Chapter 259: Golden Silkworm Advances, Father Takes It Easy!

The Myriad Beasts Mountain Range stretched endlessly, vast and boundless.

Deep within the range, territories were divided and occupied by various beast kings.

Among them was a sinister water pool of unknown depth.

It wasn’t just a ‘pool’, but more like a bottomless abyss, pitch black and unfathomably deep.

At some point, a two-headed poisonous flood dragon appeared in this sinister pool.

Soon after, the pool became known as the ‘Poison Dragon Pool’.

At this moment.

“Great Poison Dragon!”

A middle-aged man in a black brocade robe approached the immeasurably deep Poison Dragon Pool, took out a jade-green water pearl, and bowed respectfully.

“Splash!”

The abyss waters churned and splashed as two hideous heads, each several Zhang wide, surfaced.

Its body was incredibly massive, covered in dark green scales. Half of its body coiled in the pool, exuding a terrifying, oppressive aura.

Two lamp-sized green eyes gazed at the black-robed man as it spoke in a harsh, metallic voice, “Human, you’ve done well. Here’s your reward!”

As it spoke, a corpse over five meters tall was tossed out.

It was a humanoid body with muscles like coiling dragons.

But the head was that of an ox, with two jet-black horns on top. Its legs were like ox hooves, and the whole body radiated a thick aura.

“Cangmang Ox!”

Xiahou Wuwo’s crimson-tinged eyes lit up with joy at the sight of the corpse.

He immediately bowed to the two-headed flood dragon before him, saying, “Thank you for your gracious gift, my lord!”

“Human, if you continue to serve well, this king won’t skimp on your rewards!”

The two-headed flood dragon’s eyes flickered with an eerie green light, its voice harsh and metallic, like clashing iron, quite chilling.

“Yes, my lord. I’m at your service, please command as you wish!”

Xiahou Wuwo replied.

“I’ll notify you of the next step!”

The two-headed flood dragon said.

Then its massive body sank back into the pool.

“With this Third-Tier Cangmang Ox demon corpse, I can refine the ‘Mystical Evil Corpse’. Azure Cloud Sect, one day, I’ll make you pay your blood debt!”

Xiahou Wuwo looked at the corpse before him, his eyes filled with hatred.

At Bihu Mountain, in the puppet workshop.

“Father, Battle Puppet No.1 has been modified according to your requirements.”

“The arms are inscribed with giant strength runes, capable of exerting up to three thousand jin of force. The legs are inscribed with speed and gravity runes, ensuring stability while maintaining speed. Internally, Spiritual Energy is concentrated, reinforced by three major Talisman Formations.”

“It can be equipped with swords, spears, bows, arrows, or shields. As you said, it only needs simple adjustments. We can also buy accessories for self-installation and removal.”

Lu Xian’er introduced the human-shaped metal puppet to Lu Changsheng.

Six months ago, after mastering the three basic puppets – flying eagle, walking beast, and human-type – Lu Changsheng had him continue to create three new puppets.

Battle Puppet No.1, Beast Puppet No.1, and Flying Bird No.1.

These were the three puppets Lu Changsheng planned to introduce to the Market.

However, these three puppets were all first-Tier medium-quality puppets with certain technical content, making mass production quite challenging.

During this time, Lu Changsheng had made several optimizations and adjustments based on practical situations.

Especially for Battle Puppet No.1.

This puppet was both offensive and defensive, capable of close combat and long-range attacks, making its manufacturing process quite complex.

To achieve mass production, it had taken considerable time.

“Hmm, let me see.”

Lu Changsheng examined the puppet before him, then opened the heart mirror to check the internal inscriptions.

These inscriptions were clearly the work of the Golden Armored Bean Soldiers, very standard.

Then, he used the corresponding puppet control technique to manipulate the puppet’s spirit hub.

Forward, backward, jump, flip.

After a brief demonstration, Lu Changsheng had the metal puppet punch himself, then he punched the metal puppet.

The puppet stumbled back, its chest showing a dent from the punch.

But after stabilizing, the puppet could still move.

After a series of tests, the metal puppet was dented and battered, a pitiful sight, but Lu Changsheng’s face showed a satisfied smile.

He looked at Lu Xian’er and nodded, asking, “How long would it take to mass-produce one Battle Puppet No.1 now, and what’s the profit?”

