Cultivation Nerd (xianxia)

Heavy autumn rain pounded the stone streets, and water flowed along the drainage channels in smooth streams.

There were many things I was proud of in life, like my techniques, my cultivation, my family, and all that. Among them, the sewage and drainage system I'd built throughout this city ranked surprisingly high.

I smiled, letting the rain fall across my face before slicking my wet hair back.

The drainage channels winding through the Misty Mountains carried water to the lands beyond the mountain range, where farms could one day appear.

Due to the constant battles between humans and beasts, we couldn't safely have farmers working out there yet. The farmland covered too much ground for an array to protect it while remaining strong enough to stop even peak Qi Gathering beasts until someone from Wisdom Hall could arrive.

Of course, none of that was a problem while I was here. With me acting as the center, the sensory arrays could easily cover the entire region. But I had no intention of remaining cooped up in Wisdom Hall forever. There were simply too many interesting things left to explore.

Besides, Ye An was actually dying, and research confined to a single location eventually became stagnant. This wasn't the modern world, where research could mostly be performed inside sealed laboratories.

At least, not the kind of research I wanted to pursue.

Just as I was admiring the fruits of my labor, I sensed a Foundation Establishment cultivator approaching.

There went my peaceful moment.

Jiang Yeming stopped a few steps behind me and deliberately coughed twice, making sure I noticed her before coming any closer.

Did she really think I was so absent-minded that I wouldn't notice someone approaching? Moments like these always made me wonder what sort of person I'd been in her timeline.

“Teacher. We've received several suspicious reports of beasts gathering around our territory." Jiang Yeming said. "One of the cities under the Azure Frost Sect's jurisdiction was also destroyed.”

I turned toward her. Rain-soaked bangs clung to her forehead, giving her the same faintly depressed expression she'd worn ever since Liu Sha was born.

“That Beast Sect is getting bold,” I said with a reassuring smile. “Instead of dealing with the Great Sects one by one, they've decided to challenge all of them at once.”

It seemed reckless, almost foolish, but that was only from my limited perspective. Rumors had already spread that the Beast Sect now possessed multiple Nascent Soul beasts. Even so, the Great Sect Leaders weren't opponents to underestimate.

Well, the Azure Frost Sect Leader was still young, and two of the other Great Sect Leaders were already dead. But the Void Piercing Sect Master was still alive, and spatial cultivators were among the most troublesome opponents imaginable.

“Anything else interesting happening around the continent?” I asked. “You don't have to report only the grim news.”

Jiang Yeming, along with a few others, kept me informed about what was happening throughout the cultivation world. Lately, every report was miserable.

I knew that I couldn't save everyone with the limited strength I possessed, especially when Nascent Soul beasts were involved. That didn't mean I wanted every conversation to consist of cities being massacred, humans enslaving beasts, beasts enslaving humans, or hearing how the cycle of hatred was slowly hardening into chains that might bind both races to centuries of endless war.

“Well. Your sensory techniques have also caused quite a stir,” she said. “Many assassination and stealth techniques have to be revamped across the continent. Some failed assassinations have even caused diplomatic incidents among the medium-sized sects.”

Why the hell were these guys still trying to assassinate each other with the beast problem right on their doorstep? It wasn't the majority, I knew that. But even these few sects. They had survived for hundreds, some even thousands of years. Yet their leaders and upper echelon in general were pulling stunts like this.

“Oh? How big of a wave did those techniques make?” I inquired.

“As I mentioned, the assassins weren't the only ones affected. Even the larger sects have uncovered spies and unearthed plots within their own ranks. If it weren't for the Beast Sect's recent activity, we might already have some powerhouse knocking on our door, demanding answers,” she explained in a dry tone, clearly unamused by my curiosity.

“If they want better stealth techniques, they can come here and learn them instead of wasting time making their own,” I pointed out.

It wasn't particularly difficult to develop those techniques. But the sheer variety of sensory techniques we'd released meant that even if someone managed to counter one, another might still detect them through an entirely different method.

