Ye Qin scrutinized the contents of the Mithril blueprint repeatedly, emerging from the dense text after two hours.

The technique known as Sand Blowing Art required Gold Sand. Gold Sand was a Tier Seven refining material of the Gold element, usually employed in crafting Gold-attributed magical artifacts. This refining component was vastly different from Mithril. While acquiring Mithril in Xianque City was difficult, obtaining Gold Sand was relatively straightforward.

Ye Qin journeyed to a medium-sized artifact refining workshop in a nearby district and returned with a box full of Gold Sand.

He then proceeded to seal the spiritual energy signature of the small, inconspicuous courtyard with a simple formation, lest it be detected by outside cultivators. The alley he occupied was narrow and dilapidated, mostly housing low-level cultivators, so he didn't anticipate the interference of high-level cultivators while he refined his artifacts.

The few neighboring cultivators, who were at the Qi Condensation stage, noticed the unusual activity in the courtyard. Realizing a high-level cultivator had taken residence, they were naturally bewildered but dared not spread the word or pry into the matter.

Ye Qin meditated and adjusted his breathing within the courtyard's seclusion chamber for half an hour, restoring himself to peak condition. Only then did he retrieve the Mithril blueprint, the Gold Sand, and a large quantity of spiritual wine from his storage bag—all the necessary items.

Finally, he brought out the Silver Armored Guard.

Standing silently and calmly before Ye Qin was the Silver Armored Guard, towering two zhang high, its eyes closed. A faint silvery-white luster emanated from its surface; it was light yet incredibly resilient, imbued with a mysterious puppet aura.

Even though it was an inanimate object, ordinary cultivators standing before it would feel a potent sense of pressure. Even cultivators at the initial stage of the Core Formation realm would sense an unspoken weight.

Ye Qin gazed intently at the Ninth-Tier Silver Armored Guard, his eyes reflecting astonishment.

Back when he first infiltrated the underground Mausoleum of the Holy Emperor, he was merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, recklessly following a horde from the Chaotic Lands. He hadn't grasped the true concept of a Ninth-Tier Silver Armored Guard then, yet he managed to snatch it away.

Now, as a Core Formation cultivator, he fully comprehended the terrifying power this puppet artifact possessed. This single Guard could effortlessly annihilate every Foundation Establishment cultivator who had entered the Holy Emperor's Mausoleum that year.

Reflecting on his rash actions back then, Ye Qin couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. If the Holy Emperor hadn't been eternally trapped within the Ice Jade Profound Coffin, he himself would have long since turned to dust.

Ye Qin calmed his mind, dismissing the thoughts, and fixed his gaze on the Silver Armored Guard's sole point of damage: the indentation on its chest.

There lay a deep fist print. Judging by its size, it must have been struck by a man possessing astonishing divine strength.

Ye Qin found it almost unbelievable who could deliver such a blow, driving the print nearly five cun deep into the Guard’s chest, directly shattering the crucial recess that housed the Spirit Stones, thus rendering the Ninth-Tier Silver Armored Guard completely paralyzed.

Perhaps even an Nascent Soul cultivator could not deliver such an overbearing punch—and cultivators rarely resorted to fighting purely with their fists, unless they were Earth Clan strongmen with immense physical power or demon races possessing exceptionally robust physical bodies.

Ye Qin was puzzled and secretly marveled, unable to deduce who could have broken the Silver Armored Guard.

It seemed this was the precise area needing repair.

He extended his right hand in a beckoning gesture.

From the box containing the Gold Sand, a large scoop flew out, coalescing into a thumb-thick stream composed of tens of thousands of individual grains, fluidly swirling before him, glittering splendidly.

Ye Qin’s expression turned solemn. He quietly accumulated his magical power, took a deep breath, and suddenly slapped out a large mass of surging Samadhi True Fire with his left hand, enveloping the Gold Sand and fiercely scorching it.

With both hands, he continuously cast seals.

Under the Samadhi True Fire, the Gold Sand gradually melted, then began to boil and churn, transforming into a large mass of high-temperature golden liquid. The temperature inside the seclusion chamber rose sharply.

Ye Qin, forming the Sand Blowing hand seals, rapidly pointed a finger.

This stream of golden fluid transformed into a slender golden line, entering the puppet's body through the mouth aperture of the Silver Armored Guard.

"Crack!"

Intense collision sounds echoed within the shell of the Silver Armored Guard puppet as the golden liquid hammered against the inner wall of the indentation.