“Father, the workshop is currently divided into three production lines. If the battle puppet line produces at full capacity, we can make one in about ten days. Considering materials and labor, the cost is roughly 180 Spirit Stones.”

“In the current Market, medium-quality puppets sell for 240 to 300 Spirit Stones. If we want to break into the Market, we’ll have to start with lower prices initially.”

“And since you’ve indicated that we won’t be selling directly for now, if we supply to others, the price might only reach 200 Spirit Stones.”

Lu Xian’er respectfully explained.

“Such low profit, it’s worse than a sweatshop.”

Lu Changsheng frowned upon hearing this.

Although he knew that puppet-making was essentially a sweatshop business, earning meager profits.

But this profit seemed far too low to him.

He thought about how much profit he could make if he spent the same time teaching Lu Xian’er and others to refine pills or make talismans.

“Father, as we increase manpower and improve proficiency, we can further reduce costs.”

“Also, regarding material procurement, we’re currently using mainly Xuanwu steel. Once we start mass production and bulk purchasing, we can reduce prices by 10% to 30%.”

“Moreover, once our family’s puppets gain popularity and reputation, we can increase prices.”

“However, I believe that since we have a shop, we could open a store in the Hongye Valley Marketplace first to establish our reputation.”

Seeing his father deep in thought, Lu Xian’er roughly understood his father’s concerns and spoke up.

In his view, a profit of 20 Spirit Stones per puppet was quite good.

Currently, the workshop’s three production lines could produce about 8 to 10 puppets a month.

That’s equivalent to 100 to 200 Spirit Stones, amounting to over 2,000 Spirit Stones a year.

Moreover, this income could gradually increase.

“Alright, proceed with your plan in this regard.”

Lu Changsheng chuckled upon hearing this.

He understood that he couldn’t judge this by his own consumption standards.

An annual income of 2,000 Spirit Stones was quite good for a Foundation Establishment family.

Besides, this puppet workshop was still in its initial stages.

Once their reputation grew, the income would naturally increase.

He patted his son’s shoulder and said, “If you have any problems, discuss them with your aunts, Ping’an, Quanzhen, and the others in the family.”

“As for opening a puppet shop in the Red Leaf Market, that’s fine.d Leaf Market, that’s fine. Choose two capable apprentices to go there.”

Lu Changsheng said.

He then added, “Oh, Xian’er, remember to uniformly mark all puppets with our ‘Bihu Mountain Lu Family’ five characters.”

Puppets were replicable items.

These three puppets were designed based on the current puppet Market in the cultivation world.

If puppet masters from other families saw that their puppets were good, they might copy and produce them.

So it was time to consider brand effect.

Just like the Red Blood Carp from Bihu Mountain, the talisman paper from Qingzhu Mountain, the centipede wine from Centipede Ridge, and the spirit birds from Hundred Bird Lake, all had certain reputations.

“Yes, Father!”

Lu Xian’er’s face lit up with joy upon hearing this, and he bowed in response.

He knew his Ninth-Tier Spirit Root meant poor talent, with no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this life.

So he devoted most of his time and energy to puppets, hoping to achieve something in other areas.

These two years, he had focused on the workshop, aiming to make it profitable as soon as possible.

Now that Lu Changsheng finally agreed to mass-produce and Market their family’s puppets, he was extremely excited and thrilled.

After inspecting the puppet workshop, Lu Changsheng went to check on the family’s talisman-making workshop and wine-brewing workshop.

The talisman-making workshop hadn’t changed much.

By subcontracting for Qingzhu Mountain, it could earn 200 to 300 Spirit Stones a year, purely for fun.

The wine-brewing workshop, however, was doing well.

It could stably produce ‘White Jade Wine’ and ‘Spirit Mulberry Wine’, starting to turn a profit.

After harvesting the Biwater Rice, Lu Changsheng had spent some time developing a wine called ‘Bihu Wine’ using Biwater Rice as the main ingredient.

It had nourishing effects and could enhance water-based techniques.

However, mass-producing this wine in the workshop wasn’t effective.

And since the family’s Biwater Rice was limited, Lu Changsheng abandoned the idea of mass production.

After spending considerable time on research, Lu Changsheng used ‘Azure Blood Carp’ as the main ingredient to create a ‘Blue Carp Wine’. He’s now preparing to introduce it to the Market.

“Hmm?”

Just then, Lu Changsheng felt a restless energy coming from his Spirit Pet Bag.

