Cultivation Nerd (xianxia)

The unicorn lay half-submerged in the swamp water, slowly sinking as the watery mud swallowed it.

I poked its severed head with a jade stick.

With Wu Yan using her element of Change to do whatever the hell she could inside the horse's skull to kill it, there was barely any brain left. Which meant there was no way for me to read the unicorn's mind and figure out why this guy had been lurking so close to the Misty Mountains.

Were the beasts planning an attack?

Bai was a good spy in their midst, but he was still only a Foundation Establishment snake. He didn't exactly get invited to high-level meetings where the Beast Sect discussed their plans. I might have to pull Bai back a little from his spying. Both Core Formation beasts in charge of his area had died, and that might raise some suspicions.

Bai was only one of hundreds of Foundation Establishment beasts under their command, so perhaps it would be better to have him lie low instead of disappearing completely. Then again, if he disappeared, they might simply assume he'd died somewhere.

No. The Beast Sect were not just a bunch of normal beasts. They were organized in a very human-like manner, and underestimating their intelligence because of what they were would eventually bite me in the ass.

“Damn it, Wu Yan. You ruined the head. How am I supposed to make a coat out of this?” Song Song grumbled as she pulled the unicorn corpse out of the swamp.

She examined the mangled corpse for a few seconds.

“Well, that was all for nothing.” Song Song threw it aside.

She could probably still make something out of it. But Song Song wasn't the type to settle for mediocrity, especially when it came to trophies.

“It was too strong,” Wu Yan said, pointing toward the fist-sized hole in her lower abdomen. “Its purifying energy is even slowing my regeneration. Your Qi is filled with murderous intent, Song Song. Imagine what effect this kind of attack would've had on you.”

“Hah?” Song Song stared at her in confusion.

Wu Yan met her gaze with a strangely resolute expression. “I decided to protect you.”

That made Song Song cringe. For several seconds she didn't say anything, and eventually the sharpness in her face softened.

We had spent so many years together by now that it would've been ridiculous to claim none of us cared about each other. People weren't made of stone. Spend enough time fighting, traveling, and nearly dying alongside the same group, and you at least grew fond of them eventually.

That didn't mean everyone got along.

Tingfeng still held a grudge against Jiang Yeming for dragging us into the Misty Mountains in the first place, and there were plenty of smaller disagreements between everyone.

But in general, we could probably be considered a group of friends. Ni Shi had somehow wormed his way into that circle too.

“Even if you don't want a coat anymore, there should still be useful treasures inside the body of a monstrous beast,” I said.

I conjured a large jade hand and lifted the unicorn's corpse out of the mud.

Core Formation beasts had cores inside their bodies, but that wasn't necessarily the only valuable thing they possessed. Special bloodlines could cause strange organs or materials to form, and sometimes rare treasures could even appear after a beast's death.

I formed a jade knife and pressed it against the unicorn's hide, intending to start skinning it.

The blade didn't go in, and it merely pushed against the skin.

Hm?

I poured more Qi into the dagger. Violet waves rippled along its edge, sharpening it further, and I tried again.

Still nothing. The knife barely managed to puncture the unicorn's skin.

Seeing Song Song and Wu Yan toss the unicorn around during the fight had given me the impression that its defenses weren't particularly impressive.

I turned toward the two of them.

Song Song already had a smug, cat-like grin on her face. She covered her mouth with one hand and snickered. “Wow. I guess Foundation Establishment Cultivators are quite different from how I remembered them.”

Usually, I would control my emotions in a situation like this. But it was Song Song.

A vein popped in my forehead, and I threw the jade dagger at her face. She caught it and twirled it between her fingers. I canceled the technique, causing the weapon to turn into wisps of green Qi.

Song Song's teasing smile remained, and she bit her finger, and out came a blood dagger that resembled the shape of the one I threw at her.

“Here, use this one,” she said. “Also, you should keep some swords and knives on hand that can pierce through Core Formation beasts, so you don't embarrass yourself like this.”

She was trying to get under my skin with such petty insults, and it was working, damn it!

I used the dagger she handed me, and it carved through the skin of the unicorn like a razor, with blood squirting out and dousing my hands in crimson all the way up to my elbows.

The stench was quite heavy, with a coppery hint. I was used to it by now.

I also had weapons that could work like this in my storage ring. But the Qi Song Song had imbued into the dagger was fresher, making it work better. Also, if I took something out now, she would mock me for it.

Anyway, I was not here to nitpick Song Song.

I skinned the corpse of the unicorn, carefully carving around the root of its horn, then taking out the organs and putting them in jars so they wouldn't be infected by the foulness of the swamp. Song Song was quiet while I did this, with the only sound being the rain smashing against the umbrella-shaped barrier above us.

With my arm shoulder-deep in horse guts, my fingers brushed against something, and I pulled out a fist-sized core that pulsed with white energy. It was a beast core, quite valuable for making artifacts, and this one was top-tier for artifacts with anti-corruption or anti-evil properties.

