Chapter 43

Guan Shanyan studied Chang Xin too. Handsome, yes, but young? In his memory, Chang Xin had looked like this as a child. Over the years, he seemed not to have aged at all.
“Master Chang, it’s an honor.” Shen Youwei approached naturally, forgetting she had called him a “mystic” just minutes ago. “Did you wait here specifically for us?”
“Otherwise?” Chang Xin’s gaze swept over them. “You came to ask something, didn’t you?”
Guan Shanyan stepped forward: “We want to ask about the blue stone from fifteen years ago.”
Chang Xin: “That stone belongs to me.”
Shen Youwei gasped, staring at him: “You’re, an alien???”
“…” Chang Xin turned to her and smiled. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“I thought about it! That stone fell with a meteor shower and had magical power. It must be a meteor from another planet!”
“Congratulations, you guessed wrong.”
“…” Okay.
Shen Youwei struck a pose of eager curiosity. Chang Xin, full of style, lifted his teacup, sipped lightly, cleared his throat, and explained:
“That was not a meteorite, but a spirit stone. It didn’t fall with the meteor shower, it just so happened to appear when I returned here and accidentally dropped it.”
“Spirit stone?” Shen Youwei repeated the frequently mentioned term in disbelief. “You mean like the spirit stones in xianxia novels?”
“Exactly, and it’s an extremely rare, top-grade spirit stone.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
She could accept aliens, but xianxia was a bit too fantastical.
She absorbed this, then asked sincerely: “If it’s such a rare top-grade spirit stone, how did you accidentally lose it?”
Chang Xin: “Because I have many, many of these rare top-grade spirit stones.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
Got it, your xianxia world has class hierarchies too.
Guan Shanyan, having discovered his own magical power as a child, calmly accepted Chang Xin’s words:
“Even if it’s trivial to you, once you realized it was lost, you’d try to get it back, right?”
“Of course I did. Who knew you two would move so fast. By the time I returned, the spirit stone had already merged with you.” Chang Xin paused. “Spirit stones don’t merge with just anyone. You being able to absorb it shows strong potential, but sadly you were born in a world without spiritual energy.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
If it were her in middle school, she might have regretted it.
Guan Shanyan didn’t seem to mind: “We? You mean both me and Shen Youwei absorbed it?”
“Of course. Didn’t you notice she has magical abilities too?” Chang Xin asked.
Guan Shanyan frowned. Shen Youwei could retain memories during “reloads,” but he hadn’t noticed any other abilities.
Shen Youwei, curious: “I can’t fly or move objects remotely! I don’t have any of his powers!”
“…” Guan Shanyan paused. “I can’t fly either.”
“But you move at flying speed!”
“…”
“Ahem.” Chang Xin cleared his throat, bringing their focus back. “Guan Shanyan picked up the spirit stone, so most of it was absorbed by him. His body was enhanced, and your beauty was enhanced.”
“Ah?”
“Xianxia cultivation naturally preserves youth. Your difficulty gaining weight and flawless skin are thanks to the spirit stone.”
“So beauty is the least remarkable quality I have.”
Chang Xin: “…”
“And you’ll age much slower than ordinary people.” Chang Xin seemed to understand marketers’ effort to sell products. “Not immortality, but you’ll live longer and healthier.”
“That actually sounds useful.”
“All side effects of the spirit stone were borne by Guan Shanyan alone. You got it for free, don’t complain.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
Alright, convinced.
“But what side effects did Guan Shanyan suffer?” Shen Youwei asked. “You were so weak and sickly as a child, was it from the spirit stone?”
“Yes.” Guan Shanyan nodded. “Using my abilities made me sick as a child. Now it’s better.”
Chang Xin: “Though you have the spirit stone, without cultivation, even using a small portion of its power overtaxes the body. Over time, adaptation improves, but larger energy usage still overloads you.”
Guan Shanyan quickly understood: “You mean during reloads?”
“Yes.”
Shen Youwei gasped: “So every time you had a fever, it was after a reload! But this is only called a small amount of energy?”
This is no different from defying fate!
Chang Xin snorted, as if mocking their inexperience:
“Using the full power of the spirit stone could alter time for centuries, but you only get twenty-four hours.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
No comparison, no pain.
“Still, be cautious. Frequent fevers are bad for your health.”
Guan Shanyan: “We only use it in emergencies.”
