The true intent of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting lay in pursuing a means of creation that originated in humanity yet transcended it. This offered a glimpse of the founding master's breadth of mind.
But setting this Secret Art aside, other methods that explored the way of life might also rely on experiments with living subjects. Artisan Lei, for instance, was using escaped Sword Cultivator slaves to practice his arts.
Sword Cultivators, spellcasters, and their ilk were mostly regarded with hostility by Puppet Masters, who considered them unproductive, indifferent to people's livelihoods, and concerned only with their own transcendence.
These were the sources of disputes over the Dao Path, good, and evil.
Li Chen studied the Armored Warrior before him for a long while. In the end, he shook his head, put those thoughts aside, and continued honing his own craft.
This time, he used hides from large animals, such as cattle, to fit it with a layer of painted skin.
Since the materials came from ordinary beasts and offered no means of channeling magical power into them, special effects such as nurturing astral energy or strengthening its defenses were out of the question.
Still, Li Chen worked with great care. He took this opportunity to familiarize himself with the characteristics of a humanoid puppet's outer skin, laying a solid foundation for eventually making painted skin that could truly circulate astral energy.
His goal was to imitate human skin with cowhide and similar materials, producing a lifelike result.
If he could fit it onto the Armored Warrior and fool others into thinking it was real, that would count as a success. Perhaps it would have unexpected uses when he ventured out into the wider world someday.
Li Chen remained holed up in the house, engrossed in his research to the point of all but forgetting food and sleep.
Before he knew it, it was late March.
Li Chen returned to the inn's front hall, ordered three catties of roast meat and a bowl of fragrant broth, then asked the waiter to add a plate of greens. He saw the innkeeper, who had been tallying accounts nearby, take a chalkboard off the wall behind him and remark with a sigh, "Old Huang and the others still haven't come back. They haven't settled their room charges, either."
A guest said, "Maybe they caught some rare beast out there and went off to another city?"
Another laughed. "You've really changed your ways, haven't you? Every day, you're like a ghost hounding us to our deaths, demanding our room money in advance. How did you let Old Huang and his friends run up a debt?"
The innkeeper said irritably, "It's only these past few days! They paid through March eighteenth. I figured we'd done business together, so I couldn't clear out their rooms just because they missed one day. Who knew it would turn into several?"
"Oh, come off it. I've stayed in this shabby inn of yours for ages, and I've never seen it full. What difference does it make who you keep the rooms for?" the guest who had spoken earlier said with a laugh.
The innkeeper replied helplessly, "That may be true, but we're running a business. We can't break our own rules."
The guest could not be bothered to argue with him and picked up some beans to eat with his wine.
A humanoid Combat Puppet dressed in an overcoat, its head covered with a cloth sack, sat beside him like a real person and helped shell the beans. Clearly, he was dividing his attention between two tasks, not forgetting to hone his Mechanism-Performance Method even while drinking.
The innkeeper pursed his lips, lowered his head, and leafed through his ledger with a worried expression.
On the twenty-third, Li Chen was again eating in the hall when he heard the innkeeper sigh. "Five days without payment..."
The next day brought another lament. "It's been six days without any room money now."
After that, he no longer heard the innkeeper or the guests mention the group.
People of the wandering world came and went. Guests departed, rooms were cleared out, and new guests always arrived. Presumably, the innkeeper had given Huang Yuan'an and his companions' rooms to newcomers.
By then, Li Chen had little attention to spare for them. His recent practice of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting had yielded considerable insights, and he felt he was progressing by leaps and bounds. Then he suddenly realized that he had been eating through his savings and had little money left.
Money really does flow away like water. Buying hides and paying my living expenses these past few days has nearly emptied my savings. Although my biggest expenses this month were still the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast, modifying Storage Rings, and making components for the Flying Disc, the cost of practicing Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting has crept past a thousand without my even noticing.
Over the past few days, Li Chen had purchased large quantities of animal hides, along with various spiritual materials and medicines that nourished his vital energy and restored his magical power. Without realizing it, he had spent over a thousand Talisman Coins.
Although these supplies would not be exhausted in a short time, he might have to purchase demon beast hides in the future, which would only drive expenses higher. He could no longer take the matter lightly.
Learning a craft and growing stronger truly consumed a great deal of money. All of these things counted as resources needed for cultivation.
Looks like I need to bring in more and spend less.
Just as well. These past few days, I've heard people say the demon tide is stirring, and all sorts of wild beasts have started appearing even a few li outside the city. Why not take advantage of the good weather and try my luck out there?
After so much stillness, Li Chen felt the urge to move. Since he had already made his preparations, he simply set off without delay, heading alone to the foot of a barren mountain five li beyond the city outskirts.
Beside the Imperial Road, Li Chen jumped off the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast's back. He looked at the road's level surface and the embankments of piled earth and stone on either side, then at the wasteland beyond them, overgrown with weeds and thorns. He could not help sinking into thought.
The Eastern Victory Continent was vast and sparsely populated. Its major cities and market towns were all linked by Imperial Roads, keeping travel and communication flowing without interruption.
This road connecting human settlements in every direction was the lifeline of travel and communication between cities, the artery of their entire civilization. Without Imperial Roads, human settlements in the wilderness would be nothing more than lone islands in a vast sea, destined sooner or later to be overrun by the wilds.
Untamed forests could be seen everywhere here, towering trees filling the view. The deeper one went into the ancient mountain forests where spiritual energy accumulated, the thicker the shrouds of miasma and mist became. All manner of long-distance communication methods and remote-sensing techniques would fail.
Thus, even though Li Chen had resolved to walk the path of a Demon Hunter, he did not dare venture rashly into these forests anytime soon.
With his current experience and strength, he might well enter and never come out again.
But Li Chen also knew one thing: staying close to the Imperial Road would keep him safe.
The area around this Imperial Road still counts as safe ground. These roads were built at enormous expense by the cities and the Creation Sect as a means of maintaining their rule.
Most Imperial Roads are built through places where spiritual energy is naturally thin. Their surfaces aren't ordinary earth and stone, either, but foundations for magical arrays. They do precisely the opposite of a Spirit-Gathering Array, driving away spiritual energy and baleful energy of every kind. Over the years, no grass or trees take root, and no thorns grow. Most demons and spirits dislike breeding and living near places like these.
That also means most creatures found nearby are weak demon beasts and spirits forced to survive where spiritual energy is thin, or even ordinary wild beasts with no supernatural power at all.
After standing and gazing for a while, Li Chen extended his arm and curled his fingers slightly. As his magical power circulated, a faint buzzing arose from thin air.
Li Chen wore Storage Rings on his fingers corresponding to the Fang Tiger, the Armored Warrior, and the Flying Disc. The one he opened now held the Flying Disc-the ring he called the Beehive.