Escaping Forms and Spell Duel! An Unexpected Windfall: Two Straw Figures in Hand

Qingshan Lakeside.

Where the Qin Household resided, the spring breeze brushed across the water, scattering ripples of broken light. Lake and mountains painted a lovely scene, while the surrounding wilderness lay silent.

Qin Tuo Yun sat beside a stone table, staring blankly at her empty little hands.

Just moments ago,

she had still been holding a little straw figure, carefully examining its traits.

After being Animated and Awakened, the little straw figure could swiftly transform into a little girl of around four or five. Two tiny buns were tied atop its head, and its brows and eyes looked as though they had been cast from the same mold as Qin Tuo Yun in childhood... Even the little red mole at the corner of its mouth, as well as the tiny canine tooth hidden among its small white teeth, had all been added!

Its entire body had also been dyed with special superior grass leaves to give it lifelike colors. It looked vivid and alive; even without transforming into human form, it bore a forty-to-fifty-percent resemblance to her.

Her journey of animating straw figures had been utterly different from Jiang Tu's—far more winding and strange.

More than a year ago, not long after the Opening-Door Ritual, she had grasped the method for animating the Straw Figure Technique. Yet her way of weaving straw figures was uniquely unconventional, utterly lacking in any set pattern.

She never studied any Five-Organ Filling Method, human skeletal and meridian structures, or needlework. She wove straw figures entirely by instinct and preference, using whichever material caught her eye and whichever weaving method felt most convenient.

As a result, every straw figure she made was strange in its own way.

Some had huge heads and tiny bodies. Some had limbs of uneven lengths. Some looked like little balls of grass. Strange and bizarre, varied in every possible way.

Qin Yi could barely bear to look. He found them eye-searing. "Little sister, you weave very well. Next time, could you perhaps not weave anymore?"

Never mind onlookers like Qin Yi—even she herself became more dissatisfied the more she wove. Yet the more deliberately she tried to ponder it, the stiffer her finished products became. They completely lost that spark unique to her, making it even more impossible for them to be Animated and Awakened.

After all, if she herself did not like a little straw figure, what value could it possibly have? Why should it become a living straw figure?

Until one day, seeing how anxious she was, Qin Xian casually said, "Since you dislike all those strange, messy, bizarre straw figure designs, why not weave one according to your own appearance?"

"Mother still remembers that although you were mischievous and troublesome as a child, always making people dislike you and getting on their nerves, you were actually rather adorable. Now that you're already a grown girl, Mother truly misses those days a little... If the animated straw figure resembled you three or four parts as a child, that would have a charm all its own!"

When Qin Tuo Yun heard that, she was suddenly fired up.

She had truly never considered weaving herself before. But thinking about it now, it made sense—what she liked best would certainly be her own appearance.

She immediately dug out several childhood portraits Qin Xian had kept and wove according to the figures in the paintings. She tried again and again, adjusting the skeleton, body proportions, and weaving methods together with Qin Yi and her siblings. Bit by bit, she shaped the facial features and added color. After no fewer than several hundred failures, it finally took form.

The night before animating it, she had even felt a little nervous, because this was completely different from the straw figures she normally wove for fun. This time, she was truly going to use up her sole straw figure slot. She had no choice but to be cautious!

At the moment of animation, she gathered her entire cultivation into her fingertip and lightly touched the straw figure's brow.

A flash of green light passed. A faint spiritual radiance spread over the straw figure's body. Its limbs moved, and its eyelids slowly opened.

It came alive!

At that instant, the still-young Xiao Tuyun actually felt the strange sensation of becoming a mother for the first time. She found the little straw figure extraordinarily dear and could not bear to put it down.

But who could have imagined it?!

The little straw figure had no martial virtue at all! The instant it opened its eyes, it burrowed into the earth and vanished.

Earth Escape Technique?

The little straw figure had inherited her spell as well?

Qin Tuo Yun froze briefly, then immediately used the Earth Escape Technique and chased underground!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

She began rapidly darting through the soil layers.

Rumble rumble rumble—!

The earth churned in swift waves!

In a daze, she could actually sense an extraordinarily faint connection between them. They appeared distant, yet were truly inseparable. If she followed that strange connection, she should be able to catch it.

Yet for some reason, the straw figure was as slippery as an eel. It ran farther and farther away, and in the span of a single distracted moment, it had disappeared without a trace.

The connection between them also grew fainter and fainter!

In the end, that subtle connection abruptly cut off, as though concealed by some vast and majestic aura. The heavenly secrets withered away, leaving no trace to follow!

The straw figure had completely vanished!

Afterward, Xiao Tuyun burrowed about underground, searching every inch within dozens of li around Green Mountain Lake. She even repeatedly used the Earth-Shifting Art, nearly turning the entire area inside out for a thorough inspection!