Chang Xin laughed: “Really? Last time Shen Youwei didn’t win a lottery, was that an emergency?”
Guan Shanyan: “…”
Shen Youwei was surprised: “You even remember when I lost a lottery?”
“Of course. That’s my spirit stone.”
“But how did you know I lost?”
“You were caught on camera and went viral. Your confident look showed you had failed another attempt before.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
She suddenly felt she had no privacy around Chang Xin.
“How does reload work?” Guan Shanyan asked, bringing the conversation back to the question that mattered most.
Chang Xin: “Reload is actually ‘load.’ To load, you must first save.”
Guan Shanyan froze. He hadn’t considered saving before: “How do you save?”
Chang Xin looked at Shen Youwei: “Only if she saves first can you load.”
“Me?” Shen Youwei pointed at herself. “Wait, not by taking photos, right?”
Every reload happened when she took a photo. She didn’t believe it was a coincidence.
Chang Xin nodded: “But not every photo is a save, you must consciously save.”
“Huh?” Shen Youwei frowned. “I never thought about this before.”
“When you take a photo and subconsciously want to preserve the moment, it counts as saving.”
“I see.”
Finally, their doubts were cleared, no wonder unilateral effort didn’t allow reloads.
“That stone, I mean, the rare top-grade spirit stone, you won’t take it back?” Shen Youwei asked cautiously. Since Chang Xin already knew the stone was with them, why not retrieve it?
Chang Xin sighed dramatically: “Because I’m kind.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
“Spirit stones are easy to merge and extract, but your body would be seriously harmed, possibly fatal.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
She began carefully recalling whether she had said anything disrespectful in front of the young and handsome Master Chang.
“So you just let it stay with us, without doing anything?” Guan Shanyan asked.
“Of course not.” Chang Xin replied. “If you were to use the spirit stone’s power for evil, I would immediately take it back. But from what I’ve observed, you’ve only been doing trivial things.”
Guan Shanyan: “…”
“So you intend for the spirit stone to remain with us for our entire lives?”
“A mortal lifetime is but a fleeting moment to me. I’ll retrieve the spirit stone when you naturally pass away.”
Shen Youwei felt somewhat touched, but couldn’t help asking: “So you’re not mortal?”
Chang Xin struck a confident pose: “I am an immortal.”
“…” Okay.
“Alright, I’ve said everything I need to. If you have no other questions, I’ll leave first.” Chang Xin stood from the high-backed chair, adjusted his suit. “Next time you come for consultation, there will be a fee.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
Today’s conversation with Chang Xin not only overturned her impression of Master Chang, but also her worldview.
“Did you notice? He said that the night of the meteor shower, he happened to be back here.” On the way back to the room, Shen Youwei recapped with Guan Shanyan. “When he said ‘here,’ it certainly wasn’t Luming Hot Springs Resort, right? He must mean our world, the one without spiritual energy where cultivation is impossible!”
“Yes, probably that’s what he meant.”
“Then that means there’s another world with spiritual energy where cultivation is possible?!”
“Possibly more than one.”
“Parallel worlds?!” Shen Youwei cupped her face in shock.
“That’s one way to interpret it, ” Guan Shanyan didn’t delve deeper and instead asked another question: “By the way, I remember you brought a box of face masks when you came?”
“Yes, I even used one last night.” Shen Youwei winced thinking of how much she had spent on skincare. “From now on, I won’t need any skincare products anyway, I have the extremely rare top-grade spirit stone protecting me.”
Thinking this way, it was actually useful, no skincare or aesthetic treatments, and she saved a lot of money.
Guan Shanyan said: “Can you give it to me?”
“Huh?” Shen Youwei froze, not quite processing him.
“Your face masks.”
“Sure,” Shen Youwei nodded slowly. “But why do you suddenly want to use face masks? You never seemed to care about skincare before.”
Guan Shanyan didn’t respond. Some people, protected by a spirit stone, age slowly even without skincare. He didn’t want a day to come where Shen Youwei still looked young while he developed wrinkles.
“A mask alone isn’t enough, right?” Guan Shanyan asked, turning his head. “Do you also get aesthetic treatments?”
“I used to do basic procedures regularly; after all, my work involves my face.”
Guan Shanyan nodded: “Then recommend your aesthetic clinic to me too.”
Shen Youwei: “…”