Chapter 76: What Else Do You Want to Learn?

Although the idea of gods taking a holiday sounded strange, Feng Xue understood what Old Man Wang meant—

Don't go out these days, stay home, and wait until the twenty-fifth of the lunar New Year when the Jade Emperor arrives; then it'll be mostly over.

Feng Xue naturally followed suit, staying quietly at home to cultivate, continuously alternating between Qi-generating Law and spell-casting, then testing spells with different ratios; under evaluations by Liu Yunxi and Mo Ying, using criteria such as power, functionality, and overall assessment, Feng Xue reorganized his crafted artifacts into distinct sets.

By the time youshi approached, Feng Xue had fully charged all five-colored jades, and even assembled a prototype multi-ritual chain artifact from four fragmented jade pieces.

"Ding ling ling…"

The bronze bell at the courtyard gate rang; Feng Xue immediately opened the door and saw Li Maolin standing outside, dressed in ordinary cloth robes—his bearing neither like a beggar, nor a laborer, nor a wealthy man, nor a master, but utterly ordinary, so unremarkable that one might forget having seen him at all.

Feng Xue instinctively glanced over his shoulder at the top of his head, confirmed he had switched back to the Soul-Lock state, then stepped forward and said:

"Li Qianbei, you've come!"

"Hmm, how well have you mastered the ritual? Any questions? You haven't entered the Dao yet—this method shouldn't be practiced excessively; first, you must grasp the theory…"

As Li Maolin spoke, he suddenly fell silent, noticing five distinct Qi flows clearly emanating from Feng Xue's body.

"You've mastered it?"

Seeing Li Maolin's stunned expression, Feng Xue offered a shy smile and said:

"I seem to have a natural talent in this area—I just tried it once, and it worked."

Of course, this was pure lies; Feng Xue had no talent whatsoever—he had brute-forced his way through by sheer Qi infusion, locked the accidental success with Ding Tian Ming, then repeated it endlessly.

But to Li Maolin, this was no longer just a matter of talent—he was supposed to be delaying Feng Xue! In just one day, this kid had already mastered the method; would he still stay home to cultivate after this?

Just as Li Maolin was about to find fault, Feng Xue put on the bashful, socially awkward expression of a college freshman, and said:

"Um, Senior, you said you'd teach me the Three Hou—but you didn't say only one, right? Can I learn something else too?"

In traditional Xuan Sect, this would've earned him two slaps—even from a Daoist master of a major sect, let alone a demonic sect—but who could blame Li Maolin, who was solely focused on enduring his human karmic trial?

"Just hold out for another half-month! Only half a month!"

Li Maolin suppressed the malevolent aura inherent to his ghost and zombie nature, forcing a perfect, benevolent smile and said:

"Naturally. I, Li Xiu, keep my word—I promised to teach you the Three Hou; how much you learn is entirely up to you. Go on, what else do you want to learn?"

"I want to learn to create a False Spirit."

"What? What did you say?" Li Maolin couldn't help himself—jokingly, who in the world didn't know Shenxiao Sect was the ancestral origin of False Spirit arts? You want to learn from me?

But then he thought: perhaps this kid is testing me, checking if I know he's from Shenxiao Sect. Deciding not to dwell on it, he said directly:

"The False Spirit Art is the foundation of the Wu-Xi lineage. I've dabbled in it, but I'm not proficient; cultivating a False Spirit takes years. If you want to learn, I'll teach you the theory—whether you can succeed depends entirely on your own destiny!"

Feng Xue readily agreed, jotting down every detail about False Spirits, their taboos, and restrictions; he wrote for nearly half an hour, then asked further questions about the specifications of False Spirit construction, faith ratios, and incense offerings; the agreed time had passed, and Li Maolin vanished.

But when he returned the next day, Feng Xue was again wearing the expression: "I've already learned it—can I learn something else now?"

Although Li Maolin had long known Feng Xue, from Shenxiao Sect, had no shortage of False Spirit techniques, he understood he couldn't follow the boy's pace—he spoke up proactively:

"The False Spirit Art is vast and profound. Yesterday I only taught you how to nurture a False Spirit, not how to use it. False Spirits differ from Yin Spirits and Family Immortals—they lack high intelligence and act mostly on instinct. If mishandled, they're easily contaminated by impurities in devotional energy—this is the poison of faith; you must study carefully to discern them!"

Feng Xue heard this and chuckled—he'd actually intended to ask about the difference between False Spirit possession and conventional spirit-invocation techniques; from this, he realized this senior was genuinely teaching him, not just going through the motions; his initial wariness softened slightly… Hmm, a ten-thousand-point scale!

Thus, Li Maolin spent an hour explaining Nuo opera, Nuo masks, and Nuo dance, then drifted away again; the next day…

"Li Qianbei, is my Nuo dance correct? Since I don't have a False Spirit to use yet, what do you think of this spirit ghost? Could you teach me some methods for using spirit ghosts?"

"Li Qianbei, I've already learned yesterday's techniques: ghost walls, ghost veils, ghost possession… and my little Mo Ying even taught herself ghost pressure overnight! Here, Mo Ying, show Li Qianbei a ghost clap!"

"Li Qianbei, I've mastered the protective spell you taught yesterday—look, this is Iron Armor Spell, this is Jin Shen Zhou, this is Jade Bone Spell… Ah, you asked about this? This is my self-developed Reactive Armor Spell!"

…

"Li Qianbei, I've mastered the application techniques of the Substitute Body Method you taught yesterday—look at this…"

"Stop, stop, stop…" Li Maolin's scalp prickled as he watched Feng Xue, thin as a single sheet of paper, flailing wildly; he covered his eyes and sighed:

"Fine, say it—what do you want to learn today?"

It wasn't surprising Li Maolin was overwhelmed—this kid was simply too incredible. In just eight days, the things he'd taught were enough to found a mid-sized Xuanxiu Sect, yet this boy somehow managed to grasp something from every single one.

And what infuriated him most was that the boy occasionally slipped in questions about Shenxiao Sect's specialties amid a flood of others, forcing Li Maolin to take every question seriously, afraid of being exposed.

In eight days, he'd not only had to constantly balance the yin and sha energy of Lu City, letting all sorts of Xuan cultivators "cut flesh" from him, but also had to satisfy this brat's insatiable learning demands—thankfully, in his prime as a Grand Master, he'd looted plenty of peers; any other cultivator—even from a orthodox sect—wouldn't have had nearly enough to teach.

Don't assume that just because you know something, you can teach it well—his entire repertoire consisted of demonic lineages; to teach this Xuan disciple, he first had to wrap them in a veneer of orthodox morality.

But Li Maolin was an optimistic man—the more he suffered now, the weaker his human karmic trial would become. Today was the twenty-fourth of the lunar month; only seven days remained until the New Year. As a demonic Grand Master with centuries of accumulated knowledge, holding out seven more days was no problem!

(End of Chapter)