Paper Puppet Technique

The night had deepened.

The sound of insects was like boiling water, clamoring amidst the grass—a cacophony distinct from the bustle of the day. Even so, at this hour, most people in Suian City were already asleep.

He Ping, however, was not. It was not that he suffered from insomnia or could not sleep; it was simply that he had almost no need for sleep.

Within the Formless Secret Treasury lay a Daoist technique from the "Soul-Forging Palace," also known as the Nine Palaces Bright Moon Ascension Method. This technique posited that all things possessed a spirit, with humans being the most profound. The human spirit originated from the hundred joints and the Dantian throughout the body, and within the upper Dantian—the Niwan—lay nine true chambers, known as the Nine Palaces.

These nine palaces were the Mingtang Palace, Dongfang Palace, Niwan Palace, Liuzhu Palace, Tianting Palace, Jizhen Palace, Danxuan Palace, Taihuang Palace, and Yudi Palace.

This secret method focused on meditation and concentration, transforming the true spiritual light within one's soul into a bright moon to illuminate the nine palaces of the upper Dantian. Like adding oil to a lamp, one would light these palaces one by one, a process referred to as the Soul-Forging Palace.

This Daoist technique was specifically designed to hone the sharpness of the mind and strengthen the wisdom of one's thoughts. Ultimately, by circulating the soul and contemplating the Great Dao, one could achieve progress as rapid as a thousand miles a day.

After so many years, He Ping's Nine Palaces Bright Moon Ascension Method had neared completion. Several years ago, he had successfully lit the eight soul palaces: "Niwan," "Mingtang," "Dongfang," "Liuzhu," "Tianting," "Jizhen," "Danxuan," and "Yudi Palace." Yet, for some reason, the final "Taihuang Palace" had remained stagnant.

According to Wu Yousheng, once the nine great soul palaces were forged, one would have the opportunity to step into the Dao realm, ascending to the heavens in a single bound. One's cultivation would become unfathomably profound, granting all manner of incredible powers.

He Ping, however, felt he was still far from that step. It was possible that the Formless Secret Treasury itself was flawed, or perhaps his own essence had been too depleted to ignite the "Taihuang Palace" and break through to the final level. Yet, due to his unique constitution, he possessed a distinct ability—or rather, a specific trait.

It is worth noting that his greatest difference from ordinary people stemmed from his identity as a transmigrator. He only discovered this after practicing the "Soul-Forging Palace": he possessed two souls.

One soul was, naturally, the one he had brought with him through his transmigration, while the other belonged to the original owner of this body—the true young master of the He family, He Ping.

However, unlike his own soul, the soul of the original He Ping exuded an aura of deathly stillness; it was muddled, chaotic, and devoid of any vitality.

He Ping did not know why this was the case. Perhaps the original He Ping had already died when he transmigrated, but the soul of that seven or eight-year-old child had been preserved, albeit reduced to a muddled, ignorant state.

He Ping had attempted to stimulate the original soul, but it was to no avail. The original soul was like an empty eggshell—hollow inside, with not a shred of consciousness remaining.

Yet, strangely enough, after he practiced the Soul-Forging Palace technique, He Ping gradually discovered that he could control the original soul. Or rather, the original soul had become his secondary soul.

This situation was impossible to describe in words, and He Ping himself could not explain it. Under his intentional control, this secondary soul could handle various tasks. For instance, he could use this hollow soul to practice the Soul-Forging Palace technique or issue simple commands, allowing it to manipulate his body in his stead.

This hollow soul allowed him to multitask—for example, controlling his left and right hands to perform different tasks, running while sleeping, or reading two books at the same time.

Perhaps because this hollow soul lacked consciousness, it could only perform simple labor, but for He Ping, it was an immense help.

It was possible that because he was born with two souls, combined with the immense power of the Soul-Forging Palace secret method, He Ping almost never needed to sleep. When he was tired, he would swap places with the hollow soul to rest, or let the hollow soul take over his sleep, allowing him to maintain mental stability for long periods.

