Although Nan Zhi's cultivation was currently only high enough to unlock two locations—the 【Sect Grand Hall】 and the 【Mountain-Guarding Formation】—fortunately, having refined the Sect Master's Seal, the conditions in both areas were revealed down to the finest detail on the sand table.
With just a thought, Nan Zhi could see every detail with utter clarity.
A thousand years had passed, yet the magical treasures and implements displayed in the grand hall had not lost their spirituality; they were merely dimming their luster temporarily due to the lack of spiritual energy.
Still, it was not entirely without gains.
In a side hall to the side, Nan Zhi discovered twenty men and women of varying appearances, all dressed in ritual robes.
Time seemed to have frozen for these “people”—men and women alike, all maintaining their original forms and poses.
Their complexions were rosy, their expressions relaxed. Some held palace lanterns, some flew upward to clean lamp oil, some wore cheerful smiles while tending to a pill furnace, and some held gossamer silk with puzzled looks as if about to take flight...
There were demon spirits with animal ears on their heads, strikingly gorgeous cultivators, valiant sword attendants, grim and peculiar-looking old men, and white-haired, gentle-eyed old women.
Nan Zhi stood before a “corpse” that closely resembled an old farmer, inspecting it closely and clicking her tongue in wonder.
【Fu Laogou: Main hall gatekeeping puppet of the Unnamed Sect. (A puppet crafted from ten-thousand-year purple heart wood, powered by spirit stones.)】
None of them were living people.
They were wood puppets crafted using puppetry arts by puppet masters of the Hehuan Sect.
It was truly supernatural craftsmanship.
Pupils, nose, lips, every single strand of hair, every eyebrow hair was lifelike. There was even faint stubble along the jawline, and the fine grain on the sun-darkened skin was clearly visible.
When light hit the pupils, a clear, glass-like luster was visible within them.
Looking at the other nineteen puppets, they were just as lifelike.
Judging by appearance alone, it was impossible to tell whether they were living people or puppets.
Even when using divine sense to examine them, distinguishing real from fake was difficult.
In fact, had Nan Zhi not held the Sect Master's Seal, even she likely wouldn't have been able to tell them apart.
Prompted by the Sect Master's Seal, Nan Zhi easily located a slight protrusion on the puppet's back, distinct from the rest of the spine.
Click.
Pressing it lightly produced an exceedingly crisp sound. A flap of skin opened, revealing a hidden compartment roughly the size of an infant's fist.
Within the compartment, intricate formation patterns were inscribed, atop which sat a grayish-white spirit stone whose spiritual energy had long been drained.
Though human on the outside, the interior revealed a peculiar wooden grain, a cold reminder to Nan Zhi that it was not a living being.
“It really is a wood puppet. How on earth did they make this?”
Nan Zhi took out a middle grade spirit stone and tentatively placed it into Fu Laogou's back. Half a breath later, the wood puppet before her slowly raised its head, its pupils gradually focusing.
The dark-skinned wood puppet, looking just like an honest old farmer, came to life. Seeing Nan Zhi, it bowed down immediately:
“Grand Hall Guardian Fu Laogou pays respects to the Sect Master.”
The wood puppet became animate as soon as it stood. Its eyes rolled around, and apart from the exposed flap of skin fluttering slightly in the breeze, it looked no different from a real person.
“Get up. There is no need to kneel before me. A simple salute is enough in this sect.”
Finding it amusing, Nan Zhi waved her hand in front of Fu Laogou, but he kept his eyes glued to the floor, not raising his head at all as he spoke in a fawning tone:
“The Sect Master is the master of the sect; propriety must not be discarded.”
“Do you still remember what happened before?”
Nan Zhi swept her divine sense over the puppet, discovering there wasn't a trace of a soul inside. It could move solely thanks to the formation and spirit stone.
It was practically an AI robot running on pre-programmed code.
Yet the wood puppet was even more wondrous.
“Old Dog is the grand hall's gatekeeping puppet, guarding the side hall as always.”
Fu Laogou looked bewildered, but still answered earnestly:
“When spiritual energy is completely exhausted, the puppet falls into a slumber. Fortunate to be awakened by the Sect Master, what does the Sect Master command Old Dog to do?”
Nan Zhi pondered for a moment. In her dantian, the Sect Master's Seal stirred eagerly, transmitting waves of information:
It turned out these wood puppets were fundamentally different from real people after all.
