Chapter 86: Cutting Paper into Bodies, Using Ghosts as Servants

Of all the rare treasures in the world, none surpass those of the Sea Market.

Enchantresses of every race and form.

The Dragon Lady with horns growing from her head.

The barbarian woman standing one zhang tall.

Ahem, none of this is important. According to Lin Banshan, there are also Treasure Pills for sale within the Liangjiang Sea Market, called Thousand-Origin Aperture-Nurturing Pills. One pill is made from one hundred and eight pieces; after consuming it, one only needs a Qi-refining method to go from Entering the Dao to Opening the Hundred and Eight Apertures within a thousand days. Some aristocratic families and powerful clans, in order to let their descendants be reborn and forge an immortal root to enter an immortal sect, will spend vast sums of money to compete for this Treasure Pill.

A gourd of Thousand-Origin Aperture-Nurturing Pills starts at ten thousand jin of divine sand, with the highest bidder winning; sometimes, one cannot even see a single pill in over a dozen years.

However, those are the lives of the "previous waves."

It has nothing to do with "later waves" like Lin Banshan.

Chen Ci is not bitter; on the contrary, Lin Banshan is incredibly sour when chatting about this, his mouth full of lemons.

In Lin Banshan's own words, if he only took on jobs escorting goods within the Wenxiang Sect, his monthly salary would only be two Spirit Pearls; escorting goods from the Liangjiang Sea Market to the Shanze Market in Dongshan Prefecture would only pay three Spirit Pearls. If not for relying on a bit of pill-making craft and connections to develop some of his own business, he feared he would never have hope of Foundation Establishment in his lifetime. Right now, the Wenxiang Sect's goods in the Sea Market seem to have run into some trouble, and he has nothing to do, so he simply traveled upstream along the river and actually discovered some new business opportunities here in Xishan Prefecture.

The method for Frost Sugar, and the medicinal herb business.

Anyway, as far as Chen Ci's income is concerned, there is no way Lin Banshan earns less than him.

Thinking of this, Chen Ci actually feels a bit sour.

If it weren't for refining Essence Refining every month to exchange for merit points, his previous annual income was only five thousand taels of silver. Never mind Treasure Pills, he would have to save for eight or ten years just for one ordinary Breaking Aperture Pill.

He even called Lin Banshan a "later wave," but it turns out he isn't even a later wave himself; he can only be counted as a tiny ripple.

"But fortunately..."

Chen Ci rubbed his chin. He tossed that jade tablet to Lin Banshan, but he had a little ulterior motive: having him cover for him in the future would ensure he didn't help for nothing, and the jade tablet wasn't worth much anyway.

"I really am a little genius; it would truly be a pity not to go into business."

Friendship is friendship, and business is business; Chen Ci has always kept them quite distinct.

"Lin Family Herbal Notes?"

Chen Ci looked at the small booklet in his hand and rubbed his chin.

The content in this small booklet left behind by Lin Banshan is not profound; it is very simple, but also very practical.

Just like how Chen Ci grinds walnut tree roots and leaves into juice to extract the essence for fishing, what is written in the booklet is also about how to process ordinary materials like polished rice, ginseng, Solomon's Seal, and lingzhi, which can allow the medicine-taking method to be better utilized.

This processing method is not difficult once explained, but without it being explained, Chen Ci would have been hard-pressed to know that soaking polished rice in warm water for three hours before extracting the grain essence could increase the success rate by another half a percent.

These are all little life hacks.

As for the medicine-taking incantations corresponding to specific medicinal herbs, Chen Ci has no clue. There is nowhere to learn them, and with his just-initiated medicine-taking method, even if he wanted to make changes, he would be powerless; his Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method hasn't even been initiated yet.

"They all say the ancestors' rules cannot be discarded and that the older the method, the better it is. How come it's different here? This isn't right, is it?"

Chen Ci sighed softly; empiricism is harmful.

Lin Banshan did not stay long in Changping County. In his words, the matter of Qingquan Village will have a result before the new year, and it cannot affect next year's spring planting, otherwise another year would be wasted, which is quite uneconomical.

Chen Ci doesn't care; he'll just wait. Anyway, he has nothing to do lately. Envy the "previous waves" all he wants, but living his own life comfortably is what matters.

He prepares to study the usage of the Five-Ghost Transportation Technique.

More accurately, it is the paper-cutting technique, also called the Paper-Cutting into Soldiers technique. This technique can be considered a minor side-door art. As long as one masters it, one can cut shapes out of paper and toss them out to transform them into evil ghosts, heavenly soldiers, door gods, fierce beasts, and the like. Moreover, because the original body is paper, they can sneak through door cracks and windows to harm people, so it has quite a reputation in the mundane world.

But unfortunately, this technique is actually just a silver-plated pewter spearhead. Never mind cultivators, even a mundane martial artist, as long as they are bold enough, can hack it to pieces with a few slashes.

Although Chen Ci doesn't know this kind of side-door art, as an Apprentice of the He Mountain Sect, isn't playing with yin spirits something he can do with his eyes closed?

Chen Ci cut the seamless talisman paper into the shape of a small human figure and tried to have his own Five Ghosts possess it. After a long while, the little figure stood up, walked two steps with difficulty, and then 'plop' fell to the ground, unable to crawl back up.

