Three days passed in a flash.
Li Mu successfully carved seven Puppet Core, while one Puppet Core failed to be carved. At the same time, he also carved nine humanoid Battle Puppet bodies from twenty spirit peach wood.
He opened the secret compartment on the chest of a Battle Puppet, placed the Puppet Core inside, then took five Mid-Grade Spirit Stone and embedded them into the spiritual energy array.
Li Mu reached out and injected spiritual energy, his Divine Sense covering the Puppet Core.
The next second, the Puppet's body array patterns flashed and disappeared, and the Battle Puppet came to life, pushing itself up with its limbs, flexibly leaping up, and standing straight in front of Li Mu. The Puppet's body emitted a powerful Spiritual Pressure, reaching the Peak of Qi Refining ninth layer.
Li Mu's heart stirred, and he controlled the Puppet with his Divine Sense, guiding it towards the center of the courtyard.
The Battle Puppet took mechanical steps and quickly stood still in the center of the courtyard, rooted to the ground like wood.
âCome, let's have a fight!â Li Mu gave the Battle Puppet a combat command through his Divine Sense, preparing to test the Battle Puppet's combat power.
The next second, the Battle Puppet pushed off with its feet and lunged forward fiercely.
âBang!â
Li Mu narrowly blocked the Puppet's punch with his hand, being forced back two steps.
However, before Li Mu could regain his balance, the Battle Puppet followed closely, delivering a sweeping blow. A thick wooden leg quickly came into view, carrying immense force.
Li Mu's expression changed, and he was forced to block with both hands.
âBang!â
Li Mu blocked with both hands, once again warding off the Battle Puppet's attack. His body was sent flying, and his arms burned with pain.
âStop!â Li Mu was startled and immediately ordered the Battle Puppet to cease fighting with his Divine Sense.
âWhoosh!â A wooden fist stopped just a dozen inches from Li Mu's face, its sharp punch-wind blowing his bangs away.
Li Mu, having narrowly escaped death, was pale.
âOh my! That hurt so much, it's bruised!â Li Mu checked his arm, tears welling up from the pain.
Li Mu had forgotten that he hadn't learned any close-combat Cultivation Technique, and he had mostly stayed on the mountain farming, without much combat experience.
Previously, his victories in the two life-and-death battles were entirely dependent on external advantages like Second-Order Spirit Talisman and Spiritual Artifact. Li Mu himself didn't possess much combat talent.
However, a Battle Puppet was different. The complex Battle Puppet array patterns carved into the Puppet Core endowed the Puppet with extremely strong combat instincts, and it would continuously absorb combat experience to improve its own combat system, in addition to its hard wooden body and fearlessness of death.
The gap in combat quality was too wide; there was no way to fight!
Li Mu's expression was grim. The Outer Sect Disciple assessment seemed to include combat.
Li Mu thought of something, rummaged through his Storage Pouch, and pulled out âFinger Flicking Forceâ and âTwenty-Four Season Swordplay,â two mortal-grade combat Cultivation Technique, and quickly began to study them.
âFinger Flicking Forceâ involved generating a subtle force to shoot out a burst of Qi. It was a finger technique that could be used for both close-range and long-range attacks.
Following the circulation route of the Finger Flicking Force, Li Mu condensed spiritual energy essence in his right hand, joined his index and middle fingers, and with a âpoof,â a burst of spiritual energy essence shot out along his two fingers.
A visible burst of essence Qi struck the ground, leaving a shallow indentation and kicking up a few wisps of dust.
âThis power is too small. Mortal techniques are just like this!â Li Mu frowned in dissatisfaction, then looked at the character virtual frame.
ăDing, you have learned Mortal Grade Cultivation Technique - Finger Flicking Force. Finger Flicking Force proficiency +1.ă
Li Mu immediately saw the prompt for Finger Flicking Force inscribed on the character panel, and then added the free proficiency points.
ăDing, you consumed one free proficiency point. Finger Flicking Force proficiency +1.ă
...
Li Mu used 9600 free proficiency points in one go, leveling Finger Flicking Force to Level Four. A large amount of Finger Flicking Force usage experience and key techniques appeared in his mind.
