"No need for formalities," Zhao said in a sharp, high-pitched voice. "I heard you have an Inquiring Child here, please bring over one with some seniority, I have some questions to ask."

  A cultivator who has reached his level can change their voice and appearance at will, and even make slight changes to their body shape in an instant. However, this kind of disguise technique is easy to see through by fellow cultivators of the same rank.

  "Yes, elder please enter the VIP room for a moment, I'll send someone to invite an inquirer." The shopkeeper hastily led Zhao Di into a separate tea room and personally presented him with a cup of top-grade spiritual tea.

  The tea house rarely has cultivators in the foundation-building stage visiting, let alone those in the middle of the foundation-building stage, so the shopkeeper is extremely respectful to Zhao Di.

  The rest of the tea guests saw the unfathomable cultivation on Zhao Di's body and didn't dare say anything more.

  Zhao savored the spiritual tea of Xingchen Sea, its flavor rich and lingering. Compared to the light and refreshing cloud mist tea of Kuanglu Mountain Range, it had a distinct taste.

  Before long, the shopkeeper led a white-haired old man in the tenth layer of Qi Refining into the teahouse.

  "Junior Huang Shanchan, I have been asking about you for over twenty years, and now I finally get to see you in person!" The old man said with a bow.

  "Very well, you sit down. If you can answer a few questions to my satisfaction, I won't let your good fortune slip away!" Zhao Di casually set up a soundproofing spell, enveloping himself and the old man within it. Seeing this scene, the teahouse owner knew better than to intrude and bowed his way out of the room.

  "May I ask what questions you have, elder? I will answer them all." The old man said.

  "Do you know where in the city one can buy puppets that grant foundation stage strength?" Zhao Di asked, getting straight to the point.

  "Senior wants to buy a puppet of the foundation period?" The old man repeated with some surprise, then said with a smile:

  "Haha, senior is unaware, the Puppet Technique, in the entire Star Ocean, only Qianji Island's Thousand Machine Gate has this technique, there are no other schools. The Thousand Machine Gate views high-level puppet techniques above the foundation period as the gate's ultimate secret, and never passes it on to outsiders. All disciples must take a blood oath, they cannot pass it on to people outside the gate. For thousands of years, it has been this way! Therefore, in the entire Star Ocean, only Qi-refining level puppets are sold, foundation period puppets can't be bought even with money!"

  "There is only Qianji Gate! I've heard that Qianji Gate is just a medium-sized sect, what's the reason?" Zhao Di asked in puzzlement.

  "Indulging in trivial matters and losing one's ambition!" The old man said softly, "It is said that the Thousand Machines Sect was originally a powerful sect with great strength, having produced outstanding figures who dominated the Starry Sea for over a thousand years! However, the later generations of disciples were extremely disappointing, their cultivation far inferior to their predecessors, and the sect's power gradually declined. I heard that most of the Thousand Machines Sect's cultivators spent their energy studying the art of puppeteering, even using the spirit stones meant for buying elixirs to purchase materials for crafting puppets, while neglecting their own cultivation. With such a reversal of priorities, how could the Thousand Machines Sect not gradually weaken?"

  The old man seemed to have no good impression of Qianji Gate, and he analyzed the reasons with a tone of disapproval.

  "Hmm, that makes sense!" Zhao Di nodded in agreement, then asked again: "But what's not clear to me is that since the Thousand Machines Gate is just a medium-sized sect, how can it still monopolize this secret technique for over a thousand years?"

  The old man did not immediately answer Zhao Di's question, but after a moment of contemplation, he said: "As for this question, I don't dare to make a definitive statement. However, based on my inference, the puppet technique is not particularly impressive either. It is said that the materials needed to create a foundation-level puppet exceed those required for an extreme-grade artifact! The cost of refining each foundation-level puppet far surpasses that of an extreme-grade artifact. As a result, it's difficult for them to have a significant impact, and their price is not cheap, so gradually, no one pays attention to them anymore. Only the cultivators of the Thousand Machines Sect still regard this as a treasured heirloom of their sect."

  "So that's how it is! In that case, except for the Thousand Machines Gate, there's no way to obtain a puppet with foundation stage strength?" Zhao Di asked, still holding onto a thread of hope.

  "It's probably so." The old man said, and then continued: "For the cultivation of our predecessors, having a puppet in the foundation period is not very meaningful, it's better to add two good extreme-quality artifacts. After all, the flexibility of puppets is far inferior to using artifacts, let alone that puppets also need to constantly consume spirit stones. If seniors need puppets to guard the house and serve tea, they can spend hundreds of spirit stones to buy some high-ranking puppets in the refining period, which would be enough."

