Like a man who had suffered poverty for half his life, he grasped the opportunity to acquire wealth that presented itself and worked his fingers to the bone.
Zhang Kui’s working attitude seemed to be an obsession in Chen Jingzhai’s eyes.
However, Chen Jingzhai did not feel good about stopping that workaholic of a man, so he could only help the latter.
Once Zhang Kui got this experience over with, he would become sober again.
Plus, this was also a different aspect of his cultivation.
Zhang Kui standardized the entire production, as per Chen Jingzhai’s suggestion.
With that, everyone could refine parts of the puppet according to the standard operating procedure.
Ultimately, it would become a streamlined manufacturing process and increase the refinement speed exponentially.
Zhang Kui’s mind was blown away after doing some testing with the new method.
He immediately thought this could radically change Puppet Hall’s current situation. In fact, he reckoned it was a heaven-sent opportunity, so much so that he would even use his disciple badge to send a report about Chen Jingzhai’s feat back to the sect.
“Is it worth it?
“The disciple badge can activate an emergency rescue signal three times.
“Yet you’ve wasted it once.”
Chen Jingzhai stared at Zhang Kui and asked.
The disciple badge was more than just an emblem and proof of identity. It could even be used to summon people.
A prominent figure from the sect would arrive instantly if the summoner were to encounter a life-and-death situation.
Zhang Kui was an inner disciple of Puppet Hall. Like the disciples from other branches, his badge could only be used three times.
By activating it once, he would have one less chance to request help should an emergency situation arise.
“Of course! It is worthwhile in every way!
“Little Master-Uncle, do you understand how huge an impact your deed has on us?
“With that, we can now produce similar puppets in bulk.
“Even if the puppet becomes defective, we just have to replace the faulty parts. We don’t have to repair it anymore.
“Increased production of the puppets is but a small part of the benefits.
“Most importantly, we may have the chance to change our combat style altogether.
“We, the puppet masters, have always been limited by the exorbitant cost of our puppets.
“Hence, we could not afford to dispatch a large army of puppets at will, which was our greatest regret.
“But everything has changed now with your creative guidance!”
Zhang Kui’s face went red with excitement as his eyes gleamed like diamonds.
For the longest time, all puppet masters in the world had been distressed by the high cost of puppets!
Take the demonic beast, for example—three spiritual items could be refined from a Grade 2 demonic beast.
Nevertheless, even after procuring all the materials from the demonic beast, one still could not refine a complete humanoid puppet.
Even if one were to refine a demonic beast puppet, they could not refine a second one.
Thus, as time passed, the puppet masters were put in a relatively awkward situation.
The existence of spiritual items only further discouraged the cultivators from getting themselves a puppet.
The materials obtained from the demonic beasts could only be used to refine spiritual items or to acquire cultivation resources. So, they had nothing to do with the puppet masters.
This was the primary cause of the decline of Puppet Hall of the Luo Sheng Sword School.
Nonetheless, things were no longer the same as before.
With everything standardized, the streamlined manufacturing process could produce spare parts for the puppets in bulk.
In that case, the puppets could be assembled at any time, and the cost could be controlled as well.
The combat style where one person would control one or a few puppets could finally end.
Apart from the puppet master’s natal puppet, they could bring an army of puppets with them.
Needless to say, Puppet Hall would have its own secret methods for puppetry-related issues.
If the puppet armies were no longer a pipe dream, the overall strength of Puppet Hall could no longer be underestimated.
Chen Jingzhai could not fully understand the magnitude of his actions.
Although he knew a little about Puppet Hall, he was not a puppet master.
Therefore, he could not fully comprehend the meaning behind Zhang Kui’s words.
Still, it did not stop him from realizing that he had just done something incredible.
Later that night, Headmaster Mo Bei brought two Golden Core Sages along with 18 casual disciples to Donglai County.
Right then, they showed up before Wangdan Pagoda.
If Chen Jingzhai had not seen Zhang Kui’s greeting, he would’ve considered them impersonators.
Headmaster Mo Bei had a smile on his face as he glanced at Chen Jingzhai, who had a dazed look.
After ordering Zhang Kui to stand at the side, he hurled a leaf-shaped treasure out of his hand.
The treasure flew out of the building and landed on top of Wangdan Pagoda.
Then, the leaf-shaped treasure emitted a transparent brilliance under the night sky and covered the entire building.
The luster turned dimmer and disappeared in no time.
“We’ve met again, youngest junior brother,” Headmaster Mo Bei greeted with a smile.
“What brings you here, senior brother?” Chen Jingzhai questioned calmly.
“Well, I came here after receiving and listening to his voice transmission.” Headmaster Mo Bei turned to look at Zhang Kui before raising the corners of his lips while peering at Chen Jingzhai and went on, “Now I finally understand why Headmaster Fuyun has been insisting that you should join the ranks of our generation.”
