Cultivation Nerd-Chapter 320 - A Lady Lost in Time

Jiang Yeming froze as she stared at the figure in the doorway. Nothing about the young girl screamed danger; there was no eerie glow, no twisted features. On the surface, she was ordinary. Sure, the resemblance was uncanny. Her features mirrored Liu Feng’s in a way that felt unnatural, like someone had sculpted his likeness into another form and only half succeeded.

That alone wasn’t alarming.

And yet, something was wrong. The sensation gnawed at Jiang Yeming until the realization struck, and her breath caught in her throat.

She remembered the countless techniques of the future, those designed solely to detect this person. The way her shifting aura denied understanding, how one’s very soul seemed to reject the truth of her existence.

The Thousand Face Immortal!

Jiang Yeming’s heart slammed against her ribs, climbing into her throat. The world tilted as panic spread through her body like lightning, threatening to make her collapse.

She forced herself to breathe, to think.

Yes… she was in the past.

If detection techniques still worked, then this creature hadn’t yet become the monster she would one day be.

Also, it was a she? Perhaps just the current guise. Well, not like people knew much about it.

But when had Liu Feng connected with the Thousand Face Immortal? Was she already the leader of Black Chapter? Had the group even formed yet, or was this the skeleton of what would become it?

Joining the Black Chapter had been Jiang Yeming’s true goal all along, her reason for risking everything to be here. The Blazing Sun Sect wasn't exactly the most stable place during these times.

She laughed, trying to pass off her dread, though the sound nearly cracked.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had a sister, teacher. That’s surprising.”

She risked a glance at Liu Feng. But instead of confusion or suspicion, what she found was worse. His gaze was void, pitch-black, like an abyss swallowing all reflection. No emotion. No thought. Just a stillness that dissected her silently.

Terrifying.

Her chest tightened, as though her heart itself faltered.

Had he seen through her? Since when?

No. Impossible. It was her fear talking.

Even Liu Feng couldn’t guess the truth. Nobody would ever assume that someone was a regressor and had returned from the future. Spy, traitor, impostor… thousands of explanations would come before that.

The suspicion gnawing at her heart slowly receded, though unease lingered.

Liu Feng… He never ascended to immortality. He was only remembered as a scholar of monstrous beasts, the founder of Wisdom Hall. In the future, his name faded into the background compared to the rest of the monsters in Black Chapter.

Most people knew him only through his books and his extensive research in monstrous beasts and cultivation. Few ever understood the man behind the papers. She herself barely did. By the time she joined Wisdom Hall, she’d only seen him once or twice from afar, since she was one of the thirteen Nascent Soul Cultivators of the organization. With her degraded spiritual roots, she was ranked near the bottom in that group.

And back then, she hadn’t cared. Digging into Liu Feng’s past would only have drawn the attention of his die-hard loyalists and people who would have killed her for snooping. Those freaks were usually the overly suspicious kind. She joined Wisdom Hall out of convenience, not loyalty. Its loose restrictions made it easy to stay, easy to hide and give herself the time to grow.

But none of that mattered now. Liu Feng was just a stepping stone, destined to disappear into the Central Continent. As long as he still founded Wisdom Hall, history would remain intact.

What unsettled her most was Wu Yan, the elusive, ever-shifting leader of Black Chapter, standing here as his disciple.

What was she doing here? Hiding? Experimenting with a guise? Jiang Yeming had never even known the creature to be female.

“This is Wu Yan, my other disciple,” Liu Feng said warmly, patting her and Tingfeng on the shoulders. “Technically, she’s your senior sister, though she’s younger than you. So take care of her.”

Jiang Yeming’s mind reeled.

She had a hard time coping with the reveal. Wu Yan, the Thousand Face Immortal, the future leader of Black Chapter, was actually Liu Feng’s disciple.

That was a huge twist!

Jiang Yeming had assumed Wu Yan wouldn’t be born for another fifty years. History said Black Chapter wouldn’t even surface until seventy years from now, under Wu Yan’s leadership.

