Demonic Demoness Training Project

Ugh! You nosy goose! Who asked you to meddle?!

If all else fails, I'll stop taking the Bixie Pill and think about other ways to enhance male potency.

But Lu Li thought about it again and realized that the matter was not entirely unsolvable.

Now that he needs to conceal his identity, he can rely on the fact that they have never met before to prevent the other party from recognizing him. The spiritual materials for refining the Great Dream Profound Pivot have been prepared. Once it is refined, he can immediately proceed to the next stage of refining, choosing to work with someone he has never met before.

The only drawback is that Lu Li can't time it this time; he must complete the refining process soon.

Furthermore, this Elder Ying is, after all, an elder with a high status in the sect and should control a considerable amount of resources. If she genuinely wants to guide his cultivation, then it could be a valuable opportunity.

Lu Li had finished preparing the Great Dream Profound Pivot Diagram. Refining this item would require considerable effort, so Lu Li said:

“Master, I encountered a battle with a powerful cultivator at the Creation Realm while on my mission. I returned to deliver intelligence and am feeling slightly unwell. Could you give me seven days to rest and recuperate?”

"Three days."

Lu Li blinked her big eyes and tentatively tried to bargain.

"Would five days be okay?"

"Three days."

"Ok."

Elder Ying tossed him a jade slip imprinted with divine sense. Lu Li accepted the jade slip, bowed respectfully, and then hurriedly turned and left, silently cursing Elder Ying dozens of times in his heart.

After Lu Li left, Elder Ying silently removed her mask. She touched her exquisitely beautiful face, which resembled that of a puppet, and her eyes were slightly dazed.

In the past, if she had taken on a disciple, she might not even remember them.

Why am I so concerned about her affairs?

Chapter 88 Medicated Bath? Identity Exposed?

After leaving Elder Ying's cave, Lu Li headed straight for the mission hall. She threw the jade slip at her senior sister's face, then bought five hundred Bixie pills in one go. After that, she went to the sect's weapon refining hall and rented an empty room.

Seven days is more than enough to refine the Great Dream Profound Pivot, but three days is a bit tight, so he has to make the most of every second.

“My disciple, you don’t need to worry too much. Maybe she’ll forget about it later?”

"It's strange, this elder has such a bad memory. I thought that cultivators at their level were all equipped with Xuan Shu."

The Xuan Shu is a major category of mechanical artifacts, generally referring to those installed inside the skull to enhance divine sense and deductive abilities, and to facilitate the exchange of internal and external information. The Great Dream Xuan Shu is just one type of Xuan Shu, belonging to the same major category as the Great Harmony Xuan Shu he seized from the Venerable One.

There must be a reason for that.

"What's the reason?"

"You heartless little ingrate, I've been with you all this way, and you're willing to call her Master but you won't even call me Master. I know it, but I'm not going to tell you. Hey, I'm not going to tell you."

"I was just saying that; in private, I call her Ying the Goose."

"Then you should call me Master, and I will tell you what's going on."

Lu Li rolled her eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then let out a weak cry.

"Master, please enlighten me."

Duan Lao was very pleased with the address of "Master," and she grinned in Lu Li's sea of ​​consciousness, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Since you have so sincerely asked for guidance, then I will mercifully tell you that, based on my speculation, your Elder Ying may be a puppet."

“How come you see?”

"I heard in my early years that there is a special type of Spirit Core with the suffix 'Supreme Forgetfulness'."

"Oh? Supreme detachment from emotions?"

"That's right, it's the Supreme Forgetfulness. This kind of Spirit Core is very special. It can only store two kinds of memories. The first is knowledge and insights into the Dao of Creation, and the second is memories involving the obsession of the artifact spirit."

Once a spirit loses its obsession, it will vanish into thin air. Therefore, cultivators have to make certain compromises during the soul-refining process. Even when using a spirit to refine a weapon, one must respect its obsession.

"What's the point of doing this? Forget everything else, what's the point?"

