Although it was only a few spoonfuls of honey, Hu Yun only dared to dip his tongue in a little bit each time. This was the best way to enjoy it; otherwise, it would have been too sweet for him to eat more.
Ji Yuan stood nearby and watched the red fox hold the ceramic bowl and lick the honey with an intoxicated look on his face. Afterwards, he didn’t stay in the kitchen, but rather went back into the main house to sort out his newly purchased items.
Ji Yuan had only woken up today. Aside from his excursion for noodles, and coming back to sit quietly for a while to watch the snow, it was now time for him to get down to business.
He took out a small round sieve from his room, and placed a wooden ruler, a thin charcoal stick, a thick stack of rhubarb paper,1 and a pair of scissors atop it. Then he walked into the yard and placed the whole stack on the stone table.
Hu Yun walked into the yard holding his ceramic bowl, his face full of curiosity. He looked at Ji Yuan sitting at the stone table, looking as though he were about to start making some handicrafts.
“Mr. Ji, what are you doing? If you’re learning to cut window paper like the common people, shouldn’t you use red paper?”
Ji Yuan had already taken a piece of yellow paper, cut out a piece of with a ruler and scissors, and then used the charcoal stick to draw a human figure.
“Wow, Mr. Ji, you have a really steady hand.2 Amazing!”
Ji Yuan took a look at the human figure on this piece of yellow paper. The head was a circle, and the body and limbs were almost like straight poles. The fox was ridiculously bad at flattery.
During this process, the paper crane in the brocade bag in his arms also flew out, landing on Ji Yuan’s shoulder and observing intently. On top of its instinct to seek out good and avoid evil, it now held a stronger sense of curiosity, especially with regards to what Ji Yuan was working on with the paper. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
Soon, Ji Yuan had a yellow paper figure in his hand, about half the size of his palm.
Putting this thin yellow paper figurine aside, Ji Yuan repeated the same process, creating a dozen more in a little over a quarter of an hour.
Each figurine had a unique pose. Aside from the first one, which was standing, the others each represented a different movement: squatting bending, bending one arm, crossing both arms, mirrored on both the left and the right, with different deflections of the head, and so on.
At first, Hu Yun thought that Mr. Ji was just playing around. However, despite their varying forms, the paper figures were all virtually identical, from head size to limb length. A faint aura of Dharma light shone around the edges of each figure. From the moment he had started to cut the first figure, Ji Yuan seemed to have been muttering something.
By this point, even Hu Yun could tell that Mr. Ji was engaging in some ritual. He sat silently at the stone table, clutching the ceramic bowl that he had licked clean. He hardly breathed, his eyes unblinking, his ears straining to catch every word that Ji Yuan spoke.
Indeed, Hu Yun wanted to steal Ji Yuan’s techniques. Or rather, this wasn’t stealing, but blatantly observing.
By this point, Hu Yun had long since grown more “sensible.” With Lu Shan Jun’s influence, he had long understood that Mr. Ji was a rare master in this world, his skills unfathomable. Learning anything from him would bring lifetime benefit.
Ji Yuan had no intention of hiding from Hu Yun at all. Given this fox’s stupidity, it was highly unlikely that he would learn anything, let alone this technique.3
Hu Yun just watched as Ji Yuan create more and more paper figures. From the first dozen or so, they began to expand continuously. Some of them could only raise their hands, but later he added more arm-bending movements.
The research by by Du Changsheng and his master over the last two generations had concluded that a total 108 figures4 would cover the number for the Northern Dipper celestials and ward off earthly demons,5 and would be fully capable of supporting all the movements of the paper figure, exceeding the limits of its spiritual energy and mental strength. .
After all, each paper figure was not simply a round head, square body, and pole-like limbs. In reality, during the cutting process, the crafter would detail the essential features of the fingers, palms, bones, skin, armor, and everything else using their mind and spiritual energy. The incantations were recited swiftly, acting as a kind of explanation that coordinated the mind and body, detailing, for example, how many bones intersected at a joint, how many fingers, how many nails, and so on.
If even one step were to go wrong, all the mentally linked paper figurines would crumble to ash.
Despite Ji Yuan’s formidable mental strength, even this first attempt at this method, which required a blend of imagination and mechanical effort, still suffered some errors.
At about the 90th paper figurine, the coordination between the scissors and his incantations faltered, forcing him to cut a fraction too quickly, effectively cutting the shape before his mind could settle on the final form.
Whoosh…Whoosh…Whoosh…
The piece of paper in Ji Yuan’s hand instantly erupted into flames alongside the other eighty nine yellow paper figures in the sieve. They were reduced to ashes in an instant, startling Hu Yun.
“Ah… I was too impatient!”
Ji Yuan sighed. With a wave of his hand, and all the paper ashes floated away.
Hu Yun finally had the opportunity to ask a couple questions.
“Mr. Ji, what were you doing just now? What were those little paper people for? A lot of them looked like they were fighting. You weren’t going to do a lantern show, were you? Why did they all turn to ash?”
Ji Yuan said, then started his second attempt. This time, he was much more efficient. It only took him an hour and a half to complete all 108 paper figurines.
However, Ji Yuan was not done yet. After completing the entire process, he had grasped the essence of this technique.
