Zhao stroked his chin, deep in thought and silent.

  The old man waited anxiously for Zhao Di's reply, his eyes filled with expectation and a hint of tension.

  He is already old, with less than a hundred years of life left, and can no longer rely on his own strength to sustain the sect. The young man in front of him has extraordinary abilities and great potential! If he could establish some connection between this person and the Qianji Sect, or even just use this person to retrieve the lost treasures from the treasure land, it is highly likely that he can turn the tide and revive the declining sect!

  Although they didn't interact much, from various details it can be seen that this person's heart is not bad, not the kind of ruthless and cruel type. Even if he were to hand over the entire Qianji Gate to this person, he would feel slightly at ease, and wouldn't let the sect fall into heresy.

  Of course, if there weren't really no other capable and talented disciples in the sect, he also wouldn't have pinned his hopes on an outsider.

  At this point, the old man took a look at the sloppy middle-aged man under Zhao Di's feet and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

  This child has an extremely high innate talent, with excellent qualifications for the two spiritual roots and a pure Yang body. His cultivation of the Huo Xing Gong Fa was especially swift, and he successfully built his foundation before the age of 30. Decades later, he took another major step forward, condensing the Golden Elixir and becoming the youngest elder in the sect's thousands of years of history. Originally, he had placed boundless hopes on this child, but fate played a trick on him - decades ago, this child fell deeply into a romantic entanglement and no longer cared about the path of cultivation, ultimately leading to his downfall. No matter how much he tried to persuade and rescue him, it was all in vain!

  If things go on like this, I'm afraid that after his lifespan is exhausted and he sits in meditation, the Qianji Gate will no longer have a powerful Golden Elixir period cultivator to protect it. At any time, it may suffer the disaster of being exterminated or be forced to move out of this island and live in seclusion on small islands, completely becoming an insignificant and obscure sect.

  If so, he would be too ashamed to face the spirits of his ancestors after his death.

  At this point, the old man looked at Zhao Di with a complex expression again.

  "Alright, I'll write the Soul Imprint Book and leave my soul's mark on it!" Zhao Di carefully considered it for a moment and decided to accept the old man's suggestion. Both "Puppet Thousand Machines Technique" and "Mind Spirit Incantation" were extremely attractive to him, and he really didn't want to let them go!

  Even if he gets entangled with Qianjimen, it doesn't matter much. At most, he will leave after completing his task and no longer have any intersection with Qianjimen. As for these two secret techniques, he can master them himself and will not teach them to others!

  The old man heard the words and said with great joy: "Haha, your move is extremely wise! The ultimate skill of our school will definitely not disappoint you! To prevent the ultimate skill from leaking out, neither of these two secret books has a ready-made jade slip. I'll record one now, and after you write the Soul Imprint Book, I'll hand it over to you!"

  As he spoke, the old man seemed to be afraid that Zhao Di would change his mind, and had already taken out a jade slip and was about to record the content on it. He added another sentence: "This Soul Seal Book is extremely mysterious, you can only use your sincere heart to silently recite these two rules in your mind, and then use your vital blood to write down your own name, otherwise it will be ineffective!"

  Zhao Di smiled slightly and said, "Since I've agreed, I'll naturally be sincere!" He then recited a few lines of ancient text from the Soul Imprint Book, after which he lightly pinched his index finger, squeezed out a drop of pure blood, and wrote the two characters "Zhao Di" on the golden axle surface.

  Just as Zhao finished writing, a red light flashed and the two characters flew into the scroll with dense names, ranking in front of his name were Mo Cheng and Feng Qingyun!

  Zhao's hand flicked lightly and the scroll flew towards the old man.

  The old man grasped the golden scroll with one hand, saw Zhao Di's name listed at the end, and said intimately: "It turns out to be Brother Zhao! Hehe, this is the jade slip of the recorded method that Lao Fu has prepared. Please take a look and destroy it immediately after reading it! This place is not suitable for a long conversation, Brother Zhao might as well follow me back to Songzhu Island to have a good talk. As for that task, it involves many secrets of our sect, and Lao Fu still needs to tell Brother Zhao in detail."

  The old man was in a great mood and threw the jade slip he had just recorded to Zhao Di, while carefully putting away the Soul Seal Book.

  Zhao Di took over the jade tablet and immersed his divine consciousness into it. He quickly scanned through it, and indeed, it was the content he had been dreaming of!

  "All right! But what about Old Mo?" Zhao Di put away his jade tablet and pointed to the middle-aged man who was sleeping on the ground.

  "Alas! Let him sleep a few more days, perhaps for him, this state of intoxication is the most comfortable!" The old man said with a light sigh.

  The second is that Zhao Di left Songzhu Island.

  "You're so gloomy! What did that young man named Ah Chi do to offend you, coming back with such an angry look on his face?" Yu Lan asked anxiously.

  Zhao Di sent the unconscious youth back to his dormitory, and when You Ruo returned, he had a sulky expression with pursed lips.

  "That little guy is so annoying! I followed the master's orders and cast a soul-changing spell, making his memories from last night a bit fuzzy. Who knew that just as I was about to cast another spell, he suddenly woke up, opened his eyes in a daze, saw me and started saying 'fairy fairy' this and that, and even tried to come over and get physical with me! It's infuriating!" You Ruo exclaimed.