"Puppets equipped with this kind of Spirit Core have pure minds and are most suitable for cultivating the Path of Ruthlessness. Of course, puppets of the Path of Ruthlessness also need to temper their hearts in the mortal world. However, they do not remember what they have experienced or who they have met, but the insights gained from tempering their hearts in the mortal world will be engraved in the Spirit Core."

After listening to Elder Duan's explanation, Lu Li felt even more that the art of puppetry was profound and extensive. He had always thought that puppetry was just about making mechanical devices to arm oneself.

Who could have imagined that the Dao of Puppetry is not limited to physical transformation, but can also be used to cultivate mental techniques? The so-called ruthless Dao can actually be achieved through a specific type of spiritual core.

"But what does that have to do with her being a puppet?"

"Who do you think would install a forgetful spirit core on themselves? There are all sorts of inconveniences in life, and very few cultivators would do that. They would only install it on the puppets they refine. That's why I guessed that Elder Ying is most likely a puppet as well."

"The one surnamed Ying, Yan'ou? Could it be that she is..."

"It's not that much of a coincidence, but it's not entirely impossible. You'll know once you have the chance to test the waters."

"Ah."

Lu Li thought that while he wanted to test the other party's identity, he had to ensure that he did not expose his own identity. This matter required further consideration.

Forget it, I'll stop thinking about it now. I'll focus on refining the Great Dream Pivot first.

So, Lu Li took a Bi'an Pill and began his seclusion.

Because it involves the Spirit Core, the structure of the Great Dream Profound Pivot is quite complex, more so than the other mechanical artifacts that Lu Li had previously crafted.

Fortunately, he had made ample preparations on his way back. He had already memorized the diagram of the Great Dream Pivot and had practiced it three times in advance in his dream.

The most troublesome step in the entire refining process is to connect the mechanism of the Xuan Shu to the more than two hundred spiritual apertures around the Xuan Ling Core using the guiding copper.

The process is actually somewhat like welding array patterns, but the problem is that the existing one-turn welding cannot achieve this level of precision. Only with the assistance of divine sense can it be barely achieved. Even level D divine sense is not enough; it must be level C or above.

As luck would have it, Lu Li happened to have it.

So, Lu Li worked tirelessly for three days and two nights, and finally succeeded in refining it at midnight on the third day.

Lu Li placed the Great Dream Pivot on his forehead. The next moment, he felt a strong sense of weightlessness. After a dizzying spin, the Great Dream Pivot in his hand turned into specks of light and disappeared.

Lu Li examined himself with his divine sense and found that the Great Dream Pivot in his head had changed; the Spirit Core inside it had changed from the first stage to the third stage.

"it is good!"

Correspondingly, Lu Li's divine sense strength also soared from the lower level of the D grade to the upper level of the C grade. This is the limit of the first-stage Great Dream Pivot, but it is far from the limit of the third-stage Spirit Core.

Limited by the other materials and the damage to this third-stage Spirit Core, he was able to achieve this level. If he can use better materials and techniques in the future, and repair the Spirit Core, it will only be a matter of time before his divine sense reaches the level of a Venerable.

Fortunately, this was a damaged third-stage spirit core; otherwise, with Lu Li's current physical strength, he wouldn't be able to support such a high-stage spirit core at all.

Even so, Lu Li still felt lightheaded and staggered as he walked, like a drunkard, as if his soul would leave his body at any moment and run away from home alone.

According to the jade slip given to him by Elder Ying, Lu Li knew that the current situation was an inevitable result of the imbalance between the strength of his divine sense and his physical body, which far exceeded the strength of his divine sense.

As for the solution, Lu Li had already thought of it: increase physical strength. As for how to increase physical strength in a short period of time...

"You can now borrow two second-tier puppets at once. You've already experienced their effects, so I won't go into detail."

"Hmm, I choose [Never Met Before] and [Ice Skin]."

"Okay, as you wish, two two-turn puppets, the repayment period is four months, in two installments."

