123: Broken Gold Valley

As Lin Feng piloted his wine immortal gourd, the outline of the Tianxuan Sect's mountain gate appeared in the distance. Only then did the tension that had gripped his mind for several months finally ease a little.

His journey to the North Nether Sea had certainly yielded many gains; a dozen fourth-tier Yao Beast inner cores felt heavy in his Storage Pouch. However, the several times he had teetered on the brink of life and death made him deeply realize his own lack of strength.

Returning to his Immortal Cave on Baoyue Peak, he activated the Restriction, isolating himself from the outside world. Lin Feng let out a long sigh of relief. He first rested for two days, meditating and recuperating, gradually healing the fatigue and hidden injuries accumulated from his time overseas.

Once his mind was as clear as a mirror, he immersed his Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness, carefully studying the Hanguang Art and its appended Puppet Masters True Understanding.

Before, a hurried glance had only conveyed its profundity. Now, calmly comprehending it, combined with his experiences from several life-and-death struggles, he re-examined the methods for Divine Sense refinement, precise Spiritual Qi manipulation, and the essence of controlling myriad Puppets with Divine Thought as threads, as described in the Puppet Masters True Understanding. He immediately gained many new insights. The Hanguang Art focused on the condensation and extension of Divine Sense, while the Puppet Masters True Understanding provided specific methods for its exquisite application; the two complemented each other.

He realized that in the past, when refining Puppets, he relied more on his proficiency in Artifact Refining and the strength of his Spiritual Qi, using his Divine Sense rather crudely. However, for higher-tier Puppets, the core lay in 'spirituality,' which meant a perfect Fusion of a trace of Divine Sense imprint with the Yao Beast's inner core's demonic power. This could not be achieved without a powerful and subtle Divine Sense.

Having grasped this crucial point, Lin Feng finally began to work. He took out a third-tier inner core for practice. Ground fire ignited, the Refining Cauldron warmed, and Lin Feng first circulated the Hanguang Art, highly condensing his Divine Sense, which then, like a thread, probed into the third-tier Yao core.

The inner core contained residual savage and violent Yao Beast instincts. Previously, he had to forcibly suppress it with powerful Spiritual Qi, often achieving half the result with twice the effort. Now, following the 'Moistening' method recorded in the Puppet Masters True Understanding, his Divine Sense transformed into gentle ripples, softly penetrating and soothing the violent demonic power, guiding it to flow along specific meridians. Simultaneously, his hand seals changed, refining auxiliary Materials one by one, and with Divine Sense guiding them, slowly integrating them into the core of the inner core.

Finally, after failing twice, on the third attempt, the demonic power was completely tamed and perfectly fused with the Materials. A Puppet core, with flowing water patterns and self-generating runes, floated in the cauldron. Its Spiritual Qi was perfectly harmonious and far surpassed any core he had refined before.

He struck while the iron was hot, repeatedly practicing with the remaining third-tier inner cores. His application of the Hanguang Art became increasingly proficient, and his understanding of the various refining techniques and rune imprints recorded in the Puppet Masters True Understanding deepened.

Feeling that the time was ripe, Lin Feng finally took out a fourth-tier Yao core obtained from Little Turtle Island. This core possessed immense demonic power, and its refining difficulty was far beyond that of a third-tier core. He took a deep breath, adjusted his state to its Peak, and fully circulated the Hanguang Art. His Divine Sense transformed into an invisible fine net, enveloping and permeating the entire inner core.

The refining process was extremely perilous. The backlash from the fourth-tier Yao core repeatedly impacted his Divine Sense defenses. Lin Feng's face turned pale as he countered each attack, gradually wearing down its ferocity and guiding its demonic power to fuse with various precious spiritual Materials. When the last ancient Puppet rune was finally imprinted into the core, the entire core suddenly emitted a warm, profound yellow light, and a heavy, mountain-like aura permeated the air.

Successfully refining a fourth-tier Puppet core greatly boosted Lin Feng's confidence. Subsequently, based on the Materials he possessed, he successively refined water and wood attribute fourth-tier cores.

He used these cores as the main components, supplemented by excellent spiritual Materials, to meticulously construct Puppet bodies, ultimately obtaining three Puppets whose strength was stably at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage: one Stone Puppet with astonishing defense, one agile Water Puppet, and one Wood Puppet capable of releasing binding and restraint techniques.