Only after a long while did she blankly emerge from the ground, sit on the earth with her head lowered, and remain silent.

"My straw figure... is just gone like that?!"

"It took up my only straw figure slot at Seventh Grade, and it just ran away?! How could this happen...?"

After Qin Xian heard the commotion and came over to ask what had happened, not only did she not panic—she laughed instead. She laughed so hard she bent forward and backward, tears nearly spilling from her eyes!

"So true to life! It's simply exactly like you were as a child! You couldn't stay still for even a moment. The second no one watched you, you disappeared, and no matter how we searched, we couldn't find you. You had everyone running around like headless flies! Child, now you finally understand how Mother, your elder brother, and elder sister felt back then, don't you? Ha..."

"...Mother, stop making sarcastic remarks! What are we supposed to do? You were the one who told me to make one in my own image! I actually believed your nonsense!"

"It's fine. You loved making trouble as a child, always wanting the adults to rush around looking for you... Then once the adults got busy and stopped searching, you'd hop out on your own! Trust Mother. Your straw figure might just pop out by itself when you no longer want to look for it."

Qin Tuo Yun hugged her knees, looking pitiful and choked with speechless tears. Still, she muttered to herself with a touch of embarrassed annoyance.

"You wicked little straw figure! Just let me catch you—then I'll definitely spank your butt..."

Hm?

This scene seemed a little familiar?

Could this be history's boomerang?

One repayment for another?!

The sins she committed as a child had landed a precise slap across her face today!

Xiaopei County, Locust Tree Village.

Inside the Jiang Residence's quiet chamber.

Jiang Tu was utterly baffled.

The straw figure he had just finished animating vanished right under his nose before he even had time to see what abilities it possessed!

Yet he was not panicked in the slightest. Relying on the subtle connection they had just established, he merely closed his eyes and sensed for an instant. His perception of the earth beneath his feet swiftly spread outward as well. Changes underground in all directions, the auras of living creatures, the voices of people aboveground—all reached his ears with exceptional clarity.

The straw figure was still there! It had not vanished!

It was simply fleeing at high speed, and the most outrageous part was that it was not even fleeing voluntarily... Through the sensations relayed by the earth, he saw the scene with perfect clarity.

Another little straw figure was actually dragging his straw figure away, using the Earth Escape Technique to flee into the distance at breakneck speed. His straw figure did not resist either. It only kicked its little legs and stretched out its tiny hands as though waving at him...

The more he looked at this scene, the stranger it seemed, yet somehow it also felt a little harmonious. What was going on?!

Eloping?! Stealing someone away?!

Well, well! It had come all the way here to steal from me! But why did this new straw figure's aura feel somewhat familiar?

"Wife, wait at home. Your husband will return shortly!"

He pretended to form a hand seal and cast a secret Daoist Sect art. His body instantly sank into the ground!

Zhou Ning'e watched helplessly as he vanished at lightning speed, standing there in a daze for quite some time... This was the first time her husband had openly presented himself as a Daoist Sect cultivator before her and used a Daoist Sect spell. It truly was profound and mysterious, far beyond what ordinary mortals could compare to!

Her husband truly trusted her. Before her, he no longer hid things so carefully.

If... she could accompany her husband as well, that would be wonderful.

The two of them, shadows never apart, roaming freely through heaven and earth—would that not be one of life's great delights?

Unfortunately, she had been born without the aptitude for the Daoist Sect and could not cultivate. Perhaps this was what it meant to have fate but no affinity; perhaps Heaven simply did not bless them?

Forget it. Why give rise to foolish longing?

Being able to spend her life by her husband's side had already satisfied her!

"Eh? Come to think of it, Husband's spell... why does it look somewhat similar to the Earth Escape Technique used by those Field Steward Daoist masters? Hm... Perhaps the Daoist Sect has similar earth-escape arts too?"

Underground.

The two auras chased one another for over a hundred li, arriving at a desolate and uninhabited place.

Jiang Tu pushed the Great Earth Escape Art with all his strength.

Shrrraaa—!

Earth and stone parted like flowing water, as though the sea were wide enough for fish to leap and the sky high enough for birds to fly.

He could feel the straw figure's aura ahead growing closer and closer!

Boom!

Rumble rumble rumble—!

With a thought, his Seventh Grade Earth-Shifting Art erupted fiercely!

Bang!

The earth ahead suddenly bulged, and a stone pillar burst from the ground. Immediately afterward, thick stone pillars erupted skyward one after another, carrying surrounding waves and surging currents as water sprayed in all directions. Mountain ravines exploded open, rising and falling in endless upheaval!

