Cultivation Nerd

Drip!. Drop!. Drip!. Drop!.

Song Song's blood dripped from her pierced wrists onto the dirty floor of the dark room. Aside from my breath and heartbeat, it was the only sound I could hear.

Though I couldn't see the rest of her face, she wore a knowing smirk, as if privy to the punchline of a joke only she knew.

The door behind us cracked open before another word could come out of Song Song's mouth. A strong breeze burst in, almost throwing me off my feet. With the wind came a stench of blood, rotten corpses, and much worse.

The granny tugged me from the back of my clothes, keeping me steady and dragging me back. I could do nothing despite my instinctive urge to resist being dragged along. Her overwhelming strength made me feel like putty in her hands.

Despite her age and appearance, this granny could fold me like paper.

Judging by how ancient she looked, the old lady was likely on the weaker side of Core Formation Cultivators regarding raw physical strength. But between us, there was still an extreme difference in physical power.

The door slowly closed again to Song Song's haunting chuckles. Even though I couldn't see well, I knew the granny was undoubtedly worried about the outcome of this meeting.

As the doors to Song Song's cell closed, the granny held onto me like an iron vice. But unlike what I expected, she didn't yell, scream, or say anything. She didn't even reprimand or hit me.

The old woman crouched down and tightened the grip on the back of my uniform. The next thing I knew, it felt like someone had hooked me up to a rocket.

She had jumped up!

In an instant, we covered the whole distance and reached the top of the prison where we had entered. The granny kicked the door open leading to the reception area, and the tall woman looked at us wide-eyed and startled.

The tall lady couldn't even say a word as the old woman took me out. The clear winter afternoon wind bristled against my hair.

As the granny took a deep breath, the air around her shifted, and the snow was pushed away by the Qi bursting out of her. My knees buckled as I felt an overwhelming pressure on my shoulders. Despite the powerful burst of Qi, I realized she had it all under control, as the snow that was pushed away formed a perfect circle around her.

She shifted her position, and we were in the air in a split second. I dangled in her grip like a rag. Hopefully, these clothes were durable, or I would turn into a smudge on the ground below!

Despite the cold wind brushing against my skin and pushing a chill into my eyes, this time, I was prepared. From such a great height, I caught sight of the Song Clan Compound.

The place did not look like a compound and was closer to a small town. Even the roads were built by stone, and a training field was on the western corner with an arena next to it. Every house I saw was quite big and like a mini-mansion. Plus, that big castle-like manor in the distance should be where someone important stays, likely the Clan Leader.

As we approached the building where I was staying, the momentum she had built slowly lessened, and so did the harsh cold winds beating against me.

I rubbed my hands together to generate some heat, though with the barrier around this place, the cold was no longer a problem. But with how fast we had moved through the cold winter air, I felt like I had almost gotten frostbite.

The granny kept staring at me, saying nothing, and making me nervous. I kept rubbing my arms and acted like I didn't notice what she was doing.

In my last life, I learned a crucial lesson: to keep my mouth shut if I had nothing to say.

There was a shift in the air that I was growing familiar with, and the granny flew off the next second. She flew without a flying sword or any other artifact.

I let out a sigh of relief as soon as she was out of sight. It seemed like I was safe for now.

Though with her gone, I returned back to my usual shenanigans. She had flown without an artifact. Was that a Core Formation Cultivator thing, or just a martial technique? While I couldn't see her movements, I could still sense them, and it was scary how fast she moved.

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However, I was still surprised at how she did nothing to me. Why was that? Was she scared of what Song Song would do once she grew stronger than her? Or was it something else?

It seemed like the granny had little time left anyway. She didn't need to be worried about what Song Song might do decades from now.

No, perhaps I was reading it wrong. Just because a cultivator was old didn't mean they were close to death. There could be many factors at play here I wasn't seeing. I stopped thinking about these things for now. Since I wouldn't get an answer, it would be mostly speculation on my part.

At least I was away from that place.

I clenched my teeth and started walking around the house. From the room I had woken up in, to another room that resembled a kitchen, and every other room, I was in a haze of motion, searching for something to get those heavy thoughts away.

After looking around a bit in the kitchen-like room with only some cabinets and what looked like a heating artifact resembling a pan, I finally found what I was looking for. A book was next to a tea set in one of the cabinets.

