Chapter 335: The Expert Takes Action

Liu Yunxi heard the doorbell and immediately went to open it, only to welcome in an elderly woman over sixty, her hair completely white, her face lined with wrinkles that could trap mosquitoes.

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 dressed in your work clothes?”

“Isn’t it because your little Zhou called in such a hurry? Besides, I’ll have to go back to work soon—no point changing outfits again.” The old woman’s voice was crisp and young, utterly incongruous with her appearance; seeing Feng Xue’s gaze, she offered a slightly chilling smile:

“Feng Daofriend, don’t be offended—it’s just that this line of work still depends a bit on appearances. If I showed up looking like my true self, even if villagers knew I was two generations older than them, they’d still feel uneasy.”

Yet this shamaness, with her youthful voice and aged face, did not realize 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, even before Liu Yunxi had transformed, she’d cultivated eight hundred yang lifespans; someone Bai Yi had brought here 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:

“Senior, 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 is still a core force in Japan—yet he’s willing to abandon it so easily. Clearly, these Japanese have grand designs!” Liupo leaned close to the ice block, inspecting it front and back; seeing this, Feng Xue immediately said:

“Senior, 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 asking for rice divination; Feng Xue narrowed his eyes, sensing there was more to these objects than met the eye.

It wasn’t the ritual tools themselves that intrigued him—it was that every item was firmly fixed to the table: each grain of rice, each incense stick, even the water in the teacup, seemed frozen in place; yet as soon as they were exposed to the air, they instantly returned to normal.

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, flicked off the flame, and said:

“This method of cramming the mind sea full is rarely used on the living, but during the Qin and Han dynasties, some sects employed it as a burial rite—sealing vast amounts of devotional energy along with the corpse’s soul inside the mind sea. Influenced by the tomb’s feng shui, this energy transforms into a special tomb guardian corpse. Once unearthed, it kills anyone connected to the tomb. This technique had largely vanished by the Han dynasty, but after the deeds of that Cao family in the late Han, it was dug up again from some dark corner and persisted until the Song dynasty, when it vanished once more.”

“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:

“Roughly, but it’s worse than a zombie. Ordinary zombies lack spirit—even a soul-bound corpse puppet, unless it becomes a corpse demon, is merely a mindless beast driven by instinct. But this thing is 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, abandoned any thought of consulting books, activated his Qi Vision, over-the-shoulder perspective, and instructed Xiao Lingdang to record everything—hoping to learn something new from the master’s technique.

Liupo pulled a hairpin from her head; it had no special design, made of ordinary hardwood—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 ice 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 thin 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—now he won’t escape even if you melt the ice.”

“Good.” Bai Yi’s move looked simple, but Feng Xue could only discern it involved Metal-elemental spiritual power—he understood none of the details. Still, 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 god remained rigidly upright.

Liupo wasted no time—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-resistant form—it entered and exited without drawing a single drop of blood.

“Got it!”

Suddenly, Liupo sighed in relief; Feng Xue looked closely and saw the tip of the hairpin now stained with ink-black.

She disdainfully flicked the wooden pin, 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, the grain stuck fast, as if glued in place.

Liupo moved the wooden pin again, tracing from head to toe, probing nearly every acupoint; gradually, grains of rice lined up 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; and if he compared these four meridians (symmetrical, so four lines on the body)…

“All Water-element?”

(End of Chapter)