Once Xia Ziyi had completed the exchange, Li Chen immediately channeled his magic power, transferred the mountain ogre's corpse into his own Minor Grotto-Heaven, and waited quietly for Xia Ziyi to finish shopping and return home.
Xia Ziyi lived in a separate courtyard on the eastern side of the Xia estate. His rooms included several smaller chambers, spacious and pleasant-a rich young master's luxurious residence in every respect.
At that moment, inside the study, a lifelike Mechanism Puppet sat before the large desk Xia Ziyi rarely used, looking just like a living person as it leisurely leafed through the books from the shelves behind it.
Its right hand turned the pages from time to time at remarkable speed, while its left rested on a ring-shaped jade disc. As its magic power circulated, an azure glow shone, and fine rays sliced the jade into thin sheets like sharp blades. Within moments, nearly a hundred chip substrates, each the size of a grain of rice, were complete.
The entire sequence flowed like drifting clouds and running water. It was almost unbelievable that a humanoid puppet, essentially a mechanical wooden doll, had accomplished it.
Once the substrates were finished, the next stage required more delicate work. The puppet set them aside and beckoned casually, drawing over some of the other spirit materials piled in the room.
Magic power wreathed them once again as it began refining them through the Art of a Hundred Crafts unique to the puppet dao, constantly altering their material composition and the distribution of their spiritual essence.
A long while later, Xia Ziyi finally returned home.
He had just reached the inner courtyard and pushed open his door when he saw a peculiar image formed from magic power floating in the air ahead.
Mysterious talismanic symbols were drawn upon