Cultivation Nerd

As we drew closer to the rods embedded deep in the sand, their true scale began to hit us. They looked large from a distance, but now, standing beneath them, they were colossal. Towering into the sky, each one stretched as high as a twenty-story apartment building.

But there was something else… strange about the whole structure. The rods looked metallic and radiated heat, a constant whistle in the air around them as the heat distorted the sound, bathing the area in a crimson hue.

Also, who was the genius who thought it’d be a good idea to anchor these massive nails in sand?

Sand was one of the most unstable foundations for any structure, especially something meant to chain down a floating island. Assuming, of course, that the island was actually trying to escape and these chains weren’t just a massive decorative piece. I didn’t remember any books explaining this setup.

I crouched down, running my hand through the sand.

It was just... normal sand.

At the point where molten flame met the edge of the land, there were thick shards of glass. Chunks of molten sand hardened into jagged, glimmering pieces. Even from here, I could smell the sharp, acidic scent of scorched earth.

Just as I was losing myself in the strange beauty of this place, a Qi fluctuation flickered nearby.

It was Wu Yan.

This wasn’t one of my barriers. Wu Yan had decided to protect herself by using her Golden Bell Shield Technique.

For a second, I considered stepping in. But almost immediately, I chose not to. Wu Yan had to take control of her own future. I might not always be there. So how was she going to handle this?

Even though I tried to think coldly and logically for her own good, it still felt off. Maybe my internal reasoning was heartless, but it was meant to help her grow.

Still, despite that resolve, I couldn’t stop myself from conjuring jade daggers, just in case. I needed to be ready.

If her protection failed, she might get burned. She’d recover quickly; her healing ability was strong, but the pain would still be real. So I had to be ready to surround her in a jade barrier.

Was this the right choice?

Lately, I found myself asking that question more often than I’d like.

I kept my eyes on her, watching like a hawk. But then Wu Yan clapped her hands, and a soft golden bell sound rang out. The golden Qi flared, stabilized, and formed a solid protective shell around her.

She’d done it.

She managed to protect herself. But I knew it wouldn’t last forever. Her Qi control was barely passable, and it would eventually start to falter again.

Still, I didn’t interfere. Wu Yan needed this. This pressure was necessary. It would sharpen her control better than any gentle guidance ever could.

Fu Yating glanced at Wu Yan, noticing her struggling, then turned to me. “How long are we going to stick around here?”

“Just a bit longer,” I said, keeping an eye on the foundation of Wu Yan’s technique.

To my surprise, she wasn’t faltering. Her control had improved, and she wasn’t showing signs of slipping.

She finally surprised me for the first time since I had begun teaching her.

Seeing that I didn’t need to stay on edge to protect her anymore, I turned my attention back toward the Sea of Flames.

The sea wasn’t quite what the books had described. When I’d read about it, I imagined a body of water engulfed in flames. But in reality, the water itself looked like liquid fire, radiating heat. It wasn’t lava... but it definitely looked like it. There were parts where the liquid fire looked translucent and like water.

What would it feel like to touch it? To run my hand through that burning current?

After some thought, I decided against it. Judging by the heat radiating from it, even my Qi wouldn’t be enough to protect me if I plunged my hand into that fiery liquid.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of drinking it?” Fu Yating said, her voice laced with mockery.

“Of course not,” I replied.

Though, deep down I had to admit, I was a little curious what it might taste like.

I crouched down, watching the flowing fire. There were blackened scorch marks where the molten water had licked the shore, and I sifted some of the scorched sand through my fingers.

It was brittle and still burning hot. Even with my enhanced body, I felt the sting of heat.

I didn’t get much time to linger on the thought. Just as Fu Yating walked up, ready to say something, a figure dropped from the sky and closed in on us.

I stood up, eyes narrowing toward the sky. Thanks to the light of the Sea of Flames, it was easy to see who was approaching.

The figure landed moments later, sending blasts of hot sand in every direction. But before any of it could reach us, I waved my hand and formed an oval-shaped jade barrier around Wu Yan, Fu Yating, Speedy, and myself.

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As the dust cleared, a middle-aged man came into view. He wore a dark uniform with white sleeves and crimson patterns stitched through the fabric.

What stood out most wasn’t his appearance but the fact that he wasn’t using any visible Qi to defend himself from the heat, unlike the rest of us.

Immediately, I activated the Eight Mind Phantoms Technique. A gentle wave of awareness spread from my head like my brain had just been hit with a blast of minty-fresh air.

I swept a broad wave of mental energy around him to scan.

Mental energy was mostly undetectable to cultivators unless special circumstances applied.

The first thing I picked up was that he was using some kind of specialized Qi circulation technique. But I didn’t dig deeper. A surface-level inspection was usually safe, but probe too far and any competent cultivator would feel it.

A sea of liquid fire. A floating island. And now a guy who had some strange method of resisting the heat, or maybe a technique that put him in tune with it?

Man… if Song Song’s life wasn’t in danger, and if we didn’t have to get our shit together fast, I honestly wouldn’t mind staying here for years.

If something happened to the Blazing Sun Sect, the Song Clan would fall with it.

