Immortality begins with raising apprentices

Chapter 129 Removing Clothes to Heal Wounds, The Method of Puppet Refinement
Li Qiuyun was pinching Chen Ye's arm in embarrassment and anger.

But a piercing pain shot through her from the blood-red curse mark on her shoulder, causing her to groan and nearly lose her balance.

"Qiuyun, how are you?" Upon seeing this, Chen Ye disregarded his own exhaustion and rushed forward to support her.

"I...I'm fine..."

Li Qiuyun gritted her teeth, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on her forehead.

"It's just that this Blood Fiend Curse is a bit domineering, it's a demonic art of the Crossing Love Sect... I'll recover in a few days."

"Nonsense!"

Chen Ye interrupted her in a deep voice.
"This curse is insidious; if it is not removed in time, it may damage the foundation of your cultivation! Sit down, let me take a look!"

His tone left no room for argument as he helped Li Qiuyun sit down on a relatively clean rock nearby.

"Uncle Chen, this..."

Li Qiuyun hesitated. A shoulder injury meant she would have to…

Chen Ye noticed her embarrassment, but the situation was urgent and he couldn't worry about anything else: "Qiu Yun, loosen your clothes around your shoulders a bit, I need to see the full picture of the curse mark."

Li Qiuyun's cheeks flushed red instantly.

In all her life, when had she ever taken off her clothes and exposed her shoulders in front of strangers, especially a man?
Even though it was for healing, the girl's shyness still made her heart flutter.

She lowered her eyes instinctively, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, her voice barely audible: "Uncle Chen... this... this isn't convenient, is it..."

The girl's shy demeanor startled Chen Ye for a moment.

Her skin was already fair, but now, with her cheeks flushed, she looked even more radiant and beautiful, losing some of her usual heroic spirit and gaining a touch of gentle charm.

Chen Ye also felt somewhat uneasy, but he knew what was important and what was urgent:
"Qiuyun, it's just a shoulder injury; there's no need to shy away from a doctor."

Upon hearing this, Li Qiuyun bit her lower lip lightly, hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz: "Then... then I'll have to trouble Uncle Chen."

After saying that, she slowly turned around, facing Chen Ye sideways, and her slender fingers trembled slightly as she unbuttoned the buttons on her Taoist robe.

She then pulled down the collar of her inner garment slightly, revealing her fair and rounded shoulders, as well as the menacing dark red curse mark.

The curse mark stood out starkly against the fair skin, like a brand, and the surrounding skin was already black and ulcerated.

Upon seeing the curse mark, Chen Ye stopped being distracted and took out the jade knife he had previously used to treat the spiritual plants from his storage bag.

"Jade knife?"

When the girl saw the familiar jade knife, a strange feeling arose in her heart.

Isn't this for treating spiritual plants?
Can it really cure people?

Or is it that... Uncle Chen simply wants to see?
Unaware of the girl's complex thoughts, Chen Ye made a lighthearted joke to ease her tension: "In my eyes, Qiuyun is no different from a spiritual plant. Even if she is stripped naked, she is still just a flower or grass."

"Uncle Chen!"

Hearing this, Li Qiuyun was somewhat dissatisfied.

She was confident in her appearance and was known by some as one of the four great fairies of the twenty-four outer peaks.

How come Uncle Chen sees them as flowers and plants?
She couldn't help but scrutinize Chen Ye's gaze.

To Li Qiuyun's disappointment, the man's eyes showed no unusual expression, remaining calm as usual.

He focused solely on treating patients with the jade knife.

Chen Ye held his breath and focused intently, his jade knife fluttering like a butterfly.

The Swift Blade Technique, which has broken through the limits of cultivation, has long surpassed the scope of simply healing spiritual plants and has a natural restraining effect on this kind of evil and demonic art.

Before long, Li Qiuyun could clearly feel that the pain in her shoulder was rapidly subsiding.

"This……"

Li Qiuyun was completely astonished; it actually worked!

She looked at Chen Ye's focused profile with disbelief, and at the jade knife in his hand that emitted a bluish light.

This Uncle Chen, who usually seemed a bit unreliable, gave her a strong sense of security at this moment.

"Alright, you take a rest first. I'll go open the treasure chests... cough cough, and take stock of the loot."

Chen Ye gazed with satisfaction at the girl's smooth, untouched shoulders.

Then, they quickly went to the official road and carried the corpses of the Wan Kui Sect disciples to prevent others from intercepting them.

Then they rushed straight to the body of the burly woman.

"Uncle Chen...?"

