Chapter Nineteen: Listening to the Way in the Tea Room

  After becoming an inner disciple, Ishikawa began to prepare for the breakthrough of the fifth bottleneck of the Qi Refining stage and become a true cultivator. However, before taking the Epiphany Pill, Ishikawa still couldn't help but take out that golden book.

  The four puppets were in a pitiful state, with not a single intact spot on their bodies. However, what astonished Ishikawa was that the skeletons inside these four puppets had not suffered any damage and moved freely, looking as if they would be restored to their original state once their exteriors were repaired.

  This made Ishikawa overjoyed, as the refinement of puppets was a very mysterious thing, and Ishikawa had never touched it before. If these four puppets suffered any internal damage, Ishikawa would be unable to solve it, but repairing their external appearance was no problem for him.

  Anyway, there are a lot of refining materials in the Earth Mother Stone, and Ishikawa doesn't need to be stingy. He didn't use Xuan Tie or Jing Jin, but instead used an even higher-grade Chi Tong to make a shell for each of the puppets.

  These four puppets had almost exhausted all the red copper in the Earth Mother Stone, and if some foundation-building cultivator saw this, they would definitely exclaim that Shi Chuan was a spendthrift. However, Shi Chuan didn't have any heartache about it. Looking at these four puppets, a hint of a smile appeared on Shi Chuan's face.

  Although these puppets only have the strength of the first layer of Qi Refining, they can also play a significant role at critical moments. Moreover, these puppets are not afraid of getting hurt, so the power they exert is not weak either.

  Ishikawa thought for a moment, then applied another layer of mysterious iron to the exterior of the puppet to avoid these four crimson copper puppets from shocking the world. He also took out several mysterious iron swords and installed them on the puppets, which immediately increased their attack power by a large margin.

  After doing all this, Ishikawa was very satisfied and casually took out the golden book from his storage bag to retrieve the puppet.

  Just then, the golden book suddenly burst into a brilliant light, and the four puppets above also emitted a golden glow.

  Four puppets made of Xuan Tie suddenly melted into iron water, dripping down drop by drop. Even Shi Chuan, who was over ten feet away, could feel the scorching heat emanating from it and didn't dare to approach, only able to watch from a distance.

  Three hours later, the puppet and the golden light on the book slowly disappeared. Ishikawa didn't know what happened, rushed over to take a look, and found that the mysterious iron on the puppet, including the mysterious iron sword, had all melted away. The four puppets shone with golden light, their faces perfectly lifelike.

  Ishikawa noticed that the joints of these four puppets were tightly connected and could not be separated, as if they had been re-forged.

  Ishikawa was filled with doubts and hastily activated the incantation, manipulating the four puppets, which seemed to be no big deal.

  Opening the golden book and taking a look, the first page didn't have any changes, but on the second page, a line of tiny words actually appeared.

  Ishikawa immediately became hungry and thirsty.

  After a long time, Ishikawa fell into deep thought, and it turned out that this puppet was an ancient artifact left behind by the ancient cultivators called "Tianyuan Puppet".

  It is said that this puppet was created by Tianyuan Zhenren, a Taoist immortal of the highest antiquity, and thus it was named after him.

  The most peculiar thing about this puppet is that it can advance, as long as the surface of the puppet is covered with high-ranking refining materials, the puppet can automatically refine and form a shell suitable for itself.

  As for the principle of refining, the second page of Jin Shu does not mention it.

  Ishikawa secretly admired the heavenly craftsman's skill in refining equipment, and it was likely that the core parts of these four puppets were very precise. Ishikawa suddenly regretted not carefully examining the internal structure of the puppet earlier, but now he had no way to see it because the exterior of the puppet had been firmly sealed by the red copper.

  However, as long as there is enough material, the puppet's ability will become stronger and stronger, which is beyond doubt.

  "Now he already has the strength of three layers of Qi Refining Stage, if his whole body is covered with Secret Silver, how strong would that be?" Ishikawa thought to himself.

  However, Ishikawa just thought about it, the secret silver is a very rare refining material, even if there is a earth mother stone, there are not so many waste artifacts containing secret silver for Ishikawa to decompose.

  It is also Ishikawa's luck to be able to discover the secret of the puppet. According to Jin's book, the strength of a puppet is related to the materials used to make it. The stronger the material, the stronger the puppet will be. On the other hand, the more damage the puppet receives, the weaker its strength will become.

  It was also thanks to the two Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivators who launched a surprise attack at night and severely damaged the puppet, that Shi Chuan had the opportunity to repair it and discover its secrets.

  Repairing the puppet and studying the golden book took up most of Ishikawa's day, only then did he remember that today was the day for the tea room lecture, which Ishikawa naturally couldn't miss.

  Because no one pointed it out, Ishikawa didn't even know the bottleneck of the fifth layer of Qi training, and almost delayed his cultivation. So Ishikawa decided to listen carefully every time he lectured, because the lectures were not only about water-based skills, but also many other problems in cultivation.

  When I arrived at the teahouse, there were already many people seated inside.

  The outer disciples in charge of managing the tea room have already arranged the tables and chairs neatly.

  There are thousands of Qi-refining disciples in the Shuiling Gate, but not everyone comes to listen to the elder's sermon. So the people in the teahouse don't necessarily all know each other. When they saw Shi Chuan's unfamiliar face, they just took a casual glance and turned their heads away, ignoring him. After all, Shi Chuan only showed the cultivation of a first-layer Qi-refining disciple, so there was no need for them to recruit him.

