The Puppeteer’s Embarrassment

The disciple of the Heavenly Puppet Gate watched as the onlookers all drooped their heads.

‘Ai! I don’t know what the elders and the Sect Master are thinking. Who would buy this stuff when it’s so expensive, aside from a few rich people? No one’s buying, not a single one has been sold…’

“Ai!” The disciple of the Heavenly Puppet Gate sighed in frustration. It was too disheartening.

Among all the auxiliary professions of cultivation, puppet masters had it the worst.

Their path was too narrow, and the cost of creating a puppet was far more expensive than a demonic beast pet or a magical artifact of the same level.

A Spirit Gathering Realm demonic beast pet might cost only a few tens of thousands of spirit stones, but a Spirit Gathering Realm puppet would likely be several times more. Moreover, a demonic beast could be nurtured to increase its strength, but a puppet could not.

To put it bluntly, there were better and cheaper alternatives. Buying a puppet was just being a sucker.

Of course, puppets had their own advantages. They had no life, so they didn’t fear death. In a life-and-death battle, the usefulness of a puppet would become apparent.

“Fellow Daoist, how much are your puppets?” Just as the disciple of the Heavenly Puppet Gate was squatting on the ground, drawing circles in despair, a clear voice sounded in his ear.

The young man immediately looked up at the newcomer.

He saw three great beauties standing before his stall. After sizing them up, he immediately perked up.

“Oh, so you are fairies from the Yunhua Sect. I am Lu Xi, a personal disciple of the Heavenly Puppet Gate,” he introduced himself.

Jiang Yao was slightly taken aback to hear that this person was a disciple of the Heavenly Puppet Gate.

She certainly knew of the Heavenly Puppet Gate; the most famous puppet masters in the Jiang Kingdom were all from there.

“Mm, could you introduce these puppets?” Yan Yun asked.

Lu Xi immediately gathered his spirits and began to introduce the three puppets he had on display.

These three were a wooden-armored puppet of the Spirit Gathering Realm, a silver-armored puppet of the Cavern Heaven Realm, and a golden-armored puppet of the Spirit Transformation Realm.

As for the prices, the wooden-armored puppet was one hundred and fifty thousand a piece, the silver-armored puppet was five hundred thousand a piece, and the golden-armored puppet was one million a piece.

As for their strength, that depended on the energy of the spirit stones injected. For example, a golden-armored puppet, as long as enough spirit stones were injected, could at most exert the combat power of a great perfection Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator, and its defensive strength was no weaker than a top-grade Spirit Transformation Realm magical artifact.

“So expensive?” Jiang Yao and Su Muyu were shocked.

As disciples of Fairy Yunshuang, they were considered wealthy in the Yunhua Sect, but even they could probably only afford a wooden-armored puppet at most.

They couldn’t even dream of the others.

Even an ordinary Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator couldn’t afford it.

Seeing that both Jiang Yao and Su Muyu found it expensive, the Heavenly Puppet Gate disciple’s expression once again showed disappointment. In his eyes, they weren’t going to buy.

“Ai! To be honest, even we at the Heavenly Puppet Gate think this price is outrageous. I have suggested to the sect multiple times to lower the price, but our Sect Master says that scriptures cannot be taught lightly, and treasures cannot be sold cheaply,” Lu Xi complained.

Jiang Yao and Su Muyu simultaneously gave Lu Xi a polite but dry laugh.

“No wonder puppet masters have it the worst among all professions. I can finally understand,” Yan Yun whispered to Su Muyu.

Su Muyu nodded in agreement.

However, just as Lu Xi was feeling very disappointed, Yan Yun suddenly asked, “Hey, Fellow Daoist Lu, do you have any better puppets?”

This question stunned Lu Xi.

“We do, but puppets of the Divine Mark Realm and above are in the hands of our elders and Sect Master. The highest I have here are Spirit Transformation Realm puppets.”

Yan Yun chuckled.

“Then please trouble yourself to contact your elders. Just say that I wish to purchase better puppets.”
Lu Xi was greatly surprised to hear this.

“You… Fairy, you want to buy better puppets? I must tell you in advance, the price is extremely expensive. A Divine Mark Realm puppet, as far as I know, costs at least nearly five million spirit stones a piece.”

This price was indeed frightening. A secular family like the Yan family would go bankrupt buying just one.

“No matter. To show my sincerity, I’ll take both the silver-armored and golden-armored puppets you have here. Please see how many you have.”

Yan Yun waved her hand with great magnanimity.

Jiang Yao and Su Muyu, standing at her side, hastily tugged at Yan Yun’s sleeve.

“Hey! Are you stupid? This stuff is too expensive!” Jiang Yao tried to persuade her.

“That’s right, I also think it’s not worth it. Let’s just forget it,” Su Muyu also tried to dissuade her.

But Yan Yun didn’t think so. She felt these puppets would definitely be of great use. Mainly, as a poison cultivator, she couldn’t use conventional magical artifacts. Although her poison art was powerful, two fists are no match for four hands.

Most importantly, Yan Yun felt that safety was more important than anything. Money could be earned again, but if her life was gone, it was truly gone.

