Cultivation Nerd-Chapter 336 - One Mistake Away From Death

I stared at the scorched ring of earth gouged around the barrier, soil carved away where the blast had hit it.

If it hadn’t been for my teacher’s arrays around the library, I would be dead by now.

Thankfully, I’d been paranoid enough to summon a shield around myself the moment I sensed the strike; otherwise, I’d have been screwed. Well, maybe not completely, since my foundation technique could’ve slowed time and bought me an analysis, but still.

This Core Formation cultivator who'd just shown up was probably not one of the elders’ allies; if they were, they would have intervened already.

As the dust settled, I kept the borrowed Level 6 array active and bolstered it with my own Qi. I semi-activated my foundation technique, ready for whatever came next.

A figure dropped through the cloudline, moonlight striking his white robes. He was an old man: grey eyes, a close-shaved beard, his hair was bald on top and at the back, the sides left long and braided.

People who’d lived a century or two were a special kind of lunatic; this haircut proved it. It was like a reverse but worse mohawk.

“Liu Feng, you're much more impressive than the rumors said,” the old man said, calm as a pond. “If it wasn't for your lacking cultivation talent, I wouldn't have minded sticking around and seeing what kind of legend you might have built.”

I forced a bitter smile. “I'm honored that someone in your position thinks so highly of me. But recently, it feels like all those who compliment me end up becoming my enemies.”

“You're not worthy of being my enemy yet, kid,” the old man with the terrible haircut replied as he touched down. He spared the corpses only a passing glance. “Though it was impressive how you sensed my attack, and were able to defend against it on time. I expected that kind of thing more from your little girlfriend, but I guess ducks of the same color flock together after all.”

“Again, thank you for the compliment,” I said, stalling for time.

“I want all the Sky Grade Techniques you have in the library,” he said flatly. “You either give them to me willingly, or I will kill you and walk over your corpse and take them.”

“Then I hope this doesn't come off as disrespectful, elder–”

Before I finished, he blurred, closing the distance in an instant. His fist slammed into the barrier with earth-shattering force.

A deafening gong rang from the impact, rattling my bones even behind the shield. Spiderweb cracks crawled outward from the contact point, jagged lines marring the glowing surface of the array.

But the barrier was no ordinary shield. Its light flared, knitting fractures back together with stubborn resilience. The elder’s eyes narrowed, and then his assault truly began.

His fists blurred into invisibility, a storm of blows hammering the array with relentless fury. Each strike landed with a thunderous boom, the ground shaking as if echoing war drums.

Cracks spread faster, the shield groaning under the onslaught, until he changed tactics. His fists flared with Qi, every strike now carrying the weight of his cultivation. Yet instead of breaking, the barrier responded in a different way. The moment his Qi touched the surface, the array greedily absorbed it. The cracks glowed, knitting back together stronger with each blow.

With every strike, he wasn’t breaking the barrier; he was feeding it.

“Qi absorption?” he muttered, frowning. “That’s quite a high-level array.”

But that was all he said before cupping his fist back again. A blast of wind surged from his elbow, propelling his strike forward like a jet engine. The impact shattered the shield at last, the array splintering apart like fragile glass.

The elder’s gaze locked with mine, and for some reason, despite the danger, my heart was calm.

“Are you entertained?” I asked.

He frowned. “Did you go mad, boy?”

“No, he’s asking me,” came a voice from behind me.

A chill rippled down my spine. The sensation was the same as when Song Song used her soul technique to vanish from perception.

I turned, and there she was, smiling with two decapitated heads dangling from her hands.

How long had she been there?

But my shock was nothing compared to the elder’s. His eyes widened, horror flickering across his face. He had been staring at me the entire time, and yet hadn’t noticed her standing a single step behind me.

That was the horror of her technique. Even if someone’s eyes landed on her, their brain refused to comprehend her existence, skipping over her presence entirely.

“By the way,” Song Song said lightly, “I’m going to kill you. You can’t threaten my underlings with impunity. Only I can do that.” She paused, glancing at me. “Not that I’m calling you an underling, we’re more than that. But I’m trying to get the point across.”

The casual brutality in her tone made the elder narrow his eyes at her casual dismissal.

“I don’t care what you call me,” I said plainly. “Or what anyone else thinks.”