This was all due to his own deduction and refinement. Ji Yuan had corrected some critical errors that Du Changsheng and his master failed to fully understand. His profound study of Edicts allowed him to use analogy to identify some flaws.
Although Du Changsheng and his late master’s creativity and technique framework were indeed exceptional, in his hands, the technique itself underwent a qualitative transformation.
Just because Du Changsheng and his deceased master had reached their limits did not mean that Ji Yuan would be limited as well. He continued cutting paper figurines, never pausing in his incantation.
It wasn’t until the sky began to darken that Ji Yuan paused. This time, without fail, he completed a total of 324 paper figurines in one go.6
Ji Yuan understood the extra two rounds of 108 figures as “supplementing truth,”7 which meant to complete the true essence. Of course, this was just a more literal way of thinking about it. There was a deeper meaning behind these words, as they could also be regarded as “supplementing the artwork.”8 This phrase could be attributed to a touch of nostalgia and a little romance.
As for why the number 324, it was primarily because Ji Yuan was apprehensive. The spiritual energy was a secondary concern; his main issue was that the mental drain increased exponentially as he progressed. After all, he couldn’t just set the previous work aside, he had to connect all of it.9
Although he hadn’t reached his limit yet, he could no longer remain calm. A single misstep could render all his previous efforts null. Therefore, he decisively stopped at the point where he reached a triple combination.
A thick stack of over 300 sheets of paper rested in Ji Yuan’s hands, all gathered in his palm. All of the movements of the parts of the body were different, except for the heads, which all overlapped.
Ji Yuan glanced at Hu Yun next to him. The fox was incredibly focused.
‘It’s rare for you to have this kind of moment. ’
Ji Yuan muttered to himself. Then, he pressed his hands together and pushed all the pieces of paper together in both palms.
Hu Yun could see a faint yellow glow emanating from Ji Yuan’s palms, like yellow dust dancing between his fingers.
It seemed as though in this moment the bulge in the middle of Ji Yuan’s hands were shrinking, before he finally brough his hands to a position that resembled the clasped hands of a Buddhist monk in prayer.
Ji Yuan glanced at the red fox, who had already climbed halfway onto the stone table, the tip of his nose almost touching his palms. He smiled and opened his hands.
“Ah! There’s only one left! So many paper figures disappeared! Where are the other ones?”
Hu Yun looked under the table, then back at Ji Yuan’s hands.
“Mr. Ji, were so many pieces of paper combined into one?”
“Hehe, you guessed right.”
Ji Yuan was in high spirits. At last, the mold was ready.
The yellow figurine in his hand looked like an ordinary sheet of paper to the casual observer, but upon closer inspection, one could make out some faint outlines.
“Mr. Ji, what kind of technique is this, and what can it be used for?”
Hu Yun seemed to want to reach out, but then hesitated. He glanced at the paper crane on Ji Yuan’s shoulder, then at the supernatural paper figure in the man’s hand. Mr. Ji seemed to really enjoy playing with paper.
Ji Yuan stared at the paper figure in his hand. He had not yet completed the last step. His fingertips hovered above the paper figure’s head, and a drop of blood oozed out from under his nail.
After the drop of blood landed on the yellow paper, he casually replied to Hu Yun.
“It’s not really that effective, but it is quite strong.”
“Strong? This paper figure?”
Hu Yun looked at the piece of paper. The drop of Mr. Ji’s blood had just dripped onto the paper, but not a trace of red remained.
“Yes, although there are significant difference between the two, this technique could also be considered a kind of Talisman technique. Once the technique is complete, the paper can be activated to summon a golden-armored warrior.”
Ji Yuan said, glancing at the red fox.
As he spoke, he held the yellow paper upright in front of his eyes. A burst of spiritual energy surged into it, and Ji Yuan tossed it in front of him.
“I call upon my Warrior!”10
As soon as he finished speaking, before the yellow paper had even touched the ground, a yellow misty glow materialized around it, and a human figure emerged from the paper, expanding within the light mist.
A moment later, the mist vanished, revealing an extremely muscular figure clad in golden armor with a golden helm, yellow silk ribbons trailing in front and behind him. He towered over Ji Yuan by over two heads. His face was crimson red, his beard as thin and wiry as a needle. Standing next to him, even Ji Yuan looked like a child.
The giant who had appeared in front of Ji Yuan clasped his hands and bowed slowly, his voice resembling a deep, resonant bell.
“Mr… Mr. Ji… This… this is the paper figure? It’s… it’s alive!”
The red fox nearby was stunned. He hid behind Ji Yuan pointing a claw at the strongman, stammering his words.
“Not really. As I said, he’s quite strong and obedient, but also rather dull. It is more than enough to bluff people. “
Ji Yuan raised his hand, and the Golden Armored Warrior slowly straightened up, maintaining a standing position.
Hu Yun took a deep breath, stepped out from behind Ji Yuan, and cautiously approached the giant warrior. Seeing that the latter didn’t react, he stretched out his claw and tapped the armor.
It sounded like metal.
“This isn’t paper, is it?”
Hu Yun raised his head to look at the warrior. The latter had not moved from beginning to end, not even to look at him.
T/n: classic JY. He makes the world’s most powerful pseudo-living creature and concludes that it’ll be a good bluffing tool for later, LOL