On this day, he practiced with the Puppets outside his Immortal Cave. The three Puppets advanced and retreated methodically, forming an integrated offense and defense. Although still a bit unpolished, they already showed the rudimentary form of a battle formation. Watching them, Lin Feng felt much more at ease.

Lin Feng slowly unfurled the tattered parchment he had obtained from Jiao Xuan. Its material was unique, its edges charred, and the symbol in the center, neither a picture nor a character, remained mysterious. But unlike before, when Lin Feng circulated the Hanguang Art and slowly channeled his Divine Sense into the parchment, a change occurred.

The overlapping, hidden lines within the symbol began to slowly separate and reveal themselves, layer by layer, pointing to a place called Shattered Gold Valley.

"Shattered Gold Valley..." Lin Feng softly uttered the name, immediately recalling a related record he had seen in the Sect's miscellaneous notes. It stated that it was a valley located two thousand li southwest of the Sect, named because the rocks within the mountains contained trace metal minerals that sparkled like shattered gold under the sunlight. However, the Spiritual Qi there was barren, and there were no valuable products.

In Shattered Gold Valley, the afternoon sun cast a somewhat lazy glow on the uneven mining tunnels. Lin Feng sat on a wooden stool in a simple tea shed, a cup of coarse tea before him. He deliberately restrained his aura, and under the concealment of the hidden star pendant, he appeared to be a down-and-out Loose Cultivator at the sixth or seventh Qi Refining layer.

He had left the Tianxuan Sect several days ago, with no clear destination for this trip. He just felt like taking a break after long hours of Puppet refining, getting some fresh air, and seeing what Shattered Gold Valley actually held.

In the tea shed, several Cultivators who looked like miners huddled in a corner, their fingers twisted and deformed from years of mining.

"The Wang Family's tribute demand this month has increased by another thirty percent."

"Otherwise, where else could we go? The northern swamp has miasma, and the western desert has no Spiritual Veins. Besides being beasts of burden for the Wang Family, what else can those of us with poor Aptitude do?"

Lin Feng was slightly lost in thought when a voice came from behind him: "Greetings, Fellow Daoist. You look unfamiliar; is this your first time in our Shattered Gold Valley?"

Lin Feng turned to see a fair-faced, smiling middle-aged Cultivator approaching. Behind him were two sharp-eyed guards with strong auras, both at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining. The speaker, surprisingly, was an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, none other than Steward Wang, Wang Mingyuan.

Wang Mingyuan's face was wreathed in smiles, but his gaze subtly swept over Lin Feng's wine immortal gourd and numerous Storage Pouches at his waist. "I am Wang Mingyuan, Steward of the Wang Family. If Fellow Daoist is unfamiliar with Shattered Gold Valley, I, Wang, can perhaps guide you, to make things convenient."

Lin Feng didn't want any trouble, so he went along with his words, bowing slightly: "Thank you, Steward Wang. I just happened to want to see the nearby scenery."

"No problem! No problem!" Wang Mingyuan's smile widened, and he gestured with a 'please' hand signal. "Fellow Daoist has come a long way as a guest. Since you've arrived in Shattered Gold Valley, why not let me, Wang, fulfill a host's duty and show you around, and also let you see some of my Wang Family's businesses."

Lin Feng nodded, silently following beside Wang Mingyuan.

Wang Mingyuan walked and pointed. "Fellow Daoist, please look, this eastern mining pit produces the best quality iron Ore... Over there is the smelting workshop, which can refine thousands of jin of raw iron daily..." As he spoke, they happened to pass the entrance of a mining pit, where an elderly miner, due to lack of strength, spilled some Ore from his basket.

A Wang Family disciple, acting as an overseer, immediately cursed and stepped forward, mercilessly lashing the old miner's back with a leather whip: "You old geezer! If your hands and feet aren't nimble, don't waste time! Half your wages are deducted today!"

The old miner cried out in pain but dared not speak, only trembled and quickly went to pick up the scattered Ore. The other miners around them all lowered their heads, not daring to look.

Wang Mingyuan glanced at them and smiled at Lin Feng: "These crude people, if not disciplined, will not follow rules. I apologize for letting Fellow Daoist witness this."