Cultivating immortality begins with discerning the secrets of heaven.

After purchasing the Still Water Talisman, Lin Yun quickly found the cultivator named Zhao Qing.

This person, with a cultivation level of mid-stage Qi Refining, was about forty years old. He sat in front of the stall with a slightly furrowed brow, not uttering a word.

Many cultivators passed by, but no one bought the puppets on his stall, or even bothered to look at them.

Lin Yun walked forward with some curiosity, and after seeing the descriptions of the puppets, he finally understood why no one was buying this person's puppets.

Tier 1, Low Grade, Shield Soldier Puppet: Can withstand one attack from a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining.

Tier 1, Low Grade, Mighty Puppet: Capable of lifting objects weighing thousands of pounds.

Tier 1 Low Grade, Swift Puppet: Extremely fast, capable of completing search missions in complex terrain.

First-tier, mid-grade, Crimson Flame Puppet: Can launch fireball attacks, equivalent to a strike from a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

There are many types of these puppets, and they are all quite practical. However, there is one problem: to activate these puppets, one needs divine sense!

If one does not have divine sense to drive it, then spirit stones will be needed as a substitute.

Each activation of a low-grade first-tier puppet requires one spirit stone!

As for that mid-grade first-tier attack puppet, it takes five spirit stones to launch an attack equivalent to that of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator!

So expensive!

Even Lin Yun, a cultivator from a Foundation Establishment family, couldn't help but exclaim in his heart that it was too expensive.

"Young friend, after looking around for so long, how about buying a puppet?"

"These puppets of mine are of excellent quality. If I weren't desperately short of spirit stones, I would never sell them for such a low price."

Zhao Qing couldn't help but ask, "I've been sitting here all morning, but I haven't sold a single puppet."

If he can't gather eighteen spirit stones by next month, he will be kicked out of Fire Cloud Valley.

Thinking about this, Zhao Qing sighed repeatedly in his heart, wishing he had never learned this puppetry technique.

"Senior, I am indeed somewhat interested in this speed puppet, but it's too expensive, and each time I use it, it costs a spirit stone, which is simply unaffordable," Lin Yun said with a sigh.

The Swift Puppet was priced at twenty-five spirit stones. Lin Yun wasn't short of the money, but knowing that the other party urgently needed spirit stones, he naturally planned to try and negotiate the price down further.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qing sighed: "This is already at cost price. Just forging the core of this puppet costs fifteen spirit stones. And look at these materials, they are all forged from iron essence."

"Moreover, once you reach the late stage of Qi Refining, open your sea of ​​consciousness, and are able to use the power of divine sense, you will no longer need to consume spirit stones to activate this puppet."

  

This person seemed determined not to lower the price no matter what, but Lin Yun was even more patient.

"But the problem is, if I have the cultivation level of the late stage of Qi Refining, what use would I have for a low-grade puppet of this rank?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qing opened his mouth, but could not utter any rebuttal.

There's no way around it; that's just how it is. First-tier low-grade puppets are incredibly fragile, practically useless to cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining.

This is also his biggest problem: he is not capable of crafting first-tier high-grade puppets. The puppets he can currently craft are not very useful to cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining, but they are too expensive for low-level cultivators.

If he can't sell the puppets he makes, he won't earn spirit stones. And if he can't earn spirit stones, he can't improve his puppetry skills.

It's a vicious cycle that would send anyone's blood pressure soaring.

After a long while, Zhao Qing sighed and asked, "Young friend, how many spirit stones can you offer?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun felt relieved, knowing that the deal was done, but he didn't dare to haggle too hard.

"I only have nineteen spirit stones and three catties of spirit rice on me. What do you think?"

Zhao Qing sighed repeatedly, but finally nodded and agreed to the deal.

"Alright, seeing how sincere you are, you can take this speed puppet."

"Thank you, senior!" Lin Yun took out nineteen spirit stones and three catties of spirit rice to complete the transaction.

"I don't deserve the title of 'senior.' My name is Zhao Qing. You can call me Brother Zhao. If the puppet gets damaged in the future, you can come to me for repairs."

"For the first three repairs, you only need to provide your own iron essence. After that, each repair will cost one spirit stone. I live in my cave in Fire Cloud Valley, and I usually cultivate there."

"They even have after-sales service?" Lin Yun raised an eyebrow, smiled, and clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"Alright, then I'll take my leave now, Brother Zhao."

"Take care and don't bother seeing me off."

...

After completing the transaction, Lin Yun felt much more at ease.

With this speed-traveling puppet, there will be a chance to obtain the Fire Marrow Heart hidden deep within the earth's fissure layer.

He then wandered around the trade fair twice and spent seven spirit stones to buy a bottle of Qi-Boosting Pills, which contained many impurities.

In the past, when he was a member of the main branch of the Lin family, he would naturally not have taken such low-quality pills.

Excessive impurities and excessive consumption can easily lead to the accumulation of excessive erysipelas in the internal organs, damaging the body's foundation.

But now that he's from a collateral branch of the family, he can no longer be so picky.

"Now we're completely broke."

After the trade fair, I bought a Still Water Talisman, a low-grade first-tier puppet, and a bottle of Qi-boosting pills.