It would be quite effective against people who used Demonic Techniques, or those who had heavy bloodlust. Thankfully, the one the unicorn attacked was Wu Yan instead of Song Song.

I put my arm into the unicorn's chest again and pulled out a root-like white vein that looked like it was made out of shining marble. It was beautiful, despite the blood surrounding it.

“Oh? This one feels interesting,” Song Song approached, leaning down. “What is it?”

“Something that beasts with pure or holy elements sometimes leave behind,” I explained. “Depending on the type, it can be called a different name. But this one is a Pure Heart Vein.”

“Sounds… simple. What does it do?” She asked.

“It increases the raw Qi intensity inside someone's body. If Wu Yan's talent was weaker, it would be perfect for her, and she could even integrate the Qi from the wound the unicorn left on her,” I got into my teacher mode.

However, my mind was elsewhere. Part of the reason I came here was to test how lucky I was with fate working in my favor, and so far, I had gone out of the Misty Mountains once and earned quite the rare treasure.

But there was only one Core Formation beast, and I would have liked to test whether Song Song doing the carving up would affect the results.

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“Are you going to absorb this here?” Song Song asked. “Your cultivation has been lagging behind a bit.”

I nodded. “I will use it later.”

“Ah, right, I forgot. You're going to your secret laboratory and do all sorts of creepy stuff with that and study it,” Song Song said.

She wasn't wrong. But did she have to say it like that? Secret laboratories had a bad reputation, but I just didn't want others touching my stuff.

Jiang Yeming sent a brief glance from the corner of her eye, and who knew what was going on in the head of this over-imaginative regressor.

“You got it in the first guess, it seems like wisdom does grow with age,” I said.

I had expected a bit of bad luck to come with the prophecy being read and locking down my predetermined fate. Which was another layer atop my Heaven's Chosen status. It really was one mess added atop another.

Anyway, with the wreck came the rewards. This white vein thing could help me quite a bit. But whether it was better than the problem… the prophecy was worrying.

Though the one that stood out the most was the verse:

'Should stranger's thoughts begin to bloom,

Then shut the gate and turn away.

No borrowed voice may share your room,

Though dawn must yield another day.'

This could be interpreted as a warning against someone trying to slowly take over my body. Which was a bad choice overall. If I was taking over bodies, someone talented would be a better choice. It could also be seen as something else. ‘Stranger's thoughts’ could mean trusting someone's advice, being manipulated, or allowing another's ambition to become my own.

Fuck the guy who invented these kinds of techniques. They were too hard to research and interpret.

In the end, I shook my head and sighed. That was enough.

*******

Jiang Yeming watched all this from the sidelines as Liu Feng seemed lost in thought.

The corpse of a Core Formation beast…

Should she do it now?

She hadn’t contributed much in the fight, so asking to meddle with the corpse might be a bit much. But with Liu Feng around, Song Song wouldn't make any murderous moves.

“Teacher, can I try something?” she asked.

“Hm? Sure, go ahead,” he nodded.

Song Song and Wu Yan were looking around, no longer paying attention to her. Jiang Yeming wasn't sure why Liu Feng had invited her. Just to be the fourth wheel? Either way, she was going to shock these monsters today.

She approached the eyeless head of the unicorn, brought it over to the rest of its body, and crouched down next to it. With Liu Feng staring right at her, Jiang Yeming softly whispered under her breath.

The brief ritual was over in under ten minutes. She stood up, and immediately the corpse of the unicorn withered like a dried-up flower.

“No! What did you do to my coat?” Song Song screeched.

Jiang Yeming's heart skipped a beat. Song Song’s killing intent was too dense. She would make an era-changing demonic cultivator if she ever decided to walk that path.

“Calm down. Only the flesh and vitality withered. We can still make the coat,” Liu Feng reminded her.

That calmed Song Song down, but her killing intent barely subsided. “She touched my things!”

“Now, now, I was the one who told her it was okay,” Liu Feng said with a faraway look in his eyes. He was elsewhere mentally and didn't bother hiding it. However, his words were effective on Song Song. Her killing intent withered away.

“What I used just now was the ritual to create a Sky Grade Technique,” she said.

It was an improved ritual from the future. The current one took days to use even once and had a low chance of success. It was madly guarded by the big sects and clans, and nobody had improved the technique in thousands of years.

She didn't want to reveal this so soon, but Divination Sky Grade Techniques were rare. Even in the future Wisdom Hall, it was the same. She had wanted one for as long as she could remember. She only had anti-Divination Techniques, and none as good as this.

“Explain,” Liu Feng said, frowning as his gaze sharpened and he was finally fully in the moment. Although that glint in his eyes was a bit worrying.

“All Sky Grade Techniques are like Dao Marks in the world. Think of them as world rules, or a world-wide array that allows them to work,” Jiang Yeming explained.

She would have preferred Liu Feng to learn this himself, but she was in a rush to gather everything needed to save Liu Sha and give him the talent he deserved. Even if it meant exposing herself as a regressor who would be hunted by the world! It would all be worth it!

