Not bad for the puppet path

Jiao Xiuyuan, transforming into Ten Thousand Puppets, single-handedly supported the vast commercial organization, Thousand Mile Hall, which spread throughout the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

His shadow might be found in various ruins or desolate, sparsely populated wildernesses.

He could even stir up storms in the Xuanhuang World by himself.

It was quite a bit like entering the Dao through commerce.

However, his luck seemed a bit poor.

He claimed he never did a losing business, but from Li Fan's interactions with him, Jiao Xiuyuan seemed to often lose money in his dealings.

Whether it was when they first met, he had hoarded a large number of Hiding Talismans, but due to the Five Elements Great Cave Heaven, the price of Hiding Talismans plummeted.

Or later, when he painstakingly excavated some little medicine king cauldrons, he was sure to make a fortune once the Medicine King True Cauldron returned.

But it was as if he was fated not to have that luck; he sold all these little medicine king cauldrons at a low price early on.

"Perhaps he truly never lost money, but it seems he always missed opportunities to make a huge fortune."

"Even in the previous life, when he and I worked together on lingwu grass, he ultimately lost the massive wealth he had acquired due to a hint of greed and slow withdrawal, turning it into nothing in an instant."

"Only in this life has he truly profited handsomely. I wonder if anything will change about him."

While contemplating, Li Fan carefully observed the items Jiao Xiuyuan had placed on the shelves, checking if he could find other items like the little medicine king cauldron to pick up a small bargain.

The items on the shelves were varied, with all sorts of Talismans, formation diagrams, and Medicinal Pills.

Li Fan focused on items that mostly looked ancient.

Most of them were broken and filled with traces of history.

Paintings, various ornaments, and unknown Magical Artifacts that had completely lost their Spiritual Qi.

Li Fan's gaze swept over them one by one.

Suddenly, he stopped at an ancient painting.

His expression became somewhat solemn, and Li Fan took down the scroll, slowly unrolling it.

It wasn't that the painting itself was special, but rather the content of the painting that attracted Li Fan's attention.

The painting depicted a majestic and magnificent Sect gate.

The heavens and earth were a vast expanse of a single color, with dozens of Cultivators standing on the clouds, pointing into the distance.

Within the sea of clouds, the towering buildings on the mountain peak were faintly visible.

Luan birds, Dragons, and various exotic beasts soared through the mountains.

In the square at the foot of the mountain, hundreds of thousands of young Disciples, still childish, stood.

They looked up at the Cultivators in the sky, their faces filled with excitement and envy.

It was truly a thriving scene of a Sect!

But…

Li Fan had seen this Sect before, and it was vastly different from the prosperous scene in the painting.

Corpses lay everywhere, blood flowed like rivers.

The Sect gate was shattered, and the ground was covered in ruins.

It was precisely the scene he had witnessed at the bottom of the Void Abyss when the thick fog dispersed during his time in Great Xuan.

The four characters "Immortal Dao is Dead" carved on the cliff face had deeply shaken Li Fan at the time.

Now Li Fan knew that this must have been the tragic aftermath of Sect Disciples slaughtering each other after the great tribulation of incompatible cultivation methods descended.

"Which Sect is this, exactly? Why did I see this place back then?"

One should know that the scenery each person saw from the bottom of the Void Abyss was different.

Li Fan seeing this dilapidated Sect might just be a coincidence.

But Li Fan believed more that there might be some kind of guidance within it.

Carefully putting away the painting, and after browsing around without finding anything else of value, Li Fan approached Jiao Xiuyuan.

"Fellow Daoist Jiao? Fellow Daoist Jiao!"

Li Fan called out a few symbolic times, and seeing that he still didn't respond, he reached out and began to grope him.

It wasn't that he had any particular癖好, but rather to take advantage of this rare opportunity to study Jiao Xiuyuan's Ten Thousand Puppets Dao.

Although the Qi Xuan True Spirit Transformation was already an astonishing divine art, it still had a small flaw.

Derived from the Day Stealing Sun Replacement Art, it could only have one Clone at a time, which was truly a pity.

If it could integrate the Ten Thousand Puppets Dao and advance further…

"Ten thousand Incarnations, indistinguishable between true and false."

As Li Fan mused, his hands moved without hesitation.

"Almost exactly like a real person; even with Divine Sense penetration, it's difficult to find a difference."

"The control core seems to be in the brain, a blue color similar to the hua dao stone's glow."

"I've seen the scene after a Puppet dies, a withered yellow like Xiu Mu. Are Jiao Xiuyuan's Puppet Incarnations all made of some kind of wood?"

…

Li Fan continuously examined the Puppet in front of him, combining it with his own knowledge, carefully comprehending, and felt he had gained some insight.

Just as he was secretly pleased, he suddenly noticed Jiao Xiuyuan's eyelids trembling slightly.

His heart skipped a beat, and Li Fan instantly moved away.

A moment later, he noticed Jiao Xiuyuan's previously dull eyes regaining their vitality.

"Fellow Daoist Jiao, you're awake?" Li Fan asked, feigning great concern.

"Hmm? Fellow Daoist Li Fan? Why are you here?" Jiao Xiuyuan looked at Li Fan with some suspicion.

Li Fan originally wanted to explain everything that happened after he was investigated, but unfortunately, he had already signed a confidentiality agreement and found it difficult to speak.

He had to settle for a compromise, telling Jiao Xiuyuan that he came here to take shelter from the surging crowds.

"I noticed that shortly after Lu Xichan arrived, I lost contact with this Puppet. At that time, I knew something big had truly happened, and it turned out to be true."

"A confidentiality agreement, huh…" Jiao Xiuyuan glanced at Li Fan, guessing the reason for his avoidance.

"No wonder Tianquan and Tian Yu State seem a bit restless as well…" Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes narrowed, and he was about to delve deeper into thought when he inadvertently scanned his own shop, and his expression immediately changed drastically.

He flashed to the front of the shelf, checked again, and exclaimed, "How come a painting seems to be missing?"

"I painstakingly dug this out from a pile of trash!"

Li Fan was about to say that the painting was with him.

But he was surprised to find that the Puppet in front of him suddenly exploded into pieces with a "bang."

Fortunately, it wasn't blood and gore, but rather wood chips flying everywhere.

"Fellow Daoist Jiao!" Li Fan was also stunned by the sudden turn of events.

"I'm fine!" In an instant, another Puppet emerged from under the counter.

He had a gloomy expression, pulled out a broom, and began to clean up the scene.

"What just happened?" Li Fan couldn't help but ask curiously.

"I did a losing business, so it couldn't be sustained," Jiao Xiuyuan didn't explain much, only shaking his head and sighing.

"That's really strange, how could a perfectly good painting disappear? Who's so bold as to dare steal from me?" After cleaning up, Jiao Xiuyuan stroked his chin, indignantly.

"Uh, Fellow Daoist Jiao, I just forgot to tell you. When you lost consciousness, I saw that painting was quite good, so I casually took it." Just then, he heard Li Fan say this.

Only one chapter today. Does anyone know if soundproof cabins are useful? I had a CT scan before and it was fine, but later an EEG showed abnormalities. I have neurasthenia and have become too sensitive to sounds. Any little noise wakes me up. Plus, there's a knocking sound coming from upstairs somewhere, and I can't find the source, which has left me mentally and physically exhausted. I'm thinking of buying a soundproof cabin, but I'm afraid it won't help.