He sensed it briefly, and his eyes immediately lit up with joy.

He quickly gave some instructions to his son Lu Quanzhen and nephew Hong Xuanji, then transformed into a streak of light and returned to Hall of Everlasting Life.

Arriving at his Cave Dwelling, Lu Changsheng opened the Spirit Pet Bag.

A golden silkworm, two inches long with thin wings on its back, appeared.

Its body flowed with golden light, emitting a fierce, bloodthirsty aura.

Lu Changsheng looked at the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm and took out two Gourds from his Storage Bag.

They were filled with spirit blood. He took out a white jade bowl and poured the spirit blood into it.

Then he said to the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm, “Let’s begin!”

After fourteen years of nurturing, the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm was finally ready to advance from its larval stage to its growth stage.

It was advancing from first to second rank!

Although it was still far from growing its second pair of wings and reaching maturity,

Lu Changsheng thought this was already quite impressive.

After all, this was his first second-rank spirit pet he had raised.

Even his first pet beast, the Nine Abyss Mastiff, was still in the late stage of first rank.

“Hiss hiss hiss—”

Hearing Lu Changsheng’s words, the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm quickly began to devour the spirit blood in the white jade bowl.

“Boom!”

At the same time, a fierce and murderous energy surged through the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm’s body as it absorbed the world’s spiritual energy.

However, demon beasts mainly relied on their physical body and bloodline for advancement, so their need for spiritual energy wasn’t particularly high.

Seeing the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm finish the spirit blood in the jade bowl quickly, Lu Changsheng didn’t hesitate to pour out more from the Gourd, letting it eat its fill.

Time passed bit by bit in this manner.

Half an hour later, the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm’s aura suddenly surged, its body shining with golden light.

Lu Changsheng watched quietly from the side. Seeing the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm still wanting to devour spirit blood, he continued to pour more from the Gourd.

Luckily, he had found it troublesome earlier and directly bought six Gourds of demon beast blood while he was out.

Otherwise, if he had encountered the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm’s sudden advancement, he wouldn’t have been prepared.

After the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm’s aura surge continued for a long time, golden light gradually formed a cocoon around it, encasing the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm inside.

“Is it going to molt inside the cocoon?”

Lu Changsheng raised an eyebrow as he looked at the fist-sized golden cocoon before him, which had a hint of blood-red light.

He didn’t touch the cocoon, but just refilled the spirit blood nearby in case the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm needed more.

“Sigh, when I met Xiaochan and Nangong Mili earlier, I was so focused on saving them that I forgot about the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm.”

Lu Changsheng thought about meeting Meng Xiaochan when he returned from Nine Heavens Immortal City.

But at that time, he only remembered to save people and forgot to ask about the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm.

If they knew about the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm, or could give him some advice based on their understanding of Gu Worm, it might have helped with the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm’s growth.

Thinking of Meng Xiaochan, Lu Changsheng also thought of Nangong Mili, and then of his daughter Nangong Yaoyao.

He wondered how his daughter was doing now and how she was living.

This daughter had grown up in the Demon Sect from a young age. Would she have developed some kind of demonic personality?

Thinking of Nangong Mili and Meng Xiaochan, Lu Changsheng felt this possibility was quite high.

“Sigh”

Lu Changsheng felt somewhat worried imagining his daughter’s future as a demon sect demoness.

He glanced at the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm and walked out of the Cave Dwelling.

He dispersed his worries by helping Ling Zixiao and Xiao Xiyue with their cultivation.

One month later.

Inside the Cave Dwelling in Hall of Everlasting Life.

“Condense!”

Lu Changsheng activated the Hundred Refined Body Technique, golden treasure light flowing from his palm.

Under the condensation of his spiritual power, the Hundred Horse Phantom Lock began to slowly merge with his palm.

After three days, the entire Magical Treasure fused into Lu Changsheng’s hand bones, leaving a chain pattern surrounded by shadowy horse images on the back of his hand.

“Not bad, the demonic Magical Treasure is about the same, without much difference.”

After finishing the condensation of the Hundred Horse Phantom Lock, Lu Changsheng moved his hand a bit and nodded slightly.

He knew that the Hundred Refined Body Technique mainly absorbed the essence of Magical Treasures and wouldn’t be affected by the Magical Treasure’s effects.

Unless he used the ‘Treasure Bone Technique’ to nurture his treasure bones with Magical Treasures.

