CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER 72: PUPPETRY INHERITANCE

Zhouyang’s worries were not baseless.

When Chen Pingzhi was about to reach out and take the storage bag hanging from the skeleton’s waist, the skull, which had previously drooped its head, suddenly "creak, creak" raised its head to look at him.

Then, there was no then...

Chen Pingzhi merely waved his hand and the skeleton’s head was sent flying away. The storage bag and the earth-yellow magical artifact Daoist robe the skeleton was wearing became items in his possession.

He weighed the two storage bags in his hand, noticed Zhouyang’s face didn’t look quite right, and after a slight thought, understood why, smilingly saying:

"There’s no need for you to be astonished, little friend. Those tales of cultivators leaving harmful means behind after their death cannot possibly occur with those below the Golden Core Stage. This skeleton moved just now because of a residual grudge from its past life, which can only scare ordinary people. Any Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator can smash it until nothing remains!"

"I have shown my ignorance, making the elder laugh." Zhouyang gave a self-deprecating smile, realizing he had overthought earlier.

The old saying goes: believing in books too much is as good as having no books.

He had read too many strange stories from the cultivation realm, resulting in him automatically associating this ordinary exploration of a cave mansion with those elder cultivators exploring some demon’s nest or Immortal Mansion belonging to a Golden Core Demon or a Nascent Soul Great Power, thinking danger could lurk anywhere.

Whereas in reality, the biggest resistance and danger in a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s cave mansion usually comes from the guardian array.

Just like the owner of this "Thousand Machines Grotto Heaven", being able to place two Tier Three Puppet Beasts to guard the cave mansion is already very rare among Foundation Establishment Cultivators; even some Purple Mansion Stage cultivator’s cave mansions may not achieve this.

"Hahaha, it’s only normal to have such thoughts the first time you participate in this kind of activity. Wasn’t Elder Chen just the same back then?" Chen Pingzhi laughed heartily, understanding Zhouyang’s thinking and not minding it much.

With a movement of his divine sense, he planted a spiritual mark on the storage bags that had lost their owner years ago, and retrieved everything inside the two storage bags.

Because he didn’t know how many years had passed, quite a few items inside the storage bags had lost their spirituality due to a lack of spiritual Qi nourishment, including several Tier Three Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts of lower quality.

However, the two storage bags together still contained quite a few valuable items that could be used.

The most valuable among them were three dazzling Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, which included a crimson flying sword, a soil-yellow great seal, and a bronze small bell. Among them, the flying sword and great seal were Tier Three Top Grade Spiritual Artifacts, and the bronze small bell was a premium Tier Three Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact.

Adding this to the earlier two Tier Three Puppet Beasts and one Tier Three Lower Grade Artifact Cauldron, Chen Pingzhi’s gains this time were truly rich.

No wonder he was willing to expend favors to get Zhouyang involved, rather than acting together with the Chen Family’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

If he were to come with the Chen Family’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators, he’d have to share three or four tenths of the treasures here, an amount equivalent to tens of thousands of spirit stones.

"How does Zhou Xiaoyou think these things should be divided?"

Just as Zhouyang was staring wide-eyed with envy at the three spiritual artifacts on the ground, Chen Pingzhi regained his composure and looked at him keenly, asking about the distribution issue.

This question is quite sensitive; mishandling it could lead to severe repercussions, even though he had the backing of the Chen Family and his cultivation was much higher than Zhouyang’s. He couldn’t avoid asking for Zhouyang’s opinion.

And Zhouyang, upon hearing the question, was also stumped.

How should he respond?

Although the two had previously agreed that Chen Pingzhi would give him one or two tenths of the spoils based on his contribution, determining the extent of his contribution was still open for discussion.

From Chen Pingzhi’s perspective, even without Zhouyang’s involvement earlier, he wouldn’t have been in real danger, naturally unwilling to give Zhouyang an additional percent.

But from Zhouyang’s perspective, without his intervention, Chen Pingzhi would have missed out on the two precious Tier Three Puppet Beasts and used up some trump cards, losses definitely exceeding one percent of gains.

Thus, Zhouyang really didn’t know how to answer Chen Pingzhi’s question at the moment.

In his heart, he was secretly cursing Chen Pingzhi for being cunning, deliberately passing the choice to him, so no matter how he responded, Chen Pingzhi could immediately find a reason to counter it.

Time slowly passed, Chen Pingzhi merely looked at Zhouyang quietly pondering, lacking verbal hastiness, yet his gaze itself was a stance.

And Zhouyang, after recalling all the experiences of this journey in his mind, finally made a decision after thinking it over again and again.

He calmly looked up and made eye contact with Chen Pingzhi, and slowly spoke: "Since Elder Chen asks how the distribution should be, then this junior will boldly express his thoughts."

"On this journey, Elder Chen obtained two Tier Three Puppet Beasts, four Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, plus many Spirit Stones, miscellaneous items, and Jade Scroll inheritances on the ground. Even if this junior only takes a tenth of these, shouldn’t it be worth at least one Tier Three Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact?"

