In the morning, Qianji was sweeping the yard with a broom, and her sparkling eyes kept looking towards the kitchen.
The kitchen, which had hardly been used for so many years, now smelled the aroma of food again. Mr. Mu was humming happily while making the clinking sounds of cooking.
His master, wearing a turban and a smock, was happily cleaning the house.
Qianji has lived in this house for a long time, so long that it can hardly remember what it looked like in the beginning.
All he knew was that the house had never been so lively, and the host had never given him such a joyful mood.
Qianji felt so happy in his heart, as if the whole sky had become brighter.
Xiaoya and her new friend Xiaojin helped her sweep the snow in the yard.
In fact, snow clearing is just a matter of magic, but as puppets, they don't need to practice, sleep or eat, and they just like to act like humans when they have nothing to do.
As they were sweeping, they couldn't help but build snowmen, and as they were building snowmen, they couldn't help but have snowball fights. Soon the yard was even more of a mess than before they had been cleaned.
A strange feeling arose in Qianji's heart, and he didn't know whether to define it as sadness, happiness or nostalgia.
It stopped its broom and blinked. Although its memory had been erased, it suddenly felt that its life had always been like this.
At that time, there were always sounds of nails clanging coming from the house and the kitchen, while I was playing happily and carefree with countless friends in the yard.
When did this happen
Just as Qianji was standing in the snow garden in a daze, the owner suddenly rushed out of the house and first looked in the direction of the kitchen.
Then he called Qianji and Xiaoya to him, and took out a book with a cover from behind him like a thief. He lowered his voice and almost mouthed, "Why is this book under the chair!"
Qianji and Xiaoya looked at each other and shook their heads together.
Xiaoya raised an arm. "It was originally on the bookshelf. I guarantee it. I saw it on the bookshelf during the few days you were away."
Cen Qianshan looked at it for a long while, his face turned pale, "Are you sure?"
Xiaoya said proudly: "My memory is very good. It was modified by you, the master, and it has never been wrong."
Cen Qianshan, who was squatting in the corridor, looked at it for a long time, covered his face with his hands, and after a long time, he slowly got up and went into the house.
Qianji looked at his back, very confused, took out his little notebook and wrote: A man in love is like the weather, his mood changes at any time, it was apparently sunny just now, but in the blink of an eye it becomes cloudy again.
"Why is your master sad?"
"Maybe it's because... that illustration was seen?" Xiao Ya said.
"Which illustration?"
"That's the one," Xiaoya gestured, "The one where he was tied up by Yin Liu, waiting for Mr. Mu to rescue him."
The three little ones looked at each other, their eyes turned into inverted U shapes, and they covered their mouths and slipped out to the yard to play.
While having breakfast, Mu Xue saw the business card from the Jin family.
The Jin family's postcards were still the same. Mu Xue flipped through them nostalgically.
The Yan family was once one of the most prominent families in Fuwang City. It was famous for its powerful fighting ability and its unique model of being headed by a woman.
The Liu family has unique connections due to their much-criticized dual cultivation method and irresistible charm. The Lei family is financially strong due to their control of the largest trade market in the city.
In comparison, the Jin family is much more low-key, and they focus almost exclusively on the mass production and development of puppets and magical instruments.
Over a hundred years have passed, and various family forces have risen and fallen, and the old and the new have replaced each other. But the Jin family, which has been passed down for many years, is still as stable as before.
"There's nothing special happening today, so why don't we go to the Jin family together?" Mu Xue said.
For Mu Xue, among the major families in Fuwang City, she has the most contacts with the Jin family.
Back then, many of the life-like puppets and flying props she made casually, such as the prototypes of Jiubai and UFO, were purchased and improved by the Jin family and then widely promoted among the people.
The Jin family's gatherings would often invite many famous experts in the field of refining, or newcomers who had just emerged to gather together to discuss some difficult problems in the field.
It was a party that Mu Xue relatively liked to attend back then.
Cen Qianshan was busy eating breakfast. After a long time, he uttered a confused "ah", as if he didn't hear what Mu Xue said at all.
Mu Xue stroked his hair with amusement.
When a man falls in love, his emotions are so changeable that you can't figure out why he's happy or sad.
Cen Qianshan held Mu Xue's hand in his own palm, and rubbed the back of Mu Xue's hand with the tip of his thumb. After hesitating for a long time, he finally reached out to unbutton his collar and took out the red dragon pendant from his neck that Mu Xue had spent a hundred years to complete.
The red jade is very gorgeous, like a drop of heart blood against Cen Qianshan's jade-like skin, beautiful and moving.
Mu Xue's mind was distracted by the sexy lines of the collarbone and the few marks left on it.
Cen Qianshan held her hand with one hand, pressed the other hand on the red dragon, and closed his eyes.