Had she already caused a butterfly effect?

She thought of the Autumn Monster Encyclopedia. If her book had replaced Liu Feng’s work, maybe he’d never needed to write it himself. And if he hadn’t, could that twist of fate have led him to meet the Thousand Face Immortal here and now?

Fuck. That could change everything.

At least Liu Feng still seemed destined to become an elder of the Blazing Sun Sect.

But was it good or bad for the future Thousand Face Immortal to learn from him? She was infamous in the Age of Immortals. Liu Feng, in the present, wasn’t the wise figure she vaguely remembered, but he was a competent teacher. What would his guidance mold her into?

His own son had turned out badly. Who could say Wu Yan wouldn’t end up worse?

Jiang Yeming thought back to her faint impressions of him in her previous life. He had seemed distant, wise, and kind. But here he felt raw, unpolished, and not yet the figure she half admired.

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And there were already cracks. Liu Feng had written a book with Song San, something she was certain had never happened before. Song San was a member of Black Chapter, yes, but that group was held together by self-interest, not camaraderie. A collaboration like that? Unthinkable.

Song Song too… Liu Feng was remembered for having countless connections with immortals and high cultivators, his knowledge often paving their way. But if things kept shifting like this, who knew what his future would become?

Perhaps she had changed too much already.

She winced inwardly.

Wisdom Hall had never been her home, but she respected its ideals. Without its wide net sending people to every village, every tribe, testing peasants and commoners alike for spiritual roots, she would have lived and died as another forgotten girl, married off to some farmer.

If her interference changed the moment that drove Liu Feng to open that path, what then? Would he hoard his knowledge instead of sharing it? Would the Wisdom Hall never exist at all?

She had no idea what the catalyst had been. Jiang Yeming also knew she couldn’t replace someone like Liu Feng.

“Hey, are you okay?” Liu Feng’s voice broke through her spiraling thoughts.

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” She latched onto the first excuse that came to mind. “I was just amazed by how alike you look. I’ve never met your family before. But I’ve heard a lot about them.”

“Have you now?” he asked lightly. The suspicion had melted off his face and he seemed to have returned to his usual self.

“Yes,” she nodded, not exactly lying. His child would become infamous.

“Well, either way, come on in. Fu Yating makes the best food,” Liu Feng said as he stepped inside, Tingfeng and Jiang Yeming following.

She tried to act normal, though her eyes kept drifting back to Wu Yan. To sit so close to such a legendary figure who looked so harmless now felt absurd. Hard to believe she would one day become a monster. Then again, maybe that smile was just a mask, hiding the thirst for stolen faces and forbidden techniques.

They gathered at the dining table. Soon, a young woman with long dark hair and a gentle smile emerged from the kitchen carrying plates.

This must be Fu Yating. Wife already? Likely. She already had that demeanor of a dutiful, composed wife, and very much the woman Jiang Yeming remembered, except the version in her memory was wrinkled, weary, carrying decades on her back. Now she was young and pretty.

Jiang Yeming exhaled, forcing calm. Whatever chaos she had unleashed, cultivation was still an individual pursuit. In the end, each person's path was a lone walk. Feeling guilty now was useless. Though she might have cut the string of hope for hundreds of thousands of cultivators that became part of Wisdom Hall… that was hard to swallow.

“Still, I never knew Liu Feng had a sister,” she said, smiling faintly at Wu Yan. She knew she was repeating herself, but this reveal had unnerved her too much to think straight.

Wu Yan returned the smile and nodded, silent.

That crooked smile nearly slipped from Jiang Yeming’s face. Wu Yan might only feel like a two-star Foundation Establishment cultivator right now, but she knew better. She was staring at the Thousand Face Immortal, the Face Stealer.

If she hadn’t known better, Wu Yan could have passed for a shy girl. She looked so withdrawn and harmless.