However, the Silver Armored Guard remained unresponsive, showing no discernible change even after a long time.

Ye Qin was not impatient.

Gold-element materials were the most potent in terms of armor penetration among the Five Elements materials, but transforming this Tier Seven material into Ninth-Tier Mithril was still immensely difficult, as noted in the refining blueprint. The Sand Blowing Art required a long duration to reshape the Mithril.

Several hours later, Ye Qin lifted his gourd and took a large swig of spiritual wine to replenish his depleted magical power. He continuously channeled the Samadhi True Fire, smelting the Gold Sand, and driving the flowing liquid to impact the indentation on the Silver Armored Guard, slowly smoothing the damage over the long process.

It took a full twenty to thirty days before the recessed area on the Silver Armored Guard's chest was gradually leveled by the flowing Gold Sand liquid.

The shell of the Silver Armored Guard had now resumed its pre-damage shape.

Next was the repair of the Guard’s internal "heart."

The Silver Armored Guard’s heart was a recess designed to hold Spirit Stones. Around this Spirit Stone socket were engraved countless intricate micro-formations, extending to the Guard's limbs and head. The spiritual energy from the stone would flow through these formations to power every part of the Silver Armored Guard.

This crucial component was equally complex; it was the key to driving the puppet with Spirit Stone energy. Any error here would prevent energy transmission, rendering the puppet immobile.

This section had to be replicated precisely according to the Mithril blueprint, with no deviation allowed for successful repair.

This was why Ye Qin had paid such a steep price to obtain the blueprint; without it, he couldn't even begin to understand these formations.

Ye Qin didn't know how this complex array powered the puppet, but he only needed to follow the blueprint's instructions; overthinking was unnecessary. He simultaneously consulted the Mithril blueprint and repaired the Silver Armored Guard’s internal structure as required.

Ye Qin's expression was cautious as he condensed the flowing Gold Sand liquid to a size as fine as a needle point, meticulously re-engraving the damaged micro-formations.

Here, the versatility of the Gold Sand was evident: the minute grains could fluidly coalesce into a thumb-thick stream or shrink to the fineness of a hair or a needle tip for internal repairs within the Silver Armored Guard’s shell.

Completely focused on mending the formations, another ten-plus days passed.

At noon on this day.

"Withdraw!"

With a soft cry, a scorching stream of Gold Sand liquid surged out from within the Silver Armored Guard's shell. It spat out several icy water orbs to cool and solidify the material, which then fell back into the box before Ye Qin.

The damaged Silver Armored Guard had been fully repaired.

Ye Qin sighed in relief. His magical power was nearly entirely depleted. If not for the spiritual wine, he couldn't have completed the repair in one go. He sat down to meditate, fully restoring his spiritual energy.

Now, all that remained was to install a Spirit Stone into the recess to activate the puppet Guard. Of course, this couldn't be done with low-grade Spirit Stones; at least an Upper-Grade Spirit Stone was required.

Ye Qin placed an Upper-Grade Spirit Stone into the socket.

Then, he used his divine sense to control the Silver Armored Guard. The Guard vibrated once, its eyelids suddenly snapping open, and its eyes, made of spirit jade, shot out a brilliant, fiery red light. It grasped a massive, two-zhang-long silver spear, turned its head, and fixed its gaze on Ye Qin.

Ye Qin rejoiced at seeing it move and wanted to test its combat capability. He immediately cast the Adamant Shield spell upon himself and summoned the Golden Bird Breaking-Aura Sword, materializing it several zhang long before him in a fully defensive stance.

Whoosh!

The Silver Armored Guard crouched low and suddenly flung the spear in its hand. It shot out like a streak of silver light, attacking Ye Qin.

Thwack!

Ye Qin did not evade, standing firm and meeting the spear thrust head-on with the Golden Bird Breaking-Aura Sword. He was forced back several zhang before finally stopping, sinking into a half-squat, a suffocating pressure in his chest. Suppressing the turbulent energy and blood within him, he could barely contain the overwhelming euphoria.

Fast, so fast! The attack was immensely powerful. A casual strike possessed enough force to make him, a first-layer Core Formation cultivator, utilize his full strength just to block it.

Hiss!

After launching the strike, the light in the Silver Armored Guard's fiery red pupils rapidly dimmed, and it stopped moving.

Ye Qin paused, immediately probing the condition within the Guard’s shell with his divine sense, only then understanding. The Upper-Grade Spirit Stone in the socket had turned into a dull piece of waste rock, its entire spiritual energy exhausted by a single blow.

