet ran away halfway there.”

After she finished speaking, she nodded to Captain Wei to indicate that she was done.

Kui Houming murmured, "A moving puppet?"

Without spirit stones as an energy source, the puppet will not move.

Could the puppet have become sentient?

Kui Houming shook his head, feeling that he was daydreaming. The prerequisite for becoming a spirit is having life and a soul. Puppet is made of cold, hard ore, which does not meet the conditions for becoming a spirit at all.

He channeled his spiritual energy into the puppet's body. The energy circulated throughout the puppet's body, but he found nothing unusual; it was completely a puppet's body.

He then used other methods to investigate.

Just then, Lou Yuqing's inner thoughts rang in everyone's ears.

[Wow, we've all been fooled! This puppet was actually a real person in disguise!]

Everyone looked up in shock: What?!

Wait, where did that sound come from?

I tried to speak, but the words got stuck in my throat.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the main hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

It's hard to say whether the news that the puppet is actually a real person is more terrifying, or whether the sudden inability to speak is more terrifying.

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Author's Note: Pre-order: "The Cannon Fodder's Farming Skills Are a Billion Bit Strong," please add to your favorites.

In the novel "The Immortal Path to Immortality", there is a cannon fodder character who opposes the female lead. He overestimates his abilities and makes a bet with her, but dies inexplicably on the competition stage.

Chu Yunran transmigrated into the body of a cannon fodder character, staging a dramatic resurrection.

Faced with an unknown enemy within the sect, she quickly fled.

Cultivating immortality is too dangerous; she just wants to go home and farm.

Later, she discovered

Whenever the spiritual plant matures, her cultivation level increases.

Harvesting one acre of spirit rice grants +10 years of cultivation!

Harvest a tea tree, and your cultivation level will increase by 20 years!

Harvesting a mushroom grants +50 years of cultivation!

When her cultivation level was low, Chu Yunran was obsequious and submissive.

When her cultivation level increased significantly, Chu Yunran launched a powerful attack.

Which brat plotted against this old lady? She's going to turn this person into fertilizer!

Everyone was shocked and investigated Chu Yunran's experiences over the years. It turned out that all she did was farm, and they couldn't help but question the meaning of life.

Damn, can you cultivate immortality by farming?

Chu Yunran proudly raised her head: Yes.

This book is also known as "Growing Farm in the World of Cultivation".

#The Way of Survival, I Know It# #Farming is the True Way#