She had just saved me from certain death. The gulf between Foundation Establishment and Core Formation was too vast for me to bridge. Yet with her here, the fear choking my chest eased. I could breathe again.

Labels didn’t matter. Underling, partner, advisor or whatever others said, I knew the truth. I might be the brain most of the time, giving the illusion that she followed me, but she was still the leader. She always had the final say.

And now, with Song Song standing at my side, her presence sharp enough to cut the night itself, I finally let myself relax.

Despite using Level 6 arrays, they couldn't display their full power under my control, especially since this was the first time I'd tried to harness the library arrays remotely.

The difference between using my usual arrays and this was like thinking something and writing it down. There was a difference in time that couldn't be erased when I controlled the arrays through the ruby tablet.

The heads Song Song held by their hair belonged to the Flutter and Sound Elders. They never really got a chance to escape; we simply didn't notice when Song Song decapitated them and treated their heads like hairy bowling balls.

She walked up beside me, standing half a step ahead to shield me from any incoming strikes.

“How long have you been here?” I asked, frowning.

“Around the time this guy–” She lifted the Flutter Elder’s head. “–punched you. Checking on Fu Yating and Wu Yan didn't take long.”

“You could have shown yourself earlier,” I said.

“But you were having so much fun,” she replied, chuckling. “Also, some elders were keeping an eye on us. I couldn’t let you miss showing off a bit.”

Thankfully, I’d been cautious and never used my Sky Grade mental technique openly. When I had used it, it was by touching the Fire Elder’s head, close enough that one could plausibly believe I’d used an Earth Grade technique to stun him.

“Also, I had to come up with ways to brutalize this guy so others won't raid your library again,” she said as a weak excuse.

“Liar. When it comes to brutalizing others, you don't need to think for a second,” I sighed.

My outward annoyance was a mask. I was actually relieved she’d come. We’d learned something invaluable tonight: even a Core Formation cultivator couldn’t normally sense her, even when looking straight at her. That was a something we could use.

I was only slightly uneasy that others now knew this. Still, explanations were easy enough, and we could say Zun Gon had given it to her. With Song Song at my side, no one dared press the matter. Anyone who questioned it would die in mysterious circumstances, which we would say was an assassin from another sect.

“Here, hold onto these.” Song Song tossed the decapitated heads toward me.

I frowned as they spun through the air. Before they touched me, I sent out invisible wind blades that shredded them into chunky bits; the fragments fell to the ground.

“Hey! I was thinking of putting those in my trophy room,” she said, mock offense tugging at her lips.

“You have a trophy room?” I asked.

Song Song was always a bit extra when it came to things like this, but I didn’t think she was deranged enough to keep a trophy room. That was serial killer territory. And besides, if she had one, she would’ve bragged about it by now.

“No, but I was thinking of starting one,” she pouted. “You know, get a new hobby. You have your books and reading, and I’d have my preserved, pickled heads.”

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“Gross,” I snorted.

“It seems you children are underestimating me,” said the Core Elder, a murderous gleam flashing in his eyes.

Song Song turned to him, smiling. “I don’t remember seeing you in the meetings. You must be one of the elders on border patrol. Having someone like that betray the sect is… quite the bad look.”

He didn’t bother answering. His figure blurred as he blitzed toward her, a dark mist forming around his hand as he swung for her neck in a sharp, chopping motion.

She stood only two steps in front of me, so I immediately erected a fresh Level 6 barrier using the library’s array, ensuring at least she wouldn’t need to worry about me.

Song Song’s smiling head flew upward, severed cleanly.

For a heartbeat, my chest froze. But then I caught the mocking curve of her lips, the way her expression was aimed directly at the elder…

The dark mist clung to his hand, preventing even a drop of blood from touching him.

Then his eyes widened. Song Song’s “body” ballooned grotesquely before bursting into a storm of blood, the blast erupting point-blank.

A hand touched my shoulder, and my heart lurched until I felt the familiar signature of her Qi.

“He really took the bait,” she said. “What a dumbass.”

I had taken the bait too. Her blood clones carried an uncanny resemblance to her Qi signature, indistinguishable from the real thing.

Also, was she copying this strategy from the Leaf Elder?

As for using her Sky Grade Technique, I doubted the clones could, but Song Song could extend her stealth to anyone she touched.

The elder reappeared from the haze, wrapped in a dark barrier that kept the blood at bay.

