Qing'an Town, Qingxuan Sect's station.
Zhou Guangzhi saw Xu Lijin descend on his sword into the courtyard and quickly went to greet him.
"Senior Brother Xu, what were the results? Is that person at the Qi Refining Seventh Level?" Zhou Guangzhi asked with concern.
"Qi Refining Seventh Level, and his Divine Sense is not weak either." Xu Lijin nodded, his voice deep: "Think of a way to kill him!"
"Senior Brother, if we act directly and the Sect finds out..." Zhou Guangzhi hesitated. Qi Refining Seventh Level meant he could easily fly with a sword. If they couldn't kill him and silence him, he might escape. At that time, if he reported them to the Sect, they would be in deep trouble.
"Didn't I say to think of a way! I didn't tell you to act directly." Xu Lijin glanced at Zhou Guangzhi, annoyed.
"Uh!" Zhou Guangzhi pondered, looking at Xu Lijin: "Lure him out? That kid is a spirit rice farmer, very timid, probably won't fall for it. Xiao Liang Mountain is so remote, if we could lure a Yao Beast over, maybe there's a chance!"
"This plan is feasible, so it's settled. You go find a Yao Beast, and I'll prepare the bait Materials." Xu Lijin nodded and instructed.
"Yes!" Zhou Guangzhi readily accepted the order, hurrying out of the courtyard to inquire about Yao Beasts.
— — — —
Xiao Liang Mountain.
After sending Xu Lijin away, Li Mu felt a subtle unease and accelerated the carving of the Puppet.
Wood chips flew, and the sharp carving knife in Li Mu's hand was like a paintbrush, 'painting' along the natural grain of the spirit peach wood, carving out the Puppet's array patterns and integrating them with the wood...
About a quarter of an hour later, two palm-sized spider wood carvings, lifelike and vivid, appeared in Li Mu's hands.
Li Mu put away the carving knife, flipped the wooden spider over, took out a lower Spirit Stone, and placed it in the groove on the spider's abdomen. The next second, the Puppet array patterns on the wooden spider activated, a spiritual light flickered, and then disappeared.
Li Mu smiled with satisfaction, placed the spider Puppet on the ground, and controlled its movement with his Divine Sense.
The wooden spider moved its eight wooden legs, crawling quickly, sometimes left, sometimes right, very agile.
Crimson Wolf, lying on the ground accompanying its master, saw this scene and immediately became interested, chasing after the spider Puppet.
Seeing this, Li Mu became interested and manipulated the spider Puppet with his Divine Sense, making it crawl quickly, dodging left and right, sometimes hiding in piles of clutter, or squeezing into narrow door cracks, moving swiftly and incredibly flexibly.
Crimson Wolf barked anxiously, unable to catch the agile prey.
"Crimson Wolf, come here." Li Mu called out to the Crimson Wolf puppy with a smile.
After several days of feeding, Crimson Wolf had recognized Li Mu as its master. It abandoned its prey and obediently ran to Li Mu.
Li Mu smiled and picked up Crimson Wolf. At the same time, he manipulated the spider Puppet with his Divine Sense, making it crawl back into his hand.
Examining the spider Puppet, Li Mu smiled happily, his gaze on the virtual light screen.
【Ding, you have successfully refined a Mortal-grade Puppet - Sentry Spider. Puppet Art proficiency +0.】
Refining the lowest-grade Sentry Spider no longer yielded proficiency rewards for his Level 4 Puppet Art, but Li Mu didn't care at all. He only needed to cultivate well to advance this Puppet Art to the highest level.
Level 4 Puppet Art provided Li Mu with a wealth of basic knowledge for refining Puppets, including experience in refining Puppets, covering Puppet patterns, Puppet arrays, array core Puppet cores, and various key Puppet components, as well as knowledge of the attributes of Puppet spirit patterns, such as: Spirit Manipulation, Spirit Binding, Awakening, Control, Linking, etc., all-encompassing and incredibly complex.
Li Mu was a programmer in his previous world, with excellent logical thinking and hands-on ability. After digesting the knowledge of refining Puppets, he became particularly interested in it.
