Chapter 17: Could I Really Be the One-in-a-Million Xuan Cultivation Prodigy?

The mortuary doesn't host guests at night, and Feng Xue had no intention of staying; having copied the secret manual and taken extensive notes, he settled the payment and, under his senior brother's advice—"If you have any questions, come ask anytime, just avoid the master"—arrived at a well-decorated, half-Chinese, half-Western inn.

Although he'd originally planned to rent a house in the county, the sky was already growing late; finding a place himself or hiring a broker would be difficult now.

He spent a hundred cash on a premium room, finally placing his ten-plus-kilogram bundle beside the bed, when suddenly the white snake, who had remained silent until now, spoke:

"It's almost dark. Put me by the window—I need to cultivate!"

"Oh? Didn't you stay at the temple last night? Or were you not cultivating then?" Feng Xue was surprised, but the white snake replied:

"Outdoors doesn't matter, but the city is different—places thick with human presence are saturated with votive energy; when the Yin moonlight falls, it mixes with it. Fortunately, this inn has few guests, so the interference isn't severe. As long as I'm pressed against the outer wall, it's fine. If you ever buy a house, find one with few neighbors nearby—or at least one with a courtyard…"

"So why should I care about your cultivation when buying a house?"

Feng Xue smiled slightly as he met the snake's obsidian-black eyes on the ring. The white snake's tone grew complex:

"Aren't you planning to make me your household immortal?"

"Oh? So you're agreeing?" Feng Xue's tone was teasing, but the white snake snapped:

"No!"

"Then why should I help you cultivate? You won't even assist me!" Feng Xue shot back. He'd sealed her mouth purely to gain a living encyclopedia of cultivation; though she refused to cooperate, the presence of 【Ding Tian Ming】 meant she was at least a useful defensive asset.

But if she was only for defense, her cultivation level didn't seem so critical…

The white snake was stumped. She could never become his cultivation furnace; becoming a household immortal was a desperate last resort for those who'd lost their bodies. Her body had been altered, but it still existed—she still had hope of achieving true transcendence. Who would willingly walk the ghost path?

Yet given her subjugation, she needed his help to secure a cultivation environment.

After deep contemplation, she finally found a plausible excuse and declared:

"Aren't you able to turn me into other things? Earlier, you turned me into that strange vehicle—it consumed my demonic energy to move. If I raise my cultivation, I'll run faster!"

"Oh?" Feng Xue was surprised. He'd long wondered why that motorcycle had no fuel tank or battery yet still ran—he'd assumed it consumed bioenergy, or perhaps the wheels were her limbs, and driving was just some kind of flower-hand shake.

But now it seemed… it was powered by demonic energy?

Then the stun baton and taser—were they converting demonic energy into electricity?

If demonic energy could be transformed into electricity, why couldn't it power a laser gun?

Though he didn't fully grasp the mechanism, Feng Xue realized his understanding of the 【mouth-sealing curse】 entry regarding the white snake had been shallow. He resolved to test this thoroughly later, but since she'd made her case, he had no reason to refuse—he gently removed the ring and placed it by the window, adding:

"If anyone tries to steal you, scream loud!"

"Hmph!" The white snake emitted a noncommittal snort, but Feng Xue didn't press it. He walked to the bed and began his visualization training.

To his surprise, entering meditative stillness was far easier than he'd expected—within minutes of closing his eyes, he slipped effortlessly into a state of pure clarity, free of thought.

"So simple? Did I mess up my cultivation?"

The moment doubt arose, Feng Xue snapped out of meditation. As a thousand thoughts returned, he felt strangely relaxed.

"Getting ejected means I really entered meditation—not some demonic illusion. But why was it so easy?"

Feng Xue didn't understand, but he closed his eyes again—and immediately returned to that clear state.

"It really is easy. Could I be the one-in-a-million prodigy of Xuan cultivation?"

Feng Xue exited meditation again, uncertain. Yet his thought wasn't wrong—since his arrival, in just over ten days, he'd unconsciously accomplished what ordinary cultivators spent months or even years struggling to glimpse: eliminating distracting thoughts.

Or rather, if he hadn't mastered this, those ten days of counting down his lifespan would have driven him mad!

"Forget it. If it exists, it's valid. As long as I don't die, keep training!" With that resolve, he banished distractions, fixing his gaze on the black ink dot on the white paper.

After roughly twenty seconds, he snapped his eyes shut—and a white dot formed in his mind.

Though this technique, exploiting afterimage persistence, wasn't sophisticated, it was highly effective—it bypassed the hardest initial stage of visualization, letting one directly perceive the "inner mind's" image.

Following this sensation into meditation, Feng Xue activated the breathing rhythm from the Cultivation Technique, inhaling and exhaling as he imagined warm currents flowing from his limbs and bones toward his heart, then sinking with each breath into his dantian, rising from the coccyx upward, finally reaching the baihui point and entering his consciousness.

At first, it was pure imagination—a mental visualization technique. But as the black dot in his mind gradually faded, he opened his eyes to recheck the ink dot—and froze. Above his head, a new line of small characters had appeared:

【Refining Essence into Qi: While in meditative stillness, practicing the breathing method converts essence and blood into primordial qi.】

"Damn! This thing's got real power! Does this mean that even if I succeeded once—however slightly, even if I didn't realize it—I can now repeat that success indefinitely?"

Feng Xue's heart leapt with joy, but he forcibly steadied his composure.

Locking 【Refining Essence into Qi】, the lifespan lock naturally unsealed. He sighed inwardly, then closed his eyes again.

This time, entering meditation was extremely difficult. Without the lifespan lock, Feng Xue felt a hollow emptiness in his chest.

He struggled to adjust his mindset, quiet his thoughts—and spent a full ten minutes before finally calming down.

But by then, the afterimage of the ink dot had vanished completely.

He opened his eyes, closed them again, visualized, meditated—and finally understood the difficulty described in the manual. But when the breathing method activated, the sensation was utterly different.

Where before the imagined warmth in his limbs had felt like the faint ache of stretching his arms, now it was like an IV drip in a hospital—he could truly feel something flowing inside him.

The sensation wasn't pleasant, even a little strange, but Feng Xue felt a quiet joy. He dared not dwell on it, directing the primordial qi along its path until it converged into his consciousness, pouring into the faint, fading afterimage—then, the phantom solidified!

(End of Chapter)