Chapter 24: I Don

Gurgling…

The rumbling in his abdomen made Feng Xue stop channeling Qi. He glanced at the dim yellow sky outside the window, then blew his nose hard—candles in this era weren't like the smokeless aromatherapy candles of the future; up close, they inevitably left a noseful of soot.

After tidying up the trash in the room, Feng Xue suddenly remembered that Bai She had entered his bedroom hours ago. Images of various "clumsy maid" archetypes he'd seen before his transmigration flashed through his mind, and his expression darkened instantly.

He strode to the door and yanked it open, pausing slightly—though the sheets weren't perfectly symmetrical, and the duvet cover wasn't smooth, it seemed…

…actually not bad?

Feng Xue had simply misunderstood. Whether films, TV, or anime, they were all exaggerated expressions designed to highlight character traits. As for burnt food, that might be due to poor timing and charring—but making a bed or folding blankets? Unless deliberately messed up, it could never become a disaster.

As if noticing Feng Xue had entered, the small white snake curled in the corner lifted its head, completely unaware it had already taken human form. Feng Xue, confronted by this jarring sight, covered his face and sighed:

"What are you doing lying there?"

"Ah, um, I made the bed, so I thought I'd take the chance to practice a bit…" Bai She scrambled up in a hurry. Though her posture was steady, she still gave off an awkward, unnatural stiffness.

Though Bai She's appearance certainly caught Feng Xue's eye, he didn't ignore the obvious flaw. He immediately said:

"Didn't you say you could only cultivate by absorbing moonlight? The moon hasn't even come out yet."

"Gathering Qi and refining Qi are different. I used to gather Qi very slowly, so I got used to gathering and refining at the same time. Last night, I messed up the refinement. Then your Yuan Qi filled the whole building—I held onto a bit of moonlight (though it was only equal to what I'd normally absorb in half a quarter-hour) and dared not refine it, so I just took this chance to convert it…"

Bai She seemed to realize she'd been slacking off while working, and her voice grew weaker. But Feng Xue had experienced last night how his soul couldn't handle excess Yuan Qi—he understood completely, nodded, and didn't blame her. Still, he glanced at her again, unable to bear the sight of her plain robe, which was clearly just a scrap of cloth draped over her body, and sighed:

"Can you take off that rag?"

"Eep!" Bai She let out a startled cry. Feng Xue's head throbbed. He could only say:

"What are you yelling for? Like you wore clothes before you took human form. Do you demons even have some kind of modesty concept?"

As if struck by his words, Bai She froze, then tilted her head in a dazed, innocent way, before asking hesitantly:

"Before transformation, I didn't have any. But after transformation, I did. Oh! The Fox Immortal Grandma said that receiving a name-form transformation draws upon the human Dao's collective will to trigger spiritual resonance. So these strange thoughts… are they from 'human Dao'? Like how I knew how to gather moonlight after eating the Emperor's Dew?"

"I didn't ask you that. And isn't your explanation a bit too forced?" Feng Xue felt his headache worsening, even wondering if it was caused by overexerting his Qi today.

Bai She seemed to sense the dissonance in his question. She sat down on the floor, deep in thought, then after a long pause said:

"Strange… I never thought about this before transformation… Oh! Right! The Fox Immortal Grandma said—receiving a name-form transformation uses the human Dao's collective will to trigger spiritual resonance. So these odd thoughts… probably come from 'human Dao'? Just like how I knew how to gather moonlight after eating the Emperor's Dew?"

"So human Dao is… like the Akashic?" Feng Xue vaguely felt he'd unintentionally touched upon some law of this world. But Bai She had no idea. Instead, she remembered his earlier question and tugged at her white robe:

"This is my shed skin. I've been refining it as my Core Technique. But since I haven't unlocked a demonic talent yet, it's only slightly better at defense… this shape-shifting ability? I got it during the name-form transformation." Here, Bai She suddenly realized she'd said too much. She curled back into a ball, then cautiously poked her head out:

"I can't give this to you. Fine… fine, I'll give you my next shed skin!"

"Who wants your skin? And how do you even have a next one?" Feng Xue felt he couldn't follow this snake spirit's logic. But Bai She seemed to exhale in relief:

"I shed my skin every three months. Each time, I refine it into my Core Technique. Honestly, creatures with fur are easier—no pain, no itch, just shed a whole bunch…"

"You better not say that where any bald people can hear it."

Feng Xue rolled his eyes, then pulled out his phone, woke it from sleep mode, found his favorite wallpaper, and held it up to Bai She:

"Since you can change shape… can you look like this?"

