Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!

At a glance, the vast majority of them were somewhat similar in shape, but had absolutely nothing to do with the Puppet’s Heart. Among the remaining few, there were the failed eighth-version City-special Puppet Hearts, plus a few failed versions of Puppet Beast Hearts. After a whole round of operations as fierce as a tiger, he didn’t manage to find even half a related component.

"Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong place from the start?" Yun Ying fell silent for a moment, then pulled a few intact, discarded old puppets out of her Storage Bag. Pointing at the groove on their arms, she said, "Sir, look—whether it’s the puppets refined by the Cultivation Technique I inherited, or Yun Shu’s, or the puppets that Ten Thousand Puppet Sect can currently get their hands on, their energy source is all in the arm, not the heart.

Is it possible that ’Puppet’s Heart’ is just a label, and its true form actually has nothing to do with a heart? Maybe it’s simply a rectangular block that happens to fit perfectly into this groove?

It might also be imitating the position of the Spirit Root inside a cultivator’s body..."

As she spoke, she opened the puppet’s abdomen, revealing a groove in the lower belly; then opened the forehead, where there was also a smaller groove. "All these places could be used to install an energy source, which means the possible shapes go way up."

The arm position held a perfectly squared-off rectangular block; the forehead slot was similar to a triangular chip; while the lower abdomen groove could fit a round sphere.

On-site inspection showed that although the materials and methods used to refine Yun Shu’s and Yun Ying’s two Puppet Bodies differed, their foreheads and lower abdomen indeed had the same grooves.

"I may be a Puppet Master and have received my master’s true teachings, but the diagrams I inherited for making Puppet Wooden Dolls are just like this, so I can only forge according to them." Yun Ying said helplessly, "As for why there are so many empty grooves, even my master has no idea. He said everyone’s been refining them this way for thousands of years.

It’s said that the art of puppets came from Immortals in the Celestial Realm passing down their methods.

They imitated Nuwa’s art of creating humans, using materials instead of living flesh. Yet no one is perfect, and puppet simulation of the human body must also leave empty gaps. My master pondered Puppetry Technique for many years and explained it this way, so I simply accepted it without thinking too much.

Now it seems that from the very start, when Human-shaped Puppets were designed and forged, there might have been more mysterious components, allowing puppets to absorb Spiritual Energy and cultivate just like living people. It’s just that part of the craft has somehow been lost.

Jiang Yuan: ...

Isn’t this totally screwed! They couldn’t even confirm the rough shape—was he really going to have to dig through the mountains of scattered parts and check the system’s appraisal details one by one?

"Ah? Then how are we supposed to find it?" Little Lark instantly panicked. "Leaving everything else aside, the small parts that passed through my hands alone are more than you can count. Now they’re all piled together—what do we do?"

"Let’s hope City Lord Yan has some clues." Jiang Yuan waved his hand to signal everyone to stay calm. "Anyway, all those discarded items are already in the bag. We’ll have more than enough time and energy to pick through them slowly later. Besides, apart from City Lord Yan’s side still helping to ask around, once we’re back I’ll also try searching for Ten Thousand Puppet Sect’s whereabouts through the Ten Thousand Worlds Mirror.

Once we find their relocated Sect, we’ll be one step closer to a successful Puppet’s Heart. Good things take time; don’t rush, just take it slow."

Leng Yutang was already so excited that his whole body felt numb. He hurriedly gestured, "Sir, where did you pile up all those discarded items? Could you let me go in and take a look? I’ve seen too many puppets with various potential uses, and my head is full of new ideas. I urgently need more components to improve and restore the puppets I’ve taken a fancy to."

As he spoke, he took something out of his Storage Bag to show, saying, "Look, this is clearly a Puppet Beast meant for carrying heavy loads. If we can restore it and use it at East Lake Port’s docks..."

"The dock workers will be out of a job." Jiang Yuan didn’t want to rain on his parade, but in the Otherworld, this thing was basically artificial intelligence, while the Human World was still a feudal society dominated by agricultural economics, completely unable to support industrialization.

Useful machines should be doing dangerous, unsuitable jobs for humans, serving the public, not snatching work from people.

Leng Yutang clearly hadn’t thought this far. He froze, suddenly realizing that Mortals couldn’t utilize Puppet Beasts. Plus, the sir was right—if a single Puppet Beast could unload all the cargo on the docks in a very short time, how were Mortal dock workers supposed to earn a living?