With Song Song’s stealth, erasing her presence from the world, combined with her deadly blood techniques, anyone careless enough to get close should have been finished. But he was cautious.

She had shown hints of this power before, against her brother and during the Beast Wave with the rabbit beast. People knew she could manipulate blood once it was inside their bodies. And that knowledge was now being used to try to counter her.

That was why I didn’t like revealing too much. Once your cards were on the table, people built counters.

If she hadn’t shown those abilities before, that elder would’ve been a corpse by now.

I glanced at Song Song. She smiled back, as though she’d read my mind and was telling me not to worry.

“Do you want me to stall him?” I asked.

“No,” she shook her head. “He already knows the arrays won’t stop him. Between a one-star and a three-star Core Formation cultivator, if he’s prepared, your arrays won’t hinder him.”

I still had trump cards I wasn’t comfortable revealing, but when it came to Song Song’s safety…

“Can you handle him without too many injuries?” I pressed.

It felt like I was nagging her, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Of course,” she said, sharp and confident.

Her Qi erupted like a tidal wave, suffocating in its force. Crimson light hardened into plates of armor, clinging to her frame like molten steel cooling into form. Jagged pads flared from her shoulders, her helm smoldered with ember-like glow, and in her hands a massive axe formed, its wicked blade burning with a crimson fire.

Her Core Technique had grown sharper.

“You can fall back behind the library’s arrays,” she told me. “Don’t worry, if he tries to touch you, he’ll lose his head.”

Normally, a one-star against a three-star was a desperate mismatch. But I trusted her.

I dropped my barrier and glanced at the elder. He didn’t move as I retreated, slipping into the library’s defenses. Once inside the true core of its arrays, I was safe. These barriers were built to withstand Core Formation assaults, not just my borrowed imitations.

Then, in a blur, the night sky split open. Song Song and the elder exploded into motion, crimson and emerald streaks colliding with thunderous force. Sparks rained as their Qi and weapons clashed, splitting clouds, their battle echoing across the sky.

Hundreds of exchanges passed in the span of heartbeats, until it felt as though they’d struck a thousand blows already.

The night became a canvas of red and green, each collision like thunder ripping the night apart.

I probed their battle carefully. With his cultivation now fully revealed, the elder really was a three-star Core Formation cultivator.

Even if I couldn’t see the exact outcome of each clash, I could guess that Song Song was likely fighting on the back foot.

When their movements stilled, my heart jumped. Song Song hovered unscathed, her crimson armor still gleaming faintly, holding her ground against the guy.

But the Core Elder hadn’t suffered so much as a scratch. His frame was sheathed in a slick, mucus-like green aura that shimmered with unnatural resilience. It clung to him like a second skin, deflecting every strike and denying Song Song’s blood the chance to touch him.

Behind her helm, Song Song’s eyes blazed with a murderous blue light. She hefted her axe and swung with brutal force, releasing a blinding crescent of crimson that ripped across the sky.

The Core Elder raised his hand in a mocking salute. From his palm, a beam of pale green-white light erupted, cutting through the heavens like a blade of annihilation.

The two attacks collided. Sparks exploded, and the elder’s beam devoured her strike before surging onward. It reached her in an instant.

Song Song swung her axe to intercept.

The beam hit. Her weapon shattered into shards of molten crimson, and the blast continued through, tearing away her left arm in a spray of blood and burning Qi.

I frowned at the sight.

But Song Song only laughed, a jagged, unsettling cackle that echoed from within her helm.

“No matter how talented you are, a gap of two hundred years in fighting experience can’t be bridged so easily,” the elder said flatly, unmoved by her madness.

“True,” she admitted, her voice rumbling like some ancient horror dragged up from the abyss. “But I can afford to make a hundred mistakes… you only need to make one.”

Blood gushed from her ruined shoulder, twisting into the air. The crimson torrent writhed, knitting into bone, sinew, and flesh. In a heartbeat, a new arm formed.

The skin gleamed raw and red, pulsing as though freshly born, before paling into ghostly white. Her fingers flexed naturally, whole again as if she had never been wounded.

A budget version of Wu Yan… that was the first thought that crossed my mind.

Then her armor shifted. It didn’t break apart; it melted, cascading from her body in streams of liquid blood that slithered like serpents.

