Chapter 50: Gradual Progress

Carving jade is inherently a laborious task; whether soft or hard jade, it is still hard—too little force and you cannot cut away unwanted parts, too much and you risk damaging what must be preserved.

Fortunately, Feng Xue had ample funds and plenty of scrap material to practice with, starting with fragments no larger than a thumbpad, gradually adapting to the feel of his carving knife.

Compared to magical energy, he found his control over his body was exceptional; after ruining only about ten fragments, he could already precisely regulate the force in his fingers.

This was not a trait he possessed before his transmigration, nor was it an innate talent of this body—after some thought, Feng Xue could only attribute it to the enhancement brought by his soul’s elevation.

Although occasional issues still arose—proportional imbalance, distorted patterns—they were not due to poor control, but merely a lack of experience in artistry and design.

“Maybe I should try learning martial arts?”

This thought suddenly surfaced in Feng Xue’s mind—and once there, it refused to fade.

He had previously discarded martial cultivation outright because the martial path clashed severely with his golden finger; achieving longevity through self-study was nearly impossible.

But now, with xuan cultivation as his foundation and superior bodily control in hand, Feng Xue couldn’t help but feel curious about this world’s martial arts.

Though fragments from the “Yizhuang Secret Manual” hinted that martial cultivation here conflicted with xuan cultivation, more skills never weighed one down—even if he couldn’t learn them himself, he might one day use them to train subordinates after transmigrating again.

Since he had decided to convert his gains from this world into risk-mitigation assets before trying his luck once more, Feng Xue naturally sought to collect anything useful—including cultivation techniques.

A sliver of jade fell under the carving knife; Feng Xue placed the roughly cylindrical piece on the table, picked up a new fragment, and began cutting again. Though he now had new ideas, he still insisted on completing his set goal before acting on them.

After all, in this world, xuan cultivators valued mental discipline greatly; most had already refined their character through the process of restraining their rate of yuanqi absorption. Feng Xue was bound to lack this, and even though he believed his temperament was stable, he still added extra training to temper his mind.

As Feng Xue steadily improved his carving technique and gradually began infusing jade-affinity magical energy (via artifact transformation) into the process—aligning jade carving with jade nourishment—his heart suddenly stirred. He turned his head and saw a wisp of spiritual light drifting slowly from the bedroom.

“That… um… master…” Mo Ying seemed still uncertain about the term “master,” but after hesitating for a long while, she gritted her teeth and spoke it out:

“Master, the tutorial is too long—I can’t remember all of it at once! I want to digest it first, but it keeps turning pages…”

“Oh, right.” Feng Xue feigned sudden realization, having planned all along to make Mo Ying beg for his help. He set down his carving knife, turned into the room, fetched paper, inkstone, and his phone, and brought them all to the living room—

“I’ll transmit some magical energy to you so you can interact with objects. Then you can learn while copying—how’s that?”

“Yes!” Mo Ying nodded without hesitation. Feng Xue placed his hand lightly above her insubstantial head; as magical energy flowed out, Mo Ying gradually solidified from a spectral glow into something more tangible.

This was not some flesh-and-blood or physical-form spell—he performed no fine manipulation, merely transmitted energy. The sense of tangibility granted to Mo Ying came from the spirit pact already engraved within her.

Of course, this tangibility only enabled effects inherent to the “Spirit Binding Spell”—such as grasping objects or delivering an invisible punch. To induce nightmares, retrieve desired items across any distance, or even carry the master through flight, she would still need to cultivate the corresponding transformation techniques.

But neither Mo Ying nor Feng Xue considered such matters now. With a tangible form, Mo Ying acted like a glutton starved for centuries, snatching up the brush with a posture so rigidly correct it bordered on mechanical—yet she did not begin copying immediately. Instead, she scribbled randomly on a page.

Though Feng Xue was no expert in calligraphy, he had glanced at the textbook when helping Mo Ying open it, and after a moment’s thought, he recognized these as the basic brush techniques mentioned in the opening: central tip, side tip, reverse tip…

Though it looked like random doodling, it contained the fundamental strokes—clear proof that the spirit was studying earnestly.

Then, Mo Ying just stared at the phone screen, motionless.

The spirit fidgeted, sending waves of emotion through the spirit pact—but seeing Feng Xue act as if he felt nothing, she finally couldn’t bear it and spoke shyly:

“Um… I don’t know how to use it…”

“Don’t know how to use what? Isn’t this just a mirror enchanted with the Circle of Light spell?”

Liu Yunxi, who had never encountered such a pretentious ghost (having only met two greedy, shameless ones), hearing her finally speak, glanced over curiously. Though she had seen Feng Xue connect his phone to a drone before, seeing it inside the room still sparked her interest—

“Huh? Isn’t this thing supposed to be used with a Kongming lantern?”

“Circle of Light… never mind.” Feng Xue shook his head, abandoning explanation. He swiped a few times on the screen, gesturing for Mo Ying to watch closely and learn well.

Admittedly, smartphones were easy to operate when used solely for e-books; Mo Ying quickly mastered the page-turning function.

Watching the spirit enthusiastically copying, Liu Yunxi spoke up:

“Aren’t you afraid she’ll damage it? Ghostly aura corrodes magical energy!”

“… ” Feeling Mo Ying’s anxious emotions flow through the spirit pact, Feng Xue glanced sideways at the stiffly moving female ghost, smiled faintly, and said nothing.

Damage it?

Of course he worried—but for safety during transmigration, he had brought three phones, and his data was duplicated across two storage cards. If Mo Ying broke this one, he had backups—and could use the incident to give her a proper lesson to make her remember!

Though unaware of Feng Xue’s thoughts, the spirit pact’s mental link made Mo Ying’s heart chill; her hand turned pages with increasing caution.

Feng Xue gave Liu Yunxi a “well done” look. The white snake didn’t quite understand, but since the expression seemed like praise, she stopped thinking and happily resumed organizing the jade.

Seeing Liu Yunxi’s innocent, clueless expression, Feng Xue felt quite pleased—and somehow, his drive to cultivate grew stronger.

The mental link between a spirit ghost and its master is inevitable—or how else would the ghost receive commands? Would the master have to shout “Attack!” for the ghost to understand?

It’s the same principle as the sentient core of a magical artifact in cultivation novels—if the core can’t directly sense what the master wants, what use is it?

Of course, this link is controlled unilaterally by the master: if he wishes, the ghost perceives clearly; if not, it only senses vague impulses.

Well, at least there is some perception—it cannot be fully severed, or the pact would break.





(End of Chapter)