Puppet Pearl

The lead-gray clouds hung oppressively low, and mist steamed from the Cold Pool, rolling over the water like the breath of a giant beast.

Lu Zhao sat cross-legged on a bluestone beside the Cold Pool, ice crystals creeping up his arms from his soaked cuffs. Three streams of pale-blue true qi tangled together in his Dantian, their tremors causing fine damage to his meridians-this was the limit of his aptitude: spiritual energy entered his body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, yet the limitations of his spiritual root made it difficult to form a complete circulation cycle.

He silently recited the breathing method from the Little Spirit Rain Art, lightly pressing the tip of his tongue against his palate. Water-attribute spiritual energy flowed in through his spiritual root as he slowly drew the restless spiritual energy into his Dantian. From deep within the pool came the crunching of Spirit-Devouring Rats, mingled with the crisp crack of breaking ice, weaving an invisible net through the mist.

"At the peak of the third level of Qi Refining, and I still can't escape the shackles of a middle-grade spiritual root?" He smiled self-mockingly.

Ripples suddenly spread across the pool. Lu Zhao focused his gaze and saw a black-clad man who had arrived thirty feet away. It was Zhou Ming, the Zhou Household steward responsible for dealing with him.

Zhou Ming approached and said, "Fellow Daoist Lu, this is your third extension. If you can't deliver ten jin of cold iron ore before the hour of the Dog, the rules require us to deduct half a month's stipend."

"Quite a few people have their eyes on that Cold Jade Pill of yours."

Lu Zhao rose and cupped his hands, pouring nine jin and eight liang of ore from the pouch he carried. "The mine tunnels have been unstable these past few days. Spirit-Devouring Rats gnawed through one of them. I'll certainly make up the shortfall tomorrow."

Seeing this, Zhou Ming sighed. "This keeps happening. It can't go on forever. Fellow Daoist Lu, we've known each other a long time, so let me offer you a word of advice today: the Puppet Arts aren't something you can master easily. Even in our great Zhou Household, not a single person has truly become a Puppet Master."

"With your aptitude and comprehension, you should have broken through to the middle stage long ago. How did it come to this?"

"Fine, fine. I'll help you once more, but this is the last time. There won't be another exception." With that, Zhou Ming turned and left the Cold Pool.

Lu Zhao breathed out softly and returned to his little courtyard in the Zhou Household Market. This was one of the benefits the Zhou Household provided its guest retainers. Although it stood on land without a spiritual vein, it was his only shelter for now.

Lu Zhao had not been born a guest retainer of the Zhou Household. Five years ago, he had still been a disciple of a small Lineage in Northern Plains Commandery. A calamity had torn the Lineage apart, and he had been reduced to a Rogue Cultivator.

Three years ago, he had come to the Zhou Household Market. At the time, the Zhou Household had been recruiting guest retainers widely to prospect for a Cold Iron Ore Vein. With his decent comprehension, his practice of the water-attribute Little Spirit Rain Art passed down through his household, and his reasonably proficient water spells, he had managed to become a lowest-ranking guest retainer of the Zhou Household with a cultivation of the second level of Qi Refining.

He only needed to hand over ten jin of raw cold iron ore each month to cultivate beside the Cold Pool, and he could also collect a monthly stipend of one spirit stone and one Cold Jade Pill suitable for water-attribute cultivators.

As his thoughts drifted, Lu Zhao recalled his previous life.

Seven years ago, he had still been a doctor of materials science, killed in a laboratory explosion. When he opened his eyes again, he had become a collateral descendant of the Lu Household in Northern Plains Commandery.

But he had not spent long in the Lu Household either. A calamity five years ago had changed his life completely.

Back then, Lu Zhao had been carrying a bamboo basket on his back, collecting azure netherstone fragments in the hills behind the Lu Household—an important material for making puppet joints. Suddenly, the entire valley shook as demonic beasts slammed into the Clan-Protecting Grand Formation. From nearby came his third uncle's roar, mingled with sounds of gnawing: "Run! Go to the Cliffside Cave in the back hills!"

He remembered forming the hand seals for his half-learned Water Mist Technique. The thin mist that rose could not even conceal his entire body.

Then came those heart-rending screams in his memory.

Bang!

The cave where he hid collapsed with a crash. He curled up in a crevice, listening to his clansmen's screams mingle with the sounds of demonic beasts chewing.

Only three days later did he crawl out of the ruins.

With great effort, he dug half a scroll of the Little Spirit Rain Art out of the rubble-the Lineage's only surviving low-grade cultivation method, his means of entering the world of immortal cultivation, and the last memento the Lu Household had left him.