I took the book and read the title, "Etiquette of Tea Ceremonies?"

Whenever I had heavy thoughts, I liked to read something to distract myself. Preferably, it would have been a book about martial techniques, but I had to make do with what I had.

I walked out to the yard and lay on the cold grass, with the sun brushing against my face. I opened the book and began reading.

It really was as the title said—the book did not contain an array or hidden technique with secret contents. The book mainly talked about the mundane parts of being Cultivation Royalty, which was the Song Clan. There were ceremonies and different ways to drink tea.

This confirmed what I had already been suspecting. That green-haired guy, Song San, was definitely not just some servant. Also, those arrays at the front door showed a cautious nature.

I put the book on my chest and rubbed my chin while thinking—what were the chances of that guy having a hidden room in here somewhere?

What did rich paranoid people do? They usually built secret rooms and weird dungeons. This place probably had one. A sense of excitement washed over me at the thought of going on a mystery hunt. The room might even have some books. Anything would work, even mortal-grade techniques at this point!

But as soon as such thoughts came to mind, I put them aside. If there was a secret room, there would definitely be some traps there.

I was in an uncomfortable position in life where even reading books wasn't going to help me. Interfering with things that involved Song Song was always too dangerous, something I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. But I gained a new perspective on things recently.

I could only read without worry if everything returned to normal. Or whatever the hell "normal" meant in this world.

Either way, I needed Song Song out of that hellhole. While she could handle staying down there, I needed her out of there. When she came out, she could do her own things and handle whatever issues popped up.

Having Song Song around was the best security measure I could ever wish for.

I grabbed a handful of grass and ripped it out of the ground. Standing up, I stretched my neck and felt every joint pop.

Getting Song Song out of that place would take a lot of work. I would have to talk to the Song Clan Leader.

Just recalling those cells sent a chill down my spine. I immediately dismissed the idea of meeting that man.

If there was one person even Song Song couldn't shield me against, it was her father. Clearly, the dungeon was in the Song Clan's territory, so it was a safe bet that the Song Clan Leader was heavily involved with the miseries there.

I calculated every choice I had, which wasn't much... No matter how hard I tried to think of something to help me with this, my mind always went to what I couldn't do instead of what I could.

I cared about Song Song as a friend enough that I even risked my life for her on multiple occasions. But approaching her father would be stupid. The kind of man who had a whole torture dungeon just for fun was not the kind of man I could read. I had no idea what he might do next.

No, I had to play it safer and not try to convince a maniac I couldn't predict. Still, to release Song Song, I needed to find someone powerful enough to force the Song Clan Leader's hand.

Who would do that?

There was only one person I could think of. But there was no free meal in this world. I needed to offer that someone something that would make it worthwhile to butt heads with the Song Clan Leader.

What could I offer?

With my thinking done, a scheme slowly formed in my mind. I was dancing with fire here, but I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be for some reason.

Those torture scenes played in my head...

I was playing a very dangerous game here.

...

Another week passed with me holed up in this place. Very little had changed.

I sat on the warm wooden porch, shirtless, and looked at the wound where my arm had been cut off. There were no longer any stitches, as they had fallen off on their own, and there was no longer any redness around the wound. A cultivator's regeneration was quite something.

There had been no news of Song Song's release this week, which was worrying.

I sat down in a meditative position and felt the Qi inside my body. A chill went down my spirit roots as the Qi around me was sucked in and filtered.

Like always, progress was slow. It might take about ten years of rigorous cultivation to reach the peak of Qi Gathering with my talent. I was far from breaking through to two-star Qi Gathering.

But I was confident that if I worked hard enough, I might be able to reduce that time to nine years.

I sighed and opened my eyes.

I was a hostage in all but name here and had zero authority. I needed to find a way to meet up with someone who could challenge the Song Clan Leader's power. I was just barely a Qi Gathering Cultivator.

"Yo, how have you been?" a familiar asked, leaning against the tree close to the pond.

Like always, he had slipped past my senses. I didn't know how he did it, but some type of technique was definitely involved. I was pretty sure even elders couldn't usually hide their Qi like this.

Song San stared at me with a smirk on his thin lips that didn't quite reach his eyes.

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