"This junior is not greedy; if Elder could just give this junior the Tier Three Artifact Cauldron obtained previously, and also allow this junior to copy a set of the Jade Scrolls to bring back to the clan’s collection, that would be enough!"

The distribution method he suggested was chosen after careful consideration to be the best option.

Though the Tier Three Artifact Cauldron is valuable, its worth does not lose to any Tier Three Middle-grade Spiritual Artifact, but Chen Pingzhi is not an Artifact Refiner. After acquiring this spiritual artifact, he can only transfer it to someone else. As Zhouyang knows, the Chen Family’s Tier Three Refiner already has a better artifact cauldron.

As for copying Jade Scrolls, this is a default rule among cultivators when teaming up for exploration. Such inheritable treasures like Jade Scrolls can be copied multiple times, and participants have the right to copy one as a collection. It’s not excessive for him to make this request now.

"Okay." After thinking for a moment, Chen Pingzhi nodded and accepted Zhouyang’s distribution plan.

Though somewhat greedy, he is not greedy to the point of withholding every penny. Zhouyang contributed after all; if none of the six spiritual artifacts are distributed to him, the two might become enemies.

For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from a normal clan, becoming enemies wouldn’t be a big deal. Chen Pingzhi, backed by the Chen Family, wouldn’t worry too much about the other side retaliating through the Chen Family’s Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators over this minor issue.

But Zhouyang is different. It’s almost certain he will become a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator in the future, and there’s hope for establishing a Purple Mansion as well.

With someone of such great potential, how foolish would Chen Pingzhi have to be to become enemies over an artifact he can’t even use?

After agreeing to Zhouyang’s proposal, he immediately raised his hand and tossed the previously gathered four-legged purple cauldron to Zhouyang: "This ’Phoenix Pattern Purple Gold Cauldron,’ hold onto it well, young friend, and feel free to copy the Jade Scrolls."

Afterward, he swung his sleeve, collecting the scattered spiritual artifacts and miscellaneous items back into his storage bag, leaving only twenty or thirty Jade Scrolls for Zhouyang to copy.

Estimating that Zhouyang would spend a lot of time copying these Jade Scrolls, Chen Pingzhi simply sat on the Cold Jade Bed to restore the magical power he had consumed earlier.

Seeing this, Zhouyang first played with the Tier Three Artifact Cauldron in his hand, then took out blank Jade Scrolls to begin copying the information from those on the ground.

Among the twenty or thirty Jade Scrolls, because the owner of the grotto was also an Artifact Refiner, there were seven or eight related to artifact refining knowledge—a large gain for Zhouyang.

Additionally, the owner of the grotto, being a quite wealthy Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator, possessed cultivation techniques and secret techniques that were no ordinary items. There was one technique that could be practiced up to the Golden Core Stage and three techniques up to the Purple Mansion Stage, as well as a rare Spiritual Sense Application Secret Technique.

But what excited and delighted Zhouyang the most was a Jade Scroll recording the method to refine puppet beasts. This scroll contained methods for twelve different types of puppet beasts, including the two Tier Three Puppet Beasts, Liger, obtained by Chen Pingzhi.

Holding the Jade Scroll with puppet beast records, he glanced at Chen Pingzhi, who was sitting on the Cold Jade Bed, eyes closed, recovering his magical power, fortunate that this person hadn’t examined the Jade Scrolls carefully earlier.

If Chen Pingzhi had known that among the Jade Scrolls was a rare puppet beast refining method, given his greedy nature, he certainly would not have allowed Zhouyang to copy it.

It’s important to note that before Zhouyang acquired this Jade Scroll, no clan in the Baisha River Oasis Cultivation Realm had puppet master inheritance.

Only the Yellow Sand Sect, which early on destroyed a sect skilled in puppetry, acquired significant puppet refining inheritance. Some Artifact Refiners in the sect also practice this inheritance, producing many low-tier puppets for the vassal clans below.

Reportedly, the Chen Family purchased several Tier Three puppets from the Yellow Sand Sect for their clan’s collection, likely why Chen Pingzhi did not think much upon seeing puppet beasts in the grotto.

After all, as the grotto owner could obtain the Tier Three Array ’Earth-covering Yellow Sand Array’ from the Yellow Sand Sect’s Array Master, acquiring two Tier Three Puppet Beasts to guard the grotto did not seem difficult.

Chen Pingzhi, coming from the Purple Mansion Clan, never imagined a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator could possess puppet master inheritance that the Chen family did not.

This time, his arrogance ensured a huge advantage for Zhouyang and the Zhou Family.

Suppressing his excitement, Zhouyang, despite the spiritual sense exhaustion, prioritized copying the puppet and artifact refining inheritance, and put them into his storage bag, before beginning to copy the cultivation technique secret techniques.

When he finished copying all the content recorded in the Jade Scrolls, despite having divine sense strength comparable to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he still felt a headache, and had to promptly sit down to rest with his eyes closed.