Chapter 65: Are You My Human Calamity?

"Could there be something wrong with my golden finger? That's impossible?"

After a brief moment of shock, Feng Xue forcibly stabilized his breathing; though under the gaze of his golden finger, this man had no lifespan response at all, he likewise showed no aura of an xuan cultivator—no matter how you looked at it, he seemed nothing but an ordinary beggar.

He tried shifting the observation range of 【Observing Heavenly Lifespan】 from "the beggar before him" to all surrounding lifeforms, and without doubt, it was a vast flood of numbers, nearly filling his entire field of vision.

"So the problem isn't my golden finger… then it must be this man? Hmm, or perhaps… a ghost?"

Feng Xue swiftly entertained this thought, then, as if naturally ending his practice upon hearing a sound, slowly opened his eyes; as his vision confirmed the man's presence, the answer "ghost" was immediately dismissed.

He had never learned any technique like Heavenly Eye or Yin-Yang Eye—his naked eyes could not perceive spiritual forms at all, and though the man's skin bore a sickly dullness, it was clearly distinct from the stiff, bluish-purple rigidity of a zombie; he was likely not a corpse either.

This was Feng Xue's first time encountering a living being with no remaining lifespan; in his mind, if this wasn't a puppet remotely controlled by someone, then it must be a master who had transcended life and death.

"If he were a puppet, he shouldn't lack any spiritual energy aura at all!"

As Feng Xue reached this conclusion, he made up his mind and called out behind him:

"Yunxi!"

"Huh? What's up?" At Feng Xue's call, the window on the second floor of the mansion suddenly flew open; Liu Yunxi, who had just been meditating and refining last night's Taiyin energy, poked her head out, looking puzzled downward.

"Prepare some easily digestible food for this old man!"

Feng Xue gave the order as if casually, but internally he had already linked with Mo Ying—

"Is there something wrong with this man?"

"Huh? He's just an ordinary person!" Mo Ying didn't understand what Feng Xue meant by "problem"; seeing this, Feng Xue said no more, merely instructed Mo Ying not to actively observe the man, while he himself continued maintaining his standing posture, feigning deep cultivation and immobility, silently waiting for Liu Yunxi to come down.

Meanwhile, the demonic cultivator at the gate was internally shaken—he had assumed this was merely a wealthy young upstart, but his household actually kept a great demon?

Though his aura seemed weak, this was clearly someone pretending to be a pig while hiding a tiger—after all, who among the transformed demons would feign only four or five years of cultivation? Such a level barely qualifies for transformation; whether he even has full spiritual awareness is doubtful! And your Taiyin energy is so pure… damn, didn't you just soak in your sect's Moonlight Pool?

"Looks like the world's truly at peace—now even direct disciples get assigned guardians as clueless as this! But this kid's clever. Then again, without some skill, how could he treat a thousand-year-old demon as a maid?"

The demonic cultivator was no fool—he immediately noticed Feng Xue's use of a spirit ghost to probe him, but clearly the boy had detected nothing; now summoning the great demon, it was likely another layer of precaution.

Though he didn't know where he'd slipped up, the demonic cultivator dared not leave immediately; the youth was merely suspicious, otherwise he wouldn't have ordered the great demon to prepare food—doing so would only expose himself to danger. As long as he waited here, he was just a beggar; if he ran, he'd confirm he had something to hide.

Preparing for instant escape, the demonic cultivator kept muttering blessings like "May your longevity be endless," "May your household flourish," fully playing the role of a beggar; soon enough, the great demon emerged carrying a bowl of thick porridge.

"Thank you, young master! Thank you, young master! May you enjoy long life and good health!"

Watching the beggar lift the bowl and slurp it down greedily, Feng Xue's doubts grew sharper—this man showed absolutely no flaw, yet the fact that his golden finger detected no lifespan still gnawed at him.

After swallowing the bowl of meat porridge with salt and vegetable leaves, the beggar thanked him profusely and left; Feng Xue still didn't move a muscle until the man vanished completely from sight, then he called out to Liu Yunxi, who was about to return to wash the dishes:

"Did you notice anything strange about that man just now?"

"Nope! He clearly looked starving," Liu Yunxi shook her head, leaving Feng Xue with a fleeting thought: "Could my golden finger be wrong?"

Shaking off these thoughts, Feng Xue resumed his morning practice, but silently noted this lifespan-less being, wondering if he'd encounter others like him elsewhere.