However, now that he had so many methods, Lu Changsheng didn’t plan to waste the essence of Magical Treasures on nurturing treasure bones as a life-saving measure.

After glancing at the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm still in its cocoon, Lu Changsheng left Hall of Everlasting Life and came to the Lu Family Mansion.

“Husband.”

As soon as Qu Zhenzhen saw Lu Changsheng, she called out to him with a pitiful expression.

“Zhenzhen, what’s wrong?”

Seeing his young wife’s expression, Lu Changsheng immediately asked with concern.

Qu Zhenzhen had a naive and lively personality, never taking things to heart, always carefree and happy.

Suddenly seeing her like this, Lu Changsheng thought something must have happened.

“Husband, talk to Quanzhen.”

Qu Zhenzhen complained to Lu Changsheng, saying that their son Lu Quanzhen wasn’t listening to her at all.

Earlier, she saw that Lu Yun had already taken concubines, and Lu Miaoyun was arranging marrige for her son, so she naturally became concerned about her own son’s matters.

After all, Lu Quanzhen was a year older than Lu Yun.

When she went to talk to Lu Quanzhen about this, he initially agreed quite well.

But after so long, there hadn’t been any progress. He then politely refused all her arrangements and was now avoiding her, making her feel very upset.

“Ahem, immortal cultivators usually marry quite late, and Quanzhen isn’t that old yet.”

Lu Changsheng said after hearing this.

He knew his son Lu Quanzhen’s personality. He had his own ideas and goals, focusing heavily on cultivation, with no thoughts of starting a family.

So as a father, he generally didn’t push the matter of marriage.

“But getting married doesn’t affect cultivation, does it? Sister Yun says something and Xiaoyun listens, but Quanzhen doesn’t listen to me at all. Now he’s even avoiding me.”

Qu Zhenzhen said, feeling very upset.

“Ahem, don’t be sad. I’ll talk to Quanzhen later and ask about his thoughts.”

Lu Changsheng didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Compared to Lu Quanzhen, their son Lu Yun lacked some independence and listened very much to Lu Miaoyun’s words.

This was also due to the personality differences between Lu Miaoyun and Qu Zhenzhen.

Lu Miaoyun was usually quite srict in disciplining the children.

While Qu Zhenzhen, even after all these years, still seemed a bit like a child who hadn’t grown up.

Compared to Lu Quanzhen, she seemed more like a child.

Moreover, Lu Changsheng strongly suspected that when Qu Zhenzhen said Lu Quanzhen had agreed, it was actually just him reluctantly agreeing after being nagged.

After all, when this son was experiencing the mortal world before, he always reported good news but not bad.

He was afraid that if Qu Zhenzhen knew he had even the slightest injury, she would nag him for half a day.

“Mmhmm.”

Hearing this, Qu Zhenzhen immediately nodded happily.

Although her son was rebellious and didn’t listen, she still believed in Lu Changsheng’s words.

And she knew that her son always listened to her husband.

Then she also mentioned their daughter Lu Yuzhen’s matters.

Their daughter wasn’t young anymore, so they could also consider her marriage.

“Yuzhen is in Lake Mountain Town. Let’s go see her later and ask about her own thoughts.”

Lu Changsheng said gently.

After chatting with his wife Qu Zhenzhen for a while, Lu Changsheng also inquired about their son Lu Ping’an’s progress with the Hundred Refined Body Technique.

Seeing that he was still at the entry level of cultivation, Lu Changsheng gave him some pointers and then let him continue to cultivate diligently.

Thinking of encouraging his son, he took out the Black Dragon Pearl and gave it to Lu Ping’an.

He said that once he became proficient in the technique, he would teach him how to refine treasures into his body, using this Magical Treasure to cultivate.

“Father, you’re giving me this Magical Treasure, what about you? Won’t you need to use it?”

When Lu Ping’an heard about refining Magical Treasures into the body and saw Lu Changsheng actually giving him a Magical Treasure, he was shocked.

Although he was just a small Qi Refining cultivator, he knew what a Magical Treasure meant.

“It’s fine, your father can make do with whatever.”

Lu Changsheng said with a gratified expression, waving his hand.

“Thank you, Father!”

Lu Ping’an said respectfully, his face full of gratitude.

He made up his mind that he definitely couldn’t disappoint his father.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

On this day, Lu Changsheng received news that the Zheng Family Patriarch at Centipede Ridge had passed away!