48 Great Calamity

He Ping's plan was to modify his left hand. Practitioners of the Immortal Puppet Sect relied entirely on their hands to control their puppets; he had not yet mastered the skill of manipulating his creations with his toes, and to modify both hands at once would be akin to cutting off his own retreat.

The "Severed Ghost Hand" provided by Chixinzi came with a detailed catalog, including design blueprints, internal structures, and even the specific materials required.

He Ping checked it multiple times and found no issues, yet he dared not gamble on whether Chixinzi was playing some hidden trick.

Following the design in the catalog, he first crafted a simplified version to test it out.

For the sake of safety, he added a few new designs (to prevent any backdoors) and thus created a "beggar-version" of the "Severed Ghost Hand."

This newly crafted prosthetic limb lay on the table. Its exterior was somewhat rough, far less refined in structure and perfect in form than the puppet hands Chixinzi used. However, because He Ping had altered some of the designs, he did not have to worry about being controlled by others while operating it.

Beside the prosthetic, a guillotine sat on the wood-grained table. The room was also equipped with a surgical-style operating bed, long-prepared needles, thread, and blades, bottles of bone-setting medicine, and a copper ladle boiling over red-hot charcoal.

To modify his left hand and install the puppet prosthetic, he first had to sever his own hand.

He Ping took out a thin, several-inch-long golden needle and, one by one, pierced the acupuncture points along his shoulder and upper arm. Once this was done, the sensation in his left hand seemed to vanish.

Not being able to use general anesthesia is a nuisance, but this method can at least temporarily stop the pain.

The thin golden needle had been specially forged by a skilled craftsman. It was hollow inside and filled with a potent anesthetic; piercing the acupuncture points could cut off the sensation in his arm for a short time, while also serving as a painkiller.

He placed his numb left hand on the guillotine and commanded a paper puppet to press down on the blade with force.

With a dull "thud," the guillotine severed his left arm at the elbow, bone and all. The half-arm slid off the table.

Despite the use of the golden needle and anesthetic, He Ping could still feel the agony of the severed limb. Fortunately, he could barely suppress the pain.

He picked up the copper ladle that had been heating in the charcoal stove and used the high temperature to cauterize the wound. With a hiss, the flesh seemed to scorch, and a foul, burnt odor filled the air.

At least the bleeding had stopped. He Ping's brows were locked together; the effect of the anesthetic from the golden needles was wearing off. In an instant, a sharp pain like an electric current coursed through his entire body, making his teeth chatter.

However, that was not the worst of it. The truly terrible part was the wave of drowsiness brought on by the pain.

I cannot afford to pass out during this gap.

Fearing he would not endure it, he quickly reached up to press his brow, circulating the "Nine Palaces Bright Moon Ascension Method" to force his essence into the Upper Origin Palace at his glabella. Suddenly, his pale cheeks flushed with a surge of color.

"Hah!"

He Ping exhaled a breath of stale air, simultaneously bracing his spirit and suppressing the pain.

"...I still need to scrape away the charred scabs from the cauterization."

He Ping knew many steps remained. He forced himself to stay alert, muttering to himself as he lifted his severed arm to inspect the wound.

On the cross-section of his left elbow, one could glimpse the red-black muscle, bone, and scorched flesh. Admittedly, using a copper ladle to press and cauterize the wound was the fastest way to stop the bleeding and prevent shock or fainting from blood loss, but such a crude method caused severe burns to the wound.

He took out a short blade and scraped away the charred flesh caused by the high-heat cauterization, then retrieved a prepared snow-white ointment. This ointment was kept in a bamboo tube; it was a secret medicine of the Immortal Puppet Sect, possessing the miraculous effect of reconnecting severed limbs and regenerating flesh and bone.

He Ping set to work, applying the ointment evenly over the cross-section. The ointment had a faint, medicinal fragrance. As it sat on the wound for a while, the color of the cross-section turned a pale grayish-white, and the texture of the bone and flesh became less distinct.

Surprisingly, during this time, He Ping felt little pain, as if the agony from the waning anesthetic had also vanished.

Next, he picked up the prepared puppet prosthetic and aligned the rear of the "Severed Ghost Hand" with the cross-section of his left arm, attaching it directly.

Once the rear of the "Severed Ghost Hand" was connected, several spider-leg-like structures emerged from the prosthetic and pierced into the flesh of his upper arm, merging beneath the skin like a parasite. Then, the "Severed Ghost Hand" rotated on its own, and a silver steel band appeared at the junction between the prosthetic and the elbow.

