According to the agreement between the two, the Exploration Edition was priced at eleven Spirit Stones.
For Yuanyi Guild's own use, the price was eighty percent of the market price.
For goods collected from Lu Qingfeng and sold externally, the purchase price was ninety percent of the market price.
In other words.
The Truth-Destroying Type Two (Exploration Edition) was sold to Yuanyi Guild at a price of 8.8 Spirit Stones. Yuanyi Guild's wholesale resale price was 9.9 Spirit Stones.
The Truth-Destroying Type Two (Guardian Edition) was sold to Yuanyi Guild at a price of 9.6 Spirit Stones. Yuanyi Guild's wholesale resale price was 10.8 Spirit Stones.
Yet Lu Qingfeng's cost for refining a single Truth-Destroying Type Two was only one Spirit Stone.
Moreover, as his proficiency increased, this cost would continue to fall. In theory, it could drop to thirty Spirit Stone Fragments. Conservatively estimated, it could fall to fifty Spirit Stone Fragments.
In other words, for each Truth-Destroying Type Two puppet, Lu Qingfeng could currently earn at least eight Spirit Stones, and at most ten Spirit Stones!
Naturally, he would never reveal such enormous profits.
Lu Qingfeng concealed the truth by purchasing raw materials on a massive scale.
For example, for the ten Truth-Destroying Type Two (Exploration Edition) ordered by Yuanyi Guild, he only needed the various materials required to refine first-order puppets. One batch of materials cost roughly thirty Spirit Stone Fragments.
Purchasing thirty batches was enough for Lu Qingfeng to refine ten Truth-Destroying Type Two (Exploration Edition) puppets, with a total value of roughly nine Spirit Stones.
Yet Lu Qingfeng took fifty of the eighty-eight Spirit Stones Mu Yuanyi had paid in advance and used them to purchase materials. These included roughly one hundred and twenty batches of first-order materials and fourteen batches of second-order materials.
Thus, every time he refined ten puppets, Lu Qingfeng had to stockpile ninety batches of first-order materials and fourteen batches of second-order materials!
However, these materials could also be used to refine the Truth-Destroying Type One for Lu Qingfeng's personal use.
Time passed.
Ever since the Truth-Destroying Type Two began selling, Lu Qingfeng had remained in the Black Sand Artifact Workshop.
At first, it took him twenty-five days to refine a single Truth-Destroying Type Two.
After completing Yuanyi Guild's order, he had shortened the time to twenty-two days.
In less than eight months, the ten Truth-Destroying Type Two (Exploration Edition) puppets were complete.
Lu Qingfeng had a surplus of thirty-eight Spirit Stones, ninety batches of first-order materials, and fourteen batches of second-order materials!
Everyone outside, including those within Yuanyi Guild, thought that Lu Qingfeng had earned only thirty-eight Spirit Stones. Although this amount was quite substantial, it was still within an acceptable range.
And so.
The Truth-Destroying Type Two first appeared within Yuanyi Guild, then emerged on a small scale in the various guilds of Sishui Town, Pingshan Town, and elsewhere, before spreading to the Nine Cities, including Dusk Mountain City.
Orders poured in like snowflakes.
Lu Qingfeng was delighted.
Every day, apart from basic cultivation and alchemy, he devoted all his time to refining the Truth-Destroying Type Two.
In addition.
After completing each order, Lu Qingfeng would also set aside several months to refine the Truth-Destroying Type One and research the refining of talismic artifacts such as the Black-Iron Heaven-Soaring Shield, Formless Needle, Cloud-Treading Boots, Golden Fu Mother-and-Son Blades, and Sun-Breaking Bow.
Lu Qingfeng made minor adjustments to the Truth-Destroying Type One so that it could use these talismic artifacts.
At the same time, Lu Qingfeng himself could also use these talismic artifacts, increasing his combat strength.
This way, he made the most efficient use of his energy.
Year after year passed.
The puppets Lu Qingfeng refined increased from ten to twenty, then from twenty to forty, continually rising.
The time required to refine a single puppet also fell from the initial twenty-five days, to twenty-two days, and then to fifteen days.
The further he went, the harder it became to improve.
It had taken Lu Qingfeng only eight months—the time needed to refine ten puppets—to progress from twenty-five days to twenty-two days. But to progress from twenty-two days to fifteen days, he had spent thirteen years, the time needed to refine two hundred and fifty-four puppets!
Perhaps Lu Qingfeng's concealment had been flawless, confusing the outside world.