  "Hehe, you didn't do anything to him, did you?" Yu Lan smiled slyly.

  "Hmph! Although the master ordered not to take his life, he's so arrogant and frivolous. I'll teach him a lesson on behalf of the master. With one slap, I knocked him out and also blew some dark energy into his body. Heh heh, this kid will probably be suffering from headaches for the next half month!" You Ruo felt somewhat pleased with her own arrangement.

  "Serves him right! Who let this little brat offend our Young Mistress You Ruo?" Yu Lan chimed in.

  Zhao Di smiled slightly, and such a harmless action he naturally wouldn't think much of. At this time, he was flying towards a large island near Songzhu Island, where there was a transmission array leading to Fangzhang Xian Island.

  Several hours ago, the elder of Qianji Gate, Feng Qingyun, informed Zhao Di in detail about a task he hoped to complete. This matter was indeed very beneficial to Zhao Di himself, and Zhao Di readily agreed to it.

  It's still early days, with 50 or 60 years of hard work ahead. Zhao Di has plenty of time to refine his puppets, magical tools and high-grade spiritual instruments, increasing his strength and cultivation, which is also why he agreed to this matter so readily.

  Now that Zhao Di had finally obtained the technique for refining higher-grade puppets, he decided not to waste any more time. After gathering all the necessary materials, he immediately went into seclusion and frantically refined equipment, producing a large number of puppets and top-quality spiritual tools. He would form a powerful puppet army before emerging from his seclusion!

  In the following year, Zhao changed his identity and appearance frequently, entering and exiting No. 1 Island, Fangzhang Immortal Island, Penglai Immortal Island and other major markets, spending tens of thousands of spirit stones to purchase various materials. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, taking out tens of thousands of spirit stones at once was not unusual, so his actions did not attract attention.

  After a year of crazy purchasing, he actually spent more than 90% of the mid-grade spirit stones he had accumulated over the years. Now, if Zhao Di didn't take out high-grade spirit stones, it would be considered embarrassing!

  However, at the same time, he also gathered materials for refining dozens of late-stage puppet bases and raw materials for dozens of high-quality spiritual instruments!

  This is because he originally had a large number of high-level demon souls and demon beast materials, if it were all purchased, Zhao Di would probably need to use the small cauldron to cultivate mid-grade spirit stones for several years!

  Unfortunately, the seven treasures of Buddhism are extremely rare, and over the years, he has only managed to collect a single piece of 300-year-old crystal clear glass. As for the fire coral that he lacks the most, he hasn't obtained a single piece.

  Zhao Di couldn't bear to use other fire-attribute materials to replace the fire coral, which would greatly discount the might of his refined Mixed Yuan Seven Star Sword. He had very high requirements for his own life-bound artifact, and he wouldn't easily start refining unless the original materials were of the highest quality.

  On this day, Zhao entered his own rented cave mansion located at Yuqing Peak in Penglai Fairy Island.

  He gave instructions to You Lan and You Ruo to set up the formation, guard the cave and take care of the Ice Wind Python, then entered that small but exceptionally quiet refining room.

  Zhao sat down on the ground, and in his mind, he carefully reviewed the method of refining the foundation-stage puppet over and over again, making sure that he had every detail at his fingertips and would not make any mistakes.

  One night later, Zhao waved his large sleeve and there appeared over a dozen bottles and jars as well as a pile of demon beast materials on the ground.

  A pair of giant pincers from a Yang Crab, suitable for crafting the hands of a Fire-attribute puppet; the hard shell on the back of a Yang Crab is also well-suited for crafting the body of a puppet.

  A complete vertebral column of a Crimson Scale Salamander is most suitable for use as the intermediate framework in refining a Fire-attribute puppet; the two sturdy hind leg bones of an Inferno Toad are just right for use in refining the lower limbs of a Fire-attribute puppet. With this, the basic shape of a Fire-attribute puppet has taken form. Adding hundreds of years' worth of Ironwood and beast hide, as well as some auxiliary materials, the refining materials for a Foundation Establishment period puppet have basically been assembled!

  The only difference is that it's a high-ranking demon soul.

  To refine the foundation-building period puppet, at least a third-level demon beast's soul is required. Zhao Di spared no expense and used the demon soul of a fifth-level demon beast, the Toad King!

  The "Puppet Thousand Machine Art" from the Great Elder of the Thousand Machine Gate not only has detailed information on the Dan-forming period and below, but also introduces many techniques and tactics related to puppet use.

  When Feng Qingyun tested Zhao Di's strength, the first move he made was one of them - a tactic where seven puppets cooperated with each other and advanced and retreated in an orderly manner. The "Puppet Thousand Machines Technique" calls this tactic the Puppet Soldier Formation, using the mortal world's military formation as a metaphor, hinting at the infinite uses of the puppet troops.

  In the Thousand Machines Technique, it is also mentioned that if a human puppet using a law instrument is used, when the material attributes of the refining and use are consistent with the attribute of the law instrument, the power of the law instrument can be exerted. The agility attribute will also be slightly improved.

  Zhao Di is now refining a fire-attribute puppet. After the refinement is complete, he will command the puppet to use the high-grade spiritual tool, Tianyan Blade, to see what percentage of its power the puppet can unleash!

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