Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 888 - 798: Is This a Blueprint? (Part 2)

The Puppet House created earlier belongs to the Intermediate blueprint; although I'm not sure what it needs such an Advanced blueprint for, its exquisite elegance truly lifts one's spirits upon seeing it.

And this Advanced blueprint book...

The puppet's heart is mechanical and shouldn't change its rhythm due to emotions, but Yun Ying still felt a tremor from deep within her soul—Mr. Jiang asked me to craft the Puppet House, surely to test my abilities.

Now that I've gained Mr. Jiang's approval, am I allowed to borrow this?

"Uh... is this a blueprint?" Jiang Yuan himself found it unbelievable, but glancing inside, he saw several prominent words—Blueprint, content not specified.

He didn't know what to critique about the system, and handed the hefty golden book to her, "This is a detailed blueprint for a special personal version of the Immortal Ship that I designed.

If you're interested, you can try to craft it. Some parts might require an Artifact Refiner's assistance. You can discuss and collaborate with Daoist Leng. If you need any crafting materials, ask Hou Ze to search on Trapped Snake Island; if he can't find them, let me know."

"Thank you for trusting me, Mr. Jiang!" Yun Ying, clutching the resplendent, high-class blueprint, was too thrilled to find the right words.

Inwardly, she vowed to craft the Immortal Ship designed by Mr. Jiang and ascend to a higher realm during the process of studying the Advanced blueprints!

Jiang Yuan stared at the thick book, thinking it would take quite some time just to read through it, let alone crafting each part and assembling them. He nodded, "Good luck!"

Carrying the exquisite Puppet House into the house, placing it on the display stand in the living room, from tomorrow onward, all crop yields will increase by 20%, yielding a much greater harvest.

Feeling delighted, Jiang Yuan eagerly ran to the farmland to try gathering information from the automatic seed and harvest device.

Yan Xuan emerged from the lotus pond, shaking the water off excitedly, "Master, you're back! Everything has been peaceful these past days, no quarrels or fights; have you finished your tasks? Shall we go fight together again?"

[Doo doo!]

A big, red cross appeared in his vision, followed by a notification: [System's special item, information cannot be gathered]

Darn!

Can't find a loophole!

Jiang Yuan, unwilling to give up, tried the sprinkler with its own defense ability, but still couldn't gather any information.

Well, wanting a farming Divine Artifact requires completing tasks diligently.

"Let me see..." he was somewhat disappointed, about to respond to Yan Xuan and prepare to run the World Tree instance when the main interface vibrated with an incoming message.

[Qu Luming: The ghost cultivator friend Tang Qin you mentioned a while ago has been found. She's not in a good state. Could we find a safe place to meet?]

Not in good shape? Could she be injured?

Jiang Yuan first reassured Yan Xuan, "I have urgent matters to deal with. After I'm done, we'll go hunt demons together."

Then he replied, arranging to meet at the Cloud Grocery Store in the Golden Chicken River Market.

"Is Master going out again?" Yan Xuan perked up immediately, stretching his neck and shrinking his size to become even more mini, like a pet, "Can you take me with you? I'm so bored waiting at home!"

It's just to meet Qu Luming and Tang Qin at the shop, understanding the situation won't take long. It's good for him to experience the world of demon cultivators, so he won't remain clueless about the outside world.

With permission granted, Yan Xuan happily skipped and jumped.

He turned around, picked a newly bloomed lotus flower and pinned it on his back, suppressing his powerful aura and looking just like a foolish pet tortoise.

"Where is the market?"

"Does Master also run a shop?"

"What do you sell? Don't you need to look after the shop..."

.....

Before being subdued, Yan Xuan would at most venture to a city when starving; he looked down on cowardly demon cultivators and never bothered to learn more about them.

Having been suppressed for thousands of years, the world outside has drastically changed. Following his master into a market established by demon cultivators for the first time, his curiosity seemed to spark a hundred thousand questions in an instant.

"Oh wow! So many houses, I mean, shops!" Yan Xuan looked bewildered; clearly having entered a courtyard house with his master, as soon as the door closed and opened, the outside completely changed!

