Chapter 120: Bug and Beast Puppets

Chapter 119

Although the battle forum was over, its reverberation had not completely subsided.

After all the disciples had gone into the retreat, they had each gained various levels of understanding.

Talented disciples such as Zhang Kui had gained more than the others.

After Zhang Kui returned to the Puppet Hall, he chose to go into the retreat directly.

When he got out of the retreat, he was surprised to find that the Puppet Hall had become extremely busy.

Hse inquired with the deacon in the hall and found out that due to what the Little Master-Uncle had said in the battle forum, the headmaster reconsidered and began to create exquisite puppets.

Nowadays, the Puppet Hall was mainly selling newly made puppets.

Exquisite Grade 1 puppets mainly belonged to a bug series containing a variety of delicate bugs, and each had different functions.

They included probing bugs, sound-transmitting bugs, and peeping bugs, as well as explosive bugs, fire bugs, and speed bugs.

Although these bug puppets were only Grade 1, they were selling like hotcakes.

These were especially beloved by disciples from the outside, and could be considered their best-sellers outside the clan.

Grade 2 puppets also had a bug series, but there was a beast series additionally.

The bug series in this grade was an elevation based on the original Grade 1 bug puppets.

Their outward shape had been retained, but their main capabilities had been greatly enhanced.

Grade 2 probing bugs, for example, could probe further than those that were Grade 1.

Grade 2 explosive bugs, for example, could explode continuously, but Grade 1 explosive bugs could only explode once,

In addition, there were other bug puppets with some unusual abilities.

As for the beast series, they were the latest puppets from the Puppet Hall.

They were all palm-sized and came in the form of all kinds of demonic beasts.

However, only their outward appearance was similar, because their abilities were vastly different.

No matter what kind of beast puppets existed, they all had one common ability: they could fly and increase in size.

The focus of each beast puppet was different as well.

For example, the Cloud Leopard Puppet focused on flight speed.

Its speed of flight was comparable to cultivators in the Intermediate Foundation Plane who used their full strength to fly.

It could also sprint with great speed on the ground, and thus travel even faster than flying.

It was capable of spraying soil and poisonous mist, as well as carrying out sharp-clawed attacks to protect itself.

Each beast puppet had five basic abilities: flight, sprint, attack, protect and spell.

With each added category, the value of the puppet would increase while its availability decreased.

Even so, these beast puppets were gone in just a short time.

Zhang Kui saw that in the scrambling crowd, there was Li Yifei, Zhao Qinghe, Jiang Lin, Xue Fan, Feng Liuyun, Lin Feiyang, etc. Except for the disciples of the sword branches, everyone else were here.

“Are these puppet so coveted?” Zhang Kui approached and asked.

“They are your own puppets, don’t you know?” Li Yifei asked with a smile.

“I just got out of the retreat,” Zhang Kui shook his head.

“There is no need to buy all the bug puppets, since most of them are available, especially those ones in Grade 2,” Zhao Qinghe said. “The sound-transmitting bug puppets are the ones especially useful to us.”

“We are preparing for the trip down the mountain,” Jiang Lin said to Zhang Kui, after he took a sip of the wine. “Exchanging the spiritual stones we have with puppets will add to our arsenals.”

The sound-transmitting puppets could strengthen communication and relay information, which would be very useful.

Probing bugs and peeping bugs both had great uses, as well.

There were also the explosive bug puppets. Although they were meant to be used only once, their power was comparable to that of the Intermediate Foundation Plane.

Their successive explosions could have special unexpected effects.

It was not an exaggeration to say that bug puppets were something not to be missed.

As for beast puppets, everyone had treated them mostly as demonic beast mounts.

Raising demonic beasts was a troublesome task, yet it was something liked by cultivators.

In that case, the beast puppets were their best choice.

There was no need to feed them, only the need to activate them with spiritual stones.

The beast puppets also had a variety of abilities, which could be life-saving at critical moments.

The most important key factor was that the price of these puppets was not exorbitant and was well within everyone’s range of affordability.

Rather than spending spiritual stones to purchase spiritual items, it was much better to purchase puppets instead.

At their cultivation plane, ordinary spiritual items were often not that handy.

“It seems that I have much to learn, like trying to make new puppets,” Zhang Kui said.

“It’s best to prepare more materials,” Li Yifei said. “After going down the mountain, you can make a lot of money. Cultivators from other celestial clans will be very interested in these puppets.”

Zhang Kui nodded, a little excited inside.

Knowing that the Little Master-Uncle was still in the retreat, Zhang Kui gave up any thoughts of going to Daoxuan Peak.

After he parted ways with everyone else, Zhang Kui went to the Puppet Hall.

“The popularity of Tianzhu Peak in the past was attributed to the Alchemy Temple; no one expected that it would be Puppet Hall this time.” Jiang Lin watched Zhang Kui leave and said softly, “Little Master-Uncle is truly impressive.”

“I know, right?” Zhao Qinghe said with a smile, “Just a few random pointers from him actually revitalized the Puppet Hall. If this momentum continues, there will probably be a lot more disciples coming to the Puppet Hall this year.”

