New Employee Little Puppet Takes Up His Post
Lu Ping traded Mental Involution for Flattery.
[You have created a new Trait.]
[One morning three months later.]
[You slightly raised your fingertip, drawing out a wisp of divine soul imprint and implanting it into the puppet before you.]
[A soft click sounded.]
[The bronze crystal skeleton inside the puppet's body snapped shut, a deep, eerie light emanating from the Spirit Crystal on its chest, and a layer of the Nascent Soul Realm spiritual pressure instantly spread around it.]
[In just three months, you not only thoroughly mastered these two secret techniques of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, but also personally assembled a Nascent Soul Realm Mechanism Puppet.]
[Put the puppet away and stand up.]
"Sect Master Gongshu, I am deeply grateful for your continued support. I will take my leave today."
[Gongshu Ke, standing to the side, gazed at the Nascent Soul puppet with astonishment and a hint of envy in his eyes.]
Currently, the Thousand Mechanisms Sect does not have a single Nascent Soul puppet in service!
So, who exactly is the puppet master?!
[Gongshu Ke escorted you to the entrance of the main hall and bowed deeply to you.]
"Respectfully seeing off Fellow Daoist Lu!"
[You donned the Formless Myriad-Breath Cloak, your figure vanished into the Void, and you stepped out of the Thousand Machines Hall.]
[Stepping out of the Mountain-Protection Grand Formation, you stand amidst a sea of clouds, glancing back at the slowly rotating Bronze Mechanism City behind you.]
[These past few months you've stayed indoors, not only studying the puppets, but also waiting for the actions of the person behind the scenes.]
[When you first forged the Heguang Tongchen Talisman, the divine inspiration of heaven and earth was used to dispel your illusions, allowing your soul to return to its original purity and enabling you to cultivate a wisp of Innate Spiritual Intuition.]
[This Innate Spiritual Intuition is not a deductive technique, but rather an instinctive intuition that illuminates the Great Dao from Spiritual Platform.]
[Unless a powerful being goes to great lengths to conceal the secrets of Heavenly Secrets, you can already achieve "not seeing, not hearing, and avoiding danger when you sense it."]
Even if a powerful being tries to deduce your destiny, you still have the Tongchen Talisman to conceal the Heavenly Secrets.
[Even ordinary people would find it difficult to locate you, let alone make deductions.]
[If someone had truly been plotting something in the shadows these past few months, they would have given themselves away long ago, using Gongshu Ke as a lead.]
[However, three months passed without incident, and the Thousand Mechanisms Sect remained completely undisturbed.]
[Perhaps, in the eyes of those behind the scenes, the Thousand Mechanisms Sect is just the second bait, waiting for them to take the bait.]
[It seems that Shenjizi has suffered repeated heavy losses and is now extremely cautious, indeed adopting a strategy of withdrawal and restraint.]
[It seems this undercurrent truly has no further developments.]
[With a flick of your sleeve, you released Flying Boat, placing the newly crafted Nascent Soul Realm puppet at the bow.]
[The Little Puppet began to steer the Flying Boat, transforming it into a streak of light that broke through the sea of clouds and sped away.]
[So stable, so incredibly stable! Much better than that other brand. Not a single bump, not even a slight jolt, it's so comfortable to sit in.]
Lu Ping: "..."
System, stop reading all that nonsense! And please, don't ever use the phrase "no heartburn" again!!
[You stand with your hands behind your back, watching Little Puppet diligently steer the boat, and nod in satisfaction.]
[Say the words silently to your Dantian.]
"Hmph, Crow-Crow, every time I ask you to drive the Flying Boat, you refuse. See, in the end, human labor will be replaced by machinery."
"If you don't work hard today, you'll be working hard to find a job tomorrow!"
[Crow-Crow: "..."]
[Within your Dantian, the Fire Crow Seed, now recovered, twitched slightly, but it showed no interest in even Transformation to fight you.]
Lu Ping, watching from outside the screen, was overjoyed.
See, this is what workplace anxiety looks like.
Previously, only one of his clones Crow-Crow, could do chores. Every time he was asked to drive a boat, Crow would give him a resentful look.
Now, everything's great. A fully automated, driverless puppet has been deployed. It doesn't eat, drink, or slack off, and it doesn't even need to provide emotional value.
One of Crow-Crow's job responsibilities has been removed!
Wait a minute, did Crow-Crow make the profit, or did he?
Lu Ping was plunged into deep confusion.
[The Crow-Crow pretends to be dead and doesn't make a sound, and you don't seem to care.]
[You stood on the boat with your hands behind your back for a while, looking around, and sensed something was off.]
[This Flying Boat is merely a small magical Law Artifact used for transportation; the space is cramped, and its functions are quite rudimentary.]
[In the past, Crow-Crow would steer the boat, tiny Crow-Crow perched at the bow, while you sat cross-legged at the back meditating and cultivating. It didn't feel crowded at all.]
[Now it's Little Puppet, this huge Nascent Soul Realm iron lump standing upright at the bow of the ship, making it difficult to turn around on the deck.]
You stroked your chin, starting to wonder if you should switch to a more spacious and imposing luxury Cloud Boat.
[I don't need anything flashy, just two cabins to keep out the wind and rain.]
[Not to mention entertaining others, even just sitting or lying down would be more comfortable...]
[The thought had barely crossed your mind when you immediately became wary.]
[You, Lu Ping, with a great calamity looming ahead and your Great Dao to enlightenment yet unfinished, how dare you entertain such decadent and hedonistic thoughts? This is unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!]
You shook your head, chuckled silently, and dismissed these trivial thoughts.
[During those three months at the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, you devoted yourself entirely to learning Mechanism Arts and Puppet Technique, and didn't even have time to check the "Mental Involution" effect of the new equipment.]
[Calm down now and look Sea of Consciousness.]
[Deep within your Sea of Consciousness, countless strange and wondrous thoughts arise and vanish. Before you even realize it, these thoughts have already transformed into soul power, nourishing your Primordial Spirit.]
[Salty Fish, in effect.]
[You deliberately looked through these thoughts, and found them somewhat both amusing and exasperating.]
"What if Shenjizi isn't actually scared, and is actually crouching in front of me ready to rip me out?"
"What if the Teleportation Array in Yi Wood City happens to malfunction today and I get stuck in a spatial rift and sliced in halfway through the teleportation?"
"What if my senior sister is already engaged...?"
[...]
[As you stare blankly at your own mind, scaring yourself, you sense that your Primordial Spirit is gradually growing stronger under this continuous self-reproach.]
[This Trait constantly enhances Divine Sense awareness, its effect being equivalent to a spiritual version of "Work Experience".]
[Great Trait!]
[Based on the comparison over the past few days, the rate of growth is about half that of your cultivation of the "Spirit Refining Technique".]
[However, cultivating Divine Sense is far more difficult than Spiritual Power.]
[Upon reaching the Spirit Transformation Realm, every powerful cultivator possesses Secret Method for refining their Divine Sense; strengthening the primordial Primordial Spirit is one of the fundamental paths to cultivation at this level.]
[The Spirit Refining Technique that you once treasured has become standard equipment for Spirit Transformation cultivators.]
[With "Mental Involution" providing 24/7 automatic leveling, your Primordial Spirit cultivation speed is one to two times faster than that of an ordinary Spirit Transformation cultivator.]
[You mentally gave the system another thumbs up.]
[If you hadn't replaced the "Flattery" tactic, I would have had to fawn over the system.]
[Even a short essay of 800 words is acceptable!]
[You casually probed the Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace with your Divine Sense and took stock of your "Passive Income"...]