Chapter 39: Knowing You Have a Purpose, I

Leaving the Bird Market, Feng Xue rented a small Western-style house near the eastern train station for two hundred wen per month; in terms of area and layout, this villa was even better than the one he'd lived in in Ping'an County, and outside the courtyard flowed a stream—truly beautiful scenery—but the low price naturally had its reason.

After all, it was near the train station.

Everyone knew what kind of noise a train station brought: though in this era there might be only one train a day, and trains stopped running after nine at night, those who could afford a Western-style villa were certainly not ordinary poor folk, so this drawback was naturally amplified infinitely.

But Feng Xue, a modern man with a certain obsession toward property, didn't care about this negligible flaw; he paid the rent—five months' deposit, one month's payment upfront—and thus had a home in Lu City.

While the go-between who had gone to help with shopping hadn't returned, Feng Xue took out the three large sacks of jade rough he'd bought wholesale and examined each piece one by one.

But as soon as he checked, he was startled!

The scraps were indeed scraps—but only when compared to large items like bracelets; among these three sacks, Feng Xue found dozens of intact bracelet cores, not top-grade jade, but certainly not something you could buy for ten wen per jin.

"It's practically like free money!" Feng Xue picked out the large pieces of jade, his expression a mix of shock and delight; even ignoring the true waste material, just these selected pieces would fetch more than one or two guan if sold to a jade shop!

"Could that old man be the fifth expert Liu Niang mentioned? That's why the boss of Nanshan House treated me so well?"

Feng Xue felt slightly uneasy about accepting so many favors, but in the end, everything was clearly priced—he could always give the old boss some extra benefit later.

But thinking of this, he pulled out the book "Jade-Unlocking Method" again.

At first he hadn't paid much attention, because as someone who'd once been a Sword Essence in his past life, he knew this book—but as he turned the pages, he froze.

The book did not contain the Song Dynasty treatise on jade-cutting sand; it was instead a secret manual that could rightly be called "Jade-Unlocking Method," or even "Jade-Unlocking Art."

It did not increase cultivation speed or grant powerful spells, but was closer to the auxiliary techniques practiced by "Artificers" in traditional xianxia novels.

Aside from the opening section—whose status as a general outline was uncertain—the book taught how to judge jade quality and how to carve it, then broadly split into two parts: the upper section, called "Nourishing Jade," which detailed how to guide and transform spiritual energy to gather, refine, and transfer the essence within jade, thereby obtaining higher-quality, more spiritually potent jade.

Feng Xue didn't care about improving jade quality, but according to the book, practicing this method significantly enhanced control over spiritual energy.

The lower section, "Consuming Jade," was similar to the "Ingestion" techniques he'd bought from Ninth Aunt, but focused more intently on utilizing, collecting, and refining jade essence; though narrower in scope than "Ingestion," it was far more detailed.

"Consuming Jade" was still too advanced for Feng Xue, but "Nourishing Jade" was precisely what he needed most—far better than using candlelight for calibration, and it even generated extra returns.

But now he understood why Nanshan House sold jade so cheaply—and even gave away a cultivation technique: practicing Nourishing Jade always required jade as a supplement, which meant heavy expenses; in the future, whenever Feng Xue needed more jade, he'd inevitably deal with Nanshan House again, and the fine jade he produced couldn't be fully consumed in the short term, nor could he use it all for artifact forging—it would inevitably leak out, and Nanshan House would naturally be the best buyer.

Knowing Nanshan House had its own agenda, Feng Xue felt considerably more at ease; he took out paper and pen and began analyzing the techniques recorded in the book.

This technique had no name; Feng Xue temporarily called it "Nourishing Jade Spell," and its essence was transforming spiritual energy into a state resembling jade essence, adjusting the internal structure of jade, extracting impurities, and condensing essence to enhance jade quality.