Having no souls, they acted strictly upon instructions issued by sect disciples.
Just like game NPCs, so long as spirit stones were provided, they would continue running along their predetermined scripts indefinitely.
Such wood puppets used to be everywhere in the Unnamed Sect.
Cleaning the grand hall, watching pill furnaces, tending to the herb gardens, taking inventory in the storehouses, guarding the scripture pavilion, sparring with disciples...
Each wood puppet possessed a designated role and was bound by internal restrictions forbidding them from harming disciples of the sect.
The twenty wood puppets in the side hall all had combat prowess hovering around the Golden Core realm.
Had Nan Zhi not held the status of 【Sect Master】, waking Fu Laogou would have likely sparked an inevitable battle.
“Hmm...”
Staring at Fu Laogou, Nan Zhi suddenly threw out an entirely unrelated question:
“Do you know how to sew clothes? Or rather, among these twenty wood puppets, who is skilled in mending?”
Fu Laogou pointed toward the corner at a slim male Demon cultivator dressed in moon-white robes.
...
Before the mountain gate, over a dozen figures bustled in and out, constantly busy.
The skeletal remains outside the grand hall were neatly collected by the wood puppets and brought before Nan Zhi one by one, covered in white satin.
With the Sect Master's Seal in one hand, Nan Zhi identified whose remains they were, annotated each neatly, and placed them into a storage bag.
—She intended to bury all of these disciples in the North Province whenever an opportunity arose in the future.
A Golden Core-grade wood puppet consumed ten middle grade spirit stones every twelve shichen.
She did not yet have access to the sect's vault, so these spirit stones had to come out of her own pocket.
For twenty wood puppets, a single day cost two hundred middle grade spirit stones.
“This is even more expensive than a ticket on the Splendid Platform.”
Nan Zhi winced with heartache, but then cheered up again:
“As expected of a great sect with profound foundations. With wood puppets at the Golden Core realm, spending two hundred middle grade spirit stones is equivalent to hiring twenty high-level cultivators as bodyguards. That's an absolute bargain.”
She had already planned to attend the Four Directions Assembly, and with these twenty wood puppets, her chances of victory in the Rakshasa Sea Market would be even higher.
Spending three full days without sleep or rest, Nan Zhi finally finished gathering all the exposed skeletal remains within the sect.
As for the bodies in the other buildings—her cultivation was insufficient, and whenever she approached, wisps of smoky white mist would “gently” keep her out.
Nan Zhi: “...”
As Sect Master, she had zero majesty whatsoever.
How infuriating.
Of the twenty wood puppets, Nan Zhi designated five to repair and clean the grand hall overnight, and another ten to patrol the mountain-guarding formation and clear out demon beasts near the sect's territory.
She then designated Fu Laogou to lead the remaining four wood puppets in guarding the floating giant sword day and night, reporting back should anything happen.
“I need to return to the sea market as soon as possible. With a sect this massive and no spiritual pulse to support it, relying entirely on the Sect Master's private funds will bankrupt me sooner or later.”
Nan Zhi finally took this opportunity to do a thorough inventory of the spirit stones on hand:
The spirit stones compensated by the Qingjing Sect were almost spent.
The salary earned from the Demon Suppression Division was mostly in low grade spirit stones; though seemingly numerous, they wouldn't actually last long.
However, Daoist Qinglong's private stash—a full one hundred thousand middle grade spirit stones and five hundred high grade spirit stones—could sustain the mountain-guarding formation and the wood puppets for the time being.
Put plainly, she was currently a commander with no troops.
Short on money, short on people.
Thinking about this gave Nan Zhi a headache, just as Fu Laogou hurried into the grand hall and eagerly reported:
“Sect Master, there is movement at the Stone Immortal's Chessboard. It seems a group of low-level little demons is intruding. But by the Sect Master's orders, your subordinate only observed and did not strike.”
They were finally here.
“They're only little demons with first-revolution demon cores. Don't attack.”
Nan Zhi took a deep breath and quickly instructed Fu Laogou:
“Keep them alive, I still have a use for them!”
It was time for the Demon Suppression Division to make an appearance.
In order to recruit more talent into the sect, she was about to put on a grand show in the real world.
Rate on N.U.
