Demonic Demoness Training Project

Demonic Demoness Training Project

Author: Cheese Ruru Duck

Summary:

[Having been a demonic sorceress, this is not fiction or random writing;][Transformation + Hardcore Cultivation + Mildly Bizarre Setting + Slow Burn + Story-Driven] In this world, mechanical arts are highly developed, and all cultivators use mechanical arts to enter...

Main text

Chapter 1 Your Mother is Dead

"Caw! Lu Li, your mom's dead!"

A crow circled in the air. Hearing the sound, the boy jumped down from the wall of the school. Looking at the wooden crow circling overhead, his face was expressionless, as if the Lu Li mentioned by the crow was not him.

The boy looked to be no older than his teens, dressed in a dark blue coarse linen outfit. He had an unremarkable appearance, a thin face, sallow skin, and no sparkle in his eyes.

"Quack, Lu Li, your mom's dead!"

"Quack, Lu Li, your mom's dead!"

The crow cawed twice more, its voice sharp but mechanical, before finally landing gracefully on a branch by the wall.

Lu Li looked closely and realized that the harbinger crow was not a living creature. Its body was covered with wood grain, and except for its beak and claws, the rest of its body was carved from wood. It tilted its head and looked at Lu Li, its scarlet eyes occasionally flashing.

Lu Li was also staring at the crows in the tree. After a moment, he vaguely realized that it seemed to be his mother who had died.

Maybe it was yesterday. He wasn't sure. The crow had just come to report the death, so it didn't mean anything. He might have died yesterday.

Looking at the setting sun, Lu Li felt it was about time, so he got up and walked towards the west side of the town. Wood Crow followed closely behind, its beak opening and closing as it chattered incessantly.

"Please accept our deepest condolences, sir. The deceased flow like a river, while the living are like lotuses. Here, Qingyang Palace Funeral Hall is offering a limited-time funeral discount, including a one-stop service encompassing filial piety, coffin carrying, and banquet arrangements. Order now and enjoy a 10% discount..."

Lu Li walked forward silently, ignoring the sales pitch for the wooden crow.

He simply continued westward without responding.

On the ancient streets paved with bluestone, mechanical wooden crows can be seen everywhere. They follow behind pedestrians and chatter incessantly, so Lu Li does not seem out of place walking on the street.

"You can take a look at our list of filial sons and grandsons first. To show the grief of our filial sons and grandsons, our hall specially recruits people with clear voices and elegant manners, and whose emotions are sincere. The fee is based on the loudness and duration of the crying, and is divided into three levels: soft sobbing, wailing and crying, and heartbreaking grief. The minimum price for half an hour is twenty copper coins. Qingyang Hall guarantees the quality."

"Ok?"

Suddenly, the boy seemed to become interested. He turned around abruptly and looked at the wooden crow behind him. The wooden crow's face, made of wooden mechanisms, twitched and deformed slightly, revealing a human-like ingratiating expression.

"Quack, sir, is there anything you need?"

"Is your family's 'filial son crying at the grave' still hiring?"

"Croak?"

“I think I can do it too. Hey, what’s with that expression? You just said you need a filial son with a nice voice and genuine feelings. I think I can do that too.”

The wooden crow looked Lu Li up and down, while Lu Li twitched the corners of his mouth, making his straight lips slightly lower. He tried his best to squeeze out what he thought was a very sad expression, but his stiff facial muscles were obviously not as flexible as the wooden crow opposite him.

“I feel I have an advantage in this job. As you can see, I am best able to understand the grief of losing a loved one.”

"Quack, customer, if I may be so bold, I don't see any sorrow in you."

"I am heartbroken, and all I want to do right now is find a place to cry my heart out."

"Sir, your mother did not enjoy a peaceful life while she was alive. Can you bear to see her continue to suffer after she passes away? She did not serve you medicine while she was alive, and she will not prepare a coffin after she dies. If word gets out, how will you live in this world?"

Mu Ya's voice rose eight octaves, as if he wanted the pedestrians on the street to hear it on purpose. A group of passersby stopped and began to point and whisper about Lu Li.

Lu Li felt a chill run down his spine. He suddenly realized that the other party was using filial piety to blackmail him.

Has the art of mechanical engineering in this world advanced to this level? Or is this wooden raven actually controlled by a living person?

Lu Li wasn't quite sure. He had been in this world for over fifteen years. It was a world where one could become an immortal, but the way to become an immortal in this world was different from the novels he had read in his previous life.

In this world, cultivators achieve immortality through mechanical arts, or what might be called the art of manipulation.

However, as a mortal, Lu Li had very limited access to the art of puppetry. He had heard that there were puppeteers in the world who could extract the souls of living people and imprison them in mechanisms, making them behave and speak as if they were alive.

He also heard that some powerful beings could forge artifact spirits within mechanisms and allow them to cultivate autonomously. Some artifact spirits with extraordinary comprehension could even rival the geniuses of the human race.