“What do you mean, senior brother?” Chen Jingzhai could not wrap his mind around the man’s words.
“The Puppet Hall is revived because of you.” Headmaster Mo Bei’s expression turned solemn, and he continued, “Other than the tips for developing new types of intricate puppets, you’ve even paved the future path for Puppet Hall.”
“It was just some casual advice.” Chen Jingzhai queried in resignation, “Why do you act like it’s a big deal?”
“This is an opportunity,” Headmaster Mo Bei replied as he smiled. “The tips that you’ve given casually were the keys to the revival of Puppet Hall. Do you have any idea how big a stir it caused after Zhang Kui’s report came in?”
“Was Senior Brother Headmaster astonished upon hearing that?” Chen Jingzhai asked instinctively.
“As if it was just that.” Headmaster Mo Bei lifted the corners of his lips. “After I did the refinement step by step, according to Zhang Kui’s instruction, a flower of luck manifested above the sky of Puppet Hall. As a result, the overall luck of our sect increased greatly.”
Chen Jingzhai was speechless as he widened his eyes while looking at the man in disbelief.
“There’s no room for doubt in this matter,” Headmaster Mo Bei lamented. “As puppet masters, our only focus is to create powerful puppets. Our precepts compelled us to be fixated on having a puppet that overwhelms all spells. Hence, that became the cause of our downfall since everyone would set their minds to creating their own natal puppets. As a result, nearly all of us failed to create the perfect puppet, even after squandering our fortunes.
“Truth be told, we’ve tried refining parts of the puppets to increase the number of the intricate puppets. We’d even let multiple puppet masters refine different parts simultaneously. But the only thing we’ve never done before was standardization. The idea of refining parts of the puppets identically somehow had never crossed our minds.
“Heck, we didn’t even consider the thought of having puppets with spare parts that could be assembled at any time like you’ve mentioned previously, not to mention their endless possibilities to build all kinds of never-before-seen puppets. You’ve got no idea about the tremendous impact on all the puppet masters’ mental and emotional states after hearing those words that I uttered. Countless of them bawled their lungs out and cried out that we, the puppet masters, were saved.”
“So, are you saying that what I’ve said is useful for Puppet Hall?” Chen Jingzhai questioned.
“You don’t have to be cynical about my words.” Headmaster Mo Bei nodded. “Headmaster Fuyun and I had a discussion before deciding to bring them along by myself. It is the decision of the sect. Wangdan Pagoda can continue to sell the puppets like before. But it’d be best if we could sell the customized standard puppets to the rest of the world. The 18 casual disciples will be tasked with refining parts of the Grade 1 puppets, while Zhang Kui will supervise the operation. Meanwhile, the two elders, Qing Mu and Qing Hui will be in charge of the sales.”
“Nice to meet you, youngest junior brother,” Qing Mu and Qing Hui greeted simultaneously.
“Likewise. Nice to meet you too, fellow senior brothers,” Chen Jingzhai replied hurriedly.
The two of them were of the same generation as Headmaster Mo Bei.
Their cultivation level had already reached the Complete Golden Core Plane, and they were only one step away from breaking through to the Nascent Plane.
“This is the puppet branch disciple badge refined by Puppet Hall.” Headmaster Mo Bei handed a black badge to Chen Jingzhai. “From now on, all the disciple badges will be manufactured by us. They will have multiple features, including storage, long-distance sound transmission, surveillance, badge detection, and more.”
“A magic treasure?” Chen Jingzhai stared at him in surprise.
“You are right.” Headmaster Mo Bei bowed his head. “This disciple badge is yours. The remaining disciples shall get theirs replaced once they’ve returned to the sect. Elders and Peak Masters who are at the Golden Core Plane and Nascent Plane will hold magic treasure level clan tokens. Meanwhile, the disciple badges will be split into two categories—the inner disciples will be given spiritual item level badges, and the casual disciples, magic item level badges.”
Chen Jingzhai was holding a black clan badge in his hand.
The sect’s inner disciple badges were green.
As for the casual disciples, their badges were yellow.
“The sect is able to save a huge amount of spirit jades from replacing the disciple badges alone,” Elder Qing Mu stated with a smile. “The puppet badge is more suitable than the jade token for the current situation of our sect.”
“I see.” Chen Jingzhai processed the item in his hand.
“Well then. Qing Mu and Qing Hui, please begin the arrangement and assign tasks to all the disciples,” Elder Mo Bei said. “I don’t have much time left. There are a few things that I need to talk about with Junior Brother Jingzhai.”
Upon hearing that, the two elders immediately took the remaining disciples with them and left.
