Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting!
"Stealing" meant capturing, and "shape" meant outward form. The Skin-Painting Art was a technique that flexibly employed methods of refining hides to dress puppets, making them lifelike down to the smallest detail.
Its intricacies contained the transformations of the Creation Art, which Yan Shi had blended into a single whole, creating a divine ability and passing it down.
Generations later, Li Chen had grasped its true intent and could now readily perform it with his Craftsman-level magical power.
This was Li Chen's first time using the technique. He felt the changes in his magical power and the rabbit hide in his palm while also sensing the fine grain and wooden texture of the carving. The instant the two met, a wondrous transformation seemed to occur. As though it had found a magnet with a matching polarity, the rabbit hide attached itself to the carving.
As Li Chen passed his palm over it, the entire hide adhered snugly, without a single hair left out of place.
"It worked!"
A trace of satisfaction appeared on Li Chen's face as he examined his masterpiece.
The rabbit originally carved from wood was now covered in the fur of a wild rabbit from the outskirts of the city. The infusion of magical power had stimulated its life force, awakening the vitality contained within. Its fur lay sleek and smooth, as though it had grown there naturally. The result far surpassed Artisan Lei's combination of pressing the hide flat and applying secret medicines.
Next, azure glow gathered in Li Chen's palm as he gently stroked the wooden rabbit.
Under his deliberate attention, both the arrow wound on the rabbit hide and the incision made when skinning it after slaughter were smoothed away.
This was a Skin-Painting Art far superior to the commonly circulated techniques. Judging solely by its effects on this wooden rabbit, it could already be called wondrous.
Li Chen picked up the wooden rabbit and held it in his hands for a careful examination. He found that there were still slight gaps around its mouth and nose, flaws caused by the skinning itself.
Unhurried, he gathered azure glow in his palm once more and gently stroked those spots.
In an instant, the missing portions grew back. Even the rigid stiffness one would expect from a preserved carcass vanished completely, replaced by an indescribable realism and freshness of life.
That freshness of life, in particular, was something no commonly circulated Skin-Painting Art on the market could produce.
Even the most accomplished skin-painter could only make the entire exterior appear seamless, reaching the point of looking real. Yet no matter how convincing it was, it was still a lifeless likeness. With careful observation, the difference between a specimen and a truly living creature remained ready to leap into view.
Skin-painters normally needed meticulous makeup, sometimes even combined with disguise techniques, to conceal this, and flaws still remained. Yet Li Chen had eliminated it with nothing more than a gentle stroke.
What a pity that I've only just begun learning this art and still can't complete it in a single flowing effort. There's also that legendary method of conjuring substance from the void, preserving a form through thought alone and using one's own magical power to activate the target's vital essence, making the painted skin grow on its own! Now that's a method that truly plumbs the mysteries of creation!
Li Chen studied it for a while. His self-satisfaction gradually faded, replaced by a more urgent desire to improve. Not daring to waste time, he resumed his practice.
Using the accompanying skin-removal method, he gently stroked the painted skin he had fitted onto the carving. In the blink of an eye, he removed the entire hide intact.
Next came the constant repetition of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting and stripping off the hide.
Full of enthusiasm for his newly acquired secret art, Li Chen kept busy until sunset before stopping to eat dinner.
"Waiter, bring me ten jin of beef, a jin of wine, and a few stir-fried side dishes."
As Li Chen sat in the main hall with his head down, eating meat, a booming voice rang out. A burly man dressed as a rogue cultivator was cheerfully calling to the waiter.
"Well now, struck it rich, have you, old fellow? Even treating yourself to wine and side dishes." Someone beside him teased.
Meat was cheap in the Eastern Victory Continent, while vegetables cost more. Wine was an outright luxury; whether or not it contained spiritual energy, it could be sold as a spiritual material.
"What's it to you? I'm happy! I hunted down a Pure-White Fox Spirit today. It's worth at least this much!" The burly man held up two fingers.
The others exclaimed in admiration and began offering congratulations.
Li Chen knew he meant two thousand, not two hundred.
Earning two thousand talisman coins from a single hunting trip without calamity or danger was indeed something worth boasting about and celebrating.
Someone immediately followed his lead. "In that case, I caught a wild boar outside the city today, so I ought to treat myself too. Waiter, stir-fry me a plate of greens, and bring a dish of toasted beans and a jin of wine."
The others could not help finding this amusing, though some sighed inwardly.
"You fellows had good luck. We went out for nothing today. Never mind the time we wasted-we also have to account for wear and tear whenever we send out our Mechanism Beasts and puppets. We've got to count every coin to get by."
"That's right. I heard someone in Old Ge's group even got injured."
"I wonder how Old Huang and his people are doing. They still haven't come back."
"Hm?" As Li Chen sat in a corner, head lowered over his bowl of meat broth, he suddenly heard someone mention Old Huang and could not help thinking of Huang Yuan'an and his companions.
Could they happen to be staying at this inn too?
He did not ask any questions, but listened to the others chatting for a while. Sure enough, he discovered that they were discussing the group led by Huang Yuan'an, whom he knew.
Rogue cultivators often spent their nights in the wilderness while traveling and adventuring. However, coming to a place like the Commandery Seat clearly meant they intended to rest and recuperate for a while. Unless necessary, they would not readily do so again.
Either they had discovered signs of valuable prey, or they had encountered some difficulty that delayed their return. The news could be good or bad.
Li Chen ate a full, large bowl of thick meat soup, then took out some of the Pig Demon meat he had marinated earlier and ate it with the broth. Only then did he pat his belly in satisfaction and head toward the warehouse.
There were lamps made from light crystals there, keeping it as bright as day even at night, so his work would not be hindered.
This time, however, Li Chen summoned the Combat Puppet known as the "Armored Warrior," which the Creation Sect issued to its Craftsmen.
It was a humanoid puppet close to the size of a real person, refined from various materials such as metal, wood, and stone. Its structure and functions were far more complex than those of ordinary Mechanism Devices.
The Creation Sect defined Craftsmen as Puppet Masters capable of making Mechanism Devices and various puppet components, as well as assembling and modifying puppets. Anyone capable of independently creating this kind of puppet had to be at least a Master Artisan.
At the very least, this kind of puppet's core components were not so easy to refine.
But Li Chen had long since attained the level of a genuine Craftsman. Making the necessary modifications posed no obstacle; all he lacked was money.
He was now considering how to cover this puppet with a human exterior.
Humanoid puppets, painted skin...
This should be the original purpose of the Creation-Promotion Secret Art. This technique was meant to be used on humanoid puppets in the first place.
I've heard that some people with evil natures went astray because they never received the true teachings, actually skinning people alive for materials.
Others strip the skin from the dead to reduce the difficulty and cost. There's no shortage of cultivators who stop at nothing to pursue the Great Dao and delve into their craft.