The young woman's shoulders were partially exposed. Seeing Chen Ye leave without a second glance, without even looking back, a hint of resentment crept onto her face.

Uncle Chen was even more enthusiastic about the corpse than about her!

The more she thought about it, the more ashamed she felt. Before, she had actually thought that Uncle Chen wanted to see her body on purpose...

As for Chen Ye...
The two cultivators were already standing side by side, perfectly straight, and he rubbed his hands together expectantly.

After defeating monsters, the most anticipated thing is undoubtedly opening treasure chests!

He started by plundering the strong, muscular women.

First and foremost, what catches the eye is her magical weapon, a high-grade first-tier whip.

On the market, it should cost around sixty spirit stones.

Inside the storage bag were more than thirty spirit stones, several bottles of unknown pills, and a small booklet.

The booklet contains the Blood Fiend Curse, a high-grade first-tier spell.

The Blood Curse is a demonic spell, and it is not advisable to use it within the Yan Kingdom.

However, most independent cultivators lack powerful spells. They don't care about the distinction between righteous and demonic magic; they just secretly practice them as a means of survival.
Therefore, as long as you can find the black market, there is still a chance to make a sale.

Chen Ye nodded in satisfaction and then went to plunder the disciples of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect.

The disciples of the Wan Kui Sect were clearly much wealthier than the robust women.

Among the magical artifacts alone, there is a first-grade superior longsword and a first-grade superior small shield.

The small shield is an extremely rare protective artifact!

This small shield left a deep impression on Chen Ye, as it was able to barely withstand nearly twenty of his Geng metal qi!
The small shield and the heart-protecting jade are different.

The Heart-Protecting Jade excels in providing ultimate protection in a single instance. It can withstand three powerful spells from a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator without consuming the wearer's own spiritual power, and does not require special activation.

This small shield excels in its ability to continuously resist attacks, providing cultivators with more lasting protection.

However, its defensive capabilities are relatively weak, requiring cultivators to devote more attention to precise control.

For example, when the Wan Kui Sect disciples fought Chen Ye, they were caught off guard by the large amount of Geng metal energy and were eventually injured by several strands of Geng metal energy.

"This is amazing..."

Chen Ye bent down and took the storage bag from the waist of the Wan Kui Sect disciple.

He was already quite satisfied, but the surprises were yet to come.

There was a jade slip inside the storage bag!

"Puppet Refining Technique? Is it the puppet-refining method of the Myriad Puppet Sect?"

Chen Ye examined the jade slip and tried to contact it with a wisp of his divine sense, only to find it completely empty. "That's it... to prevent the transmission of cultivation techniques from being accidentally leaked, these jade slips are all disposable."

This was within Chen Ye's expectations, and he was not disappointed.

Although there was no technique for cultivating the divine sense, the puppet refining method and the Azure Wave Sword Control Technique both had their early basic content inscribed on the jade slip.

Chen Ye glanced at it briefly.

It also has a special inscription of a method called the Hundred Refinements Method.

This method is generally used for refining materials and is often used in the crafting of weapons.

Since it is engraved in the jade slip, it must be a weapon-refining technique that must be practiced in the puppet-refining method.

Besides that, there is the first half of the Puppet Refining Technique.

There are two basic types of puppets: zombie puppets and soldier puppets.

Zombie puppets are made from the bodies of living beings after they have died. These puppets often retain some of their characteristics from their previous life and possess a weak sense of consciousness.

Weapon puppets are made from various metals and spiritual materials. These puppets are sturdy, stable, easy to control, and can have a variety of abilities depending on the materials they are made from.

"Rather than calling it a cultivation technique... it's more like a blueprint?" Chen Ye said thoughtfully.

But this puppet-making technique is quite suitable for his cultivation.

The main factors determining the combat power of a puppet are the cultivator's spiritual sense and the strength of the materials.

If Chen Ye cultivates the Hundred Refinement Method, he will be able to push the method to a high level, thereby maximizing the strength of the raw materials.

Apart from the jade slip, the Wan Kui Sect disciples' storage bags were empty, containing only a few spirit stones and pills.

This is because crafting puppets is equivalent to burning spirit stones, which is extremely expensive.

The puppet soldiers destroyed by Chen Ye probably cost nearly two hundred spirit stones, which was most of the wealth of the Wan Kui Sect disciples.

Thinking of this, Chen Ye felt a pang of heartache.

Fortunately, he had already put the damaged puppet into his storage bag, and it should still be worth some spirit stones.

……

After making some simple repairs to the carriage, the two set off again.

"Uncle Chen, why did you collect all their bodies?"

