Chapter 60 Sweat More in Times of Peace... It Should Be Sweat, Right?

"You look like a controller to me!"

"Bang!"

Amidst the rapidly dissipating smoke, Feng Xue picked up the vambrace-shaped equipment that Liu Yunxi had transformed into. After fiddling with it a few times, he shook his head. Seeing this, Liu Yunxi, whose eyes were nowhere to be found, immediately let out an expression of dissatisfaction:

"You're the one who wanted it to transform, but now you're unsatisfied. What kind of thing do you even want?"

"Some things are hard to explain clearly to you." Feng Xue scratched his head, wearing an expression that seemed to say, "It's hard for your intellect to comprehend my mindset." While Liu Yunxi lapsed back into her self-contained autism, he took out paper and pen to study.

Although Liu Yunxi's transformation was influenced by his thoughts—such as turning into a narrow-necked, soft-rimmed cup based on his specific mental image—this influence had its limits. For instance, Feng Xue could not precisely dictate whether it would be a six-chained pulse or a red-string knot; the absolute limit of his influence was swaying it between a slow-burn experience or a stimulating one.

However, Feng Xue was not satisfied with this. Yesterday's battle had made him acutely aware of his own combat flaws.

His low level of spiritual soul control severely impaired his combat capabilities. Although the Jade-Unravelling Method could train the precision of the spiritual soul, this kind of training, much like physical conditioning exercises that enhance the body, was a step-by-step process requiring gradual progress. Even though his advancement had been extremely rapid, his steadily decreasing lifespan constantly urged him to accelerate.

The battle strategy of the talisman-artifact school was clearly correct, but how to use talisman-artifacts more efficiently instead of turning into a comedic character who bathed people in mana like last night was a problem he had to consider.

He had also thought of using the effect of the Ghost-Driving Curse to make Moying carry offensive mana to crash into people. This was indeed feasible; in fact, the Ghost-Driving Curse did contain techniques of that nature.

Yet even with Moying's exceptional talent, allowing her to bear Feng Xue's massive reservoir of mana, it would merely make up for a single offensive front, reducing a Profound Cultivator with a diverse array of methods into a mere spellcaster archetype whose only trick was throwing fireballs.

Therefore, he set his sights on Liu Yunxi.

Although Liu Yunxi's Taoist cultivation was currently limited, she was, after all, a legitimate demon cultivator who had practiced for over forty years. Furthermore, unlike Profound Cultivators, demons needed to train their control over demonic qi. In other words, if he could leverage Liu Yunxi's control to manage his own mana, wouldn't he achieve a result where one plus one is greater than two?

Yet the ideal was plump, while reality was skeletal. Unlike Moying, who shared a spiritual contract and connection with him, Feng Xue and Liu Yunxi could not achieve a meeting of minds. This meant that even if Liu Yunxi could truly control Feng Xue's mana, their lack of mutual tacit understanding would lead to all sorts of issues.

Thus, he considered using the method of [Bestowing a Spoken Edict] to turn Liu Yunxi into a device capable of directly establishing a spiritual link with him. At least based on the current experimental results, however, they were still a considerable distance away from that goal.

Still, Feng Xue was not the type to get bogged down in dead ends. While things like the Jade-Nurturing Method would still yield training benefits even if one failed to master them, he naturally wouldn't dump all his precious time into a project that was entirely useless if research failed. Aside from his established cultivation schedule, he began dividing his time between artifact-attunement and researching the directional derivation of spells—

This wasn't out of arrogance; it was mainly because the reference materials he brought with him included quite a few Daoist scriptures and canons. Currently, the Yin-Yang and Five Elements doctrines—which formed the theoretical foundation of this world's Profound Cultivation system—were largely similar to those of his previous world. Naturally, Feng Xue began to ponder whether he could combine Daoist fasting and ritual protocols, spell theories from his past world, the qi-and-blood principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or even novels and manga infused with Daoist theories from before his transmigration, to whip up some actually useful arts.

"Ding-dong!"

A crisp copper bell sound echoed through the room via the acoustic pipe. Feng Xue picked up Liu Yunxi, casually checked his lifespan lock, and then walked toward the door, speaking into the copper tube on the wall:

"Who is it?"

