Is He Master's New Servant?!

Bai Lan pondered for a moment, then looked up at the Artifact Spirit arguing with the system in the distance, her brows furrowing even deeper.

There was one crucial point: the Corpse Puppet was currently inside her Void Stone.

She had originally believed that the Corpse Puppet had lost its independent consciousness and become a resentful soul incapable of thinking for itself. She had never expected her talisman to awaken his consciousness.

Now that he could think for himself, he had also seen this space.

She could not let him leave. Otherwise, the existence of the Void Stone might very well be exposed.

She could not gamble on that possibility.

She could hardly kill him—he was already a corpse.

"Since that is the case, let us make three rules." Bai Lan's expression turned solemn. "You wish to remain by my side for no more than the ability to move freely and a chance to survive."

After becoming a Corpse Puppet, he was no longer something righteous-path cultivators could tolerate. The moment he went out into the light, death would be his fate.

Falling into the demonic path would bring an even more miserable end. The Corpse Refining Sect stood among the foremost of demonic cultivators, and it was they who had turned him into this state.

"But I have no obligation to help you. If you wish to stay, you must pay an equivalent price."

"Please speak, Fellow Daoist."

This zombie was surprisingly polite.

Bai Lan smiled faintly. "Since you wish to stay, then stay here from now on. Without my permission, you may not leave this space. Of course, within my capabilities, I will also provide you with what you need."

It was a somewhat unequal agreement, plainly restricting his freedom. The Corpse Puppet clearly realized this as well, and he hesitated.

"This is my territory. You have already seen things you should not have seen." Bai Lan reminded him in an eerie voice.

The Corpse Puppet had clearly realized that too.

As his consciousness gradually recovered, he discovered that even Spirit Beast Bags capable of storing living creatures were no larger than Storage Bags.

Yet this space was clearly not a Spirit Beast Bag, because it was astonishingly vast.

Only the spatial treasures recorded in ancient texts, the universe grotto-heavens refined by ancient cultivators, possessed such a function.

Although this place was pitch-black and did not look much like the legendary grotto-heaven treasures.

"I agree." The Corpse Puppet finally compromised.

He had seen secrets he should not have seen. If the woman before him were even a little more ruthless...

What if she killed him to silence him?!

"Not bad. A wise man submits to the circumstances." Bai Lan nodded.

"Since we are making three rules, then what about the other two...?"

"I have not thought of them yet. I will add them later."

Corpse Puppet: "..."

Bai Lan had already made her calculations. Free labor was free labor; it would be a waste not to use it. If she wanted to construct buildings or farm within the Void Stone in the future, she could hardly rely on herself alone.

If she raised some demonic beasts later, someone would need to feed them too.

There were countless strange and bizarre species in the cultivation world. It was only a corpse; after spending enough time together, she should get used to it...

It was not a big problem.

Bai Lan beckoned and called the Artifact Spirit over from afar.

"He will live here from now on. This person... this corpse, I leave him to you." Bai Lan rubbed the drifting Ghost Fire, offering encouragement.

Ghost Fire was somewhat excited upon seeing the newcomer. "Is he Master's new servant?!"

The system gritted its teeth at the side. "Not a servant! He is not, and neither am I!"

"...No, it is merely a landlord and tenant relationship." Bai Lan looked at the Corpse Puppet. "Do you have a name?"

"Qiu Tian."

"Very good, Qiu Tian. Since you will be living here from now on, I will no longer hide it from you." Bai Lan pointed at the Artifact Spirit. "It is the Artifact Spirit of this space and manages this place on my behalf. This space, meanwhile, is the world inside the Void Stone."

Qiu Tian was silent for a long while before speaking awkwardly. "I do not understand."

"It does not matter if you do not understand. You only need to know that within this space, my rules are the rules." Bai Lan laughed softly.

Corpse Puppet: "...Hiss."

Having said that, Bai Lan began pondering again. "Although it is pitch-black here right now, it truly is not very suitable for people to live in..."

The words reached Bai Lan's lips, then she abruptly stopped.