Ye Qin couldn't help but offer a wry smile. It seemed using this Silver Armored Guard in the future would be extremely costly. Furthermore, only peak-grade Spirit Stones would sustain it for sustained combat.

Ye Qin considered his reserve of two hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones. He piled them up within his Earth Mansion, allowing them to condense into higher-grade, peak-grade Spirit Stones to fuel the Silver Armored Guard's combat needs.

This process would take time, making Ye Qin somewhat frustrated and pained.

He hadn't expected this Ninth-Tier Silver Armored Guard to consume Spirit Stones so voraciously. Unless absolutely necessary, he likely couldn't use it casually; otherwise, the sheer financial drain of the Spirit Stones would be unbearable.

Ye Qin then began to mentally compare the advantages and disadvantages of his Core Formation Skeleton Demon and the spirit beasts from the Beast Spirit Sect.

Although all three could be controlled by a cultivator, their effects were vastly different.

Spirit beasts controlled by Beast Tamers, skeleton demons controlled by Puppet Cultivators, and puppets controlled by Puppet Cultivators—each had unique methods and outcomes.

Spirit beasts had many merits: in combat, they relied entirely on their inherent demonic power, consuming none of the cultivator’s magical power or divine sense. Moreover, spirit beasts would slowly grow, evolving from low-tier to high-tier, but they were bound by lifespan limits; they died when their time ended.

When controlled by specific secret methods to assist in combat, spirit beasts were greatly beneficial to cultivators.

However, spirit beasts also had clear drawbacks. If a spirit beast was severely injured or encountered a natural predator, it could easily lose control—the former inducing terror and escape, the latter inciting rage and reckless engagement with the enemy.

The advantage of a puppet artifact is that it is an object without self-awareness, thus incapable of losing control and fighting fearlessly to the death. Even if most of its body is shattered, as long as it can move, it will charge forward under the cultivator’s divine sense control until destruction.

The evident disadvantage, however, is its reliance on Spirit Stones for power; without energy, it ceases to move. The higher the grade of the puppet artifact, the more Spirit Stones it consumes. For a Ninth-Tier puppet artifact like the Silver Armored Guard, a single Upper-Grade Spirit Stone could barely facilitate one attack.

Of course, a cultivator could substitute their own magical power for Spirit Stones to launch an attack. But controlling such a massive entity with one’s spiritual power was far more difficult and taxing than commanding a magical artifact. It would rapidly deplete the cultivator’s energy, placing them in a perilous situation on the battlefield.

Without magical power, even the strongest cultivator would see their strength drastically reduced.

Skeleton demons operate using the power of their demonic cores, requiring the cultivator's divine sense for control. They slowly grow their cores by absorbing death energy. They possess the advantages of spirit beasts—moving via their own power—and the advantages of puppet artifacts—lacking self-awareness and fighting fearlessly.

Arguably, the skeleton demon combines the merits of both spirit beasts and puppet artifacts.

However, refining a skeleton demon is even harder than refining a puppet artifact, and only Ghost Cultivators can refine high-tier ones. His Core Formation Skeleton Demon was a complete anomaly; other cultivators could hardly obtain such a thing.

Furthermore, the skeleton demon's demonic core, which contains its nascent spirit, is also bound by a lifespan. Once this limit is reached and it cannot advance further, it will perish completely. His Corrosive Bone Crocodile Skeleton Demon, if it cannot ascend to higher tiers, is destined to die eventually.

The Silver Armored Guard puppet, on the other hand, has no lifespan limitations whatsoever. And spirit beasts are the easiest to raise.

In summary, spirit beasts, puppets, and skeleton demons all have their respective strengths and weaknesses; none is definitively superior. It all depends on the cultivator's overall strength.

Ye Qin had finally repaired the Ninth-Tier Silver Armored Guard.

Despite the immense Spirit Stone consumption required to use the Silver Armored Guard, this was, for him, a monumental stroke of fortune.

He stepped out of the seclusion chamber and inhaled deeply in the courtyard sunlight, his spirits soaring.

With this Silver Armored Guard at his disposal, he now possessed greater confidence when he eventually participated in the campaign against the Earth Clan alongside the Core Formation cultivators from the Heavenly Dao Alliance and the Demonic Devil Alliance. Even facing a high-stage Core Formation cultivator, he would have a fighting chance, rather than being forced into a desperate rout.