At this moment, Li Mu felt as if he had used Finger Flicking Force thousands of times. With a casual flick of his finger, a soft âwhooshâ sound was heard, and a sharp burst of essence Qi shot out, disappearing in an instant.
The next second, with a âbang!â sound, a small, half-finger-deep hole suddenly appeared on the ground.
Li Mu was overjoyed. The power of this Qi was not small, and its release was clever and unexpected, capable of posing a considerable threat to Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivator.
Li Mu was very satisfied with the power of Level Four Finger Flicking Force. Even a mortal-grade Cultivation Technique could have good combat power when Advanced.
Next, it was time to cultivate âTwenty-Four Season Swordplay.â
Li Mu took out a First-Order Mystic Iron Sword from his Storage Pouch and began to practice the sword moves of the Twenty-Four Season Swordplay.
Perhaps it was because Li Mu had mastered Sword Intent and Sword Domain, but when he practiced the Twenty-Four Season Swordplay with his sword, he immediately grasped the key variations of this sword technique. The Twenty-Four Season Swordplay corresponded to the twenty-four solar terms: Start of Spring, Rain Water, Awakening of Insects, Spring Equinox, Clear and Bright, Grain Rain, ...
Start of Spring, all things gradually recover, the sword moves are gentle yet resilient; Rain Water, humidity gradually rises, frost and dew are common, the sword moves are sometimes fast, sometimes slow, with flashes of cold light; ...
ăDing, you have learned Mortal Grade Swordplay - Twenty-Four Season Swordplay. Twenty-Four Season Swordplay proficiency +1.ă
After completing a set of âTwenty-Four Season Swordplay,â Li Mu immediately saw a new improvement appear in the character virtual frame.
Li Mu circulated the Illusionary Breath Art Cultivation Technique, retracting the suddenly explosive sharp Sword Intent. Practicing this set of âTwenty-Four Season Swordplayâ made him feel unusual; the sword technique actually carried the essence of nature, leaving a profound aftertaste.
ăDing, you consumed one free proficiency point. Twenty-Four Season Swordplay proficiency +1.ă
ăDing, you consumed one free proficiency point. Twenty-Four Season Swordplay proficiency +1.ă
...
Similar to Finger Flicking Force, Li Mu also raised Twenty-Four Season Swordplay to Level Four, gaining a large amount of Twenty-Four Season Swordplay cultivation experience and essential sword moves. Besides this, there were no other special gains.
Li Mu frowned, somewhat puzzled, feeling that this sword technique shouldn't be so simple.
After learning two mortal-grade Cultivation Technique and raising them to Level Four, his original 20350 free proficiency points were reduced to only 1150 points. Li Mu's close-combat ability had been greatly enhanced, which was incredibly worthwhile.
Li Mu put the Mystic Iron Sword back into his Storage Pouch, picked up a wooden stick, and used it as a sword to continue sparring with the Battle Puppet. âClang, clang, clang...â One person and one Puppet fought back and forth in the courtyard, kicking up dust, intensely.
The battle lasted for half an hour. The Battle Puppet's body was damaged by his Sword Intent, and only then did Li Mu reluctantly stop his fight with the Puppet.
Through this battle, Li Mu confirmed the true strength of the Second-Order Battle Puppet. It indeed possessed the combat power of Qi Refining ninth layer. If it were equipped with suitable weapons, it should be able to fight against an Early Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator for a period of time.
However, it consumed too many Spirit Stone.
Li Mu took out the Puppet Core to replace it with a new Puppet body and only then realized that the five Mid-Grade Spirit Stone had already shrunk considerably. Under intense combat, they wouldn't last four or five hours.
Li Mu also installed Puppet Core and embedded Mid-Grade Spirit Stone into the other six Battle Puppet, then stored them all in his Storage Pouch, ready to be released as a trump card to deal with crises.
Next, Li Mu began to draw Second-Order Spirit Talisman and refine defensive Spiritual Artifact, making the final preparations for the upcoming trip to Gangyang City.