“Oh, okay,” Liu Feng said, rubbing his chin, with a rather underwhelming reaction.

She had expected this to excite him, but it seemed like a thousand thoughts were going through his head in less than a second. It was probably that first Foundation Technique of his. Liu Feng loved overusing it.

She was surprised his brain hadn't turned to mush. It was like his brain was made of stone.

“What would happen if the cultivators whose Core Techniques are turned into so-called Dao Marks in the world are still in soul form? How much of a connection is there?” Liu Feng inquired.

As expected, that was quite a complicated question, and one that Jiang Yeming thankfully knew the answer to. She had found history boring, but she was quite proficient with this.

“They can't use it, but there is a connection there,” she said.

There had been many schemes that came to fruition due to that in her original timeline.

Liu Feng nodded and asked no more.

After muttering some words under her breath, Jiang Yeming activated her necklace, which was an anti-fate artifact. Her eyes shone and grew bloodshot before rolling back in her head, and she felt like she could see her own brain.

After preparing all the anti-prophecy measures, she let out a turbid breath and sealed her lips as the prophecy appeared in her mind. But before long, she could barely remember it.

Huh? This was one of those fate-reading abilities that made it so the user themselves couldn't remember it? This wasn't as good of a technique as she thought.

But with some tweaks, she simply copied the memory into her ring and then recalled it that way. As for speaking, Jiang Yeming temporarily crushed her own vocal cords through a Mortal Grade Technique that allowed her to control that part of her body.

The things the prophecy said were cryptic, but one part was worrying.

'The second moon shall leave the sky,

Yet never wander far from night.

One pair of eyes will learn to cry,

While seeing twice by single sight.'

Why were so many prophecies about this family hinting at body snatching?

Well, it wasn't too much of a problem. Liu Feng had his own measures in place, even if they were a bit outdated… Well, perhaps during this era they were ahead of their time. Nobody was even thinking about random souls awakening in their kids during these times.

Either way, Jiang Yeming had her ways to handle these things. Even if an immortal used a Sky Grade Technique to try and reincarnate into Liu Sha, she could defend against it. As for trying to find where the danger was exactly coming from, Jiang Yeming didn't even try. It was much easier to change things after the deed was done than to try to subvert fate.

If someone took over Liu Sha's body, it would be much easier to banish the soul than stop them from entering in the first place. Jiang Yeming had more experience with this.

“Not as good of a divination technique as I thought,” Jiang Yeming said, pushing her hair behind her ear. “It can only be used on someone once, and there is a long cooldown. How is this even a Core Technique? It is too weak, and it isn't like unicorns don't have divination potential for it to be so lackluster.”

Song Song and Liu Feng stared at her with blank faces. But she wasn't worried about that, as she had just learned that the Wisdom Hall master had quite a problem on their hands.

“By the way, my technique can only do four stanzas,” Jiang Yeming revealed.

“Stanzas?” Song Song looked confused.

“They're verse paragraphs in a poem,” Liu Feng said, then frowned and rubbed his chin. “So there is a chance the unicorn faked a paragraph as a way to confuse me.”

“The beast had good control over his Core Technique. To be able to interfere in a divination isn't common.” Jiang Yeming shrugged. “Also, there is a chance the technique was weakened enough by the change from Core to Sky Technique that it became like this.”

Liu Feng smiled. “It is very impressive that you can analyze all this.”

Jiang Yeming nodded, knowing what he was hinting at, but not approaching that subject. She was confident she could lie to Liu Feng straight to his face, and he wouldn't be able to see through it, but Song Song's instincts were like a lie detector, and she might just act on suspicion alone.

Jiang Yeming had learned her lesson from the Tingfeng and Misty Mountains situation. It was better not to be too scheming with these people, or they would hold a grudge for years.

“Don't get too ahead of yourself now,” Liu Feng said, with that teasing smirk dancing on his lips. “Because the part that made me question your intelligence is how you do all this, and somehow expect people not to know you have some deep secrets.”

Jiang Yeming returned the smile.

If this had been when they first met, or during the few years that followed, she would have been terrified about Liu Feng finding out she was from the future.

It was her biggest secret.

Heck, now she was about 40% sure the guy was already guessing in that direction. That was why she played up the idea that she had an unnatural amount of experience with divination techniques. It would make everyone think that her information from the future came through divination.

However, by now she didn't care much. After all the years she had known Liu Feng…

“Why? Do you care where I learned something like this?” she asked him.

“Of course I do,” Liu Feng's smile widened.

Yeah, this guy didn't care about unnatural or illogical things at all. Someone could pull a world-destroying weapon out of their pocket, and Liu Feng would just rub his chin and analyze it calmly.

Probably thoughts like this were going through his head: ‘Were things like this so normal in the future that she didn’t even think about how weird it looked? Well, if that was the case, then at least there was an interesting future to look forward to.’

Crazy bastard.

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