The two of them soon developed synaesthesia, and Mu Xue saw the entire storage space in the red dragon pendant.
Back then, Mu Xue was a master weapon refiner who had reached the great perfection of the golden elixir realm. She felt that she was a wealthy woman.
But when she saw Cen Qianshan's storage space, she was still shocked by the scene there.
Cen Qianshan adheres to his usual rigorous and meticulous style, and arranges everything in the space into categories and in an orderly manner.
Even if Mu Xue used her spiritual sense alone, it would be difficult for her to browse through the countless shelves and endless partitions in a short period of time.
There she saw the remains of a giant deep-sea shark, or perhaps an entire keel.
The most spectacular thing was that in a spacious and empty house, there were spiritual stones piled up like a mountain. Those precious spiritual stones, one or two of which were enough for ordinary people to sell their daughters and children, were dumped casually on the floor.
Everywhere shows how impressive the wealth of this man is who spends at least 100,000 spirit stones for each mission.
Cen Qianshan opened his eyes and took out a red jade ring that was almost identical to the pendant.
"It and this dragon came from the same piece of jade. I tied a mandarin duck knot between them."
Mandarin Duck Knot is a term used in refining equipment. When two storage spaces that have been refined into the Mandarin Duck Knot are close to each other within a certain range, they can share what they have.
Although it seems convenient, the refining cost is extremely high and the distance is limited, so few people would refine such an overly laborious and expensive accessory.
Mu Xue wanted to take her hand back, but Cen Qianshan held her fingers tightly with such force that Mu Xue even felt a little pain.
"This ring was made a hundred years ago." He looked at Mu Xue and said slowly,
"I dreamed that it would be used one day."
These words were so painful that Mu Xue felt sad and had no way to refuse.
She watched the man carefully and slowly put the red ring on his finger.
Mu Xue's fingers were fair and symmetrical, with delicate skin, and were circled by a red mark, which was very conspicuous.
Cen Qianshan looked at the circle of red on Mu Xue's fingertips and finally smiled.
"When I was very young, my master spent a lot of money." He looked at the ring on Mu Xue's hand, as if talking to himself.
"Medical treatment, medicine, snacks, toys, weapons, magic weapons... Even Master didn't forget to leave me a lot of money before he went to survive."
"After Master left, I had nothing to do and earned a lot of spirit stones. I always thought that one day when she came back, I would buy her beautiful clothes, delicious food, and powerful magic tools and treasures."
This sentence of "I have nothing to do" made Mu Xue feel uncomfortable. It was hard for her to imagine how many crazy hunts this man had gone through and how many injuries he had suffered over the years to accumulate such amazing wealth by himself.
Cen Qianshan, with a little bit of wish fulfillment and happiness, lifted Mu Xue's hand and gently kissed the ring.
"Don't save money for me. During these few days in Fuwang City, spend it however you want. Let me be happy for a while."
…
When Mu Xue found Ding Lanlan and Lin Yin, the two girls were standing on the side of the road with sad faces, holding two strange plant seedlings.
"What did you buy this for? It's going to be huge when it grows up. It can really play tricks on people." Mu Xue moved closer and poked the tiny seedling. The tiny seedling quickly stretched out a tender branch and wrapped around her fingers, and also scratched her palm.
"I didn't want to buy it at first." Ding Lanlan sighed, "but the waiter said that today it's buy one get one free. I thought we didn't have this thing, so I couldn't resist."
Lin Yin said with a bitter face: "And he also said that he could get a red fruit for free. I was so excited that I forgot that red fruit is worthless here, and ended up spending all the spirit stones in my pocket."
The two asked Mu Xue again, "Xiaoxue, where did you go yesterday? What did you buy? Show us quickly."
"Me? I didn't buy anything."
"Oh my god, Xiaoxue, sometimes I really feel like you and I didn't grow up eating the same rice." Ding Lanlan said unconvinced, "Why is your Tao heart so stable? Doesn't this colorful world tempt you at all?"
Mu Xue scratched her head. Lanlan, you misunderstood. What does this have to do with Daoxin? First, I am used to living here. Second, I was so fascinated by the beauty last night that I had no time to buy anything.
"Xiaoxue, you really should take a good look around here. The food here is delicious, the clothes are beautiful, and some of the precious materials are so cheap that you won't believe it." Lin Yin approached Mu Xue and put his hand in her ear. "Also, those handsome and gentle men only cost two spirit stones."
Ding Lanlan showed Mu Xue the business card she received. "I accidentally spent all my money, so I had to go to the puppet shop this morning to sell two newly made puppets. As a result, the owner of the puppet shop sent someone to deliver this to me. He said it was a party invited by the Jin family."
"Xiaoxue, do you want to go? Do you think we can go?"
