Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

After the meeting, everyone dispersed. However, before Li Mu walked out of the Contribution Hall, he was surrounded by clan leaders and patriarchs. Some of them were respectful, while others were expectant. They all expressed their respect and entrusted him with various tasks.

“Elder Li, not only do you have profound attainments in formations, but your weapon-refining skills are also world-renowned. If we can obtain the Taoist weapon you made personally, we will certainly be full of confidence and will be more confident in fighting against the forces of the Demon Abyss!” Lingxiao Sect’s Sect Master Sun Yuankun, who was wearing a gorgeous robe, had a bright smile on his face and looked at Li Mu with eager light in his eyes.

"Yes, Master Li, I would like to ask you to refine a Taoist weapon that can resist the devil to increase combat power. I wonder if you can..."

Before he finished speaking, another clan leader interrupted.

"Master Li, our sect wants to set up another protective formation. Please help me. The reward will be generous and I will never let you down!" Yun Feiyang looked at Li Mu, afraid that someone else would get there first, so he quickly followed up.

……

Seeing that Li Mu was surrounded by people with great enthusiasm and could hardly get away, Qiu Yuanhong, who was watching from the side, stepped forward and said with a dignified but warm smile: "Masters and clan leaders, please be patient. Elder Li is the supreme elder of our sect and has many responsibilities. His time is precious. Please come in order if you need anything!"

“Everyone, why don’t you write down your needs and the list of materials you provide in detail and let me compile and summarize them. Elder Li will consider each of these information and work out the most reasonable refining and array plan. This way, we will not miss anyone’s needs and will also ensure Elder Li’s refining efficiency.” Qiu Yuanhong stood in front of Li Mu and helped him out.

"Indeed, Elder Li is still busy with the Lingtong Tiangang Formation. Please put your requests aside for now and don't delay the important matter." Qi Xuanming appeared next to Li Mu, looked at everyone with a smile and spoke.

"Qi Daojun is right. It is we who are rude!"

Everyone nodded, with a bit of helplessness in their expressions. Since Qi Daojun had said so, they naturally did not dare to force it. After all, the Lingtong Tiangang Formation was related to the safety of the entire cultivation world, and the plan to fight against the Demon Abyss was more important.

Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief, said goodbye to everyone, and hurried back to the Seven Gods Mountain.

The spiritual materials for the formation have not been gathered yet, and it will take some time to set up the Lingtong Tiangang Formation for the seven extreme sealed places. Li Mu plans to refine the dragon armor and dragon bones into a set of Taoist soldiers first.

If we can refine a batch of seventh-level combat puppets and equip them with them, we will be able to form a powerful combat force and serve as a foundation.

After returning to the Qixuan Sect, Li Mu immediately showed up at the Painting World Treasure House.

"Master, I have finished what you asked me to do."

Seeing Li Mu, Xiao Mingyue quickly jumped up to him and said in a flattering manner.

"Well, you did a good job. Now, I have a new task for you." Li Mu smiled and nodded, gestured.

Mingyue blinked her big eyes and asked curiously, "What is the task? Mingyue will definitely work hard to complete it!"

"Next, I am going to refine a batch of high-level combat puppets. You are the spirit of the puppets, and I need you to assist me!" Li Mu gestured with a smile.

As the spirit of puppets, Mingyue not only possesses the talent to control puppets, but can also provide puppet power during the refining process, providing efficient assistance and improving the quality of refined puppets.

Hearing this, Mingyue's eyes lit up and she said excitedly: "Refine a high-level combat puppet? Great! Mingyue will definitely go all out to assist the master!"

In Mingyue's heart, Li Mu's puppet-making skills are superb and magical. She was created by him. Unfortunately, her master said that she is a puppet with self-awareness, one in a million and difficult to replicate. Otherwise, she longs to have more companions.

By refining more high-level puppets, it is possible to create a true spirit-level puppet like her.

"Look, this batch of puppets is mainly for close combat. Which of these puppet spiritual materials is suitable for making puppet source cores?"

After saying that, Li Mu waved his hand and took out more than a dozen high-level spiritual materials suitable for refining puppet source cores from the Tianxuan Spirit Ring.

The most important thing in refining a high-level puppet is the puppet source core.

The puppet source core is the soul of the puppet. The most sophisticated puppet array needs to be engraved on the source core. It determines the puppet's intelligence, strength, speed and various special abilities.

The first item is a seventh-level spiritual wood called Huiyin Wutan, which is completely black, two meters long, and has a faint light flowing on its surface. This Huiyin Wutan grows in an extremely yin place. Over tens of thousands of years, it has absorbed the evil energy from deep in the earth and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, forming a unique faint light and texture.