I wonder what kind of wooden crow this is?

Just as he was thinking this, the crow continued its sales pitch:

"Sir, look at Old Lady Wang next door who just passed away yesterday. Her son was just a stoker, but he was still very filial. He took out a loan from our temple to buy her a jade coffin. All the neighbors praised him as a filial son."

"Okay, I have no money now, and I'm not going to take out a loan. I'll never take out a loan in my life. You don't need to follow me anymore."

Lu Li really didn't have any money. If he did, he wouldn't be spending his days learning from the private school and his nights working at the stamping workshop on the west side of town.

As for loans...

What a joke! He's lived for almost forty years across his two lifetimes. How could he possibly take out a loan? In this life... no, even if you beat him to death or let him starve to death, he would never take out a loan in his next life.

He, Lu Li, is determined to resist this kind of excessive consumption and enjoyment, both in his past life and now in the world of cultivation.

As long as he doesn't get married, have children, or buy a house, he won't need to take out a loan, and therefore no debt will control him, so he won't be exploited.

Seeing Lu Li's resolute attitude, Mu Ya's face grew increasingly gloomy. It stopped its sales pitch and its voice suddenly turned cold:

"Sir, I forgot to tell you that you currently have a spirit stone loan that urgently needs to be repaid, totaling thirty-six spirit stones and two thousand three hundred and forty-one copper coins. If you do not repay it on time, we will take coercive measures."

In this world, a standard spirit stone is equal to ten taels of silver, and one tael of silver is equal to one thousand copper coins. He works in a workshop in the north of the town and only earns one thousand copper coins a month. Even if he doesn't eat or drink, it would take him thirty years of work to collect that many spirit stones.

"No, who are you trying to fool? When did I ever borrow spirit stones?"

Wood Raven's tone suddenly turned cold, no longer the sales pitch it had at the beginning, but becoming extremely serious, like a fox tearing off its disguise and revealing its fangs.

"Sir, you did not borrow any money, but your mother owed Qingyang Palace a huge debt before she died. Now that your mother is dead, it is only right for the son to pay the debt. Here is the IOU. Please take a look."

Why didn't you say so earlier?

"Hey, if I had told you earlier, why would you have bought our funeral services? Since you're not going to buy them, I'll just be frank."

After saying that, the crow spat out a note from its beak, which detailed the loan amount, terms, and date. The borrower's name was written in the "Mother's Name" column, and the recipient of the loan was listed as "Qingyang Palace." The note was written in black and white, clearly and logically, and a fingerprint was affixed at the end.

"How can you do things like this? Your mother is dead!"

"Quack, I don't have a mom! Your mom's dead, hehehe~"

Chapter 2: Ordinary people shouldn't try to manipulate stocks, and men shouldn't try to show off.

"What did she do to owe you so much money? Did she donate it to the Tongxian Sect again?"

"Please wait a moment, sir. We are checking for you... According to our records, your mother used this money to refine stocks. She successively purchased the Longevity Pill Cauldron stock of White Moon Palace and the second branch of the Spirit Source Peak Spirit Mine, with a total value of forty-two spirit stones."

"Refine...refine stocks?!"

Lu Li muttered this familiar yet unfamiliar term. The so-called "stock refining" was, to put it bluntly, the stock trading of his previous life. However, in the terms of the cultivation world, buying and selling stocks was not called "stock trading," but "stock refining," the same "refining" as in alchemy, weapon crafting, and the refinement of people and the heavens.

What will happen if we can't pay it back?

"Aren't you going to come? Hehehe..."

The wooden crow suddenly let out a cold laugh. It raised its head slightly, and Lu Li was surprised to find that he could actually see a look of reminiscence in the eyes of a mechanical wooden crow.

"Nothing much will happen. Just a few Qingyang Palace disciples will come to your door to test your aptitude."

"Test qualifications? Does that mean good qualifications can get you a longer time limit?"

"Hehehehehehehe, grace period? What are you thinking? Of course, I want to test how much your body is worth so I can use it to pay off my debts. If you have good physique, you can get a few more coins off."

"hiss--"

Lu Li gasped, feeling a chill run down his spine. The passersby cursed him, calling him unfilial, and then left, leaving him standing there alone.

The setting sun cast his long shadow. Not far ahead was a white house, and a woman stood at the door, her legs together, her body shivering in the cold wind, her face full of hesitation.

Just then, an old woman came out of the white house.

"Hey, isn't this our top male prostitute brother? What's up? Failed your stock-picking attempt and back to entertain customers again?"

The woman being mocked wore a black veil, but when she spoke, it was in a neutral voice:

"It was all a scheme orchestrated by stock market gurus..."

"Alright, if you weren't a stock trader, how could you have fallen for his scheme? Don't be silly, let me tell you, stock trading is a game for immortals. If a mortal like you tries to trade stocks, you'll just be treated like a leek and eaten until there's nothing left but bones."

