"Young Master Li, we've reached the Market Fair. Ten shops in this district belong to our Lei Family. Would you like to look at spirit materials there first?"
"Very well. Please lead the way."
"Of course. This way, young master."
It was noon. Zhao Bin had long since left, and Li Chen had eagerly gone out to find the Market Fair.
Knowing that Li Chen was unfamiliar with the area, Artisan Lei had specifically sent a young household servant to guide him. The gesture made it seem as though he truly regarded Li Chen as a distant relative.
The servant guiding Li Chen was called Laifu. He was fifteen or sixteen and looked quite sharp. Unafraid of strangers, he deftly introduced the commandery seat along the way, proudly declaring that the Lei Family was one of the powerful aristocratic clans here. It owned a full ten shops in the Market Fair, dealing in all manner of spirit materials, precious ores, Mechanism Devices, and puppets.
Yet after looking around, Li Chen could not help feeling disappointed.
"This cultivation market is far too small!"
Accustomed to towering buildings and endless streams of traffic, he inevitably felt a sense of disparity upon arriving somewhere that looked so much like the ancient world.
But at that moment, deep doubts also arose in Li Chen's mind. The Puppet Dao prides itself on caring for people's livelihoods, with the Art of a Hundred Crafts all serving their daily needs. Why, after a full million years of development, does the cultivation world under its rule still look like this? Is something holding back the growth of productive forces? Is the cause internal or external?
Buying spirit materials went very smoothly. Though young, Li Chen had come up from the rough-and-tumble world and had run a repair shop in White Rock Ward for several years. With the notes his parents had left behind and the knowledge Zhao Bin had taught him, he compared favorably even with the scions of aristocratic clans.
A Puppet Master had to possess broad knowledge of spirit materials and be able to appraise all kinds of treasures. These were the fundamentals of the craft.
After ending the lease on his shop, Li Chen had reviewed his accounts for the past several years and discovered that he still had quite a comfortable surplus.
The main reason was that his parents had not died violently out in the wilderness without time to leave an inheritance. He already possessed several essentials for a rogue cultivator.
First was a Storage Bag, indispensable for traveling and venturing afield. Made from the hide of a void demon, this treasure pouch contained an inner space roughly equivalent to one cubic meter on Earth in his previous life and was worth over ten thousand talisman coins.
Its fragile space and the fact that its opening could not be freely adjusted limited what it could hold. Still, it allowed him to carry many small valuables, spirit stones, talisman coins, and similar items close to his person, making it extremely convenient.
Then there were two storage rings, each likewise worth ten thousand coins.
Storage rings were another essential for Puppet Masters. They too were magical implements for spatial storage, but unlike Storage Bags, their internal shape and the way their space opened and closed were fashioned entirely around a specific puppet.
Each puppet matched a corresponding storage ring, which was normally worn on the hand for close safekeeping. During battle, a secret art opened the ring to summon the puppet.
When the space opened and closed, light and shadow shifted, and shapes distorted. Mortals who saw it thought a spell had transformed beans into soldiers and generals, so this method of deploying and withdrawing puppets through storage rings to fight enemies was also called "Scatter Beans to Create Soldiers."
Without a matching storage ring or another storage implement, a Puppet Master had to keep his puppets out in the open, causing all sorts of inconvenience. Thus, these rings were also essential for venturing afield.
Unfortunately, my parents' combat puppets in this life were already badly damaged. Over the past few years, I used them for study, dismantling them completely and selling off the parts. I'll have to buy replacements eventually, and that will be a major expense.
The Eastern Victory Continent was hardly a peaceful place. Besides frequent warfare and all manner of natural disasters and man-made calamities, demons roamed the wilderness, and even powerful figures from other continents came to slaughter its people.
No matter what, he needed sufficient strength to secure a place for himself in the world.
"Young master, perhaps you can save that money."
As they browsed the shops, Laifu offered this reminder when he saw Li Chen asking about combat puppets.
"When the Creation Sect replies, it may grant you artisan status. Then you'll not only be taught secret arts, but you'll also receive a monthly stipend!"
"More importantly, you'll definitely be given a Puppet Master's Robe and a genuine combat puppet!"
"You're right," Li Chen said. "But besides waiting for word from the Creation Sect, I also want to buy another puppet."
Laifu paused briefly, then asked, "Do you mean a mount, young master?"
"That's right," Li Chen said.
Mounts could often provide support in battle, while combat puppets could also serve as mounts. There was no strict boundary between the two.
As it happened, among the belongings Li Chen had inherited from his parents, his mother's storage ring had been made to hold a Fang Tiger.
It was a Mechanism Beast that also served as a mount, otherwise known as a Tiger-Type Puppet.
Life was hard for rogue cultivators. They wished they could split every talisman coin in two to spend, yet could not do without a mount when traveling. Such things were therefore widely popular and could be considered indispensable.
On their way to the Market Fair, Li Chen and Laifu had seen some passing rogue cultivators and young aristocratic clan scions riding mounts. This area, however, counted as a "pedestrian street," so few people were using them here.
As for the storage ring his father had left him, it had been made for a puppet called the Fierce Wolf. Li Chen planned to put it to another use. A Puppet Master's spiritual sense and magical power were limited, so controlling several things at once was hardly wise. Nor did he need a surplus of mounts; one was perfectly sufficient.
He planned to modify the storage ring into a "Beehive" for the Swarm of Bees Technique.
Laifu nodded. "Understood. Our Lei Family sells Mechanism Beasts too. Come take a look, young master."
"It has to be a Fang Tiger," Li Chen reminded him. "Otherwise, I'll have to pay another sum to have my storage ring modified."
Laifu thumped his chest in assurance. "Don't worry, young master. I guarantee we have every variety."
After spending most of the day on it, Li Chen finally finished his business. All that remained was to wait.
Since he still had money to spare, he planned to modify the Fang Tiger puppet he had selected and thus ordered some special spirit materials. He had also commissioned someone to modify his father's storage ring, which had been intended for a Fierce Wolf puppet.
Li Chen had, in fact, trained as a Puppet Master apprentice himself. But storage rings involved spatial storage, something a minor rogue cultivator like him could not handle. That business was monopolized by Creation Sect disciples and high-level rogue cultivators.
On the way back, Li Chen suddenly found it rather amusing.
I suppose this counts as buying a fine steed at the Eastern Market and a saddle and blanket at the Western Market. Still, the Eastern Victory Continent has never been peaceful. Being prepared for trouble can never be wrong.
Just then, Li Chen caught sight of several people approaching along the road.
They were travel-worn, dressed in the blue-gray robes commonly worn by rogue cultivator merchants, but almost every one of them was grimy and disheveled. One wounded man sat on a Mechanism Beast clutching his stomach, with a companion riding behind him to support him.
Li Chen's gaze swept over them before his attention quickly shifted to the enormous thing carried by one of their Fierce Wolf puppets.
"That's..." Li Chen's pupils contracted slightly, and a trace of interest appeared on his face. "The corpse of a Demon Beast!"