Over the next few days, Xiao Yu followed the instructions recorded in the Puppet True Explanation and bought auxiliary materials for refining puppets in bulk at the market.
After spending several thousand Spirit Stones, he had purchased enough materials for several hundred attempts. He had been forced to sell dozens of Intermediate Spirit Talismans to scrape together the necessary Spirit Stones.
Five days later, just as Xiao Yu was about to go out to buy more supplies, Han Li came calling to exchange cultivation arts.
Han Li appeared perfectly unhurried, but Xiao Yu was certain that his thoughts were nowhere near as calm as his expression suggested. After all, Han Li was bound to be deeply interested in any cultivation art that could help him reach Core Formation.
"Brother Xiao, why didn't you tell me that reading the Golden Page would cause such terrible pain?" Han Li demanded an explanation the moment he saw Xiao Yu.
Seeing Han Li's disgruntled expression, Xiao Yu chuckled. "You didn't ask!"
"Couldn't you have warned me even if I didn't ask? I think you did it on purpose!" Han Li said irritably.
"Hmph. Can we make the exchange now?" After venting his frustration, Han Li immediately got down to business. After all, he still had no suitable cultivation art lined up.
Xiao Yu wasted no time either. He patted his Storage Bag, took out a Golden Book Page, and handed it to Han Li, receiving an identical page from him in return.
Then, as though by prior agreement, both infused a little Azure Essence Sword Aura into their pages. They exchanged a glance but tacitly said nothing. Clearly, each had been worried that the other might try to fool him with a fake Golden Page.
"Brother Han, a pleasure doing business with you! Haha!"