Analyzing it through the lens of the four Foundation Skills from the Mortuary Manual: transforming spiritual energy into "Jade"-attribute energy used the "Call Lightning Spell"'s "Transformation"; distinguishing impurities from jade essence used the "Summon Spirit Spell"'s "Filtering"; removing impurities without damaging the jade used the "Substitute Spell"'s "Transfer"; and stabilizing and organizing the jade essence used the "Soul-Attuning Spell"'s "Fixation."

A single technique simultaneously employed all four Foundation Skills, and it wasn't a rigidly procedural application—it required adjustment based on the jade's condition; furthermore, it involved sustained spiritual energy output and precision. In short, going through this entire process covered nearly every Foundation Skill an Xuan cultivator should master—if one couldn't improve after this, they were truly a stubborn stone!

But since this technique touched on so many areas, it was naturally harder to master than the Soul-Attuning Spell; Feng Xue tried once and found that without a ritual framework, he couldn't even produce Jade-attribute spiritual energy.

Fortunately, he remembered the go-between would arrive soon, so he didn't immediately set up an altar to perform the technique; instead, he locked the "Soul-Attuning" term and continued channeling spiritual energy into his Jade Seal.

Compared to ordinary Xuan cultivators, Feng Xue's advantage in spiritual energy was unparalleled: ordinary cultivators obtained spiritual energy either as a byproduct of nurturing their soul or by waiting for natural recovery, and they used it sparingly—before initiation, they rarely cast spells actively.

It was like a game where you needed to spend your HP maximum to rapidly restore MP; unless necessary, everyone preferred to wait for natural recovery.

But Feng Xue had locked his HP maximum, so he could use spiritual energy however he wanted—as long as his soul hadn't entered fatigue, his spiritual energy was endless. (Note ①)

Repeatedly toggling the locks of "Lifespan" and "Soul-Attuning," Feng Xue immersed himself in the cycle of extracting primordial energy and outputting spiritual energy; the small Jade Seal had begun glowing faintly, as if it might explode at any moment.

Seeing this, Feng Xue stopped staring at the seal and took out the small green jade sword the boss had given him, repeating the same process.

But this time, he didn't continue long before the copper bell outside the door rang; Feng Xue halted his cultivation, confirmed his Lifespan was locked again, then opened the door.

"Mr. Feng, the items you requested have been purchased, but refrigerators are rare—we don't have any in stock in our county; getting one from Gangdu requires a deposit. What do you think…?"

The go-between stood respectfully at the door, showing Feng Xue the goods carried by the laborers behind him; Feng Xue merely pulled out two large bills and handed them to the go-between.

"Money isn't an issue—as long as the job's done well, you won't be left out."

Note ①: Though I assume those who've played games or read wuxia novels can understand, I'll clarify to avoid misunderstanding.

First, spiritual energy is fundamentally similar to physical stamina: stamina is energy produced by the body converting food, while spiritual energy is energy produced by the soul converting primordial energy. There are three ways to obtain spiritual energy—

1. During cultivation, primordial energy strengthens the soul; as the soul grows, it expands the spiritual energy pool and generates spiritual energy, like a child eating to grow taller—stamina naturally increases with growth.

2. After spiritual energy is consumed, it naturally recovers after rest, like how stamina returns after running—though the process is much slower.

3. Injecting large amounts of primordial energy directly converts it into spiritual energy; this resembles #1, but here the soul doesn't absorb the primordial energy—it converts it entirely into spiritual energy.

It's like injecting a nutrient shot during intense exercise: the nutrients aren't used for body growth, but converted directly into energy for the exertion.

As for why ordinary Xuan cultivators don't train spiritual energy control—

Because the control gained from soul growth is sufficient to manage their spiritual energy.

It's like how athletes train to improve bodily control for better performance, but an ordinary person doesn't need special training to control their body—natural growth provides enough. Of course, training helps, but it offers little practical benefit for daily life and costs extra money.

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(End of Chapter)