All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 397 - 40 The Use of Puppetry

Chapter 397: Chapter 40 The Use of Puppetry

Due to An Jing, Linjiang City, which should have remained hidden amidst the Frost Calamity and the Beast Tide, gradually fading from the public eye, once again became a focal point for attention from all parties.

The shadows in the dark retreated with the gazes, and the place that was originally turbulent in secrecy was brought out into the open, which inadvertently caused many lurking dangers to retreat.

The people in Linjiang City did not know this, but it did not prevent them from heaving a sigh of relief in their hearts—the Linlang Commerce Chamber isolating the city from the outside world, both internally and externally, was what frightened the residents the most.

In two regions both experiencing famine, one under the attention of the imperial court and the other without a channel to voice its plight, the former had a high probability of being rescued, while the latter was almost certainly destined to be obliterated into dust, silently becoming the ruins of a nameless place.

After all, An Jing was only one person, and in theory, he could not bring them peace, but he was Divine Mandate, and the attention that came with the Divine Mandate was precisely what they urgently needed.

Because of An Jing’s power and reputation, they were willing to follow orders and await his next move.

At the center of it all, An Jing was not currently in Linjiang City, and he wasn’t even in the Embracing the Void realm.

The Great Void Passage flashed by, and he had already arrived in the Tianyuan Realm.

Floating Dust Plains, Chonggang Town.

Huo Qing was reading in the warehouse when he saw An Jing enter without surprise. He just waved in greeting and then continued to study the Jade Slip and various paper charts with concentration.

Normally, whether An Jing was breaking through in cultivation, testing Art of Magic, or fussing with drones in the warehouse, none of these could distract Huo Qing’s focus—such noise was merely background music to him.

But when An Jing started to tinker with the puppets, even Huo Qing, wholly engrossed in Formation Manuals, couldn’t help being attracted by the commotion.

"What’s going on?"

He put down the book he was holding and asked in surprise, "An Jing, is your sect short of manpower? Are you going to use these puppets?"

"Yes, there is a shortage of manpower on the sect’s side, and we need some puppets to maintain order and distribute materials."

An Jing dragged out the puppets one by one in the warehouse, checking and confirming their charge.

Because Huo Qing had also sent the discarded puppets he had collected from the recycling hut over here, plus the five puppets An Jing had bought along with the warehouse, they had surprisingly assembled ten puppets.

It didn’t sound like much, but the puppets of Tianyuan Realm, if judged only by strength and speed, were entirely on par with Body Refinement Martial Artists.

With just three or four puppets, a local gang could construct large-scale engineering works outside the streets and villages, and considering the Tianyuan Realm’s martial culture’s rate of damage to urban blocks, without puppets, it wouldn’t take many days for the entire town to be pitted and unfit for habitation.

With such efficiency, if it weren’t for the high energy consumption limiting their use to areas abundant in Spirit Qi, companies in Tianyuan Realm would wish to replace all physical labor with them.

"But these are all miner and engineer puppets."

Hearing this, Huo Qing quickly stood up: "Maintaining order and distributing materials, that’s the job of duty puppets, the programming is wrong, I’ll write it for you."

"Oh? You know how?"

An Jing also knew that each puppet had different tasks, and he had originally planned to use these puppets to clear the ruins of Linlang Commerce Chamber and transport the materials, which was not a complex task that would cause the puppets to crash.

But since Huo Qing volunteered eagerly, An Jing stepped aside and let him work: "You’re getting more and more impressive, Huo Qing."

"With resources, anyone’s progress can be this fast; I’m disassembling and patching together ten Array Plates a day, my practical experience is richer than many old masters."

Huo Qing did not even move from his spot, his eyes flickering with the light of microchips, with silver-blue runes swirling, evidently already writing the program: "What’s the requirement?"

"Distribute food to each street, guard the supplies, and arrest anyone who tries to steal... That’s pretty much the job."

An Jing briefly explained his needs, while Huo Qing confidently said, "That’s easy, quite a common request, and I already know how to... very soon, just give me half an hour."

"That’s pretty fast."

Half an hour was an acceptable wait for An Jing; he approached Huo Qing with curiosity to see what the other was reading.

"How to Balance the Warehouse Accounts by Moving Just One Matchstick? Fifteen Practical Tips for Warehouse Managers."

An Jing blinked, rubbed his eyes, and then read it again intently, realizing he hadn’t misread. He was greatly surprised, "What kind of magical book is this? Let me have a look!"

He vaguely remembered seeing similar advertisements in his previous life, like changing one’s fate by altering a stroke in a person’s name. He hadn’t expected that the Tianyuan Realm also had such things — it seemed to be a cultural tradition that transcended worlds.

Huo Qing was still programming the formation patterns, and An Jing picked up the book and flipped it open.

"Essentials for Escaping: Five Different Specialized Designs of Swift Movement Talismans..."

"See no evil, hear no evil: Triple Concealment Array with Invisibility, Hidden Qi, and Hidden Sound..."

"How to Fake Your Assassination to Balance the Books: Flesh Automaton Chapter, Illusion Formation Chapter, Forgotten Curse Chapter..."

"Ultimate Warehouse Clearing Technique: Heavenly Flame Binding Thunder Formation, absolutely erases all clues and traces..."

After reading through the book with a serious interest, An Jing closed it and commented, "Turns out it’s a collection of little runaway tricks!"

Although he said that, the book indeed contained many special little techniques for formation patterns, and it was no wonder Huo Qing would read it — An Jing almost thought Huo Qing was planning to resume his old ways right there.

"I’ve got it pretty much set up."

Huo Qing’s speed at resolving the formation patterns was quicker than he had estimated, "Need anything else?"

"Actually, yes."

An Jing set aside the book and used a Water Mirror to list out an inventory for Huo Qing, "I need a large quantity of cheap food that can fill bellies, as quickly as possible."

"Besides that, I probably need these spiritual objects... Pick the cheap ones and have a look."

An Jing handed Huo Qing the list of spiritual materials related to the Dragon Storing Bottle, and the young Formation Cultivator glanced over it and noticed something, "Hey, are you planning to build your own Spirit Qi Furnaces? Ingredients for various types of Spirit Qi Furnaces are all here."

"Sort of."

An Jing had his suspicions but didn’t expect that a Cultivator proficient in this area from the Tianyuan Realm could tell at a glance the relationship between the Dragon Storing Bottle and the Spirit Qi Furnace, "Is it that obvious?"

"Not really obvious, but mainly because of the various Spirit Jade and Earth from different Earth Veins, Heavenly Sea Dew — this combination isn’t for making Spirit Qi Furnaces, then it’s for building a large Spirit Accumulating Formation meant for town-level Arrays. I just revisited the topic recently."

Huo Qing shook his head slightly, as there were too many people with similar ideas, "Even the flagship store’s Spirit Qi Furnaces are just so-so and still super expensive, everyone prefers to modify their own. However, the core spiritual material for Spirit Qi Furnaces is actually Spirit Stones... even if your sect has Spirit Stone mines, you shouldn’t waste them like this."

"If you ask me, you’d be better off buying a batch of second-hand Spirit Qi Furnaces and modify them yourself. It’s much more cost-effective than building from scratch."

Coming from a recycling background, Huo Qing’s mindset was still focused on saving and reducing costs. An Jing waved him off, "It’s just technical reserves, we won’t be mass-producing... Do you have the food?"