The idea of combining the new method with the old passed through Wang Quan's mind before he tossed it aside.
He settled himself and contacted the round-faced Daoist nun.
"I need two corpses."
The round-faced Daoist nun replied swiftly, "Ten thousand Green Beetles per corpse."
Plowing fields for the lower courtyard paid three or four thousand Green Beetles a day.
Now, a corpse cost only ten thousand Green Beetles.
The price was not high.
Wang Quan readily agreed. "One man and one woman."
"All right!"
A quarter of an hour later, guided by the round-faced Daoist nun, he arrived at a stone chamber.
He swiped his identity token and entered.
Inside were a stone bed, a male corpse, and an assortment of dissection instruments.
The corpses did not look very old. The man was in his thirties or forties, and so was the woman. Wang Quan touched them; they were still warm.
Wang Quan did not know whether they had been hunted down and delivered here or had willingly sold themselves.
Why dwell on all that?
Dissecting the corpses is what matters.
He dissected the corpses to gain a more detailed, direct understanding of the human body's structure, allowing him to perfect his paper effigies.
He settled himself, recited scripture, and expended wisps of mana.
The next second, the many dissection tools beside him rose into the air as though held by invisible hands and began dissecting.
Skin, sinews, bones, flesh, and internal organs were all separated.
Finally, small blades as thin as cicada wings cut through them bit by bit.
Wang Quan cast [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art], and sheets of Moon-Pattern Paper flew out, wrapping up the various organs and limbs.
Finally, he lit three sticks of sandalwood incense and recited scripture again.
Bili, bili!
Jili, gulu!
The sandalwood incense burned fiercely, its curling smoke burrowing into the rolls of Moon-Pattern Paper.
The Moon-Pattern Paper writhed like a monster's stomach, dissolving the organs little by little.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, all the limbs had been absorbed by the Moon-Pattern Paper.
The next second, the many rolls of Moon-Pattern Paper returned to the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box].
"It worked!"
Numerous diagrams of the human body's structure appeared in Wang Quan's mind.
With a thought, he called, "Come!"
Whoosh!
Brush, ink, paper, and inkstone flew out of the box.
"Come!"
Whoosh!
A roll of Moon-Pattern Paper flew out as well.
The Moon-Pattern Paper spread across the stone bed. Wang Quan wielded his brush, splashing ink as he depicted the body's many structures.
He first drew the heart, liver, spleen, and lungs, then the sinews, bones, flesh, and so on.
As he drew, he recited scripture, infusing wisps of mana into the paper.
Whenever he finished drawing a set of organs or limbs, those images vanished from the Moon-Pattern Paper.
By the time he drew the human outlines at the end, the Moon-Pattern Paper was completely blank.
Yet all the internal structures had been imprinted within it.
Soon, he finished two drawings, one male and one female.
He snapped his fingers. "Come!"
Whoosh!
The sentient scissors flew out of the box and snipped out the male and female figures.
"Go!"
Whoosh!
The sentient scissors returned to the box.
The two paper effigies followed.
When the two paper effigies slipped into the box, Wang Quan smiled. "It worked!"
From now on, every paper effigy that flew out of this [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box], male or female, would contain detailed depictions of the internal organs, sinews, bones, skin, hair, flesh, fascia, and other structures.
With the same mana and spell enhancements, paper effigies possessing such detailed structures would be several times, or even more than ten times, as powerful as ordinary ones.
With this, I can master the Paper Effigy Death-Substitution Art too.
He circulated his fundamental method to replenish his mana.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, one full strand of mana had been restored.
"Come!"
The mechanisms inside the box turned, and a palm-sized paper effigy flew out.
This paper effigy looked exactly like him, vividly lifelike.
Held between his fingers, it felt like flesh and blood.
Wang Quan formed seals with both hands, and the paper effigy landed in his palm.
He recited the death-substitution scripture.
Bili, bili!
Jili, gulu!
After finishing the scripture of a thousand-odd words, he abruptly opened his mouth and spat out a strand of [Bright Moon Mana].
