Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

Chapter 238: Chapter 234: Enemies on a Narrow Path

Late that night, Song Ciwan remained at the inn. After Midnight, she sold another mass of Mysterious Ghost Spirit from Sha Si.

[You have sold a Village-level Mysterious Ghost Spirit—Fear, Fear, Fear—weighing two catties and five taels. You have obtained the Marvel: a Fine Wood Puppet.]

Fine Wood Puppet: A Two-star Level Marvel with no usage limit. It possesses great strength and, after recognizing a master, can perform various daily chores based on simple commands. It is an excellent mechanical laborer.

’This... what sort of marvelous thing is this?’

With a wave of her hand, Song Ciwan summoned the Fine Wood Puppet she had just acquired. A Wooden Puppet immediately appeared on the ground before her.

The Wooden Puppet stood eight feet tall, carved in the image of a robust man. Its wooden face had a primitive feel, and it was dressed in the brownish-gray short robes of a laborer. Its eyes were blank and lifeless.

Song Ciwan beckoned, using her Qi Absorption Technique. The Wooden Puppet moved as if it were a marionette on strings, walking stiffly toward her one step at a time.

Song Ciwan raised her hand, pressing her palm against a major acupoint on the Wooden Puppet’s back. As her Spiritual Sense surged, she quickly located the control core in the puppet’s chest cavity—a Crystal Stone covered in strange runes.

Below this Crystal Stone was a small, round slot. Song Ciwan infused her True Qi into the Crystal Stone, leaving her own imprint. She quickly completed the Refinement of the Wooden Puppet’s control hub and, in the process, understood its specific method of operation.

It was very simple: place a Primordial Pearl in the slot beneath the Crystal Stone, and the Wooden Puppet would gain the energy to operate.

Before its energy ran out, Song Ciwan could make it do whatever she wanted simply by giving it commands. Once the energy was depleted, she could insert a new Primordial Pearl, and the Wooden Puppet would activate again.

Song Ciwan immediately placed a Primordial Pearl into the Wooden Puppet’s Energy Pod and commanded, "Jia Mu, pour water."

Jia Mu. That was the name Song Ciwan had given the Wooden Puppet.

She’d picked it at random, not for any particular reason other than convenience.

Jia Mu moved at once. In a flash, he was beside the square table ahead. He picked up the kettle on it, deftly poured a cup of water, then returned to Song Ciwan, holding the cup with both hands to present it to her.

Song Ciwan accepted the cup but didn’t drink, instead ordering Jia Mu to put it back.

Next, she ran some general tests on the Wooden Puppet. It had no sentience, could not speak, and was unable to follow complex commands. However, it was more than capable of handling daily chores. ’It’s like I opened a blind box and got a robot servant,’ Song Ciwan thought. ’How interesting.’

In addition, she tested the Wooden Puppet’s strength.

She pitted Jia Mu’s strength against her own Divine Technique, Infinite Power. When Song Ciwan used about a tenth of her full strength, Jia Mu collapsed to the ground with a THUD, unable to resist any further.

Although Jia Mu had lost, Song Ciwan’s Divine Power was terrifying. The fact that the Two-star Puppet could withstand even a tenth of it meant it truly possessed Giant Power.

After all, it was only Two-star.

Plus, it was a permanent-use model. As long as it wasn’t destroyed and had Primordial Pearls, it could be used indefinitely.

It was an ideal servant. No wonder even the Heaven and Earth Scale had rated it as "an excellent mechanical laborer."

Song Ciwan found it hard to believe that such an item was only rated as Two-star Level. She couldn’t begin to fathom the Heaven and Earth Scale’s rating criteria.

Song Ciwan then checked Jia Mu’s consumption of the Primordial Pearl’s energy. She discovered that while carrying out daily tasks, the energy drain was very low. However, when it used its Giant Power, the energy consumption spiked.

Currently, the Primordial Pearl in Jia Mu’s Energy Pod was about one-fifth depleted, mainly because it had used its Giant Power.

Once her inspection was complete, Song Ciwan ordered Jia Mu to stand aside and keep watch. She then returned to operating the Heaven and Earth Scale.

With all the Mysterious Ghost Spirits from Sha Si sold, Song Ciwan decided to sell a mass of emotion from Xie Yunxiang. [You have sold human desires—a Qi Transformation Stage Cultivator’s joy, shock, and sorrow—weighing three catties and nine taels. You have received three years and nine months of Cultivation time.]

Come to think of it, the scales of the Great Zhou were decimal. For a weight of three catties and nine taels, if one catty equated to a year of Cultivation time—and a year had twelve months—then nine taels shouldn’t convert to only nine months.

But that was just how the Heaven and Earth Scale worked. It was a thing of rules—both logical and illogical—and there was simply no room for negotiation.

So, Song Ciwan could only accept it with good grace.

She used all three years and nine months to cultivate the Great Derivation Birth Skill. It didn’t matter whether she cultivated this Daoist Technique in a Profound Level Cave Mansion or not, because it didn’t increase her Cultivation level but focused instead on comprehension.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, nearly four years had passed.

Song Ciwan cultivated diligently without rest. Within the void-like space, she contemplated the Great Derivation Birth Skill over and over again. Finally, at a certain moment, she seemed to touch a thread of inspiration amidst an endlessly complex world.

On the Insight Technique’s panel, the experience for the Great Derivation Birth Skill was slowly climbing.

Qimen Taoist Skill: Great Derivation Birth Skill (Beginner 42/100)

(Beginner 56/100)

(Beginner 63/100)

...

Song Ciwan opened her eyes. The Cultivation time was used up!

In her Sea of Consciousness, the deity pulsed, and at that same moment, it opened its eyes.

The deity’s gaze pierced the Void, sweeping past countless bizarre, twisted images. It scanned across a grand hall wreathed in mist, and among the rapidly shifting fragments of scenery, it caught a fleeting glimpse of a basket piled high with green leaves.

Her spirits lifted, but just as she felt a surge of joy, a sharp pain shot through her Sea of Consciousness.

’Damn it!’

’It’s a backlash.’

The deity in Song Ciwan’s Sea of Consciousness quickly shut its eyes. At the same time, she cast the Great Derivation Birth Skill, pulling a curtain over her head to conceal the Celestial Secret.

However, it was too late!

Deep underground, in the darkness, a woman holding a green leaf suddenly looked up. She exclaimed in delight, "Perfect! It’s nearby, just as I expected. I’ve found you!"

Back in the inn, Song Ciwan had just swallowed a few Red Sun Pills to replenish the massive amount of True Qi consumed by the Divine Eye Opening when a human head suddenly burst up through the floor in front of her.

Following it was a graceful and beautiful figure. The woman’s voice was a strange mix of mirth and anger as she said, "So it was you. You dared to destroy the Jade Order. You brat! Surrender now, and I shall spare your life!"

As she spoke, she opened her mouth and unleashed a fierce blast of sand and wind that shot straight at Song Ciwan.

The gust of sand and wind was both light and heavy—light in its swiftness, but heavy because as it rose, Song Ciwan felt a terrifying, invisible gravity press down on her like a great mountain.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK! Beneath Song Ciwan, the bed shattered, and the floor gave way.

CLATTER! Shattered wooden planks rained down onto the inn’s first floor below. The first floor also had guest rooms, and terrified, panicked screams immediately erupted from them.

"Ah! Murder! There’s a ghost! Help!"

The Wooden Puppet also fell to the floor below, scooped up an innocent guest, and rushed outside.

Song Ciwan rose to her feet. She stepped into the gale of sand, walking on empty air. In an instant, she crossed a distance of several dozen feet.