Ye Qin dispelled the formation and left the small courtyard, intending to depart Xianque City.

He suddenly recalled Bai Xiuer, who was staying at an inn in Xianque City, and wondered if she was still there.

Although bringing Bai Xiuer to Xianque City in the East Sea Archipelago had fulfilled his promise to the elders of the Bai Clan, requiring no further action from him, leaving the young matriarch abandoned in an inn—and departing in such haste without saying goodbye—left him with a slight sense of unease.

He wondered how the Earth Clan girl was faring now and hoped no misfortune had befallen her.

If he had unintentionally caused suffering to this Earth Clan girl, it was certainly not his intention.

With this thought and a touch of guilt, Ye Qin turned and walked toward the medium-sized inn where he had first stayed upon arriving in Xianque City.

The inn's attendant stood lazily at the entrance, squinting in rest. Upon suddenly seeing Ye Qin appear, he was greatly alarmed and rushed forward, offering excessive deference. After all, a Core Formation Ancestor rarely deigned to visit such a common inn; the establishment considered it an honor for the Ancestor to grace them with his presence.

"More than two years ago, an Earth Clan woman stayed here. Is she still at the inn?" Ye Qin asked in a flat tone.

"An Earth Clan woman? Ah, yes! An Earth Clan woman stayed at this inn for quite some time, often eating and drinking for free. She stayed for about a year, then left because she couldn't pay the rent... Uh, she, she wasn't the Ancestor's maid, was she?"

The attendant thought hard, then suddenly recalled that the Core Formation Ancestor had brought that woman with him. At that time, the Ancestor was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. A look of anguish crossed the attendant's face. If he had known, he would have urged the Head Manager to keep the Earth Clan woman by all means. "Where did she go?"

Ye Qin frowned slightly, not blaming the attendant.

"This little one does know a little. She often frequented the nearby Chaos Alleys, mixing with some Earth Clan members there. This junior even saw her pass by here a few days ago. But where she lives now, this junior truly doesn't know," the attendant quickly replied.

Ye Qin turned and left the inn, heading towards the Chaos Alleys the attendant had mentioned.

Xianque City, the foremost giant city of the East Sea, boasted magnificent and grand Immortal Palaces and bustling, prosperous main streets. Yet, within the massive city, there existed numerous dark alleyways, exceedingly chaotic, housing countless low-level cultivators, Earth Clan members, and ordinary mortals who survived by taking on the most menial jobs. These areas were riddled with various unknown, petty organizations engaged in fierce struggles.

The Chaos Alleys mentioned by the inn attendant were precisely such a place.

Ye Qin arrived at the Chaos Alleys near the inn. He saw dilapidated bluestone houses everywhere, and low-level cultivators whose gazes held mingled awe and fear towards him, interspersed with oblivious Earth Clan members and mortals. In the dark corners, greedy eyes occasionally peeked out, but these gazes immediately recoiled in horror upon meeting Ye Qin's, daring not to resurface.

His brow furrowed even tighter.

Such a chaotic place offered no safety; even the patrolling cultivators maintaining order for Xianque City rarely appeared here.

Since no high-level cultivators resided here, he had no reservations. He walked casually, releasing his divine sense to sweep across the vast expanse of the Chaos Alleys, extensively searching for Bai Xiuer's whereabouts.

After a moment, Ye Qin seemed to find something. A cold smirk touched his lips, and his figure flickered as he vanished into the alleys.

"That little thing is truly tender!"

"Big Brother, this girl is too beautiful. How could she end up in these Chaos Alleys? Do

I never expected to encounter such a situation here in Immortal Palace City. He had no desire to lift a hand against Foundation Establishment cultivators who posed no threat to him. However, if someone were to die, that would be an entirely different matter.

Yet, he held back. It wasn't unwillingness, but because the situation took an unexpected turn.

He saw that just as the brute was within four or five zhang of Bai Xiuer, her expression shifted. The panic vanished instantly, replaced instead by a smile of utter innocence, and she let out a whistle.

The brute felt something was wrong, sensing the summons. With a crash!

The doors of the bluestone houses lining the street flew open, and dozens of Earth Whirl tribesmen poured out, immediately encircling the two brutes and cutting off any retreat. Immortal Palace City was protected by a no-fly spell; aerial escape was impossible.

"Gentlemen, it is time for you to die!"

The Earth Tribe maiden flashed a smile so sweet it could charm the soul, then pushed off from the ground and moved with lightning speed toward the burly man.