Little Oil Lamp

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Little Oil Lamp (小油灯)
Alias(es)	Qing Deng
Species/Race	Artifact Spirit; a sentient kerosene lamp that later evolves into a magic treasure
Affiliation	Shen Le and his group of restored artifact spirits
Status	Active
First Appearance	Chapter 60

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Nascent artifact spirit	60	Shen Le detects a dense, silver-white, electric-arc-like aura around the old lamp and judges it to have the potential to become sentient.
Newly awakened spirit	64 70	Begins communicating through electric sensations and memories; its unstable emotions can disrupt the village power supply.
Restored and greatly strengthened	75	After Shen Le repairs and lights it, its aura grows more than tenfold and its spiritual light illuminates an entire room and courtyard through the Spirit Eye.
Thunder-fed intelligence growth	99 110 243	Repeatedly absorbs electricity and residual Heavenly Lightning; its speech becomes much more fluent and it develops a strong appetite for tribulation lightning.
Grid-range combat support	126 154 167	Develops remote response through electrical devices, an Electric Net for attack and defense, and kilometer-scale precision sensing through power lines.
Long-range grid traversal	407	After extensive feeding on lightning and electricity, it can travel one to two hundred kilometers along power grids and locate targets in remote terrain.
Five-Thunder development	443 445	Shen Le begins charging it with electricity from varied power sources; it learns to control metal lightning and seeks to complete a five-element cycle.
Five-element magic-treasure evolution	448	Absorbs earth-element electricity, undergoes a Thunder Tribulation, completes its five-element cycle, and transforms into a higher-tier magic treasure with a jade-like body.
Golden-lightning integration	826	Its formerly steel-and-glass body has been thoroughly transformed through cycles of absorbing and releasing lightning; it can draw and guide golden lightning.

Background / History

The lamp is an old kerosene lamp whose markings suggest production in the 1920s. When Shen Le finds it in a mountain village, its lid and base are largely intact, while its glass chimney is cracked and its iron frame is heavily rusted. Shen Le senses an abnormal electric aura through his Spirit Eye and acquires it from the homeowner, insisting on paying for it despite the owner calling it worthless junk. 60

Its memories preserve several periods of use. One owner lit it in an oppressive attic to read New Youth, treating the lamp’s light as precious. It was also carried during wartime by soldiers, including during mountain marches and lessons taught under its illumination. 61 66

The lamp later remained in the mountain village as villagers struggled to bring in electricity. It witnessed the installation of the village’s first transformer and celebrated with the villagers when electric lights first came on. Even after electrification, the village’s weak power supply left oil lamps necessary for daily life. 64 71

After being left unused for years, it became lonely and began drawing attention through power outages. Shen Le recognizes that it wants to be useful rather than maliciously destructive, restores its damaged parts, and finally lights it again. The fully repaired lamp joyfully agrees to leave the village with him. 64 70 75 76

Appearance

Initially, Little Oil Lamp is a black-lacquered kerosene lamp with an iron casing, brass burner, glass chimney, top handle, oil reservoir, and cotton wick. Its spiritual presence appears as silver-white sparks and flickering electrical arcs visible through Shen Le’s Spirit Eye. 60 64 75

• Its original iron frame is rusted, while the chimney is cracked but mostly intact. 60
• When active, its wick can shine without ordinary flame and emit silver-white electric light. 74
• Following prolonged lightning absorption, its formerly dark metallic surface becomes bright silver, then develops a matte, jade-like texture. 445
• After completing its five-element evolution, its body and glass lampshade become translucent, milky white, and marked by colors associated with the five elements. 448
• By Chapter 826, its original steel-and-glass construction has been profoundly transformed by repeated cycles of lightning absorption and release. 826

Personality

Little Oil Lamp is emotionally direct, childlike, and deeply afraid of abandonment. It repeatedly insists that it works hard and is useful, and its early power disruptions stem largely from loneliness, sadness, and a desire for attention. 66 68 70

It is curious about restoration, frequently interrupting Shen Le to ask what he is doing to its body. It enjoys being lit, fed electricity, and allowed to experiment with unfamiliar forms of power. 73 75 443 448

Although mischievous and occasionally reckless, it is strongly protective of Shen Le and those he considers family. It readily forms defensive nets, threatens perceived threats, and volunteers for dangerous searches and rescues. 126 492 600

Abilities & Skills

Electrical Manipulation

Little Oil Lamp can absorb, store, transmit, and release electricity. It is able to influence appliances, circuits, transformers, and electrical grids.

• Can cause blackouts or restore power by interacting with a village electrical system. 64 79
• Can supply emergency electricity to an entire village, though doing so rapidly exhausts it. 79 80
• Draws power from nearby circuits in combat, including neighboring shops when necessary. 156
• Can travel through power lines as a bolt of lightning. 167
• Can also travel along water veins and pipes, though deep underground earth severely restricts its movement. 475
• Its consumption can be immense; Shen Le later notes electricity costs of roughly one hundred thousand yuan per month. 407

Memory Transmission

The lamp can project memories from its past into Shen Le’s consciousness, often through touch.

• Its memories begin reaching Shen Le before he has fully restored or refined it. 61
• The memories reveal its use by readers, soldiers, village electricians, and generations of villagers. 61 66 71
• It can convey emotions alongside memories, including loneliness, grievance, joy, and nostalgia. 66 75 76

Grid Navigation and Life Detection

By following electrical infrastructure, Little Oil Lamp can create directional markers, map routes, and search for living beings.

