Chapter 42: Knowing You Have a Purpose Makes Me Feel at Ease (Happy New Year)

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 had in Pingan County, with a stream flowing just outside the courtyard—truly a scenic spot—but the low price 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 poor commoners, so this drawback was naturally magnified endlessly.

But Feng Xue, a modern man with a certain obsession for 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 went to help with shopping hadn’t returned, Feng Xue took out the three large sacks of jade he’d bought wholesale and examined each piece one by one.

But the moment he did, 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 larger pieces, his expression a mix of shock and delight; even ignoring the truly worthless scraps, just these selected pieces could fetch more than one or two guan if sold to a jade shop!

“Could that old man be the fifth expert Liu Aunt mentioned? That’s why the boss of Nanshan House treated me so well?”

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

But thinking of this, he pulled out the book *Jie Yu* again.

At first he hadn’t paid much attention to it, for 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 text inside was not the Song Dynasty manual on jade-cutting sand; it was a secret manual that could rightly be called *Jie Yu Fa*, even *Jie Yu Gong*!

It didn’t increase cultivation speed or grant powerful spells; instead, it resembled the auxiliary techniques practiced by “artificers” in traditional xianxia novels.

Aside from an opening section whose status as a general outline was uncertain, it taught how to judge jade quality and how to carve it, then broadly divided 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 more focused on utilizing, collecting, and refining jade essence; though narrower in scope than [Ingestion], it was far more detailed.

The content of [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 even yielding extra gains.

But now he understood why Nanshan House sold so cheaply—and even gave away the manual: practicing Nourishing Jade always required jade as a supplement, which meant heavy expenses; in the future, Feng Xue would inevitably deal with Nanshan House whenever he wanted more jade, and the fine jade he produced couldn’t be consumed quickly; if he used it to forge artifacts, he’d have leftovers, which would eventually flow 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 technique recorded in the book.

The technique had no name; Feng Xue temporarily called it [Nourishing Jade Spell], its essence being the transformation of spiritual energy into a state resembling jade essence, adjusting the internal structure of jade, extracting impurities, and concentrating essence to enhance jade quality.

Analyzing it through the lens of the four fundamental techniques from the Yizhuang manual: transforming spiritual energy into [Jade]-attribute energy used the [Summoning Thunder Spell]’s [Transformation]; distinguishing impurities from jade essence used the [Invoking Spirit Spell]’s [Screening]; removing impurities without damaging the jade used the [Substitute Spell]’s [Transfer]; and organizing and stabilizing the jade essence used the [Spirit-Attuning Spell]’s [Fixation].

One technique simultaneously employed all four fundamental skills, and it wasn’t a rigid procedure—it required constant adjustment based on the jade’s condition; moreover, it involved sustained spiritual energy output and precision. Walking through this entire process meant covering nearly every basic skill an xuan cultivator should master—if one still 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 Spirit-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 return soon, so he didn’t immediately set up an altar to perform the rite; instead, he locked the [Spirit-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, using it sparingly, and rarely casting spells actively before initiation.

It was like a game where you needed to spend your health bar to rapidly regenerate mana—unless absolutely necessary, everyone preferred to wait for natural recovery.

But Feng Xue had locked his health bar at its maximum—so he could use spiritual energy however he wanted; as long as his soul wasn’t fatigued, his spiritual energy was endless. (Note ①)

Repeatedly toggling the locks between [Lifespan] and [Spirit-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—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 are here. 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 over.

“Money isn’t an issue—as long as the job’s done well, you won’t go unrewarded!”

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

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, their stamina naturally increases with growth.

2. After spiritual energy is consumed, resting for a while allows it to naturally recover—like how stamina returns after running, though the process is much slower.

3. Pouring large amounts of primordial energy directly into the soul, converting it entirely into spiritual energy; this resembles #1 superficially, but here the soul doesn’t absorb the primordial energy—it converts it all into spiritual energy.

It’s like injecting a nutrient shot during intense exercise: the nutrients aren’t used for bodily 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 is enough. Of course, training helps, but it offers little practical benefit and wastes money.

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(End of Chapter)