Chapter 54: Why Do All the Talents Assemble?

Wangwang Tower, a tavern name often appearing in novels, but in Feng Xue’s view, this one in Lu County felt oddly out of place.

It bore a classical signboard, yet inside was laid out like a Western hotel, waiters all dressed in white shirts and black vests, and the dishes on the tables mixed Eastern and Western styles—utterly awkward.

But this was merely Feng Xue’s personal opinion; at least during his ascent to the third floor, the guests in the first-floor hall—whether in Western attire or Tang-style robes—seemed entirely unfazed by the arrangement; one could only say that Shamat had once been a trend in aesthetics.

Under the soldier’s guidance, Feng Xue reached the third floor, where the noise vanished instantly; unlike the second floor, where occasional shouts from below could still be heard, this floor was remarkably quiet, its decor far more harmonious than the first.

The soldier glanced left and right, as if confirming his target, then led Feng Xue to a private room bearing the sign “Zhi Lan Ju,” tapped twice on the door, and without waiting for a reply, pushed it open.

Feng Xue stepped inside and his brow twitched slightly; this private room, though called a “private room,” was nearly as large as a modern wedding hall, and inside, thirty or so people were seated or standing—besides the Liu Aunt and the owner of Nanshan Pavilion, Feng Xue awkwardly recognized the master of Hua Martial Arts Academy.

Sensing Feng Xue’s gaze, the master of Hua Martial Arts Academy turned his head, froze visibly upon seeing Feng Xue, but said nothing, merely turned back to continue chatting with his acquaintance.

Feng Xue assumed the man mistook him for some wealthy youth come to gawk, so he did not approach, but instead activated [Viewing Heavenly Lifespan], scanning the room.

Numbers floated above each person’s head; Feng Xue saw masters with over a hundred years of remaining lifespan, lowly thugs with only a decade or two left, and others with thirty or forty years—whether they were barely entering the threshold or simply uninitiated, he could not tell.

These thirty-odd individuals clearly exceeded Liu Aunt’s earlier count of “a couple dozen” xuan cultivators; adding the Hua Martial Arts Academy master, it seemed the invitees included not just xuan cultivators, but martial artists as well.

Moreover, Feng Xue noticed the old man he had previously met—the one who had asked Nanshan Pavilion’s owner for the manual—was absent; he wondered whether the county magistrate couldn’t summon him, had summoned him but he hadn’t arrived yet, or if no one even knew of him.

“So it seems none of the Five Masters Liu Aunt mentioned are here! The old man might be here, but the monks, Daoist priests, and priests present all have low remaining lifespans and weak aura; as for the young girls… there are a few, but [Viewing Heavenly Lifespan] shows no spiritual bodies, so I can’t confirm who the spirit mediums are.”

As Feng Xue silently observed, a few more people entered the room, yet the county magistrate still hadn’t appeared, and the soldier who had brought him was nowhere to be seen.

“Could the magistrate have gone mad and decided to round up every expert in the county?” Feng Xue carefully studied everyone’s lifespan, confirmed no fluctuations, and finally relaxed, finding a corner by the wall to lean against and resume reading the manual.

The master of Hua Martial Arts Academy’s five books were all practical: “Health Building” resembled calisthenics, primarily strengthening the body; “Cultivating Yuan” was more like a cookbook, simply ensuring nutrition kept pace with training losses; “Static Post” and “Dynamic Post” were beginner fundamentals—using stances like horse stance to regulate and mobilize one’s qi and blood.

According to the “General Outline,” anyone who diligently practiced “Static Post” and “Dynamic Post,” supplemented with dietary nourishment, could reach the second-rank level; but how to fight required martial arts training; to surpass first-rank status depended entirely on personal insight and circumstance.

Feng Xue had no intention of touching martial arts for now; mastering them required ample combat experience, not to mention that good techniques were hard to come by—he’d first solidify his foundation.

Nearly half an hour passed; the previously harmonious room began to buzz with impatience, the atmosphere growing noisy, when a man who clearly wasn’t an expert entered with several followers—his arrival instantly silenced the room.

