Chapter 68, first published on Jinjiang Literature City: Yao Sisi's Puppet Man
As her new life gradually settled down, Yao Sisi took charge of crafting square basins and low-end storage bags. Occasionally, she would also craft some weapons or gadgets. Apart from necessary cultivation, her life was quite harmonious. Occasionally, she would go to the city for a stroll and have some fun.
Qi Mu was responsible for cultivating and maintaining the spiritual plants, while Liu Yuan was responsible for selling them. Because his cultivation level was relatively low, he only needed to cultivate for two or three hours a day, which made him more flexible in terms of time, which suited him well. He would spend an hour every morning selling the plants, and then pack up and come back when the time was up.
Everyone's life proceeded in an orderly manner, and Yao Sisi did not forget to help Qi Mu inquire about a blessed place for cultivation. Maoling City was very large, comparable to a province in her previous life. If it weren't for the fact that cultivators traveled relatively quickly, surviving here would be quite tiring.
The place with the best spiritual energy concentration is in the south of the inner city, near the city lord's mansion. There are special cave dwellings and blessed lands for rent there, and they are divided into grades. There are ordinary concentrations that are more suitable for Qi Refining stage breakthroughs, and there are also higher quality ones. Yao Sisi inquired about the approximate prices.
Low-level, ordinary cave dwellings are cheap, costing only a dozen or so spirit stones a day. Cave dwelling rentals are calculated daily, while high-quality cave dwellings cost hundreds of spirit stones a day, and the space isn't very large...
The courtyard they now live in is ten times the size of a cave dwelling, and they only earn a little over two hundred spirit stones a month.
Yao Sisi sighed, "Breaking through the Foundation Establishment stage only takes two or three days, and it didn't cost much money before."
Upon receiving the good news, Yao Sisi flew back to the mansion in her magical flying artifact. There she saw Qi Mu tending to the spiritual herbs in the courtyard. She realized that this young master was really too much of a homebody and rarely went out.
Yao Sisi jumped off the flying artifact and said to him, "Guess what news I got after I went out?"
Qi Mu: "Hmm?" It can't be that Ri Jiu is back, can it...?
"I can't guess, Miss Sisi, could you just tell me?"
Yao Sisi said helplessly, "Sigh, you didn't even try to guess, it's really discouraging." Then she happily shared the news she had received, "I found out the blessed land you need for Foundation Establishment, it's in the South City, and the price isn't expensive, only a little over two hundred spirit stones a day. Don't be too busy lately, get ready to break through!"
Qi Muxin knew that his failure to answer her question properly was due to his petty and unfounded speculation. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer, but rather that he felt uncomfortable thinking about that person and wanted to avoid the question.
Is he too boring?
Yao Sisi walked closer to him and waved her hand in front of his eyes. "What's wrong? Aren't you happy to know there's a blessed land? Are you worried about not having enough spirit stones? It's okay, I can just refine more magic artifacts. Anyway, I still have plenty of materials in my storage bag!"
Seeing the undisguised concern in her eyes, Qi Mu couldn't help but despise himself inwardly; he had made her worry again.
"I still have enough spirit stones, but I need to cultivate for a while longer to be on the safe side."
Yao Sisi looked at him closely. The two were very close, so close that their breaths were almost mingling. Qi Mu's body tensed up involuntarily, not understanding what she was going to do.
Yao Sisi asked, "Young master, are you nervous?"
Qi Mu was naturally nervous. She was so close, and her behavior was so unusual. How could he not be nervous?
Yao Sisi: "Are you afraid of not being able to break through smoothly, so you don't want to go early? I see that your cultivation has already reached the Great Perfection, but you've been suppressing it. Is it because you don't have a master to guide you, so you're afraid of failure?"
Qi Mu paused. Was this what she meant by being nervous...?
"Fortunately, Miss Sisi broke through on her own without a master's guidance."
Yao Sisi: "I was in a special situation at the time, but don't be afraid, I will protect you when you reach the Foundation Establishment stage."
Qi Mu: "I'm not afraid."
Yao Sisi no longer believed him, even if he was telling the truth. She just said perfunctorily, "Alright, alright, young master is the bravest. Back then, he was so impressive, wielding his sword and killing his way through the horde of mystical beasts."
Qi Mu: "..."
Her tone was so perfunctory, but what's going on? Why did her words seem somewhat affectionate? Maybe it's just my imagination...
Yao Sisi: "I really don't understand you anymore. What's wrong with you lately?" Although the women in the place she transmigrated to were more noble, it seems that men don't give birth there, right?
Huh? At the time, I was only thinking about cultivation and didn't pay attention to local customs at all. Surely men can't have periods, right?
Her gaze involuntarily drifted towards Qi Mu's lower abdomen, her face filled with question marks.
"I must be crazy to think of such a ridiculous thing." It seems I read too many novels in my past life, and my brain isn't working properly anymore.
Qi Mu froze, his body stiff. Just now, her gaze swept over... such a private place, and she said such strange things. This made him wonder what kind of unreliable thing she had just thought of.
Such a seemingly random sentence and action really made him tense up, as if his back was supported by a hard steel wire, and he could feel a cool sensation sweeping over his entire body with the slightest movement.
Sisi, you don't think I'm no good, do you...?
But how do you explain that?
