Heavenly Cycle Puppet

The sun shone overhead, and the flowers smiled bright and wide.

Silver Sword Peak welcomed another beautiful morning of verdant hills and clear waters, birdsong and fragrant blossoms.

Chu Liang stepped out of his little wooden cabin, stretched lazily, and worked his limbs loose.

With his master absent these past two days, he was the lord of Silver Sword Peak, and he rather enjoyed the feeling of holding great power in his hands. Of course, even when Empress Feng returned, he would still be the deputy peak lord.

After basking in the sun for a while, he returned to his room and carefully shut the door.

There was still work to be done.

When he had returned from Southern Domain Mountain last night, it had already been quite late. After parting ways with the Jade Sword Peak disciples, he had returned alone to Silver Sword Peak and gone straight to rest.

Now it was time to reward himself.

His divine consciousness sank, entering the White Tower. The golden phantom of the human-faced xiao's enormous head hung within the iron cage. Chu Liang stepped forward and pressed the character "Refine" with one palm.

Boom—

Red Light flashed.

Chu Liang caught the drifting radiance in his hand, and a thought immediately entered his mind.

Heavenly Cycle Puppet:

A puppet doll used to run the heavenly cycle and assist cultivation. It consumes one Qi-Gathering Pill during the day and two Qi-Gathering Pills at night, allowing uninterrupted cultivation throughout the day. All resulting gains in cultivation will belong to the host. Note: This doll may only be used to assist cultivation. Using it for other improper activities risks damaging it.

"Huh?"

Holding the three-foot-tall big-headed doll in his hands, Chu Liang suddenly felt a surge of delight.

It looked remarkably like the human-faced xiao: a tiny body like white jade, topped with a large head devoid of facial features.

Perhaps because it had no expression, it even looked somewhat adorable.

But Chu Liang was certainly not delighted because it was cute.

Rather... it was a cultivation aid that could work day and night, all three hundred and sixty-five days of the year without rest, with every bit of cultivation it gained counting toward him. Did that not mean his cultivation speed could double?

No, more than double.

Among the Three Gates and Nine Realms, the three major realms of the Heaven Gate relied on sudden enlightenment—a single awakening to the Dao could outweigh decades of bitter cultivation. The three realms of the Earth Gate chiefly relied on resources, with personal cultivation taking second place. But in the three starting realms of the Human Gate, one's own painstaking cultivation remained the most important thing.

The Body Tempering Realm tempered the fleshly body, the Qi Condensation Realm expanded the dantian sea of qi, and the Divine Intent Realm condensed divine consciousness... At this stage, increases in cultivation came from meditation, contemplation, and circulating one's cultivation technique—what was known as running the heavenly cycle.

Yet everyone had limited time to cultivate. Setting aside eating, drinking, relieving oneself, and other daily activities, one could cultivate for at most eight shichen a day. And one could not spend all that time cultivating true qi; there had to be time to practice divine abilities as well. Shushan disciples also needed time to complete missions in exchange for magical artifacts, pills, and the like...

Thus, under normal circumstances, a cultivator who could maintain four or five shichen of cultivation every day for years on end was already considered exceptionally diligent. Someone like Chu Liang, who frequently went on missions, might only average two or three shichen a day.

One had to know that cultivation time had to be genuine. Sitting there while loafing around and slacking off did not count for anything.

But...

As long as he had this big-headed doll, he could cultivate an additional twelve shichen every day.

The speed at which his cultivation grew might increase by four or five times!

This also meant he could devote more time and energy to slaying demons and eliminating evil. It suited his current needs perfectly.

Thinking this, Chu Liang could not wait to place the big-headed doll on the ground. He sat cross-legged before it and fed it a Qi-Gathering Pill.

Then he placed his palm on that large head.

He began to run the heavenly cycle.

The cultivation technique Chu Liang practiced was Shushan's most orthodox art: the "Nine Heavens Profound Heart Art: Divine Intent Chapter."

Shushan's cultivation arts were famous throughout the immortal cultivation world for having no particular outstanding trait, yet they were steady and solid. So long as they genuinely cultivated to the same realm, Shushan disciples' overall strength often surpassed that of others by a notch.

As Chu Liang ran the heavenly cycle, the big-headed doll's body became transparent. Only streaks of white lines remained, traveling along intricate pathways and gleaming as they moved.

When Chu Liang finished running the heavenly cycle and withdrew his hand, the doll's face and features had actually become identical to his own! Light still flickered across its body, making it clear that it had already entered a cultivation state.

Chu Liang understood that this doll had become his shape, inside and out.

Three Qi-Gathering Pills a day was no small expense, but neither was it too great. Compared to the returns from ceaseless cultivation all day long, it was an absolute bargain.

Chu Liang silently resolved that he would never let the big-headed doll stop.

At worst, I'll go chop down lantern monsters to support you.

Still, something about it was rather strange. This Heavenly Cycle Puppet clearly had no intelligence; it was merely an emotionless cultivation machine. Yet the number of Qi-Gathering Pills it consumed differed between day and night.

One by day, two by night... Apparently working overtime required double pay.

Sigh, that truly was outrageously lawless.

As he thought this, he suddenly felt that it would be wonderful if the big-headed doll were actually a person...

That way, he could set an impossible performance target for it—say, reaching the Golden Core Realm within three days, or else its Qi-Gathering Pills would be docked. If it could not finish, it would have no choice but to voluntarily work overtime. Then all its overtime would be self-initiated and would have nothing to do with him.

That way, not only would he not need to pay double, he would not even need to pay single wages. Just one Qi-Gathering Pill would be enough to make it work a full twelve shichen.

And if it failed to meet its target by the deadline, he could dock a little more from it.

By the end, it might work itself to the bone for him for so long that it would even owe him Qi-Gathering Pills.

Chu Liang did not take the big-headed doll out. He simply let it remain in the White Tower's space and work for him.

The thing looked rather strange, after all. It would not be good if someone saw it after he brought it out, so he might as well keep it inside all the time.

The space containing the White Tower was quite mysterious, and Chu Liang had yet to fully understand it. He only knew that it could be used somewhat like a storage artifact, except only items obtained from the White Tower could enter or leave it.

Afterward, he set off once more for Heavenly Peak.

After completing the Southern Domain Mountain mission, the people from Jade Sword Peak all thought Chu Liang had suffered a huge loss. In truth, he had won so thoroughly that he was laughing all the way to the bank.

The Spirit Cat Leaping Talismans he had used were precious, but they had cost him nothing in the first place. In exchange, he had received several portions of Hundred Flowers Powder capable of neutralizing all poisons, as well as such a practical Heavenly Cycle Puppet. It was absolutely a blood-profit deal.

Besides that, he had also received a reward of fifty Sword Coins.

The reward for one mission was usually only around ten Sword Coins. If the others had not all given him their shares, he would not have received so much. Chu Liang had never held this much money in his hands before.

When a poor man suddenly became rich, of course he had to spend a little.

He first went to the Pill Cauldron Hall and bought a gourd of Qi-Gathering Pills, enough to keep the big-headed doll fed for a while. Then he went out, turned left, and arrived at the Sword Transmission Hall.

The Sword Transmission Hall oversaw Shushan's magical artifacts and flying swords. Upon entering, Chu Liang went straight to the section of the hall devoted to selling swords.