"Miss Lin, does your Gorgeous Treasure Pavilion accept Tier One Spirit Talismans?" Li Mu asked Lin Huirong.
"Tier One? If the quality is good, of course, we accept them." Lin Huirong nodded in confirmation.
"Rest assured, the quality is absolutely fine." Li Mu looked at Lin Huirong and said with a smile, "Miss Lin, I'm suddenly feeling a bit unwell, I'll step out to attend to it and return to chat further."
Lin Huirong smiled and nodded, pointing to a certain direction, indicating Li Mu should go.
Taking the opportunity of a bathroom break, Li Mu retrieved four stacks of Tier One Spirit Talismans from the storage compartment and placed them in the beast hide bag at his waist.
"Miss Lin, please take a look at these Spirit Talismans, see if you're satisfied." Returning to the hall, Li Mu handed the four stacks of Spirit Talismans to Lin Huirong and inquired.
Lin Huirong took the Spirit Talismans and began examining them one by one, a look of delight appearing on her face, seemingly quite satisfied.
These Spirit Talismans were originally prepared by Li Mu for self-defense, but now he was selling them directly, so naturally, the quality was top-notch, each personally selected by him.
"The quality is excellent, Mr. Li, did you craft these Tier One High-grade Spirit Talismans yourself?" Lin Huirong asked with a moved expression, looking at Li Mu with concern.
"No, they were left by my father for self-defense purposes. This talisman fragment was bought as a gift for him, using these Spirit Talismans in exchange; how many more Spirit Stones do I need to pay?" Li Mu asked with concern.
"These Spirit Talismans are all Five Elements Spirit Talismans, totaling 120 pieces. I'll accept them from you at 12 Lower Spirit Stones per piece, and you also want two pieces of Spiritual Peach Wood, right! I'll give you a little discount; you just need to pay me 3 Middle Spirit Stones more," Lin Huirong said enthusiastically.
Li Mu was slightly taken aback; Lin Huirong's offer was much more sincere compared to the Liu Family's Spirit Talisman Store.
A single Spirit Talisman was counted two Lower Spirit Stones less; that unscrupulous fellow, I'll never sell my talismans there again.
"What is it, Mr. Li, is there a problem with the price?" Lin Huirong carefully asked, seeing Li Mu's unhappy face.
"No problem, let's do it." Li Mu took out three Middle Spirit Stones from his Spirit Stone Bag to settle the account.
"Mr. Li, I will have someone move out the two pieces of Spiritual Peach Wood immediately." Lin Huirong accepted the three Middle Spirit Stones joyfully.
"Yes, by the way, how much for a Tier One Top-Grade Spirit Sword at your pavilion?" Li Mu remembered something and asked with concern.
Currently, he was using a Tier One Lower Grade Profound Iron Sword; with more Spirit Stones next time, Li Mu planned to upgrade his equipment.
"Mr. Li, do you need a custom Spirit Sword? A regular Tier One Top-Grade Spirit Sword is priced around 30 Middle Spirit Stones. A customized Spirit Sword would be more expensive, depending on the materials used and the master's labor fee," Lin Huirong responded with a smile.
"Alright, I'll come another day to discuss." Li Mu nodded, responding with his limited funds.
Soon, Li Mu left the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, hired a carriage to carry two pieces of Spiritual Peach Wood back to Little Liang Mountain.
After some time of Divine Sense Engraving practice, Li Mu had mastered it proficiently and successfully refined a Soul Wood Spirit Seed into a Puppet Core. However, when integrating it into the 'Slave Puppet,' something unexpected occurred.
After inspection, Li Mu discovered the issue was with the array pattern on the Slave Puppet's torso.
Once the coachman delivered the Spiritual Peach Wood into the yard, Li Mu eagerly began carving a new puppet torso.
————
Qing'an Town, Qing Xuan Sect's residence.
"Senior Brother Xu, I found it, I found a suitable Demon Beast!" Zhou Guangzhi ran excitedly into Xu Lijin's study to report.
