But in He Song's view,
The most important task at the moment was to forge this Core Formation puppet first.
After successfully refining this cultivator's Core into a Taiyin Puppet, the Core would no longer retain its original essence, as it would become the core of the Taiyin Puppet.
Thus, if the contingency plan left by Ghostface True Lord hadn't been destroyed despite being struck by divine lightning for a full half-month, then once the Core was fully transformed into a Taiyin Puppet,
Ghostface True Lord would no longer be able to gather any information about He Song from it.
In such a scenario,
When He Song later placed the Taiyin Puppet in a yin-rich area and protected it with multiple layers of formations,
Ghostface True Lord would have no way of locating the Core.
It could be said that
In order to ensure Ghostface True Lord could never find this Core again, He Song had put considerable thought into it.
According to He Song's reasoning,
After the Core had been bombarded by divine lightning from the Grand Firmament Divine Thunder Array for half a month, it was highly unlikely that anything else remained on it.
And once He Song refined the Core into a Taiyin Puppet, there would be no way for anyone else to locate it.
After all, during the refinement of the Taiyin Puppet,
He Song would completely assimilate the Core, transforming it into the puppet's core.
Such a thoroughly refined Core naturally wouldn't retain any contingencies left by other cultivators.
With this mindset, after bombarding the Core with divine lightning for half a month,
He Song soon emerged from seclusion and deactivated the formation in his residence.
At He Song's summons,
Xiao Qing's figure quickly arrived at He Song's residence.
Inside He Song's residence.
Still within that small pavilion,
When He Song offered Xiao Qing another small cup of spirit tea, saving her a month of arduous cultivation,
Xiao Qing promptly informed He Song of some events that occurred in the outside world during his half-month seclusion.
During He Song's half-month seclusion,
The decade-long large auction hosted by Treasure Gathering Pavilion had already concluded.
There were some minor incidents during the auction.
Some Core Formation cultivators made extravagant purchases, acquiring numerous treasures.
Other Core Formation cultivators expressed dissatisfaction over the disappearance of a cultivator's Core from the auction items and angrily questioned the auction organizers.
When Xiao Qing relayed these events to He Song,
He Song found them somewhat interesting.
Upon learning that the person who made high-profile purchases at the auction, acquiring item after item, was none other than Ghostface True Lord,
He Song's interest in these matters grew significantly.
According to Xiao Qing, for some unknown reason, Ghostface True Lord not only purchased some Core Formation spirit talismans and two lower-grade spiritual artifacts,
But also acquired many treasures commonly used by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Moreover, when Ghostface True Lord participated in the bidding, he was very high-profile,
Competing fiercely with various Foundation Establishment and even Core Formation cultivators.
Furthermore, what surprised Xiao Qing the most was,
Ghostface True Lord wasn't in the top-floor private rooms reserved for Core Formation True Lords but was instead on the second floor, mingling with Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Such behavior,
If He Song hadn't done something similar before, Xiao Qing might have assumed that Ghostface True Lord was indeed just a Foundation Establishment cultivator based solely on this fact.
Back when He Song first came to Yanyun Prefecture,
He mingled with Foundation Establishment cultivators on the second floor but competed with Core Formation cultivators for bids.
At that time, Xiao Qing was the auctioneer for that auction.
This was something He Song openly mentioned when they first met,
Before which Xiao Qing, though finding He Song's voice familiar, hadn't recalled this incident.
Only after He Song brought it up did Xiao Qing suddenly remember the cultivator who mingled with Foundation Establishment practitioners yet bid against Core Formation True Lords.
Because of this,
When Xiao Qing learned that Ghostface True Lord, like He Song before, was on the second floor mingling with Foundation Establishment cultivators while competing with Core Formation True Lords on the top floor, she wasn't too surprised.
She had already experienced such an outrageous situation once.
This second time naturally didn't provoke many other thoughts.
As a Core Formation True Lord, it was indeed possible to act this way.
