Cultivation Nerd-Chapter 248: Absolute Control

The middle-aged man didn’t even bother flying back to his city to check with his superiors. He just shook his head.

“I mean no offense to the Song Clan, and we’ve heard how talented Song Song is. But the beast waves have been acting strange lately, and we can’t afford to send any troops for support,” he said, without blinking or even pretending to be sorry.

Such blatant disregard for the Blazing Sun Sect. A mere gatekeeper acting on his own, dismissing a request for aid like it was nothing.

Still, he’d shown some basic respect for the Song Clan. This meant there was a good chance the Song Clan Head was still alive or, at the very least, there had been no confirmed news of his death. These people were being cautious. But that caution also implied something else… they likely had heard something about the Sect Leader and believed he was dead.

I couldn’t think of any other reason why mere Core Formation cultivators would act this boldly.

The Song Clan wasn’t known for kindness. Even now, that reputation still carried weight.

Hanging around here any longer would just stir up unnecessary danger. These people hadn’t made their hostility toward the Blazing Sun Sect explicit yet, but if things got any worse, they might.

I bowed my head respectfully, with Fu Yating and Wu Yan following suit.

“This disciple bids farewell to senior and believes that with Molten Sky Island’s power, you’ll be able to deal with the threat of the monstrous beasts,” I said politely.

The man nodded, and we turned to leave.

Even as we walked away with our backs to him, I stayed on alert. With all the Fire Qi in the air, I could erect a fire defense array in under a second if I had to.

Only once we’d made it deep into the forest, far from the burning shore, did I stop feeling his gaze on us.

With the sound of birds and nature surrounding us, I finally let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

“That guy got pissed when you brought up supporting Song Song,” Fu Yating said.

I sighed, nodded, and agreed quietly, “That’s probably true.”

“In my humble opinion, we should go get Song Song first. With her presence, we’d have a stronger front, which would be more intimidating. Even if people didn’t really support her, they’d at least pretend. And that’s useful too. As long as they play along, they can’t openly back our rivals,” Fu Yating said.

“Having Song Song with us now would be pointless,” I explained. “She needs to focus on breaking through to Core Formation. And with her father by her side, I know she’s safe. No matter what happens, she’ll manage it.”

Now that Fu Yating was seen in public with me, she knew we were in the same boat.

Still… even if Song Song did become the next Sect Leader, Molten Sky Island would likely remain a thorn in our side. Even if we won the civil war and fended off outside enemies, there’d still be places that saw the Blazing Sun Sect as nothing more than an iron-fisted oppressor, offering no benefits to those beneath them. Those places wouldn’t welcome a return to that rule.

But that was a problem for another day.

Right now, I needed to focus on what was in front of me.

“How high was the authority on that identity token you used?” Fu Yating asked.

I saw no reason to lie.

“The highest level for a disciple. Literally can’t be touched by anyone except those explicitly authorized to it.”

I added that last bit to make it clear that stealing it would be useless. Not that I thought Fu Yating had any such plan; it would’ve been a stupid one anyway. 𝙧Ãℕo͍𝖇Êṥ

“They didn’t even let in a disciple from the Blazing Sun Sect with that kind of authority?” Fu Yating frowned, rubbing her chin. “They’ve clearly decided they no longer plan to stay under the Great Sect’s control.”

“Yep,” I agreed, glancing at Wu Yan. She was listening closely and hopefully picking up a few things.

“What do you think the chances are that these Molten Sky Island people will send someone to eliminate us?” Fu Yating asked.

“Close to none. They don’t know what kind of power we have behind us, or which clan we might come from,” I said.

“True. But they’ve also shown they’re reckless enough to go against the Blazing Sun Sect.”

Oh, she would know something about reckless plans.

“True…” I agreed again.

It was nice having someone on the same wavelength. We could bounce ideas and schemes off each other and spot things the other might miss.

“By the way,” Fu Yating asked, “where was Song Song during the whole disaster?”

It was a fair concern. Song Song was our only real backer. If she was injured or worse, we were in deep trouble.

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“She was somewhere safe with her father. He’s a weird, creepy-looking guy, but he supports her in everything,” I explained. “I don’t actually know where they are, though.”

The chances of me ending up in a situation where I’d be tortured were slim to none, mostly because I had ways to kill myself before it got that far. Still, knowing nothing about Song Song’s location meant she’d be safe no matter what happened to me.

“He supports her in everything?” Fu Yating frowned. “Does it feel like she grew up in a supportive family?”

I shrugged. “I don’t get what his deal is. But a lot of powerful cultivators are weird like that. Centuries of living tend to twist their thought process.”

