A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

"It's not that; I was marveling at just how extraordinary sentient puppets truly are. If it weren't for the fact that I'm also proficient in puppetry myself, I'd be fooled into thinking that this sentient puppet was an actual person. The spiritual pressure emanating from her body is remarkably similar to that of a normal cultivator," Han Li praised with a smile on his face.

Not only was Jia Tianmu not dejected upon hearing this, he burst into hearty laughter instead. "Haha, so you've figured it out, Fellow Daoist Han! Tsk tsk, among the fellow Daoists who have visited my cave abode, you are definitely the first below the holy race to discover that this servant of mine is only a puppet. I refined this puppet myself many years ago, and it's swindled many of my good friends since then."He seemed to be quite impressed that Han Li had been able to identify his servant as a puppet.

"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist Jia. From the looks of it, this sentient puppet isn't very powerful, but it certainly does greatly resemble a human," Han Li mused with a smile as he appraised the puppet, which was virtually identical to a real human being.

"You do indeed have a brilliant discerning eye, Brother Han! This is the first sentient puppet that I've ever refined, and it's only a third-tier upper race puppet. I decided to solely pursue crafting a sentient puppet with the most spiritual nature at the time, but unfortunately, even after I've nurtured the puppet for so long, its spiritual nature hasn't been enhanced in the slightest," Jia Tianmu sighed as he turned toward the servant with a wistful look on his face.

At this moment, the servant suddenly turned and smiled at Jia Tianmu in an extremely humanized manner, but its smile then instantly faded as it adopted a blank and wooden expression again. Han Li was a little speechless upon seeing this. "Have a look at the sentient puppet in the box and see if you're happy with it, Brother Han," Jia Tianmu prompted after withdrawing his gaze from his servant."Alright, then I'll go ahead." Han Li nodded as he swept a sleeve over the table, and a swath of azure light surged forth. The long wooden box opened following a crisp crack, revealing the item within. Han Li focused his gaze on the item, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

There was a white snake that was around a foot in length sitting inside the box. Its entire body was glittering and translucent, with a layer of white spiritual light radiating from it.

"This is a new type of sentient puppet that I refined not long ago. It possesses a cultivation base that's roughly the same as yours at around the seventh-tier of the upper race, but even though it's not all that powerful, it possesses two forms. If it weren't for the fact that you've saved my life, I really wouldn't be willing to part with this part," Jia Tianmu said with a slightly forlorn look in his eyes."Two forms?" Han Li was rather surprised to hear this.

"Indeed! Even though I haven't infused my blood essence into it to perform a master recognition ceremony, I can still show you its basic abilities." Jia Tianmu made a hand seal as he spoke, then pointed a finger toward the wooden box in Han Li's hands. A beam of white light immediately shot forth from his fingertip, disappearing into the white snake's body in a flash.

Spiritual light flashed, and the motionless snake suddenly sprang to life. Brilliant white light erupted from its body, and it transformed into a streak of white light as it flew out of the wooden box. Immediately thereafter, it swelled drastically to become a white python that was several tens of feet in length before circling around in the air.

The python had a pair of crimson eyes while its body was entirely covered in shimmering white scales. A violent aura was emanating from the puppet, and it really did seem to be completely identical to a real giant python. All of a sudden, Jia Tianmu let loose a low cry and made a hand seal before casting another incantation seal onto the snake.

The giant python puppet shuddered as a result before curling up into a ball.

Another flash of brilliant white light radiated forth, following which the white python transformed into a beautiful white-robed woman. In its female human form, the puppet wore a slightly lost expression as it hovered motionlessly in mid-air.

"This sentient puppet can assist you in battle and also be used as a servant in your cave abode. Its only flaw is that it requires several times the number of spirit stones to function compared to other sentient puppets. On top of that, most of the puppet's body is constructed from Glacial Crystal Iron, so it can only be powered by the extremely rare ice-attribute spirit stones. If you want to use the puppet, you'll have to prepare to expend a lot of spirit stones on it in the future," Jia Tianmu explained.

Han Li stared at the white-robed woman hovering in mid-air for a long while before smiling as he replied, "Ice-attribute spirit stones are indeed quite rare, but I do have some in my collection, so I'd be more than happy to take the puppet."

"Hehe, I'm glad that you're pleased with the puppet, Brother Han. You'll only need to use a drop of your blood essence to conduct a master recognition ceremony, and no one else will be able to use the puppet aside from yourself," Jia Tianmu said with a smile before making a hand seal, then pointing a finger at the puppet. The white-robed woman immediately swayed before flying toward Han Li as a ball of white light. It then transformed into a white snake that slowly descended into the box again. At the same time, Han Li rustled a sleeve, and a burst of azure light swept past to place the lid back onto the box.