Perhaps Lu Qingfeng had been seeing enemies in every shadow, frightening himself for nothing.
In any case.
He had safely passed through his third decade in Yuanyi Guild, then smoothly passed through his fourth decade and his fifth decade.
Time flew.
The end of his sixth decade had already arrived.
Fates rose and fell, scene after scene overlapping.
Flowers withered and bloomed, year after year changing.
In the blink of an eye, it had been sixty years since Lu Qingfeng joined Yuanyi Guild.
That year.
Mu Yuanyi successfully broke through the Foundation Body Tempering Realm, advanced to the Spirit Void Grand Realm, and became a Spirit Void Cultivator.
In an instant, Yuanyi Guild erupted into celebration.
Mu Yuanyi's achievement of the Spirit Void Cultivator realm meant that Yuanyi Guild could establish its own sect and found a sect. From that point on, it would become an existence on equal footing with the Spirit Mechanisms Institute.
For nearly two months, Mu Yuanyi had been in seclusion stabilizing his Spirit Void cultivation. Meanwhile, Yuanyi Guild had been working at full speed, with everyone busy preparing the details of choosing a site, opening the mountain, and so on.
Lu Hongwen, Yu Bufan, Zhang Zong, and the other veteran figures were busier than they could handle.
Lu Qingfeng also rarely came out, strolling around Mount Yuanyi to see whether there was anywhere he could help.
"Elder Qingfeng."
"Greetings, Elder Qingfeng!"
"This junior greets Elder Qingfeng."
As Lu Qingfeng walked around Mount Yuanyi, guild members continually bowed and saluted him.
Lu Qingfeng smiled and nodded, responding to each of them.
Compared to sixty years ago, Mount Yuanyi was truly unrecognizable.
Back then, only a small portion of the mountaintop and mountainside had buildings. Lu Qingfeng still remembered that at the very edge of the mountaintop, there had only been Wang Tao's Purple-Smoke Alchemy Room and Yue Ran's Immortal-Spirit Alchemy Room.
Later, Lu Qingfeng's Black Sand Alchemy Room was added, and not long after that, Lu Qingfeng built the Black Sand Artifact Workshop himself.
So many years passed in a flash.
At present, buildings clustered across Mount Yuanyi, making it seem like a mountain city. Although there were still only those three alchemy rooms on the mountaintop, the Mount Yuanyi Front Mountain had gained quite a few more alchemy rooms.
Wang Tao, Yue Ran, and the disciples Lu Qingfeng had taught had successively graduated.
Once they became Advanced Alchemy Apprentices, they could apply to the guild to establish an alchemy room of their own. What they needed to do was bring out another batch of new apprentices for Yuanyi Guild.
The alchemy trade was a great wave that sifted the sand.
Over the several decades since the Black Sand Alchemy Room was established, countless medicine-refining apprentices and alchemy apprentices had come and gone. In the end, only thirty-two people with relatively good talent had remained.
Of these thirty-two people, six had already reached the Advanced Alchemy Apprentice level and opened their own alchemy rooms on the Front Mountain. One person had even displayed extraordinarily high talent and had already become a Master Alchemy Apprentice, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lu Qingfeng.
Of course.
Although they were both Master Alchemy Apprentices, Lu Qingfeng was a veteran elder of the guild.
Whether in connections or seniority, he stood at the very top of the guild.
Over the years, Lu Qingfeng had supported countless juniors. The six Advanced Alchemy Apprentices and one Master Alchemy Apprentice he had personally taught alone had made the alchemy lineage within the guild second only to the two First-Order Alchemists, Wang Tao and Yue Ran.
Over the years, Lu Qingfeng had selectively contributed his improved pill recipes to the guild.
With the enormous profits from refining puppets, Lu Qingfeng no longer cared about the meager gains from pills.
It could be said that every alchemist and alchemy apprentice in Yuanyi Guild had benefited from Lu Qingfeng's help to one degree or another.
With such deep connections and seniority, even if his cultivation was slightly weaker, no one on Mount Yuanyi would dare gossip about him.
"This junior greets Elder Qingfeng."
Lu Qingfeng was strolling around when a young man dressed in a white battle robe approached.
Thanks to "Dao Sword Qinru" for the 500-tip reward, thanks to "I'm Just Gay" for the 200-tip reward, and thanks to "Guarding Hope~" for the 100-tip reward.
The plot about developing and refining puppets has gone on a little long. After all, puppets are so powerful—if everything were settled in one or two chapters, it would be far too easy. That's why I've written it in greater detail.
Please vote!
Before you continue