The next second, after absorbing the mana, the paper effigy sprang up from his palm.
Wang Quan faintly sensed a thread of connection between himself and the paper effigy.
An understanding came to him from somewhere unseen.
If he suffered a fatal injury, this paper effigy could automatically bear the damage in his place, sparing him from death.
It was quite an excellent spell.
The only pity was that only one could exist at a time.
Still, pairing the Paper Effigy Death-Substitution Art with [Moonlight Escape] greatly improved his ability to survive.
"Not bad!"
"Now I finally have what it takes to gain a foothold in this world."
At that thought, he smiled.
The sun-crow flew and the moon-hare raced.
Five days...
Ten days...
Twenty days...
In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed.
Over that month, Wang Quan made tremendous gains.
First came the Daoist scriptures.
No matter how busy he was, he spent several hours studying Daoist scriptures every day, slowly but steadily increasing the number he had studied at a rate of two or three volumes a day.
Next came his mana.
At first, he could refine around three thousand wisps of mana a day.
But with the completion of the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box], his worship of the moon, his perception of more of its details, and the increase in his mana, his refining efficiency reached one full strand per night.
This efficiency was astonishing.
Back then, Wu Yong had pledged himself to Zhao Hongyi, yet even with her help, he had refined only twelve strands of mana in nine months.
Now, Wang Quan could refine one strand a month.
The gap between them defied description.
Aside from that, he could now gather five wisps of purple qi a day with the [Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method].
Wang Quan used all this purple qi to cleanse and refine his mana, making what was already highly refined even purer.
Then came the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art].
During this time, through the round-faced Daoist nun, he purchased the memories of over a thousand martial artists and of maidservants from powerful households, infusing them into the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box].
Thus, any paper effigies born from it in the future would innately possess the killing memories and cultivation methods of over a thousand martial artists, along with the worldly etiquette known to hundreds of maidservants.
His yin spirit made the least progress.
The yin spirit required nourishment from mana, purple qi, and various essences.
Wang Quan was currently dirt poor and could only nourish his yin spirit slowly with mana. As a result, his yin spirit still could not leave his inner landscape to inspect the Second-Layer World.
As for the lifesaving [Moonlight Escape], he refined one into every strand of mana.
Last came the [Paper Effigy Death-Substitution Art].
He bought a box, cut out a paper house for the paper effigy, then cut out more than twenty [Damage-Substituting Paper Guardians], forming a composite [Paper Effigy Death-Substitution Art].
The paper guardians could bear any less significant injuries.
On the paper house, he inscribed a spell that defended against attacks on the yin spirit, specifically to shelter it.
It was not that he did not want to make more [Damage-Substituting Paper Guardians] and houses, but each [Damage-Substituting Paper Guardian] and house had to correspond to one strand of mana.
He could only make as many as he had strands of mana.
Not a single one more.
At this moment, thoughts stirred within his yin spirit, and a set of information appeared in his inner landscape.
``` [First-Rank Dao Seal-Wang Quan-Age/Lifespan: 18/120]
[Dao Seal advancement requirement: 10,800/20,000]
[Realm: Qi Refining/Yin Spirit!]
[Mana: [Bright Moon Mana-30 strands], [Purple Qi Dharmic Power-3 wisps], [Great Sun Magic Power-7,000 wisps].]
[Fundamental methods: [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method], [Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method], [Great Sun Across the Sky Art]!]
[Spells: [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art], [Moonlight Escape]!]
[Trait: Qi Gathering +1-Spend 10 strands of heavenly secrets to condense a second trait.]
[Heavenly secrets: 0 strands.]
[Green Fly Coins: Three thousand]
[Spirit medicines, essences, and Magic Treasures can all be converted into heavenly secrets.]
The information on the First-Rank Dao Seal was extremely detailed.
After studying it carefully, Wang Quan realized he needed to earn some Green Fly Coins.
For one thing, he needed to cover the necessities of his daily cultivation.
For another, he needed to purchase various essences, spirit medicines, and other things to convert into heavenly secrets and unlock his second trait.
Before you continue