Master of Kaidan
Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Chapter 178

Chapter 178 Communication

"Ah ah ah ah ah... Wasn’t it supposed to be easy to learn?" Feng Xue slammed the "Golden Mouth Divination" on the table, wishing she could roll on the ground while clutching her head.

To make up for her lack in Qinggong, and also to improve her progress in cultivating the No-thought Divine Power, Feng Xue had Jessica help her obtain many skill-related books, especially those related to Mathematics (Astronomy + Divination), which accounted for more than half.

The fundamental reason was that the only Qinggong Feng Xue possessed was the "Complete Heaven Shifting Star Skill," a god-tier Qinggong Secret Manual that she had found before she became a "Copyist." Yet, she had not practiced it, aiming instead to uncover other Qinggong techniques. The root of the issue was—

She didn’t understand it at all.

Even with Ten Thousand Transformation Fourteen Swords, Feng Xue could barely understand a bit of sword technique based on her own Swordsmanship knowledge. But having no background in movement techniques and lacking knowledge in Mathematics, when faced with this book, it was as if she recognized every word, but couldn’t understand the content when strung together.

However, having flipped through books for so long without finding new Qinggong, she had completely given up hope on her luck and simply started stacking her knowledge by diving into various books on skills.

But increasing her knowledge was much harder than she had anticipated. Simply reading could increase it, but the amplitude of increase was negligible. According to the Taiwu System, "Zhou Yi" is the god-tier book of the Mathematics system. Even if one’s natural aptitude was only at 30, reading it should increase one’s proficiency by at least 95 points. But after she had finished reading the massive tome without much understanding, her Mathematics skill only increased by about 7 points.

Of course, Feng Xue also got Jessica to bring her journals on modern Astronomy, but the effect wasn’t great. Or rather, when translated by the magical yam, whether it was classical Chinese or foreign languages, the content was turned into something understandable. The problem was that being able to understand the words was one thing, and the brain being able to comprehend was another.

This made her realize that increasing knowledge through reading required "diligence"— the reason she had gained literacy so fast as a Copyist probably had everything to do with her Chinese teacher from her previous lifetime.

Although she planned to distribute Secret Manuals all over Yan Country to enhance the strength of [Copyist] in the future, she couldn’t give up on her current studying just because she might copy mythical books later on.

Taking a deep breath, Feng Xue picked up "Golden Formulas" again, gazing at the ninth-grade book which claimed to be simple and easy to learn in the Taiwu System, and gritted her teeth as she continued to tackle it.

Just then, Feng Xue’s phone suddenly rang. She raised her eyebrows and immediately picked it up, seeing the number she had just seen yesterday, her lips curved slightly upwards—

"Hello?"

"Feng Xue, it’s me," Chen Xiyao’s voice came from the phone. Feng Xue’s mouth curled up, casually tossing "Golden Formulas" on the table, finding a comfortable position, and said with a smile:

"So it’s my rumored girlfriend. Isn’t phone-cooking soup supposed to be a nighttime activity?"

"But it’s already night over here... Oh, time difference, right? It’s morning in Columbia now, isn’t it?" Chen Xiyao’s cheeks flushed upon hearing the banter on the other end of the phone, then remembered she was not alone and quickly readjusted her emotions.

Feng Xue glanced at the clock pointing to noon and nodded:

"Correct, it’s still morning over here. But tell me, you didn’t really call to phone-cook soup, did you? I admit I’m quite handsome, but dating an underage girl still gives me a strong sense of guilt..."

"I keep telling you, I’ll be an adult in two more months!" Chen Xiyao replied with some exasperation, then immediately saw Lin Wenxue holding up a sign for her. She wanted to get straight to the point but couldn’t help feeling a bit conflicted inside. After all, the phone call was meant to be a test of sorts; wouldn’t it affect the other person’s impression of her?

Thinking this, what came out of her mouth was, "How have you been doing in Columbia?"

"Please, do you realize you sound just like some ’melon kid’ who wants to talk about games with a friend on the phone but has to awkwardly switch to talking about studies because your parents are in the room? It’s the authorities that asked you to contact me, isn’t it? So, what is it? What do they want?"

Feng Xue’s incredibly straightforward words threw Chen Xiyao for a loop. She was dumbfounded for a few seconds before she collapsed into her seat and said speechlessly,

"Please, you make me look so stupid!"

"But you are pretty stupid!" Feng Xue somewhat amusedly listened to Chen Xiyao’s complaints, thinking her current expression must be quite entertaining.

"I—" Chen Xiyao, in that moment, suddenly felt the urge to smash her phone, but after seeing Lin Wenxue giving her meaningful glances from not too far away, she forcibly calmed down and sighed,

"Alright, they asked me to ask you whether those Secret Manuals you sent were for ’Ascension,’ and also, if possible, they hoped to learn something from you about Kaidan."

Chen Xiyao’s tone was so awkward that even without the enhancement of the "Heart of Bright Mirror," Feng Xue could clearly hear her mixed feelings of worry and conflict.

In fact, Chen Xiyao’s worries were somewhat superfluous, or rather, Feng Xue giving Chen Xiyao his phone number was also for having a channel of communication with the authorities. As for not wanting to chat with the authorities...

Well, Feng Xue had enough self-awareness to know that with his little bit of weight, trying to haggle with the experts from the authorities was indeed underestimating the depth of a nation’s heritage.

Compared to that, communicating with Chen Xiyao—a young, impulsive girl with a bit of a romantic streak—was much more relaxed.

Although it was still inevitable that some things would be seen, it was still much better than being led by the nose from start to finish.

However, it must be said that after feeling Chen Xiyao’s awkward emotions, Feng Xue’s mood did improve quite a bit. His face, which had held a teasing smile, softened, and his tone became more serious,

"What you call Ascension, huh. Well, it doesn’t really matter, to be honest. Yes, I sent the Secret Manuals over mainly for the so-called ’Ascension.’ I hope to become the ’Martial Arts Source’ of Yan Country, and it would be even better if an award was established in my name every year!"

Watching Chen Xiyao become slightly dazed, Lin Wenxue quickly picked up one of several signs in front of her and held it up. Seeing the words on it, Chen Xiyao nodded slightly and said,

"The authorities want to know the impact of doing this. It’s not that they want you to guarantee anything, just that the Kaidan related to Ascension so far are... not very friendly, so they want to know what exactly Ascension is... Of course, if it involves any Hidden Knowledge that you can’t talk about, you can refuse."

"Actually, there isn’t really anything that can’t be talked about." Feng Xue, having anticipated this, quickly responded. After all, from Victoria’s experiences, it was clear that reality wasn’t completely ignorant of the situations after Kaidan transformation.

Thus, with Chen Xiyao, Lin Wenxue, and the entire communication team listening intently through monitors, he slowly said,

"Have you ever played an RPG game?"