Master of Kaidan
Chapter 276: Digestion Must Be Careful

Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Digestion Must Be Careful

When Feng Xue asked this question, a "you finally asked a good question" expression appeared on Old Li’s face.

Although it sounded a bit strange, Old Li had indeed been waiting for this question for a long time.

Over the years, Old Li had invested in quite a few people, and whether in terms of character or action, Feng Xue was top-notch. His speed in becoming a Kaidan was unprecedented, and facing such a potential stock, an old hand like Old Li naturally wanted to invest.

But some questions couldn’t be brought up proactively, as that would turn valuable information into worthless facts and might make the other person feel silly.

However, concerning Kaidan, accidentally acquiring an extra useless entry was unavoidable. Old Li initially planned to wait until Feng Xue fell for it and came seeking help before revealing the remedy. He didn’t expect Feng Xue to ask now, so he directly answered:

"Actually, it’s quite simple. Just leave it alone."

"???" Feng Xue raised an eyebrow, giving a "are you kidding me" look.

Seeing this, Old Li spread his hands and explained:

"Didn’t I mention during our digestion discussions? Digestion is about creating a folder for your own Kaidan, putting all the ones you possess inside..."

"I must remind you, that analogy is mine," Feng Xue said with a subtle expression, but Old Li wasn’t easily deterred.

He just smiled, disregarded Feng Xue’s words, and continued:

"This digestion process turns you into the ’prototype’ or ’ancestor kaidan’ of the digested Kaidan. But conversely, as long as you don’t put the Kaidan Fire into this folder, you won’t become its ’prototype.’ So, just leave it alone. When this legend cools off or you die once and resurrect, it will automatically disappear."

Listening to Old Li’s explanation, the confusion on Feng Xue’s face grew deeper—

"If that’s the case, why doesn’t the Hundred Tales create another Kaidan and remove the entries that can’t be digested?"

"Because there are requirements for the intensity of the Kaidan Fire."

Old Li, with a "knew you’d ask that" look, explained:

"Whether it’s nothing or Kaidan, we are essentially information-based beings, and resurrection is achieved through the immortality of information. Remember when we discussed digestion? What would happen if you had many clusters of Kaidan Fire during resurrection?"

"..." Feng Xue fell silent for a moment, pondering. If digestion and coalescing his Flames are to unify Kaidan Fire under the "self" Kaidan, then what if it’s not unified?

"Would there be multiple ancestor Kaidans resurrected from different Kaidan Fires?"

Feng Xue tentatively answered, and Old Li nodded, unsurprised:

"Exactly. Didn’t I tell you before? After digesting the Kaidan Fire, the resurrection process is ’death—ancestor kaidan resurrection—revival within ancestor kaidan.’ If many ancestor kaidans appear, which one do you think you would revive in?"

"Ah, this!" Feng Xue suddenly realized. Old Li nodded and said:

"That’s right, it’s the ancestor kaidan that revives first, and this Kaidan necessarily is the strongest, most well-known, and the most active among your entries.

"When I said to ignore it, it was based on this principle. During resurrection, Kaidan not digested won’t revive with your consciousness in other kaidan bodies; instead, it enters a natural process, becoming an independent, wild kaidan. The only precondition for this is that among the Kaidan you’ve digested, at least one revives faster than it.

"However, the misfortune is that the Hundred Tales, already embedded in a nation’s cultural foundation, resurrects faster than almost all Kaidan types. Not to mention, that realm has a ’everything can become divine’ group kaidan providing resurrection acceleration. Plus, the Hundred Tales maintains its dominance through events like the ’Midsummer Night Festival’ and the ’Hundred Tales Ritual,’ making it almost impossible for any Kaidan to resurrect faster than it.

"In other words, unless the people of the Hundred Tales can create in the Otherworld a super-national-level kaidan equivalent to the Hundred Tales and integrate it into culture, it’s impossible to discard the identity of the Hundred Tales through this method."

At this point, Old Li wore a noticeably schadenfreude expression, and Feng Xue nodded secretly.

Seeing the thoughtful look on Feng Xue’s face, Old Li continued:

"Actually, it’s not just those oddball entries that show up out of nowhere. Some entries with a short shelf life are also better left undigested."

"Shelf life?" Feng Xue, figuring "you’ll say it anyway, I won’t overthink," played along.

Old Li, not catching on to Feng Xue’s thoughts, smoothly responded:

"Yeah, it refers to entries that don’t retain value and go out of fashion easily. For example, my friend’s case of stealing dogs, though it offers powers like Plunder, Concealment, Special Attack on Dogs, it’s better not to digest them."

"Because the more Kaidan, the more likely you are to encounter targeted special attacks?"

Feng Xue asked, and Old Li shook his head:

"There is that reason, but it’s only a small part. Ultimately, weaknesses can be compensated for. Just take that vampire hunter you defeated; regular vampires have weaknesses like the sun, crosses, holy water, holy power, etc., but by acquiring a Kaidan that grants them strength under the sun, crosses, holy power, they can counteract these weaknesses."

"..." Thinking of the big-chested vampire sister, Feng Xue couldn’t help but recall that annoying narrator, making his lips curl. Seeing this, Old Li thought he didn’t understand, so he explained earnestly:

"You’ve been a Kaidan for nearly two years, and you should understand about enhancing Kaidan entries. To approach the kaidan entry limit, you must keep feeding it with [identity], and digested entries undergo ’integration,’ meaning once digested, you can’t favor some over others; you have to feed them all equally.

"This means the more entries you have, the more [identity] you need to consume for feeding. If you digest a forgotten Kaidan, in a sense, it lowers your overall limit."

"I get it, like experience penalties for part-time jobs." Feng Xue nodded understandingly, but Old Li rolled his eyes and said:

"It’s not just punishment that simple, but locking levels. Simply put, until you feed all entries to level 2, the level cap will be stuck at level 2, get it?"