"Alliance Master's generous reward this old man is endlessly grateful. If there ever comes a day when you need my help again, I will surely do all I can to serve you!"
Old man Ban Hou thanked him profusely as he followed the duty officer, Rong Yue, and took his leave, the joy on his face absolutely genuine.
Originally, he had only intended to offer the incomplete second-tier puppet technique as a gesture of goodwill he figured he would likely never use it in his lifetime anyway. It would serve as both an apology for refusing Li Ye's recruitment and a small attempt to curry favor.
Even if he received no compensation, it could be considered a long-term investment for his future.
To his surprise, Li Ye was quite generous. Just a few bottles of pills were enough to give someone his age a shot at glimpsing the late stages of Qi Condensation…
Whether he used them himself or passed them on to descendants, it was a tremendous opportunity!
Considering what he had offered, the trade had been more than worth it.
Li Ye gathered up the various puppets and leisurely returned to his cultivation cave. Once there, he took out the jade slip that Ban Hou had given him.
Earlier, he had only taken a quick look to gauge the general usefulness and value of the incomplete inheritance.
Now, it was time to study it more carefully.
Several hours passed.
Li Ye's furrowed brow gradually relaxed, and a faint smile formed on his face.
"The contents are indeed quite fragmented… No wonder that old man was able to keep hold of them. But still, there's some value here. Trading a few pills for this I'd say that was a bargain."
At this point, it could hardly be called an "incomplete inheritance." At most, it was a scattered collection of second-tier techniques and schematics.
Aside from a few heavily fragmented mental techniques used to control puppets via divine sense, there were only partial blueprints for some armor, weapons, and components designed for use with puppets.
They were likely meant to complement certain second-tier puppets, but without the corresponding puppet blueprints, Li Ye could only speculate based on the puppets recorded in the first-tier inheritance, to which they seemed loosely connected.
"Hm… If my puppet-crafting skills improve later, maybe I can use these components to enhance a few of the first-tier puppets. If they can be elevated to second-tier, they could make a useful addition to my arsenal."
He made a mental note of it and set the jade slip aside, turning his full attention to the puppet-controlling mental techniques.
He was still in the early stages of studying how to craft first-tier puppets. Even with the aid of his divine sense, which gave him far greater efficiency than the average Qi Condensation cultivator dabbling in miscellaneous arts, the process still required time and experience.
So thinking too far ahead was premature.
But puppet control techniques primarily relied on divine sense, which meant there were no such entry barriers.
Though the fragments weren't even enough to piece together a complete technique, when combined with his Thousand Thoughts Divine Refinement Technique, they could still help enhance the precision of his divine sense when attached to puppets allowing for greater range and control.
That, for his research purposes, was already quite valuable.
In the following days, most of Li Ye's time was spent practicing those puppet-controlling techniques and modifying several puppets using his expertise in talismans and gu techniques, adding some extra tricks and traps to them.
Once all preparations were complete, he altered his appearance and quietly made his way to Tengyun Market. With a token in hand, he entered a courtyard that had been unused for some time and went straight to the master bedroom.
"So the Lava Palace Secret Realm is right beneath Tengyun Market… I didn't expect such a coincidence. No wonder Ma Ying was willing to team up with Xu Pingyang!"
Li Ye glanced around the dusty room with a slight frown. With a wave of his sleeve, a burst of spiritual power swept through the air, gathering all the dust and sweeping it outside into the courtyard.
Once the floor was relatively clean, he paced slowly through the room, as if testing something.
Then he abruptly stopped upon noticing a brick with slightly different markings.
Channeling spiritual power, he struck the brick in a specific sequence, one he had carefully memorized.
Throughout the process, he kept his distance, prepared to retreat at a moment's notice.
Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened.
Crack!
As Li Ye sent out the final wave of spiritual power, the floor tiles previously appearing tightly sealed began to shift, inch by inch, revealing a deep, shadowy passage leading who knows where.
Seeing this, Li Ye extended his divine sense into the depths of the passage, probing as far as he could yet even at his limit, he still couldn't reach the bottom.
Still, he could at least confirm that within the range his divine sense covered, there were no signs of hidden danger.
"So the intel left behind by Xu Pingyang and Ma Ying was actually this reliable…? Even this passage doesn't have any traps laid?"
He murmured to himself, still a little skeptical.
Though their notes had seemed to simply record their explorations of the Lava Palace Secret Realm and didn't contain anything overtly suspicious…
Even this courtyard had only been found by cross-referencing the information left by both men, so everything should be legitimate.
But it never hurt to be cautious.
His cultivation focused on wood-element techniques, and the fire-resistance methods he had managed to gather recently were still quite limited. If there were any traps below, escaping unscathed would be difficult.
"You'll go take a look for me first."
Li Ye patted his storage pouch, and a portion of his divine sense transferred into a bird-shaped puppet. With a flutter of its wings, the puppet dove straight into the dark passage below.
Thanks to the combination of his split divine sense and the puppet control techniques he'd learned, the puppet maintained some degree of autonomy even after flying beyond the range of Li Ye's spiritual awareness.
Standing at the entrance, Li Ye waited quietly.
Before long, the bird puppet flew back out. Its body carried traces of heat, but it had suffered no damage.
Retrieving his divine sense from the puppet, he summoned the Image-Recording Gu and Sound-Storing Gu embedded inside it.
Cross-referencing the divine sense impressions with the recorded footage, Li Ye quickly gained a clear understanding of the situation below.
"This path leads directly underground. At the end, there's a relatively stable lava cavern, sealed off by a formation. It blocks further passage, but… there aren't any traps."
Now feeling more confident, Li Ye activated his protective spiritual light, clutched a few talismans like Earth Escape and Mountain-Forming, and slowly descended.
The tunnel was briefly dark, but as he went deeper, the fire-element spiritual energy grew more active, and the temperature steadily rose. A faint red glow began to emerge from below.
As the crimson light intensified, tinting the passage entirely red, Li Ye finally reached the bottom coming upon the entrance of a lava cavern, the space widening slightly.
There, a formation pulsed faintly with firelight, sealing the way forward.
"This formation holds second-tier power. Though it's a small-scale setup and can't compare to a sect's grand protective arrays, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have to work hard to break through."
"And the unlocking mechanism requires both command tokens to work in tandem. For Xu Pingyang and Ma Ying who weren't skilled in formations, this setup must've acted as a check and balance between them."
Li Ye studied the formation and nodded inwardly. "Still, this array isn't cheap. I wonder whether it was Xu Pingyang or Ma Ying who provided it… If it was the latter, then his family's background might be far deeper than I expected…"
"Maybe he's even connected to a second-tier formation master."
Remaining alert, Li Ye raised the two command tokens and activated the formation, gradually gaining control over it.
As the formation barrier dispersed, a wave of intense heat surged forth.
Expressionless, Li Ye immediately sent multiple puppets ahead into the lava cavern.
According to the notes left behind, the Lava Palace Secret Realm was filled with chaotic formations and unpredictable dangers. Naturally, he would proceed with caution.
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