Chapter Thirty-Four: The Paper Doll Doppelganger

Ghost Market.

A Daoist in green robes walked along the street, a Harmony Cap upon his head marking his identity. On either side, stalls offered all manner of strange materials: stillborn infants, corpse oil, dried mummies, spiritual foods, ghostly provisions, and more. The Daoists and their apprentices bartered their skills for other cultivation medicines or techniques. With over a thousand members at the Temple of Spirit Crossing, resources were never sufficient to be evenly distributed. Most still had to rely on descending the mountain to obtain what they needed, or exchanging accumulated merit for supplies.

“These are the latest medicines.”

Lu Qian found a man with a short beard and handed him a bundle. Wang Ming inspected the contents briefly and said, “No problem, about five credits of Dao merit.” He then untied the package and handed Lu Qian an oiled-paper bundle. Inside were seeds, mottled in color.

“Serpentvine, Five-Willow Root, Serpent Scale Fruit, and Rotbone Spirit Flower. The first two are for making spirit food and talisman paper, the latter two are ingredients for vital energy potions. I brought them all. Brother Lu, are you preparing to establish your own residence?”

“That’s right, just buying some seeds for later use,” Lu Qian replied with a smile.

He had begun learning the alchemical recipes for the Qi Refining stage. The medicines he’d studied before were no longer suitable for this phase. After bidding farewell to Wang Ming, Lu Qian wandered the market, purchasing golden thread, copper wire, cinnabar, and other supplies.

“Corpse-thatch paper! Selling corpse-thatch paper!”

A shout caught Lu Qian’s attention.

“How is this paper different from ordinary talisman paper? Why is it several times more expensive?” he asked, intrigued.

“Ah, you wouldn’t know. Corpse-thatch is a parasitic grass that grows only on corpses. Each blade absorbs the essence of an entire body to mature. Paper made from this grass is extremely yin in nature—perfect for carving talismans and twice as effective.”

“Give me three rolls,” Lu Qian said, trading three credits of Dao merit for three meters of paper.

The sheets were a deep green, soft and supple to the touch, their texture reminiscent of human skin.

“Blood of the Blood-Jade Spider, only five credits!” another vendor called.

Lu Qian paused, then moved on. After the Underworld Serpent Map killed Jin Yang, fragments of Jin Yang’s memories lingered in his mind, including cultivation methods. Jin Yang’s ultimate technique, Solar Flame Qi, could unleash formless energy to strike at a distance or reinforce the body against blades and arrows. Unfortunately, it was a dual cultivation art—useless to him alone. Perhaps another time.

More intriguing was a mysterious body-forging art, the Nine Heavens Yin-Flower Blood Refining Method. The early stages were much the same as other methods: refining essence into qi. The next step in this art was “Condensing the Blood Seed”—comparable to entering the Qi Refining stage. Jin Yang had sought to forge the “Moon-Chasing Golden Toad Blood Seed.”

Lu Qian had considered buying Blood-Jade Spider blood for this purpose. Since this was a yin-natured body-refining art, the resulting blood seed would also be yin in aspect. If successful, it would be known as the “Moon-Chasing Blood Spider” or “Yin-Flower Blood Spider.” But upon reflection, it wasn’t worth it. Such exotic beasts were unremarkable—not even ranking among the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends. Only creatures of that caliber deserved the effort of forging a blood seed. Otherwise, progress would soon stall, and it would be better to focus on orthodox methods.

Besides, the difficulty was extreme. The best materials were demon cores or heart’s blood. With any lesser blood, failure was almost certain—ending in a body-shattering death.

Then there was the Spirit Projection Technique.

“This one is quite useful at my current stage,” Lu Qian mused.

