Chapter 6: The Smile Grows Increasingly Deranged

Seeing the opponent revert to its original form, Feng Xue immediately moved to lock his own lifespan again—but then he noticed something was wrong.

His own lifespan was already locked!

Previously, Feng Xue had tested this: when he tried to lock someone else's lifespan, his own locked lifespan would instantly unlock, and vice versa; after crossing over, he'd also tried simultaneously locking his 【Lucky Strike】 and 【Lifespan】, but the result was the same—this led him to naturally assume his golden finger could lock only one concept at a time.

But now it seemed the truth was this: "You can lock only one item per target, and the locked items across multiple targets cannot be identical."

"This greatly improves the golden finger's usability—at least I won't have to worry about being ambushed while switching locked items."

Thinking this, Feng Xue prodded the little white snake tentatively—seemingly finally recovering from the shock of being reverted to its original form, the white snake opened its mouth and bit at his finger.

Unfortunately, Feng Xue had already prepared for this; the snake was still clinging to him, and with a slight recoil, he easily avoided its feeble bite.

The white snake slid off his clothes, tilted its head, and snarled: "What the hell are you? I've never heard of a mouth-seal being retracted after completion!"

Feng Xue was slightly surprised, then remembered: the 【Mouth-Sealed】 trait only causes cultivation loss when the target is "degraded with malice"; conversely, as long as there's no malice, even if reverted to original form, the boosts—【Digesting the Tongue Bone】, 【Speaking Human Language】, 【Quality Enhancement】—remain intact.

Though he couldn't fathom how a snake's body structure could speak Mandarin, given this world had demons and spirits, he saw no need to cling to materialism.

But now that he understood this, the last trace of guilt he'd felt toward the white snake vanished instantly, and a cruel smile spread across his face:

"You look like a jade pendant!"

"Bang!"

As the white smoke cleared, the white snake, now coiled into the shape of a jade pendant, hadn't even opened its mouth when Feng Xue continued:

"Oh, inanimate objects work too? Then… you look like a cup!"

"Bang!"

"Whose cup is soft? And how the hell do you drink from such a narrow opening?" The white snake, feeling its transformation, moaned in despair—but Feng Xue remained unmoved, silently nodding:

"It seems the mouth-seal's result is shaped by the sealer's thoughts, not by some cosmic rule—otherwise it wouldn't have become this kind of cup…"

Thinking this, Feng Xue suddenly had an idea, and said at once:

"You look like a revolver!"

"Bang!"

"It really works?" Feng Xue picked up the sleek white revolver—unfortunately, the cylinder held no bullets.

"Hmm, weapons work, but can it become ammunition? Then… you look like a laser gun?"

"…."

This time, no smoke appeared; before him remained the white revolver.

"Laser gun won't work? No energy? Hmm… you look like a motorcycle?"

"Bang!"

"Damn, that's cool!" Feng Xue stared at the motorcycle before him, seemingly forged from white dragon scales, his eyes lighting up; ignoring the white snake's protests, he inspected it thoroughly—though it had no fuel tank or battery, it could indeed start.

"Interesting. Then… you look like a stun baton?"

"Bang!"

"You look like a taser!"

"Bang!"

"You look like a Taser!"

"Bang!"

"You look like a Kamen Rider transformation device!"

"Bang!"

…

"Alright, at least I've got self-defense weapons and escape tools now."

Feng Xue stared at the results, frowning slightly: "The motorcycle and taser both work—so it's not an energy issue. Is it because I don't understand the principle? Or because this world lacks them? But this world shouldn't have a Taser either… yet even the Kamen Rider transformation device worked, even if it can't turn me into a hero…"

Thinking this, he shifted his thoughts and uttered something he absolutely had no idea how to explain:

"You look like a ghost!"

"Hey, are you done yet—"

"Bang!"

Before the white snake could finish speaking, another puff of white smoke rose—and as the figure vanished entirely, Feng Xue's heart tightened—

"So it really can transform! So this world has Tasers? Or do both conditions need to be met simultaneously? Just one is enough?"

Feng Xue pondered, but he wouldn't let the white snake disappear this time—he immediately moved to lock it again. Yet before he could speak, he noticed in his over-the-shoulder view, he could still see the white snake, invisible to the naked eye; after a brief surprise, he exhaled in relief.

"My over-the-shoulder view can see spiritual forms? That's reassuring!"

Thinking this, he spoke again:

"You look like a person!"

"Bang!"

Another puff of white smoke, and the same form as before appeared—this girl, perfectly matching his xp system, slumped on the ground in a duck-sitting pose; Feng Xue raised an eyebrow:

"Even without adding descriptors, it still turns into this?"

He then changed tactics:

"You look like a blonde twin-tail tsundere girl with beast ears!"

"Bang!"

After the white smoke, the white snake indeed changed form—but Feng Xue clearly had no interest in her feedback, and immediately issued a simple, direct command:

"You look like a snake!"

"Bang!"

"You look like a person!"

"Are you insane?! I've cultivated for so long, not to be your plaything!" Bursting from the smoke again, the white snake had abandoned all thoughts of achieving enlightenment—her only desire now was to make this bastard suffer, horribly, excruciatingly, unbearably!

Then…

"You look like a ring!"

Seeing the scene he wanted, Feng Xue calmly uttered four words. The black long-straight-haired beauty whose fingertip was about to press against Feng Xue's throat instantly became a small white ring in the shape of a snake biting its own tail.

Feng Xue bent down, picked up the ring, slipped it onto the index finger of his right hand, and nodded in satisfaction:

"Looks like the verbal seal's first shaping locked in the final form. Later changes can be forced, but the default body form is whatever the first shaping produced… huh? This ring is actually a bit soft? Earlier the cup and the jade pendant… mm, the jade pendant was specified as 'jade,' and the cup itself had material hardness requirements? But a ring's material can be all sorts of strange things, and I didn't specify any material with words, so I only fixed the shape?"

"What exactly do you want?" Feeling Feng Xue rubbing her scales, the little white snake stiffened and asked, her displeasure tinged with unease.

Hearing this, Feng Xue immediately smiled:

"I want you to help me cultivate."

"Dream on!" The little white snake squeezed out two words from between her teeth, the resentment practically taking solid form.

But then again, that was only natural — if she weren't angry about this, there'd be no need to cultivate at all; one could just transform into a Bodhisattva and attain Buddhahood on the spot.

The description of "one inch long" was meant to control the variables.

Simply put, the protagonist didn't know the range of the verbal seal's transformation effect. To guarantee his own safety (because he thought he could only lock one thing at a time, so while locking this he couldn't lock his own lifespan — or so he assumed), he had to control the variables.

If he had only said "you look like a snake," he'd have to consider all possibilities — turning into a giant python, turning into some enormous white snake like the White Lady from his memories, and so on. Even just reverting to original form, a snake over a foot long could be deadly if venomous, let alone a yaoguai.

But a snake one inch long couldn't even open its mouth wide enough to bite a finger, which ensured his own safety.

As for the additional description, that was a consideration of time — he had to make sure he could finish his line as quickly as possible, otherwise if the other party reacted and killed him, that would be far too unjust.

As for anything else, same as before — not knowing the scope of the verbal seal's influence, if it could only turn things into a human or revert them to original form, then saying anything else would be useless, and he might not get a second chance.

So under these circumstances, the protagonist chose a description that was "off the tongue," "small in size," "original form," and "few words." I think that's a relatively reasonable and excellent choice.

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(End of chapter)