After falling unconscious due to working so arduously, the three men slept soundly for at least half a day, whereupon Nie Gan started feeling a prickly sensation, as if thousands of needles were being inserted into his body. At first, his eyelids simply twitched, but after a minute or so, the pain became so unbearable he snapped awake.
GASP!
Inhaling a deep breath of the moist, morning air, he rubbed his eyes and circulated what little Qi he had in case he needed to defend himself from a trespasser. Nevertheless, there was no one inside the workshop other than the snoring Nie Xing and the limp Nie Dong. In about an incense stick's time, the prickling dissipated and everything returned to normal, leaving him with severe shock. Deciding not to investigate that further, he waited for the others to wake up.
"They shouldn't take long." He thought. And he was right. The first to wake up was Uncle Xing, which was to be expected since he had done no heavy physical work.
"Morning, kid." He greeted before sluggishly standing up. He seemed to be in a good mood.
"You still ought to assemble it." He pointed out, implying that he would receive no help from them. One knew nothing about puppets and the other was too old to do any heavy work.
"Goddamn, my head hurts like I'm terribly hungover." Interrupted Nie Dong as he stretched his body and massaged his temples. The other two men looked at him.
"Your formation is quite amazing, I must admit." Changed the subject Nie Xing. His praise was not easy to earn, but Nie Gan absolutely agreed with it. Nie Dong's formation was indeed quite impressive. Even in the entirety of the Golden Wreath Dynasty, he could be regarded as a top tier metallurgist and blacksmith thanks to it alone.
"Thanks, although I did not dare take credit for it. It was my grandfather, Nie Qing's creation. He came up with it on his dying bed. I was just lucky to be the one he passed it down to. Unfortunately, I made a Dao Oath that renders me unable to share it." He explained, his words sounding humble, but his expression rather smug. Nie Gan and Uncle Xing sneered inwardly, fully aware that he was also making it clear that it was not for sale, or at the very least pretending that was the case to inflate the price if they wanted to purchase it.
In spite of this, they still had a favorable opinion of Nie Dong. After all he had helped for basically free, considering that the spirit stones he'd receive as payment roughly amounted to what he had spent fueling his steel cutting formation.
Nie Gan smiled as he took out almost fifty low-grade spirit stones, ten per day that Nie Dong had worked. Under normal circumstances, a workday was eight hours. Nie Dong, however, had basically worked 24 hours a day for four straight days. Nevertheless, the agreement was still daily payment, regardless of hours. He had simply worked so much out of his own free volition.
"Here's the spirit stones we agreed on. Also, within this jade slip, the basic structure of both the training ground's puppet and this one can be found. Nevertheless, I am afraid that other than for learning purposes, it's not very useful. Unless you can get your hands on a functional engine, it's not enough to make a puppet."
Nie Dong did not seem to mind. He had already guessed that would be the case.
"Thanks, it was good working with you. If you ever need me for anything, feel free to reach out. After all, fellow craftsmen ought to help each other out. Who knows when one might fall into a tough spot and need help?" He said, a glint of respect in his gaze. During these four days, he had had the chance to see Nie Gan's skills on full display, and he knew better than anyone that such skill could only be honed by much triak and error and countless hours in the workshop.
They cupped their fists at each other. Nie Dong said he did not want to be seen off, yet Nie Gan insisted.
"Farewell." They bade farewell to each other, and after half a minute, Nie Gan and Uncle Xing were left alone. The latter also had matters to attend to, but before leaving, he gave him a serious look
sigh.
"I know what you have on your mind. All I'll say is that if being a puppetmaster was that easy, it would not have become an obsolete path. But if you are insistent on it, I guess I can only give you a piece of advice; be careful of that old hag Nie Xiu'er. Don't think even for a moment that she'll have any consideration towards you just because you're her dead husband's son."
He knew Uncle Xing's words were meant to protect him and he was grateful, but for now, he could not fully understand their actual implications.
"Thanks Uncle Xing. I'll keep that in mind." Promised Nie Gan. Uncle Xing only nodded and said nothing further as he got away walking at a leisure pace.
Having been left alone, Nie Gan smiled, proud of himself. Not only did he have all the parts needed to restore the puppet, but he had also gained an ally in Nie Dong. He would be extremely important in his future plans, although for now, those were still far away.
•••••••••
Nie Gan's naked upper body was drenched in sweat. His breathing had become unsteady, and he could no longer stay in the meditative state he had been in. He had chosen to postpone assembling the puppet. Right now, his priority was his cultivation base. After all, a small river could not feed a large lake. His current cultivation was too low, while the puppet would have much more stringent requirements when it came to qi. Thus, he had prioritized cultivation over repairing either puppet.
"I had forgotten how much Warm Qi Pills raise bodily temperature." He thought to himself, wiping the sweat from his face with a towel and deciding to stop his consumption of pills for the day. This was partially because he did not want to fall unconscious from a heat stroke, and partially because Warm Qi Pills were valuable goods.
While he was poor when compared to his siblings, the salary he got paid for fixing the training ground's puppet was far from a misery. In fact, it was somewhat high when compared to other Nie Clansmen.
Thus, he had his savings. That was how he could afford the full vial of greenish pills that lay beside him. Warm Qi Pills were the most basic kind of pill that could help speed up cultivation. Almost all Qi Condensation cultivators would spend huge sums to procure as many as they could. The reason behind this was that unlike other pills, Warm Qi Pills had no negative, long-lasting side effects. The only side effect that could be somewhat dangerous was that they increased body temperature, and this could be lethal if not addressed. However, stopping their consumption or digesting an Icy Qi Pill was usually more than enough to offset it. Nie Gan chose the former. The latter was too expensive because the ingredients required to concoct an Icy Qi Pill were comparatively rarer.