  "I understand now!" Zhao Di then asked a few more questions and after getting satisfactory answers, he rewarded the old man with several pieces of spiritual stones before leaving the teahouse.

  It turned out that they couldn't get their hands on a puppet from the foundation period, so Zhao Di's plan had to be temporarily terminated.

  "It seems I'll have to make a trip to Qianji Gate in the future!" Zhao Di muttered to himself.

  Since he couldn't buy a foundation-building puppet, then he might as well add some better energy-refining puppets. This was what Zhao thought.

  Zhao Di continued to linger in the market for most of the day, buying a number of items, mostly auxiliary materials for alchemy and equipment refinement, and also acquiring two or three sets of more powerful spell arrays.

  This time he will be in seclusion for a long time, and some defensive arrays with strong performance are needed to guard the cave mansion. He originally had many arrays, but most of them have been damaged.

  In addition to this, he finally managed to buy a few secondary dragon elixirs, which can be refined into two or three furnaces of primary transformation elixir after returning. After being promoted by the small cauldron, I believe there is a great opportunity for his ice wind snake to advance to a second-level spiritual beast.

  If it weren't for the inner elixir of the Jiaolong demon beast being more than twice as expensive as ordinary demon elixirs, he would definitely buy some more.

  Zhao returned to Xingxing Island with two full storage bags.

  As usual, after strolling around the market, he went to Yuanting Peak and handed over a large batch of Ling stones. Without staying here for long, he rushed straight to his own island - Luoji Island.

  Just as he flew close to the Luliang Mountains, Zhao Di learned through the Buddhist rosary in his hand that someone in the Six-Wheeled Absolute Spirit Formation was motionless, seemingly waiting for him.

  As Zhao approached closer, he sensed the other's cultivation base and found it somewhat familiar. He slowly walked up to the person.

  On a small hill, a girl in a green skirt sat cross-legged quietly.

  Zhao Di also recognized the girl at a glance, and she was the little English lady who had received him in the Xuan Yi Pavilion. She is now a cultivator of the twelfth layer of the Refining Qi period.

  This young girl's appearance has not changed in the slightest over the past twenty years, with delicate features and a hint of childishness between her eyebrows. With her cultivation at the Refining Qi stage, even if she had practiced some techniques that had anti-aging effects, it would be impossible for her to remain unchanged for twenty years. It seems that the Beauty Retaining Pill from back then was likely given to this girl to take.

  "Junior Xu Ying, pay respects to senior!" The young girl, seeing Zhao Di, happily stepped forward and greeted.

  "Are you here specifically waiting for me? Don't you know that I don't like being disturbed in my cave?" Zhao said discontentedly.

  "Elder brother, please calm down. Xiang Er also had no choice but to do so. It was my family's young mistress who ordered Xiang Er to do this. As for the specific reason, elder brother will understand once you see the contents of this jade strip." The girl saw Zhao Di's face reveal a look of displeasure and hastily explained, then slowly flew the pale green jade strip towards Zhao Di.

  Zhao Di stretched out his right hand and grasped at the air, a purple energy wrapped around a jade slip flew quickly into his hand.

  "There's nothing wrong." Zhao thought to himself as he used the Hunyuan One Qi detection and found that there were no restrictive traps attached to this jade slip.

  He then separated a part of his divine consciousness and infused it into the jade slip, slowly revealing its contents.

  The contents of the jade slip were not many, and Zhao finished reading it in a moment. He looked surprised and asked, "Is what Yunxianzi said true?"

  The young lady smiled and said, "Don't worry, elder brother, of course not! For this matter, the young miss had Xiaoying wait here for you specially for several years! If elder brother still doesn't return within two years, I'm afraid it will be a missed opportunity!"

  "It's really hard on you to say that!" Zhao Di smiled and said, taking out two pellets of medicine, tossing them to the girl, saying: "These two pellets of medicine will serve as your labor fees for these few years! On your way back, please trouble yourself to inform Yun Xianzi, just say that I have agreed to this matter, and in two years we'll meet again here."

  "Third-grade demon pellet! Thank you, senior, for the gift!" The girl took the demon pellet and thanked him with great joy, then she rode her flying artifact and left Luliang Island.

  Zhaodi gazed at the distant figure of the girl, revealing a thoughtful and contemplative expression. After a while, he set up several arrays in the Six Meridians Absolute Spirit Formation, then entered the cave mansion.

  (Second update! Please collect and recommend!)