"Fellow Daoist Jia, from the sounds of it, all of these sentient puppets were created by you, so you must be an extremely well-established puppet refinement master. I also have some interesting puppets that were given to me by someone else; would you like to see them?" Han Li turned to Jia Tianmu with a smile.

"Oh? I'd love to see them!" Jia Tianmu seemed to be genuinely excited at the prospect of witnessing a new type of puppets. Han Li smiled as he flipped his hand over, and a jade box appeared over his palm. The box was shimmering with spiritual light, and there were even a few restriction talismans plastered onto it.

After peeling off the talismans, Han Li laid a hand onto the lid of the box, and it came flying off of its own accord, following which several tens of humanoid puppets flew out from within, each of which was around a foot in size.

These were none other than the spirit servants that Han Li had received from Demon Monarch Di Xue.

As soon as these humanoid puppets flew to the center of the hall, a cloud of five-colored mist suddenly erupted forth. The mist then faded, and 12 seductive gorgeous women in five-colored dresses appeared in the hall.

At the same time, 24 handsome young men appeared on either side of the hall, and all of them were holding different types of musical instruments as they sat in a cross-legged manner.

Han Li hadn't cast any incantation seals, but a delightful captivating symphony immediately rang out within the room. The beautiful women also began to dance along to the music.

Their five-colored dresses fluttered as they flaunted their slender figures, and a peculiar fragrant aroma wafted through the air.

Jia Tianmu's eyes abruptly widened as soon as those humanoid puppets appeared, and he stared intently at them with rapt focus in his eyes.

After a long while, the captivating music drew to a halt, and the 12 female dancers also stood still on the spot with their hands by their sides. "They are indeed quite interesting. The spiritual sense within these puppets doesn't belong to you, does it, Fellow Daoist Han?" Jia Tianmu asked with an intrigued look on his face.

"So you've noticed that as well. These puppets are known as spirit servants, and they're half-spirit half-object entities. They're different from sentient puppets in that they're refined from infusing a type of spirit body into a puppet. However, they function much the same as sentient puppets in that they have a certain, albeit limited, degree of autonomy, and there's no way to further enhance their spiritual nature after they've been refined," Han Li explained with a smile.

An elated look appeared on Jia Tianmu's face upon hearing this, and he immediately asked, "I've thought of trying to fuse spirit bodies and puppets as one, and I've conducted several experiments to try and make that a reality, but none of them have succeeded. What kind of spirit body was infused into these spirit servants?"

"I didn't refine these spirit servants myself, so I'm not too sure what kind of spirit bodies were infused into them. However, I'm sure that you'll be able to separate the spirit bodies from these puppets and identify them," Han Li replied as he stroked his chin."That's true. Wait, you're giving these puppets to me?" Jian Tianmu nodded in response before suddenly realizing what Han Li was implying.

"These spirit servants are quite interesting, but they serve no purpose for me. In contrast, you have brilliant mastery in the art of puppetry, so perhaps you'll be able to make good use of them to further better yourself," Han Li said in a calm manner.

"These spirit servants are indeed extremely useful to me, but I can't just accept such a precious gift from you. How about this? I have some wealth on my hands at the moment, so I'll purchase them from you instead," Jia Tianmu insisted as he shook his head.

"If you really want to offer me something in return, then I have a few questions to ask you. If you can answer those questions, I'd be more than satisfied." Han Li finally disclosed his objective.

Jia Tianmu faltered upon hearing this before responding in a cautious manner. "Questions? Feel free to ask me anything, Brother Han. However, if what you're asking has anything to do with confidential information in our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races, then forgive me for not being able to answer them."

"Of course, my questions definitely won't be related to any sensitive subjects," Han Li assured with a smile. Jia Tianmu's expression eased upon hearing this, and he nodded as he said, "Then go ahead, Brother Han."

"During the past few days, I heard from someone that there seems to be a teleportation formation capable of facilitating teleportation between continents in the Heavenly Cloud Races; is that true? If so, which race is it being controlled by?" Han Li asked.

Jia Tianmu was clearly rather taken aback by Han Li's question, and he relaxed even further as he replied, "There is indeed such a teleportation formation, but it's not being controlled by any single race. Instead, it belongs to several races among our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races."

"Which races do the teleportation formation belong to?" Han Li asked.

"Due to the fact that the teleportation formation needs to be kept in good condition, it's often serviced, and that's taken care of by the Crystal Race, the Stone Cocoon Race, the Multihand Race, and our Myriad Ancient Race. Fellow Daoist Han, are you interested in the teleportation formation itself or are you interested in using it?" Jia Tianmu asked with a thoughtful expression on his face.