The little straw figure carried Jiang Tu's straw figure out of the ground. Swept up amid the gigantic stone pillars shooting into the sky, it did not panic. Its little foot stomped heavily upon a stone pillar in midair.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Bang bang bang bang—

Sand and dust billowed, earth and stone surged, and countless sharp, violent stone spikes pierced through the air in an instant, smashing those enormous stone pillars cleanly in half.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

Rumble rumble—!

Earth and stone shattered apart, scattering in every direction like flowers cast by celestial maidens!

Clouds of dust blotted out the sky and sun, waves surged high, muddy mist rose into the air, and all around them trembled. The earth itself roared violently during the brief spell duel between the little straw figure and Jiang Tu!

Earth-Shifting Art!

That little straw figure that stole someone away knew the Earth-Shifting Art too?!

Interesting!

In midair, the little straw figure used the aftershock from the colliding stone pillars to twist sharply while running, clutching the straw figure in its arms. It actually intended to burrow into an underground river, sending the water roaring and churning.

But right at that moment!

Whoosh!

With another flicker of Jiang Tu's thoughts, the towering rock walls on both sides of the underground river surged toward the center and crushed together. The riverbed rose like an ancient mound, and the current was forcibly driven to both sides, split into great branching streams that spread wide in rippling waves!

Crash crash crash! Pop pop pop pop pop—!

The little straw figure kicked off a wave and leaped into the air. Green light blazed around its body as it stepped upon empty air, flipped upward atop a water column, plunged deep into the rock layer overhead, and darted through earth and stone at astonishing speed. In a flash, it vanished from sight!

The great river surged on, silver serpents twisting in chaos!

Jiang Tu followed close behind, his hands casting spells to sweep away empty space as earth and stone rolled like great waves! Yet the straw figure slipped away one step ahead of him again, leaving only a trail of flying stone chips.

...This little fellow could really run!

Jiang Tu stopped going in circles. Lowering his body, he chased straight into a natural cavern. The cavern was wide and empty, echoes rolling through it, while pointed rocks hung down like a forest.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Wind and waves rose in all directions as the heavy Agricultural Path aura churned in mighty swells! Stones moved on every side!

The straw figure finally had nowhere left to retreat. Its momentum was forcibly halted! Just as it was about to flee again, Jiang Tu burst from the earth!

Rumble—!

He grabbed it by the back of the neck and held it up like a little chick. It struggled desperately, its short little legs kicking wildly as it still tried to escape, yet it simply could not get away. It still held Jiang Tu's straw figure in its arms, then turned its head innocently and blinked up at Jiang Tu.

Jiang Tu stretched out his hand, and his own straw figure finally returned to his palm.

Only then did he feel somewhat at ease. Lowering his head, he began examining the lively and restless straw figure.

It was small and exquisite, with delicate features and two little buns tied atop its head. Its large black eyes were bright with spirit. Not only was it not frightened, it instead looked as if it had done something worth showing off, sticking out its tongue in smug triumph.

Vividly lifelike, alive in every detail.

Whoosh!

The green patterns across the little straw figure's surface suddenly faded like a receding tide. As its luster flowed, it transformed into a four- or five-year-old little girl, chubby-cheeked, with crescent brows and smiling eyes. She sat cross-legged in his palm with a bright grin.

Jiang Tu raised his brow. Feeling that inexplicably familiar aura, he suddenly reached the truth through a flash of intuition.

"...Xiao Tuyun?"

The little girl tilted her head, grinned, and revealed a tiny snow-white canine tooth.

Jiang Tu fell silent.

This was the little straw figure Xiao Tuyun had animated!

At this moment, he not only felt the connection to his own straw figure—he could faintly sense a trace of resonance with Xiao Tuyun's straw figure as well!

It had acknowledged me as its master...?

One straw figure serving two masters? You're a cold-noodle turncoat, aren't you!

The connection between the little straw figure and its original master had not been severed, yet if he wanted to control it, he could control it too!

This...

Could it be that, just like the Insect Spirit and the various Land Spirits he had intercepted, it had betrayed its original master and come to pledge allegiance to him?

Wasn't this a little inappropriate?

Holding one straw figure in each hand, he gained an understanding as their connection formed. His own straw figure was called the [Myriad-Forms Straw Figure], while Xiao Tuyun's was called the [Spirit-Wisdom Straw Figure]. Each had extraordinary uses.

"If Xiao Tuyun finds out that her straw figure secretly ran away and even acknowledged me as its new master, she'll probably be furious enough to cry, won't she? Isn't this a kind of NTR?"

"I'm already an adult. Bullying a little girl of fifteen or sixteen like this seems rather unethical, doesn't it? I should still find a way to send the straw figure back later..."

He shook his head with a smile and carefully examined the uses of the two straw figures. His expression grew more and more animated—good stuff! This truly was an unexpected windfall!