Only that day did he truly understand: a low-level cultivator's Ice Cone Art striking a high-level demonic beast did no more than scatter a few chips of ice.

During that catastrophe that exterminated his Lineage, he had witnessed the terror of second-tier demonic beasts with his own eyes.

In mere moments, they had breached the Lineage's first-tier superior-grade formation. All three Late Qi Refining cultivators in the Lineage, including its head, along with dozens of early- and middle-stage Qi Refining cultivators, had died in the Demonic Beasts' jaws.

He alone had happened to survive because he had gone into the back hills to gather puppet materials.

At this thought, he could not help reflecting that these seven years had been far more eventful than the thirty years of his previous life, transforming him from an ordinary person into a proper cultivator.

After a brief moment of recollection, he returned to reality. Lu Zhao entered the cellar beneath his guest retainer's courtyard, picked up his carving knife, and prepared to continue crafting puppets.

A short while later, his hand suddenly stopped—a fine crack had actually split the Spirit Runes he was carving into the azure-grain wood.

"Another half a spirit stone thrown into the water." He exhaled softly.

He had traded privately mined cold iron for this azure-grain wood at the Black Market. Each piece was worth half a spirit stone.

Suddenly, seven palm-sized rat-corpse puppets trembled slightly. Lu Zhao opened the cellar's wooden door. As the lantern light of a night-patrol cultivator swept across the ground, he quickly shut it.

These palm-sized puppets were called Puppet Guards. Although they could not fight enemies, they could guard against prying eyes. It had taken him two years to craft them.

He set to work again, the tip of his carving knife glowing blue-green. This time, he carved a perfect arc into a piece of azure-grain wood-the fruit of seven years of unceasing effort.

When he completed the third spiritual pattern, pale blue-green sap suddenly seeped from the wood's heart-this was the "azure marrow" recorded in the books, something only aged azure-grain wood could produce.

He carved an intricate Spirit-Control Array into the grape-sized core.

Over the years, he had carved Spirit Runes into wood every day, progressing from unranked spirit wood to the First-Tier Low Grade azure-grain wood he used now. After countless failures, he had finally made a Puppet Core blank capable of holding Divine Sense seven days ago.

The last time he carved a Puppet Core, he had completed the hardest step, only for joy to turn to sorrow when he failed at the critical moment of final assembly and puppet activation.

This time, Lu Zhao forcibly restrained his excitement and began the final step once more.

"It worked..."

With trembling hands, he fitted the Rat King Fang into place. As the final rat bone clicked into its joint, pale blue-green mist spilled from the Puppet Core-the "Puppet Mist" recorded in the books.

Only an Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet that had attained a tier could manifest it. A moment later, a palm-sized puppet rat appeared in his hand.

Looking back on every little moment of the past seven years, he did not know whether to cry or laugh-the fruit of seven years now rested in his palm.

Just then, a mysterious voice sounded in his mind:

"First-Tier Low Grade puppet. Tier attained. First-Tier Puppet Inheritance granted. Preliminary inheritance unlocked."

A vast flood of information poured into his mind. After a long while, Lu Zhao opened his eyes, wild joy shining in them.

Seven years of effort had not been wasted. He, Lu Zhao, finally had a chance to defy heaven and change his fate. He saw light, saw hope of roaming unhindered through the world of immortal cultivation and attaining the Dao of everlasting life!

He called out in his heart, Puppet Pearl.

A light appeared before his eyes:

Name: Lu Zhao

Lifespan: 23/120

Cultivation: Third level of Qi Refining (Middle-Grade Water Spirit Root) Primary cultivation method: Little Spirit Rain Art (incomplete · low-grade)

Spells: Water Bullet Technique, Water Curtain Technique, Ice Cone Art, Breath Concealment Technique, Water Mist Technique

Supplementary arts:

Puppet Arts (First-Tier Low Grade)

Basic Spirit-Control Array (11% success rate)

Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet

Materials: One jin of azure-grain wood, one spirit rat corpse, one Early First Stage demonic rat fang, half a jin of azure cliffstone

Fang uses: 200

Abilities: Gnawing, Swift Speed, Spell-Breaking (strength comparable to a First-Tier Low Grade demonic beast)

Reward: First-Tier Puppet Inheritance

Lu Zhao's pupils quivered slightly. The number of fang uses shown on the light screen matched the book's record exactly. This Puppet Pearl had not bestowed something from nothing; it was based on what he had accumulated over seven years.