Chapter 66 What a Coincidence!

"Still thinking about that beggar?" At lunchtime, Liu Yunxi brought out plate after plate of newly learned nourishing dishes. Seeing Feng Xue lost in thought while eating, she couldn't help asking casually.

"Yeah, something just feels a bit fishy."

Feng Xue gave a soft nod, though he didn't explain in detail. While the ability to see remaining lifespan wasn't exactly a dark secret to take to the grave, saying it out loud served no practical purpose since he was the only one who could see it.

He picked up a piece of eggplant infused with a faint medicinal fragrance and popped it into his mouth. Under the lingering effects of the Nourishment Technique, he still couldn't help asking:

"Are you certain that was a living person? Not a corpse, a paper effigy, a puppet, or something similar?"

"At least according to my perception, yes." Liu Yunxi sighed, reached out to pinch her delicate nose, leaned closer, and pointed to the bridge of her nose. "Although I don't know the exact principle, I can sense heat and temperature through here. In my perception, the temperature of living things and dead things is different, and the temperature of different body parts varies too. As for that person, whether looking at his temperature distribution or his state in other aspects, he was no different from an ordinary person. Even the warm air exhaled from his breath was just like anyone else's. If you ask me whether he's an expert, whether he's human, or if he's wearing a disguise, I can't be certain yet. But from every sensory aspect, in my eyes, he is a living creature."

"That is truly absurd!"

Feng Xue sighed, rubbed his aching temples with a headache, and tested the waters:

"Then do you know of any living creature that has no concept of lifespan? For instance, someone who dies the moment they are born, or someone who can never die?"

"If zombies and ghosts count, then yes, but living creatures... I suppose only the immortals of legend who have attained the Yang Spirit realm would fit?"

At this mention, Liu Yunxi's hand holding her chopsticks suddenly stiffened, and she said in disbelief:

"You don't mean... the beggar from earlier is a terrestrial immortal at the Yang Spirit realm? But he—ah! Could it be one of those scenarios Granny Fox Immortal talked about, where immortals wandering the mortal world disguise themselves as beggars to test people's character before taking on disciples?"

"What kind of wishful thinking are you on?" Feng Xue rolled his eyes. Although he had considered such a possibility, shouldn't such immortals be asking for wine instead? Why did he just drink a bowl of thin porridge and leave? There hadn't even been any parting hint like "Ten Mile Slope, tomorrow night"!

Even though Feng Xue desperately wanted to ignore the feeling, his intuition kept flaring up from time to time. Perhaps this was what they called a premonition of the heart?

After turning it over and over in his mind, Feng Xue knew that if this continued, even his evening meditation would be affected. He forcefully compelled himself to focus on eating his lunch.

After the meal, Liu Yunxi washed the dishes, and Feng Xue finished his physical conditioning exercises. Without needing to say anything, Liu Yunxi sat down right in front of him with an expectant look.

"..." Feng Xue really wanted to ask, "What are you doing?" But considering that he indeed intended to do just that, he could only say:

"You look like a ring to me."

Reaching out to catch the white snake ring swirling in the mist and slipping it onto his finger, Feng Xue headed all the way toward the bird market.

"Mr. Feng!"

"Immortal Master Feng!"

"Fellow Daoist Feng!"

Perhaps because he had gained some fame, as soon as Feng Xue stepped outside, every passerby he crossed paths with would stop to bow and salute. Although he did live in a wealthy district where news traveled fast, he still found it hard to understand how they managed to distinguish him so easily—

He wasn't even wearing his windbreaker today!

"I think you should take a look in the mirror..."

Seeming to sense his confusion, Moying's detached voice suddenly echoed in his mind. Seeing that he still didn't quite understand, Moying simply stated:

"Haven't you noticed how vastly different you look from these people on the street? Even the wealthy ones? Just look at your face! Baili isn't even as fair as you!"

"And just who is Baili?" This wasn't the first time Feng Xue had heard that name from Moying, and hearing it again now sparked his curiosity.

