Chapter 25: Sharpening the Knife Doesn

Feng Xue really wanted to remind Liu Yunxi that humans wear other clothes under their skirts, but after thinking it over, he decided that from now on, he'd just turn her into a ring whenever they went out.

Hmm, if only I'm the one looking, Feng Xue's taste in clothing still scores very high!

Yes, Liu Yunxi—that's the name of the white snake, or rather, the name written on the hem of her skirt.

"Yes, that's right, it's Liu Yunxi! Haven't used it since the Fox Immortal Grandma left—thankfully I was clever enough to get her to write it on my treasure!"

Liu Yunxi nodded vigorously, as if delighted that this name had finally found a proper use.

Feng Xue was happy to admire it, but then he realized a somewhat serious problem—

"You can't read?"

"I'm a demon—why should I learn to read?" Liu Yunxi's retort left Feng Xue speechless; he wanted to ask the Fox Immortal Grandma, but from her expression, he knew she definitely hadn't taught her.

After a moment's thought, he pointed—

"You look like a snake!"

"You look like a perfect maid who speaks twelve languages and masters eight culinary styles!"

A series of nearly overlapping voices exploded with smoke; watching Liu Yunxi within the smoke, Feng Xue didn't need to ask—just from her eyes brimming with "wisdom," he knew it had failed.

"I didn't gain any other languages in my mind. By the way, what are the eight culinary styles?" Liu Yunxi had transformed twice in rapid succession, but her face showed no smile like last night—instead, it wore a look of deep suffering.

But if you looked closely, you'd realize this bitterness was entirely different from the initial rage she felt from being forced to keep changing forms—it was more like the panic after the college entrance exam, when you suddenly remember you forgot to fill out your answer sheet: on the verge of collapse, yet frantically wondering if you'd just misremembered.

Feng Xue, however, didn't notice these subtleties—he was still disappointed that his idea of "teaching Bai She what salt and sugar are, then letting her learn to cook from a recipe book" had collapsed; the beautiful future of quitting his job to cultivate seemed no longer within reach.

He had considered trying to get lucky again and reincarnate into a modern cultivation world, but first, he wasn't sure whether he'd return to his original world or randomly jump into a new one—and landing precisely in a modernized world was difficult;

second, although his cultivation system didn't rely on external sources, from what Bai She mentioned about "human dao" and the fragments he'd heard from Qian Daochang's two disciples about "Yin Si," there might be hidden rules in this world—if he went to another world and couldn't cultivate, and couldn't return, that would be true despair.

So even if he had to reincarnate again, it would only be after learning some spells and gaining self-defense abilities; of course, if he could rapidly attain a Nascent Soul and extend his lifespan, Feng Xue wouldn't mind waiting sixteen years here to see how the Emperor's Dew worked.

Seeing that Liu Yunxi would be useless in the short term, Feng Xue could only tie on an apron and walk into the kitchen.

The ingredients today were bought by Ya Zi, but they were fresher and more abundant than Feng Xue had imagined: not only a still-living perch and a basket of eggs, but also five or six kinds of vegetables like cabbage, bean sprouts, and green peppers, plus dried items like seaweed and mushrooms—but whether due to concerns over freshness or because it was too late to buy, there was no meat at all.

Seeing Liu Yunxi standing like a wooden statue outside, Feng Xue turned and waved her in, but didn't directly teach her how to cook—he began chopping fish and picking vegetables himself.

Though her mind was in shambles, Liu Yunxi forced herself not to turn away, remaining frozen at the doorway like a statue, watching Feng Xue rush about for nearly an hour before he finally produced four dishes and one soup.

"Steamed perch, stir-fried bean sprouts, vinegar-braised cabbage, and seaweed egg drop soup—too bad no tomatoes, so we'll settle for green pepper scrambled eggs."

As Feng Xue muttered, he watched Liu Yunxi automatically carry the dishes to the table; he nodded in satisfaction, served two bowls of rice, and waved to the dumbstruck Liu Yunxi:

"Stop standing there like an idiot—sit down and eat with me."

"Huh? But I've already achieved abstinence from food…" Liu Yunxi showed no interest in food at all, but Feng Xue insisted firmly:

"Eat when I tell you to—how are you going to learn to cook if you don't know what tastes good and what tastes bad?"

"Oh…" Liu Yunxi, thinking of her current situation, ultimately didn't say, "I never wanted to learn to cook"—she merely repeated silently in her mind, "This is my bestowed master," and with the spoon Feng Xue had given her, clumsily scooped up a spoonful of green pepper scrambled eggs.

"Sigh, I've been out of practice too long—my cooking's gotten rusty." Seeing Liu Yunxi cooperate, Feng Xue also picked up a piece of steamed perch and put it in his mouth; though his knife skills were lacking, the fish's freshness made up for it—just as he reached for a second bite, he suddenly heard Liu Yunxi's muffled exclamation—

"What is this? This is called delicious? Do humans eat this many flavors every day?"

"Uh… your question is hard for me to answer." Feng Xue, watching Liu Yunxi's eyes sparkle, suddenly realized the ancient trope of "a grilled meat meal to lure a divine beast, a good dish to trick a beauty" had actually worked.

But immediately, he realized the problem—

Liu Yunxi, before this, was a snake!

As everyone knows, snakes have no sense of taste, don't chew, and eat only by dislocating their jaws to swallow whole—and their digestion period is when they're most vulnerable.

So it stands to reason that snakes simply don't understand the joy of eating.

As he was thinking this, he saw Liu Yunxi struggle for a long time to scoop up the bean sprouts with her porcelain spoon—finally, she just reached out with her hand. Feng Xue reacted instantly, striking her wrist with his chopsticks.

But even though her cultivation had just been stripped, Liu Yunxi's transformed demon body was far superior to Feng Xue's—she easily dodged the strike, yet didn't reach out again, instead suppressing her appetite:

"You told me to eat—now you're being stingy?"

"Who's being stingy?! You can't use your hands! Use utensils, understand? Either learn to use chopsticks, or slowly use the spoon—if I catch you grabbing food with your hands, I'll turn you to stone!"

As Feng Xue said this, he suddenly felt like a kindergarten teacher—but Liu Yunxi clearly didn't think so; she merely nodded weakly, repeating silently in her mind, "This is my bestowed master," and picked up the chopsticks beside her, clumsily attempting to pick up food.

Fortunately, transformed demons truly had exceptional control over their bodies—by the time Feng Xue was nearly finished eating, she finally mastered the technique and began devouring the slightly cooled dishes with the force of a whirlwind.

Enjoying the taste sensations she'd never experienced before, Liu Yunxi's features softened—but at that moment, a voice reached her ears—

"Come to the study after eating—we start learning Chinese characters today. I hope your mind is as sharp as your body…"

(The black silk qipao was flagged by moderation; the author left, and fans used other AI to modify it into a white silk maid—everyone, bear with it.)

Regarding high-magic and low-magic: this definition originates from D&D—it doesn't refer to combat power, but to the prevalence of magic (or supernatural forces).

If in a world, magic is universally known, everyone can learn and master it, people use magic to clean the toilet, and someone who can't use magic is seen as disabled—even if the world's magic ceiling can only produce grenade-level effects—that's a high-magic world.

Conversely, if magic exists only in the hands of a tiny few, ordinary people can't even encounter it, let alone access it, and might spend their entire lives without seeing a single magical object—even if those few can destroy the world with a single blow—that's a low-magic world.

And what web novels often call "high-magic" and "low-magic," if strictly defined, should be called "high-power" and "low-power"—not martial arts, but power: high martial power and low martial power.

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(End of chapter)