The next day, Han Xing focused on cultivating to fully consolidate his entry to the Qi Gathering stage. Strands of Qi condensed within his dantian, appearing akin to a spinned thread.
He kept refining Qi until he felt a physical limit in his dantian, and his body felt energised and fully nourished.
Excitedly he took the jade slip containing the Living Marionette manual, locked onto the first introductory spell, Spiritual Thread technique.
"One can refine a thread made of Qi, carrying the will and intent of the spirit…" He read the line and read the instructions on how to begin comprehending.
He kept an image in his mind, he was a spinning wheel, and his Qi as the material. Moving his Qi in a circular motion, entangling them together to create a thin visible thread. He clasped his hand, focusing solely on his index fingers.
He took a deep breath, his mind fully focused as he pulled his hands slowly. Visibly an illusory golden thread hung between the two fingers, Qi flowing through them from right to left.
"I did it! But it falls apart easily. I need more practice." Han Xing noted to himself, and kept practicing until sun set.
Han Yang left the boy to his own since he was excited about trying to control his puppets. Prepared to give any pointers if he had trouble in comprehending. But Han Xing was smart, and barely needed any of his interference. Besides, Han Yang preferred to let the boy comprehend it himself to sharpen his mind and comprehension for his future.
After 2 hours of arduous practice, the threads between Han Xing's fingers looked more solid and alive, signifying his success on entry to this technique. He took out a rat wooden puppet he had made a long time ago, fitted with both wheels and movable limbs to address different terrains.
He touched the rat, sending the threads from his fingers into the rat puppet. He let it go on the floor, his Qi carrying his intent and spirit was transmitted onto the body of the puppet, moving its limbs as per Han Xing's will.
It felt as if he had extra tiny invincible limbs he could move connected to the puppet body. It was quite difficult to get used to using the rat's four limbs to walk forward. He had to recall how a 4 legged mammal walked in his mind, and replicated the movement in the puppet. The wheel on the other hand was far easier to use.
The smile on his lips never left as he controlled the puppet mouse to move all over the room, his skill handling it became deeper the more he played. It was really fun!
He glanced at his father sitting cross legged cultivation, as if not really caring much about his success as if that was natural given his genius. Thinking of something, he moved his fingers, the threads shone imperceptible as more Qi travelled through them and onto the puppet.
The rat turned its body and rushed forward fast with its wheels rotating at the fastest speed possible, and then with a leap, it jumped using all of its four feet. The rat landed squarely on Han Yang's head!
Seeing his father was still cultivating with focus, as if not noticing, he moved his fingers again making the rat jump in place a few times.
Boink, boink, boink.
"..." Han Yang eyelids twitched, he opened his eyes looking at this child of his with displeasure.
"Dad, look, I did it!" Han Xing had a proud expression on his face. He secretly wanted some praise.
"You did great. Your comprehension is astounding. Practice more on the basics. At your level, the Spiritual Threads technique acted as a foundation for you to train on control of your Qi and the control over your spirit and intent. At a higher level, you would leave your wisp of spirit instead, letting your puppets become an aid without need for your immediate control."
Han Xing smiled and nodded obediently. Then he had some ideas already.
"Dad, can I activate talismans through the threads?"
"...Hm?" Han Yang's eyes showed some surprise. "Yes, you could…"
Han Yang had some rough ideas on what Han Xing wanted to do. "If you wanted to use spells through your puppets, you could learn how to engrave runes to their body instead. Runes are the foundation in talismanic arts, formations, and creation of tools and treasures. Higher level puppets would not avoid using the power of runes. It is something you will have to learn eventually if you want to go further in the arts."
Han Xing nodded vigorously, his eyes shining the familiar excited light as if he found a new project.
"I want to learn them. I can't keep troubling you to make them each time." Han Xing had so many ideas in his head.
Han Yang stroked his beard, thinking over it.
"Xing'er, In the cultivation world, one cannot advance by themselves nor can they do everything, to learn and master all paths was a fool's endeavor. Spreading their time and hard work across various paths would lead to feeble and fragile cultivation. You do not need to do everything yourself. Cooperation and exchange are part of our lives. A sword cultivator kills beasts and gets the materials. A pill master uses the materials and creates them for him. Do you understand, Xing'er?"