“Enough,” said Li Yifei, “Let’s go to my cave residence first; the others must have already arrived there. Let’s discuss the matter of going to Pulao Kingdom!”

“Did senior brother Kong Guang agree to come over?” Zhao Qinghe asked.

“I have sent him a communication jade slip but he is still in the retreat for the time being,” Li Yifei shook his head. “Let’s discuss it first. As for senior brother Kong Guang, he may not be coming with us.”

“Alright!” Jiang Lin nodded and flew away with the others.

Disciples from the sword branches were not a tight-knit group, and it was not necessary for everyone to join forces in the battle for the dragon.

Daoxuan Peak; Peak Master’s Compound.

Headmaster Mo Bei came to visit in person, and Peak Master Yang did not dare to neglect the visit. He personally welcomed this special guest to the backyard pavilion.

Mrs. Yang poured the tea herself and sat on the side instead of leaving.

“Good tea!” Headmaster Mo Bei laughed, “I haven’t seen you for many years, junior sister, and did not expect that you have such skills.”

“I have nothing to do, so I practiced a little something on the side,” Mrs. Yang looked at him and asked, “Your trip to Daoxuan Peak, is it about junior brother Jingzhai or for your puppets?”

“The karmic ties with junior brother Jingzhai are over now,” Headmaster Mo Bei shook his head. “I’m here to make an introduction for the puppets: to introduce the new puppets, and to introduce puppet formations.”

“Junior brother Jingzhai’s karma was given to Hongluan Peak?” Mrs. Yang asked, narrowing her eyes.

“I can’t do anything about the arrangement made by Headmaster Fuyunzi,” Headmaster Mo Bei said casually.

“Does senior brother have any kind of new puppets to show us?” Peak Master Yang asked.

“Inspired by junior brother Jingzhai, we have made exquisite puppets, which not only saves materials but also meets everyone’s needs.” Headmaster Mo Bei smiled, “The Puppet Hall intends to customize puppets for each peak. At present, Alchemy Temple, along with Elixir Peak and the Divine Tower lineage, have all responded.”

“What about Daoxuan Peak?” Peak Master Yang asked curiously.

“Junior Brother, please take a look!” After Headmaster Mo Bei finished speaking, he took out a puppet.

It was a humanoid puppet that appeared on the table, clad in a Taoist robe with five flags on its back, a purple-gold crown on its head, holding a dagger in its hand. Its facial features were clear and looked just like a doll.

“Grade 3 humanoid puppet?” Peak Master Yang probed with his divine mind. “The five flags are used as the flags for formation, and the body itself is carried by the divine mind which may expand or shrink at will. It can set up a formation to trap and kill; not a bad puppet to have!”

“The number of flags can be increased, and it can act as the eye of the formation itself,” said Headmaster Mo Bei. “This is equivalent to carrying a formation, because it has been fully completed, and can be set up in an instant.”

It was a portable, Grade 3 formation that could be set up with a turning of the mind.

Peak Master Yang was instantly interested as this was something truly important for formation masters.

It could even improve the survival of the formation masters and enrich their arsenals.

“It’s just a formation, it’s too monotonous.”

“And, it needs to be activated by the spiritual stones, as well as needing adjustments by formation masters.”

“Compared with formation disks, it does not have much advantage.”

After playing with it for a while, Mrs. Yang shook her head and concluded that since the formation disks could also be set up in an instant, if that was all that the puppet could do, it was completely obsolete.

“It’s only a semi-finished product, so the formation needs to be programmed by formation masters.”

“It will not be too expensive, not even close to the price of magic treasures. It is about the same as the top spiritual items.”

“Apart from setting up the formation, it is still an excellent puppet, and retains all of the puppet’s abilities,” Headmaster Mo Bei explained.

The puppet master was not a formation master. To make a formation puppet, the power of one man was far from enough.

Therefore, this kind of puppet could only be a semi-finished product, because it needed the help of a formation master to complete it.

“Even so, it is not as easy to use as you imagine,” Mrs. Yang shook her head.

“Then let’s switch it up,” said Headmaster Mo Bei. “We can provide this kind of semi-finished puppets, and the formation masters of Daoxuan Peak can help us program the formations. A portion of the spiritual stones that we received in the proceeds of selling these puppets will be given to Daoxuan Peak.”

“Is it the same for the rest of the peaks?” Mrs. Yang asked.

“Not all peaks agreed, and not all peak have this kind of ability,” Headmaster Mo Bei said openly, “We need formation puppets to enrich our cache of puppets.”

In the end, it was an offer that Peak Master Yang could not refuse.

Even formation masters could not sit by and eat air. It was not a bad deal to earn spiritual stones by partnering up with the Puppet Hall.

Furthermore, Headmaster Mo Bei also took out a Grade 4 puppet.

It was still an incomplete, semi-finished product, even less finished than the Grade 3 puppet.

But once the Grade 4 formation could be programmed, even if it was not instant, its value was immeasurable.

For Peak Master Yang, this was definitely an opportunity not to be missed.