He Ping pulled hard on the prosthetic; a metal disc remained at the site of the severed elbow, and one could see several connection holes on it.

He reattached the prosthetic. The moment they connected, the metal disc and the prosthetic seemed to be drawn together by a magnetic force, locking tightly into place with no gaps whatsoever.

He Ping began to move the newly attached puppet hand. As he willed it, the five wooden fingers moved. The "Severed Ghost Hand" contained ingenious internal mechanisms; whether it was opening and closing the fingers or rotating the wrist, it could be done with a single thought.

"Excellent!"

He was quite satisfied with the new prosthetic. He squeezed his five fingers into a fist, and a faint golden light flickered. This wooden palm looked as if it had been plated with a layer of dark gold lacquer, emitting a weak aura of magical fluctuation.

This was the "Armor-Clad Spirit Light." Once the "Severed Ghost Hand" was successfully connected, it could graft the unique spirit light of paper and spirit puppets onto itself.

He Ping could feel the immense power contained within the prosthetic palm; crushing walls, shattering rocks, and kneading iron into mud would be trivial.

"It's even better than the tests; it's usable almost the moment it's attached. But for safety's sake, I'll test it for a while longer. Once I'm sure there are no other problems, I'll replace the right hand!"

He Ping privately thought that there were still ways to improve the "Severed Ghost Hand" puppet prosthetic—for instance, by installing high-yield explosives to turn it into a rocket-punch or finger-missiles.

It would be best to modify it further and turn the fist into a drill. Wouldn't that be able to pierce the heavens?!

While his mind wandered, he flexed his new prosthetic and turned to a table behind him.

On the tabletop lay other spoils from the trip to Four Peaks Mountain, including the demon tendons and bones obtained after killing the Mountain Demon, transporting it back to Suian City, skinning it, and butchering the meat.

The demon tendons, bones, and other internal organs were of no use to ordinary people. The Mountain Demon's blood and bodily fluids were toxic, and its flesh was naturally inedible.

However, for a cultivator, as long as they were refined with secret methods, they could still be put to some use.

For a practitioner of the Immortal Puppet Sect, demon tendons and bones were even rarer materials that could be used for puppets.

As for the most precious inner core, it had been handed over to Chixinzi according to their previous agreement, which was undoubtedly a pity.

"This item, however, is of little use to me, but it shouldn't be left in the valley."

He Ping looked at a long copper box on the table. This object was called the "Viper Spirit Nine Arrows," a strange magical artifact.

Generally, a typical cultivator's artifact was driven by divine sense and consciousness, but this bizarre copper box was driven by mechanical gears—it was clearly designed for mortals.

"The design of this thing is quite ingenious, but unfortunately, its power is a bit weak for a cultivator. Those iron arrows are inscribed with blood curses, which might be useful against ordinary practitioners whose divine sense hasn't fully matured, but it would be hard to rely on against a formidable opponent."

This thing had some power against those who didn't understand Taoist arts, but for him, it was somewhat of a "chicken rib"—tasteless to eat, but a waste to discard.

The structural design of this long copper box actually has some points worth referencing; could it be modified based on this... No, the material itself is too low-grade; there's no room for improvement. At most, I could use it as a foundation to forge a new set...

As He Ping pondered this in his mind, an object hanging from his waist, resembling a waist token, vibrated slightly. The vibration was so faint that had it not been worn directly against his belt, he would never have felt it.

He reached out and picked it up. This object was not a waist token, but a small red clay figurine. This was a form of puppetry known as the "Clay Voice-Transmitting Puppet," a technique specifically used by the Immortal Puppet Sect for sending messages.

At this moment, the puppet's tiny mouth opened and closed a few times, emitting the voice of Chixinzi.

"Junior Brother He, I have an urgent matter to discuss with you..."

"Senior Brother Chixinzi, what exactly is it? Can you give me a hint first?"

He Ping was quite dissatisfied with Chixinzi's deliberate attempt to be mysterious, though unfortunately, Chixinzi seemed entirely unaware of it.

"This isn't something to be discussed face-to-face. I can only say... Junior Brother He, you may have invited a great disaster upon yourself this time."

Chixinzi said this with a sly, furtive tone, which left He Ping, upon hearing these words, absolutely furious.