Even though there were only a few small spoonfuls of honey, Hu Yun only dared to dip the tip of his tongue in a little bit each time. This was the best way to taste it. Otherwise, it would be too sweet if he ate a little more.
Ji Yuan, who was standing nearby, watched the red fox licking the honey from the pottery bowl with an intoxicated look on his face. He did not stay in the kitchen but went back to the main house to sort out the newly purchased things.
Ji Yuan just woke up today. Apart from going out for some noodles and coming back to sit quietly for a while and watch the snow, now is the time to get down to business.
He took out a small round sieve from the room, placed a wooden ruler, a thin charcoal stick, a thick stack of rhubarb paper and a pair of scissors on it, then walked to the yard and put the things on the stone table.
Hu Yun held a ceramic bowl in his hand and walked into the yard with a curious look on his foxy face. He looked at Ji Yuan sitting in front of the stone table, as if he was preparing to do some handicrafts.
"Mr. Ji, what are you doing? If you want to imitate ordinary people in cutting paper-cuts, shouldn't you use red paper?"
Ji Yuan had already taken a piece of yellow paper, cut one piece with a ruler and scissors, and then drew a human figure with a charcoal stick.
"Wow, Mr. Ji has a great painting skill, amazing!"
Ji Yuan looked at the human figure on the yellow paper. The head was a circle, and the body and limbs were almost straight poles. This fox's flattery skills were extremely bad.
Ignoring Hu Yun, Ji Yuan used scissors to cut the yellow paper man bit by bit along the lines he had drawn previously.
During this process, the paper crane in the brocade bag in his arms also flew out and landed on Ji Yuan's shoulder, looking at him attentively. In addition to the instinct to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, the paper crane now also has a stronger curiosity, especially now that what Ji Yuan is doing is also related to paper.
After a while, Ji Yuan had a yellow paper man in his hand, about the size of half a palm.
Putting this thin yellow paper man aside first, Ji Yuan followed the same method again and cut out more than a dozen yellow paper men in more than a quarter of an hour.
These paper figures have different shapes. Except for the first one which is standing, each of the others represents an action, including squatting, bending, bending one arm and crossing both arms. Also, there are left and right foot steps and left and right turning of the head.
At first, Hu Yun thought that Mr. Ji was just playing, but in fact, although these paper people had different shapes, all of them were almost exactly the same, from the size of the head to the length of the limbs. There was even a faint layer of Dharma light hidden on the edge of each paper man. And since cutting the first paper man, Ji Yuan seemed to have been muttering to himself.
At this point, even Hu Yun knew that Mr. Ji must be doing something. He sat silently beside the stone table, holding the ceramic bowl that he had already licked clean. He even breathed carefully, without blinking his eyes, and tried to hear every word Ji Yuan said.
That’s right, Hu Yun wanted to secretly learn Ji Yuan’s magic, or rather, it wasn’t really stealing, as he was watching blatantly.
By now, Hu Yun had become more and more "sensible". Under the influence of Lu Shanjun, he had long understood that Mr. Ji in front of him was a rare master in the world with unfathomable Taoism. Learning something from him would definitely benefit him for a lifetime.
Ji Yuan had no intention of hiding from Hu Yun. Judging from the fox's stupid look, he would probably not learn anything, let alone learn just a little bit.
Hu Yun just watched Ji Yuan create more and more paper people, expanding from the initial dozen or so. Some of them originally only had the action of raising hands, but later on, many more had the action of bending their arms.
In the research of two generations of Du Changsheng and his master, it is generally believed that the total number of 108 covers the number of Tiangang and Disha, and can fully support all the actions of the paper man. It is also the limit of their magic power, especially their mental strength.
After all, each paper figure is not simply a round head, square body and pole-like limbs. In fact, during the cutting process, the mind and magic power are used to supplement the depiction of its fingers, palms, bones, skin, nails and other essences. The formulas recited in the mouth are very fast, and it is more like a supplementary explanation coordinated by the mind, such as clearly knowing how many joints a bone has, how many fingers there are, how many nail plates there are, and so on.
If any one of the links goes wrong, all the paper people connected in mind will turn to ashes together.
Although Ji Yuan had a strong mind, he still made mistakes the first time he tried this method that required a combination of imagination and mechanical work.
When the ninetieth paper figure was almost completed, there was a problem in the coordination between the scissors and the mantra in the mind, and the paper was cut off in a split second, which was equivalent to finalizing the shape in advance but not concentrating the mind.
Wow… Wow… Wow…
The piece of paper in Ji Yuan's hand, along with the other eighty-nine yellow paper men in the sieve, instantly burst into flames and turned into ashes in an instant, which scared Hu Yun.
"Hey... I'm anxious!"
Ji Yuan sighed, waved his hand, and all the paper ashes flew away.
Now Hu Yun finally got the chance to ask two questions.
"Mr. Ji, what were you doing just now? What are those little paper figures for? Many of them look like they are fighting. You are not doing a lantern show, are you? Why are they all turned to ashes?"
"You're too talkative."
Ji Yuan said this and started his second attempt. This time his efficiency was higher. It only took an hour and a half until all 108 paper people were prepared.