The next moment, Lu Li felt a cool sensation on her cheek, as if a mask had been applied. When she picked up the mirror, her already beautiful face now had an added touch of mystery, like an ice lotus quietly blooming in the hazy snow.

"Tsk tsk, my disciple is getting more and more beautiful, hehehe..."

"What are you laughing at? It's not funny at all!"

Lu Li stomped her feet in anger. Not only her face, but also the muscles and skin all over her body became more tender and supple than ever before, as if you could squeeze water out of them.

What's even more terrifying is that he actually exudes a faint and natural body fragrance. Because he wasn't used to this smell yet, even Lu Li himself could smell it.

For a moment, Lu Li had some doubts. Now that he had become this soft and fragrant, could the Bi'an Pill still save him?

"This is so embarrassing! How can I ever face anyone again..."

The girl in the mirror had a furrowed brow and a worried expression. She patted her cheeks with her delicate hands and mustered her courage again.

"Lu Li, Lu Li, how could you fall so low! I've made up my mind, at least I can't let Lu Ling see me like this. I must regain my manly spirit, and my elder brother's dignity, before that happens!"

With that, Lu Li went out and arrived at Elder Ying's cave.

When Lu Li arrived, he found a huge bathtub in the cave. The bathtub was two zhang in diameter and the reddish water inside was steaming.

"Master, what are you doing?"

"You bought the Bixie Pill to strengthen your body, right? I've prepared a medicinal bath for you based on your cultivation path. It will definitely allow you to strengthen your physical body to the extreme in a short time, so you can barely get through the upcoming competition."

"Huh? Can we skip the soak?"

The mechanical goose stared intently at Lu Li, saying nothing, but its answer was self-evident.

The girl's heart pounded wildly, and her pretty face turned pale with fright. What she was afraid of was that if he took off his clothes, he would be exposed.

Wow, why a medicinal bath of all?

"Um...do I have to take off my underwear too?"

"Correct."

Testimonials

It's ready to be listed.

First of all, thank you to all the readers for your continued reading, comments, and monthly tickets. It is because of your support that I have been able to get to where I am today.

The initial phase on Qidian was a trial run with 60,000 words. Back then, Mao'er made a stupid mistake and missed the signing time, which caused the system to fail to create a reader profile. The intelligent push effect was very poor, and the number of favorites increased by only a hundred or so per day. That period was like a disaster.

Fortunately, with the support of readers who kept reading and giving monthly tickets, the intelligent recommendation system gradually started to provide more information after 100,000 words, and the data increased faster and faster. The book finally made it onto the new book list and gradually moved up in the rankings.

Before its release, the book had 5,000 favorites and 900 readers, and it reached number 32 on the overall new book list. Among new accounts, it ranked 9th. Most of the new accounts ahead of me were fanfiction. I am already very satisfied with this result. Recently, the platform's traffic has been extremely poor. If it were two or three months ago, the data would have increased by at least 20% or 30%.

This is the best-performing book I've read since joining Qidian. The genre itself is slow-burn, and the transformation at the beginning was too slow, causing many readers to wait for the transformation to happen before reading. We can count on it to pick up speed in the middle. Overall, this book has great potential.

Therefore, even if the cat doesn't sleep, it won't give up and will update more whenever it has the chance. From this point of view alone, everyone can rest assured to subscribe.

[About Worldview]

Initially, I chose this worldview simply because I felt it was relatable, could evoke empathy, was marketable, and featured a variety of hilarious, hellish jokes.

As I wrote, I became increasingly immersed in the protagonist's story. Especially the part about nearsightedness; I felt a deep connection to it. I've been nearsighted since childhood, and developed floaters in high school due to intense studying. Just like the "small-town exam-takers" I saw online recently, they're obsessed with studying, only to find their childhood passion worthless after entering society. This is common among the mortal puppeteers in the cultivation world of the book; the protagonist's experience is not unique.

