Chapter 46 Step by Step

Carving jade is inherently a painstaking and laborious task. Whether the jade is soft or hard, it remains a hard material. Without applying sufficient force, it is difficult to remove unwanted parts; apply too much, and one risks damaging the sections meant to be preserved.

Fortunately, Feng Xue, being both generous and bold, had ample scrap pieces to practice on. Starting with fragments no larger than a thumb, he gradually adapted to the carving knife in his hand.

Compared to spiritual power, he found his bodily control remarkably adept. After damaging only about ten pieces of scrap, he could already precisely modulate the pressure of his fingers.

This aptitude was neither a quality he possessed before transmigrating, nor an innate talent of this body. After some reflection, Feng Xue attributed it to the enhancement brought about by the advancement of his spirit.

Though issues like disproportionality and distorted patterns still occurred, these were not due to a lack of control but rather a simple deficiency in artistic foundation and design experience.

“Perhaps I should try learning martial arts as well?” This thought suddenly surfaced in Feng Xue’s mind and quickly took hold.

He had previously abandoned martial cultivation decisively because the path of the martial artist was poorly compatible with his golden finger, making it extremely difficult to extend his lifespan through self-cultivation.

But now, with a foundation in mystical cultivation and excellent bodily control, Feng Xue naturally felt drawn to explore the martial path of this world.

Though the scattered references in the "Charitable Estate’s Secret Manual" indicated that martial and mystical cultivation were mutually conflicting, he believed that having more skills could never be a burden. Even if he himself could not master it, in the future, after transmigrating again, he might still be able to use it to train subordinates.

Having resolved to transform the gains of this world into risk resistance and then strike it lucky once more, Feng Xue was determined to collect all useful resources, including cultivation techniques.

As he carved a small scrap piece away with his knife, Feng Xue placed a roughly shaped small cylinder on the table and picked up a new fragment to begin cutting. Despite having ideas, he insisted on completing his set goals before moving on.

After all, for mystical cultivators, state of mind was crucial. Most cultivators refined their temperament repeatedly by restraining the speed at which they absorbed spiritual energy during their practice. Feng Xue, however, was destined to lack in this aspect. Even though he considered himself mentally stable, he still added extra training to temper his mind.

Just as Feng Xue was steadily improving his carving technique and gradually integrating jade-elemental spiritual power (converted from his magical tool) into the process, synchronizing jade crafting with jade nurturing, a sudden movement stirred his heart. Turning his head, he saw a cluster of spiritual light leisurely floating out from the direction of the bedroom.

“That… um… master…” Mo Ying seemed hesitant about addressing him as “master,” but after a moment’s hesitation, she bit her lip and spoke the word.

“Master, that tutorial is too long. I can’t remember so much at once! I want to digest it bit by bit, but it keeps flipping pages…”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Feng Xue, who had initially feigned surprise to coax Mo Ying into asking more of him, put down his carving knife, turned into the room, and fetched paper and pen, bringing them along with his phone into the living room.

“I’ll transmit some spiritual power to you so you can sense things. Then you can study and copy at the same time. How does that sound?”

“Okay!” Mo Ying nodded without hesitation. Feng Xue extended his hand over her ethereal head, unable to physically touch it, and as spiritual power flowed forth, Mo Ying gradually solidified from her ghostly, light-like form.

This was not a spell to create “flesh” or “substance.” Feng Xue did no fine manipulation but simply transmitted spiritual power. The real sense of tangibility came from the spiritual contract already embedded within Mo Ying.

Of course, this tangible feeling could only be used to perform effects inherently present in the “Ghost Control Curse,” such as grasping objects or delivering an invisible punch to a target. To cause nightmares, retrieve items within a certain radius ignoring distance, or even fly stealthily behind the master required further cultivation and skill transformation.

But neither Mo Ying nor Feng Xue considered these matters now. With her newfound solidity, Mo Ying, as if a gourmand starved for centuries, eagerly picked up a brush. She held it with a posture so correct it verged on rigid, but before beginning to copy the book, she casually scribbled a few strokes on a sheet of paper.

Though Feng Xue was not an expert in calligraphy, he had glanced at the textbook when helping Mo Ying open it. After a brief thought, he recognized these as basic brush techniques mentioned at the start of the textbook—center stroke, side stroke, reverse stroke, and the like.

Though the scribbles looked random, they incorporated fundamental brushwork skills, showing that Mo Ying was indeed studying diligently.

Then, Mo Ying stared fixedly at the phone screen without moving.

The ghost fidgeted a few times, transmitting a flood of emotions to Feng Xue through their spiritual contract. Seeing Feng Xue remain seemingly unaffected, she finally couldn't hold back and shyly spoke:

“Um, I don’t know how to use…”

“Don’t know how to use what? Isn’t this the mirror with the Circular Light Spell cast on it?”

Liu Yunxi, who was sorting jade scraps nearby, had never encountered such a finicky ghost (having only seen two ghosts freeloading before). Hearing Mo Ying finally speak, she glanced over curiously. Although she had seen Feng Xue connect his phone to a drone before, seeing it now in the room still piqued her curiosity.

“Hey? Isn’t this supposed to be used with sky lanterns?”

“Circular Light… sigh, forget it.” Feng Xue shook his head, giving up on explaining. Instead, he swiped a few times on the screen, signaling Mo Ying to pay close attention and learn carefully.

One must admit, if used merely for e-books, a smartphone was quite easy to operate. Mo Ying quickly mastered the page-turning method.

Watching the ghost enthusiastically copying, Liu Yunxi couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid she’ll break it? Ghost qi can erode spiritual power!”

“…” Sensing Mo Ying’s nervousness transmitted through spiritual power, Feng Xue glanced sideways at the ghost, whose movements had become stiff. He simply smiled, offering no reply.

Break it?

Of course he worried. But to be safe during transmigration, he had brought three phones, with two sets of data distributed across two memory cards. If Mo Ying really broke this one, he had backups and could also use the opportunity to teach her a lesson, so she’d remember better next time!

Though unaware of Feng Xue’s thoughts, the spiritual contract’s mental link sent a chill through Mo Ying, making her page-turning ever more cautious.

Feng Xue gave Liu Yunxi a nod of approval. The little white snake didn’t quite understand but, seeing his expression, took it as praise and cheerfully resumed sorting the jade scraps.

Seeing Liu Yunxi’s cute, innocent look, Feng Xue felt in excellent spirits and found his enthusiasm for cultivation renewed.