• Guided Shen Le to Hundred Battles Cave after detecting the route through power lines. 68 69
• Produced a circuit map of a collapsed house and identified the locations of two survivors. 80
• Can locate targets through utility poles, transformers, substations, and phone-linked electrical signals. 165 167
• Achieved a stated search accuracy of roughly one kilometer while locating Old You. 167
• Later located Old You from a distance of roughly two hundred kilometers by traversing the grid. 407

Electric Net

Little Oil Lamp can weave silver-white electrical webs for defense, containment, detection, and exorcism.

• Can create an unseen defensive net around Shen Le at range. 126
• Its Electric Net repels black mist and prevents a hostile ghost from approaching. 156
• The net has a measurable exorcising effect, purging harmful aura within its perimeter. 154
• Can spread over several kilometers, barring helicopters and other intruders from approaching. 565
• Its large-scale web uses nearby power lines to replenish its energy. 167

Lightning and Five Thunders

Little Oil Lamp wields powerful lightning, including tribulation lightning and five-element lightning.

• Heavenly and tribulation lightning are especially effective against Yin- and ghost-aligned entities. 492
• Can strike hostile demons and support Shen Le in direct combat. 446 449
• Its tribulation lightning is strong enough that the Mountain Lord could not withstand a single strike. 449
• Learns to control metal lightning and later develops a completed five-element lightning cycle. 445 448
• Its control is not always precise; it has accidentally struck a Special Affairs Bureau agent and Shen Le. 445 482

Five Thunder Peach Wood Sword Processing

By channeling elemental lightning into peach wood swords, Little Oil Lamp can create Five Thunder Peach Wood Swords.

• Initially struggles to produce sufficiently powerful Five Thunders for usable swords. 443
• Processes swords with lightning drawn from hydropower, wind power, thermal power, and solar power facilities. 445 447 448
• With practice, its strikes leave swords darker, glossier, straight, and charged with stored lightning without causing unwanted growth. 447
• The swords are valuable enough to attract theft attempts from demons. 446 447

Self-Repair and Material Evolution

Little Oil Lamp’s body develops independently as it absorbs power.

• During a growth surge, glue on its repaired chimney is expelled and the glass begins repairing and restructuring itself. 383
• Nuclear power changes its surface from bright silver toward a matte jade-like material. 445
• Completing the five-element cycle transforms it into a higher-tier magic treasure. 448

Relationships

• Shen Le — Restorer, caretaker, and primary companion. Shen Le repairs the lamp, teaches it not to disrupt power supplies, takes it home, and relies on it for navigation, defense, and combat. 64 76 126
• Little Puppet and Little Ink Marker — Fellow restored artifact spirits. Shen Le promises Little Oil Lamp that it will have them as companions after leaving the village. 76
• The mountain villagers — Former community and source of its strongest memories. It remembers their struggle to bring electricity into the village and continues to worry about their need for light. 71 80
• The old transformer — A friend Little Oil Lamp mourns when it is replaced and removed from the village. 76
• Special Affairs Bureau — Frequent operational partner. The Bureau coordinates power access and remote substations for its energy use, while also treating its lightning output as a potentially dangerous force. 407 465

Story Role / Major Arcs

Mountain Village Restoration Arc

Shen Le finds Little Oil Lamp during an architectural restoration project, discovers its sentience through its memories, and traces the village’s unexplained blackouts to its loneliness and growing electrical power. 60 61 64 70

After restoring its iron casing, burner, chimney, wick, and other components, Shen Le lights it for the first time in years. Its power surges, and it agrees to leave the village after the old transformer is replaced. 74 75 76

Typhoon Rescue Arc

During a typhoon and landslide, Little Oil Lamp restores emergency power to the village and maps the circuits of a collapsed house to locate two trapped survivors. It later helps keep an oxygen concentrator running for an injured elder until exhaustion forces it to stop. 79 80

Special Affairs Investigations

Little Oil Lamp becomes Shen Le’s primary electrical reconnaissance and protection tool. It provides an Electric Net against ghosts, guides searches through rural electrical infrastructure, and helps locate Old You during a demon-related investigation. 154 167

Long-Range Search for Old You

After a year of growth through power-grid travel and repeated lightning absorption, Little Oil Lamp reaches Old You’s location near Tachileik from approximately two hundred kilometers away. It surveys the enemy force and offers to shield Old You until a rescue can be organized. 407

Five-Thunder Enhancement Arc

Seeking stronger Five Thunders, Shen Le feeds Little Oil Lamp electricity from hydropower, wind, thermal, nuclear, and solar facilities. The process allows it to master elemental lightning, manufacture Peach Wood Swords, and complete a five-element evolution into a magic treasure. 443 445 447 448

Later Protective Role

Little Oil Lamp continues to act as Shen Le’s defender, confronting demons that threaten him, extending enormous electric barriers, and assisting with increasingly dangerous supernatural incidents. 492 565 600

Notable Quotes

“[I work hard too!]” 66

“[I'm lit! I'm lit! Shen Le, I've become so bright!]” 75

“[Take me! I'll light the way for you! I know this path well! I'll lead you!]” 80

“[I want to gather all five elements! I want to build a cycle!]” 448

“[It was actually coming for me... It wanted to capture me—]” 450

Trivia

• Little Oil Lamp is exceptionally gifted in sciences, particularly electromagnetism, while its humanities knowledge is limited to barely recognizing characters. 380
• Shen Le initially compares its aura to electric arcs from a Tesla coil. 60
• It is capable of identifying transformers and substations while traveling through the grid, but initially struggles to read a utility-pole tag. 167
• Shen Le once had to explicitly forbid it from draining village transformers, calling such behavior electricity theft. 82