"Great, godfather~~ You’re amazing~~ You’ve reached the Fifth Grade so quickly~~"
"What’s the deal with your puppetry?" Li Yuan asked with concern.
Tang Nian’s eyes sparkled as she said, "The four great skills of the world are puppetry, weapon forging, alchemy, and beast taming.
Only after I absorbed the Tang Family’s legacy did I learn that the secret puppet technique of my lineage is called [Demon Heart]."
Li Yuan frowned and said, "Hasn’t Old Tang already created the Demon Heart?"
Tang Nian said, "Oh, Old Tang, he’s not into research, he has no idea.
He only laid the groundwork.
The true Demon Heart is the heart of magical transformation, the heart that is both real and unreal, a dreamlike demon, hence the Demon Heart."
The red-robed girl spoke with excitent and weariness. She suddenly sat up straight, her hips rested on the intertwined elbows of the giant puppet behind her, her legs swinging as she said, "Godfather, did you know? When a puppet possesses a Demon Heart, it can actually learn, but the puppet master must pay imnse effort and countless hours to teach it... because it’s really like a child with extrely low intelligence, a child that only a puppet master can teach!
If it learns, then it might beco a true monster—one that can live for thousands of years!"
"How do you teach a puppet to learn?"
"Try, keep trying, then carve continuously with the Fla Blade into its bloodline, constantly adjusting, as long as there are no mistakes, year after year, success can be achieved!"
Upon hearing this, Li Yuan was speechless. He had rely picked up a leak with the art of weapon forging, but this puppetry art was truly sothing beyond human comprehension. He said, "But Niannian... you’re doing all this just to create a puppet, even if this puppet can live for thousands of years, what does that have to do with you?"
"But it’s my puppet!"
"But it will live for thousands of years, not you!"
"What does it matter, as long as it can live for thousands of years, that’s enough."
The red-robed girl gently nestled against the chest of the giant puppet behind her, lightly rubbing it, and listened as if to its heartbeat, a pathological joy on her face.
Suddenly, she looked up at Li Yuan, her cheeks flushed, and said, "Godfather, if one day you feel your end is near, tell , and I’ll craft a new Demon Heart for you, then you can nurture it with your heart.
When you die, Niannian will take it out, then turn you into a puppet, and teach you to learn, so you can live for thousands of years, how about that?!"
Li Yuan: ...
"Is this your way of fulfilling filial piety?"
"Yes, I’m very filial to my godfather, hehehe..."
Li Yuan listened and felt sowhat sad.
Li Yuan hesitated for a mont, then said, "It’s not like Old Tang, Old Tang is already dead, you should live for yourself."
Tang Nian pouted and said, "Godfather doesn’t understand."
"Why aren’t you listening?"
"Niannian is not a child anymore, this is not child’s play."
Li Yuan was dumbfounded, sighed lightly, and reached out to caress the red-robed girl’s head, then casually took the large gourd hanging from her waist, uncorked it, and was about to drink.
Tang Nian exclaid, "Wait, it has my saliva in it, are you going to kiss , godfather?"
Li Yuan was at a loss for words, "What are you talking about?"
Tang Nian snatched the gourd, pouted cutely, and said, "Drunk! A father should be more tolerant of his daughter. Besides, the herbs inside are lacking, so I won’t let you drink!"
Li Yuan thought for a mont and said, "Actually, weapon forgers also have secret skills, among which the Fifth Grade is called Spiritual Artifact, and the Fourth Grade is called Spirit Array, but no one knows what the Spirit Array really is. The most powerful weapons right now only have the function of a Domain.
However, weapon forgers each have their own teachings, such as [Heavenly Sll], [asuring Land], [Life Devourer].
In short, it’s about infusing celestial Yang Qi, earthly Yin Qi, and human lifespan into the weapons.
I wonder, since weapon forgers have so many paths, wouldn’t you puppet masters also have these paths?
You don’t need to work in isolation; you should look around and see if there are other secret techniques... your father will help you too."
The red-robed girl was silent for a long while, then said, "Thank you."
She added, "No need..."
"Why?"
"Those may be great, but I don’t like them, right now... it’s fine."
"Okay, okay, I’ll find them for you. Help check out which are the powerful puppet families in this world, I’ll jot them down in my little notebook."
Tang Nian looked at Li Yuan’s anxious expression and smiled, as if a pure white lotus blood in a pool of alluring charm. She reached out and grabbed Li Yuan’s hand, saying, "Thank you, godfather..."
Li Yuan said, "Want to go out for a stroll? Maybe you’ll run into so talented young man and fall for him?"
Tang Nian said, "Bah."
Li Yuan said, "If you want freedom, godfather can arrange for soone else to take your place, and you can happily seek true love..."
Tang Nian said, "Bah! And where would godfather find such a person? With handcuffs? Those loyalties forged by handcuffs are always weird, and if they act on impulse, it could be disastrous."
The father-daughter pair chatted for a while longer. Tang Nian was stubborn and Li Yuan had to temporarily give up, then started making so small adjustnts and preparations for weapon forging.
...
A few days later...
A bullock cart labored up to the entrance of a remote mountain, dragging a massive wooden crate.
The deliverer, with a vacant gaze, seed to lack much autonomous consciousness and quickly left with the Imperial Carriage once the delivery was made.
Behind the forest, Tang Nian took the lead, waiting for a while before seeing Li Yuan appear.
The crate opened, releasing a hot breeze, steaming puffs of white air into the cold atmosphere.
However, inside the massive crate was nearly empty, with only a corner holding a furnace, bone charcoal, and other weapon-forging equipnt, alongside a few scattered fist-sized red-black crystal stones on a blanket of cotton on the ground.
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