Chapter 310: The Expert Acts

Liu Yunxi heard the doorbell and immediately went to open it, only to welcome in an old woman who looked over sixty, with snow-white hair and wrinkles on her face that could trap a mosquito.

Still, Feng Xue thought this appearance matched his stereotype of a shamaness quite well.

But just as he was thinking this, Bai Yi frowned and said:

"Why are you showing up in your work clothes?"

"Didn't your little Zhou call in a panic? Besides, I'll be heading back to work soon anyway—no point changing outfits." The old woman's voice was crisp and young, incongruous with her appearance; seeing Feng Xue's gaze, she offered a slightly chilling smile:

"Feng Daofriend, don't be alarmed—this line of work still depends a bit on appearances. If I showed up in my true face, even if villagers knew I was two decades older than them, they'd still whisper nervously."

Yet this shamaness, with her youthful voice and aged face, did not know that Feng Xue was not observing her exterior—but her lifespan.

"Eight hundred years… for a demon, that's young, but for a cultivator, it's the longest lifespan I've ever seen… hmm, except for Old Li." Feng Xue muttered to himself, then dismissed the idea of her being a demon—after all, Liu Yunxi, still untransformed, had already cultivated eight hundred years of yang life; someone Bai Yi had brought in to help could hardly be weaker than Liu Yunxi had been back then.

Though pondering inwardly, Feng Xue did not neglect propriety; he gestured for Liu Yunxi to pour tea and invited the shamaness:

"Elder, may I ask your name?"

"No need for formality—call me Liupo. In our line, if you look young, you're 'Gu'; if you look old, you're 'Po'—you won't go wrong. Oh, the ice block is the one you want me to examine?"

Liupo waved her hand, signaling they could get straight to the point; Feng Xue didn't hesitate, briefly outlining the situation of the Japanese man, while Bai Yi added details—within a few sentences, Liupo grasped the gist.

"Though not yet a master, this level of cultivation qualifies as a core force in Japan—yet he's willing to abandon it all. Clearly, these Japanese have grand designs!" Liupo leaned close to the ice block, inspecting it front and back; Feng Xue immediately said:

"Elder, do you need anything? I'll prepare it right away."

"No need—I carry my tools with me." As she spoke, Liupo pulled a pouch from her bosom; the opening was wide, and from it she yanked out a ritual table.

The table was already laden with all the items needed for summoning spirits and divining with rice—Feng Xue narrowed his eyes, sensing there was more to it than met the eye.

Not the ritual tools themselves, but the fact that every object on the table was rigidly fixed: each grain of rice, each incense stick, even the water in the teacup, seemed frozen in place—but as soon as they were exposed to the air, they instantly resumed normal states.

The candle flame flickered, the water surface rippled, and grains of rice bounced slightly as the table hit the floor; the shamaness lit three incense sticks, flicking off the flames as she said:

"This method of cramming the mind sea full is rarely used on the living, but in the pre-Qin era, some sects employed it as a burial rite—sealing vast amounts of wish-energy along with the corpse's soul inside the mind sea. Influenced by the tomb's feng shui, this transforms into a special tomb guardian corpse; once unearthed, it kills anyone connected to the tomb. This technique was largely abandoned by the Han dynasty, but during the late Han, because of the deeds of that Cao family, it was dug up from some dark corner again, only vanishing once more by the Song dynasty."

"So if this man dies, he'll turn into a zombie or something similar?" Bai Yi looked disgusted; Liupo inserted the incense into the censer before replying:

"Something like that—but worse than a zombie. Ordinary zombies lack spiritual awareness; even soul-bound corpse puppets, unless they become corpse demons, are merely mindless beasts driven by instinct. But this one's different—it can be programmed with specific commands. In other words, it has strong intent."

Here, Liupo suddenly fell silent. Bai Yi opened her mouth to ask more, but swallowed the question before speaking.

Feng Xue watched Liupo begin her ritual, abandoning any thought of consulting books; he activated his Qi Vision, Over-the-Shoulder View, and had Xiao Lingdang record everything, hoping to learn something new from the master's technique.

Liupo pulled a hairpin from her head—it had no unusual design, made of ordinary hard wood—but in Feng Xue's Qi Vision, a thread of spiritual light extended from its smooth tip, sharpening into a piercing cone.

"Feng Daofriend, can you melt the ice?"

Hearing Liupo's request, Feng Xue hesitated:

"I can, but the freezing is part of the seal—if I melt it, he'll wake up."

"Easy." Bai Yi took over, blowing a breath toward the ice block; white spiritual light formed a gauzy veil, tightly wrapping the entire ice block. She plucked two hairs, which hardened like steel needles and pierced the man's shoulders.

"Done—I've added another seal outside. Even if you melt it, he won't escape."

"Alright." Bai Yi's move looked simple, but Feng Xue could only discern it involved Metal-elemental spiritual power—he understood none of the details. But with Xiao Lingdang recording, he could study it later; now, he channeled his spiritual power and dissolved the ice.

The stiff body slowly softened; as the cold dissipated, the Japanese shugod remained rigidly upright.

Liupo wasted no words; her wooden hairpin darted rapidly across his body, tapping and prodding.

Though each touch was fleeting, Feng Xue clearly saw the spiritual-cone tip sink deep into his flesh—yet this spiritual force did not manifest as a solid, collision-worthy mass; it entered and exited without drawing a single drop of blood.

"Got it!"

Suddenly, Liupo let out a sigh of relief; Feng Xue stared closely and saw the tip of the hairpin now stained with ink-black color.

Disgusted, Liupo flicked the wooden hairpin, then plucked a grain of rice from the bowl and pressed it onto the Yu Fu acupoint where the ink had appeared—though separated by clothing, it stuck fast, as if glued.

Liupo's wooden hairpin moved again, tracing from head to toe, probing nearly every acupoint; gradually, grains of rice lined up in patterns along the Japanese man's body.

"Foot Taiyin Kidney Meridian and Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian…"

Feng Xue didn't understand what this meant, but he knew the meridian-acupoint system well; and if he had to find what these four meridians (arranged symmetrically, forming four lines on the body) had in common…

"All are Water?"

(End of Chapter)