He originally had thirty-two spirit stones, but now he only has a pitiful three left.

Besides that, there were less than six catties of Lingyun rice left, which were all the provisions stored up from before.

"It's alright, as long as I can obtain that Fire Marrow Heart, everything will be fine." Lin Yun thought to himself, then quickly returned to his courtyard, intending to familiarize himself with the puppet before starting the operation that night.

But just as he approached the place where he lived and cultivated, a powerful surge of spiritual energy spread out from a certain courtyard.

"Huh? This is... someone has broken through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining?" Lin Yun's eyes widened as he looked towards the direction from which the spiritual energy fluctuations were coming from.

Soon, people from the other courtyards also came out to see what was going on.

"That's the courtyard where Chen Guan lives," someone exclaimed.

Upon hearing Chen Guan's name, Lin Yun felt it was only natural.

This person is a Core Formation expert who has possessed another body to rebuild his cultivation; he would consider it normal for him to cultivate at an extremely fast pace.

But others didn't think so, especially the other two main members of the Chen family, whose expressions were extremely complicated.

"My cousin Chen Guan... he's actually reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining! I remember he's only nineteen years old this year, right?"

"Wow, that's fast! It's just as fast as Brother Chen Tang's!"

A nineteen-year-old Qi Refining mid-stage cultivator is not uncommon among Foundation Establishment families, but Chen Guan is only a branch member of the family, which makes him somewhat unusual.

At this rate of cultivation, it's highly likely that he will reach the sixth level of Qi Refining before the age of thirty.

He could completely avoid the path of weapon crafting and rely solely on his cultivation level to participate in the next Taiyuan Ascension Conference, where his chances of standing out would be extremely high.

Joining the Taiyuan Sect is something that all cultivators in the entire Cangxuan Southern Region desire.

Yang An exclaimed, "The Chen family is amazing! Even a branch of the family has such talent."

Lin Yun took a deep look at it and then returned to his courtyard.

Chen Guan had long been on his list of people he least wanted to mess with. If he had to stay in Fire Cloud Valley to learn martial arts, he would have loved to stay far away from him.

...

As night fell, Lin Yun, having spent the entire day playing with the speed-moving puppet that was only half a person's height, finally figured it out completely.

"This puppetry is quite amazing; it can be driven by such a small puppet core."

This swift puppet is forged entirely from refined iron, making it extremely sturdy and solid. Inserting a spirit stone into it allows it to carry out his commands.

If he opens his sea of ​​consciousness and cultivates his divine soul, he can plant a divine imprint and use his own divine sense to control it as if it were his own arm.

"It's quite agile and compact, so entering that fissure layer of the earth won't be a problem. With a Still Water Talisman cast on it, obtaining the Fire Marrow Core won't be an issue either."

Under the cover of night, Lin Yun quietly slipped out of the courtyard gate.

All around was silent, save for the faint moonlight. In this quiet night, he tiptoed out of the courtyard and into the scorching valley below Fire Cloud Valley.

Following the directions in his memory, Lin Yun quickly found the fissure in the earth.

With the help of the Book of Insight, he was able to clearly sense where the Fire Essence Heart was hidden.

"Go on, little one."

Lin Yun took out a speed-traveling talisman and then slapped a still water talisman onto the puppet. A layer of shimmering water shield enveloped it.

After consuming a spirit stone, the speed puppet seemed to come alive, nimbly burrowing into the fissure in the earth.

After waiting for a while, Lin Yun felt the heat in the air becoming increasingly intense.

"It's a success!"

He looked excitedly into the depths of the rift, where the speed-moving puppet was climbing upwards at an extremely fast speed.

In its mouth, it held a crystal that emitted a reddish halo, and as it climbed, the fire-attribute spiritual energy in the air became denser.

Seeing this, Lin Yun flipped over and jumped down into the rift, putting the Speed ​​Puppet and the Fire Marrow Heart into his storage bag.

After finishing everything, Lin Yun endured the impact of the scorching heat waves from underground, quickly climbed out of the crack, and returned to his courtyard without stopping.

The whole process took less than half an hour and went unnoticed by anyone.

"call!"

Lin Yun leaned back on the bed and let out a long sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes filled with barely suppressed elation.

"I made a small fortune quietly. Those spirit stones I spent at the trade fair today were definitely worth it."

However, he dared not rashly take out the Fire Marrow Heart, as the fire spiritual energy contained in such a fire-elemental treasure was too pure.

However, this did not stop Lin Yun from planning how to make good use of this first-tier spiritual object.

"To make the most of this Fire Marrow Heart, we can refine it into a high-grade magic weapon to maximize its benefits."

"But I can't wait that long, and I'm not qualified to collaborate with other weapon refiners to refine treasures right now."

"Then we can only sell it to a cultivator who practices fire-based techniques. We'll either have to find a buyer ourselves or make a trip to Zhongling Market..."

Lin Yun rejected both options. There was no other way; his strength was still too weak. Once he revealed his wealth, he might attract unwanted attention.

Some audacious cultivators would definitely take the risk for this windfall, and who cares whether they are members of the Lin family or not.

"We need to proceed cautiously..."