Mu Xue was here to invite her senior sister Ding Lanlan, who was also a weapon refiner, to go to the Jin family's banquet, so she took the opportunity to say, "Go ahead. The Jin family is a famous puppet manufacturing family in the Demon Spirit Realm. We can just take a look at the latest puppet technology in the Demon Spirit Realm in recent years."
The Jin family is located in a golden building that rises into the sky like a bamboo shoot. Connecting the upper and lower parts of the building are several octagonal pavilions with green tiles and glazed tiles that can slide rapidly on the outside of the building carrying people.
The retro-style octagonal pavilion has a transparent glazed door, lit with the most cutting-edge and fashionable colored lights and text.
After the door opened, a female puppet in gorgeous clothes stood in the corner. Seeing someone coming, she bowed with her stiff face that always kept a smile, and said in a soft and pleasant voice,
"Welcome to the Jin family, it's a pleasure to serve you."
The transparent glazed door of the pavilion closed and soon began to rise upwards.
Looking down through the transparent door of the pavilion, the whole picture of Fuwang City gradually appears before your eyes. Within the vast city walls, there are rivers, farmlands and orchards, crisscrossing streets and highly prosperous urban areas, flying magic tools flying back and forth, and large phantoms floating in the city.
This is a self-sufficient paradise enclosed within a wall.
The world across the wall is an endlessly desolate wilderness where it is difficult for humans to survive for long.
From time to time, strange figures of monsters would slowly walk through the wasteland.
Just as the elevator continued to rise, Ding Lanlan and the other two saw several figures driving speeding cars, fleeing for their lives towards the city gate.
A mountain-like golden-armored statue appeared on the horizon amidst the billowing smoke. The statue held a pagoda in its hand, and was clad in golden armor, with colorful ribbons and jade rings, looking majestic. However, its face was like a stone sculpture, expressionless, and its eyes were red and white, with no pupils visible.
It chased after them with great strides, shaking the earth and mountains. Each step it took was so far that it almost stepped on the fleeing soldiers several times.
"Hurry, run faster!" Ding Lanlan and others who saw this scene from the octagonal pavilion couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat for those people.
A huge shoe sole fell from the sky, and the young demon cultivator who was running at the end was unable to avoid it and was trampled to the ground under the feet of the statue.
He held up the protective magic weapon, gritted his teeth and resisted the huge statue that was hundreds of times larger than himself, and struggled with the god of death with all his might.
The expressionless statue looked at the life struggling like an ant under its feet, and slowly exerted force with its feet.
At this moment, the demon statues squatting on the top of Fuwang City woke up with their heads and tails wagging, as if they were guards of their homes that were awakened from their sleep.
The body of the rock peeled off, the scales transformed, and it turned into armored puppets in combat form, which pounced down from the top of the city and rushed towards the strange statue that was rushing towards the city.
The densely packed combat puppets quickly destroyed the gigantic demon, and the monk who was trampled by the demon was rescued by his companions and taken into the city when he was dying, barely managing to save his life.
In the octagonal pavilion which had already stopped, Ding Lanlan and others who saw the ending breathed a long sigh of relief and found that they were so nervous that they broke out in cold sweats on their backs.
The door to the octagonal pavilion had already been opened.
They then found themselves in a hall decorated in a retro and luxurious style. The puppets in the pavilion were dressed in gorgeous clothes and bowed slightly, waiting to lead the way for them.
Many guests who came up from other octagonal pavilions straightened their clothes and walked calmly into the hall under the thoughtful and polite guidance of the puppets.
They seemed accustomed to the thrilling battle outside the city wall and did not pay much attention to it.
Instead, he showed a curious look towards Ding Lanlan, Mu Xue and Lin Yin.
"A newcomer? Which family has such a young puppeteer?"
"I haven't heard of it. It's a strange face."
"That puppet with a lotus leaf on the kid's shoulder is a little interesting."
"Although not powerful, he is very spiritual. Hey, go find out whose child he is."
In such a completely unfamiliar place, the demon cultivators around them, who were of different ages, dressed in strange clothes, and carrying all kinds of unique puppets, all looked at the three of them with inquiring eyes.
Ding Lanlan and Lin Yin both began to feel a little timid.
"Wouldn't it be unsafe for us to come in rashly like this?"
"Is it too late to go back now?"
"It's okay. Look, isn't there an acquaintance over there?" Mu Xue comforted them both.
Ding Lanlan and Lin Yin looked up and saw a familiar figure standing not far away.
The man was tall and dressed in tight clothes. He stood there motionless, with an intimidating aura that made it difficult for people to get close to him. Even in a dense crowd, there was still a very wide distance around him.
What made Ding Lanlan and Lin Yin feel a little uncomfortable was that the look in the eyes of this majestic demon cultivator looked at them with a vague sense of impatience and grievance.
It must be an illusion.
No matter what, meeting Cen Qianshan, who had been traveling with them all the way, in a place like this made everyone feel at ease.