Chapter 343: The Value of Old Li Is Still Rising

Feng Xue could easily avoid the contamination of faith-power on personality, since he could already precisely filter the content of Emperor’s Dew; as for pure faith-power…

Feng Xue could not help but turn his attention to Kitodora within his mind sea.

Kitodora was hatched from a “seed of belief,” a mental facet Feng Xue constructed targeting his own “Outer Path Nascent Soul”; its nature was identical to his own soul, so directly nourishing Kitodora with his own qi, then letting Kitodora produce faith-power, could essentially guarantee its purity (Note ①).

Though this act seemed no different from directly harvesting qi to strengthen the soul, Feng Xue’s goal was not merely the soul path of the folk world—he aimed to reverse mortality and become immortal.

In the path deduced from the Bregle world’s magic, the most crucial step was “Primordial One Qi.”

That is, the “element” endowed with spirit, as Bregle described it.

Qi gains spirit and becomes Qi; to endow qi with spirit, replacing it with spirit-endowed faith-power was the most direct solution he could conceive.

Yet faith-power was inherently “postnatal spirit”; to reach primordial spirit, transforming a single primordial qi into primordial one qi still required a long journey.

This was why Feng Xue persisted in practicing both Xuan and Wu cultivation.

After all, the reason Xuan cultivators in this world could extend their lifespan after entering the Dao was precisely because they infused excess magical power into the defensive-circulatory system, strengthening their bodies to produce more qi, forming a virtuous cycle.

In other words, qi production could not exist without bodily support.

How to balance the proportions of the three in cultivation was still under trial; fortunately, he had no shortage of trial-and-error cost.

After sending out each member of the Port Gang who had reformed, Feng Xue prepared to use the Harvest Qi technique combined with the Blessing Vessel principle to further refine Kitodora’s faith-power, further reducing potential risks.

“Pity—Old Li only taught me Harvest Qi, not how to refine qi into pills; otherwise I could’ve purified it further… Sigh, indeed, missing any one of the hundred arts of cultivation has consequences—I’ll have to figure it out myself.”

Yet all his jade pieces were identical in shape; to avoid grabbing the wrong one in an emergency, he took a piece of yellow jade and planned to carve a dragon head as a marker.

“My rice will be ready soon—how much longer for yours?” Liu Yunxi’s voice came from the kitchen; Feng Xue had just roughed out the jade’s top, and without fine detailing, the dragon head looked dumb.

“Just call me when it’s done!” Feng Xue cast a variant of the Purify Dust spell—the Gather Dust spell—and collected all jade shavings onto the workbench; he channeled his magical power into his fingertips, squeezed hard, and compressed them into a small jade ball.

To remedy his weak soul defect, Feng Xue had devoted immense effort to mastering the Jade-Cutting Technique; now, merely fusing fragments and jade powder of the same material into one piece required no ritual—just a thought, and his magical power spontaneously formed the corresponding spell.

“Quality’s poor—just merge it with other scraps later.” He spun the murky jade ball between his fingers, then tossed it casually into his storage pouch and rose to head toward the dining area.

Marveling at Liu Yunxi’s improving cooking, Feng Xue still lit three incense sticks for Mo Ying, Xiao Lingdang, Kitodora, and Su’e Huiye; though incense and candles were mere rituals, what truly mattered was the sincerity—but rituals themselves better carried faith-power.

Just as remembering ancestors in one’s heart differed in weight from remembering them while burning paper money.

Faith-power arises from the heart, but scattered thoughts are unstable; only tangible objects can serve as reliable vessels—even the Merit Pool requires copper coins to carry each light or heavy prayer.

“By the way, tomorrow’s the day to cast away poverty and welcome wealth—don’t forget.”

Liu Yunxi’s tone was subtle; Feng Xue immediately knew this was the lingering effect of having sent off the Stove God too early. He pulled out the almanac, flipped through it, confirmed he hadn’t misremembered, then nodded:

“No problem—here it’s the fourth day to cast away poverty and welcome wealth, the fifth day to open business and greet the Wealth God (Note ②).”

Hearing this, Liu Yunxi relaxed slightly and added casually: “By the way, besides throwing out New Year trash, there’s also a ritual assembly—will you attend?”

Feng Xue had originally planned to take Liu Yunxi to watch, even if not joining the ritual—just strolling around would do—but that fleeting spark of inspiration resurfaced; recalling the previous divination verse, he shook his head:

“No—the assembly draws too many cultivators, too many karmic entanglements. Better to keep our distance.”

…

“Has the location been confirmed?” Inside Xinluo Pharmacy, the shopkeeper asked his customer as if diagnosing an illness, yet their consciousness exchanged entirely different information.

“The ritual assembly is at the Wealth God Temple—seventy percent of the city’s orthodox cultivators will attend; the rest are outcast immortals, demons, Nestorian Christians—nothing to fear.”

As the customer described his aching lower back and knees, he transmitted the gathered intelligence through consciousness.

The shopkeeper nodded:

“Still be cautious. Make a table of their locations. The Nine Chrysanthemum Sect’s deity will arrive at two a.m. Prepare the route plan and hand it to him before contact. Then everyone enters silence. Whether this succeeds or fails, all remain silent—unless the No. 1 summons, do nothing extra.”

“Understood.”

The customer took the herbal packet and hurriedly left the pharmacy. Seeing no immediate business, the shopkeeper called over an assistant to watch the counter and went to check the warehouse inventory.

…

“Weak phantom soul—this little bit isn’t enough!”

That night, Feng Xue retrieved the glowing golden-yellow jade dragon-head seal from the formation, his face showing dissatisfaction; compared to his qi extraction speed, Kitodora’s output of pure faith-power was truly mediocre.

For a phantom soul, faith-power was like flesh and blood; though phantom souls could recover by absorbing faith-power, to preserve Kitodora’s purity, Feng Xue used only external faith-power as ritual material—the body of Kitodora was built solely from his own qi.

Yet at this moment, Mo Ying’s uniqueness became evident; whereas Yingbao could devour anything without limit, Kitodora’s appetite was pathetically small—hardly better than Feng Xue’s own soul’s absorption rate.

Still, given Feng Xue’s own mediocre qi absorption efficiency, it was sufficient for cultivation needs.

“Xiao Lingdang, back up my current mental state, grant information collection permission, record all subsequent changes in my mental state, and immediately halt cultivation if deviation exceeds preset thresholds.”

(End of Chapter)