"Ten thousand experience points earned... finally, I can level up a bit."
With a thought, Li Ye opened his status panel.
[Name: Li Ye]
[Spiritual Root: Mid-grade Earth-Wood Dual Root]
[Age: 30]
[Lifespan: 184 years]
[Skills:]
Planting: Tier-2 High Grade (3772/40,000)
Alchemy: Tier-2 Mid Grade (2468/40,000)
Artifact Crafting: Tier-1 Mid Grade (654/5,000)
Talismans: Tier-2 Mid Grade (3131/20,000)
Gu Arts: Tier-2 Low Grade (2299/15,000)
Formations: Tier-2 Low Grade (37,211/60,000)
Puppetry: Tier-1 Low Grade (629/2,500)
[Herbal Spirit Essence:]
Blood Grain Rice Essence ×500
Evergreen Essence ×300
[Planting Traits:]
Vitality Lv.1
Absorption Lv.1
Wood Spirit Lv.1
Tongtian Lv.1
[Experience: 11,000]
Lately, Li Ye has primarily focused his efforts on puppetry and formation arts.
The main goal, naturally, was to find a way to break through or even make use of the restrictive arrays within the lava Palace.
And on top of that, he'd been using puppets as exploration teams, allowing them to delve into one ruined structure after another in his stead.
With the assistance of his divine sense, learning Tier-1 skills had been incredibly efficient. He had managed to grasp the basics without much effort at all he hadn't even needed to dip into the 1,000 experience points granted earlier from the Voidrealm Tree's upgrade.
But with today's haul, he could make a significant leap in his puppetry skill!
As for formation arts... the experience cost was just too high.
Thankfully, with a steady stream of experience points incoming from harvesting Qingxuan Rice, and with a complete Tier-2 inheritance in hand, he had a much better grasp of the lava Palace's arrays so he could afford to take his time there.
"Let's shore up the weak spots first... Improving my puppetry skills doesn't just mean better custom puppets it also increases my ability to control them over longer distances with a split focus..."
"With that, I can send them even deeper into unexplored ruins!"
A glint of determination flashed in Li Ye's eyes as he poured all his remaining experience into puppetry.
A long-lost yet familiar spiritual light surged through his mind, settling as a new level of mastery in his technique.
Moments later, Li Ye snapped out of his trance and looked at the panel again.
[Puppetry: Tier-1 High Grade (5629/7000)]
"Tier-1 High-Grade Puppetry... This should be enough to start testing my idea."
Li Ye's expression turned contemplative.
.....
Buzz Buzz Buzz
Inside the vast and empty grand hall, several puppets stood with dim red eyes. Mysterious flame-like spirit energy flowed through the array of patterns on their bodies. The heavy-armored puppet at the front took the lead, while the others moved in coordination.
Moments later, the array formation between them was triggered, forming a battle formation that faintly manifested into a blazing fire, cloaking each puppet in a mantle of flames.
Their overall combat power was instantly elevated now bordering on Tier-2 might!
The design and construction of this formation bore a striking resemblance to the array restrictions within the Lava Palace so much so that it could even integrate seamlessly with them.
In the center, one of the ranged puppets opened its head, revealing a cannon-like structure.
With a mere thought from Li Ye, dark red spirit energy surged and condensed. As the runes on the puppet lit up, a crimson fireball burst forth. Empowered by the battle formation, it rapidly expanded.
By the time it struck the massive boulder ahead, it had grown to the size of a large water tank.
BOOM!
A pillar of blazing red fire shot skyward, engulfing the boulder. The flames surged outward but were quickly suppressed by the hall's internal restrictions.
As the firelight faded, the boulder was revealed mostly shattered, with the remaining portion still burning and half-melted.
This level of destructive power was on par with the Sunfire Fireball Talisman that Li Ye had crafted in the past.
And that wasn't even the end of it.
Li Ye went on to test several other puppet types.
Bird-like scouts, melee units, tiger and leopard models... All unleashed attacks under the empowerment of the battle formation. Even the bird puppet, originally not designed for combat, now exuded the aura of a fire beast.
Cloaked in flames, its swoops carried intense heat capable of inflicting real damage.
As for the melee types and the tiger-leopard units, their performance was downright remarkable they could easily take on Tier-1 fire beasts head-on!
"With spirit stones and fire beast cores as dual power sources, paired with the formation array, a Tier-1 puppet can temporarily attain quasi-Tier-2 strength... This puppet battle formation is a success!"
Li Ye looked pleased. Now that his puppetry skill had reached Tier-1 High Grade, he could finally put to use parts of those incomplete Tier-2 techniques he had learned.
With a gesture, he recalled the puppets and inspected the inscribed array lines.
All of them showed signs of burns and slight melting another couple of uses and they'd probably be completely destroyed.
But Li Ye had already anticipated this.
"Combat capability aside, this also compensates for my usual lack of raw power…"
"More importantly, if my calculations are correct, this battle formation is directly derived from the Tier-1 and Tier-2 formations within the Lava Palace. With enough testing, it should resonate with those inner restrictions…"
"Once that happens, the puppets will be able to move through the palace more easily, causing less damage and exploring deeper."
"As for the wear and tear, these are consumables. If they break, I'll just make more!"
Li Ye's tone was bold and unrestrained.
Right now, what he had in abundance were earth and fire-type materials exactly what these puppets required. He could afford to burn through them without concern.
If he could unearth even a few ancient treasures from within the Lava Palace, the cost would be well worth it!
Following the secret path he'd opened beneath Tengyun Market, Li Ye returned to the underground Lava Cavern.
After confirming that no one else had passed through, he released a squad of puppets each now redesigned, their armor primarily composed of red and yellow plating to scout ahead.
"There's no way the Ma family would ever guess… While they're busy combing through lava caverns looking for the entrance to the Lava Palace, it's right under Tengyun Market..."
Li Ye chuckled, keeping an eye on his surroundings.
Though there were certainly other routes through the Chidi Mountains that led underground, in terms of safety and convenience, Li Ye's research had shown this location to be the most ideal.
Step by step, they advanced until, faintly visible in the distance, the timeless silhouette of the Lava Palace once again emerged through the lava's glow.
Li Ye's gaze grew serious, but he didn't hesitate in driving the puppets forward.
It wasn't until they neared the vaguely glowing red formation restriction that his expression finally eased a little.
"Been days since I came here… The formations shifted slightly, but no major expansions. Though I can't be sure about the rest of the area..."
"Still, the current route remains viable for exploration."
With that decision made, a jade vial appeared in Li Ye's hand.
He poured out a stream of Condensed Water Essence, which wrapped around him as a water shield, instantly isolating him from most of the heat.
"Thanks to the Ma family's generosity even sent me a fireproof treasure for free…"
"It'd be a shame not to accept such kindness, so I'll make sure to clean out every last bit of trash from this outer zone!"
He chuckled mockingly.
Then, guiding a team of puppets perfectly suited to the current environment, Li Ye directed them into the formation, heading toward the previously explored ruined building island.
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