Chapter 84: Receiving the Jade Emperor (First of Two)

Feng Xue sat quietly in his assigned dorm room, protected by the prayer power of the Stove God; apart from Liu Yunxi's moonlight gathering being slightly disturbed, it was far more peaceful than his usual solo cultivation.

Feng Xue sat at the center of the room and began charging the Five-Color Jade Seal; today's combat had given him much insight, but also revealed several problems.

Previously, since Qi replenishment was easy, he had always recharged only after depleting it entirely, but this time the Fire and Earth Qi failed to keep up, rendering his self-developed technique unusable—this made him realize he must buy another set of jade stones to alternate, and never drain his Qi completely during training.

This time only Fire and Earth Qi fell short; next time, if trouble strikes right after training ends, he'd be truly stuck.

"I'll go buy another set from Old Man Wang tomorrow, but I don't have enough cash on hand… Gold as a Qi conductor can't be replaced yet; the gold bars the county chief gave me and my gold beans should stay in my possession… I'll pawn two watches—yes, with my current reputation, the pawnshop won't dare cheat me."

Feng Xue mentally planned his next steps while his hands never stopped—each Jade Seal was gradually filled, and Seeing Mo Ying, having consumed vast amounts of Qi, finally recovered her strength.

Yet she still refused to speak; after consuming the Qi, she slipped back into the painting. Unless Feng Xue picked up a magnifying glass and peered closely, he might have suspected she'd been electrocuted into silence.

"Forget it. Kids throw tantrums—feed her well and let her rest a few days."

Feng Xue sighed inwardly, glanced at Liu Yunxi arranging the altar, and thought: at least she's easy to deal with.

But…

"What are you doing over there again? The Stove God offering's already over."

"The Stove God offering is over, but tomorrow we must receive the Jade Emperor! And as a demon, I can't handle this myself—I can only set up the altar. At midnight, you must place three cups of tea and five cups of wine, arranged in pairs, no odd numbers. I just asked the innkeeper—the local custom for receiving the Jade Emperor is nearly identical to what the Fox Immortal Grandma described. So tomorrow, don't speak loudly, and neither I nor Seeing Mo Ying should linger near the offering table."

As she spoke, Liu Yunxi recalled the local taboos she'd inquired about when securing the altar from the innkeeper.

With the Stove God offering as precedent, Feng Xue naturally dared not be careless—he carefully noted everything. Compared to sending off the Stove God, receiving the Jade Emperor was far more complicated, but fortunately, the inn wasn't his home; tasks like laying lime paths or replacing deity paintings were handled by staff, so he didn't need to fret about buying supplies in the middle of the night.

Of course, the government had far more elaborate procedures, but with Luocheng County's small size, it lacked the authority to hold official rituals—Feng Xue needn't worry about his Xuan cultivation identity being summoned to participate.

With time still remaining, Feng Xue found a side room to nourish his soul, then had Seeing Mo Ying thoroughly cleanse the Qi before returning to the main hall to await midnight.

Time slipped away second by second; Liu Yunxi had already climbed to the inn's roof to gather moonlight, and Feng Xue had completed dozens of pages of ritual drawing practice. When the watch's hour hand finally reached twelve, a peculiar sensation descended abruptly from above.

Feng Xue immediately switched his perspective to third-person view, and immediately saw the radiant splendor descending from the heavens.

Unlike the feeling of sending off the Stove God, this radiance resembled a long rainbow falling from the sky—indistinct, unclear, yet he faintly sensed something traveling down along that rainbow into the mortal world.

The prayer wall opened for the Stove God offering merged with the radiant splendor; the entire world seemed to shift from stifling, murky depths to dry, fresh land.

But Feng Xue's attention was not on this—he noticed, at the edge of his vision, certain numbers were increasing abnormally!

"It increases lifespan!"

Feng Xue's thought flashed—he immediately unlocked his lifespan, watched his own age from an over-the-shoulder view, calmed his mind, and silently repeated the wish: "Long life."

At that moment, a sensation like surfacing from deep underwater to breathe surged through him—each breath felt like renewed health, renewed youth. As the number above his head began to climb, Feng Xue used his iron will to suppress his wandering thoughts, focusing entirely on "increase lifespan."

As the sensation slowly faded, Feng Xue felt a quiet sense of loss. He looked up—the number above had changed.

"3323… increased by fifty-nine… no, wait—it's past midnight, so sixty days? Receiving the Jade Emperor grants sixty days of yang lifespan? Too bad it only happens once a year—nine years would only accumulate a bit over a year."

Feng Xue shook his head slightly, locked his lifespan again, and sighed inwardly.

But thinking of this, he immediately pulled out his phone and checked the perpetual calendar, searching for other similarly useful days in Huaxia's folk customs.

Unfortunately, there were none—besides the Jade Emperor's annual descent to inspect the mortal realm, the rest were either the Queen Mother's birthday (though peaches were rumored, useless if you can't reach heaven), or receiving the God of Wealth, sending off the God of Poverty, or the Three Yuan Festivals—all clearly unrelated to wishes or lifespan extension.

"Come to think of it, anything related to longevity and health seems to fall under the Southern Pole Long-Life Great Emperor… too bad, judging from Senior Li's tone, sects worshipping him haven't appeared in ages… Wait, could I cultivate my own virtual deity capable of extending life?"

Watching the sky—where the prayer power from the Stove God had merged and now floated peacefully, motionless—Feng Xue shook his head lightly, stopped thinking further, and sat quietly before the Jade Emperor's painting, meditating as Liu Yunxi had instructed.

…

At dawn, Feng Xue refilled the oil lamp and replaced the incense and candles to maintain today's offerings, then left the inn, carrying Liu Yunxi, now turned into a ring.

Whether because receiving the Jade Emperor required staying awake all night, every storyteller in town had chosen last night to tell Duan Zi stories. By the time Feng Xue stepped out, his own tale—of transforming into a silver-armored divine general who struck down demons with thunder—was already being recounted in roadside teahouses and taverns.

Every time he heard a storyteller cry, "The Daoist Feng roared: 'Demon, where do you run!'" Feng Xue felt his face burn, and quickened his pace.

But the rapid spread wasn't without benefits—when he visited the pawnshop, the owner, upon seeing him, didn't even haggle, paying him triple the previous price for his two watches.

With a sack full of cash, Feng Xue, now flush with wealth, went straight to the bank and exchanged most of it for small gold ingots, then had Old Man Wang select four sets of Five-Element Jade Stones, ensuring he could sustain Qi nonstop even in prolonged battles.

It was fortunate Old Man Wang knew how to nurture jade himself—otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to produce so many uniformly high-quality Five-Color Jade Stones.

Yet just as everything seemed to proceed smoothly, Feng Xue halted abruptly as he stepped out of the flower and bird market—because the Liu Yunxi hanging from his fingertip suddenly jerked twice.

Sensing the white snake's secret signal, Feng Xue immediately feigned scratching his head, bringing his hand to his ear, and heard Liu Yunxi whisper:

"You're being watched!"

(End of Chapter)