Her gaze shifted toward the Artifact Spirit, the system, and the Corpse Puppet beside her.

The three little ones—not a single one was human.

"Not suitable for living creatures." Bai Lan changed her wording. "Think about what you need. I will make a trip to the Marketplace and buy it later."

Other than wanting a source of light, the Artifact Spirit had no other needs.

The Corpse Puppet wanted a coffin, along with fresh blood. Demonic beast blood would do as well.

The system had the most demands.

"I want a softer bed. Basic furniture like lamps, tables, chairs, and cabinets cannot be missing. Oh, right! I heard that glow pearls are very cheap in the cultivation world. We can buy more to use for lighting! Or find those bead curtains that glow in the dark—they would definitely look beautiful here. Oh, and also..." The system chattered on and on, only to receive three merciless words from Bai Lan in the end.

"I cannot remember."

It was clearly a system, yet it was the one best at spending her money. She had only just earned two thousand Spirit Stones, and she had not even had the chance to warm them in her hands.

System: "...It is fine, I will remember it for you, hehe."

Bai Lan shook her head, then left the space and stared at the pile of talisman paper on the table, sinking into thought.

Although her master was usually unreliable, Bai Lan knew in her heart that he was a capable Daoist priest. He simply did not often display his abilities before others.

On the surface, he was an old Daoist hiding deep in the mountains and forests. In truth, he was a hidden master who concealed his talents.

Bai Lan had learned talisman drawing, swordsmanship, divination and fortune-telling, the arts of medicine, and more from that old Daoist. She had personally witnessed the rest, but talisman drawing alone had never truly been used by her in actual combat.

That was because the era she lived in had long possessed very few demonic and evil entities. Thus, to her, talisman drawing... was like doing the homework her master assigned.

Just going through the motions, with no real use.

What she had drawn earlier was Cloud Seal Script, while what was needed to suppress and kill demons and evil spirits was the power of lightning and fire. That was why Bai Lan had tried infusing fire spiritual power into the tip of her brush while drawing the talisman just now.

She had only meant to test it out earlier. She had not expected it to actually work.

Though the final result had surpassed her expectations.

Load save.

She took a deep breath, lifted her brush, dipped it in ink, and began drawing a talisman.

This time, she drew a cultivation-world talisman: a Fireball Talisman.

The sect's Library Pavilion had a complete collection of low-grade talismans. She had memorized it before. The writing within was not Cloud Seal Script, but ancient cultivation-world characters.

Drawing talismans was no simple matter. The person drawing them needed a tranquil heart and steady hand, as well as an extremely strong grasp over the spiritual power in their body, so they could guide it evenly into the talisman along with the sigils. Only then could a talisman be formed.

Bai Lan's steadiness in drawing talismans could already be considered entering the hall and reaching the inner chamber.

Especially since the previous Demon-Suppressing Talisman had been drawn so successfully—could it be that she truly was some kind of talisman-drawing genius?!

Try again.

"Swish."

Halfway through the talisman, fire spiritual power overflowed beneath her brush, and the entire talisman turned to flying ash.

"..."

Alright, case closed. She was not a genius at all.

That previous one had purely been a stroke of good luck.

Bai Lan was not discouraged. She loaded her save and drew it again.

The reason talismans were so expensive was precisely because drawing them consumed enormous amounts of time and materials. Many people learning to draw talismans spent no less than one thousand, perhaps even ten thousand Spirit Stones, on ruined materials during the early stages alone.

During the beginner stage, successfully producing one finished talisman out of ten was already considered good.

There was a saying in the cultivation world: formations, pills, and talisman drawing were all professions that burned Spirit Stones.

For that very reason, few Rogue Cultivators possessed the wealth and energy to learn talisman drawing. When they needed talismans, most chose to buy them directly from the Marketplace.

But...

Bai Lan could load saves!

Ruined a talisman? Then load the save and start over!

Wasted materials? That did not exist.

Even though the probability of producing defective talismans was high in the early stages, under Bai Lan's control, the probability of producing finished products was one hundred percent, with absolutely no losses.

If you cannot find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead. It may simply have been renamed!