As for those medium-sized sects becoming disgruntled and causing trouble. I had a Nascent Soul guy on my side.

That was like being an adult entertainer with a particularly impressive rod. Just having it solved many problems before they even began.

Perhaps that wasn't the best analogy. But the point still stood.

Jiang Yeming rubbed the bridge of her nose. “This era is so damn chaotic. And we're standing right in the middle of the storm...”

I smiled.

My time-traveling disciple was quite troubled. Nothing a dangerous adventure couldn't fix. It had a way of putting things into perspective.

Ever since creating my own organization, I felt strangely relaxed, even while the outside world was falling apart. At least I no longer had to worry about getting dragged into some centuries-old grudge because an elder two hundred years ago had offended another elder or some powerful beast. That alone made the current state of the world much more bearable.

Suddenly, a mental transmission from one of my spies inside the Beast Sect echoed through my mind.

Huh.

Bai, that big white snake, was surprisingly good at espionage. The other beasts I'd placed there barely accomplished anything. Three had even died after getting dragged into battles they were too polite to refuse.

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Was it luck or genuine spy skills?

“Jiang Yeming, stay here,” I said. “I'm going to gather a few others and put together a team to quickly investigate something.”

She looked confused, but her expression sharpened as I released a mental wave that reverberated throughout the Misty Mountains.

At the same time, I spread my Qi and formed a weak, house-sized barrier above us, shielding us from the rain.

I had barely finished before Song Song appeared behind me almost instantly. She slipped me into a rear naked choke but didn't tighten her grip.

The two fleshy mounds pressed against my back.

“Wow, you really don't pay attention to your surroundings at all,” Song Song teased. “If I were an enemy, our dear Hall Master would've already been dead. Weren't you the one who created all those sensory techniques?”

“I created Earth Grade techniques. They don't work very well against Sky Grade ones,” I replied as she let me go.

Song Song merely shook her head, as though she'd barely listened to a word I'd said.

Ever since Ye An had fallen into a coma and the countdown toward her death had begun unless I found a cure, Song Song had been in an unusually good mood. Sometimes I'd even catch her singing to herself when she thought no one was listening.

It was honestly a little creepy. She also had a surprisingly good singing voice.

Although she spent most of her time cultivating indoors, Song Song never missed an opportunity to be petty whenever one presented itself. Which said quite a lot about a woman in her thirties.

Sadly, age jokes didn't carry quite the same weight in a world where people routinely lived for centuries.

No wonder long-lived cultivators were so damn petty. They simply had too much time on their hands.

The air at the edge of my barrier turned turbulent, and the falling rain twisted around a human-shaped distortion in space before Wu Yan appeared, wearing that face that always somewhat resembled mine.

Song Song turned toward her and frowned.

I could tell by the look on her face even she hadn't fully sensed Wu Yan's arrival.

Wu Yan was at the peak of Core Formation. While her strength might still be lacking compared to Song Song if they shared the same cultivation level, she had already reached the absolute peak of what someone could achieve before Nascent Soul.

Before I called her here, she had been trying to comprehend more of the element of Change before attempting a breakthrough. Her Extreme Physique allowed her to negate the cultivation damage caused by failing to break through to Core Formation. It couldn't, however, negate dying because your body exploded into a million pieces.

Actually... could it?

Wu Yan possessed a weakened form of regeneration, changing the state of her injuries and morphing her body back into an uninjured state. But I doubted it could reassemble her after something like that.

“Wu Yan, how's your indoor cultivation going?” Song Song asked. She wasn't nearly as upset as she'd been when Ye An surpassed her, but she clearly wasn't thrilled either.

After all, Song Song already spent most of her time cultivating indoors. It wasn't that Wisdom Hall had suddenly made her more hardworking. She simply had real peers now and no longer compared herself to what she once called the "trash" from the Great Sects.

“There hasn't been much progress with comprehension,” Wu Yan sighed, though her face remained almost completely expressionless. “It feels like trying to fill a lake with a bucket.”