“Aiya, Mother, Wife, just don’t worry about it. I have my own plans,” Yan Yun insisted on buying.

And Lu Xi, standing before them, was completely dumbfounded after hearing Yan Yun call the two people beside her “Mother” and “Wife.”

‘Mother? Wife? What’s going on?’ Lu Xi felt his brain wasn’t working properly.

Seeing that they couldn’t persuade Yan Yun, Jiang Yao and Su Muyu could only give her a speechless, exasperated eye-roll and say no more.

“Fellow Daoist Lu, are you selling?” Yan Yun looked at Lu Xi again.

Lu Xi was stunned for a long while, then he nodded hastily.

“Selling, selling, of course! As long as there’s money, there’s no reason not to sell.”

With that, Lu Xi quickly counted the number of puppets he had, and soon he had the total.

“Fairy, I have a total of five golden-armored puppets and ten silver-armored puppets. That comes to exactly ten million spirit stones.”

As Lu Xi said this price, his heart was in his throat. He was afraid Yan Yun would be scared off by the price.

However, Yan Yun didn’t hesitate at all. She checked the number of spirit stones in her storage artifact, then took out a storage pouch and tossed it directly to Lu Xi.

“Take it.”

Lu Xi fumbled to catch the storage pouch. He opened it with a look of disbelief, and with just one glance, his eyes shone with the light of money.

The mountain of spirit stones in the storage pouch made him instinctively swallow his saliva.

No business for three years, but one deal feeds you for three.

“Gulp!”

“You… Fairy, who… who on earth are you?” Lu Xi couldn’t help but ask about Yan Yun’s identity.

To toss out a mountain of spirit stones without blinking an eye… even the Sect Master of their Heavenly Puppet Gate probably couldn’t produce so much money at once.

“Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I am Yan Yun, the Acting Pavilion Master of the Yunhua Sect’s Purple Abyss Pavilion.”

Lu Xi was stunned to hear this name.

‘Yan Yun? Never heard that name before. Acting Pavilion Master of the Purple Abyss Pavilion? When did the Yunhua Sect get a Purple Abyss Pavilion?’

Yan Yun looked at his dazed expression with great disappointment, because he clearly had no idea who she was.

“You haven’t heard of my name?” Yan Yun asked in return.

Lu Xi shook his head very directly.

“Uh, that… I’m sorry. I spend all my time in the sect and rarely go out. If it weren’t for the Sect Master requiring all disciples to attend and observe this Immortal Dao Assembly, I’d probably still be in my residence, researching my puppetry.”

Yan Yun understood. So he was a shut-in who stayed in seclusion.

But it was normal. Most cultivators who practiced auxiliary professions were rather reclusive. It was normal for them not to leave their homes for not just a few years, but for decades.

“This? Alright, then please contact your elders,” Yan Yun said, too lazy to dwell on the issue.

Lu Xi nodded excitedly.

“Fairy, please wait a moment. I’ll contact my elders right away.” Lu Xi quickly took out an identity token and sent a message into it.
After sending it, he took the opportunity to explain to Yan Yun how to use and control these puppets.

In another palace at the Immortal Alliance headquarters, many cultivators were also conducting transactions, but the cultivation of these cultivators was at least at the Divine Soul Realm and above.

This was the triennial Immortal Dao Assembly. Even those great cultivators would surely want to take this opportunity to buy what they wanted.

This place was a bit like a weapons exhibition. They set up areas by sect, displaying the treasures they wanted to sell or exchange, and anyone who was interested could come and ask.

Almost every sect’s area had visitors. The only exception was one sect. There, they had lifelike puppets on display, all of which were female puppets. From the surface, you couldn’t tell they were fake, much like figurines from Earth.

Several old men and middle-aged men and women were looking eagerly at the passing cultivators.

“Ai! Sect Master, what should we do? Look at how busy other people’s places are. Our Heavenly Puppet Gate still has no visitors. Is it that they don’t know a good thing when they see it, or is the price really too expensive?” a beautiful female cultivator asked with a dejected face.

An old man sitting to the side heard this and sighed lightly.

“Be calm. It’s not the first day. There will surely be someone who knows their worth.”

This old man was the Sect Master of the Heavenly Puppet Gate, Lu Fan. The other men and women were elders of the Heavenly Puppet Gate.

“Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Lu, your Heavenly Puppet Gate is really determined not to lower the price, huh? Listen to an old man’s advice, even the best things need a buyer. If there’s no buyer, then it’s just trash. If this continues, your Heavenly Puppet Gate might lose its legacy,” an old man in green robes couldn’t help but mock as he passed by the Heavenly Puppet Gate’s group.

This remark infuriated Lu Fan.

“Old ghost Yao, don’t look for trouble. This old man is already annoyed,” Lu Fan said, opening his eyes and warning the other party unhappily.

The speaker was Yao Xiangzi, the Sect Master of the Medicine Valley, a prominent alchemy sect in the Jiang Kingdom.

The trading area where the Medicine Valley was located was packed with people, a stark contrast to the Heavenly Puppet Gate.