"Nice, I should be some days away from reaching the 4th stage. But to reach the 5th..." His expression turned somewhat troubled after thinking this. Taking out a sandalwood container, he opened it to reveal its contents.
There was only one object inside and it was very small when compared to the container's space. It was round, pristine white in color, and gave off a sweet fragrance. It was a Fragrant Qi Pill.
Fragrant Qi Pills were extremely precious to Qi Condensation cultivators. Just one of them could easily be exchanged for a hundred Warm Qi Pills, and that was just the market price. Naturally, Nie Gan could never afford one with his own money. The one he had had been gifted to him by his father when he had turned 16.
"I know I have not been very present in your life, but today is an important day for you. Here's a gift I prepared. In the future, it will be very useful."
If someone said that Nie Sang had never given any attention to Nie Gan, they'd be mistaken. He had been a very absent father, that much was true. In spite of this, they had shared quite a few nice moments together. The same evening that he had been given the pill, his father, mother and him had a toast and a sumptuous meal. Recalling this, he smiled. It wasn't all that bad. There was also an interesting thing he had learnt that evening.
"All of your brothers have at least one spell I gave them, but you don't. How about I teach you one? It's technically not a spell, it's more of a technique. It's called Misdirection, and while it's nothing special, it comes in very useful in battle."
Back in the present he took a small knife and imbued it with his 5th stage Qi. He urged the Qi on the knife to circulate while he urged the qi in his body to halt. The basic premise of this technique was that there were two kinds of spells: area of effect and ranged. Ranged spells had to be locked onto a target's qi fluctuations, and these fluctuations' strengths were a product of two variables; quantity and circulation speed. By locking onto a target, a ranged spell could reach it even if it moved without the caster having to manually adjust the trajectory. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage, because someone who knew how to use Misdirection could consciously lower the strength of their qi fluctuations while increasing the fluctuations' strength of qi imbued on an object. This would result in the range spell being "misdirected" to believe the object was the target evene when it was only a decoy.
Nie Gan smiled as he felt that he had finally mastered Misdirection after so many years. On the one hand, he wished he could fight head on against Nie Shan and Nie Yan, but on the other hand he knew that was not realistic. In order to be able to put up a fight, he would need to go on the defensive, hoping for a battle of attrition and wits instead of a frontal clash. It seemed Nie Sang was already aware this would happen and had intentionally taught him Misdirection all those years back.
He put away the knife and held the pearlish white pill between his finger and thumb, a strong medicinal aroma assaulting him immediately. He was finally about to experience why even one such pill was so expensive.
The reason was that a Fragrant Qi Pill could allow one to raise their cultivation by a whole stage. In spite of this miraculous effect Nie Gan was hesitant to use it because there was a huge limitation; one could only consume one Fragrant Qi Pill in their life. Even if someone consumed dozens of them, they'd just go to waste after the first one.
Due to this drawback, most cultivators would save this chance for when they needed it the most: their breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. The Fragrant Qi Pill would not help someone break through to Foundation Estabkishment but it was widely known to boost the effects of Foundation Establishment Pills. If anyone heard Nie Gan wanted to use his Fragrant Qi Pill just to reach 5th stage, they'd cough out blood.
"Haste makes waste... but there's no helping it..." He lamented, grabbing the spherical pill and placing it on his tongue before swallowing. In a matter of seconds, he felt a throbbing pain coming from his navel. Wincing, he sat down once again and closed his eyes, visualizing the mnemonic to guide the medicinal energy through his meridians.
The first few minutes were almost unbearable, but as time passed, the pain turned into a very pleasurable sensation. It was hard to describe, but the best description was that it felt like being gently massaged by thousands of invisible, miniature hands.
The entire process lasted for only about an hour, and by the end, Nie Gan's lean body was covered by the filth that had been forced out of his body through his pores.
"This lightness, it is incredible." He mused to himself as he stood up in one nimble movement and threw a spinning back kick, his leg becoming blurry for an instant due to his speed. He was aware that even with his 5th stage Qi Condensation cultivation, he would be instantly crushed by any of his siblings if they were to fight, yet he was satisfied with his progress in just two months.
"Well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." It was the only consolation he had as he put away the box where the pill had come in, thinking it could be sold for some cash. Afterward, he went back to his workshop, where the autonomous puppet was still missing some pieces before it was back to an optimal state.
Nie Gan furrowed his brows. It seemed Nie Shan's spell had dealt more damage than he had initially thought. The spirit stone socket was broken. It would take more time than expected to repair that. Due to this, he had to make a decision. He could procrastinate it and hope no one remembered and came complaining, or he could spend the next few days repairing the socket.
"I'd normally begin right away, but I need to go through the assembly and testing phases."
•••••
Within a dimly candlelit underground chamber, an emaciated man was inhaling and exhaling from a mass of black mist. With each breathe, more of the black mist was drawn into his lungs. Hours passed, before he drew in all of the mist in a single breathe. Upong doing so, he stopped. No more black mist came out of his nostrils afterward.
"I was a wise choice selling my claim to the inheritance to Nie Shan. After all, few things in it catch my eye, but the thousand soul cloud I acquired with his spirit stones is indeed sufficient to reach completion of the Wraith Emperor Manual's first tome."
His eerie looking slit pupils hid incredible cunning. To him, Nie Shan, Nie Yan and Nie Lan were just pawns to be used.
"Although dad's remnant soul inside the inheritance chamber..." Nie Dan licked his lips in anticipation, fully aware of how precious a Core Formation cultivator's soul was, even if it was only a remnant.