Chapter 61: 61. The Little Guide of Paperman Peak [You consume lifespan to nourish your spirit with the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet"] [You close your eyes and hold the bracelet, the enhancement of your spirit leads to a new discovery. Previously, you only felt that as long as you tightly held this bracelet, a wisp of spirit naturally emanated from it, nourishing you. But now, you vaguely sense as if the bracelet truly harbors an ice hell within. It may not be a hell, but it’s at least a huge cage. Inside, the people are filled with grim ferocity, twisted pain, worse than death, raising heads and stretching hands as if calling for help, as if cursing. Wisps of energy seem to emanate from them, soaring, then like a trickling stream converging, flowing into your divine soul, enhancing your spirit] [In the thirtieth year, you feel your spirit has once again improved, allowing you to control the upper limit of shadow puppets to become three] [You continue cultivating, as your spirit once again enhances, you see more. You discover yourself overlooking from above, like a greedy demon drooling three feet... And those wisps of energy that nourish the divine soul are like you greedily opening your mouth wide, revealing fangs, absorbing the power of the living in the hell] [In the ninety-ninth year, your spirit elevates again, and the upper limit of shadow puppets you can control becomes four] [The enhancement of spirit allows you to see more. You greedily gaze at the strugglers within the ice cage, absorbing their power. By chance, when you looked up, you suddenly found that there was also a vast gray mist around you] [In the two hundred and eighty-ninth year, you feel an increasing amount of spirit is needed for the next qualitative change, even a hundred years cannot yield enough spirit from this bracelet, you patiently continue nourishing. Finally, in this year, you achieve an improvement, and the upper limit of shadow puppets you can control becomes five] [In the three hundredth year, you continue nourishing spirit, yet find it only scratching the surface regarding the breakthrough to the next level, you have not improved much. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 Your spirit is now strong enough, and you start to realize that spiritual power seems subtly related to the divine soul, and you finally discover the restriction on the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet" — tracking. No matter where you are, a wisp of energy seems faintly attached to you. Upon careful discernment, you discover the source of that tracking energy. When you drip essence blood into the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet," the energy adheres to your essence blood, and you only need to sever the connection with the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet," to remove this tracking energy. However, besides that, you find another tracking energy attached to your left arm, even if you sever the connection with the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet," they can still track you through this energy] ... ... The deduction temporarily ends. Song Yan feels that his spirit has strengthened considerably, and even the "Knife-beaked Finch Shadow Puppet" far away in Celestial Cloud City suddenly opens its eyes within the secret box, vaguely hearing familiar voices outside the door. Upon careful discernment, it is Hua Linglong. She seems to be discussing some business with someone. On the other side, there’s the "Deformed One-tailed Fox Demon Shadow Puppet." Its perceptions traveling along with Fu Shirong and Fu Hongmian are all transmitted over. In the past, Song Yan could barely endure one, feeling dizzy and swollen. But now, the dual perceptions sent at the same time already feel more than sufficient. He can freely manipulate the shadow puppets from both sides without affecting his own thoughts or actions. A good thing. Lowering his head, he glanced at the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet." Despite deducing, Song Yan has not worn it yet, nor dripped essence blood into it. ’This bracelet is very strange, but I have no choice... And compared to this bracelet, the wisp of tracking energy on my left arm is the most deadly.’ Before he completely falls out with "Puppet Sect Leader" Gu Huangzi, this energy cannot be removed. Song Yan gazes at this Bone Jade Bracelet, flicking his fingers to squeeze out a drop of essence blood. Clearly crimson blood, as it falls on the bracelet surface, turns into a drop of ink in a pool, spreading with a "boom" into black smoke, mixed with distant screams. These voices, if not for Song Yan’s enhanced spirit, would be impossible to hear. Song Yan furrows his brow, then stops thinking about internal conflicts. Since Gu Huangzi accepts him as a disciple and gave him this object, he probably needs him for a while, naturally not intending harm. He still has time to observe. As for the role of "Nanwu Sword Sect" which Gu Huangzi himself has imagined, he can only play it by ear. Song Yan takes a deep breath, lying as relaxed as possible on the bed. Paperman Peak and Shadow Puppet Peak, even South Bamboo Peak are different, here, even if you stand at the cliff edge and gaze afar, you cannot see that strange red blood mist. Perhaps due to the abundance of caves here, whenever the wind blows, it brings eerie howling across the mountain, like many women crying and laughing in mournful speech. Although the profound qi is fresh, the longer you stay, the more you can smell that indescribable bloody odor. ... ... In the evening, dusk descends. Song Yan has not gone out yet, he lies on the bed, thinking, while his vision follows the "Knife-beaked Finch of Celestial Cloud City" and the "Deformed One-tailed Fox by Fu Shirong" as they move. ’Since Gu Huangzi gave me a bracelet capable of delivering a strike of the Early Stage Crimson Palace, then his power must exceed the Early Stage of this realm, but perhaps not beyond the entire realm.’ ’At this moment, it’s best for me to seek ways to break through the Crimson Palace Realm using the shadow puppets outside.’ As he pondered, stealthy footsteps suddenly approached the door. Song Yan’s expression swiftly changes, warily looking towards the door. Knocking sounds, accompanied by a timid female voice, emerge. "Song... Master Song, are you there?" Song Yan looked out through the window and saw a petite and delicate girl standing outside. Her cloud-like hair slightly bound, a jade hairpin meticulously inserted, her elegant figure resembling a little spirit among the green mountains and clear waters; a pale skirt wrapped around her curvy hips, while her upper body adorned with embroidered brocade revealing her shapely form. Her small face was indescribably beautiful, yet carried a sense of humility, nervousness, and a trace of numbness. ’Fox blood?’ ’Wei Kingdom’s royalty?’ Song Yan opened the door. The girl gave a shallow bow and said, "Slave Cao Yuzhuang, greets the master." "Did the Sect Leader send you?" "Yes... yes..." The girl named Cao Yuzhuang responded cautiously, then said, "Slave came here when eight years old, now sixteen..." Song Yan instantly understood that this girl was also one of the Wei Kingdom royals sent here years ago, kept young for "cultivation reserves," and now directly gifted to him. From the perspective of appearance and figure, this girl named Cao Yuzhuang far exceeded the previous Princess Consort Cao Xuerou, no wonder she was kept by Gu Huangzi. Cao Yuzhuang suddenly knelt down, exceedingly humble, "Please, master, grant Yuzhuang Fanatic Fans... Yuzhuang grew up on Paperman Peak, quite familiar with the environment there, will take the master to see later. Afterwards, will lead the master to the new cave mansion." If it were a newcomer, Song Yan might hesitate somewhat. But at this moment, he knew well that in this environment "neither has a choice," so he took out Fanatic Fans, hardly pouring out a bit yet saw Yuzhuang girl crawl to him to extend her little pink tongue to lick the powder on his finger. Song Yan was startled, hurriedly holding up the girl, asked, "What are you doing?" Cao Yuzhuang stared with big eyes, looking at him confusedly, then nervously said, "Did slave... do something wrong?" Her whole body trembled, looking fearfully at Song Yan, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears, pitifully. Song Yan was silent for a moment, suddenly pulling the girl’s dress sleeve, saw faint tiny needle marks on her arm. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then picked up Fanatic Fans, was about to pour when saw the girl again reach her little tongue over. This time, he softly poured a bit on her tongue, then said, "From now on, under the master’s orders, don’t kneel, nor extend your tongue for food." Cao Yuzhuang hurriedly said, "Slave took note, slave will not kneel or extend tongue for food, whatever the master says." After speaking, she dutifully stood aside, her pretty face looking at her chest, and her tiny feet’s toes nervously moving in the embroidered shoes. The drug’s effect quickly made her cheeks blush. Song Yan said, "Can you take me around Paperman Peak?" Cao Yuzhuang quickly replied, "Yes, master... Sect Leader instructed, as long as you don’t leave Paperman Peak, you can go anywhere." Song Yan said, "Alright, then show me around." ... ... Cao Yuzhuang, being cultivated as a "high-tier furnace" from young, though pitiful, knew quite a lot. Evidently, Gu Huangzi has his magnanimous side, having applied tracking restriction on both the "Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet" and Song Yan, disdaining to play tricks in these little places anymore. Cao Yuzhuang said, "Master, making paper figures is quite a hassle. And the core lies in paper production. Take tree bark, dry it, then soak it in essence blood, following normal papermaking procedures... Different bark with different essence blood can produce different paper. The higher tier the strong, the better the essence blood effect. As for the tree, usually White Snake Eucalyptus on Paperman Peak is used." She explained in detail. These are not secrets on Paperman Peak. But for Song Yan, it was quite novel. He recalled Stone Seat Elder’s words, suddenly feeling the phrase "a corpse’s whole body is treasure" is spot on in Puppet Sect. Skin, made into shadow puppet. Meat, made into blood corpse. Blood, soaking paper figures. No wonder the "blood smell" on Paperman Peak is so rich. ’Then the divine soul?’ Song Yan couldn’t help but think. For shadow puppets, the divine soul used is merely leftover fragments of the divine soul, not consuming the divine soul itself. Because during most summonings, the divine soul itself is long gone, and what gets summoned are just fragments." Thinking of this, Song Yan said, "That’s for making paper, what about paper figures?" Cao Yuzhuang fearfully glanced at the bone jade bracelet on his left hand and said, "Master, your brothers and you all have similar profound artifacts... but theirs aren’t as refined as yours, usually engraved on heavy armor. Thus, tempering the body through heavy armor, simultaneously extracting divine soul from the heavy armor, nurturing the divine soul... Then, a portion of the divine soul can be split to awaken the paper figures." Song Yan understood. So, "paper figures" are "mecha" after all... Making "mecha" with strong essence blood, nurturing the divine soul with "profound artifact," then dividing into several "personal little divine souls" to activate "mecha." This... is Paperman Peak.