[Regarding the protagonist's character design]

The protagonist's character design is largely based on a Japanese server version of Graves. His suspicion and caution differ from Han Li's alertness and from the detachment and understanding of an outsider; he leans more towards a sense of inferiority. The suffering he endured in his two lifetimes plunges him into a deep despair. He no longer believes in his luck (doubting fate), no longer believes in the existence of his own opportunities and adventures (doubting Elder Duan), no longer believes in beautiful women throwing themselves at him (doubting Mo Shuhan), and no longer believes in getting something for nothing or dreams coming true (doubting the illusions created by the Venerable One).

Even with some obviously romantic encounters (like with Mo Shuhan), the protagonist, from his own perspective, subconsciously suspects a deception, only realizing he's overthinking it after the other person leaves.

I often overestimate my abilities, attempting to portray a despair lurking beneath dark humor and extreme abstraction. The protagonist is poor at expressing himself, seemingly facing hardship with an untimely optimism, but within this despair, the protagonist is ultimately destined to rise up and overturn the table. I originally had several descriptions of the protagonist's angry expressions, but after thinking about it, I deleted most of them.

[Regarding some cyberpunk-inspired settings]

The cyberpunk genre wasn't very popular on Qidian, so I thought I'd apply the cyberpunk worldview to a fantasy/xianxia (Chinese fantasy) setting and express it using fantasy/xianxia language.

A guy who sells online novel courses once said, "You have to treat your readers like idiots, write everything clearly, the more straightforward the better, and feed it to them." But I don't think so. It's okay for light novels, especially on Qidian. For some plot-driven online novels, the audience is mainly a group of readers with high standards and high critical thinking skills.

If the plot itself allows readers to experience the protagonist's anger and despair, then there's no need to describe the protagonist's specific expressions of anger and despair. In fact, you can go against the grain and describe the protagonist's inappropriate behavior. In this case, being overly verbose will only annoy readers, waste words, and make the writing seem weak.

If the premise itself can evoke real-life references in the reader, then there's no need to explicitly point it out. This is to avoid breaking the immersion while playing with references. I firmly believe that this approach itself is sound. If it's poorly written or still breaks the immersion, it simply means my writing skills are insufficient and I haven't conveyed the message effectively.

For example, in the section about the Boundless Blessing Return to the Void Seal, I won't write something like "Upon hearing Elder Duan's explanation, Lu Li couldn't help but think of the nuclear bomb from his previous life." As long as the readers understand, that's fine. Even if they don't realize it at the time, they'll still see highly praised comments. So, apart from the first few dozen chapters, unless there's a special need, I rarely mention the protagonist's past life directly.

[On the balance between literary and artistic expression and plot]

I think that if a character or work fails to convey the emotions it wants to express to the reader, adding a series of incomprehensible psychological descriptions and creating a disconnect between the plot and the intended message and emotion, that's just being pretentious. A protagonist's anger stemming from various observations and events, and their reasonable actions, constitute a plot. The key is that the plot I write must match the character's current emotions and fulfill the so-called "depth."

[Regarding the protagonist's transformation]

The transformation process is a very important part of this story, including the protagonist's struggle with Elder Duan and the protagonist's psychological changes. These aspects have not been fully developed yet, so I plan to put them aside for later. This is not the first time I've written on this theme, so I have some experience. This theme is in my comfort zone, and I will try to solidify the female character before the word count reaches 600,000.

[Regarding future updates]

My update schedule was disrupted by my idiot boss. The original plan was to finish the report at the beginning of the month, then accumulate manuscripts and publish them before updating rapidly. In reality, my boss disgusted me, and I've been working overtime these past few days. My recent schedule has been around 8 am to 10 pm, and then I go back to my dorm to write until 2 or 3 am.

By the end of the month, it will basically only be four days a day.

As for next month, if I don't work overtime in the evenings, I should be able to start working Saturdays.

Finally, I would like to thank every reader who has read this far. It is because of your encouragement that this book has come this far.

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