Song Song had made quite a few enemies, something that would’ve been inevitable even if she hadn’t been the way she was. During the tournament between the four great sects, she’d killed some and injured others. That was just one such incident.

Those people held grudges. But with the Blazing Sun Sect backing her, there was nothing they could do. If that protection vanished, though? Then it would be as simple as asking a Core Formation Elder, likely their teacher, to deal with a pesky Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Song Song had excellent fighting instincts, but instincts alone couldn’t bridge the gap between Foundation Establishment and Core Formation like they could back when it was just Qi Gathering and Foundation Establishment.

Even if the Sect survived and someone else took over as Sect Leader, the odds of them being like the previous one and leaving potential threats to their authority alive were slim to none. I had no idea why the former Sect Leader had done that in the first place. Maybe it was to temper his mind. Still, Song Song was in line to become the next Sect Leader. She had the talent for it, and only a fool would leave someone like her alive, especially with the position likely to be unstable if the new leader wasn’t a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Even if they were, giving her the time and space to catch up would still be stupid.

I shook my head and pulled myself out of those thoughts. No use worrying about that right now. The best thing I could do was create a foothold strong enough that, even if Song Song failed to take the Sect Leader position, it would be too costly to kill her outright. Too many allies. Too much risk of civil war. And the hyenas outside the walls would tear them apart the second they showed weakness.

As for the idea of assassins or some underhanded scheme? Well, she had me. We’d face those challenges together when the time came.

“We’re disciples from the Blazing Sun Sect,” I said aloud. “We were on leave, visiting nearby areas, when we heard rumors of something major happening. So we came here to ask what exactly happened to the Sect.”

The middle-aged man looked at me, slowly letting his gaze sweep over the others as if weighing something in his mind.

“Do you have any proof?” he asked, his voice low and slightly raspy.

I reached into my storage ring and pulled out a golden token lined with shifting black patterns. The dark lines writhed constantly, marking it as a top-tier identification token from the Blazing Sun Sect.

It wasn’t mine.

This was Song Song’s token, one she rarely used since everyone already knew who she was. She’d given it to me.

I had others in my collection, tokens that conveyed different levels of authority, depending on what I needed. But right now, I needed the highest level possible.

The man stared at the writhing lines for several seconds. A faint glint flickered in his dark eyes. For a moment, I thought he might do something drastic, but he simply nodded after a long pause, still glaring at the token.

“We know something happened,” he finally said. “Some kind of disaster. But the cause of it is still a mystery.”

His gaze drifted to the floating island he’d descended from.

“All we really know is that a beam shot down from the sky and scorched the mountain. Eyewitness reports are confirming that.”

I nodded but kept a close eye on him.

Even with the highest-level token, I didn’t expect people to grovel. But his casual attitude... set off a few red flags.

“The Molten Sky Island and the Flaming Cloud Sect have sent some of our troops as aid. But we’re also preparing in case the other three great Sects get any strange ideas about carving up the Blazing Sun Sect’s territory while the soup’s still warm,” the middle-aged man said.

What?

I froze.

It felt like I’d just heard something insane and extremely dangerous.

If what this guy was saying was true, the other great Sects wouldn’t stop at claiming a few border towns. They’d tear the Blazing Sun Sect apart, devour its resources and split the corpse.

I knew what kind of cruelty it took to reach the top. None of those Sects got there by playing nice.

Shit.

The most likely explanation was that some Nascent Soul cultivators fought too close to the Sect or some secret technique had been used, such as an attack by someone at or above that level. But... there was another possibility: a Heavenly Calamity.

If no one had seen Nascent Soul cultivators clashing, then it was very likely a Heavenly Calamity. Only top-tier forces could damage the Blazing Sun Sect like that.

“Would it be possible for us to enter the flying city?” I asked, pointing at the sky and feigning ignorance about Molten Sky Island.

To my surprise, the middle-aged man shook his head, resolutely answering, “No.”

He refused?

The red flag I’d felt before turned into full-blown suspicion.

This wasn’t something I’d expected. Aside from the Sect Leader and the Core Elders, the token I’d shown carried the highest authority.

Now that the Blazing Sun Sect had taken a hit, their enemies weren’t just the other great Sects. Allies like Molten Sky Island, powers that had their own Core Formation cultivators and had only been subservient because of the Sect’s dominance, were beginning to dream of independence.

Now that the Blazing Sun Sect had shown weakness... they wanted to be their own masters.

That was bold as fuck.

If the Blazing Sun Sect ever regained its strength, they’d turn this place into a cautionary tale.

Well, this clearly wasn’t going anywhere useful. I was tempted to stay, study this place, and indulge my curiosity. But if Song Song became the next Sect Leader, I’d have time for all that and more.

“I see. Looks like we’re at an impasse,” I said casually. “Anyway, since the Blazing Sun Sect is entering a period of turmoil... well, you know what they say, chaos brings a shift in the status quo. So, I wanted to ask if you’d consider supporting Song Song in the race to become the next Sect Leader.”

It was also a lifeline and a potential escape route for them.

If the Blazing Sun Sect made a comeback, they could claim they had supported Song Song all along and that they hadn’t betrayed the Sect, just backed the proper successor.

Now, the question was... were they willing to play ball?