"The art of painting speaks of copying forms, and the Skin-Painting Art likewise draws material from life. All of this is meant to deepen our grasp of bodily form and appearance, so that the marvel of its use rests entirely within the heart."
"Ancient texts once recorded: depict heaven and earth, classify all living things, portray strange objects and marvels, mountain gods and sea spirits, record their forms and entrust them to brush and pigment. These are the techniques and applications of the art of painting."
"Yet tracing a form from its shadow cannot capture the full delicacy of its beauty, and studying fire through its ashes cannot reveal the grandeur of its blaze. To achieve something truly lifelike, you must look to my Skin-Painting Art!"
You An's eyes widened, his mouth hanging slightly open. Only after a long while did he say, "I don't understand. I still don't understand."
Li Chen smiled faintly and told Old Hou and You An, "Come with me."
Curious, the two followed Li Chen back to his room. Li Chen shut the door and reached into his pouch, taking two Humanoid Idols out of his Storage Bag.
You An's eyes immediately widened again.
Old Hou's expression also changed dramatically.
"These... these are..."
Standing before them were none other than the beautiful sisters who had played cards with Li Chen the night before, Xiao Die and Xiao Ying!
But realizing that he could not possibly have brought living people over and hidden them in his bag, the two quickly caught on. "These are Puppet Dolls you made using the Skin-Painting Art?"
Li Chen said, "That's right. I had a sudden flash of inspiration last night and made a breakthrough, so I created them."
You An exclaimed in wonder, "They look far too real!"
Old Hou was full of admiration as well. "Lifelike! No, they're more than lifelike. They're practically... practically two living people standing right here."
For a moment, words failed him.
Li Chen had not only hired the sisters to serve as models, but also bought a set of their old clothes and jewelry. Now the Humanoid Idols wore skins identical to theirs, along with their clothes and jewelry. Standing with graceful poise, they brimmed with a vivid sense of life from head to toe.
Aside from the fact that these two Humanoid Idols were lifeless objects like wooden statues, with no mechanical joints or puppet cores installed, and thus could only stand there motionless, Old Hou and You An could find no flaw in them whatsoever.
"I now have some understanding of the True Intent of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting."
"I love only their forms, and so I capture them: discarding the dross and retaining the essence."
Li Chen himself gazed at the pair of sister dolls and sank into thought.
The art of painting, Alchemy and Mining, Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting-these things seemed as unrelated as horses and cattle riding different winds, yet at their core, they were all processes of removing impurities and refining the essence.
Discarding the false and preserving the true was the Dao. There could be no more orthodox method of cultivating truth!
"I love only their forms, and so I capture them" was a line Li Chen had once come across while reading the Tale of Yan Shi.
He had not understood its meaning then, but now, connecting it with his own experiences, the tangled weeds blocking his understanding finally fell away.
Taking what he had seen and heard yesterday as an example, he certainly disliked Xiao Die and Xiao Ying's behavior. Yet their looks were so beautiful that everyone who saw them was drawn to them, and even he could not help feeling a little fondness.
He understood that this came merely from biological instinct, not from any desire he harbored toward them.
If these sisters had been utterly ordinary village girls from the countryside, would he have viewed them in a different light?
Or what about many years later, when they had grown old, their beauty yellowed like aging pearls...
And once he succeeded in cultivation, attained the Dao, and became an immortal, when every mortal he saw had a filthy head and grimy face, was utterly dirty and disheveled, and had a skin filled with mucus, spit, pus, and blood, not one of them clean-how would he treat them then?
Yan Shi must have been a man of great wisdom to arrive at the insight of loving only their forms. It has the same subtle beauty as the idea of the skin as a mere shell back on Earth in my previous life. Yet he still loved those forms and wanted to preserve their bodies and appearances, so he pioneered this Secret Art of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting.
Seen that way, the fat nerds of my previous life were also people of great wisdom. With their two-dimensional wives, they loved only their forms, extending that love to the emotions and will contained within...
As a Puppet Master, I shouldn't have to seek anything from others. Whatever wives, girls, beauties, or lovely ladies I want, I can simply sculpt them with my own hands!
Sooner or later, I'll make them walk and move like real people, fight and act coy, and even truly come alive, with intelligence and emotions!
Fervor surged in Li Chen's heart. He extended both hands and stroked the faces of the two Puppet Dolls before him at the same time.
Amid a haze of faint light, the sister dolls' skin became finer and smoother.
The spacing of their brows and eyes, as well as the size and height of their noses, seemed to undergo subtle changes too, making them even prettier and more charming, youthful and sweet.
The Puppet Dolls he had altered immediately surpassed the original women in beauty, acquiring an air beyond the mundane!
At the sight, Old Hou and Old You were utterly stunned.
You could do that too?
Watching Li Chen immerse himself in his work, already so obsessed that he could no longer pull himself free, they exchanged a glance and quietly withdrew, even closing the door for him.
Once outside, Old Hou remarked with feeling, "The method our young friend Li uses is no simple thing."
You An nodded as well. "It certainly isn't."
One was a seasoned wanderer who had roamed for years, and the other a down-on-his-luck scion of an Aristocratic Clan who had once lived in Sky City. They naturally had discerning eyes and broad experience, yet both were beginning to feel that they could no longer see through Li Chen.
At the same time, on the main road outside the Hundred Flowers House in Maple Grove Market's commercial district.
A hemispherical mechanical chair, a little over a foot long and encased in dark blue-green metal, hovered in the air and drifted leisurely along. A young man wearing a Puppet Master's Robe reclined inside it, looking as though he were tucked into a large barrel.
A pole rose behind his back, supporting a large parasol that shaded him from the afternoon sun. A powerful-looking man with a sharp, capable bearing walked beside him. At a glance, this was clearly a young gentleman of wealth or status out on an excursion.
"The Hundred Flowers House. Looks like a nice place. Come on, let's go in and have a look." The young man in the Puppet Master's Robe tilted his head and glanced at the sign by the road. His mechanical chair immediately turned and floated inside.
"Oh, an honored guest! How should I address you, young master?" The proprietress, who happened to be greeting customers in the main hall, brightened and immediately came forward.
The young man could not be bothered with her and merely said, "Do you know anywhere around here where I can find people to use as models? I wish to practice the Skin-Painting Art!"
"Models?" The proprietress did not understand at all. Only after the guard beside the young man stepped forward and explained in a low voice did realization dawn on her.
"Oh, so that's what you mean!" As she spoke, she could not help muttering in bewilderment, "What's going on these past two days? One strange guest after another. Is this sort of thing fashionable now?"
"What did you say?" The guard's ears twitched, catching the proprietress's muttering.
"N-nothing. I meant that another guest was doing this modeling thing earlier. He was just as fashionable as you, young master." Seeing the guard's unfriendly expression, the proprietress hurried to explain.
"What happened? Explain it clearly to me." The young man seemed very interested in this. He actually set aside his earlier question and pressed her for details.