He Song was the precedent.
Upon learning about Ghostface True Lord's actions, He Song immediately felt a sense of foreboding.
This Ghostface True Lord,
First showing weakness in front of him and Xiao Qing, then making such moves at the subsequent auction,
His purpose was likely to lure He Song out and then rely on his superior strength to kill him.
Thus, his gains from this venture would significantly increase.
However, Ghostface True Lord probably never imagined
That in this cultivation world, there existed a particularly cautious Core Formation True Lord like He Song.
No matter how much he showed weakness in front of He Song or acted in ways that made people think he was just a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the subsequent auction,
He Song still didn't develop any greed.
After all, from the beginning,
When He Song first met Ghostface True Lord,
He had considered that Ghostface True Lord's cultivation might genuinely be that of a Foundation Establishment practitioner.
At that time, if He Song had harbored any greed, he could have simply chosen to strike down Ghostface True Lord and search his body for the cultivator's Core he needed.
At that time, He Song hadn't thought too much and didn't consider it a conspiracy.
A late-stage Core Formation cultivator, when facing someone who isn't even a Core Formation cultivator but merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, could absolutely erase the latter from existence without a trace.
This was a gap of one major realm and several minor realms.
With such a disparity, killing someone and leaving no trace was entirely feasible.
And precisely under these circumstances,
He Song chose not to strike directly but instead opted to trade fairly with Ghostface True Lord without hesitation.
This action was completely incomprehensible to other cultivators in the cultivation world.
After all,
When killing someone in front of you wouldn't bring any consequences to your eyes and could bring significant benefits,
Any random Core Formation cultivator might casually crush Ghostface True Lord.
Of course, this was on the premise that Ghostface True Lord was really just a Foundation Establishment cultivator and not part of the conspiracy He Song suspected.
However, back then, He Song hadn't detected any signs of a conspiracy.
In other words, He Song genuinely considered that killing the person in front of him would bring great benefits and wouldn't affect him at all,
Yet he still chose to trade fairly with Ghostface True Lord.
That is to say, at that time, He Song didn't choose to seize by force due to Ghostface True Lord's weak power.
Instead, he continued to opt for fair trade.
With such magnanimity,
No matter how much Ghostface True Lord showed weakness in front of He Song, He Song wouldn't harbor any thoughts towards him.
After all, He Song was inherently cautious. Unless others provoked him, He Song rarely took action against others for opportunities.
Moreover, in He Song's eyes, the most precious thing on Ghostface True Lord had already been traded into his hands.
Thus, Ghostface True Lord had long lost his value.
This was the main reason He Song didn't harbor any greed towards Ghostface True Lord.
Of course, there was another reason.
That was, in He Song's subconscious mind, he had already sensed something amiss about Ghostface True Lord and instinctively kept his distance.
Under such circumstances, He Song naturally wouldn't go and ambush Ghostface True Lord as he expected.
Therefore,
In He Song's view,
Everything Ghostface True Lord had done was like performing for the blind, utterly ineffective.
Regarding the second matter Xiao Qing mentioned,
He Song felt somewhat embarrassed.
But, this world was like this.
Having connections,
Background,
And strength,
One could do as they pleased.
He Song, as a guest elder of Treasure Gathering Pavilion and acquainted with Xiao Qing, had connections and background here.
Relying on connections to find Ghostface True Lord and buy that cultivator's Core from him was considered fair trade, honest and straightforward.
Moreover, He Song's own strength had reached the Core Formation stage,
Which was quite powerful.
This allowed him to securely purchase that cultivator's Core.
Thus, the occurrence of this event was inevitable for He Song.
As for others who wanted that cultivator's Core?
If they could get there first, He Song couldn't do anything about it.
It could be said that those who were furious about the sudden withdrawal of the cultivator's Core from the auction were simply lacking in connections and background.