"Mr. Feng, it's me! We've brought the items you ordered!" The muffled voice of the broker came through. Surprised, Feng Xue pushed open the door and saw the broker standing far outside the courtyard gate.

The only drawback to a large mansion was that the main entrance and the courtyard gate were separated by a distance of over ten meters. Even though Feng Xue had left the courtyard gate wide open, the broker remained very disciplined and had not stepped foot inside a single inch.

Not attempting to persuade him otherwise, Feng Xue went straight to the point:

"So fast? Don't cut corners just to rush the job!"

"How could I? I had the best master artisan in the guildhall make these. Feel free to inspect them—if there are any flaws, you can tear me to shreds!" the broker said with absolute confidence. Feng Xue reached out to take the items handed over to him, yet he didn't lower his guard simply based on those words.

Looking at the delicate stitches and sturdy materials of the leg-wraps and arm-sleeves, Feng Xue pulled on them with his hands and gave them a vigorous shake. Confirming there were no issues, he tied them directly onto his limbs and moved around a bit. Satisfied that they were sturdy enough without restricting his movement, he nodded in approval:

"How much?"

"Not much..." The broker was about to say they were free, but seeing Feng Xue's serious expression, he quoted a discounted price instead:

"Just a hundred copper coins will do!"

"That's more like it. A fair price for fair work!" Feng Xue nodded with satisfaction, fished out the two smallest banknotes from his wallet, and handed them to the broker—

"Consider the extra as an expedited rush fee!"

"Thank you for your bounty, Mr. Feng! Whatever you need in the future, just give the word! I'll definitely handle it brilliantly for you!" Believing he had "figured out" Feng Xue's temperament, the broker didn't refuse this time. He accepted the banknotes with a bow and a scraping motion, rattled off a string of oath-like promises, and then turned to take his leave.

Feng Xue paid it no mind, turned around, and returned to his room, beginning to select suitable items from his newly carved jade tablets to arm himself.

The leg-wraps didn't require much thought; they would undoubtedly house the [Fleet-Footed Curse]. But for the arm-sleeves, Feng Xue had options to weigh. For evil-breaking damage, there was the [Exorcism Curse]; for defense, the [Golden Body Curse] and [Jade-Transformation Curse]; for energy attacks, the [Lightning-Drawing Curse] and [Fire-Drawing Curse]. Additionally, there were the [Ghost-Driving Curse] and the [Nightmare-Casting Curse], which required accompanying spirits to function.

Naturally, such matters could not be decided purely through armchair strategizing. Fortunately, he was now a man with a lavish mansion. He walked to the spacious second-floor room—presumably meant for hosting family banquets—tossed Liu Yunxi out, and said:

"You look like a human to me!"

"Oh, hungry? Planning to use the kitchen on the second floor?" Liu Yunxi glanced around, quickly confirming her location. Feng Xue, however, shook his head. After securing his leg-wraps and arm-sleeves, he took out several jade tablets one by one, inserted them individually into the small pockets with toggle fasteners, and picked up two wooden sticks.

"I want to adjust my spell configuration. Fight me."

"Are you serious?" Liu Yunxi caught the wooden sticks, looking suspiciously at Feng Xue. Seeing this, Feng Xue first checked his lifespan lock, confirmed Liu Yunxi's [Bestowed Spoken Edict] status, and then nodded: "Of course I'm serious, but it's mainly to test spell combinations. A normal sparring match will do."

"Alrighty then! I'll pull my punches!" A brilliant smile bloomed across Liu Yunxi's face. If it were any other time, Feng Xue would have instantly stood at attention to show his respect, but right now, he couldn't help feeling that this snake spirit was acting a bit...

Eager to try?

"Don't zone out, I'm coming in!" Liu Yunxi whipped the wooden sticks in her hands like a leather whip. The rushing sound of wind she kicked up made Feng Xue deeply doubt whether she genuinely intended to hold back.

Yet Feng Xue was not one to fuss over trifles. He understood the logic of "more sweat in training, less blood in battle." Gritting his teeth, he channeled his mana straight into his talisman-artifacts.

Spiritual light flared. Sparring, begin!