Chen Ci rubbed his chin. Although they could possess it, the Five Ghosts were weak in strength, and this talisman paper figure became a burden to the Five Ghosts instead of an aid.

"This paper figure can move, but it's actually like little ghosts carrying them as they walk; it's far from what I imagined."

Chen Ci tapped the tabletop, placing the Yin Horse Pagoda Lock and a broken Soldier Bean on the table to study them.

Sanyin Temple does not keep idlers. These Five Ghosts can't even carry a teacup properly; what use are they?

Chen Ci was still counting on one day being able to have the Five Ghosts carry a sedan chair to take him out. If they could fly, oh my, that would be much more comfortable than running around on his own two legs outside.

Although the style might be slightly strange, he couldn't worry about that anymore.

Chen Ci first used True Qi to carefully explore the internal structure of the Soldier Bean. Although it was damaged, by borrowing the experience of refining the Yin Horse Pagoda Lock, he could barely make out two parts of its usage. Looking again at the similar parts within the Prohibition of the Pagoda Lock, he had an idea.

"If I could refine this section of the Prohibition onto the talisman paper, maybe it would have some effect. They are all of the same yin spirit attribute, so there must be some commonalities between them."

Chen Ci happily looked forward to the future and soon became immersed in the research of his own spells.

One month later.

Sanyin Temple, backyard.

"Hong Zhong, bring your master a cup of health tea."

Chen Ci leaned on a lounge chair. Although the autumn sun was still a bit stinging, making him squint his eyes, this rare moment of leisure still made him feel quite comfortable.

No one from the Wang Family came to cause trouble afterward.

His True Qi cultivation had advanced another aperture.

His research into the techniques was successful; how could such days not be delightful?

In the courtyard, a palm-sized paper figure covered in black patterns held a cup of tea, half-floating and half-hopping, struggling to deliver it to Chen Ci's side. If one looked closer, the characters 'Hong Zhong' were written on its back.

Having someone to serve tea and water is truly good.

"Go on."

Chen Ci took the teacup and sipped it leisurely; how comfortable.

This 'Hong Zhong' little paper figure did not retreat; it picked up a wooden stick from the side and joined the battle against the birds in the courtyard. These nearly one hundred stalks of Black Jade Rice were only one step away from maturity. The strange birds attracted by the grain fragrance were becoming more numerous. In the Spirit Field, four identical black-patterned paper figures had already been working hard for a while. Except for the different characters on their backs, the five little paper figures were actually barely holding their own against the strange birds in the sky.

Hong Zhong, and the five brothers: East, South, West, and North Wind.

These talisman paper figures, refined with a layer of Prohibition from the Yin Horse Pagoda Lock, actually really increased the strength of the Five Ghosts a little. Although the transition from void to solid was a drawback, once the paper figure was removed, they were still the formless Five Ghosts that could come and go as they pleased.

And another benefit was that Chen Ci could finally distinguish these Five Ghosts. Although they shared the same mind after being refined, when an order was issued, the Five Ghosts would move in unison, and it was sometimes difficult to specifically command a certain ghost to do a certain thing.

These paper figures carried names, and calling them by name when there was a task made things much more convenient.

The only pity is that this sort of paper talisman technique does not seem to be recognized by the Gold Finger panel, and the strength of the paper dolls is also far too weak.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Chen Ci watched helplessly as 'West Wind' had one of its arms torn off by an exotic bird; once the patterns were broken, the five ghosts within could only drift out, looking quite innocent.

He glanced at the Gold Finger panel.

Five Ghosts Transportation Method: Entry/37/100 (Refining Essence one drop daily, can advance by one, subdue the heart ghost, and the spirit ghost will be born naturally)

At this rate, if he wants to wait for these five little ones to be able to carry him and fly in the sky, he will likely have to grind for a long time; perhaps by then, he himself might have learned some marvelous flying techniques and truly become one among the Immortals.

"Five Yin Gold Evil~"

Chen Ci gave a leisurely tap, and a matte yet solid streak of evil energy flew out from his waist; in just a single breath, it slashed seven or eight of the exotic birds above the courtyard, and apart from a few clever ones that flew off in terror to circle high in the sky, the rest all became snacks for Adai.

Reaching into his bosom, he pulled out another small paper doll covered in black patterns, Chen Ci wrote the two characters 'West Wind' on it, injected Three Yin True Qi, and tossed it; the head of the five ghosts then possessed it, and together with its brothers, they cleaned up the filth in the courtyard.

Although these five ghosts cannot fight, if used well, they are quite handy.

"Eh?"

Suddenly, a rich, exotic herbal fragrance drifted past the tip of Chen Ci's nose; it was somewhat similar to a Bigu Pill, but much richer and fresher.

In the courtyard, the few stalks of Black Jade Rice closer to the yin pit clearly had a distinct feeling about them.

The spirit grain had ripened.

But not all of it had ripened.

"Red Bell, take your brothers and harvest those few stalks of spirit grain for your master; if you miss even a single grain, watch out, or I will make you pay."

Watching the five little ones busy at work, Chen Ci took another satisfied sip of his health-preserving tea.

This life of a wealthy landlord is truly not bad.

(End of this chapter)