The night breeze was cool and refreshing, carrying away much of the day's lingering heat.
The Spirit Creek River rustled softly in the distance.
Su Ping and Old Sha did not have to wait long. Sure enough, before much time passed, a ripple of space slowly appeared once again.
That small paper figure emerged before them yet again.
Almost the instant it appeared, the paper sword in the little paper man's hand was already drawn.
The blade flashed, and the Wolfsmoke Grass ahead was cleanly split apart.
However, this time, the little paper man's movements faltered slightly.
Because the figure that had always fought it over the past few days was standing far away, with no intention of engaging.
The paper sword slid back into its sheath. The little paper man looked toward the distant figure and shouted:
"Uwa! (Confront… strike! A true… swordsman will never give up on defeating his opponent!)"
Su Ping froze slightly as he looked at this earnest little fellow.
He had never seen a paper effigy like this before.
A swordsman?
In Beast Tamer society, this term was both familiar and strangely distant.
Why would a paper effigy believe itself to be a swordsman?
Su Ping didn't understand—but he felt he had grasped something crucial.
Did this little thing keep leaping out of that so-called secret realm solely to defeat Old Sha?
Some kind of swordsman's obsession?
That was simply ridiculous.
Su Ping suspected that even if he waited until the year of the monkey, a mere Ordinary-tier little paper man still wouldn't stand a chance of defeating Old Sha.
But one thing was undeniable—this little paper man almost certainly carried the secret of that secret realm!
And now that Su Ping had already come to understand the value of secret realms, there was no way he would let this go.
There might indeed be other pet beasts inside the secret realm, but only this little thing seemed capable of freely entering and leaving it. That alone made it worthy of serious study.
Clearly, the current problem was how to reduce the little paper man's intense battle intent and calm it down completely, so it could coexist peacefully with him.
Only then would Su Ping be able to research the secrets it carried.
And to be honest, after seeing this strange little paper man, Su Ping was tempted.
Although evolving mutated pet beasts was far more difficult than cultivating ordinary ones, their potential was also much higher.
Su Ping didn't believe that, in the future, he wouldn't be able to research an evolution path for his own pet beasts.
Naturally, before this, Su Ping had gathered some information on paper effigy-type pet beasts. However, it was clearly of little use when applied to this peculiar paper swordsman.
Still, the effect of Mind Communication came into play at this moment.
He looked at the paper effigy, its face brimming with fighting spirit, and spoke through mental communication:
"So someone like you counts as a true swordsman?"
Pet beast cultivation and interaction clearly required adaptability.
From a single sentence spoken by the little paper man, Su Ping had found an entry point.
And the first rule of pet beast cultivation was to make the pet beast admire and respect its breeder.
Sure enough, the little paper man froze slightly.
"Uwa?"
Even without mental communication, Su Ping could easily guess what that meant.
He put on an air of inscrutable profundity and continued:
"A true swordsman is lonely, carefree, standing so high that the cold becomes unbearable. And the most important condition for that is strength! You're still far from it."
"Uwa?!"
The little paper man looked at Su Ping in confusion, then glanced down at the paper longsword in its hand.
After that, it glanced at Old Sha, who was glaring menacingly yet clearly disdainful, as well as the surrounding Forest Wolves whose auras were all stronger than its own.
It seemed to nod in agreement.
This human, who could command so many powerful wolves in battle, was indeed an impressive expert.
But…
The little paper man spoke again:
"Uwa? (Lonely, carefree, standing so high that the cold is unbearable… what does that mean?)"
What did it mean?
How would Su Ping know?
He wasn't a swordsman.
At most, he'd seen swordsmen in wuxia dramas, movies, and anime. And honestly, when those phrases were put together, they meant only one thing—
Pure posturing.
Was he supposed to answer like that?
Obviously not.
But Su Ping didn't need to explain anything at all.
He simply looked at the little paper man.
"Little fellow, do you want to understand what a true swordsman really is? Then stay here with me. I'll make you a truly powerful swordsman. You should be able to tell—I'm stronger than you, so I won't deceive you."
Su Ping maintained an outwardly calm expression.
But inwardly, his heart had already risen to his throat.
If he couldn't coax this little paper man over, then the next time it appeared, he would have to find some way to restrain spatial abilities—seal space itself—and forcibly capture it.
But if things came to that, forming a soul contract later and uncovering the secrets of the secret realm would become far more difficult.
Su Ping watched the little paper man nervously.
The paper effigy seemed to fall into deep thought.
And it was rather obvious.
At that moment, the crude facial features drawn on its face with colored pens visibly slipped into contemplation:
[ヘ?]
Were the expressions on this paper effigy really this anime-like and abstract?
Especially that huge, thick black question mark beside its forehead.
Su Ping blinked—and in the very next instant, he saw the big question mark above the paper man's head suddenly turn into a red exclamation mark.
Before Su Ping could properly savor this comic-style expression change, spatial ripples appeared once more.
The little paper man's figure vanished again without a trace.
Looking at the empty spot—where only his own wolf pack remained—Su Ping frowned slightly and let out a helpless sigh.
As expected, although this little paper man seemed a bit slow, it clearly wasn't that easy to fool.
It seemed that next time, he would have to resort to some extraordinary measures.
However, just as this thought formed and Su Ping, feeling somewhat disappointed, was about to leave, the spatial ripples that had just disappeared suddenly appeared again.
The next second, the little paper man returned.
But this time, it was no longer in its previous sword-drawing, battle-ready stance.
Instead, it was carrying a paper bundle.
Calling it a bundle was generous—it really looked more like a huge ball of crumpled waste paper.
The little paper man set the bundle down. Under Old Sha's watchful glare, it walked up to Su Ping and even performed a proper ancient-style salute, just like a human.
"Uwa! (I want to… become a true… swordsman!)"
Looking at the little paper man before him, Su Ping finally smiled.
Only then did he activate the Eye of Truth, turning it toward this strange paper effigy that looked as though it was formally requesting a master.
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