Li Qiuyun sat cross-legged to recover her spiritual energy, while at the same time, she was somewhat puzzled by Chen Ye's actions.

"Just burn their bodies directly. Wouldn't putting them in the storage bag just make the storage bag dirty?"

Chen Ye left behind the two corpses, naturally to refine zombie puppets.

The basic requirement for creating a zombie puppet is that the corpse must have had a cultivation level of the late stage of Qi Refining before death.

In this way, its strength can support the zombie puppet, and it can barely retain a trace of intelligence to maintain the zombie puppet's movement.

Chen Ye thought for a moment and then confessed truthfully: "I plan to turn these two people into puppets. I obtained the method of making zombie puppets from the storage bag of a Wan Kui Sect disciple."

"A zombie puppet? Uncle Chen, although the art of puppetry is a righteous path, it is against the natural order for cultivators to create zombie puppets!"

Li Qiuyun pondered for a while. As a disciple of the Lingyin Sect, she had learned a wide range of knowledge since childhood.

He immediately shook his head and said:
"Moreover, even if a zombie puppet is created, it can only be created using physical cultivation. Ordinary magic cultivators will have their dantian and spiritual sea destroyed after death, so even if they are created into a zombie puppet, their combat power will be less than one-tenth of what it used to be."

Chen Ye understood, but he had other plans:
“If we refine them into zombie puppets, we can use the remaining divine consciousness of their corpses to question them and perhaps obtain some clues. These two came strangely, and I suspect they were instructed by someone rather than ordinary cultivators.”

"I see……"

Li Qiuyun suddenly realized that although the cultivation world had a method for searching for spirits, she had just broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining and had not yet learned it.

As for Uncle Chen, he was previously a herbalist in Yunxifang and had no opportunity to practice the Soul Searching Technique.

Thinking of this, Li Qiuyun was suddenly startled.

yes……

Uncle Chen, you were only at the fifth level of Qi Refining in Yunxi Workshop, and now you've actually reached the late stage of Qi Refining? And that's only been less than three months!
Or was it that Uncle Chen had been hiding his strength all along?

Yes, that's probably the case.

Uncle Chen is truly prudent...

Thinking back to how she had confidently vowed to protect Uncle Chen, Li Qiuyun's face flushed slightly again.

"By the way, Qiu Yun, since you killed that female cultivator, I'll leave her belongings to you. After all, I only used a few strands of Geng metal energy to help. Besides, that female cultivator had a demonic spell called the Blood Fiend Curse. As a disciple of the Lingyin Sect, it's not appropriate for you to take it, so I'll keep it."

Just as Li Qiuyun was pondering, Chen Ye suddenly tossed her a storage bag.

Inside the storage bag was a first-grade high-quality long whip and more than thirty spirit stones.

Adding the value of the storage bag itself, this amount to at least a hundred spirit stones!
"Uncle Chen, if it weren't for you, I would have died on the spot long ago. How could I possibly take it..."

When Li Qiuyun saw it clearly, her hand trembled involuntarily, and her eyes almost froze.

She had never handled so many spirit stones before!

This is the entire fortune of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator!

Li Qiuyun gritted her teeth and forcibly looked away, pushing the storage bag in front of Chen Ye with great willpower.

Chen Ye chuckled:

"If it were an ordinary rogue cultivator, they would probably fight tooth and nail for these spirit stones. Qiu Yun, you are quite generous..."

next moment.

Li Qiuyun's eyes flickered, and Chen Ye grabbed her soft hand and forcibly stuffed the storage bag inside: "I've already taken the storage bag of the Wan Kui Sect disciple. Hers, of course, must be given to you."

"Uncle Chen..."

The spirited young woman felt the warmth from the back of his hand and gently bit her red lips, but before she could fully savor it, the man withdrew his hand.

She was left alone, staring blankly at the storage bag.

Her mind was racing.

Rather than saying I'm generous, it's more accurate to say Uncle Chen is generous.

For her, it was simply about rejecting what didn't belong to her.

But for Uncle Chen, it meant giving her his own things.

Why would Uncle Chen be willing to give her such a large sum of spirit stones?

Could it be... that in Uncle Chen's heart, she's already one of his own?

Chen Ye didn't think too much about it.

He can't keep all the spoils for himself, can he?
Besides, the burly woman was killed by Qiu Yun.

"We'll arrive at Moon Rhinoceros Workshop in two days. In the meantime, I can properly practice my puppet-making technique..."

Besides the usual clues, Chen Ye had another purpose: to use the two cultivators to practice their skills.

You know, beings at the late stage of Qi Refining are not easy to find...

(End of this chapter)