"I know I know. I just want to give it a try."
"..." Han Yang felt his son was a little too impatient to try everything. He had not completely mastered the threads yet, and now he was already excited to learn something new. But it was his son after all, he could only remind him later to use his time properly. With a sigh of acceptance, he took out a book from his spatial ring and along with the book, spiritual ink in a bottle and a spiritual magic brush.
Han Xing accepted them with eagerness, immediately opening up the book to read.
"This is the introduction to runic arts. Each runes carried the law, each requires spiritual control, arduous practice and understanding on the flow of Qi and the resonation with Heaven and Earth. Do not try to digest all of them at once. Like language, they require accumulation to master."
Han Xing nodded a few times, already turning to the next page. Han Yang let him be, but his eyes carried the trace of worry for him. He was afraid his son would not have enough strength in the future if he kept being 'disturbed' by external paths.
In his mind, he had wanted his son to wield the sword with domineering power and spirit to keep himself safe and keep any enemy at bay. But perhaps, his son was never made for such paths.
He sighed inwardly. Considering Han Xing's future, he took out an ancient wooden token carrying a trace of deep aura. The words "Qingfeng Sect" were engraved in it. Guilt and melancholy surfaced in his heart as he remembered his sect, the elders, his masters, his brothers and sisters.
He may have had karma debt to the sect, but his son was not him. If there was any sect he could trust Han Xing to, it's his previous sect.
"Qingfeng sect… there is a branch in the Western Continent in this realm." He was mulling over the options. Keeping this in mind, he kept the token back into his storage space. He glanced at Han Xing, still practicing runes with focus.
His hands were steady, the flow of Qi was smooth, like a water curtain falling down the rocks.
His eyes softened seeing his good son smiling slightly, seeing the rune he made glow on its success.
He has his own path. I should guide him to reach his full potential in his own way. Not my way.
Even when it was late into the night, Han Xing did not seem to be tired. His hand moved, engraving into pieces of wood, piecing them together with a serious face. He polished the newly made puppet meticulously. A satisfied hum escaped his lips as the new rat puppet model was finished. With a thought sent to the puppet through the thread, the puppet covered with the same runes let out a light all over its body.
"Oh~" The rat crawled all over the room, still shining with light.
"Xing'er, it was late. You had been working on them for hours. You need rest for your mind as well." Han Yang reminded him.
"Okay. I just want to finish up a few things. 5- 10 minutes." He replied, his eyes inspecting the runes, referring to the manual and made minor tweaks. When he worked, it was as if he was absorbed into his own world.
Maybe if he had such a focus on the sword he would have been a sword genius.
When it got too late, Han Xing reluctantly put down the wooden puppet. Even when his eyes were already closed to sleep, Han Yang could tell he was still thinking about things as if he had an endless spirit for it.
Han Yang decided to let him do what he wanted for the time being. Having him practicing something that he could not give focus to would be ineffective. Letting him do everything to his heart content might be for the best. Sooner or later, Han Xing would be bored of it, Han Yang thought.
The next few days, Han Xing stayed in the room most of the day, and in the evening he went out to test his new projects in a secluded area of the 1000 Beast Mountains.
Han Yang had not been paying too much attention to him, concentrating on cultivation to prolong the short life he had.
He did not know, at this moment, his good son had gone crazy for a moment…
***
In the mountain, Han Xing grinned ear to ear as he took out a bunch of talismans and puppets. A certain figure gave him inspiration to create his own technique to create based on origami. Who said puppets could not be made from sheets of paper?
He tested folding the talisman a hundred of times, using different runes to reinforce their structure, ensure the working of the runes even when folded, before finally creating a flying puppet capable of achieving his vision. The folding technique was already engraved in his mind. And now it was time to test them.
He took one of the talismans with the label 'Explosion!' on them. The talisman folded itself within a breath turning into a plain white butterfly with strokes of runes in black covering them.