"Still, I think if this thing is repaired, it should be sent to Celestial Sword Sect to help mine the Spirit Stone Mine." Jiang Yuan carefully finished reading the system’s appraisal details and laughed. "Cultivators in Celestial Sword Sect can control the Puppet Beast, and its powerful Sharp Claws and heavy-load strength are clearly designed and forged for mining."

"You’re absolutely right, sir! I actually overlooked these blade-like claws—my mistake, my mistake."

"Spirit Stone Veins are very difficult to mine. With Puppet Beasts assisting, efficiency will definitely go up."

"If that’s the case, could you two work together to refine a type of Puppet Beast that can mine in the Netherworld?" Bai Yunqi immediately thought of the mining work he was in charge of at Lotus Peak. If Puppet Beasts could join in, they’d be able to find Treasures much sooner.

Xie Chenyuan also grew excited at this, "Can they help chop trees and dig rocks? The city towers on Divine Mountain are in urgent need of reinforcement!"

Qing Niao joined in the conversation too, asking, "I just found a few puppets that looked like they could fight very well. Could I trouble Sister Yun Ying and Daoist Leng to take a look? If they can be repaired, I’ll send Miss Little Eight two of them someday to guard Spiders Valley for her..."

...

Everyone was getting worked up in the discussion. Jiang Yuan raised his hand and said, "No rush. Why don’t you all enter the small space and wait there for a bit? I’ll wrap things up here and then take you all home.

Once we’re back, I’ll think about how to arrange the space so you can all access it easily. When you’re bored, you can pop in and treat it like a treasure hunt."

He’d already done the math. Using a Teleportation Scroll for the return trip cost too much, and Teleportation Arrays charged per person. It was much more cost-effective to let everyone stay inside Immortal Peak. He’d pay a single transmission fee and bring everyone back in one go!

Select all, click "Move into Immortal Peak"—in an instant, the entire small space was left with only Jiang Yuan himself, not even a single part remaining.

[This space has already been corroded by Demonic Energy and cannot be successfully collected. Would you like to dismantle it and recycle the materials?]

He had originally wanted to try collecting the space, but after clicking the attempt, it turned out he could only choose to recycle the materials.

Jiang Yuan didn’t hesitate and clicked "Dismantle." Creating a small space using Space Technique consumed extremely rare materials. If he could recover the whole thing, that would be ideal. Since he couldn’t, getting some materials back was still better than returning empty-handed.

"Bang!"

After the progress bar filled up with a light pop, the small space was dismantled, and he was squeezed out, now standing on the Array at the entrance.

Waste not, want not—Jiang Yuan casually dismantled the last remaining Array as well.

Turning back, he looked at the Puppet City, already dilapidated yet still awe-inspiring. He took out a Memory Stone and did his best to record it from top to bottom. As the Demonic Energy grew thicker and thicker, this vast construction would inevitably be corroded and finally fall into complete ruin. What he was preserving now should be its very last image.

Following the map’s mark for the Teleportation Array, he flew all the way there.

Thus ended the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect trip on Mingqi Star.

By the time he teleported back to the small courtyard from Observatory, only the last sliver of sunset remained, and then the sky suddenly darkened. At six in the evening, the Wilderness descended.

"Drip, drip!"

Fine rain drifted down, icy drops hitting the soft-glowing protective shield over the courtyard, instantly coating the whole place in a hazy sheen of water vapor.

"Winter’s almost over. No wonder it’s raining instead of snowing." Jiang Yuan glanced at the time and realized that according to the Wilderness World’s calendar, Spring Festival was only three days away.

Mortals wait all year for this time to reunite and celebrate, using various customs as a kind of agreement, so that everyone can set aside their troubles for a bit and get some real rest.

Cultivators, on the other hand, aren’t particularly interested in the New Year.

Standing in the courtyard, looking at the magnificent Divine Mountain veiled in fine rain, he suddenly wanted to organize an exclusive Spring Festival gala for the little courtyard, so everyone could gather together and have some fun!

After all, half a month after the New Year, the seasons would turn to spring, marking a full year since he arrived in the Wilderness World.

He’d gained a lot this year, so he ought to do a year-end summary and gather some good omens for the year to come!

Thinking this, Jiang Yuan flashed into the Immortal Peak small space. Everyone was sitting in a circle, watching Yun Ying and Leng Yutang dismantle a Puppet Beast in perfect coordination.