After hearing Tang Honggong's voice transmission, a strong sense of urgency arose.
Cultivate! Cultivate! Cultivate!
After informing Huang Guiren, Qian Duoduo activated all the shielding Formations of his Immortal Cave and entered the Artifact Refining Room in the backyard.
Qian Duoduo wrote down the Magic Treasure for refining Puppets and had Huang Guiren purchase the relevant materials.
If he couldn't buy them, he directly asked Elder Tian Shu.
With Elder Tian Shu's help, all the materials for these hundred Puppets were prepared.
He ate his meal bite by bite, and refined the artifacts one by one.
Qian Duoduo took a deep breath and began refining Dan artifact Puppets.
“Barbecue Puppet,” “Sweeping Puppet,” “Gatekeeper Puppet”… fifty Dan artifact Puppets were refined without any difficulty, all in one go.
When he was tired from refining, and his head ached, he Cultivated the third level of the Turning Stone into Gold Art, using physical pain to alleviate the headache.
At some point, Liu Boli floated out of the Golden Toad.
He looked at the fifty Puppets, nodded, and praised, “This Disciple is teachable.”
This was the first time Liu Bo had praised him since Qian Duoduo had met him.
Qian Duoduo bowed deeply to him, “Master, you flatter me.”
Seeing that Qian Duoduo was neither arrogant nor impetuous, Liu Boli nodded again. “Continue.”
With him overseeing, Qian Duoduo's confidence increased by three points, and he began refining Profound Weapon Puppets.
The “Sword Cultivator Puppet” and “Gun Cultivator Puppet” were refined very smoothly, succeeding in one attempt.
When it came to the “Whip Cultivator Puppet,” there was a slight deviation, and it took two attempts.
Qian Duoduo secretly glanced at Liu Boli.
His Master's already fair hands were unhurriedly stroking his beard.
Qian Duoduo's heart calmed down, and he focused entirely on refining Puppets.
Of the fifty Profound Weapon Puppets, nine took two attempts, while the rest were completed in one attempt.
Among them, the most Advanced was the High-Grade Profound Artifact.
After a few deep breaths, Qian Duoduo stopped to rest and drank several bottles of Spirit Liquid.
Before entering the Ghost Head Secret Realm, he would have to go to the Spirit Tin Ore Vein in the Chifeng Mountain Range again to collect some Spirit Liquid.
“No one can guarantee that Artifact Refining will succeed in one go; just refine with all your heart. Success or failure doesn't matter.”
Liu Boli said softly.
“Master, please teach me how to Condense Soul,” Qian Duoduo said respectfully.
“During the Puppet test, when I refined Spiritual Artifacts, I couldn't Condense Soul, and all of them failed.”
“The Condensing Soul Art, since ancient times, has been a Cultivation Mystic Art, only passed down from Master to Disciple, or father to son,” Liu Boli looked at Qian Duoduo.
“I will teach you this Condensing Soul Art now.”
Qian Duoduo was very opinionated; if he didn't speak first, Liu Boli wouldn't actively teach him.
Although Liu Boli had coldly observed Qian Duoduo's failures in the Golden Toad, he had not shown himself.
Now that he had reached the bottleneck of Condensing Soul and couldn't break through, it was when he most yearned for it, and it was also the best time to teach.
“The so-called three souls—fetal light, bright spirit, and obscure essence—are also known as the Heavenly Soul, Human Soul, and Earth Soul, representing Yang.
The so-called seven corporeal souls—corpse dog, hidden arrow, sparrow sun, thief devourer, non-poison, defiler remover, and foul lung—are also known as joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire, representing Yin…”
“The essence of Condensing Soul, understood through Artifact Refining, is to use soul liquid as material to refine the soul you desire.”
Liu Boli's words brought Qian Duoduo to a sudden realization.
“The Condensing Soul Array or Condensing Soul Plate, right rotation is decomposition, left rotation is combination. And refining is done under the Condensing Soul Array or Condensing Soul Plate.”
Qian Duoduo nodded, “I understand a little.”
“I will teach you the Condensing Soul Array, and if you practice more, you will Master it.”
Liu Boli took the blank Jade Slip that Qian Duoduo handed over and began writing in it with his Spiritual Awareness.
“But where do I get soul liquid?” Qian Duoduo thought of a question.
In the illusory space of the Wood House, soul liquid was readily available, stored in jade boxes.
“It's everywhere. In your manor, many Spirit Beasts and Spirit Birds die every day; collect their souls, filter them, and that's soul liquid.”
