Chapter 92: Symbiosis

Above the wilderness, a masked Paper Figure a little over two feet tall drifted swiftly through the air, carrying a crimson lantern the size of a fist in its hand.

A massive scarlet pupil was embedded in the Paper Figure’s arm. Beneath the lantern, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of tiny tentacles thrashed wildly in the wind.

Lu Yuan’s divine sense was inside the Little Paper Man’s sea of consciousness, taking the Illusory Yin Eye and the Wind Ghost Lantern out to gather inspiration.

As for the many cultivators trapped inside the Mountain-Lake Moon-Reflection Painting, he watched them briefly, then stopped paying attention and let them struggle inside as they tried to break the array.

He planned to search for the youth who had accidentally entered the Treasure-Seeking Tower before and brought the cave abode a generous reward.

When the youth had left, Lu Yuan had given him a paper slip. The Little Paper Man could sense the origin source aura on the paper slip and use it to locate where it was.

Lu Yuan placed great importance on the youth who had once brought him such precious treasures as the Wind Ghost Lantern, Mirage Yin Pearl, and Mountain-Lake Moon-Reflection Painting.

After all, high-quality chives were not easy to find. It was no exaggeration to say that one stalk like him was worth a hundred ordinary stalks.

Naturally, Lu Yuan had to nurture such a king of chives properly.

Long Hong lay on a wooden bed without taking off his clothes, eyes slightly closed, his breathing long and steady.

Beside him stood a gray-white leather lampshade. Inside the lampshade, a pale candle burned quietly, drawing in the black resentful souls of all sizes within.

A small black figure suddenly burrowed out, pressed itself against the inside of the lampshade, and clawed at it with all its strength, wanting to break out of the lamp.

Beneath Long Hong, two shadows shifted and tangled continuously, one advancing as the other retreated.

The darker shadow tried every possible way to drill into Long Hong’s body, while the lighter shadow blocked it with ease and even tried to devour the darker shadow.

Suddenly, Long Hong felt a cold aura rise from his chest. In an instant, he opened his eyes, his gaze as clear as water.

The two shadows instantly returned to normal, merging into one and shifting with Long Hong’s movements.

Long Hong pulled a thin paper slip from his chest. The paper slip was smaller than his palm, and profound, obscure patterns covered its surface.

He remembered this paper slip clearly. Before obtaining it, he had acquired several treasures from a wooden tower that called itself Immortal Fate Tower.

A section of Purple Bone Bamboo, a Myriad Sword Qi Talisman, and a jade slip containing the Crimson Flow Flame Art cultivation method.

Because he had gained so much from the wooden tower, he had kept this mysterious paper slip on him. As for its purpose, however, he had no idea at all.

He had not expected that after some time passed, the paper slip would react on its own.

“Who’s outside?”

Suddenly, the candlelight in the gray-white lantern beside him flickered. He lifted the lamp handle, sensed the familiar icy chill coming from it, turned toward the outside of the house, and softly barked a warning.

A Paper Figure a little over two feet tall, carrying a small crimson lantern, silently floated in through the window.

“Who are you, and why have you snuck into our village?”

Long Hong asked in a deep voice.

Sensing the unfathomable aura of the Little Paper Man, his grip on the lamp handle tightened greatly, his knuckles standing out. The candlelight inside the gray-white lantern gave a slight jump, instantly brightening by several degrees.

“No need to worry, and don’t make a fuss. I am a good Aberration officially verified by Cangxing City.”

The small crimson lantern in the Little Paper Man’s hand hovered above its head. With one hand, the Paper Figure pulled out a black rune from behind its back. With the other, it quickly wrote on its enlarged body.

But the hollow eye sockets on its head, the cold aura spreading from its body, the scarlet eyeball ceaselessly rolling around on its arm, and the tentacles swaying gently from the bottom of the lantern above its head… made the pass issued by Cangxing City utterly unconvincing.

Long Hong answered with silence.

For the first time, he felt that Cangxing City’s black rune was truly unreliable.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan simply controlled the Little Paper Man to put away the black rune and continue writing.

“It’s fine if you don’t believe me, but there is one thing you need to understand.”

“What stands before you right now is three weird entities: one Aberrant Grade and two Strange Grade. With our strength, we could sweep back and forth through your village several times over. Is that a little more convincing?”

“Yes.”

With the Little Paper Man being so frank, Long Hong actually felt slightly more at ease. After a brief pause, he said,

“Senior’s strength is unfathomable. I can confirm that much. I also hope Senior can match your words with your actions and not harm our village.”

“Otherwise, no matter how powerful you are, Senior, we would still risk our worthless lives. Even if we must be cut to pieces, we would dare to drag Senior down with us.”

Long Hong’s expression was resolute as he spoke solemnly to Lu Yuan.

“All right, all right, there’s no need to make it sound so serious. I’ll prove with my actions that my words are true.”

The Little Paper Man stretched out an arm and waved it lightly at Long Hong.

Seeing Long Hong remain neither servile nor overbearing even before such a vast gap in strength, Lu Yuan was extremely satisfied.

As expected of the seedling I took a fancy to!

“I was merely passing through by chance. I sensed the aura of a portion of my own body that had spread outside, so I came to see who had it.”

Naturally, Lu Yuan would not tell Long Hong his true purpose. He pretended that everything had happened by sheer coincidence.

“Is the portion of your body Senior mentioned this? I also found it by chance in the wilderness. I will return it to you today, Senior.”

Long Hong handed the paper slip to the Little Paper Man.

“You should keep holding on to it. The fact that you were able to possess it means there is fate between you.

“This paper slip is connected to a secret realm. Once your strength grows, you can go there and explore it. You might be able to obtain many treasures.”

The Little Paper Man hurriedly refused. What a joke. If the secret realm key were gone, how would you know the secret realm’s location or opening time?

How would I keep cutting chives and shearing wool?

Seeing the Little Paper Man write this, Long Hong put the paper slip away again.

Afterward, he noticed the small crimson lantern floating above the Paper Figure, grew curious, and asked the Little Paper Man about it.

Naturally, Lu Yuan would not say that this was the reward Long Hong had brought him, so he casually made up a reason and glossed over it.

From his exchange with Long Hong, he learned that a cultivator had once appeared among the ancestors of this village, but the village had since declined.

That cultivator had passed down to the village a method similar to making life lamps. Forced by the demonic beasts and weird entities outside, the village had researched it continuously and eventually created a strange lamp-making art.

When the villagers were still young, one soul and one spirit would be stripped out and placed inside a lantern made from special skin and bone. It would then be nourished day and night with mental will, growing together with them.

In the end, they would obtain a weird lantern connected to its master’s thoughts and fully under their control.

However, this weird lantern had both advantages and drawbacks. While it brought the villagers powerful strength, it also carried no small amount of risk.

Once the incomplete soul inside fully matured, it would always look for a chance to swap souls with the lantern’s master and seize the body as its own.

After the swap succeeded, the lantern master’s soul would enter the lampshade. Their mind would be lost, leaving only a body reduced to a walking corpse.

Therefore, they had to be especially cautious about this during ordinary times, particularly at night. With the slightest carelessness, the yin soul that had been trapped inside the lantern all along would find an opportunity and successfully switch places.

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