She had long since passed the stage where she couldn't control her facial expressions. Ironically, whenever she became genuinely sad or annoyed, she simply forgot to use them.

Unlike the rest of us, controlling her own body was still a conscious effort whenever she created new limbs or even a new face.

“Anyway, why did you call us here in such a hurry?” Song Song asked.

“This is an emergency.” I lowered my head, trying to look as serious as possible. “Sadly... I've run out of my favorite tea leaves.”

Song Song narrowed her eyes at me.

People truly became duller as they grew older. The Song Song from ten years ago would've laughed and played along.

“Anyway, with Wu Yan, Song Song, and Jiang Yeming. My three battle queens-”

“Gross,” Song Song immediately interrupted. “Please never call me your queen again. That sounds incredibly wrong.”

“What happened to you?” I asked, looking at her like a disappointed parent trying to calmly talk their child out of smoking instead of reaching for the belt. “You never used to be this grumpy.”

“Can we please move on?” Song Song sighed.

Sadly, even the backhanded jokes about her age still didn't work.

“The real situation is that a certain little horse has wandered a bit too close to the Misty Mountains,” I said. “Whether the Beast Sect is testing our response or simply scouting the area, they're definitely poking around our territory.”

Jiang Yeming frowned, looking almost worried.

That was interesting. After all, we had our own Nascent Soul ally, and Ni Shi wasn't weak by any standard, even among cultivators of the same realm.

Either way, anyone sneaking around this close to our home had to die.

If they'd walked through the front gate instead, I'd have welcomed them. Talking beasts were no different from humans in my eyes.

“When are we leaving?” Wu Yan asked.

She was always reliable like this and didn't ask too many questions, unlike a certain old woman.

…

We flew beyond the Misty Mountains, and while rain poured from the darkening sky as the storm intensified, it was interesting seeing the mountain range from a distance. The Misty Mountains were surrounded by a ring of fog, and the mist shifted as though it were alive, looking straight out of a creepy horror movie.

Song Song, Jiang Yeming, Wu Yan, and I headed toward the location Bai had pointed out. The area turned out to be a swamp, with towering trees rising from the murky water and thick moss clinging to their trunks.

Several abandoned boats floated near the shoreline, clear signs that humans had once lived or worked here.

I drifted down, green Qi shimmering around me before I landed lightly on one of the old boats.

“These look old,” I said, crouching to inspect the weathered wood. “Not something our new friend would horse around with.”

“Please stop with the lame jokes,” Song Song complained as she floated down beside me.

“What has gotten into you lately?” I asked without looking at her.

“Your jokes used to be much funnier.”

“I don't remember making many jokes back when we were in the Blazing Sun Sect.”

“Maybe not out loud,” she replied. “But during all those silent conversations we had-”

“Oh, so you were just making everything up inside your head.” I nodded thoughtfully. “Got it. I suppose old age brings... new ways of thinking.”

At my terrible joke, Song Song's left hand twitched, and a series of cracks echoed from her clenched fingers, loud enough to cut through the sound of the pouring rain.

Yikes.

“Judging by these boats,” Jiang Yeming said as she landed beside us, “this place has been a swamp for a long time. It wasn't created by the recent rains.”

“Quiet,” Song Song said. “You're only here for moral support, Jiang Yeming. We were having a conversation.”

Wait... So she actually enjoyed those conversations? She always acted annoyed by them. So I just assumed they got boring after over a decade of knowing each other. As always, there were times when I felt like I understood Song Song better than anyone. Then there were moments like this, when she became a complete mystery again.

Also, Jiang Yeming definitely wasn't here for moral support.

She was useful. Not as useful as the two Core Formation cultivators I'd brought along. Or someone who happened to be a Level 7 Array Conjurer.

But useful nonetheless.

Just as I was about to throw another terrible joke into the mix to ease the tension, because Song Song actually seemed annoyed with someone other than me this time, a loud crack echoed from one of the nearby trees.

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