The crimson mass condensed in her grip, reshaping into a massive axe, its wet edge gleaming with hunger. At the same time, globes of blood split away, stretching into humanoid forms.

Clones. Each bore her face, her stance, her killing intent. A crimson tide surged forward, advancing in perfect unison to drown the Core Elder.

One of the Song Songs remained behind, looking at the others as they charged. I wasn't sure if that one was a clone or not.

The Core Elder’s expression darkened, his lips curling into a thin frown as he reached into the air itself. The wind obeyed, howling and twisting around his hands until, through my Qi sense, I felt the unmistakable shape of twin blades forming in his grip.

He swung.

The night split into crescent arcs of pale light, moonlike flashes slicing through the swarm of blood clones. One after another, they were cleaved apart, bodies scattering into scarlet mist that rained across the battlefield.

His arms blurred, invisible blades carving in ruthless rhythm, butchering the tide without pause. The world became a storm of moonlit slashes and shredded blood.

And yet, it was futile. Even as their forms burst apart, the crimson essence writhed and pulled itself back together, knitting flesh and bone until the clones stood whole again like an endless cycle of slaughter and rebirth.

The Core Elder’s frown deepened, patience fraying. With a sharp gesture, he unleashed his devastating white beam that ripped through the Song Song lingering at the rear of her clone army. Her body was obliterated in an instant.

He wasted no time, his invisible blades sweeping wide, releasing an enormous flying wind slash that looked like a moonlight arc, and it bisected every clone that was left or was about to reform.

But from the mangled remains of one fallen clone, the blood churned and swelled. From the lower half of its body, Song Song erupted, drenched in gore yet smiling with savage triumph, axe in hand.

The elder’s eyes narrowed, and he cloaked himself in a whirling sphere of wind. The cyclone screamed, razor currents shredding the crimson tide as they hurled themselves at him. Limbs and torsos were torn apart, bodies scattered, their forms twisting and ripping apart like they were sucked into a blender.

The barrier quivered under the ceaseless pressure. Then, almost imperceptibly, a gap opened. His eyes widened, realization dawning too late.

From the scattered gore, the blood coiled together like a striking serpent taking advantage of that small opening. Out of the writhing mass stepped Song Song, smiling with feral delight, lips stretched too wide, eyes glittering with manic hunger.

"Ahahahaha!" She cackled like a mad witch, her voice echoing through the silent night.

She raised her axe high, crimson light spilling off the blade like liquid fire, and brought it down in a brutal arc. The strike carved through him from groin to crown, splitting his body in two with sickening precision.

The Core Elder’s scream ripped across the battlefield, contrasting Song Song's manic laughter. His halves peeled apart, the cry fading into a gurgle as his body collapsed in a rain of gore and Qi.

“That was difficult,” Song Song sighed. Her smile slipped away as she dismissed the axe and drew the blood she had spent back into her palm, reabsorbing it in a single motion.

Which one had been the real Song Song?

The question lingered in my mind until a terrifying thought occurred to me.

They might all have been her, in a sense. With that soul-type technique of hers, so long as her spirit remained bound to the blood, she was nearly unkillable. Of course, that would require her to keep her soul intact and not lose herself... which was something beyond the basic functions of her technique.

Of course, it was only speculation, and the chances of Song Song already being able to do this were unlikely. However, it wouldn't be the first time she surprised me.

There was a good chance that this was a trick that made it seem like she could regenerate endlessly, but I hadn't seen the punchline. I was going to ask her about it later, so she didn't reveal it here. She really needed to learn to keep her techniques to herself.

“Things would have been easier if they didn’t know how lethal touching your blood would be to them,” I said.

“Ha, who cares? They can come up with a hundred countermeasures against me, and I’ll make a hundred and one lethal techniques,” she replied, brimming with confidence.

A dangerous aura swirled around her as she landed next to me, and the smile on her face was wider than I had ever seen it before. This fight seemed to have satisfied her, for now.

She might remember this feeling for about a week.

Song Song’s belief in her own talent was unshakable. Even cornered, she carried no doubt that she would survive.

I nodded, scanning the battlefield. Though I sensed no one nearby, I knew countless elders were surely watching us now.

“Hopefully this makes people think twice before trying something like this again,” I told her.

If they wanted to leave the sect, they should go quietly and not drag others down with them.

I had better things to do with my life than spend it fighting them to the death. That was more down Song Song's alley of expertise.