"She was my original host body, the pampered young miss of a former dynasty's prime minister's household, someone who never stepped out of the inner courtyard... What's with that look? I've been stuck inside this painting for over a hundred years; if I couldn't tell the difference between her and myself, that would be truly ghostly, wouldn't it?"

Feng Xue dearly wanted to retort, "But you *are* a ghost," but after a second thought, he swallowed the words back down. However, Moying could clearly sense his emotions, letting out a dissatisfied hum before returning to the original topic:

"Your face is too fair, and not the kind of fair you get from applying powder... How should I put it? It's as if you've never faced wind or frost a single day since you were born. Even the gaps in your fingernails are white!"

"Is that so?" Feng Xue genuinely hadn't been aware of these details before, since he rarely interacted with many people. But once Moying pointed it out, it finally dawned on him.

He hadn't thought much of it previously, but after that pre-穿越 event known as the Cyber Reconciliation, he finally understood that he was a giant baby raised by the state—and that was compared to a modern developed country. Compared to people from this old-fashioned society, he probably looked like an immortal banished from the heavens!

This also helped him figure out why, despite being full of flaws, those mysterious cultivators still insisted he was an expert. No reason at all—an ordinary person simply couldn't possess such a physiognomy unless they were a master!

Having solved one of the mysteries in his heart, Feng Xue suddenly felt a lot more relaxed. Though the biggest mystery remained unsolved, at least it made him realize that the flattery from those cultivators wasn't because they failed to figure things out for a moment.

As he walked out of the wealthy district, the number of passersby in Feng Xue's view increased. A cascade of numbers flashed before his eyes, yet he had zero intention of shutting down his supernatural ability.

The lifespan-less individual from earlier had truly given him a fright, and right now he didn't dare drop his guard in the slightest. Even if numbers were everywhere, he was keeping the ability active the whole way...

"Damn it!"

...

"Damn it, he really can see through it! But how on earth?"

At the very moment Feng Xue froze in shock, standing not far away, the demonic cultivator disguised as a wealthy gentleman wore an equally dark expression. Because this time, he hadn't felt that telltale sensation of being scanned by a source-less gaze!

In other words, this young man wasn't relying on some spell akin to the Heavenly Eye Technique to determine something was wrong with him.

Yet this realization brought the demonic cultivator zero comfort and only gave him a worse headache. If the youth were relying on a Heavenly Eye Technique, as long as one evaded or interfered with techniques like *Qi* observation, exposure could be avoided, or one could even set a trap to counter-ambush the opponent.

But the current reality was—

Without relying on any spells whatsoever, purely with his naked eyes, and without even channeling spiritual energy, the youth had simply swept his gaze across the crowd and locked onto him with pinpoint accuracy!

Don't ask how he knew; if he couldn't even detect someone's line of sight focusing on him, he would have been dead for hundreds of years!

"Ahem! I refuse to believe this!" Stubborn pride flared up within the demonic cultivator. Having his proudest spell broken wasn't the end of the world—back when he was a Grand Master, he wasn't invincible either, but dodging was always an option if you couldn't beat them, right?

The problem was that this young man was suspected to be his destined tribulation in life, which made the whole thing terrifying!

The demonic cultivator gritted his teeth, glanced at the surrounding crowd, and decisively abandoned any plans for a direct confrontation. Twisting his figure, he ducked straight into a pleasure house by the roadside.

Watching the lifespan-less individual slip into the brothel, Feng Xue found it hard to determine whether this was the same beggar from earlier. After all, their clothing and appearance differed, and while their builds were similar, his eyes weren't a ruler; who knew how accurate his judgment was? Still, if it genuinely was the same person, it would basically confirm that the beggar was wearing a disguise.

Torn for a moment, Feng Xue ultimately decided not to disturb this lifespan-less fellow who had entered a tea house at noon just to appreciate the tea master's craftsmanship, and continued walking toward the bird market...