"I can… but do you really want me to look like this?" Bai She stared at the women in the image, dressed in strange clothing, feeling an inexplicable discomfort—

"Wait—is this the 'high-transparency black silk qipao' you mentioned during the name-form transformation?"

"Ah, you still remember that?" Feng Xue felt embarrassed by her question, but shook his head: "These are all maid uniforms—maids in wealthy households wear them for work. And this one's white stockings. As for high-transparency black silk and qipao… let me find it. Oh, here it is."

Feng Xue scrolled twice, pulling up another wallpaper. Bai She stared at the figure in the image—though the art style wasn't realistic, its features matched her own form about seventy to eighty percent. Her expression changed instantly, and she shook her head vigorously:

Feng Xue swiped twice and pulled up another wallpaper. The little white snake looked at the figure in the picture—though the art style wasn't realistic, the features were a seventy or eighty percent match to her current appearance—and her face immediately changed. Then she shook her head vigorously and said:

Saying this, she hastily shook off her ragged robe. A flash of blue light—like a magical girl transforming without editing—appeared. The white snake maid, crisp and ready for work!

As she spoke, she hurriedly shook out that tattered cloth. Accompanied by a scene flashing like a blue-light, unedited version of a magical girl's transformation, the white-snake maid, dashing and crisp, clocked in for work!

(The White Snake that pops into a JoJo fan's mind)

Feng Xue violently shook off the dark version of White Snake from his mind, staring hard at Bai She to cleanse his vision. She felt uneasy under his gaze and changed the subject:

"Uh, are you here to inspect my work? I made the bed exactly like the packaging showed. Does it look okay?"

Feng Xue pinched the bridge of his nose instead of answering directly:

"Forget that. Do you have a name? Whenever I hear 'White Snake,' another image pops into my head."

"I do have one—given to me by the Fox Immortal Grandma—but I hardly ever used it… I can't even remember anymore. Was it Liu… Liu something?"

Watching Bai She act foolishly, Feng Xue didn't wait. He efficiently remade the bed, then said:

"If you can't remember, just get to work. Come on—I'll show you how to cook. From now on, this is your job!"

"Wait! I'm about to remember! Oh, right—I think I wrote it down somewhere…" Bai She looked like a student frantically scribbling the last few strokes as the exam bell rang. She obediently followed Feng Xue to the kitchen, then suddenly slapped her palm and yanked up her maid skirt. In Feng Xue's stunned gaze, she pointed to the hem:

"Don't rush, I'll remember it in a moment! Right, I think I wrote it down somewhere…" The little white snake was like an examinee who, with the bell already ringing, still had a few strokes left to finish—struggling desperately to complete it—but her feet obediently followed Feng Xue nonetheless. It wasn't until they reached the kitchen that she suddenly slapped her palm, flipped up her maid skirt, and under Feng Xue's stunned gaze, pointed at the hem of the skirt and said:

Regarding the ease of obtaining Cultivation Techniques—how to put it? It's about worldbuilding.

For example, in Harry Potter, anyone with talent receives a letter from the magic school—that's a sign of "high magic," meaning the supernatural is widely known and common (yes, "high magic" and "high martial" aren't the same thing).

Even in the Cultivation World, basic Cultivation Techniques are everywhere—it's only the advanced ones that are hard to find.

In this world, even street vendors know about spirit mediums and Daoists—this proves the supernatural is common knowledge.

Furthermore, the concept of "Underworld" exists. Just from the fact that our Ancestor is working down there, you can tell this is an ecosystem built by countless spirit cultivators.

For such an ecosystem to grow, it must attract more cultivators. Only when more souls achieve spiritual refinement and transition into ghost immortals will the Underworld gain fresh blood—not one new recruit every few decades, with every department fighting over them.

In a sense, the supernatural's widespread presence here is essentially "university expansion." Each sect keeps its deepest secrets to itself, but for entry-level knowledge or basic skills, they'll all teach.

Feng Xue was lucky—he happened to catch the Daoist away from home, so he learned the real thing (and of course, his higher education and background in the novel industry broadened his thinking and perspective; otherwise, without guidance, he wouldn't have easily grasped the essence of the Four Fundamental Techniques).

However, Feng Xue was lucky—he happened to run into the Daoist priest when he wasn't home, so he learned the real stuff (of course, there's also the fact that he went through higher education and worked in the novel industry, which broadened his thinking and raised his horizons; otherwise, without anyone to point things out, it wouldn't have been easy to summarize the essence of the Four Basic Laws).

Explained this way, can you understand it now?

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(End of Chapter)