The puppet nucleus carved from Huiyin black sandalwood and the puppet formation can exert the power of Yin Sha, enabling the combat puppets to release the power of Yin Sha in close combat, causing both mental and physical oppression on the enemy, and can interfere with the enemy's perception and judgment to a certain extent, making the puppets more elusive in battle.

The second item was a piece of pure seventh-grade spiritual ore that emitted a faint blue light - the Mysterious Blue Ice Crystal. The Mysterious Blue Ice Crystal came from an extremely cold place and contained powerful ice spiritual power and a rare trace of spatial fluctuations.

If this item is used to carve a puppet source core and matched with a suitable puppet body, the combat puppet can exert a powerful icy force in close combat to delay the opponent. At the critical moment, it can also teleport a short distance through space fluctuations and deal a fatal blow. This teleportation ability not only enhances the puppet's combat capability, but also gives it an unexpected means of escape on the battlefield.

The third item is dozens of seventh-level Sky Thunder Fruit cores that sparkle with golden lightning. This fruit grows in places where thunder and lightning occur, and absorbs the essence of thunder and lightning between heaven and earth. It is an extremely rare thunder-attribute material. It can not only provide powerful thunder-attribute spiritual power, but also use it to refine puppet source cores and arrange thunder-attribute puppet formations, which can give puppets tremendous attack and defense power, allowing them to shuttle through the battlefield like lightning and be invincible.

……

There are more than a dozen high-level spiritual materials for refining puppet nuclei, most of which are sixth and seventh levels. They are top-notch in both appearance and attributes, and each one contains unique power and potential.

"So many high-level spiritual materials! Master, how can I choose?"

Mingyue was slightly stunned and asked helplessly.

"Hmm! I don't know which one to choose!" Li Mu looked at so many high-level spiritual materials in front of him with a frown, not knowing which one to choose.

Mingyue is the spirit of the puppet and has a unique understanding of puppetry, especially in sensing the nature and potential of spiritual materials. She is extraordinarily keen. Therefore, Li Mu gave the decision-making power to Mingyue, hoping that it could pick out the most suitable source core material.

With the help of his innate magical powers, the properties of more than a dozen high-level spiritual materials appeared in Li Mu's eyes one by one.

[Star Core] [Rank: 7th-level Spiritual Material]

[Features: Rich star power, magical stars, star-gathering power, heavy star field, starlight flowing]

[Status: Star essence is restrained, waiting for the star to be activated]

[It is produced from broken stars, condensed from the extreme energy of falling stars and the mysterious power of the universe. It contains the endless energy of falling stars, and hides the most profound secrets and laws in the universe. It looks ordinary, but it is like a miniature starry sky. The star essence is restrained, waiting for the destined person to use star power to activate it, releasing its great power that can shake the stars. It is an excellent spiritual material for refining high-level spiritual tools and puppets. ]

【Thunder Fruit Core】

[Rank: Seventh-rank Spiritual Fruit Core]

[Features: Thunder and lightning roar, wrath of thunder, destroying evil and demons, source of thunder, restrained thunder. ]

[Status: Lightning is hidden, thunder spirit is restrained]

[The core of the Sky Thunder Fruit, the seventh rank - Sky Thunder Wood is produced in a land of thunder and lightning. It is condensed from the purest power of thunder and lightning and the wrath of thunder between heaven and earth. It takes a thousand years to grow into wood, five hundred years to bloom, and another five hundred years to produce - Sky Thunder Fruit. The fruit contains the fatal thunder that shakes heaven and earth and destroys evil and demons. Holding this core, one can control the power of thunder to a certain extent and be indestructible. It is the best spiritual material for refining the source core of Thunder God Soldiers and Thunder Puppet.]

……

Looking at the attributes of more than a dozen gorgeous high-level spiritual materials, Li Mu was in a dilemma for a moment. These high-level rare spiritual materials were what Li Mu had painstakingly saved up over the years, just to be able to choose and use them on this day.

However, Li Mu couldn't help but feel troubled when trying to choose the best one from so many spiritual materials.

Xiao Mingyue stared at the many spiritual materials in front of her for a long time, sensing the properties of the many spiritual materials, trying to choose one that was suitable for refining a melee puppet.

"Master, use the Sky Thunder Fruit Core! Its thunder power can undoubtedly give the puppet amazing explosive power and speed, which is suitable for quick surprise attacks or head-on confrontation tactics. But it should be noted that the thunder power is too strong. If the other parts of the puppet are not tough enough, it may not be able to withstand it. It is best to use spiritual materials that match this source core to refine the puppet torso!" Mingyue pondered for a long time, looked at Li Mu and gestured.

