Chapter 60: Sweat More in Daily Training… Or Is It Just Sweating?

"You look like a controller!"

"Bang!"

Amid the rapidly dispersing smoke, Feng Xue picked up the armoring equipment formed by Liu Yunxi, fiddled with it a few times, then shook his head; seeing his expression, Liu Yunxi—whose eyes were nowhere to be seen—immediately let out an annoyed voice:

"You wanted the change, and now you're dissatisfied again—what exactly do you want?"

"Some things are hard to explain to you." Feng Xue scratched his head, wearing the expression of "your intelligence can't possibly grasp my thinking," and, as Liu Yunxi retreated into another bout of sullen silence, he pulled out paper and pen to begin studying.

Although Liu Yunxi's shapeshifting was influenced by his thoughts—for instance, when turning into a cup, it would become a narrow-mouthed soft cup based on his mental image—this influence had its limits; for example, Feng Xue could not precisely determine whether it should be a six-pulse structure or a red-string knot, at most affecting whether the effect was slow or intense—that was the limit.

But Feng Xue was not satisfied, because yesterday's battle had made him acutely aware of his combat deficiencies.

His low soul-control severely hampered his combat ability; although the Jade-Unlocking Method could train soul precision, this training, like physical cultivation enhancing the body, was a gradual process, and even though his progress was already extremely rapid, his ever-decreasing lifespan still urged him to accelerate.

The artifact-based combat strategy was clearly correct, but how to use artifacts more efficiently—instead of turning into a clown who used spiritual power to give people baths, like last night—was a problem he had to solve.

He had also considered using the Spirit-Subjugation Spell's effect to let Mo Ying carry offensive spiritual power and ram into opponents; this was indeed feasible, and the Spirit-Subjugation Spell did contain techniques for this purpose.

But even though Mo Ying was exceptionally gifted and could carry Feng Xue's vast spiritual power, it could only barely compensate for the offensive side, reducing an Xuan cultivator with diverse techniques into a mere fireball-throwing sorcerer.

So he turned his attention to Liu Yunxi.

Although Liu Yunxi's current cultivation was limited, he was a genuine demon cultivator who had practiced for over forty years, and unlike Xuan cultivators, demons needed to train their demonic energy control; in other words, if he could use Liu Yunxi's control to manage his own spiritual power, wouldn't that achieve more than the sum of its parts?

But ideals were plump, reality was skeletal; unlike Mo Ying, who was bound by a spirit pact, Feng Xue and Liu Yunxi could not achieve mind-meld, meaning that even if Liu Yunxi could truly control Feng Xue's spiritual power, their lack of synergy would cause all kinds of problems.

So he considered using the 【Grant Mouth Seal】 method to turn Liu Yunxi into a device directly linked to his spirit—but according to current experimental results, there was still a long way to go.

But Feng Xue was not the type to obsess over a single point; if the Jade-Nourishing Method could still provide training even if he couldn't perfect it, fine—but for a project that yielded nothing if he couldn't crack it, he wouldn't waste his precious time entirely on it; beyond his fixed cultivation schedule, he began simultaneously spirit-infusing and researching spell derivations—

This wasn't arrogance; mainly, the materials he brought included many Daoist scriptures; as of now, the Yin-Yang Five Elements theory forming the theoretical foundation of this world's Xuan cultivation system was nearly identical to that of his previous world, so Feng Xue naturally pondered whether he could draw inspiration from Daoist ritual rites, spell theories, Traditional Chinese Medicine's qi-blood principles, and even some novels and manga from before his transmigration that had dabbled in Daoist theory, to see if he could develop any useful spells.

"Ding dong!"

A clear bronze bell sound traveled through the voice-transmission device into the room; Feng Xue picked up Liu Yunxi in one hand, checked his lifespan lock, then walked toward the door and spoke to the bronze pipe outside:

"Who is it?"

"Mr. Feng, it's me! We've brought the item you ordered!" came the muffled voice of the broker; Feng Xue was somewhat surprised, opened the door, and saw the broker standing outside the courtyard gate.

The only downside of a large mansion was that the main gate and courtyard gate were separated by ten or so meters; even if Feng Xue left the courtyard gate wide open, the broker strictly adhered to protocol and didn't step inside even one pace.

Feng Xue didn't bother to urge him, simply said:

"So fast? Don't cut corners just to rush it!"

"How could I? I had the best master in the guild make it—inspect it all you want, if there's a problem, tear me apart!" the broker said with full confidence; Feng Xue reached out to take the item he offered, yet didn't relax his vigilance because of his words.

