Chapter 166: Settling In

"Lifespan is only average, no resistance to ghostly energy or spells... No ghosts? Or is this land simply devoid of deities and thus lacks corresponding protections?"

On the sixteenth hour of arriving in He Zujie, Feng Xue, accompanied by a real estate agent, took out a loan to purchase this storefront in Xili Su.

The land area is 120 square meters, the building is a two-story house, somewhat resembling Hei Qi Yihu's home—half clinic, half residence—but since medical licensing credentials are too conspicuous, he decided to open a pharmacy instead.

As for the medicines...

Naturally, they came from Xiao Fengling's stash of "Beast Medicines."

But Feng Xue wasn't a demon—he'd still use the medicines under Xiao Lingdang's supervision, and this would also be a chance to test how much dilution these Beast Medicines required to suit his own constitution.

The property cost a full two hundred million He Yuan (paid in He Yuan that day); why would the Kindly One lend him so much without collateral?

Of course, the Kindly One was utterly bewitched (truly)!

Feng Xue made money easily—he'd just dress up and wander around the pachinko parlors nearby; within a week at most, he'd repay it, so there was no need to worry about occupying the "Bewitched by Ghosts" lock slot too long.

Besides, wasn't the property and his fifty million in cash also collateral?

"You look like a human!" After seeing off the Kindly One, Feng Xue immediately chanted the "Word-Spell," and with a bang, Liu Yunxi reappeared in human form, clad in a maid's outfit—yet...

"Why are you glowing? How much did you absorb?" Feng Xue stared, eyes wide, at Liu Yunxi, whose entire body radiated a soft white light, looking as if she were radioactive; his lips twitched involuntarily.

Liu Yunxi looked down at her hands, her expression odd.

"You told me to absorb as much as I could! Actually, it's not that much—equivalent to about ten or so Moonstone fragments..."

"If I recall correctly, ten or so Moonstone fragments would let you reach a hundred years of cultivation!" Feng Xue rolled his eyes and sighed. "You can't go out like this! I was counting on you as a nurse and enforcer... Fine, just focus on your cultivation..."

"No problem, no problem! I can handle it! Didn't we get hundreds of Moonstone fragments? This is only ten or so—spreading them all out doesn't matter! You got that Jade Rabbit, right? Here, take it all!" Liu Yunxi quickly interrupted, making Feng Xue suspicious.

Sensing Feng Xue's doubt, Liu Yunxi bit her lip, then spoke:

"At my current refinement speed, turning this moonlight into demonic energy will take months. And when the quantity's too large, it's actually worse than small amounts—like eating a bowl of rice is easy, but a mountain of rice? You have to worry about triggering an avalanche. Also, when you moved here, I didn't react in time and inhaled a bit of turbid vow—this is a good chance to purge it and avoid hindering my cultivation."

Of course, beyond these reasons, Liu Yunxi's biggest headache was debt. Unlike her previous world, here she clearly sensed karmic entanglement—meaning this world truly had human destiny.

If these moonlight fragments could instantly convert to cultivation, she'd accept it—but they can't. It's like borrowing a small loan sufficient for expenses, yet taking out a massive one you can't spend immediately—meaning you're stuck paying high interest for nothing. Better to return most of it and borrow small amounts gradually, keeping interest below the threshold.

Feng Xue didn't know that if Liu Yunxi didn't repay, she'd have to shed flesh and bone. He merely thought her glowing "Goddess Form" was unsuitable for casual movement, so he nodded:

"Good—we already got the method to make Moonstone. Wait a moment, I'll make a Moonstone statue right now!"

Feng Xue was decisive—he moved the Yin Bag of the Hu Tian pouch to the basement storage and began crafting Moonstone.

This was easy for those who knew how, hard for those who didn't. Fundamentally, it was no different from the "Gathering Qi Technique" Master Li had taught him—storing qi in jade—but here, he replaced spiritual power with moonlight, and jade with vow energy. Plus, he already had hundreds of Moonstone fragments, so he didn't even need to make outer casings—just melt a few together.

With Liu Yunxi's help, soon a plump, endearing Jade Rabbit statue, clutching a pestle, was complete.

The statue stood under twenty centimeters tall. Though tinged with pale moon-white jade hue, it lacked jade's luster, even appearing slightly plastic-like. With a base connected to a power cord, it looked like a cheap nightlight.

(Something like this, except instead of holding a star, it holds a pestle.)

Feng Xue drew a thread of vow energy from the Jade Rabbit pendant and infused it into the statue. The statue seemed to gain sentience.

This method was called "Opening the Light"—establishing a link between deity and object. An opened statue could gather incense and vow energy for the deity, serve as a vessel for the deity's consciousness when needed, and help solidify the deity's "image," filtering out extraneous thoughts.

After transferring worlds, the tenacious vow-link of the God of Longevity was finally severed, fully merging with Ma Wu's Moon God authority. Now, as long as the Jade Rabbit image was continuously worshipped, this deity would be imbued with the concept of "Jade Rabbit."

With the Jade Rabbit statue as the filter's core, Feng Xue and Xiao Lingdang gradually began purging the turbid vows from the room. By midnight, Feng Xue finally no longer had to endure those polluted vows.

"Xiao Lingdang, ready?" Feng Xue, having gone nearly forty hours without sleep, yawned and placed a pre-civilization terminal into the statue's base, plugging it in. As Xiao Lingdang declared, "Ready," Feng Xue inserted a jade tablet inscribed with the 【Filtering】 ritual into the "belt-style linked spell unit" disguised as the statue's base.

Powered by the Jade Rabbit statue and computed by Xiao Lingdang, the vow-energy shield unfolded. Though called a "shield," it was essentially a filter—turbid vows flowed through like a river; only those matching Xiao Lingdang's criteria—"Guidance," "Moon," "Ocean," "Healing," "Longevity"—could enter the shield and be absorbed by the two deities. The rest, incompatible with the deities, flowed along the shield's curved surface.

The cleverest part: from the outside, turbid vows still appeared to flood into the room—but for the two deities, these had become usable (Note ①) vow energy.

Having finished all this, Feng Xue glanced at his lifespan, now inexplicably jumped to 3302, then at Liu Yunxi, seated in meditation. After setting several trigger spells and clutching a substitute doll talisman, he finally unlocked his lifespan...

(End of Chapter)