A Second Loan

"You sly little rascal, you actually dared to deceive this old woman."

"What did I deceive you about?"

"What did you tell this old woman ten days ago? When I asked how much you knew about welding arts, how did you answer?"

"I knew a little."

"Ten days! In ten days, you went from knowing a little to forging a First-Turn Puppet Device? This old woman... this old woman can't take it!"

Elder Duan was both shocked and furious. Lu Li had spent three days flipping through two reference books, half a day using clamping techniques to craft the array plate, half a day familiarizing himself with the welding tools, and five days completing the welding of the entire spirit array—then succeeded on his first try.

Everything had fallen into place as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

It had gone so smoothly that even Lu Li found it unbelievable. There had been neither the heart-pounding thrill of barely clearing a bottleneck nor a stroke of divine inspiration halfway through.

Lu Li knew perfectly well that fantasy novels were not written this way. The protagonist was supposed to be stomped on viciously first, cursed as trash, and subjected to every conceivable humiliation.

Then, the protagonist would begin forging without changing expression. His skillful techniques would shock the crowd for a time, yet there would still be brain-dead spectators who refused to believe in his strength.

The villain would resort to trickery, causing the protagonist to encounter difficulties. Yet with exquisite skill, the protagonist would turn misfortune into fortune, attain enlightenment on the spot, and shock everyone a second time.

At the final instant before the countdown ended, the Puppet Device in the protagonist's hands would suddenly explode. Just as everyone believed the forging had failed, a blaze of light would burst forth, too dazzling to look upon, and before the disbelieving eyes of all present, a miracle would be reenacted.

Only then would the protagonist claim the final reward as the champion of the entire event.

Yet in reality, none of those things had happened. Nothing at all.

Lu Li had merely stayed in his room and forged a Puppet Device, and then he had succeeded. Novels were not written that way, but what Lu Li faced was the coldest reality.

"Elder Duan, how could I have deceived you? At the time, I really did only know a little about welding arts."

"And now?"

"I still only know a little."

Upon hearing this, Elder Duan was stunned at first, then understood what Lu Li meant. He was saying that everything he had mastered was merely skin-deep before the true Great Dao. The more a cultivator knew, the more they understood their own ignorance.

A Heaven-grade Clamping Master was only the beginning; a Puppet Master had merely caught a first glimpse of the path.

Every genius Elder Duan had ever seen had been arrogant beyond measure, growing wantonly reckless the moment they gained even a little ability.

Back then, she had also used the Reverse Celestial Order Instrument on He Chuan. The first Puppet Device he chose had likewise been the Qi-Combining Cauldron, but thirty days had been far too tight. In the end, he had only completed the forging with her assistance.

As the price, she had possessed He Chuan's Qi-Combining Cauldron.

In truth, possessing someone's body and forging in their stead would not incur backlash from the Reverse Celestial Order Instrument.

To forge the Azure Attendant Female Puppet, a cultivator with earth-and-wood spiritual roots had to be used as material. On that foundation, Puppet Dao modifications would be gradually performed until the entire body was transformed into a puppet.

That day, after his battle with Senior Brother Hou Ze, his physical body had been utterly destroyed. Only a wisp of his remaining soul had escaped, possessing Wood Crow and finding Lu Li, this promising seed with earth-and-wood spiritual roots.

They both possessed earth-and-wood spiritual roots, but in terms of spiritual-root aptitude, Lu Li was far inferior to He Chuan. Lu Li's earth-and-wood roots were mixed with metal, fire, and water attributes, while He Chuan's metal, fire, and water components had been exceedingly faint. Calling him an innate sacred body of earth and wood would not have been an exaggeration.

Under the circumstances at the time, she had truly had no other choice but to pick Lu Li.

In her eyes, Lu Li had been no more than a stepping stone. She had long prepared herself mentally: if Lu Li failed to forge the Qi-Combining Cauldron and died from the backlash of the Reverse Celestial Order Instrument, she could simply seek her next possession target.

But now, it seemed she had stumbled upon a treasure.

In ten days, he had comprehended the Hundred Explanations of Array Studies from nothing and forged the Qi-Combining Cauldron. With such comprehension, not only was he unmatched within Azure Sun Hall, but even among mid-tier or top-tier sects, he would be as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

Hehehe, this was the will of heaven.

Her senior brother and that wicked disciple of hers were surely searching for her whereabouts now. Before her trail was exposed, she had to forge the Azure Attendant Female Puppet and obtain the strength to protect herself.

Lu Li's comprehension was outstanding. To her, that brought both benefits and drawbacks. The benefit was that the forging of the Azure Attendant Female Puppet could be greatly accelerated.

The drawback was that this child, Lu Li, appeared numb and unfeeling but was in fact suspicious by nature and far too stubborn. He would not allow her to interfere with the forging, so for the moment she could not possess his body.

However, the latter was not much of a problem.

As time passed, her divine sense was gradually recovering as well. Once it recovered to a sufficient degree, she would be able to forcibly possess his body.

Besides, after cultivating for a hundred years, she had countless methods to tempt Lu Li into abandoning his body and handing it over for her to control.

The urgent task was to first make this boy lower his guard against her, make him acknowledge her as his master, then promise him benefits and proceed slowly.

With that thought, Duan Xuanyuan said kindly, "Child, are you interested in becoming this old woman's disciple?"

"No."

"Heh, don't be so quick to refuse. You don't know what this old woman is capable of. Becoming this old woman's disciple will bring you benefits and no harm."

"Such as?"

"This old woman knows many secrets concerning cultivation. So long as you become this old woman's disciple, this old woman can teach you everything in the future. After all, master and disciple are merely forms of address. I won't require you to perform the disciple ceremony either. Just call me Master once, and from then on, I'll call you my disciple."

At first listen, there seemed to be nothing wrong with those words. Yet Lu Li firmly believed that ordinary people, good things, and no need to queue were three points that could never form the same triangle.

Life had proven to him countless times that he was nothing more than an ordinary person. Merely encountering Elder Duan had been strange enough; the loans she had promised him were already suspicious.

Lu Li could not understand why this old hag was so fixated on forms of address.

Could it be that she possessed some voice-activated Puppet Device, like the Purple-Gold Red Gourd and the Jade Pure Vase from Journey to the West?

As long as he answered when the other party called him "disciple," he would be swallowed whole, imprisoned, then trained into a fairy who only knew how to be sickeningly sweet... Pah, pah, pah! What fairy? It should be a catamite.

Eek, that scared me to death!

The more Lu Li thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. His little face went deathly pale with fright, and he secretly made up his mind: even if it killed him, he could not acknowledge this old undead hag as his master.

So Lu Li weighed the Qi-Combining Cauldron in his hand and changed the subject.

"According to our agreement, I completed the task. Does that mean I can take the next job?"

"Correct. Put the two Qi-Combining Cauldrons together, and you will obtain what you desire."

Lu Li unzipped his chest and compared them. The two Qi-Combining Cauldrons were indeed exactly identical. No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he could not understand the principle behind it.

Perhaps, just as Elder Duan had said, the Qi-Combining Cauldron in his chest had been forged by him from the very beginning. He had merely enjoyed the result ahead of time through a loan.

Just as he was thinking this, his hand suddenly felt lighter. The Qi-Combining Cauldron he had just forged vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed.

At the same time, Lu Li vaguely felt as if something had been added to his body.

"Next, there are three puppetry devices available for you to choose from."

"Which three?"

"[Azure Underworld Painted Skin], [Suspended Thread Ligament], and [Great Dream Mystic Pivot]."