Thousand Tempest Puppet Storm

Reading the book for a while, Minos couldn't help but become amazed. Rather than a simple technique, this Thousand Tempest Puppet Storm was more of a comprehensive guide on the art of puppets.

Not only did it include the instructions on how to create some low-level puppets, but it also taught the arguably most important technique for puppets, which was the Puppet String Art.

After all, a puppet without strings was useless, and while one could still barely control a puppet without strings, the difference was day and night compared to utilizing the Puppet String Art.

After making sure no one was around, Minos tucked the book into his spatial ring, walking down the stairs and out of the library as if nothing happened.

The deacon eyed him for a moment as he left the door, but after seeing he had nothing, he went back to his work.

It was fortunate Minos had a spatial ring, after all spatial storage devices were incredibly rare in this part of the world, so it made sense that the deacon never even bothered to think from that perspective.

After exiting the Technique Library, Minos didn't head out for his quest right away, instead he headed back home, deciding to take a look at the Thousand Tempest Puppet Storm technique he had picked up.

After entering his room and excusing the maid, Minos sat on his bed, before pulling the book out and giving it a proper read.

The book recorded three different puppets that ascended in difficulty and strength, which made it a perfect tool for a beginner.

Of course, even the simplest puppet was incredibly difficult to build even for a geniuses, meaning the art of puppet making was usually a generational skill passed on through sects or families.

Without a teacher, most people would be better off not wasting the time, but Minos wasn't deterred by difficulty, instead it invigorated him even more. So without a moment's waste, he quickly found himself absorbed in the book.

Of the three puppets, the first was the One-Moon Gold-Nibbling Mouse, which was a small, fast, and nimble puppet with an incredibly powerful bite, but likewise lacked strength and durability.

After that was the Two-Moon Diving Eagle, which was a popular puppet due to its incredible speed and scouting capabilities.

Its beak was also incredibly sharp, which meant that if it dived towards an enemy with its speed, even those in the late stages of the Mortal Renewal Realm could be killed.

Finally, was the Three-Moon Howling Bear, which was incredibly strong and durable, but lacked agility and flexibility.

Overall, all three puppets had very strong synergy with one another, making up for each other's weaknesses.

For puppet-masters, puppet synergy was incredibly important since they could only control a limited amount of puppets at a time, hence they needed to maximize efficiency.

Puppet-masters also needed incredible control, after all even if your puppets synergized well, if you couldn't control them to fight together properly, it was useless.

As Minos delved more in the book, he realized why the puppet art was gradually dying out. The requirements for talent were simply too demonic, making it hard to pass on.

Without inheritors, it's only a matter of time before it completely disappears, but fortunately while puppet-masters were rare, the work they left behind still existed throughout the world, always leaving a spark to reignite the fire.

After memorizing the building methods for the three puppets, Minos focused his attention back on the Puppet String Art.

After a quick read through, Minos was disappointed to find that the Puppet String Art required one to reach the Inner Heaven Realm at the minimum.

The Puppet String Art required one to gather and manipulate Nux into a fine string, using it to control puppets, so without Nux, it was pointless.

Fortunately, it seemed puppet-masters themselves realized this problem, so the guide also included a method to create special strings that could act as a replacement for Nux strings.

Of course compared to Nux strings, these strings were far worse, but after all this was only a method for newbie puppeteers to sharpen their skills.

After memorizing the entire book, Minos tucked it back into his spatial ring. While he wanted to try making the puppets now, he didn't have the material, and he also had a quest to go on, so he could only put it on the back-burner for the moment.

His original goal in coming to the Thousand Split Sword Sect was to further refine his sword skills, but with this book appearing, he felt like his plans had been thrown slightly off course.

His plans wouldn't change, but he decided to also devote some time towards this Thousand Tempest Puppet Storm technique.

With that decided, it was time to really get to work. After leaving his house and taking back his horse from the handy-man disciple, he darted off into the forests.

…

Lightning Birch Trail was a special place within the Cloudy Sky Forest Range. It was an area lightning seemed extra fond of, making it incredibly dangerous even for those in the late stages of Mortal Renewal.

Of course for those who trained in lightning-related skills, this place was the perfect training ground, making it quite popular despite the tremendous danger.

Minos wasn't here for the lightning however, so he planned on waiting until the storm reached its weakest.

The Cloudy Sky Forest Range was dense with demon beasts and resources, so cultivators loved coming here, which also meant a market naturally formed near the entrance.

Before Minos could even tether his horse and take a look around the market, a young cultivator quickly ran up to him, trying to sell his services.

"Welcome fellow cultivator. I know everything around these parts, and you don't look familiar, so you must be new here. My name is Ekky, the greatest guide for the cheapest price." Ekky said in a grand introduction.

"I'm trying to head to Lightning Birch Trail, tell me what you know about that place." Minos said, as he tossed him a Nux-Crystal.

"Depends what you want to know." Ekky said, as he took a quick bite of the Nux-Crystal to inspect its authenticity.

"When's the best time to travel to avoid lightning." Minos asked.

"Ahh, you'll need a lightning chart for that. Lucky for you, quite a few stands sell them, here, I'll take you to one." Ekky said, as he guided Minos deeper into the market.

After walking for a moment, the two arrived at a stand with an old man at the front. The old man's eyes were sealed shut, and he was lightning snoring.

"Hey oldy, wake up, I've got you a customer." Ekky shouted, causing the old man to fall out of his chair.

"Dammit Ekky, how many times have I told you not to shout when you see me sleeping." The old man said with annoyance as he got up and rubbed his sore behind.

"This young lad, how can I help you?" The old man asked after rubbing the dirt from his pants.

"How much for a lightning chart." Minos asked.

"Ahh, Ten Nux-Crystals, no bargaining." The old man answered.

"Good." Minos said, tossing him the ten crystals.

"Do you need anything else lad?" The old man asked.

"Not for now, maybe later." Minos said, as he began heading back to his horse while inspecting the lightning chart he had just bought.

"Hey, is there anything else you need to know, I know everything about these parts." Ekky said, as he ran up behind Minos.

"Is there anything I should look out for in the Lighting Birch Trail? Cultivators, demon beasts, things like that?"

"Well the cultivators willing to go to that area are usually pretty strong, but they tend to mind their own business. Beyond that, the most interesting thing I've heard about was the Thunder-Stroke Wolf King." Ekky said.

"Thunder-Stroke Wolf King?" Minos asked, as if he didn't know about this.

"Oh yeah, that's a late stage demonic beast with incredible power! Scarier than that is the fact that it has its pack behind it, which is at least a dozen wolves!"

"Has anyone tried taking it down?" Minos continued.

"I've heard of one group, but they got slaughtered completely. After that, nobody had the courage to confront the wolf king and its pack."

"Good, that's all I need for now." Minos said, tossing another Nux-Crystal to the boy.

"Good doing business with you, take care!" Ekky said, as he waved at Minos's disappearing back.

…

After hoping back onto the horse, Minos headed toward the trail. Based on the lightning chart, lightning would be weak for today, but would pick up tomorrow, so he had to take advantage of this window.

Lightning Birch Trail wasn't too far from the market, and after only a half-hour or so on horseback, he arrived.

The trail was eerily quiet at the moment due to the lack of lightning. Most cultivators that came here, came for the lightning, so without it, the trail was quite dead.

After riding down the trail for a while, Minos still had yet to see anyone else, only the howls of demon beasts keeping him company.

Despite this, his guard was at its highest, his senses telling him he was drawing closer to his goal.