He returned to his quarters; his cave mansion had yet to be reported and officially transferred, so he cultivated here for the time being. Producing a sheet of corpse-thatch paper, he cut out the shape of a three-inch paper figure. With a flicker of flame, the paper effigy grew to a nine-foot-tall figure. Lu Qian formed a hand seal and chanted, “Essence of Heaven, essence of Earth, essence of the Sun and Moon; Heaven and Earth unite their martial essence, Sun and Moon combine their light, spirits and ghosts take form, Heaven and Man join their hearts… Divine soldier, by urgent command, manifest!”

A beam of light shot from his eyes into the paper man. The figure seemed to stir, but a moment later, it crumbled to ash.

Opening his eyes, Lu Qian sighed. “Still a failure.”

The Spirit Projection Technique allowed one to project their spirit into living things. The old beggar, as it turned out, had been Jin Yang’s spirit in disguise, committing crimes to frame the Miao Xiang Sect.

Lu Qian picked up the remains. Even with corpse-thatch paper, it could not withstand his spiritual intent.

“Paper figures are the best vessels—cheap and disposable,” he noted. In the future, for minor errands, he could simply possess a paper man. And unlike precious objects, losing one was no cause for regret.

He experimented with various materials. The strength of the paper figure depended not only on the caster, but also on the paper and the ink used to paint its eyes. He had previously relied on ink made from fox blood and yin essence; perhaps a change of ingredients would help.

After a dozen failures, he finally ground toad eyes into ink and painted the figure’s eyes. As he finished the incantation, a faint light shone, and the paper man seemed to come alive, adopting Lu Qian’s own appearance.

“Not bad.” Lu Qian examined his new body. Infusing it with the power of Darkwater True Qi, the frail paper form grew tough, impervious to common fire and water.

“Haha, success!” he exclaimed with delight.

As long as he did not withdraw his spirit, the paper man would persist, and some spells could even be cast through it.

It was, in effect, a second body.

“And if I refine this art further, I could divide my spiritual awareness and control several at once. If I could multitask like that, cultivating different spells at the same time, wouldn’t my progress soar?”

The next day, Lu Qian climbed to the apothecary’s back mountain. He stopped before a massive boulder, formed a hand seal, and murmured a chant.

Whoosh!

The scenery shifted. A dark, yawning doorway appeared in the rock. To the uninitiated, it would seem nothing more than stone. Only with the secret words could one see the entrance.

Stepping inside, he found a hidden world—some one hundred and fifty steps wide and long. Beyond the gate lay a courtyard, its grounds overrun with weeds. Three houses stood at the rear; the central one, larger than the rest, was for cultivation. The room to the right contained a furnace and bronze cauldron, assorted pliers, hammers, and molds scattered about, all thick with dust and smelling of damp. This was the refining room; the other small house must be the alchemy chamber.

Entering the main house, he found a side room for sleeping. The central hall was empty but for a single meditation cushion. Beneath it was an intricate array carved with countless channels, golden wire and copper threads woven into patterns—the array for gathering the essence of sun and moon.

This formation was no simple thing: it tapped into the land’s energies, gathering spiritual essence. The value of the entire cave mansion lay mostly in this array. Each month, a portion of time had to be devoted to maintaining the gold and copper threads.

Lu Qian sat cross-legged and began his breathing exercises. After completing a full cycle, he awoke, refreshed.

“My speed has increased greatly—now I can circulate my energy four times a day.”

The Guiding Method lacked just over a hundred progress points to reach minor completion. At this pace, he’d succeed within a month.

Thus passed the days: Lu Qian meditated in his cave, watered the spiritual herbs he planted, and sometimes sent his paper avatar to the apothecary for alchemy tasks. When tired, he would rest, then resume practice upon waking—taking medicines, adjusting his true water energy, nourishing his spirit, and refining sword talismans.

Greedy Wolf Yin Talisman, Guiding Method, Serpent Transformation Art, Paperfolding Technique, Spirit Projection Technique…

Gradually, he mastered the art of meditating automatically while controlling a paper figure for alchemy or practicing other spells. His foundational techniques and secondary arts advanced at a remarkable pace.