…

"Interesting little brat—so cautious!" Though the demonic cultivator had walked far away, his former Grand Master's spiritual sense was far from ordinary; though he couldn't hear exactly what Feng Xue said, he was clearly inquiring about him.

"He didn't move a single step the entire time—first, pretending to still be in cultivation; second, keeping distance from me. His spirit ghost has been guarding his side the whole time—if I so much as twitch, he'll probably teleport away. The great demon added tonic herbs to the porridge to strengthen his foundation and nourish his blood and qi; eating one bowl, as long as he doesn't do hard labor, he won't feel hungry for a day or two. If I come begging again tomorrow or the day after, I'll have confirmed I'm not ordinary."

The demonic cultivator raised his estimation of Feng Xue slightly, yet felt no surprise; or rather, in the eyes of this ancient relic, if the boy lacked such tactics, his sect elders would never have allowed him to descend the mountain with all those treasures.

After a moment's thought, the demonic cultivator sought out a wealthy household he'd previously targeted, his form flickering once as he entered the mansion.

He didn't kill anyone—only stole a few garments, changed into them, and began wandering the county town.

As the saying goes: clothes make the man, saddle makes the horse; dressed in fine attire and with subtle adjustments to his physical form, he instantly transformed from a dying old beggar into a slightly indulgent, kidney-deficient old master.

Following his century-old experience, he exchanged gold coins for cash and strolled the streets, occasionally bantering with old and young men at roadside tea stalls, casually probing for information about the county's famous courtesan-tea masters, then treating them to tea and snacks—relationships were instantly forged.

Middle-aged men's conversations always revolve around women, politics, and local gossip—and these three topics were precisely what the demonic cultivator needed.

His method of splitting spirit and flesh made him appear spiritually depleted; without using any techniques, he could only play the role of a debauched man, so he needed to understand women; politics would fill the knowledge gap from his century-long slumber; and local gossip was urgently needed—for instance—

"You didn't see it! Master Feng's Five Thunder Art was earth-shattering, ghost-repelling—thunderflashes visible clearly from miles away! That blood-washed Xiang Yang Village monster, the mutated blood puppet that even Master Yijing and Daoist Chen couldn't catch together, he crushed with a single strike! Only because he respected the local masters' faces did he let Daoist Zhang handle the finishing blow!"

"What? The house I live in belongs to that kid?" The demonic cultivator outwardly feigned keen interest, but inwardly his mind surged like a storm.

Causality—few xuan cultivators truly understand it—but thousands of years of cultivation history have told every xuan cultivator: it truly exists!

Now, the trigger for his awakening was the puppet defeated by that young disciple; the place he awoke in was the courtyard where that disciple fought the puppet; the first xuan cultivator he formally encountered after entering town was that same disciple—such coincidences made it impossible not to link them to causality.

"Could this brat… be my human calamity?"

Continuing from last time: the essence of xuan studies is classification. Feng shui is a good example.

For instance, everyone knows water governs wealth—this is essentially an empirical summary. In the past, when transportation was inconvenient, those who frequently traveled long distances were either the wealthy or merchants, and transport relied on waterways; thus, regions with water routes and navigable rivers had better traffic, denser population movement, and in modern terms, higher foot traffic and more wealthy people—doing business in such locations naturally led to better profits. That's water governing wealth (though only one part; there are many branching theories, but too complex to write here).

Then what is sha? Many feng shui masters say a corner intersection has clashing sha energy, causing blood disasters and making business difficult. Is this sha xuan study? No.

Simply put, that kind of corner intersection, facing directly into the sun, creates a visual blind spot, causing pedestrians exiting buildings to collide with those turning the corner—this is called clashing sha. In modern terms, it's like a "ghost peek" effect.

Then why do you place mirrors to resolve clashing sha? It's not because the Eight Trigram Mirror is a magical artifact—no need to elaborate further. Just think: why do so many modern garage exits have large mirrors?

Many of our traditions aren't superstition—they're summaries of experience. Do these feng shui masters (I mean the real ones, not frauds) not understand this? They know it perfectly! But if they explained it clearly, would you still buy their mirrors? Could they still sell them at high prices? Would others still seek them out to resolve sha?

To ensure themselves and their descendants could eat this meal, they can only call it sha.





(End of Chapter)