Chapter 40: Who would have thought that even a big shot could misjudge someone?

After receiving the promise from the tooth-man that he would immediately have goods shipped over from Port City, Feng Xue locked the front door and returned to the study he had specifically cleared out. Taking out an altar table, incense, and candles from his Hutian pouch, he began setting up the ritual altar.

However, this time, he finally started arranging a proper ritual praxis.

A ritual praxis might sound rather arcane, but in reality, it is simply a method of external processing and guiding one's own mana to make it more prone to corresponding transformations.

This external guidance is roughly divided into two parts:
【Rites】 and 【Tracks】.

【Rites】 refer to the ritual itself, acting as a fixed behavioral template.
【Tracks】 refer to the trajectory, representing the process of mana transformation.

To use chemistry as an analogy—
【Rites】 are like the experimental procedure. By heating potassium permanganate, you obtain oxygen; by mixing and burning hydrogen and oxygen in a specific proportion, you produce water vapor. Even if you do not understand the underlying reasons, as long as you complete this procedure, you will obtain the corresponding result.

Meanwhile, 【Tracks】 are the chemical equations, serving as the theoretical foundation for achieving that process. Once the theory is thoroughly understood, one can achieve the same result through other means even without relying on the ritual.

For instance, the 【Rite】 of the Fire-Drawing Incantation involves fusing mana with flame, granting the mana scorching and burning characteristics. Therefore, a beginner casting the Fire-Drawing Incantation often needs to hold a candle or torch, looking like a charlatan with a mouthful of cornstarch playing a fire-breathing trick.

The 【Track】, on the other hand, is the process of mana transformation within that procedure. As long as one can skillfully execute the processes of heating, accelerating, and shaping the mana, one can directly turn mana into flame without needing fire as a medium.

Learning a new spell usually begins with the 【Rites】. First, one uses the fixed pattern to complete the mana's transformation, and then studies the details of the mana's changes during this process to summarize the 【Track】. Once one can dispense with the 【Rites】 and execute the spell's 【Track】 purely through mana, one can move beyond altars and ritual praxis, casting spells bare-handed, or even engraving the summarized 【Track】 onto objects to create magical artifacts and talismans that automatically trigger spells whenever mana is inputted.

As for the 【Rite】 of the Jade-Nourishing Incantation, it consists of a pinch of jade powder, a piece of fine jade, and an ordinary rock. The jade that needs to be nourished is placed at the center of the triangle formed by these three components. First, mana is channeled into the jade powder, allowing the mana to slowly transform toward the essence of jade. Once this step is completed, the mana must be divided into three parts, injected respectively into the ordinary rock, the fine jade, and the ordinary jade. Using the ordinary rock and the fine jade as benchmarks, the structure and veins of the jade being nourished are adjusted.

It sounds simple enough—like a comparative test where the portion resembling an ordinary rock is excised and rearranged into the structure of fine jade.

But when it actually comes to execution...

Feng Xue was stuck right at the very first step. He couldn't even manage to transform his mana into the 【Jade】 attribute.

After all, this could be considered an advanced spell derived from the Lightning-Drawing Incantation. Compared to active properties like fire and lightning, 【Jade】 is much more condensed and steadfast. When mana moves, it refuses to solidify; when mana stays still, it refuses to change. Even with jade powder as a reference, it was essentially like asking someone with zero foundation to sketch a plaster statue; managing to produce even a crooked, distorted shape would already be considered a sign of talent.

"This thing is simply not meant for someone at my cultivation realm! Did that old man trick me? Where would an ordinary rookie find this much mana to squander?"

While controlling the circulation of his mana, Feng Xue muttered inwardly. Fortunately, his previous practice with the Spirit-Attachment Incantation had given him some insights into mana stability; otherwise, he might have struggled even to make his released mana linger within the jade powder.

In truth, Feng Xue had misunderstood the situation. This 《Jade Unlocking》 manual was indeed not meant for beginners, and that old man was clearly not handing out cultivation techniques to just anyone he happened to catch.

The reason he gave it to Feng Xue was because he noticed the jade seal Feng Xue carried.