Golden Chicken River Market was shrouded in a misty autumn rain, with soft lights, amidst the bustling market many demon cultivators strolled with umbrellas.

Looking up layers upon layers, looking down densely packed, corridors and grand bridges connected tall buildings.

The fragrant tea from next door, and the aroma of meat and wine wafting from somewhere combined together, although inferior to the skills of his master Immortal Chef, it still made one's mouth water.

"Damn! Demon cultivators really know how to indulge!" Yan Xuan watched for quite a while, secretly cursing.

In his heart he pondered, no wonder demon cultivators have fallen into decadence; compared to living off raw meat and blood, this was indeed a better life. If newly born demon beasts could choose, they'd probably choose demon cultivation; this must be what they call the trend of the world, beyond anyone's power to change.

After waiting for no more than half a cup of tea's time, Qu Luming hurried into the shop, not even bothering with greetings, closed the door, and took a palm-sized round bowl from his bosom. With a flick of his fingers—buzz~

A wisp of light blue smoke floated out of the bowl and transformed into a human shape upon touching the ground.

"Tang Qin kowtows in gratitude to Mr. Jiang for his life-saving grace!"

"Once again, many thanks to Senior Qu. Without your intervention, I, a pitiful woman, might have already perished..." she said, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

Jiang Yuan noticed, after months of not seeing her, this once alluring Ghost Bride was now covered in wounds, her health indicator dropping below a third.

He hurried to help her up, finding a blood-recovery Elixir suited for ghost cultivators from his storage bag to replenish her, causing Tang Qin to weep with gratitude.

After swallowing two pills, though the exact condition of her injuries was unknown, at least her health indicator had been restored.

"You should thank Daoist You. Were it not for his request for me to find you in the Netherworld, how could a little ghost cultivator like you escape from such a place?"

Qu Luming skillfully shifted all accolades to Jiang Yuan, patiently advising, "Now you are safe. Calm yourself and recount everything that's happened recently, detail the inside of that wretched place, which I've never visited before."

Only after speaking did he notice the flower-adorned giant tortoise in the shop. Unable to sense any aura from it, he presumed it an ordinary demon beast and laughed, "Daoist You has a keen interest, keeping a new pet?"

Yan Xuan looked up at him, the ghostly aura feeling unappetizing, then retracted his neck, lazily perching at his master's feet, dozing off, waiting to hear the story.

"To put it briefly, I'm not sure which news is valuable, so I'll start from the beginning," Tang Qin, feeling she had finally "come back alive" after swallowing the Elixir, gathered herself and said, "Originally, rumors flew that formidable ghosts had escaped from the Eighteen Layers of Hell.

At the time, few ghost cultivators believed it, as the Eighteen Layers of Hell was heavily guarded, how could mere fierce ghosts escape?

But later, the situation gradually seemed amiss, so I didn't dare to be careless and gathered my subordinates, instructing them not to venture out unless necessary.

Shortly after, including myself, all lone ghost cultivators were summoned by Fengdu, grouped into parties of fifty, and tasked with repeatedly searching specified areas armed with distributed Magical Treasures.

No one told us what exactly we were to find nor what to do upon discovery.

I sensed it was unfavorable. Fengdu's attitude towards ghost cultivators has never been amicable. In tradition, the Netherworld only acknowledges Ghost Messengers as legitimate ghost cultivators; we technically overstep our bounds.

Regular relations were hostile enough, yet suddenly they needed us to serve them: it was peculiarly odd.

Coupled with previous rumors, I feared that if a terrifying creature truly escaped Hell, we were simply the cannon fodder to search them out! Once traces were found, our distributed Magical Treasure was crucial, and surviving was not an option."

Qu Luming nodded, "Astute. Even if you ran into escapees and survived, Ghost Messengers would silence you. The implications are vast, even I don't know the full picture."

Tang Qin shuddered with fear, "But at that time, it wasn't just avoiding them—communication was cut off, and we were under tight surveillance.

We could only search day and night, per their regions of scale, almost sweeping the Netherworld multiple times, yet with no end to action.

Later, we were dispatched into that terrifying place..."