His first attempt at refining a Puppet was successful, giving Li Mu a great sense of accomplishment. He flipped the Sentry Spider Puppet over, checked the consumption of the lower Spirit Stone, and estimated that by reducing the Sentry Spider's activity range, one lower Spirit Stone could last about 40 days.
That's enough!
These Sentry Spider Puppets have a built-in Spiritual Qi fluctuation sensing array pattern. If they are placed in ambush around Xiao Liang Mountain, they will immediately send a spirit pattern feedback to Li Mu if a significant Spiritual Qi fluctuation is detected. Li Mu can then connect with his Divine Sense to observe the scene, providing excellent early warning.
Crucially, Sentry Spider Puppets are cheap to make, small, and highly concealed, making them difficult to discover.
Li Mu could carve a Sentry Spider in a quarter of an hour. Using up the scraps of spirit peach wood, he successfully refined ten Sentry Spiders in one go.
With the remaining large pieces of spirit peach wood, Li Mu prepared to refine a humanoid 'laborer puppet' to do simple farm work for him, such as: plowing and loosening soil, tilling and weeding, transporting, and other heavy and time-consuming tasks.
Two hours passed, and Li Mu was fully engrossed in his carving work, successfully carving out the main torso of the 'laborer puppet'. The wooden Puppet was about five feet tall, its limbs and build highly similar to a human's. It had five Spirit Stone inlay slots on its chest, and its body was covered with Puppet patterns extending to its limbs, deeply embedded in the Puppet's wood grain, dense and incredibly complex, like a work of art.
This laborer puppet was an autonomous Puppet and required a Puppet core. This Puppet core needed to be refined from some special spiritual items.
Li Mu thought of something and took out the Advanced Spirit Seed he had previously picked up at the spirit plant shop.
【Soul Wood Spirit Seed】
【Grade: Fourth-Grade Spirit Wood】
【Characteristics: Contains wood-attribute Soul Power, Spirit Wood vitality, can cultivate Soul Wood seedlings.】
【Status: Lacking Soul Power, spiritual essence not apparent】
【Soul Wood Spirit Seed: Requires infusion of Yin Soul Power for the Spirit Seed to cultivate. Growth requirements: Must be planted in a Yin-gathering place. Matures in a hundred years - Fourth-Grade Soul Wood. Flowers in ten years, bears Soul Infant Fruit in ten years. Soul Infant Fruit can be used to refine Soul-Nourishing Pills. Soul Wood Material is one of the main Materials for refining Split-Soul Puppets. Wearing a Fourth-Grade Soul Wood heart close to the body can strengthen the spirit and nourish the soul.】
His Talent Divine Power - Identify Myriad Spirits activated. Li Mu looked at the information of this Spirit Seed, hesitating whether to refine it into the driving core of the 'laborer puppet'.
This was an excellent spiritual item for carrying a Puppet core, capable of refining Puppet cores to drive even higher-grade Split-Soul Puppets. However, refining Split-Soul Puppets was too Advanced, and other Materials could not meet the requirements;
If he kept the Soul Wood Spirit Seed for planting and cultivating Fourth-Grade Soul Wood, it would take a hundred years to mature. Moreover, the planting environment would be difficult to achieve.
Li Mu weighed it for a moment and finally decided to use it to refine the Puppet core for the 'laborer puppet'.
Refining a Puppet core required carving Puppet patterns inside and out. He needed to use his Divine Sense to meticulously carve the interior of the Soul Wood Spirit Seed, transforming his Divine Sense into a carving knife, and engraving the array eye spirit patterns that drive the Puppet onto the surface of the Divine Sense carrier.
The step of carving spirit patterns with Divine Sense required Divine Sense strength to reach the Foundation Establishment realm. However, Li Mu's Divine Sense had been tempered by the Level 4 Quenching Spirit Art, and his Divine Sense strength was barely enough to condense into a knife, allowing him to carve tiny Puppet spirit patterns on the surface of the Soul Wood Spirit Seed.
There was only one Soul Wood Spirit Seed, and only one chance to carve the Divine Sense patterns. Once the carving failed, there would be no other suitable Puppet core carrier. Li Mu needed to practice beforehand to ensure 100% success.
Li Mu thought for a moment, took out a small piece of spirit peach wood scrap, and concentrated on practicing.