Young Master of the Left Path, Red Lantern Blood Writing

Seeing the Crimson Scale Claws talent, an image swiftly surfaced in Chu Ge's mind: his hands transformed into red claws covered in scales.

The sight resembled a supporting character from a television drama he had watched in his previous life, someone who had consumed Dragon Elixir. It was absurdly comical, as though he had acquired a pair of turkey claws.

"This talent is somewhat similar to those Shark Fin from last time. I wonder if it's useless."

After pondering for a while, Chu Ge decided to set the talent aside for now rather than inherit it in a hurry.

After inheriting a talent, not only did it require strange power to sustain it, but strange power was also needed to use it.

He had only just expended over a hundred strands of strange power on cultivation and breaking through.

The strange power he had left was only enough to operate the Shadow Puppets and study the making of paper talismans. It was truly stretched thin, and he needed to gather more items for the Dragon Clock to refine.

After getting dressed, Chu Ge reached into his robes and casually pulled out several strands of silk thread.

"Whoosh—"

A handsome, tall Shadow Puppet drifted down from the wall opposite him, descending into the room as though tugged along by a kite string.

Shadow Puppets.

Even though he had now broken through in strength and realm, he could not abandon such an uncanny Left Path Skill.

After all, it was Martial Arts above the level of strange power. Chu Ge treasured it greatly.

At that moment, the Dragon Clock tattoo on his wrist flickered, and a strand of strange power flowed along the threads and into the Shadow Puppet.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"

The Shadow Puppet immediately swelled like a balloon.

Its limbs, body, nose, and eyes all puffed up together. In the blink of an eye, it became a figure identical to Chu Ge.

Its face was made of bamboo paper, its heart of gold, the whites of its eyes of silver, its pupils dotted in black lacquer, its lips outlined in cinnabar, and its bones fashioned from bamboo strips. It had been made using the Shadow Puppet Door God Manual and the techniques of Carved Paper-cutting.

Now, bolstered by strange power as talismanic power circulated through it, the paper man's complexion and features became like those of a living person. Sword-like brows slanted up toward its temples, its black-and-white eyes shone brightly, and beneath its high nose bridge sat sharply defined lips. It was utterly lifelike.

After clasping its fists to Chu Ge, the Shadow Puppet sat down before the table and chairs in the room.

Chu Ge casually flicked out the threads in his hand.

"Tok, tok, tok." The threads, linked to flying needles, pierced several wooden handles on the waterwheel opposite him.

As the water flowed and the wheel turned, the wooden handles creaked as they bobbed up and down.

At once, the Shadow Puppet bent over the desk began to move even without Chu Ge's control, repeatedly carrying out mechanical work before the table—cutting paper and carving wood.

Practice one day earns one day's skill; miss one day, and ten days grow slack. Long practice makes mastery; set it aside, and skill turns rusty.

Chu Ge had always believed in this principle. Thus, even though he only had a little over thirty strands of strange power remaining, he still insisted on mobilizing the Shadow Puppets every day.

Limited by his skill and current realm, these Shadow Puppets might not be particularly strong. Yet they excelled in being lifelike and deceptive. Moreover, if poison sacs and venom were placed within their mouths, ears, eyes, and noses, they could still inflict considerable harm.

After finishing this, Chu Ge left the Secret Chamber and summoned the maidservant Little Spring Flower to bring him meat for nourishment, helping accelerate the blood replacement in his marrow.

Now that his strength had broken through, the daily expenditure from his circulation of blood and qi meant he needed to eat more food each day. Moreover, it all had to be highly nutritious and energy-rich, so as to replenish his losses and keep his blood and qi from growing deficient.

This was also why Spirit Fish were so popular among Martial Cultivators.

At the same time, several uninvited figures were already sneaking through the night into an alley outside the Chu family's deep courtyard residence. Their eyes gleamed sharply in the darkness, revealing considerable Essence, Qi, and Spirit. They were clearly all martial artists.

"This is the place. Over the past four days, I've investigated it thoroughly. I even observed the terrain inside from high up and roughly sketched it out.

"From what I've seen these past few days, that Young Master Chu has barely left the house. Who knows what he's been tinkering with."