  However, among them, there was one person who secretly stared at Ishikawa. Although Ishikawa felt very strange in his heart, he had never seen this person before, so he didn't take it to heart.

  He found a spot in the corner and sat down, listening to the monks' discussions while quietly waiting for the Dean of Discipline to come and give his lecture.

  Just as Ishikawa sat down, two familiar faces appeared at the entrance of the teahouse. Hua Xiong and Huang Shu-lang had also arrived, and they immediately spotted Ishikawa sitting alone in a corner.

  He immediately ran over.

  "Hey, an outer disciple dares to wear the clothes of an inner disciple and sneak in to listen to the lecture!" Huang Shu Lang said with a sarcastic tone.

  "Scram!" Ishikawa scowled, this guy was like a fly that couldn't be shooed away.

  "Huang Shidi, why are you speaking to Shi Shidi in this tone? Although he is an outer sect disciple, he also has the right to learn immortal techniques. If Shi Shidi is willing, I can even teach him a thing or two." Hua Xiong said with a drawl.

  Ishikawa was too lazy to bother with these two extreme characters, if not for fear of exposing his true strength, Ishikawa would have beaten them up, directly throwing out the inner door disciple token, saying: "Whether I am an inner door disciple or not is not up to you two to decide, if there's nothing going on, don't disturb me."

  Hua Xiong's face suddenly turned green, and after Ishikawa became an inner disciple, it meant that their relationship was equal, no longer the high and low relationship between inner and outer disciples. Although this situation is not common, every year there are always a few outer disciples who become inner disciples.

  "Inner Disciple Token, how did you get this?" Huang Shu Lang's face was filled with incredulity. He knew that Shi Chuan had five Earth Spirit Roots and it was absolutely impossible for him to become an Inner Disciple of the Water Spirit Gate.

  This matter had been pent up in Huang Shu Lang's heart all along. Every time he saw Ishikawa, Huang felt an unbearable hatred because despite his great contribution, he only received a small amount of spiritual stone as a reward, and the elders didn't show him any other appreciation afterwards. As time went on, Huang's resentment grew more and more, and he increasingly directed it at Ishikawa.

  "The Dean is coming, everyone sit down quickly." A monk at the door saw the Dean coming from afar and shouted loudly.

  Everyone sat up straight with concern, but only Huang Shu-lang stood there, muttering to himself: "This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible."

  Until Deacon Zhang walked into the teahouse, Huang Shu-lang remained in this posture.

  "Huang Shu Lang, if you don't want to listen to me, you can leave." The words of the Executive Elder were tinged with three parts anger, which was also a result of his frequent interactions with these Qi-refining disciples. If it had been another elder, Huang Shu Lang would not have gotten off so lightly.

  "Elder, I have an urgent report." Huang Shu-lang suddenly woke up from his dream and grabbed the token of Shi Chuan. He ran to Elder's face and said loudly: "Shi Chuan secretly made a fake token and wore the uniform of the inner door disciple, pretending to be an inner door disciple to listen to the sermon. Elder, you can't let him off easily."

  The elder looked at Ishikawa sitting in a corner, his eyes slightly raised, and said coldly: "Ishikawa is Yun Changlao's entry disciple, naturally also our Shuilingmen inner door disciple, you are just an ordinary inner door disciple, what to say or not to say, you should have a number in your heart."

  The deacon elder was already 70% annoyed in his heart, this Huang Shu Lang was really too much trouble.

  "The first disciple of Yun Lao." The crowd's gaze at Ishikawa changed immediately, Yun Lao being the strongest in the Water Spirit Sect and having a very limited number of disciples. Those who could become Yun Lao's disciples were all elite members of the sect. They really couldn't believe that this ordinary disciple, who seemed to be only at the Qi Refining stage, was actually Yun Lao's first disciple. If these words had come from the mouth of the Executive Elder, they wouldn't have dared to believe them.

  There are even a few people who regretted not getting to know Ishikawa earlier, as according to general experience, Ishikawa's prospects are boundless.

  Ishikawa being an inner disciple was something Huang Shu Lang would not believe even if he was beaten to death, let alone that Ishikawa had become Yun Changlao's personal disciple. This was something Huang Shu Lang had been dreaming of day and night, yet it was snatched away by Ishikawa who couldn't even cultivate water-based magic, this was enough to make Huang Shu Lang's lungs explode in anger.

  Huang Shu Lang nearly roared with madness: "How is it possible, how is it possible, I clearly measured his spiritual roots..."

  Before he could finish speaking, the elder deacon waved his hand lightly, and a silver light flashed from his fingertips, directly entering Huang Shulang's skull, causing him to fall softly to the ground.

  "This disciple is too reckless, after being handed over to the Law Enforcement Hall for punishment, he directly went to guard the mine without my permission, and will never be allowed to return."

  Two disciples quickly carried Huang Shu Lang out, and the others were silent as cicadas in winter. However, from the attitude of the presiding elder, everyone could see the presiding elder's attitude towards Shi Chuan, which made everyone look at Shi Chuan with a different gaze.

  "Could it be that this person is a direct descendant of Yun Changlao, or perhaps a disciple of some large family?" The crowd couldn't help but think.