Hundred Talismans Form Soldiers, Talisman Armor

"This is the Paper Figurine Technique," Qin Wangchuan explained as he drew.

Pang Jie held his breath, his eyes wide open.

I don't understand at all!

He said somewhat embarrassedly, "Little Immortal... these are too advanced. I just want to learn some basic self-defense techniques..."

He glanced at the Fire Talisman on the stall, his eyes filled with longing.

I saw the Little Immortal demonstrate it before; once the Fire Talisman is activated, a ring of fire pillars appears!

So cool!

"What is destined to be yours will be yours, and what is not, you cannot force." An old man in the distance shook his head and sighed as he watched this scene. "What a pity, what a pity indeed."

Qin Wangchuan did not press the matter, but instead explained some Talisman Engraving Method.

"The art of talisman making requires meticulousness, a steady hand, and diligent practice."

After explaining for a while, he let Pang Jie practice drawing with ordinary brush and ink on his own to get a feel for the structure of the runes.

He then turned his attention back to the specially made Talisman Paper.

His eyes gleamed with interest.

"The Paper Figurine is like a vessel, and the Spiritual Power is like water—if the vessel is small, it will overflow when full. Furthermore, when exerting force, the Spiritual Power gathers at a single point, instantly shattering the balance that was originally maintained."

"If armor is placed at the point of force application, the flood can be diverted and discharged."

"In this way, the Spiritual Power infusion can be doubled, and it can also be protected from destruction."

Qin Wangchuan picked up his brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and began to draw on the specially made Talisman Paper with flowing, elegant strokes.

He first drew a pair of arm armor, with runes overlapping like Dragon Scale, and deliberately left room for stretching at the joints.

Next is the Chest Armor, with an intricate Spirit Gathering Formation embedded in the center.

This thing allows the Paper Figurine to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, transforming it into the power source for its movement.

Originally, such things shouldn't appear on Paper Figurine because they are too complicated and would interfere with the Paper Figurine's own operation.

However, this concern does not apply to cheat programs.

Finally, there are the leg armors, with sharp, blade-like lines.

"Come."

With a thought, the Paper Figurine Warrior from before appeared.

The Talisman Armor instantly flew towards the Paper Figurine as if it were alive, precisely fitting into the corresponding parts.

As the Spirit Gathering Formation on the Chest Armor began to operate, a visible ripple of Spiritual Pressure suddenly erupted around the Paper Figurine figure!

"Try it."

Qin Wangchuan raised his hand and pointed to the mountain rock a hundred paces away. The half-person-high blue stone gleamed coldly in the setting sun.

The armored Paper Figurine suddenly lowered its stance, as if riding a horse, its right fist, covered in armor, pulled back like a fully drawn bow.

"Boom!"

A visible ripple of Spiritual Power exploded from the fist, flattening all the vegetation in its path. Before the giant rock was even touched by the force of the punch, it shattered into countless fragments with a "crack"!

When the smoke and dust cleared, one could see that the Red Pattern on the Paper Figurine's arm armor flowed freely, without even a scratch left.

"Again."

A hint of interest flashed in Qin Wangchuan's eyes. He poured in more Spiritual Power and this time pointed at the Brown Rock on the cliff that was as tall as two people.

The paper Paper Figurine, clad in Talisman Armor, suddenly shone with a dazzling golden light, and its feet stomped on the ground, creating spiderweb-like cracks in the bluestone slabs.

Its right arm retracted to its limit, and tiny sparks of electricity crackled from the gaps in its armor plates.

"Boom--!!!"

The punch struck like a meteor falling to earth, the violent torrent of Spiritual Power piercing through the rock face, the aftershocks tearing a three-zhang-long, ferocious crack in the mountainside.

The flying pebbles were shattered into dust while still in mid-air, turning into a flurry of falling stones.

Normally, this attack would have shattered into pieces before it even hit the Paper Figurine's arm.

But this time is different.

As the dust settled, the Red Pattern on the Paper Figurine's arm armor turned dark gold, with a faint, lava-like shimmering light flowing through the lines.

There's some overload, but it's not a big problem.

"This is only one layer. What if there were two layers, three layers, or even a Spirit Gathering Formation engraved on each layer..."

A look of joy flashed in Qin Wangchuan's eyes.

The Paper Figurine itself only needs to serve as a carrier; its strength lies in the external armor and weapons.

"Speaking of weapons..."

He didn't stop; he kept trying.

"We can't use real Law Artifact Paper Figurine; we need 'Paper Soldier' instead."

I drew another sword to attach to the Paper Figurine, but this time it didn't turn out as well as I hoped.

The Spiritual Power gathered on the sword, and the sword immediately exploded.

"Just as I thought."

"There is a lot of redundant loss in the flow of Spiritual Power, and the spiritual paths are not perfectly integrated, far from achieving the effect of 1+1 being greater than 2, and may even have the opposite effect."

"Does this really mean I need to master Artifact Refining?"

The idea was immediately rejected by Qin Wangchuan, "No, that deviates from the original intention."

After saying that, he sat down again, gazing at the Talisman Paper on the table with a myriad of thoughts in his eyes.

"Like before, open your mind."

"A sword is an inanimate object; there's no need to consider its flexibility."

"If one isn't enough, then a hundred will do."

"A hundred Fragmented Talisman stacked upon each other, a spiritual path formed spontaneously."

A glint flashed in Qin Wangchuan's eyes. He dipped his fingertip in cinnabar and quickly sketched on the Talisman Paper.

He no longer pursued complete runes, but instead disassembled the sword shape—the blade, the Sword Spine, the guard, and the hilt, each part being individually engraved on different Talisman Paper.

The runes on each Talisman Paper were incomplete, yet they still resonated with each other through spiritual pathways.

"Hundred Talismans Form Soldiers!"

As the last rune fell, a hundred Talisman Paper spun in the air, their spiritual light intertwining, and they spontaneously assembled into a Three-Foot Qingfeng.

The runes on the sword flowed seamlessly, without the slightest hesitation.

The Paper Figurine, sword in hand, casually swung it—

"Laugh!"

The distant rocks split open with a sound, the cross-section as smooth as a mirror, and most importantly, the Paper Figurine did not disintegrate.

Qin Wangchuan's lips curled slightly. "The only problem is that the Spiritual Power consumption is several times greater, but that's not an issue."

"The Talisman Armor is modularized... Although it's still Paper Figurine, it has already embarked on a different path."

"This is the Soldier Puppet Technique."

He nodded in satisfaction, then packed up his stall early and recorded his insights from the day in a notebook.

The night was as dark as ink, and the candlelight flickered.

Qin Wangchuan hunched over his desk, writing furiously, his pen gliding across the pages of "Soldier Puppet Initial Understanding" and "The Soldier Puppet Technique."

The former is insight, the latter is technique.

The ability to manipulate a thousand Paper Figurine simultaneously is considered a great achievement.

The cicadas outside the window gradually fell silent, and the Copper Bell on the eaves were occasionally stirred by the evening breeze, emitting a clear and melodious tinkling sound.

He would pause to ponder from time to time, the Cinnabar Brush swirling around his fingertips, oblivious to the ink dripping onto the rice paper and spreading out. The runes under his brush flowed like clouds and water, completed in one go.

After finishing the final Soldier Puppet Technique, Qin Wangchuan carefully examined the book and then closed it.

"Someone come here," he called softly.

Two men in Black Clad suddenly appeared, tearing through the void, and knelt on one knee. "Present!"

Qin Wangchuan handed over the books. "Return these two items to the clan's Library Pavilion for people to study."