But Ji Yuan was not finished yet. After completing the whole process, he had already grasped the essence of this technique.
This was already improved upon by his deduction. Some fatal mistakes were caused by Du Changsheng and his master's lack of understanding, so Ji Yuan had revised them. He had studied the imperial edicts in depth, so he could see some problems by analogy.
Although the creativity and technical framework of Du Changsheng and his late master are indeed extremely rare, in fact, this technique has undergone a qualitative change.
Just because Du Changsheng and his deceased master have these limits doesn't mean Ji Yuan's limits will be the same. He continues to cut paper people and never stops casting spells.
Ji Yuan didn't stop his work until the sky began to darken. This time he did not fail and completed a total of 324 paper people in one go.
According to Ji Yuan's understanding, he called the last two rounds of numbers "filling the truth", which means to supplement the true meaning. Of course, this is just a more immortal way of saying it. In fact, there is an overtone beyond the meaning of the words, which can also be regarded as "filling the frame", which can be regarded as his nostalgic thoughts and little romance.
As for why the number was reached to 324, it was mainly because Ji Yuan was timid. Mana was secondary. The more time went on, the more mental consumption increased exponentially. After all, what was completed in the front could not be left alone, but had to form a connection.
Although he had not reached his limit, he was no longer so calm. If he made a small mistake, all the efforts made before would be wasted. Therefore, he decisively stopped when the number of moves reached three.
There was a thick stack of more than three hundred paper figures in Ji Yuan's hands, all gathered in the palm of his hand. The movements of other parts were not unified, but the heads were all overlapped.
Ji Yuan looked at Hu Yun beside him. This fox was extremely focused.
"It's rare that you have this moment."
After reciting something in his mind, Ji Yuan put his hands together and pressed the piece of paper into the palms of his hands.
In Hu Yun's eyes, bursts of yellow light emerged from the palms of Mr. Ji's hands. The light was very faint, like yellow light powder flying between his fingers.
It seemed that in a moment, the bulging parts of Ji Yuan's palms were gradually shrinking, and in the end they were like a monk's hands put together in the Buddhist posture.
Ji Yuan looked at the red fox that had half climbed onto the stone table and whose nose was almost touching his palm. He smiled and opened his palm.
"Ah! There's only one left! So many paper people are gone! Where are the others?"
Hu Yun looked at the table and under the table, then at Ji Yuan's palm.
"Mr. Ji, are all these paper people combined into one?"
"Haha, you guessed it right."
Ji Yuan was also in a good mood, at least the model had been established.
The yellow paper face in the hand may seem like an ordinary piece of yellow paper if you don’t look closely, but if you look closely, you can see some faint outline lines.
"Mr. Ji, what kind of magic is this and what can it be used for?"
Hu Yun looked like he wanted to reach out but didn't dare. He looked at the paper crane on Ji Yuan's shoulder and then at the magical paper man in his hand, and thought that Mr. Ji actually liked playing with paper.
Ji Yuan looked at the paper man in his hand. The last step was not yet completed. His fingertips were hanging above the paper man's head and a drop of blood seeped out from between his fingernails.
After the drop of blood fell on the yellow paper, he answered casually.
"It's not that effective, but it's quite powerful."
"Strength? Paper man?"
Hu Yun looked at the paper man. A drop of Mr. Ji's blood had just dripped onto the yellow paper, but there was still no trace of red.
"Yes, although there are big differences, this method can also be considered a kind of talisman method. After the technique is completed, you can cast a spell to summon a golden-armored warrior."
Ji Yuan said this while glancing at the red fox.
"Watch it."
As he spoke, he held a yellow paper upright in front of his eyes. Waves of magical power poured into the yellow paper, and then Ji Yuan threw it in front of him.
"Where is the Rex?"
As soon as he finished speaking, before the yellow paper touched the ground, a yellow light mist appeared, and a human figure emerged and extended in the light mist.
After a while, the light fog disappeared, and an extremely burly man appeared in his place. He was wearing golden ring armor, a golden helmet, and yellow silk floss dragging in front and behind him. He was more than two heads taller than Ji Yuan, with a red face and a beard as thick as needles. Ji Yuan standing next to him looked like a child.
The giant man who appeared in front of Ji Yuan clasped his hands together and slowly bowed, his voice sounding like a deep and loud bell.
"Your Majesty."
"Mr. Ji... Is this a paper man? Yes, it's alive!"
The red fox next to him was already stunned. He hid behind Ji Yuan, pointed his claws at Li Shi, and stuttered when he spoke.
"Not really. Like I said, he's quite strong and obedient, but he's quite dull. He's only good enough to scare people."
Ji Yuan raised his hand, and the warrior in golden armor slowly straightened up and stood up.
Hu Yun took a breath, came out from behind Ji Yuan, and carefully moved closer to the huge strongman. Seeing that the other party did not react, he stretched out his claws and knocked on the skirt armor.
"Ding Ding..."
The sound is like metal.
“Isn’t this paper?”
"What do you think?"
Hu Yun looked up at the strongman. The other party didn't make any moves from beginning to end, and didn't even look at him.
"So impressive..."