Chapter 18: Could I Really Be the One-in-a-Million Mystery 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 his bill and headed to a well-decorated, half-Chinese, half-foreign inn, where his senior brother had advised, “If you have any questions, come ask anytime—just avoid the Master.”

He had originally planned to rent a house in the county, but it was already growing late; finding a place himself or hiring a broker would be difficult.

He spent a hundred cash on a premium room, finally placing his Shiji -kilogram bundle beside the bed, when the white snake, silent until now, suddenly 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 with too many people 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. Just stay against the outer wall—it’s fine. If you ever buy a house, find one with fewer neighbors nearby, or at least one with a courtyard…”

“So why do I have to consider your cultivation when buying a house?”

Feng Xue smiled slightly as he met the snake’s obsidian-like 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 had sealed her mouth purely to gain a living encyclopedia of cultivation—but though she refused to cooperate, the 【Fixed Fate】 meant she was still a useful defensive asset.

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

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

Yet, bound as she was, she needed his help to find a place to cultivate.

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

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

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

But now it seemed… it ran on demonic energy?

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

If demonic energy could be converted 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-Sealed】 entry regarding the white snake had been shallow. He resolved to test it 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 a reminder:

“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 meditation 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 relaxed.

“Being ejected means I truly 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 mystery cultivation prodigy?”

Feng Xue exited meditation again, uncertain. But 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 trying to achieve: eliminating distracting thoughts.

Or rather—if he hadn’t eliminated them, those ten days of counting down his lifespan would have driven him mad!

“Forget it. If it exists, it’s reasonable. As long as I don’t die, keep training!” With that resolve, he banished distractions and fixed his gaze on the black ink dot on the white paper.

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

Though crude, this technique leveraged afterimage persistence and proved highly effective, bypassing the hardest initial stage of visualization and letting him directly perceive the “internal landscape.”

Following that sensation into meditation, Feng Xue followed the breathing rhythm from the manual: inhaling and exhaling, he imagined warm currents flowing from his limbs toward his heart, then sinking with each breath into his dantian, rising from his coccyx upward, finally reaching the baihui point and entering his consciousness.

At first, it was pure imagination—an exercise of mental focus. But as the black dot in his mind 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 meditation, practicing this breathing method converts essence and blood into primordial qi.】

“Damn! This thing’s got real power! Does this mean that even one tiny, unconscious success lets me replicate it endlessly?”

Feng Xue’s heart leapt, but he forced himself to calm down.

He locked 【Refining Essence into Qi】—the lifespan lock automatically released. He sighed inwardly, then closed his eyes again.

This time, entering meditation was difficult. Without the lifespan lock, his mind felt hollow.

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

But by then, the ink dot in his vision had vanished.

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

Before, the imagined warmth flowing through 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, merely guided the primordial qi along its path until it merged into his consciousness, pouring into the faint, fading afterimage—until the phantom solidified!

[49] (End of Chapter)