Fu Xuan's Method

The next morning, they moved the Starskiff into the inner river of the Fanghu Xianzhou.

The river winds around the city, its banks shrouded in thick fog. Many tourist boats that had been brought in during the war are moored on the water, one after another, their mooring ropes almost tangled together.

After some investigation, Fu Xuan finally parked the Starskiff in a sheltered spot on the shore, where there was a rather new-looking Tidewatch Pavilion.

"This is it." Fu Xuan took out a small wooden box, placed it on the stone steps, and then gestured for Jingxing to sit down beside her. "In the coming days, we need to make all the necessary preparations before the Jidu Mirage descends."

"Anyway, I'm the one who did most of the work, you just need to help me recover as quickly as possible." Jingxing shrugged. "Take this time to relax."

"That's not necessarily true." Fu Xuan opened the box, inside was an old inkstone and a stack of very narrow talisman paper, so thin that it seemed to let light through.

There was a very old crack on the edge of the box, as if it had been cleaved by a knife and axe, and the inkstone still bore the marks of many years of use, with ink marks on it in circles, like tree rings.

"Let's make one thing clear first." Fu Xuan placed the old inkstone on the stone steps and poured half an inkstone of water into it. "As Pathstrider, the power we mobilize is essentially Imaginary Energy, which is not stored in your body. Therefore, it's impossible to convert power into energy and store it in your body in advance."

"I know that, so what are you planning to do?" Jingxing was very curious about what good idea Fu Xuan had come up with.

"I tested it myself, and the backlash from our interference in the real world all comes from the process of converting Imaginary Energy into Path Energy." Fu Xuan stretched out his hand, gesturing. "This backlash cannot be offset, but fortunately for both of us, your consumption can be replenished by my Path Energy. And because the object of my interference is you, not someone else at this point in time, my consumption is not much."

"So my solution is—" Fu Xuan looked up at him, "To have you begin mobilizing Imaginary Energy ahead of time."

"Huh?" Jingxing was taken aback. "I didn't understand what you meant."

He said that energy should not be stored up, but also that energy should be mobilized in advance. Jingxing really couldn't understand Fu Xuan's thinking.

Fu Xuan touched the half-filled inkstone with his fingertip and replied, "Before you make a traditional ink painting, don't you have to prepare the ink first? Just like preparing for a painting, you first mobilize the Imaginary Energy to transform it into the energy of the Path of Beauty. Then I use my own energy to 'Constraint' them into 'ink blocks.' In this way, when the time comes, Senior Sister will arrange for someone to activate these 'ink blocks' and project them into the Jidu Mirage."

"Will this work?" Jingxing expressed his doubts.

Fu Xuan nodded. "I believe there won't be a problem. Do you trust me?"

"Wouldn't it be a real mood killer to say you don't believe me now?" Jingxing rubbed his nose and gave an awkward laugh. "Of course I believe you."

"Then let's do it." Fu Xuan took his hand and pointed to the inkstone. "Once you're ready, just pour the transformed Path Energy into it, and leave the rest to me."

Although these words sounded strange, Jingxing didn't think much of it. After drawing out the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer, Jingxing calmed his mind and quickly adjusted his state.

"Let's begin." He nodded to Fu Xuan.

The next second, with Jingxing exerting his strength, the surface of the inkstone dipped slightly. A drop of ink-colored energy instantly fell from the tip of the brush, sank to the bottom of the inkstone, and condensed into a small patch of ink the size of a fingernail, black in color, yet gleaming with a bright light.

A dull pain shot up from my palm, across my wrist, and a cold sweat broke out on my back—it felt like someone had driven a nail into the softest spot in my palm.

Jingxing bit his cheek and remained silent.

"Stop for a second," Fu Xuan quickly called out, "Don't continue yet, let me make some changes."

"It needs to be changed," Jingxing said, putting down his pen. "I can't do this many times because it hurts so much."

"Wait a moment, I'll go adjust this Curio." Fu Xuan picked up the inkstone. "You rest for a while."

After saying this, she took the inkstone and returned to the Starskiff, leaving Jingxing in the pavilion to admire the murmuring river outside.

Soon, scattered hammering sounds came from inside the Starskiff. To Jingxing's ears, it sounded like Fu Xuan hammering iron. In a daze, it reminded him of Yunli.

Soon, Fu Xuan came out again. The inkstone had become much lighter in color, indicating that she had beaten it quite a bit.

"Let's try again, this time with a little less effort," she said.

"Okay." Jingxing picked up his pen again. This time, the strokes were quite smooth, and even though more and more ink was condensing in the inkstone, he didn't feel any stinging pain.

"Alright, alright." Fu Xuan quickly called for a stop when he saw that the inkstone was about to be filled with ink. "It seems the experiment is going well."

She wrapped the inksticks in talisman paper, then wrote the date and time, along with a small mark, on the back of the paper. After writing, she blew on them and put them all into the box. Then she used the Jade Abacus to contact Yaoguang.

"I'm going to have the Cloud Knights of Luofu test how much of an impact these things can have on the Abominations of Abundance," Fu Xuan said, gesturing for Jing Jingxing, whose head was still spinning from the aftereffects, to lie down on his lap. "But before that, you should rest for a while."

They made three boxes that day, and increased to six boxes the next day. But by the third day, Jingxing's fingers started to go numb whenever he touched the pen.

Fu Xuan decided not to let him continue today, and instead took him for a walk around the neighborhood all day.

The Jidu Mirage loomed overhead, but the two still felt that the days were passing very slowly. It was like each day was an eternity, but it wasn't exactly agonizing.

The Jidu Mirage drew ever closer each day, and the fog along the river grew thicker. The atmosphere between the two also became much closer than before.

One evening two weeks later, Fu Xuan received a message from her Senior Sister, who shook Jingxing awake, who was sleeping next door. "Come with me."

Not long after, the two sneaked into the council hall of the Fanghu Xianzhou. This time, there were far more people appearing on the light screen in the council hall than last time, and even the topic of the debate had changed—whether or not to follow Yaoguang's suggestion and use the Cloud-Gazing Mirror of the Jade Abacus Xianzhou to reach the Fanghu Xianzhou in advance as a backup plan.

"The Cloud-Gazing Mirror is in the Yuque. If we really need to use it, who will be responsible for its transport?" The current General Yaoqing, who was not yet the Feixiao, but the general introduced by Fu Xuan as "Moon-Chaser," spoke up, "Almost all of Yaoqing's troops have been sent to Fanghu. We can't help them."

"And even if the Cloud-Gazing Mirror is brought in, who will use it?" another unfamiliar general asked.

At the end of the long table, Fanghu's general, also the most senior High Elder of the Vidyadhara, Huyuan Zun, spoke leisurely, "I only have one question. If Fanghu Xianzhou really has to use the Cloud-Gazing Mirror in the end, you can evacuate in advance. Where can the Vidyadhara Eggs in our Molting Rebirth Hall go?"

The hall fell silent for a moment.