If they passed the test, perhaps the one getting angry over the sudden withdrawal of the cultivator's Core would be He Song himself.
Thinking about this,
He Song couldn't help but chuckle.
But soon, he remembered the main task.
This emergence from seclusion and summoning Xiao Qing was primarily because He Song wanted to refine the recently acquired cultivator's Core into a Taiyin Puppet.
The materials required for refining a Taiyin Puppet were quite substantial.
Therefore, He Song planned to entrust this task to Xiao Qing and provide sufficient spirit stones for her to gather these materials for him.
Meanwhile, He Song himself could take a break while Xiao Qing gathered the materials at Treasure Gathering Pavilion.
After delegating the task of gathering materials for refining the Taiyin Puppet to Xiao Qing, He Song sat in the pavilion drinking alone.
As for Xiao Qing,
After leaving He Song's residence, she quickly arrived at the treasure vault of Treasure Gathering Pavilion in Yanyun Prefecture.
Following He Song's instructions,
Xiao Qing quickly gathered all the materials He Song needed.
Once all the materials were collected and the spirit stones were paid to the Treasure Gathering Pavilion cultivator managing the vault,
Xiao Qing promptly brought the newly acquired materials to He Song's residence.
Inside He Song's residence.
Within the pavilion,
When Xiao Qing respectfully placed all the materials before He Song, there was no surprise on He Song's face.
He simply didn't want to make this trip himself; whether Xiao Qing could gather these materials was something He Song wasn't worried about.
This place was Yanyun Prefecture, bordering the Myriad Demon Realm.
Numerous cultivators came and went.
In such a place, regardless of what materials, there were always people in need.
Under these circumstances, He Song naturally wasn't worried that Xiao Qing couldn't quickly gather all the materials.
After inspecting the materials Xiao Qing had gathered, and giving her some spirit stones as a running-around fee,
He Song waved Xiao Qing away.
As for himself,
He quickly reactivated the formation in his residence and entered the meditation chamber inside.
Inside the meditation chamber,
He Song enveloped all the materials with his divine sense, surrounding himself with them.
Soon, he also took out the cultivator's Core he obtained from Ghostface True Lord.
For a moment, golden light shone brightly inside the meditation chamber, casting flickering shadows.
Thus,
After a month,
The light inside the meditation chamber finally dissipated.
And within the meditation chamber, after a month of refining,
He Song had finally succeeded in refining his fourth Taiyin Puppet today.
However, the previous three Taiyin Puppets had all become Core Formation puppets.
Only this fourth Taiyin Puppet remained just a Taiyin Puppet and hadn't truly become a Core Formation puppet.
Glancing over the Taiyin Puppet before him, which looked no different from ordinary cultivators, a fleeting look of satisfaction flashed across He Song's face.
This Taiyin Puppet,
Had no obvious differences from the three Taiyin Puppets he previously refined.
All four puppets were made from identical materials and were all personally refined by He Song.
Thus, as long as He Song could find a place rich in yin energy afterward, he could set up a formation to let this Taiyin Puppet transform into a Core Formation puppet.
It would just take around fifty years.
With this thought flashing through his mind, He Song's expression remained unchanged, but he inwardly sighed with relief.
According to He Song's thoughts,
After completely refining the cultivator's Core obtained from Ghostface True Lord into a Taiyin Puppet,
It was highly unlikely that there would be anything left on the Core by Ghostface True Lord.
In other words,
Even if He Song were to leave this place with the Taiyin Puppet now,
He wouldn't be detected by Ghostface True Lord.
He Song was now unlikely to be drawn into Ghostface True Lord's conspiracy.
Thinking about this, He Song was about to rejoice.
But soon,
He Song thought of something else.
A month had passed in the blink of an eye, and many things might have happened in the outside world.
Ghostface True Lord might have already grown impatient waiting, right?
Thinking about this, He Song stored the Taiyin Puppet beside him and quickly deactivated the formation in his residence.
End of Chapter