On the other hand, He Ping strongly suspected that his rapid cultivation speed and the extraordinary consumption of his essence and spirit were also due to his possession of dual souls.

At this moment, huddled in his chamber, he held a vermilion brush, dotting the eyes.

Yes, he was painting the eyes of several paper puppets he had crafted from bamboo frames and paper skins. These puppets, made from specially treated mulberry paper, were typically funerary objects used to pay respects to the dead, intended to be burned on the seventh day after death.

In the trade of paper puppetry, there was a long-standing folk rule—a very strange and peculiar one: one must never dot the eyes of a paper puppet.

As the saying goes, "dotting the eyes brings the dragon to life." Many believed that once a paper puppet's eyes were dotted, it would gain spiritual energy, easily attracting ghosts and spirits to possess it and bringing misfortune.

However, for a practitioner like He Ping, such things were naturally of no concern. He ground ink on a blood-stained inkstone while waving his brush to dot the puppets' eyes.

With a stroke of the vermilion brush, he pinched a hand seal and chanted softly. Following his incantations, the previously expressionless paper puppets began, one by one, to reveal different expressions.

Like a group of living people, the dozen or so paper puppets in the chamber, which had been inanimate objects, suddenly came to life at that very moment.

Some of the mulberry paper puppets wore eerie smiles, others looked furious, some were filled with sorrow, others appeared melancholy, and a rare few had twisted faces, displaying expressions of extreme terror.

"Humans possess five viscera that transform into five qi, giving rise to joy, anger, sorrow, worry, and fear. Thus, joy and anger damage the qi, and cold and heat damage the form. Violent anger damages the yin, and violent joy damages the yang. If the perverse qi rises, the pulse is filled and the form is lost. If joy and anger are not regulated, and cold and heat are excessive, life cannot be sustained..."

Under the candlelight, a smile suddenly appeared on He Ping's weak, pale face.

"Having collected so many materials and spent a vast amount of silver, this Paper Puppet Spirit Art can finally be put to use."

These mulberry paper puppets, known in the Immortal Puppet Sect's Formless Secret Treasury as the Paper Puppet Spirit Art, originally belonged to the techniques of the paper-crafting branch of the heterodox paths, later absorbed and improved by the Immortal Puppet Sect.

The puppets recorded in the Formless Secret Treasury were diverse and numerous, including many that were immensely powerful or eerily unpredictable.

The Paper Puppet Spirit Art was not a top-tier puppet technique. The "Three Corpses Secret Demon Puppet," "Vajra Demon Statue," "Emperor Aspect Divine Soldier," and "Qianji Armored Beast" recorded in the volume were all far superior to it.

However, the Paper Puppet Spirit Art had one advantage: it was relatively easy to craft and required less time to manufacture.

Of course, this was only in comparison to the refining time of other puppets. For He Ping, the Paper Puppet Spirit Art alone required significant manpower and resources to prepare.

First, the material used to make the paper puppets was a special type of mulberry paper. Common mulberry paper was mostly made from mulberry bark, paper mulberry bark, and Broussonetia bark.

The papermaking process was not only complex but also expensive. During the process, it had to be supplemented with Iron-Heart Wood resin and precious medicinal wine before it could be used.

However, the advantage of this paper was that it did not fear blades or scissors, nor did it fear fire or rain. Furthermore, the paper was exceptionally tough, and after being refined with magic, it gained the marvelous ability to summon souls and attract spirits.

With puppets made from this mulberry paper, the practitioner only needed to summon yin souls or ghosts to possess them and then drive them with magic. These puppets could move like the wind, remain impervious to blades, and possess all sorts of formidable abilities beyond the reach of ordinary men.

"That alone is not enough. The most unique aspect of these paper puppets is the need to absorb five types of Sha Qi, mixing them with the five emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, worry, and fear. By taking the 'three essences' of spiritual emotion, one can refine and transform yin spirits into curse-spirits... Once this stage is reached, the power of these paper puppets increases greatly. In battle, they can release curse-spirit demon flames and form arrays, specifically designed to bewilder the six desires, confuse the mind, and scramble the intellect. It is, after all, a formidable technique."