Big Data Cultivation-Chapter 2110 - 2112: The Gold Crow’s Confidence

At this moment, Elder Qinghuang felt a deep sense of malice. He glanced at True Immortal Wan Qing, "You did it on purpose, didn’t you?"

"What is there to be ’on purpose’ about?" True Immortal Wan Qing looked at him. The difference between the Nascent Soul Sixth Layer and Ninth Layer wasn’t particularly vast. He was willing to show respect by calling him elder, but if you keep flaunting your seniority, that’s not quite right, is it?

So he coughed lightly and spoke, "Elder Qinghuang, you might have misunderstood. Collecting Golden Core Substitute Soul Puppets is not easier than collecting Nascent Soul ones; actually, it’s more difficult... Golden Core Stage cultivators don’t have a Nascent Soul."

If a Golden Core Stage cultivator is slain, then they are simply slain, but for Nascent Soul Stage, even if their physical body is slain, the Nascent Soul can escape. They could later find other methods to return to the Nascent Soul Stage without much difficulty.

Of course, a Substitute Soul Puppet primarily substitutes the soul and doesn’t have much to do with the physical body. However, when a Golden Core Master passes away, and there are items that can substitute the soul, they can nourish the soul in places like Soul Stones and even possess someone in the future. Isn’t that good?

In fact, if a True Immortal is slain, the Nascent Soul isn’t just a soul. What the Substitute Soul Puppet can replace is just a part of the true spirit, and Nascent Soul Stage cultivators have many ways to protect their Nascent Soul.

Therefore, if you disregard the deduction circle, Golden Core Stage Substitute Soul Puppets are more sought after than Nascent Soul Stage ones.

Can the deduction circle really be disregarded? Of course not. In the Nascent Soul Stage, one’s level of deduction significantly improves.

They have more confidence in deducing for themselves. In other words, Nascent Soul Stage deducers place more importance on Substitute Soul Puppets—they believe this is the correct way to use the Substitute Soul Puppets.

However, most deducers, due to limited skills, wouldn’t choose to deduce themselves, especially within the sect where they have many reliable deducers. There’s no need to specifically buy this puppet.

All this talk boils down to one sentence: Golden Core Stage Substitute Soul Puppets are cheaper than Nascent Soul ones but more in demand.

True Immortal Wan Qing buying these two puppets was genuinely not intentional to be offensive. He was very clear about what he wanted to purchase. True Immortal Qing Ji also knew Feng Jun was at the Golden Core First Layer, so he was specific when inquiring, unlike True Immortal Qinghuang, who was rather confused in his arrangements.

It is precisely because the target was clear that they knew how rare Golden Core Stage Substitute Soul Puppets were.

The Jinwu Sect cannot independently produce Substitute Soul Puppets; they can only produce some key components. But those components aren’t irreplaceable, so Jinwu can only acquire four Golden Core Stage Substitute Soul Puppets annually—considering the price and such are beside the point, it’s good to even have them.

With Jinwu being so large, having only four Golden Core Puppets annually, where would one find sense in this? Even multiplying it by ten wouldn’t be enough.

But in fact, it’s not that exaggerated. Not every Golden Core needs to buy Substitute Soul Puppets yearly. After all, these things are for self-preservation, each puppet can be used three times, and if you’re cautious enough, one puppet can protect you through the entire Golden Core Stage.

The entire Jinwu Sect, how many Golden Cores do they have? Thousands at least, but each Golden Core Stage, in their lifetime, would probably last 500 years? Even if they form their core at four hundred eighty years of age, it’s still normal to live another five hundred years.

Four spots a year, two thousand spots over five hundred years—and that’s not counting those who condense Nascent Souls!

So are four spots really few? Not really. It’s basically sufficient; many Golden Cores would opt for other protective measures.

There’s just a slight difference between relatively enough and absolutely enough, but this slight difference makes a world of difference. Statistically speaking, when there’s redundancy, more or less doesn’t matter, but if there’s a slight shortage, it causes a ripple effect, eventually leading to price surges.

Societal stability isn’t dictated by relative values but by absolute values.

A reduction in absolute values would trigger societal panic, and if there’s panic without any reduction in absolute values, then that’s a systemic problem—for instance, when farmers pour milk into the river.

This is just a metaphor to illustrate that getting four puppets annually in Jinwu is pretty normal.

Of course, that’s still not enough—in the earlier calculation, the demands of the deduction circle weren’t considered.

After receiving information from True Immortal Wan Qing, True Immortal Qing Ji went to the sect’s grand repository to find out there weren’t any Golden Core Substitute Soul Puppets available. So he immediately posted a mission to exchange for one using precious treasures, resulting in a Nascent Soul True Immortal bringing a puppet.

This individual’s actions well demonstrated the usage of Substitute Soul Puppets. He got a puppet in the Initial Golden Core Stage, and due to his cautious nature, he never had to use it, with not a single one of the three chances used, and two years ago, he condensed his Nascent Soul.

Initially, he intended to reward the puppet to Golden Core Disciples, but upon seeing the task by True Immortal Qing Ji, he felt a bit uneasy because he had just entered the Nascent Soul Stage and required numerous Nascent Soul Stage materials, treasures, talismans, etc., which led him to find True Immortal Qing Ji.

