41: Chapter 41 Ingenious Uses of Divine Artifacts

Inscription.

This was the true core of the Leather Craftsman's craft, and also the aspect Liang Chengye had the shallowest mastery of.

He took out a fine brush specially made from the stiff hairs of a Wind Shadow Rabbit's tail and dipped it into a special "Spiritual Ink" mixed from Wind Shadow Rabbit blood, Flying Floc Stone powder, and a small amount of stabilizer.

Holding his breath and focusing his mind, he pushed his Spiritual Eye Technique to its limit.

In his mind emerged the simplest Spiritual Power Circuit diagram taught by the Old Leather Craftsman, which simulated a demonic beast's "leg power" and "turning agility."

The tip of his brush descended, and he began to draw along the preset "meridian" paths on the inner side of the successfully shaped rabbit skin.

The lines had to be continuous, and the injection of spiritual power had to be even and steady. With every stroke, the Spiritual Ink seeped into the leather, creating a faint resonance with the wind-element properties fixed during the tanning process.

He was fully focused, fine beads of sweat gradually seeping from his forehead. The drawing process was extremely slow because any error would cause the Spiritual Power Circuit to become disordered; at best, his previous efforts would be wasted, and at worst, it could trigger a small-scale spiritual power conflict, destroying the beast hide.

While drawing the leg circuit, his pressure was slightly too heavy at a turn. The wind element in the Spiritual Ink suddenly became active, causing a slight disharmony in its affinity with the leather.

Liang Chengye's heart tightened. He forcibly steadied his mind, immediately adjusted his breathing, and injected a sliver of gentler wood-attribute mana to neutralize and guide it. It took nearly two hours to slowly smooth out that disharmony.

Drawing just this most basic circuit took a full seven days.

When the final stroke was laid down, forming a crude closed loop, the entire beast hide seemed to tremble extremely slightly for an instant. There was a faint sense of a weak airflow circulating inside, but it immediately returned to silence.

Shape Fixing—The Essence Stabilization Art.

The final step.

Liang Chengye performed hand seals and chanted the ancient-sounding Essence Settling Incantation taught by the Old Leather Craftsman.

He converted the little mana remaining in his body into a peaceful and balanced energy, slowly enveloping the entire Rabbit Skin Puppet.

The power of the art acted like an invisible mold and adhesive, stabilizing and fusing all the effects of the previous steps—the shape from cutting, the smoothness from cleaning, the toughness from tanning, the posture from shaping, and the network from drawing—into a fixed form.

As the final line of the incantation ceased, the mana radiance faded away.

On the workbench appeared a pale green leather rabbit, about the size of two palms, with a vigorous posture as if crouching and ready to leap.

It stood there quietly, its appearance merely that of a somewhat finely crafted leather puppet.

Liang Chengye let out a deep breath, as if exhaling all the tension and fatigue of the past two weeks. The clothes on his back were already soaked with sweat.

He reached out with trembling fingers and gently touched the leather rabbit's hind leg.

The leather rabbit did not react.

According to the Old Leather Craftsman, the final "Vivification" was still needed—activating the drawn Spiritual Power Circuits and injecting commands to make it "come alive." However, Liang Chengye's mana and mental energy were nearly exhausted at this moment.

Looking at this semi-finished product that had cost him a massive amount of effort, a smile mixed with fatigue, gratification, and a hint of anticipation appeared on his face.

-

After resting for three days, Liang Chengye restored his exhausted mana and mental energy to full capacity and stepped into Blue Winter Star's underground laboratory once again.

That pale green leather rabbit still lay quietly on the workbench.

He checked the flying sword suspended above the red button one last time, ensuring the trigger mechanism was foolproof. Adjusting his breathing, he brought his condition to its peak.

Next was the most critical step—"Vivification."

He took out a special incense stick bestowed by the Old Leather Craftsman and lit it. A thread of blue smoke, carrying a faint fishy scent and the aroma of soul-soothing herbs, rose in curls.

His hands formed the complex and ancient Vivification Hand Seals as he chanted low-pitched incantations with a specific rhythm.

As the incantation progressed, he cautiously injected a wisp of mana, mixed with the incense smoke, into the Activation Rune on the leather rabbit's head, which had been drawn beforehand using beast blood and mineral powder.

Buzz...

The leather rabbit's body trembled extremely slightly.

It worked? Liang Chengye felt a slight joy in his heart, but he didn't dare relax at all, continuing to maintain the mana transmission and incantation chanting.

In the leather rabbit's hollow eye sockets, an extremely faint light seemed to flash by.

Immediately after, its right front limb, extremely stiffly and slowly... lifted up an inch!

It moved! It really moved!

However, just before Liang Chengye had time to savor the joy of this success, a sudden change occurred!

The leather rabbit's raised right front limb suddenly began to twitch violently as if out of control. Simultaneously, a Spiritual Power Circuit node on its back abruptly erupted with a blinding green light—followed closely by a faint but clear "rip" sound.

The beast hide near that node actually showed signs of slight tearing! A disordered and violent wind-element aura escaped from inside the leather rabbit.

It's going out of control! It's about to be completely destroyed!

Liang Chengye's pupils shrank. At the same instant the abnormality occurred, he frantically urged his thoughts!

The hilt of the flying sword suspended above the button smashed down heavily without hesitation!

Buzz—!!!

The Stasis Field Generator emitted a high-frequency startup hum. In the workbench area ahead, the light instantly distorted.

The leather rabbit, which was on the verge of collapse with flashing green light and cracking hide, along with the surrounding drifting incense smoke and the disordered spiritual power escaping into the air, were all forcibly "frozen" by an invisible, mighty force, completely halting at the moment just before collapse.

Liang Chengye panted heavily, cold sweat covering his forehead, his heart still pounding wildly.

Looking at the leather rabbit "frozen" at the critical point of failure before him, a wave of lingering fear welled up, followed by a sense of relief.

"Just a little more... just a little more..." he whispered to himself.

He had thought it could at least maintain simple movements for a moment, but he hadn't expected that just as the Vivification showed signs of progress, it would take a sudden turn for the worse and head toward collapse. The path he had to walk was indeed long.

But he wasn't discouraged. Because now, he had plenty of time to "review."

Quickly putting on that Protective Suit and confirming that the Protective Field and stasis field were completely synchronized, he stepped into that frozen time and space.

Absolute silence. Time lost its meaning here.

He walked to the workbench and leaned over to carefully examine the leather rabbit frozen at the moment of failure. His gaze was like the most precise probe, scanning every detail inch by inch.

First was the back node that had begun to tear. He reached out and lightly touched it.

The Protective Suit isolated the stasis effect, and he could clearly sense the roughness of the beast hide's tear and the "stiff" state of the disordered spiritual power inside.

His divine sense carefully delved inside, tracing back against the flow of the drawn Spiritual Power Circuit.

Soon, the problem surfaced.