Feng Xue sensed the shift, closed his book, and activated [Viewing Heavenly Lifespan] on the newcomer.

The man appeared to be in his early fifties, with only about seventeen years of remaining lifespan—quite long-lived for an ordinary person in this era.

Yet his two companions seemed anything but ordinary—

One wore a priest’s robe, elderly, with gray hair, his remaining lifespan only a decade or so, but from a shoulder-level view, Feng Xue saw a concentrated white light radiating from his body.

The other was bald, without a cassock or ordination scars, dressed in a patched-up bhikshu robe, his prayer beads made of mismatched, inexpensive wood, yet polished smooth by constant handling—clearly used daily in recitation.

His remaining lifespan was slightly longer than the priest’s, around thirty years, but his spiritual aura was more subdued, a faint halo hovering behind his head; had Feng Xue not observed closely, he might have missed it entirely beneath the room’s electric lights.

“These must be two of the Five Masters—their lifespans are shorter than expected… then again, for priests, longevity is a miracle granted by the divine, not something one pursues; monks who cultivate for the next life clearly won’t extend the lifespan of their ‘filthy flesh.’ I wonder if Miss Deng is here too.”

As Feng Xue pondered, the man accompanied by the two experts stepped to the center of the room and spoke without preamble:

“Forgive me, esteemed sages, for this sudden invitation—it was unavoidable. Now that all are present, I shall not delay:…”

“Magistrate, my master hasn’t arrived yet!”

The magistrate had barely begun when a young man with the naive clarity of a college student raised his hand; the magistrate’s opening words were cut short, his eyelid twitching visibly, yet he suppressed his emotion and explained:

“Master Chen is handling urgent matters—yes, related to this very issue.”

He scanned the room, saw all attention fixed upon him, and no one else intended to speak, then continued:

“Two days ago, several murders occurred in Xiangyang Village; the victims’ blood and qi were completely drained, seemingly the work of a powerful ghost. The village’s wealthiest man, Mr. Ma, summoned a master who confirmed this…”

At this, the tense atmosphere in the room instantly eased; though ghostly energy suppresses magical power, after centuries of xuan cultivation, how could they not have developed countermeasures?

Once confirmed as a ghost, there was little to fear—a mere wraith; worst case, one could ask one’s ancestral masters for aid, or send a yin official to fetch it.

Seeing their relaxation, the magistrate’s expression darkened; the monk beside him stepped forward, and as his foot landed, a serene, peaceful aura spread—then abruptly congealed.

It felt like water just released from a dam, suddenly stopped by a slap on the back—making you clamp shut in shock, deeply uncomfortable—and the old monk seized the moment when every face turned grim to speak:

“I shall explain this matter.”

(Found an AI-generated black silk qipao, less risqué than the previous one—hope the review passes.)

Regarding the protagonist’s perpetual qi engine… it’s not quite that…

This must be understood through the mechanism of lifespan reduction.

Cultivation-induced lifespan reduction isn’t like a curse, where lifespan drops instantly; it’s a process—similar to how overexertion depletes the body; if the loss isn’t replenished, lifespan is reduced. This reduction doesn’t occur the instant energy is output, but afterward, when replenishment fails. Of course, even eating immediately won’t reverse it—it’s merely too late, not ineffective.

Similarly, draining qi empties cells; if the loss is immediately replenished, lifespan won’t decrease, and even if it does, later nourishment can restore part of it. This is why xuan cultivators must act within their limits and avoid reckless advancement.

For the protagonist, if he extracts qi slowly, he gets locked and interrupted—this has been clearly stated before.

I’ve written multiple scenes of the protagonist feeling ravenous after cultivation.

If still unclear, imagine the protagonist “borrowing qi”—he overdraws, then eats to repay. Like not eating for one or two days won’t harm you, but ten or fifteen days will reduce lifespan. The protagonist, due to his lock, doesn’t suffer damage from overdrawal, so he can keep overdrawing until he starves to death.

It’s like having dozens of credit cards—paying card two with card one, card three with card two; as long as he eats slightly more at every meal and occasionally snacks, he can extract qi without loss.



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(End of Chapter)