Li Chen was laying the groundwork to make his eventual escape smooth and natural.
The steward never thought that far ahead. He agreed to everything and diligently carried out his instructions.
Then Li Chen controlled the Second Avatar, sending it into the residence to wait on standby inside a room, while he remained in the Magic Cube Maze and began examining his gains in earnest.
Through the "Brain-Reading Technique," he had obtained quite a few useful memories from Master Artisan Yang's mind. Unfortunately, cultivation methods and secret manuals contained information far too complex to read. What he extracted was a tangled mess, distorted beyond recognition. Only some basics of the Hundred Crafts that Li Chen himself knew inside out could be reconstructed.
Fortunately, Master Artisan Yang still had the standard transmission methods for "Melt Gold, Temper Bone," "Gather Essence, Condense Marrow," and "Fill with Mercury as Blood" in his possession, all preserved on jade slips for easy reference.
Although these were not true transmissions that could grant someone complete understanding all at once, given Li Chen's current store of knowledge, he could certainly use them to teach himself the fundamentals. They were quite valuable.
These were, after all, methods belonging to the Creation-Promotion Secret Art.
At first glance, even methods within the Creation-Promotion Secret Art appeared to have their own hierarchy. "Melt Gold, Temper Bone," for instance, was the most basic introductory method. Even cultivated to perfection, it amounted to no more than applications of ritual refinement and material processing. But "Gather Essence, Condense Marrow" involved simulating the workings of bone marrow, while "Fill with Mercury as Blood" provided a source of life vital energy. They were undoubtedly a good deal more advanced.
The Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting that Li Chen practiced involved philosophical inquiry into cognition, while the Capture Shadows, Refine