But no… this was the one who would give its name to an era.

These coming two centuries would be remembered as the Black Chapter in hostory books. Named after the group that ravaged the whole era before the Age of Immortals.

She needed a head start with that team, and maybe impressing Wu Yan was one way to get it. But she had no desire to get too close to that person. Her plan had always been to reach Black Chapter through Liu Feng, as he was the kindest among that pack of psychos.

Not that his life had amounted to much. He never became clan leader, though he did lead the Liu Clan to the central continent and after that, history barely remembered him. What lingered in her memory were the endless books he left behind and tedious tomes cataloguing monstrous beasts and their weaknesses. She still hated memorizing them.

But if she could join that team, she might one day become an immortal. That was her hope. The world was about to change, and only immortal power could guarantee her safety and that of those she chose to keep close.

Even so, she felt left behind. Liu Feng, unimpressive as he seemed in the records, could already halt a clash between two Core Formation cultivators with near-instant arrays. He was showing the roots of his future reputation as an Array Conjurer.

Of course, he was monstrous too. Black Chapter didn’t admit anyone out of charity.

And it wasn’t just any two cultivators he’d restrained; it was Ye An and Song Song.

“You really seem absentminded today, Jiang Yeming,” Liu Feng called out.

“I’m just thinking of new techniques. And meeting your family was a bit of a surprise,” she said.

He nodded, biting into the delicious steak Fu Yating had prepared.

“Do you have any future plans for your cultivation?” he asked. “I have a good idea of the road Tingfeng will walk, but you’re still open to choices.”

Before Jiang Yeming became one of the weakest Nascent Soul cultivators, she had been lumped into a mass of manufactured Core Formation cultivators, products of Wisdom Hall’s experiments. Guided through books, handed staged epiphanies, funneled down pre-written elemental paths.

They were initially strong enough, but less effective than genuine cultivators. With similar techniques and constrained growth, their late stages stagnated. The project was deemed a failure. Liu Feng had called it that himself.

Yet most sects adopted those methods anyway. By the time of her regression, almost every sect had a Core Formation cultivator thanks to them. Ironically, those “failures” helped hold the world together, pushing back beasts, forcing rival sects to temper their wars, and reducing bloodshed to skirmishes.

It was one of Liu Feng’s most influential contributions, whether he admitted it or not.

Her gaze slid to Tingfeng.

Perhaps fate was real after all.

The two of them, Tingfeng and Liu Feng, got along far too well. In the original timeline, they hadn’t even met until years later, during the wars of the four great sects. Back then, Liu Feng had spared his life, impressed by his talent. Tingfeng was meant to join the Titanic Sword Sect.

But Jiang Yeming needed a future immortal in her team, and he was the only one from Black Chapter whose background wasn’t shrouded in mystery. She had read books on his life. Few immortals were so transparent. He cared only for swords, cutting things, and nothing else.

Even so, he too was monstrous. Liu Feng had already taught him to imbue techniques into his blade, something not meant to appear for another twenty years, not until Wisdom Hall’s founding.

In the end, Liu Feng would become Tingfeng’s teacher anyway, their friendship shaping him into the Titanic Sword Sect’s leader and the Murder Cutting Immortal.

He was well-documented, accessible, and predictable. That was why she had chosen him. Also, despite his epithet, he was not that bad in the general scheme of things.

But the one she had to be most wary of was the leader of the Black Chapter. The Thousand Face Immortal. Man, woman, or something else, no one knew.

Liu Feng had seemed the safe option: intelligent, kind, unlikely to betray her. That much had proven true.

But the way events were unfolding… it was obvious she had underestimated him, underestimated the secrets in the shadows. The future she thought she knew was already unraveling. Hopefully no immortal in this timeline had sensed her arrival, or things could become very troublesome.

Immortals…

If the chance ever came, she would remove some of those future immortals herself. The villains. The few who made the Age of Immortals miserable for everyone else.

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End of Book 5.