Normally, profound practitioners face a severe shortage of mana before entering the Dao, and refining a natal magical artifact requires a slow, grinding process of gradual refinement. To achieve the level of completion seen on Feng Xue's jade seal, one would likely need a dozen years of dedicated, daily polishing just to make the mana upon it appear as clear and lively as if it had just been attached.

In the eyes of a senior expert, since Feng Xue was able to forge such a magical artifact and had cultivated the Spirit-Attachment Incantation to such a "handy" realm, he was practically at the threshold of entering the Dao, even if he hadn't officially crossed it. Achieving such accomplishments in both natal magical artifacts and spiritual soul realm at this age prompted the senior to feel a certain fondness for talent. Coupled with the fact that the jade seal's material quality was not particularly high, the senior bestowed this opportunity upon him so that the natal magical artifact he had meticulously polished for decades would not be limited by the quality of its base material.

Moreover, this was not merely handing out a favor. By learning the Jade-Unlocking Technique, even without formally taking the senior as a master, Feng Xue would deal more frequently with jade and minerals. When his soul returned to the netherworld a century (meaning after death) later, it would be easier for him to secure a job within their sect.

Yet who could have expected that this fellow Feng Xue relied entirely on brute force combined with cheating hacks, flooding the jade with enough mana that ordinary profound practitioners would need several sixty-year cycles to accumulate?

Naturally, Feng Xue was entirely unaware of the senior's thoughts. He only figured that since the senior could see his cultivation was shallow (in the senior's eyes, anyone who hasn't entered the Dao is shallow), the senior must also be able to perceive the strength of his soul and would never gift him a spell he was completely incapable of practicing. His slightly stubborn nature thus locked horns with this Jade-Nourishing Incantation: whenever his mana ran out, he would lock away his lifespan to squeeze out vital energy, refine it into mana, and stubbornly keep going.

Thanks to the experience in mana manipulation he had accumulated while practicing the Spirit-Attachment Incantation, deep into the night, a new entry finally appeared atop Feng Xue's mind—

【Jade Transformation: Converts mana into the 【Jade】 attribute, possessing the characteristics of firmness, condensation, purity, and stability.】

"It worked!" Feng Xue's eyes lit up. The breath he had been forcefully holding relaxed instantly, and he was immediately hit by a wave of exhaustion and hunger. He whipped off his ring and tossed it aside:

"You look like a human! Go make something to eat!"

"Oh!" Liu Yunxi transformed back into human form before she even hit the ground. Hearing Feng Xue's command, she didn't waste any breath; let alone Feng Xue, she was starving too!

After all, her cultivation had been crippled by Feng Xue, and nowadays, she was no longer capable of inedria (abstaining from food)!

...

Taking advantage of the time Liu Yunxi spent cooking, Feng Xue locked onto the 【Jade Transformation】 entry and began experiencing this type of mana. Although it was only a small fraction of the entire Jade-Nourishing Incantation, this skill itself could be independently separated. It was no different from the 【Lightning-Drawing Incantation】, the 【Fire-Drawing Incantation】, or the unlearned 【Golden Body Incantation】, except that compared to thunder, fire, and golden bodies—whose usages could be instantly imagined just by hearing their names—this 【Jade】 attribute mana, radiating a lustrous glow, was clearly much more abstract.

Recalling how the properties of transformed mana were applied in the 【Lightning-Drawing Incantation】 and 【Fire-Drawing Incantation】, Feng Xue pointed two fingers like a sword and aimed at the ordinary rock placed on the altar. A translucent white radiance flew out from his fingertip, yet it drifted in a crooked trajectory. Even with Feng Xue trying his utmost to control it, over a distance of barely half a meter, it merely grazed the edge of the stone.

"Crack!"

With a soft sound, Feng Xue fell into contemplation. The 【Jade】 attribute mana was clearly much more condensed than normal, breeze-like mana, possessing a certain degree of physical impact. However, its power was about the same as throwing a pebble, and it was even less accurate than throwing a pebble.

"So this kind of mana isn't actually suited for long-range attacks like the Lightning-Drawing Incantation or Fire-Drawing Incantation. Instead, it should be like the Golden Body Incantation—covering the surface of the body to enhance defense, or simply hardening fists and weapons to inflict higher physical damage?"