“You don’t understand him?” Fu Yating’s frown deepened. “And you just decided to play along and not look into it?”

“Something like that. It’s not like I have the power to investigate someone at that level.”

“At the end of the day, all cultivators are still human,” Fu Yating said. “They can all be understood, no matter how extreme. I’ve never met Song Song’s father, but does he seem like someone willing to give up so much for his daughter?”

I stopped walking and looked down at the green grass beneath our feet, my thoughts wandering.

He had supported her becoming Sect Leader. He’d agreed to destroy the very Clan he was the head of...

Maybe I’d been too desperate and too focused on the coming Heavenly Calamity to question it. I’d accepted too many things at face value.

What would Song Song’s father gain from all of this?

Cultivation was an individualistic pursuit. The guy had more children than I could count. It didn’t seem likely this was just fatherly affection.

It felt like there was a missing piece to this puzzle.

“Do you have any idea what it could be?” I asked.

Fu Yating shrugged. “Nope. I just find it weird and a little too convenient.”

“How troublesome,” I muttered, letting the topic drop. For now.

I spread out my senses, searching for any nearby monstrous beasts...

And found none.

Which made it obvious that Molten Sky Island’s excuse about beast waves was weak, at best.

We kept moving, and I continued scanning the area regularly, searching for even a hint of the danger they’d claimed.

…

After a couple of hours of searching, we finally found a few beasts, most of them hovering around the low end of Qi Gathering. Probably just left here as training targets for the younger generation of Molten Sky Island.

"Stay put for a bit," I told the team, then turned to Speedy. "Protect them."

Then, I shot a quick glance at Wu Yan. When I said "them," I really meant her. Fu Yating was just an afterthought.

It was a bit of an extreme measure, but this world was an extreme place by itself. Without Song Song around, I didn't have the luxury of making mistakes.

I activated Galloping Horse Power, my movement technique, and blitzed through the trees, leaving an afterimage in my wake.

The wind cracked around me like a whip as I moved. It didn't take long to reach my destination.

Now that I was far from the source of the heat, the cool night air kissed my skin. I hadn't even realized how oppressive the heat had been until it was gone. The contrast was almost... pleasant.

But I had other things to focus on.

Leaning lazily against a tree was a monstrous beast, a tiger, at least in shape. But where there should've been orange fur, there was only deep crimson. Likely a mutation developed over generations under the influence of the Sea of Flames and the dense fire Qi around here.

The creature was massive, easily the size of a car. One of its eyes opened, as big as my head. It seemed disoriented, too sleepy to react properly.

After a moment, it growled. But even then, it didn't bother standing up.

There were no visible injuries. It just seemed... lazy.

"You haven't fought anyone who was a real threat in a long time, huh, big guy?" I said with a smile, stepping forward.

I wasn't bothered by its lack of aggression. Most of the beasts around here were ordinary, probably never exposed to truly strong opponents.

As for the cultivators nearby, they probably didn't hunt it down because they wanted to preserve the beast population for training purposes. Otherwise, I couldn't see any reason they'd leave a creature this big lying around. It wasn't subtle and couldn't camouflage its presence, I'd sensed its presence from miles away.

I waited.

My fighting style worked best when I counterattacked, and I was curious to see what a fire-mutated beast like this could actually do.

Unfortunately, it just kept lying there. Maybe it was crippled. Or maybe it was simply that lazy.

"Whatever," I muttered.

I charged in, and maybe that's when it finally understood I was serious.

It roared, a deep, rumbling sound that sent a tingle down the back of my head. A mental attack. Intimidation.

Not bad.

Mental techniques worked on most people since nobody trained their mental defenses. This tiger probably thought it was untouchable.

Sadly for him, I wasn't most people. My Sky Grade mental defenses weren't going to be broken by anything less than a Core Formation cultivator using an Earth Grade mental technique.

He roared again and swiped at me with a paw the size of a small boulder.

Slow.

I slipped past it and placed my palm on his forehead.

For the first time, I used the Eight Mind Phantoms Technique the way it was meant to be used, not to bend, reshape, or manipulate mental energy but to enslave monstrous beasts.

How many hours had I poured into mastering this technique? How many sleepless nights spent tracing every thread of its complexity?

Countless.

I'd always resisted it and tried to reshape it into something that fit me, my style, and my intent. My limitations.

But now, the moment I let go and allowed the technique to function as it was designed, it was like turning a key in a lock that had been waiting all along.

It clicked into place with perfect ease.

The resistance I'd always felt was gone. No strain. No pushback. Just control.

Immediate. Absolute.

Using the Eight Mind Phantoms Technique the way it was intended was... astonishingly easy. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Too easy.

Like the technique had just been waiting for me to finally understand.