"Waaaaah, I didn't want to either! When I was sixteen, my dad sold me. It hurt so much..."

"Don't be afraid. If '98 doesn't work, we'll use '95.' Come back and show off properly. Mom loves you. From now on, your nickname will be Sister Yanou."

The puppet sister, with tears streaming down her face, threw herself into the old woman's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. The old woman pulled the puppet brother into her arms and, with a mix of coaxing and cajoling, led him into the building. The people inside, hearing the commotion outside, burst into cheerful laughter.

What appeared to be a bustling scene was like a demon's lair to Lu Li. His mother wasn't the only one who failed in her stock-refining attempt; she was just one of many.

More importantly, the person at the door was not a woman, but a child molester.

In him, Lu Li seemed to see his own future.

At this moment, the old woman cast a glance at him, her wrinkled face scrunched up, revealing a smile like an ugly chrysanthemum, which frightened Lu Li so much that he turned and ran away.

What... what a joke! How could he possibly go to a place like that? A true man has principles for what he should and shouldn't do. Even if he's desperate for money, he can't go to a place like that, much less show off.

Lu Li continued running wildly westward into the town. On the central tower, an old woman in a gray robe stood with her hands behind her back on the thirteenth floor, while a group of cultivators stood below her.

"Duan Xuanyuan, I advise you not to do anything foolish!"

"Whether it's accepted or not, I have no interest in it anymore. You guys are just afraid that no one will pay off my debts if I die. Fine, I, Duan Xuanyuan, have no money, but I can take your life."

After saying that, the old woman took out a heart from her chest cavity. The heart was made entirely of pure gold. As the heart beat and contracted, blood-red light rippled on its surface. Dozens of veins and blood vessels were attached to the old woman's body.

From a distance, Lu Li could see that he was at least two miles away from the old woman, yet he could still feel her powerful but scorching aura.

Lu Li sensed something was wrong. As a mere mortal, he had no choice but to run away when faced with such a battle of gods. If he were to be even slightly affected by the aftershocks, he could very well die without a burial place.

The old woman gripped the mechanism's core tightly, her eyes wide with anger, when suddenly a young man rushed out from below.

"No, Master, no! We can save up more money if we run out, Master!"

“My dear disciple, without sufficient resources, I can no longer maintain the operation of this Heartfire Pump. Do not approach. My mind is made up. I will expel you from the sect. From now on, death will settle all debts.”

"Master!"

The boy let out a hysterical scream, but it was too late. The old woman crushed the heart in her hand and leaped off the roof. Blazing flames burst from her body, like a falling sun, illuminating the dark sky as bright as day.

The explosion was so powerful that the cultivators downstairs used their supernatural abilities to retreat quickly while simultaneously erecting spiritual energy shields, fearing they might be affected by the blast.

"Elder Duan, she... she really perished like that?"

Elder Duan's disciple kowtowed three times, his head hitting the ground in the direction where his master had fallen. His face was filled with resentment, and he cursed bitterly:

"That White Moon Palace stock market immortal is truly vicious. He claimed that he would increase the spirit stone tax, and overnight, countless people lost everything."

The boy clenched his fist and pounded the ground, tears streaming down his face.

"Since things have come to this, please accept my condolences, Junior Brother Yang."

“Yes, Junior Nephew Yang, you must turn your grief and anger into motivation and cultivate diligently in order to avenge your master.”

With everyone offering words of comfort, the young man finally wiped away his tears, stood up again, and secretly transmitted his voice to the old man beside him:

"Oh right, I suddenly remembered, didn't Master have some kind of death insurance policy in the sect before he passed away? Uncle-Master, what do you think..."

“Nephew, your master died by suicide, so she shouldn’t be covered by the death insurance. Plus, she’s already expelled you from the sect, so this is going to be difficult. I need to go back and discuss it with the sect leader. You can go back first, and a disciple will send you a message in fifteen days.”

“Uncle-Master, I understand. If this matter can be accomplished, we will split the profits fifty-fifty.”

"Hmm, you're quite shrewd, just like your master back then."

……

At this moment, Lu Li ran wildly, the flames engulfing the streets behind him, and the shouts of men and women rose and fell.

In Lu Li's mind, he had already cursed the cultivator who had just committed suicide a thousand times over.

It turns out that even cultivators who go bankrupt from stock trading can jump off buildings, but not only that, she had to jump in the city center, as if she was afraid no one would see her and she wanted to take mortals with her.

Like...like a giant firecracker!

Despite his complaints, Lu Li secretly made up his mind. In addition to resisting loans, he added another principle to his list: resisting stock trading.

Even cultivators who practice stock trading get fleeced, let alone ordinary people.

Unconsciously, Lu Li arrived in front of the stamping workshop, his workplace. More than caring about others, he was worried about when he would be able to pay off his debt.