"This puppet..."
Li Ye frowned slightly.
By all rights, puppets should have been bound to their cultivator's own combat experience, yet whether it dodged or attacked, this puppet seemed utterly at ease.
As though it had been tempered a thousand times over.
So it came with its own abilities?
That made sense. A puppet that could merely transform itself probably would not earn the Puppet Hall's regard. But a puppet with combat experience, perhaps even a measure of sentience...
That would be quite something.
He suddenly wondered: if a puppet were forged from materials with spirituality and could develop intelligence, even a Soul Essence, would it count as a spirit beast or spirit plant?
The Bamboo Huai Spirit Scroll and his master's ruler were both like that.
"A method of spirit attachment."
"I'd have to learn puppetry before I could study that. Do I really have to walk into the trap of puppetry?"
After considering it, he set the thought aside for now.
The puppet could shoulder most of the pressure from outside, allowing him to peacefully farm here. Since they were so determined to wreck things, that only proved farming here was indeed useful.
With that in mind, he called to the people in the distance, "You should have preserved Dawnlight Rice seeds here, right? Where are they? Bring them over."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
A skinny youth hurried to the village ancestral hall, fetched a burlap sack, and placed it before Li Ye.
The other children who had still been playing around also gathered nearby. None of them spoke, but they all looked at Li Ye with earnest expectation.
—Even children worried over food.
It was the most basic thing, and the most important.
"Don't worry."
"As long as I'm here, there won't be any problems."
Li Ye's voice