Liu Boli returned the written Jade Slip to Qian Duoduo.
“This contains the method for collecting it.”
Qian Duoduo took the Jade Slip and saw that the method for collecting soul liquid was actually to build an altar.
The altar was built with jade and good wood, with nine soul-summoning banners standing on it.
Four Spirit Birds banners and five Spirit Beasts banners. The banners were in nine colors: cyan, crimson, yellow, white, black, green, purple, red, and dark blue.
At the bottom center of the altar, a small altar could hold an urn, and a large altar could have a pool.
Over time, the urns and pools would fill with soul liquid.
“Elder Liu, how long will it take to accumulate enough soul liquid for Condensing Soul?”
Qian Duoduo wanted to go build the altar immediately.
“Fast, about a year.” Hearing the word “fast,” Qian Duoduo was about to be happy, but then hearing “a year,” he immediately deflated.
“That long?”
“Can you Condense a drop of Jin Buhuan's soul?” Liu Boli pointed to the Golden Toad.
Qian Duoduo looked closely and shook his head in disappointment.
That thin layer of phantom, let alone a drop, didn't even have half a drop.
At this moment, Qian Duoduo suddenly realized how precious the assessment opportunity was in the illusory space of the golden pillar.
Box after box of soul liquid, placed before him, just disappeared into the air.
Calculating the time, he had been in seclusion for about a month, and it was no longer realistic to go to Wanjinge Square to practice Condensing Soul for assessment.
He had to prepare well for the Ghost Head Secret Realm!
…
Three days later, the first ray of sunlight lit up the peak of Mengyuan Mountain.
“Dong, dong, dong,” nine bells rang on Preaching Mountain.
Golden clouds simultaneously rose from the Five Immortal Mountains of the Refining Spirit Sect, heading straight for the Purple Firmament Great Hall.
Qian Duoduo, Dugu Yunshan, Xu Fa, and twenty other Qi Condensation Great Perfection Disciples followed Tang Honggong, stepping on golden swords, moving swiftly.
At this moment, the mountain path of Mengyuan Mountain was filled with Disciples seeing them off.
They looked up, their expressions excited.
This journey concerned the honor and disgrace of each mountain, and the rise and fall of the entire Sect.
On this journey, who knew how many would Foundation Establishment, and how many would not return.
Upon reaching the Purple Firmament Great Hall, the Palace Lords and Disciples from the other four Immortal Mountains had also arrived, standing neatly in front of the Great Hall's entrance.
Twenty from each mountain, a total of one hundred.
Whether it was the Palace Lords or the departing Disciples, everyone's expression was solemn. The Palace Lords' companion beasts had also all arrived.
Dugu Yunshan was like a calm abyss; it felt as if his Cultivation had deepened considerably.
Cao Yueying and Deng Feihong stood side by side, at the forefront of the Xiong Jin Legion Disciples.
Lei Hong winked at Qian Duoduo, a greeting. Nangong Qinglong and Nangong Nizi beside him were calm, their eyes fixed on their noses, their noses on their mouths.
Caizhu had his eyes tightly shut, as if avoiding the sunlight on his face; the ancient coins on his waist seemed to have lengthened by a section—originally five, now seven.
Su Dalin, whose face was green, had his hair automatically turn towards the sun, as if absorbing its energy.
Twenty to thirty Elders from the Sect came to see them off, standing on the Great Hall's terrace, discussing in low voices.
“You, the most outstanding among our Sect's Xiong Jun, must do your best this time.”
“The more who achieve The Righteous Foundation Establishment, the more our Sect can flourish. I hope Ba Ling Sect and Shengling Sect have none who achieve The Righteous Foundation Establishment!”
“I also hope so, but that's just a hope. Not to boost their Sect's prestige, but Ba Ling Sect and Shengling Sect's strength is not weak. To be honest, they are stronger than us. I hope our Sect's Disciples are not careless!”
“In the Secret Realm, all Cultivators above Foundation Establishment are blocked. Everything can only rely on the Disciples themselves.”
“If any Disciple of our Sect can achieve Foundation Establishment (Heavenly Way), our Sect will surely prosper!”
“Foundation Establishment (Heavenly Way), I haven't heard of it in nearly ten thousand years. The Lower Road, the resources there are not enough to support it, right…”
Amidst the discussions, a right foot stepped out of the Great Hall's threshold.
Sect Leader Niu Jinshui came out.