When the spiritual energy surge arrived, it would be far too late to wait for the shadow puppet of the Grand Tutor's Chair to slowly absorb qi and undergo its transformation.
Eager to see the results, Song Miaozhu didn't wait. She took out a spirit stone and directly guided the energy within into the puppet. But the puppet could not absorb spiritual energy as quickly as a human cultivator could. Its pace was sluggish, even slower than Song Miaozhu's own rate of cultivation.
So she placed the puppet inside a box, surrounded it with several spirit stones, and assigned a little paper servant to monitor the energy supply. Whenever necessary, the servant would add new spirit stones to ensure the puppet received a steady, uninterrupted flow of spiritual energy.
Roughly three months passed this way, and at last, the Grand Tutor's Chair puppet completed its transformation. Like the Water-Suppressing Stone Rhino before it, it had become a true spiritual item.
However, unlike the Stone Rhino, this puppet didn't gain mobility. It wasn't meant to move on its own. Its function was to ward off evil spirits and protect homes from yin energy. Placed inside a household, it could disperse ghosts and negativity, ensuring peace and safety within the residence.
But for Song Miaozhu, this function was of little use. Her spirit residence was already naturally protected.
What interested her more than the puppet's effects was the spirit soul it housed.
This time, she didn't even need help from her paper soldiers. Song Miaozhu extracted the spirit soul herself without damaging the puppet. It simply reverted from a newly formed spiritual item back into an old, ordinary object that could no longer absorb qi.
According to the Spirit-Testing Copper Mirror, the Water-Suppressing Stone Rhino's spirit soul possessed water manipulation abilities. In contrast, the puppet of the Grand Tutor's Chair held the power to ward off evil.
The moment she made contact, the spirit soul slipped into the spiritual platform within her consciousness.
When Song Miaozhu touched the spirit soul with her own spiritual power, she was drawn into a flood of memories—experiences passed down by the craftsman who had made the puppet.
Under the dim glow of an oil lamp, by a wooden window, the old craftsman's bony fingers gently caressed a fine piece of yellow cowhide. Nearby, several carving knives lay gleaming from years of use. Their polished blades flickered with cold light in the lamplight. The craftsman dipped a fine brush into ink and carefully outlined the contours of the Grand Tutor's Chair across the leather...
When the shadow puppet was finally completed in the memory, Song Miaozhu came back to herself.
Creating a shadow puppet was no less complex than the Secret Art of Paper Crafting. It involved selecting the leather, preparing it, sketching designs, carving, coloring, flattening, and assembling—each step requiring immense care and skill.
This particular puppet had been crafted with exceptional refinement. Every process had been executed to perfection.
The craftsman had designed delicate patterns for the chair's carved backrest and curved armrests, layering the engravings and creating intricate hollow sections. Even the coloring process held many techniques worth studying—skills that Song Miaozhu could incorporate into her own paper crafting.
Beyond the technical artistry, the way the leather was chosen, prepared, and assembled also gave her inspiration.
Traditional paper crafting mostly used paper for shaping and decoration. Occasionally, thin leather or cloth might be used, but only as supplemental materials. Paper was generally more cost-effective and practical, especially since most crafted objects were intended for funerals and eventually burned. Paper, being flammable, was simply more appropriate.
But many of the paper creations Song Miaozhu made these days weren't meant to be burned or sent to the underworld. Flexible, translucent leather with an even color and semi-transparent glow after softening could sometimes outperform paper.
She realized she could follow in the footsteps of the shadow puppet craftsmen and use leather as the primary material for certain projects.
Having seen the old craftsman's memories, she gained insight into selecting leather and personally purchased a batch of cowhide to try it for herself.
After soaking the raw hides in limewater to soften them and remove the hair and fat, she began to scrape them thin. It was her first attempt, yet the process didn't feel unfamiliar.
When she finally produced a sheet of smooth, translucent leather, Song Miaozhu couldn't quite believe her eyes.
The craftsman's experience embedded within the spirit soul was even more powerful than she had expected. It allowed her to swiftly grasp and refine an entirely new craft.