"Keep your voice down, do you want everyone to know?" Xu Lijin glared at Zhou Guangzhi, irritably asking, "Which Demon Beast is it? Where is it?"
"It's an injured Tier Two Demon Bear, at Burial Cloud Mountain, just about ten miles from Little Liang Mountain." Zhou Guangzhi quickly replied.
"A Tier Two Demon Bear, are you crazy! If we fail to lure it properly, we could be in trouble instead." Xu Lijin was startled, questioning in shock.
The strength of a Tier Two Demon Beast was comparable to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; no, Demon Beasts have tough hides and bloodline divine techniques, making a Tier Two demon much more formidable than an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Xu Lijin, being merely at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, felt daunted at the mention of a Tier Two Demon Beast.
"Senior Brother Xu, it's a Tier Two Demon Bear that just had cubs; it caught the attention of some Hunter Cultivators. They've captured the bear cub, and now they're plotting to use the cub to lure and kill the beast. We just need to have them set up the hunt at Little Liang Mountain, and we can borrow their strength to kill the beast," Zhou Guangzhi hurriedly explained.
"I see, do you know these Hunter Cultivators?" Xu Lijin suddenly understood.
"Yes, it's Fei Zizhong and Du Shilong among others. After we deal with that kid, they hope Senior Brother Xu can join in on hunting the Demon Bear. The terms have mostly been negotiated; only the profit-sharing after killing the Demon Beast needs to be finalized," Zhou Guangzhi replied.
"Alright, arrange a time; I'll discuss it with them." Xu Lijin nodded, not refusing, as he knew these people, who were quite familiar to him.
"Got it!" Zhou Guangzhi responded happily and ran out of the study.
Watching Zhou Guangzhi's departing figure, Xu Lijin revealed a sinister smile. Trying to learn my array cultivation inheritance, young man, greed comes at a price.
Little Liang Mountain.
Li Mu, spending an hour, once again carved out the Slave Puppet's torso. After a thorough check, he confirmed that the puppet array patterns on the body were flawless.
Taking a deep breath, Li Mu retrieved the Puppet Core refined from the Soul Wood Spirit Seed. He opened the array hub at the chest of the Slave Puppet, placed the Puppet Core inside, inserted five Lower Spirit Stones into the puppet array's power source, and closed the Protective Array's mechanism cover.
The Spirit Light of the Puppet Spirit Pattern on the surface of the Slave Puppet puppet flashed, and in the next second, the puppet supported itself on the wooden table with both hands, stood up directly, and stared blankly at Li Mu as if waiting for an instruction.
"Come, take a few steps!" Li Mu's eyes lit up as he issued an order aloud.
The Slave Puppet obeyed, stepped forward wobblingly for a few steps, and then stood still.
Li Mu was overjoyed; this puppet was successfully refined. Next, he could continue to optimize it, eventually enabling it to take over some farm work autonomously.
Of course, Li Mu could also directly control it using Divine Sense, but doing so would go against the original intent of refining this Slave Puppet.
The optimization and training of the Slave Puppet had to be gradual. Li Mu then took out the book "Illusion Breathing Technique" and the Tier Two "Golden Talisman Strategy" and started to study and learn them.
Li Mu only needed to understand them at an entry level and record them on the character panel.
"Qi Movement and Guiding, Body and Breath Regulation, Breath Shaping Spirit, Illusory Spirit Breath,..."
Following the cultivation route of the "Illusion Breathing Technique," Li Mu began attempting its first operation.
Soon, Li Mu opened his eyes, looking at the virtual box's character log.
[Ding, you successfully operated the Illusion Breathing Technique, proficiency +1]
Seeing this notification, Li Mu smiled with satisfaction. In just two and a half months, once the next batch of Wind Spirit Grass matured, this cultivation technique would become useful!
Li Mu put away the "Illusion Breathing Technique," then opened the "Golden Talisman Strategy" to continue his study.