"The source of thunder contained in the core of the Sky Thunder Fruit is undoubtedly the best choice for turning a puppet into a powerful melee or long-range output type. Its speed and destructive power should not be underestimated; however, the puppets refined with them may not be suitable for the Taoist instruments and Taoist soldiers they are equipped with.

Li Mu frowned and rejected Mingyue's proposal.

For this batch of seventh-order puppets, Li Mu plans to prepare a set of Taoist soldiers and defensive armor for them to greatly enhance their combat effectiveness. If the puppets cannot perfectly adapt to these equipment, then the overall combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. Although the Tianlei Fruit Core is powerful, its characteristics are too distinct and extreme. If suitable equipment cannot be found to match it, the puppet's actual combat effectiveness will be severely limited.

"I wonder what kind of Taoist weapons are you going to refine for them, master?" After hearing Li Mu's plan, Mingyue was slightly stunned and asked quickly with concern.

Li Mu immediately told Yu Mingyue his plan in detail.

"Master, you can make a decision based on the characteristics of these spiritual materials and the type of puppet you want to create." Mingyue suggested, "For example, if you want the puppet to have strong melee capabilities and a certain degree of mental interference, then Huiyin Wutan is undoubtedly the first choice. Its Yinsha power can well meet this need. If you value the puppet's flexibility and battlefield adaptability more, the spatial fluctuation characteristics of Xuanlan Ice Crystal can allow the puppet to surprise at critical moments."

When Li Mu heard this, his eyes flickered, as if he was thinking about Mingyue's suggestion.

After a moment, Li Mu hesitated and said, "What you said makes sense, but it seems a bit lacking to only focus on the strength of a single attribute. What if we can consider the overall balance and combat style of the puppets and create a team of all-round puppets?"

Hearing this, Mingyue's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and she quickly said: "Master, you want an all-round puppet team! This is not easy, but it is not impossible. Perhaps, we can try an innovative method - composite source core."

"Composite source nucleus?" Li Mu was slightly stunned, then showed an interested look.

"Yes, master. We can try to fuse the essences of several spiritual materials with different properties to create a new source core material. In this way, the puppet will have the abilities of these attributes at the same time, and through sophisticated puppet formation control, it can also achieve flexible switching and coordination between different abilities." Mingyue explained.

After hearing this, Li Mu's brows gradually relaxed and he praised with interest: "This idea is bold and novel, and it is worth a try. However, the refining of the composite source core is extremely difficult, and the design of the puppet formation will also be much more difficult."

"Yes, master. But precisely because of the difficulty, it seems more challenging, isn't it?" Mingyue smiled slightly and reminded.

This plan sounded bold and challenging. Li Mu's heart moved. He was deeply touched by Mingyue's courage and creativity, and his heart was beating fast.

In his previous life, Li Mu worked in the research and development of intelligent projects in a large factory. He was proficient in various mechanical designs and automation technologies. These experiences also benefited him a lot in the process of refining puppets.

Puppetry, one of the hundred arts of cultivation, has similarities with modern intelligent machinery. If modern scientific and technological knowledge is combined with the puppetry of the cultivation world, powerful and efficient puppets can be created.

Puppet formation, one of the key elements of puppetry, is the basis for the formation of puppets. It is the key to giving puppets life and power. Similar to electronic circuits, various combinations and arrangements can stimulate different functions and effectiveness.

Li Mu was well aware of this and gradually had a preliminary idea in his mind.

"Mingyue, your composite source core is worth a try!"

Li Mu's eyes were shining with joy. His weapon-refining skills had reached a high level, so refining multi-core source nuclear materials was not a problem.

On this basis, the multi-core source core is newly carved into a puppet formation, and the puppet formation is designed into multiple independent functional modules. Each module is responsible for a specific ability of the puppet, such as movement, attack, defense, perception, etc. By adjusting the combination and arrangement of different modules, the puppet's combat style can be quickly switched and adapted. "

……

However, in this case, the difficulty of refining a seventh-level Dao realm puppet is extremely great.

Li Mu did it as soon as he thought of it. He took out a piece of parchment and used his divine consciousness as a pen to start drawing the design of the puppet. He designed multiple functional modules such as the defense module and the perception module to ensure that the puppet could cope with various complex situations in battle. He boldly tried the design of a new puppet formation.

"Master, your idea is really great! Designing the puppet formation like this and then combining it with verification is simply a revolutionary innovation!" Mingyue looked at the design drawn by Li Mu with excitement in her eyes, knowing that once this idea is realized, it will have a far-reaching impact on puppetry. (End of this chapter)