Chapter 528: Give My Puppet a Ride

Soon, a hybrid roc arrived.

“Honored guest, your rush order has arrived,” the hybrid roc said respectfully.

“Here, these are the agreed-upon spirit stones.”

After handing over the spirit stones, Ji Zhi pointed to the puppet beside him.

“Take this puppet for a flight around the sky.”

“Understood.”

Since demon beasts flew without using spiritual energy, it didn’t violate the rules, and even Yu Yin couldn’t find fault with it.

Yu Yin quietly stared at Ji Zhi without saying a word.

Ji Zhi had exceptionally thick skin—being stared at was just being stared at, could she actually recognize him?

Jiang Li had applied a disguise to Ji Zhi, and Ji Zhi was confident he wouldn’t be recognized.

Yu Yin suddenly said, “Do you know Bai Hongtu gave each of us different communication talismans? Ji Zhi.”

Ji Zhi wore a blank expression: “What Ji Zhi? I don’t know him. Your Majesty, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

Ji Zhi didn’t care whether Yu Yin was bluffing or had truly recognized him—he simply stubbornly refused to admit it.

Yu Yin thought to herself that he truly deserved to be someone who could trade barbs with Bai Hongtu. If he hadn’t withdrawn early back then, she would have definitely beaten him up too.

Back when everyone was a Human Sovereign candidate, except for those who always lost to Jiang Li by just a narrow margin, all the other candidates had been beaten up by Yu Yin.

“If you admit you’re Ji Zhi, I’ll help you beat up Bai Hongtu next time you fight with him.”

“I am Ji Zhi.”

“…”

Yu Yin rolled her eyes and walked toward Bai Hongtu.

“What is this thing?”

Yu Yin saw something called a “sports car” placed before Bai Hongtu, with a puppet sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Can this thing fly?”

“Showing your lack of knowledge, aren’t you?”

Bai Hongtu proudly showed off his creation: “Have you seen the mechas from Mingzhong World? I combined vehicles and mechas into one to create this. Come on, demonstrate it for her.”

Hearing Bai Hongtu’s command, the sports car opened its body, revealing its tightly structured mechanics. Compared to ordinary sports cars, it used ten times more materials.

That tenfold amount of materials was compressed into the small sports car, fully demonstrating Bai Hongtu’s exceptional artifact forging skills.

The puppet sitting inside the mecha controlled it as it flew into the blue sky.

“This thing really can fly, but why did you have to use a sports car form instead of directly using the mecha form?” Yu Yin felt Bai Hongtu was making unnecessary complications.

“Because it looks cooler this way.”

Yu Yin couldn’t understand Bai Hongtu’s reasoning, but that didn’t prevent her from guessing that the person before her was Bai Hongtu.

Other than Bai Hongtu, who else would speak to her in this tone?

Jiang Li?

Impossible—Jiang Li didn’t have this level of artifact forging skill.

Yu Yin came to Jiang Li’s side, where he had prepared a hot air balloon.

It could fly, but it showed no artifact forging technique whatsoever.

“What does this thing have to do with artifact forging?”

“How is it unrelated? Look, artifact forging requires using fire, right?”

Yu Yin nodded.

“Hot air balloons need fire to heat the air inside the balloon, making it less dense compared to the cold outside air so it can fly, right?”

Yu Yin nodded.

“Then me using fire to forge air—doesn’t that count as artifact forging?”

Yu Yin subconsciously started to nod but forcefully stopped herself.

This kind of unconventional thinking, this crude approach to artifact forging—Yu Yin could guarantee that the person before her was definitely Jiang Li.

Yu Yin was slightly surprised. Jiang Li, Bai Hongtu, and Ji Zhi—these three guys had actually rarely gathered together like this.

Back when the Human Sovereign selection first began, Ji Zhi had mingled with Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu, and these three had caused the Old Human Sovereign quite a bit of trouble.

The first round of competition eliminated a large group of people, including but not limited to: artifact forgers who used bamboo-copters to make heads fly, those who tied explosives to chairs to achieve flight, and a series of methods that would terrify even the dead.

Out of respect for Jiang Li, Yu Yin let him pass this round.

“Now begins the second round of competition. The most important aspect of artifact forging is power. Each of you has a piece of black iron ore, the most commonly used stone in artifact forging. You are now required to forge a spiritual treasure that can be used by Foundation Establishment cultivators.”

“After the forging is complete, two Foundation Establishment cultivators will use your spiritual treasures to battle. Whichever Foundation Establishment cultivator wins will allow their creator to advance to the next round.”

“These Foundation Establishment cultivators have been carefully selected—they have identical strength, with no weaknesses and no particular strengths. None of you need worry about luck factors.”

“The competition time is two hours. Begin now.”

The second round was somewhat more normal than the first, as they could forge actual spiritual treasures. The artifact forgers who had barely passed the first round breathed sighs of relief, seeing this as the key round where they could surpass others.

“The spiritual treasure with the greatest power? Definitely a sword. The Sword Sovereign’s technique of breaking ten thousand methods with one sword, Sect Master Bai Hongtu’s Immortal-Slaying Sword Array, and Human Sovereign Jiang’s technique of cleaving the River of Time with his sword—all are famous sword techniques.”

“Although the sword I forge won’t reach such exaggerated levels, I can do my utmost to make the blade exceptionally sharp—so sharp that even if it casually falls to the ground, it will cut a gash!”

In a daze, Jiang Li once again heard someone praising things that didn’t exist.

He now suspected that the author of “The Biography of Human Sovereign Jiang” wasn’t just Bai Hongtu alone—probably some acquaintance had written another version.

“Black iron ore, defeat opponents…” Jiang Li looked at the black iron ore in his hand, then at the group of little Foundation Establishment cultivators of equal level, and got an idea.

While Jiang Li had his idea, the other contestants had theirs too.

“A sword? No good. Swords have high requirements for users. Better to forge a broadsword—broadswords are easy to pick up, suitable for low-level cultivators without barriers to use.”

“Surely someone will want to use a sword as their weapon. I really don’t understand—why doesn’t anyone realize that the best weapon is defense? As long as I forge a shield, I’ll be invincible at the Foundation Establishment level.”

An artifact forger lifted a large hammer, banging away noisily as he worked to create a shield.

“In competition, you must use every means possible. What’s the use of the eighteen conventional weapons? Victory comes from surprise attacks—use hidden weapons rather than facing opponents directly.”

An artifact forger crafted vicious and treacherous hidden weapons.

“A shield? No good. A shield only protects one side. What if the Foundation Establishment cultivator can’t dodge in time and can’t defend properly? Better to forge a suit of armor—all-around defense. Although the strength isn’t as good as a shield, it wins in comprehensive coverage.”

The Puppet Sect elder skillfully began forging armor.

“Black iron ore… isn’t that just iron? I studied in Mingzhong World—I can use the principle of electromagnetic induction. As long as I magnetize the black iron ore in my hand, whatever weapon the opponent uses won’t matter—I’ll attract them all!”

Someone who had advanced their studies in Mingzhong World had returned to the Nine Provinces to make their mark, and this Nine Provinces Artifact Forging Competition was their first stop.

“Black iron ore?” Bai Hongtu pondered. “Maybe I should just make it into a statue of Jiang Li. It would be both sturdy and durable.”