Chapter 42: Don

After dinner, gazing out the window at the thick night and the slowly falling moonlight, Liu Yunxi turned her head to look at Feng Xue, who was busy again before the altar, and finally bit her lip and said:

"I'm going to collect the moonlight. Let me know when you're about to cultivate! Don't just suddenly fill the whole house with it again!"

"Got it, got it." Feng Xue, lost in scrolling through the entries, watched as terms like 【Transform Fire】, 【Transform Thunder】, 【Transform Metal】, 【Transform Wind】, 【Link】, 【Replace】, 【Identify Sameness】, 【Extract】… appeared one after another above his head, leaving him in a state of ecstatic euphoria.

At first it was a property change based on the 【Call Lightning Spell】, then it grew increasingly complex—until every modifiable magical operation process was completed, Feng Xue felt he could not resist the thrill, like a completionist watching blank spaces in a bestiary slowly fill in.

His golden finger, once it succeeded even once—even for the briefest, most crude instant—could lock in place, allowing Feng Xue, while locked onto a term, to achieve the maximum precision his current soul was capable of—

Yes, his own limit, not the spell's limit. He realized this only after noticing his spirit-attunement duration increased while crafting talismans.

After Feng Xue completely abandoned "gradual practice" and instead pursued "even if it's coincidence, just get one success," within just six hours, he obtained every term among his eighteen spells that required no fine-tuning.

And Feng Xue finally snapped out of that "filling the bestiary" euphoria.

He let out a huge yawn, yet did not begin cultivation or simply fall asleep as usual; instead, he relocked his lifespan, set up a new altar, lit incense and candles, placed the jade materials radiating different magical auras alongside the seal already inscribed with the ritual on the altar, then took out the scroll imbued with the spirit ghost.

If the target were another being, Feng Xue would have had Liu Yunxi guard him—but spirit ghosts, or most ghosts in general, were different.

Because the ghosts beneath the red robes primarily relied on illusion and ghostly qi erosion; their physical interference was weaker than a child's. And after locking his lifespan, this ability—effective only if you could endure it, fatal if you couldn't—was practically handing him victory. Not even a bloodless spirit ghost could resist him; even a blood-red wrathful ghost, he could make her experience the sensation of bathing in yang essence yet unable to take even a single drop.

"Don't overthink, don't overthink, stay calm, stay calm…"

He took a deep breath, shook the images from his mind, activated his contemplation method, and as his soul—now slightly deformed from perfect circularity—pulsed like breathing, emitting a faint glow, his emotions gradually calmed.

Then he picked up the seal, paused for a moment in slight bewilderment, and put it down again. He reached into his robe and pulled out a… magnifying glass.

"Of course, someone in this line of work is always prepared."

He clipped the single-lens, high-magnification magnifying glass—gifted by the owner of Mo Yu Xuan and commonly used for gem and artifact appraisal—onto his left eye, then searched the relatively small landscape painting for the "Immortal Within the Painting."

Although Feng Xue possessed the ability 【Observing Heavenly Lifespan】, it could only perceive the lifespan of living beings; the dead, stones, ghosts—none could be anchored by the ability. Though his over-the-shoulder view could detect ghostly traces, without the ability to highlight or mark them red, finding a single different ink dot within an ink-wash landscape was still difficult.

Fortunately, this spirit ghost seemed fond of roleplaying within the painting and never moved her position when observed. After a thorough scan, Feng Xue finally spotted her: standing atop the mountain, nearly merged with splattered ink, yet—as in the Illusion—she had not fully fused with the scroll.

"Perfect!"

Feng Xue locked his right eye—without the magnifier—onto the painting, then removed the magnifier. Fixing his gaze on that ink dot, he channeled his magical energy toward the two candles.

Normally, one would tread the gang steps and form spirit seals to guide magical energy into the ritual pattern—but Feng Xue had already inscribed the command sigil of the 【Cursing Method】 into the Jade Seal. As magical energy surged in, an abstract, snowflake-like pattern glowed on the seal's surface. Feng Xue gripped the seal and began reciting the incantation—

"Spirit, spirit, name unknown, I grant you a covenant name, come to my altar…"

As previously mentioned, Dao-initiated Xuan cultivators can use an altar to connect heaven and earth, drawing upon the Great Source's pure Qi and collective vows. Each such invocation leaves a "memory" in the human spiritual mechanism.

Cultivators not yet initiated can mimic the initiated, using the human spiritual mechanism to replicate this process and perform spells requiring vows—much like a child using an adult's bank card and password to withdraw money.

Perhaps initially it was mere "theft," but once practitioners discovered the convenience of this technique, many accomplished elders deliberately standardized their rituals and established password systems to make imitation easier for juniors. This standardized system became known as the "Zhaijiao Ke Yi." Yet because the more the human spiritual mechanism is used, the deeper its memory becomes and the better the replication, many non-secret, widely circulated Cursing Methods spread far and wide—and the 【Cursing Method】 Feng Xue now recited was among the most widespread.

As Feng Xue recited, he clearly sensed a change within his magical energy—yet this change was far too complex, nothing like the singular 【Transform Jade】 or 【Transform Thunder】; it was more intuitive. If forced into words, it was a "contract containing vast amounts of information."

Even though this was his first time using it, Feng Xue knew exactly what to do!

"Those who obey me prosper; those who defy me perish. Aid me on the Dao, assist me to achieve truth…"

As he continued reciting, he poured all the vow-infused magical energy into the seal. The snowflake mark blazed brightly—and without hesitation, he pressed it down onto the spot in the painting!

"Hum!"

An invisible vibration surged from the scroll the instant his action landed. Though there was no physical resistance, Feng Xue found his magical imprint utterly unable to press onto the scroll.

Yet Feng Xue felt no tension, for this very situation was recorded in the 【Cursing Method】!

Weak ghosts can only use illusionary power. This "failure to press down" was merely the spirit ghost's illusion, making him believe he encountered a barrier.

Having thoroughly read the 【Cursing】 manual multiple times before acting, he had deliberately chosen to set up the altar against the wall. Now he simply pushed his right foot backward, heel pressing firmly against the wall—power originating from his roots, his entire body's force pressing forward.

Illusion could only affect Feng Xue's perception—but when combined with Earth's gravity, even if he felt the seal wouldn't press down, gravity would force it down anyway!

The illusion vanished in an instant. The seal, which had already touched the scroll, had somehow lifted several inches—but his entire body was already leaning forward, and he could not stop. At that very moment, a burst of spiritual light shot out from the scroll.

Simultaneously came a furious shout—

"Don't go stamping your seal on someone else's painting!" (Note ①)

Note ①: Though I don't intend to use dialects later, this line absolutely must be in Wu Chinese to carry the right flavor. Also, the first character of the title sounds like "Fuyao" said quickly—I think the rest needs no explanation.

ps: About self-developed transformations… they're possible, but extremely troublesome.

Ritual patterns have been explained: rituals are actions that assist in engraving trajectories.

But first, you must know how to engrave the trajectory—like a multi-thousand-piece LEGO set, the instruction manual is the trajectory, finding numbered parts in order is the ritual. You need the manual first to cut the pieces; otherwise, you're stuck with trial and error.

You can still assemble it, but it takes enormous time and effort—and the protagonist lacks time, so he prefers using what others have already figured out.



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(End of Chapter)