Looking at the fine stitching and sturdy material of the leg wrappings and sleeve guards, Feng Xue tugged and then sharply swung them, confirmed there were no issues, then tied them on and moved around to verify they were sufficiently durable without hindering motion, and finally nodded in satisfaction:

"How much?"

"Not much…" the broker started to say it was free, but seeing Feng Xue's serious expression, he gave a discounted price:

"Just give me a hundred cash (Note ①)!"

"That's better—what it's worth, it's worth!" Feng Xue nodded in satisfaction, pulled out the smallest banknote from his wallet, and handed it to the broker—

"The extra is for the rush fee!"

"Thank you, Mr. Feng! If you need anything, just say the word—I'll make sure it's done perfectly!" the broker, feeling he had "figured out" Feng Xue's nature, didn't refuse this time; he bowed and accepted the banknote, made a series of solemn oaths, then turned to leave.

Feng Xue didn't care; he turned back into the room and began selecting suitable jade plaques from his newly carved ones to arm himself.

The leg wrappings required no consideration—they'd definitely hold the 【Spirit Step Spell】; but for the sleeve guards, Feng Xue had choices: offensive damage had the 【Demon-Slaying Spell】, defense had the 【Jin Shen Zhou】 and 【Jade-Transformation Spell】, energy attacks had the 【Call Lightning Spell】 and 【Call Fire Spell】, and there were also the 【Spirit-Subjugation Spell】 and 【Nightmare Invocation Spell】, both requiring ghosts to function.

But this kind of thing couldn't be decided on paper; fortunately, he was now a man with a mansion; he went to the second-floor room, presumably used for banquets, and tossed out Liu Yunxi:

"You look like a person!"

"Oh, hungry? Planning to use the second-floor kitchen?" Liu Yunxi glanced around, confirmed her location; Feng Xue shook his head, secured the leg wrappings and sleeve guards, then pulled out jade plaques one by one and inserted them into the small pockets with button loops, and took two wooden sticks:

"I want to adjust my spell setup—fight me."

"You're serious?" Liu Yunxi caught the sticks, eyeing Feng Xue suspiciously; seeing this, Feng Xue first checked his lifespan lock, then confirmed Liu Yunxi's 【Grant Mouth Seal】, and nodded: "Of course I'm serious, but this is mainly to test spell combinations—just a normal sparring match."

"Got it! I'll hold back!" Liu Yunxi's face broke into a bright smile; in the past, Feng Xue would have immediately stood at attention out of respect, but now he couldn't help feeling this serpent spirit seemed a bit…

Eager?

"Don't zone out—I'm attacking!" Liu Yunxi swung the wooden stick like a whip, the whooshing wind making Feng Xue doubt she truly intended to hold back.

But Feng Xue wasn't delicate; he understood the principle: sweat more in training, bleed less in battle; he gritted his teeth and channeled spiritual power into the artifacts.

Spiritual light flared—the sparring began!

Note ①: This clothing price isn't exaggerated or overly upscale—the price of clothes in the Mieguo era was insane, even compared to grain prices; even ready-made clothes were expensive, and if you bought cloth to make your own, one bolt cost two or three silver dollars (this was early period), barely enough for three or four garments—roughly one garment equaled twenty catties of rice… and that was Mieguo-era grain price!

If you must compare to today's prices, think of it this way: a simple fabric garment you buy cloth for and sew yourself would cost one to two thousand, while a ready-made one would cost four to five thousand; even if one garment meant a full set, it's still absurd. Remember, many modern farmers earn less than four or five thousand a year from a full year's labor.

No wonder elders often said back then the whole family had only one outfit, and whoever went out wore it (some even reportedly went bare-skinned to the fields at night to save clothes).

From this perspective, the protagonist's sleeve guards and leg wrappings, made of fine material and expert tailoring, at 100 cash (purchasing power roughly equivalent to one silver dollar), are indeed cost price.

PS: Sometimes I really worry about modern readers' reading ability, especially their comprehension of long sentences—once a sentence gets long, they only read half, and the worst part is that when they sense something's off, their first reaction isn't to reread, but to ask you, "Did you write this wrong?"… How do you interpret "endure under… conditions" as ongoing suffering?

I think, isn't reading carefully less trouble than posting "you wrote this wrong"? Then, thinking about the state of internet idiots, I suddenly understand how the Warhammer tech declined—apparently the Imperial Cult is teaching people to be Steam customer service?

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(End of Chapter)