The other puppet belonged to a disciple under a junior sister of True Immortal Qing Ji, who had used it once, and Elder Qinghuang, upon learning of it, directly used two advanced protective techniques to exchange for this puppet.

True Immortal Wan Qing took out the puppets, then also brought forth a One-Element Fire Embryo, speaking with a smile, "The One-Element Fire Embryo should have been given to you long ago. Delaying for so long, these two puppets can be considered a token of apology."

The one-yuan fire embryo was sealed in a box, but when he took it out, Elder Qinghuang still felt the aura.

At this moment, he could no longer care about the matter of the Substitute Soul Puppet. His eyes opened wide, and his breathing became rapid, "Is this... a one-yuan? What a generous gesture!"

Wan Qing, the True Immortal, glanced at him and said with a smile, "This is Elder Qing Ji’s wish. You also know that I couldn’t produce such a treasure myself."

Even Elder Qing Ji, who was not short of money, found it hard to control himself upon seeing the one-yuan fire embryo, "What are you inviting Daoist Feng Jun for, to give such a generous gift?"

Feng Jun was also taken aback, then waved his hand, smiling wryly as he replied, "I haven’t done anything yet, how can I accept your things? As for compensation, there’s no need to mention it. But this puppet, I hope to buy it. Name your price."

Wan Qing, the True Immortal, shook his head and spoke seriously, "If you accept this one-yuan fire embryo, I will sell you the puppet. Otherwise, it can only be considered a compensation... Mountain Master Feng, it’s your choice."

According to Feng Jun’s character, he indeed doesn’t have the habit of "receiving payment without doing anything." Now, his reputation for deduction is spreading far and wide; he’s not afraid of debts, nor will he accept payment in advance—let them try not giving it.

However, those who desired the one-yuan fire embryo the most were not him, but the Yin Spirit Big Boss, who had already muttered several times about when the fire embryo would arrive. If True Immortal Yi Jue weren’t in the manor, it could have been muttered three times a day.

So he was a bit hesitant. Feng Jun could restrain his own desires, but if the people around him had needs, he was willing to accommodate. He hesitated and said, "Then how much is this puppet?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Five Nascent Soul advancement deductions," Wan Qing, the True Immortal, said with a smile, "The puppet has been used once and only has five uses... I don’t ask for much, just deduce what’s missing. What do you think?"

"This is doable," Feng Jun nodded, not finding the other party’s asking price too low.

Although this kind of deduction request seems like merely a "health check" before Nascent Soul advancement, if there are any hidden dangers in the Nascent Soul, and they are not detected, it could delay the advancement.

And this delay could lead to serious problems. It’s said that Nascent Souls have a long lifespan, engaging in seclusion that could last decades or centuries, as if time is priceless. But as the saying goes on the Earth Realm — although Huaxia is vast, not a single inch of territory is superfluous.

The long lifespan of the Nascent Soul, not a single day of it should be wasted! Advancing one day earlier, even a little, increases the chance of entering the Emergence Stage.

So this checkup is very necessary, but what troubles Feng Jun now is, "After the two form their cores, I’ll take your one-yuan fire embryo. You can’t possibly not give it to me, so why rush?"

"You’ll gather the amount sooner or later!" Wan Qing, the True Immortal, replied with a smile, "After you handle Wu Nan’s matter, I’m going to sit in Crimson Phoenix and watch over Xia Nichang. I won’t bother you to send it again."

Feng Jun hesitated again and finally waved his hand, "Let’s talk about this later when we get to Kunhao, and don’t distract me!"

Seeing Wan Qing, the True Immortal, about to speak, he waved his hand once more, "Alright, I’m going to start deducing now."

This time, his deduction took more than two hours. Eventually, he packed up the Substitute Soul Puppet and spoke with a frown, "I wasn’t wrong. When using the Blazing Flame to repel the curse, it still feels the influence of the Qingping Domain consciousness, as it is ultimately the lower realm of Tianqin."

Elder Qinghuang’s brow furrowed, "Can you deduce what the plane consciousness of Tianqin thinks about this?"

Feng Jun shook his head and answered helplessly, "The sense isn’t clear, but there is somewhat of a... laissez-faire attitude."

This was no surprise to him. The Qingping Realm is akin to Tianqin’s subordinate. Whatever the subordinate does, even if the boss dislikes it, they must protect their own system in front of outsiders.

Elder Qinghuang snorted coldly, "I don’t believe it. Is Tianqin’s plane truly so disrespectful? Enough! I’ll take you to the Heaven Shielding Array of Jinwu Headquarters, where we can even temporarily isolate Tianqin’s consciousness... let’s see how it lets be!"

Elder Qinghuang is qualified to say such things. There aren’t many Emergence Stage True Infant in Jinwu Sect currently, only three or four occasionally showing themselves. However, in truth, there are at least dozens in the Emergence Stage in Jinwu, but most have gone into the void, seeking opportunities.

Even in Jinwu Sect’s records, there are at least seven or eight Divine Spirit Stage True Sages without records of mortality. It’s just uncertain when or if they will return, and these matters remain unknown.

With such a background, Elder Qinghuang could comfortably diss Tianqin’s consciousness—if it behaves unjustly, why should we remain silent?

"The Heaven Shielding Array at Headquarters?" Feng Jun and True Immortal Yi Jue exchanged a glance, then shook their heads in unison, "Forget it, let’s not go... We should first see what’s happening at Kunhao."

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