One of them said, "If you ask me, this Young Master Chu simply doesn't know how dangerous the martial world is. He hasn't hired any guards for the estate, nor does he keep any Fierce Dogs!"

"He thinks his sister's name alone can protect him for life! Today, we'll teach him a lesson."

"Move. Keep your movements light."

Several faint sounds of wind being cut quickly passed over the courtyard wall.

After the figures leaped into the Chu residence, the first thing they saw were several red lanterns along the corridor ahead and a Giant Paper-cut hanging from the wall.

Beneath the red glow cast by the lanterns, the hanging paper-cut looked rather eerie in the night. Yet it bore four words: "Welcome, honored guests."

"Is it welcoming us to break in and rob the place?"

"Hehehe! Idiots."

None of them thought much of it.

They swiftly slipped through the corridor on light feet, never noticing that the beautiful maidservant figures on the lantern paper-cuts had all turned their eyes strangely, glancing at their retreating backs. Some even covered their mouths with round fans and chuckled as though whispering among themselves. The sight was extraordinarily bizarre.

The words "Welcome, honored guests" on the hanging paper-cut also seemed to have become an even more bewitching shade of red.

"Hiss—I've got a creepy feeling in my chest."

The man walking at the very back muttered as he turned to look around. Finding nothing, he saw only the four blood-red words "Welcome, honored guests" beneath the corridor's crimson light.

"Damn it, putting up these red lanterns in the middle of the night is creepy as hell!"

The burly man frowned, then quickly caught up with the others ahead.

Inside the residence, Chu Ge was eating with great gusto, taking a bite of fruit followed by a bite of pork trotter, while Little Spring Flower occasionally handed him tea from the side. He was enjoying himself immensely.

Suddenly, he felt heat rising at his waist. His brows immediately furrowed, and he raised a hand to pull several sheets of yellow paper from his belt.

The yellow papers had all scorched without flame, and the strange power linking them to the hanging banners and lanterns had already been activated.

"Hm? An uninvited guest actually broke in at night. How long has it been since something like this last happened?"

His gaze shifted slightly, and he immediately thought of the bandits from recent days. Focusing his eyes, he looked closely.

Words and images emerged upon the blackened yellow papers.

The first sheet had been scorched with the character "four," signifying that four people had entered.

The second through fourth sheets were scorched with four figures of varying heights. As for their features, they were pitch-black and impossible to make out clearly.

"Could I really be this unlucky? Did I actually run into them? Could they be the bandits who kidnapped the Xu Family? They still dared to enter the city?"

Chu Ge's gaze grew grave, yet he was not flustered.

He had only just broken through into the Blood Change Realm, the fourth of the Four Martial Arts Realms. This estate was also his home ground, filled with various little contraptions from the Mysterious Left Path Arts. He still had plenty of confidence.

Having reached the Blood Change Realm, there were already very few people in Linyuan City who could make him wary.

Even outside the city, surely no worthless Force Condensation Realm cultivator would band together to commit such a vile deed.

"Young Master, what is that?"

Little Spring Flower stepped forward to pour tea. Spotting the yellow papers in Chu Ge's hand, she asked curiously.

"Just a few paper cuttings."

Chu Ge brushed her off casually. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed Little Spring Flower and had her instruct the other servants not to approach the main residence tonight.

Through the lanterns and hanging banners arranged throughout the estate, he had already observed several little rats winding their way straight toward the main residence.

Clearly, these people had long since scoped the place out. Their purpose was clear: they had come directly for him, the Chu Family's fattest sheep.

The Chu Family had no guards and kept no fierce dogs, yet red lanterns and hanging banners could be seen now and then, whether before the hall or along the corridors. Nearly all of them were "eyes" Chu Ge had set up using Left Path Skill.

In ordinary times, they were merely commonplace lanterns and hanging banners, nothing unusual about them. But should an enemy intrude, they would naturally reveal their usefulness.

"Since you've come, then none of you should leave."

Unhurried, Chu Ge picked up a towel and wiped the grease from his hands, preparing to personally greet the visitors and lure them away so that no innocents would be caught in the fallout.

He had even decided on where to receive them.

The Dragon Clock in his hand was not only capable of sacrificing dead objects. Though he normally used it merely to refine items, it could also send enemies on their final journey.