Chapter 522: Eagle Puppet Shell
Hearing this, several people nodded.
Unlike before, the terms of trade were overall unclear.
At this moment, it was difficult to value anything and writing a fair contract was impossible.
"For now, we should each focus on our work." Someone suggested.
"It’s too early to talk about cooperation." Another added.
With that, several people weighed in and the matter calmed down.
Seeing this, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue found an unoccupied place and activated an isolation formation disk.
"Let’s do our best. If we can’t manage, we will use the golden teleportation talisman to leave the ruins." Yu Nianzhen said.
"Good." Jiang Yue agreed.
After that, the two settled down to study their jade slips.
In this way, one month passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Yu Nianzhen suddenly looked at Jiang Yue.
Feeling the stare, Jiang Yue raised his head and looked at his Taoist companion before he spoke.
"Is something wrong?" He asked.
"XiaoYue, I think I have deduced the correct starting point." Yu Nianzhen said and Jiang Yue smiled.
Originally, the two perceived the puppet parts as pieces of a classic jigsaw puzzle.
However, this perception was overly simplified and impractical.
After all, there were millions of puppet parts and piecing them together was more intricate than piecing together a two- or three-dimensional puzzle.
"Where do we start?" Jiang Yue asked and Yu Nianzhen pointed to a piece.
"Let’s start there." He said.
Hearing this, Jiang Yue looked at the piece and thousands of thoughts flashed in his mind.
"Azhen, I have also realised something."
"What?"
"I don’t think we will have a complete puppet after piecing the parts together." Jiang Yue said and frowned.
After studying the manual for more than a month, he was relatively certain the core puppet part was missing.
Even if they pieced the available parts properly, what they would assemble was a puppet shell and not an operational puppet.
"I also think so." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
However, they didn’t need to think too much.
For the time being, their top priority was to assemble the available parts.
After that, they would act according to the situation.
"Let’s do what we can." Jiang Yue said and nodded.
Hearing this, Yu Nianzhen smiled at his lover and they began to work.
Unfortunately, finding the starting point was only the beginning.
Even with the starting point, they struggled to piece together the parts and progress was slow.
After working for another six months, they had only completed a little more than one-third of the puppet.
"At this rate, we won’t make it before the deadline." Jiang Yue said and frowned.
At this point, they only had a little more than four months before the end of the allocated time.
Looking at their incomplete puppets, Jiang Yue couldn’t help but worry.
"We wasted a lot of time because we weren’t familiar with puppet mechanics. Now that we have become more proficient, we will be able to work faster." Yu Nianzhen said.
However, Jiang Yue wasn’t so sure.
Although he and Yu Nianzhen were more proficient in puppet mechanics, different parts of a puppet required different attention.
Just because they were familiar with some parts didn’t mean they would have an easier time with the rest.
"What are you worried about? If we fail to complete the task, we will escape." Yu Nianzhen said and Jiang Yue laughed out loud.
"What’s wrong? Did I say something funny?"
"We can escape but are you willing? I don’t like to fail but you are more unwilling. If we fail here, you will be very uncomfortable." Jiang Yue said and Yu Nianzhen was a little embarrassed.
Jiang Yue was right.
Although he could accept failure when necessary, Yu Nianzhen inherently hated to fail.
In a better mood, Jiang Yue looked at his husband.
"Let’s work harder." He said.
"Mmmm." Yu Nianzhen agreed and the two returned to work.
Fortunately, things turned out as Yu Nianzhen hoped.
Although they encountered new problems, their progress was much faster.
After working day and night, the two completed the task with three days to spare.
However, just as they supposed, the end product was an unusable puppet shell.
"If there is another room, will we be forced to assemble a puppet core?" Jiang Yue wondered.
"Most likely." Yu Nianzhen said and looked at his puppet shell.
The puppet was in the shape of an eagle.
It was two metres long and had a wingspan of six metres.
At a glance, it was a flying-type puppet.
"If we can get a complete puppet, it will be a great flying tool." Jiang Yue said.
"It took one year to assemble a shell. How long will it take to assemble a core?" Yu Nianzhen suddenly wondered and Jiang Yue couldn’t help but think about it.
In most cases, the shell was the easiest part of anything.
Considering that, assembling a puppet core would likely take a lot more time than one year.
"It’s not a waste of time." Jiang Yue finally said.
After all, he and Yu Nianzhen were at the peak of the ninth level of the reincarnation realm and didn’t need to practice or cross the tribulation.
Although they had their own paths and didn’t prefer puppet mechanics, learning new arts was also a way of polishing their tao and tao hearts.
"It’s really not a waste." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
Over the past year, he rarely thought about his swordsmanship or tao.
However, after the year, his heart was calmer and his mood had greatly improved.
’I have a feeling my swordsmanship has also improved.’ He thought.
Unfortunately, there was no time to confirm it.
"Azhen, do you want to look around and see what the others are up to?" Jiang Yue asked.
During the year, several people approached them for one reason or another.
However, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were focused on their work and didn’t care too much about everyone else.
As a result, the time was almost up and the two didn’t know how the others were doing.
"I will accompany you." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
Hearing this, Jiang Yue smiled and stood up.
Soon after, he broke the isolation formation and the two appeared in front of everyone.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, fellow Daoist Jiang, you have finally appeared." Wang Peng called.
At the same time, he stood up and rushed towards them.
"Fellow Daoist Wang, how have you been? Have you completed the task?" Jiang Yue asked.
"I have completed it." Wang Peng nodded and said.
As it turned out, Wang Peng teamed up with several others and their group completed the task; two days earlier than Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue.
"Congratulations fellow Daoist Wang." Jiang Yue said and smiled.
"What about the two fellow daoists?" Wang Peng asked with a concerned look in his eyes.
"Fortunately, we barely managed to complete it."
"That’s good." Wang Peng said and smiled.
"What about the others?" Jiang Yue asked while looking around.
Hearing this, Wang Peng looked a little embarrassed and leaned over to whisper to Jiang Yue.
"One group hasn’t finished the task." Wang Peng said and pointedly looked at a certain corner.
However, the group was in an isolation formation and Jiang Yue couldn’t see anything.
"There are still three days." Jiang Yue said but Wang Peng shook his head.
"Did something happen?"
"Originally, everyone was working alone. However, some people didn’t take it seriously and waited for others to figure it out, hoping to get clues. When we formed a team, we deliberately refused to cooperate with those people. In the end, they formed their group but they had a late start." Wang Peng explained and quickly continued.
"When we last saw them, they were only halfway through."
"When did you last see them?" Yu Nianzhen suddenly asked.
"One month ago." Wang Peng said and everyone sighed.
Even if it was Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen, it was impossible to assemble half the puppet in only one month.
"Maybe they have a way." Jiang Yue said but no one believed it.
In the end, the last team didn’t make it.
When they dismantled their isolation formation and appeared in front of everyone, their puppets were still incomplete.
Seeing this, Jiang Yue, Yu Nianzhen, Wang Peng, and the others didn’t know what to say.
On one hand, they felt the last team didn’t work hard enough which led to their situation.
However, they couldn’t help but feel a little sorry.
After all, the ruins weren’t forgiving.
Now that the last team failed to complete the task, they would likely have a bad ending.
"You..., hurry up and give me your puppet." A loud voice suddenly broke the silence.
At the same time, the speaker rushed towards a female cultivator.
"Hurry up and give it to me." He ordered.
"Why should I give you my puppet?" The woman asked with a calm look in her eyes.
’That male cultivator is about to get unlucky.’ Jiang Yue thought but didn’t feel any pity for the person.