The spiritual thread attached to it gave it life. The butterfly flapped its wings, lifting up from his finger and fluttering in the air gracefully…
Han Xing let out a grin. The image of destruction filled his mind - he pointed his hand towards an old tree - his Qi surged through the thread and filled the talismanic butterfly with power.
The butterfly tilted slightly, then like lightning, it dived straight to the target!
"Explode!"
Bang!
The center of the tree was hit by the explosion, the blast created a large hole on the big tree, sending splinters left and right from the impact.
Crack, crack.
The tree snapped in two and fell with a loud bang to the earth.
"Hihi… This is so fun…" An unfamiliar chuckle escaped from the boy. His eyes filled with a sense of awe and satisfaction.
"But the effect is kinda weak. It should be only as strong as a punch from me…" Han Xing evaluated. A notebook appeared out of nowhere, recording the data.
"Now… How about this one." Han Xing took out a talisman with a completely new design, a design not recorded in the manual Han Yang gave at all. If Han Yang saw it, he would have gasped in shock that he came up with his own version so fast.
The upper half of the talisman was runes used to create a fire explosion spell. On the lower half, similar runes with some changes were written, but it was not fire, but water. These two incompatible runes were separated by one single rune, a stopper, a bridge that disconnects the two halves.
Normally such a talisman would be too dangerous to be controlled in hand, as at the moment of injection of Qi the runes would activate and immediately explode uncontrollably, not giving normal cultivators a chance to even throw them. But Han Xing circumvented the issue- no- exploited it through the spiritual threads, creating a puppet with it, then activating them from a safe distance instead.
"GO!" Han Xing shouted, the talisman folded into a butterfly in a single breath, half of its wing covered in runes glowing in sparks of red. The other half was covered with sparks of blue.
With a whoosh, it dived straight to another big tree.
"EXPLODE!" Han Xing clasped his hand, his Qi activated the rune in between the two halves, dissolving the barrier between fire and water. The two incompatible runes were connected. The elements collided, a raging reaction occurred in the split second before it went into a loud boom instantly-
BANG!
Explosion thrice the power of normal talisman was created from the volatile reaction; the tree used as a target immediately had its center destroyed to pieces. Wind and dust blew from the impact, the trees around shook, the leaves rustled wildly the second the explosion happened.
"Amazing!" Han Xing clasped both his hands, his feet almost jumping looking at the destruction he created.
As Han Xing was excitedly cheering himself, he noticed a smell of grilled meat. He was a little confused then looked at his front, 10 meters ahead there was a charred bird, a crow was left on the ground, its body singed from the after effect of the explosion that he was caught in.
"Huh? Poor bird…" Han Xing went forward and looked down at it.
The bird struggled to look up, his eyes contained deep fear and disbelief.
I need to escape and tell boss! This kid is not normal!
The crow had been scouting for days to find the boy. Just before he found him finally and hid on a tree, observing what he was doing. He was shocked at his ability after the first explosion and wanted to watch longer. But suddenly that kid changed his target, before the crow could react the tree he was perching on was bombarded along with him without warning!
He laid on the ground miserably, his body trying to muster every bit of strength he had left clawing into the dirt with his beak and wings to drag his body, praying the kid did not notice his presence.
But Heaven made the crow black in colour.
In Han Xing's view, the bird was suffering, his eyes filled with pity and mercy. He took out a pocket knife from his waist, then ended its life with one stroke.
Meanwhile, in the deeper part of the mountain, Kuang Lang had been waiting for any news from his subordinates. That kid didn't step into even territory of tier 1 beasts at all. As if he no longer cares to practice beating them!
"Damned human! Did he already leave the town? Why is there no news at all?"
Kuang Lang howled in frustration, his heart filled with impatience and worry at his target already escaping.
At the moment, Han Xing was grinning by himself.
"I wonder if I can beat that big wolf with these. Father wanted me to defeat it. I should prepare first. I cannot fight him directly… so…"
He thought about it deeply on how to defeat the wolf in his own way. In a short while, a plan already formed in his head.