After drying his robe, Xu Kai turned his attention to the tent floor. Chen Xi's earlier assault had left a decent-sized puddle on the fabric, and he wasn't about to sit with dampness creeping under his feet. A single Dry Command, and the floor was crisp.
Then he looked at Chen Xi.
Her robe was barely wet, a few scattered splotches from when she'd poured water on him. Still, he dried her too, just because he wanted to.
When everything was done, Xu Kai dropped into his chair and let out a long, satisfied sigh.
"Learning a spell so easily like that?" He laughed under his breath. "Aren't I, Xu Kai, a genius?"
Anyone listening would think he was bragging about picking up some basic, no-stakes little trick.
They'd be wrong.
Normal basic spells were easy to learn and easy to cast. But Dry Command? The concept was simple, sure. But a single mistake, one tiny slip, could send someone to meet the god of death in seconds.
Chen Xi hadn't told him that. But he didn't need her to. Not after feeling it for himself.
The spell was dangerous in that specific, quiet way: mess up the learning process, mess up the casting, and your entire blood supply would dry up inside you.
But from what Xu Kai had observed while learning it, the spell didn't seem like the kind where mistakes happened often.
So maybe it was rare. Or maybe not.
'Probably should ask Chen Xi about that. See if my observation holds up.'
"Did I tell you anything about the Dry Command Spell?" he asked. Then added, "Before I lost my memories?"
Chen Xi tilted her head, muttering to herself in thought.
"Anything about it~"
After a moment, she nodded.
"Yes, you did. But most of it was just what I'd need to do to learn it. A summary of the scroll, basically, plus some professional insight." She paused. "But I'm sure I don't need to say that?"
"No," Xu Kai said. "So what about the other things I mentioned?"
"Instructions you gave me. I got a bit interested in it once and tried to learn it on my own."
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"Instructions like what?"
"You said I shouldn't learn it without you there to supervise me."
Xu Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"You said it was dangerous for me to learn."
'Ah. So I was wrong. The spell is dangerous.'
Chen Xi rolled her eyes with a sharp frown.
"...Because you said I'd try something crazy with it. Like letting all my qi lose control, then channeling the dry will wrong and accidentally getting myself, or everyone in the forest, killed."
'No. I was right. The spell is rarely dangerous for most people. But totally dangerous for people like Chen Xi.'
Xu Kai rubbed his head.
'The original Xu Kai did humanity a real service, not letting her learn it.'
Chen Xi had started mumbling under her breath, things like 'You thought wrong about me' and 'That's an underestimation of your humble disciple' and a lot of other stuff Xu Kai actively chose not to hear.
"You claimed you'd teach me the spell earlier," Xu Kai said. "But you didn't. And you didn't even tell me what to consider before learning it."
She froze.
"Ah. That..."
Xu Kai sighed.
'Seems like I'm at fault too. Should've asked for more details before jumping in. But at least I didn't overdo it.'
He shuddered, imagining what would have happened if he'd pushed every step of the process too far.
'Gladly I'm mature—'
He paused.
Mature.
Sure, maturity had probably played a role in why he hadn't overdone anything while learning the Dry Command Art. But deep down, he had a feeling that wasn't the whole story.
At first, he couldn't figure out why. Then he replayed the learning process in his head, and things started clicking into place.
Dry Command wasn't something just anyone could pull off in minutes. Especially not someone with zero cultivation experience and zero memories of this body's past life. All he had were a few cultivation novels he'd read back on Earth.
That was enough for some things. But not this.
He'd understood how to feel qi because of those novel descriptions. But Will? Dry Will specifically? He'd known nothing.
The scroll had explained it, sure. But he still hadn't understood it. The explanation was simple, Xu Kai was certain cultivators in this world would get it immediately, because they'd have gone through the fundamentals from the very start of their journey. And someone who transmigrated as a mortal and started from zero, learning everything step by step, would also understand.
But a modern person? A transmigrator who'd landed in a late-stage Foundation Establishment body, a level far past the starting point, with no original memories? They wouldn't understand. They hadn't experienced the beginning of cultivation.
But Xu Kai's learning had broken all that logic.
He'd grasped the dry will without any of those necessary foundations. And then he'd merged dry will with his qi, something even experienced cultivators struggled with.
Qi was like a wild, flowing river. Raw energy following natural laws. Will was the conscious mind, rigid, logical, driven by ego. Forcing them together created resistance. Oil and water.
Cultivators who failed were usually those with strong wills but weak understanding. True masters compared it to becoming water. Not forcing the river. Realizing you were never separate from its flow in the first place.
And Xu Kai had somehow understood that unconsciously. Without understanding how he'd understood.
Throughout learning Dry Command, he hadn't fully relied on the scroll. He'd glance at a short explanation of something, try it, and follow his instinct.
That was all.
And nothing failed. Every step worked better than it should have, like he'd already known the spell and was just casting it for the first time.
He didn't know why it felt that way.
But he had a clue.