Clearly, the paper effigy reacted with extreme sensitivity to being sensed by spiritual power.
Otherwise, the very first time, after detecting Su Ping's gaze, it wouldn't have erupted into an immediate attack.
Pet beasts that grew up in the wild or within secret realms were often like this. After all, out there, a single careless moment could mean instant death.
No amount of caution was excessive.
However, after sensing that its human "master" truly did not harbor any ill intent, the little paper man swayed awkwardly for a moment. Once it adjusted, it made no further moves.
At that moment, the detailed attributes of the little paper man appeared before Su Ping's eyes:
[Mutated Paper Effigy (Wild)]
[Attributes: Metal, Undead]
[Current Level: Ordinary Eighth Rank]
[Racial Potential: Elite First Rank]
[Skills: Paper Body Folding (Beginner), Metal Spear Art (Perfected), Sword Soul Imprint (Special)]
When Su Ping first saw the little paper man's level, he was momentarily stunned.
Given that terrifying offensive power, he had assumed the paper effigy had reached the theoretical upper limit of the Paper Effigy race—Ordinary Tenth Rank.
Yet to his astonishment, the little paper man was only at Ordinary Eighth Rank.
And it had even broken through its racial limit!
But once Su Ping saw the final skill, he immediately understood.
And then became even more bewildered and shocked.
The Sword Soul Imprint—Su Ping didn't comment on that one, since it lay completely beyond his current understanding.
But what the hell was Metal Spear Art?
A Perfected Metal Spear Art?!
One had to understand that even Old Sha—who had broken through his racial limit—only had Sunlight Absorption at that level.
Old Sha had lived for over forty years and experienced countless battles, large and small.
Yet he still had only one perfected skill.
That alone showed how absurdly difficult it was to raise a skill to the Perfected level.
And yet this tiny paper effigy had one?
And most importantly—
It was Metal Spear Art?!
Wasn't that supposed to be a Paper Effigy skill?!
As Su Ping's doubts rose, the Eye of Truth revealed the details of the skill before him:
[Metal Spear Art (Perfected): Allows any object the user touches to become incomparably sharp. Can also unleash Metal Spear Qi, greatly increasing sharpness. Extremely powerful.]
So that was it.
This was precisely the reason behind the little paper man's terrifying offensive power.
Su Ping thought for a moment, then his mind stirred as he examined the paper effigy's other skill.
Sure enough:
[Sword Soul Imprint (Special): Special skill. Cannot be leveled up. Effect unknown.]
Su Ping estimated that this skill was what allowed the little paper man to freely enter and exit that so-called secret realm.
Which meant one thing—he truly couldn't afford to "kill first and think later."
If the paper effigy wanted to leave, it could probably do so at any time.
So how was he supposed to truly keep it here?
On the way back, Su Ping pondered this question endlessly.
Then, leading Old Sha and Xiao Qing—with the dazed-looking little paper man trailing behind—he arrived at the side residence.
He switched on the living room lights.
And surprisingly, under the illumination, the little paper man lost much of its eerie nocturnal aura.
Instead, its small paper body looked oddly… endearing.
Even though using such a word to describe an Undead-type pet beast felt incredibly strange.
Yet at that moment, it was undeniably true.
"Little fellow, get familiar with this place first. From now on, this will be your residence. Of course, you can return to where you came from—but if you want to become a true swordsman, you must come here at this time every night to wait for me. Understood?"
"Uwa! (Yes!)"
Seeing the paper effigy's earnest expression, Su Ping nodded in satisfaction.
But after stepping out of the room, he couldn't help but feel a bit helpless.
How was he supposed to train it after this?
Was he really supposed to use those ridiculous so-called sword techniques from TV dramas?
Obviously, Su Ping believed that genuine sword-type skills definitely existed in this world—but blindly copying TV choreography was clearly unreliable.
And the importance of this little paper man was beyond imagination.
From Qin Xiaoxue's words alone, he already understood the value of a secret realm.
If he wanted to use the little paper man to seize control of that undiscovered secret realm and hold it firmly in his grasp, then he had to make the paper effigy truly submit—heart and soul.
Aside from some half-hearted, deceptive training methods, Su Ping sighed.
There was only one real option left.
Spell Acceleration.
Spell Acceleration was Sun Chaoju's exclusive Forest Wolf cultivation technique. However, with the Myriad Spirit Codex, Su Ping could completely refine it into a universally applicable method for all pet beasts.
Paper Effigies were no exception.
But to be honest, Su Ping hadn't originally planned to perfect Spell Acceleration anytime soon.
The reason was simple—he wasn't in a hurry to apply it to his Forest Wolves yet, so the current cultivation probability was acceptable.
More importantly, experience points were in short supply.
With the Myriad Wood Wolf evolution nearing completion, Su Ping also wanted to see whether he could raise the Forest Wolf Codex to Level 3.
Spell Acceleration alone required a full five hundred experience points—a truly steep cost.
Yet clearly, the appearance of the little paper man had disrupted Su Ping's original plans.
Still, there was no need to rush.
Perfecting the Myriad Wood Wolf evolution remained the top priority.
After all, even if he truly intended to teach Spell Acceleration to the little paper man, it wouldn't happen overnight.
Otherwise, if the paper effigy failed to develop sufficient appreciation or intimacy, couldn't light up in the Myriad Spirit Codex, and then simply ran away—
Not only would the secret realm investigation fail, he would suffer a massive loss.
Training and taming pet beasts was just like courting a girl.
It wasn't about blind indulgence—you also had to know when to pull back.
His experience points still had to be spent on completing the Myriad Wood Wolf evolution path first.
With that settled, Su Ping conducted his usual inspection of the Forest Wolves' training and combat routines.
No matter what, the Forest Wolves were still his foundation, and their combat strength was the most important thing of all.
Through linked sharing, constant training, and real combat, skill levels could be raised the fastest.
And skill level improvements were the quickest way to boost overall strength.
Watching Xiao Qing head off to train alongside the wolf pack, while only Old Sha stayed close—clearly wary that the little paper man might have some hidden scheme—protecting his young master at all times.
Su Ping smiled and rubbed Old Sha's large head, letting him lie there.
Then he returned to his room, turned on the computer, and began searching:
"Weapon-type pet beasts"
"Metal-attribute skills"
"Weakest undead pet beast: Paper Effigy analysis"
Finally, he clicked open some wuxia TV dramas he had never watched before.
He needed to see what this "swordsman's grace" actually looked like.
Or, to put it more bluntly—
He needed to see how swordsmen put on a good show.
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