Yao Sisi noticed that his expression was off, and she didn't know where his thoughts had wandered off to. Putting herself in his shoes, she was afraid that he might be thinking some outrageous things as well. She coughed lightly and said, "Don't overthink it. Just focus on your cultivation and you'll definitely succeed in establishing your foundation. Don't worry, I'll be with you and protect you. Don't be nervous."
Qi Mu's lips were pressed into a thin line, her mood extremely low. However, she couldn't explain to her, so she could only say dryly, "I'm fine, cough cough, don't worry... I'm fine everywhere."
Yao Sisi thought to herself: You don't seem to be alright. The young master is not old, but he has a strong sense of pride. He is so concerned about saving face that he suffers for it.
"Then you should prepare for your breakthrough!"
For several days in a row, Yao Sisi felt that Qi Mu was acting a little strange. She didn't know what was wrong. When she asked him, he wouldn't say anything, only saying that she was overthinking it and that there was nothing wrong with him.
Yao Sisi felt that he was a bit like he had pre-exam syndrome; he always seemed absent-minded, but in reality, he was in a state of anxiety.
These days, Qi Mu noticed that Sisi always liked to observe him, which was completely different from her previous life. Before, her gaze was always on all sorts of things, but she didn't pay much attention to him, as if everything in the world was more interesting than him. Recently, he didn't know what was wrong with her, but she often looked at him with worried eyes.
After explaining a few times and finding it useless, he just let her look at him. He realized that although he didn't understand why she was doing this, her gaze often fell on him, occupying a lot of her attention, and somehow he felt very happy.
It was a kind of uncontrollable, inner joy, but he couldn't fully express it, afraid that she would think he was crazy. After living like this for a long time, he had gotten used to it, and suddenly he was afraid that her gaze would not fall on him often anymore.
Yao Sisi took a breath. How are pre-exam syndromes dealt with in modern times?
She racked her brains for the few remaining memories of the exam, but honestly, she couldn't recall any of her classmates having this problem. She'd only heard the term online, but she felt she couldn't just leave it at that...
After all, if she knew about this illness and still ignored it, it would be too cold-hearted of her to have worked with her for so long.
That evening, after Yao Sisi finished refining the square basin, she scavenged various materials in her training room to refine a small puppet. The core of the puppet was made of wood, but it was not visible from the outside. She thought for a long time about what the appearance should look like, and finally, to save time, she simply made a Q version based on her own design. Overall, it looked relaxing and could perform a few movements, such as sitting cross-legged and walking simply.
As for more advanced functions, she hasn't been able to create them yet. She can only make a puppet that resembles a doll. A real puppet can even fight, which she hasn't been able to make yet.
But this gave her an idea: "I never thought about studying puppetry before, but now I can learn to make a few combat puppets."
I don't know what the market price for puppets is yet; I'll go to the store to check it out tomorrow.
The next day, Yao Sisi gave the little puppet to Qi Mu, worried that he might overthink things. This young master had always been thoughtful and sensitive since they met, and she didn't want him to notice anything.
There's a saying that goes something like this: to take care of a patient's mindset, don't talk to them too much about their illness and put pressure on them.
"Here, I was bored after refining the square basin last night, so I just tinkered with this little gadget. You can take it and play with it!"
Qi Mu paused, looking at the little thing handed to her. Its expression was funny yet cute, and most importantly, it looked just like her.
He was so nervous that he didn't know how to accept it, as if touching anything would be offensive.
Seeing his slow reaction, Yao Sisi thought to herself: Is it that serious?
Qi Mu: "You want me to play with..." it? But isn't this you...?
He didn't say the second half of the sentence, but the tips of his ears were already slightly red.
"What's wrong? I was originally thinking of making you a furry rabbit, fox, or dog, but that's too difficult to make. The direction of the fur is very hard to control, so I made this one for you to play with."
Qi Mu: "I don't want anything with fur..." especially a little fox!
Yao Sisi: "That's perfect, it saves us from shedding. Human dolls are easier to make." Like little figurines.
Qi Mu finally took it, holding the small doll, which was only a hand's width tall, in his palm. In the past, he would talk to her for a while, but today he made an excuse and went into his room.
He placed the small toy on his desk, and sat hunched over it, much like a child lazily reading a book. His fingertips lightly touched its little shoes, and the toy took a step back.
This startled Qi Mu. He stiffened and even stopped breathing for a moment. "How can you still move?"
He thought it was just a small doll that looked similar, like the little toys people played with when he was a child—all inanimate objects.
"I really underestimated the ability of a weapon refiner... Even a small gadget that is casually crafted cannot be judged by common sense."
At that moment, the hairpin on his head moved, and a phantom emerged from it, then jumped to the ground.
"I can't sense any soul power fluctuations. Look at your pathetic state. You haven't done anything wrong, so why are you so afraid that you don't even move?"
Qi Mu ignored the Dao Body's mockery, "Don't suddenly appear and scare her."
Taoist body: "..."
"Didn't I tell you there's no soul power fluctuation? This is just an inanimate object that knows a little bit of mechanical arts, not a real person. Look at how much you treasure it, it's hilarious."
Qi Mu rarely retorted, saying, "You're not human, you're just a split soul."
Taoist body: "..."
He shouldn't have come out.
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