Song San wiggled around to find a comfortable spot, leaning against the tree, then sat down. He closed his eyes and turned toward the sun as if trying to get a tan.
"How have your last couple of days been? I haven't been able to visit much. Did the servants leave the food in front of your door like usual?" Song San asked.
This guy didn't have much going on in his life if he was willing to loiter around with soone essentially under house arrest.
"Everything was okay," I answered, pausing my cultivation.
It was sowhat true, as there was nothing to worry about here. I have yet to get any news about what was happening with the Beast Waves. So perhaps ignorance was bliss on that part, or there really was little to worry about. The only thing I was even remotely worried about was Song Song.
I glanced at Song San and wondered whether I should play my cards now. There wasn't much ti left, and the longer Song Song stayed in that prison, the worse it would get for both of us.
Either way, I never thought I would go through this life without taking so reckless risks at least once or twice. But that didn't an I had to like it.
"Can you get in contact with the Sect Leader?" I asked, trying to gauge his reaction. That question ca out of nowhere, but Song San was as calm as always, acting as if I had just asked him about the weather. "I have so new strategies for the Sect."
Song San opened his eyes, and his deep green eyes turned toward . He raised a questioning brow.
Was he still going to play the part of a servant?
"What's in it for ?" he asked, his reaction and body language indicating that arranging a eting with the Sect Leader might not be too hard for soone of his position.
Wait... this guy wasn't Song Song's father, right? Because that would be terrifying.
"You will help the Blazing Sun Sect massively and likely end the war sooner, so fewer people die," I said passionately.
This guy was from the Song Clan, so I held little hope that such words would sway him. But I needed to get a better read on what kind of person Song San was.
"Even if the Beast Wave was big enough and strong enough to destroy the whole Sect and massacre all the Song Clan, it would only be an inconvenience," Song San shrugged as he stood up and walked toward with asured steps. "There is no way I would ever do anything if there weren't at least so benefits."
There was not even a twitch or change in expression as he said all that, which likely ant he was not bluffing. He really didn't give a shit about the Sect or the Song Clan.
"What do you want?" I asked. There was no need to play gas any longer.
"Give the poison formula you used on the town you were managing. I heard quite so rumors about it but never caught wind of what it exactly was," Song San said.
I almost breathed a sigh of relief when that was all he asked. But I kept a composed expression and tried to show nothing.
"I will go get so paper," I said. But before I could stand up, he waved his hand, and a piece of paper appeared between his fingers.
A storage ring? But there were no rings on his fingers.
"Here," he said, placing the paper down. He then took out a thin brush and handed it to , along with an ink bottle. "During the last couple of weeks, I couldn't get a wink of sleep just thinking about this."
Okay... I didn't see why he felt he needed to tell that latter part.
I began writing down the poison formula while the guy lood over . Different from what he was expecting, it took little ti to write down the formula. He took the paper as soon as I was finished.
While he read it, he frowned. "The poison is simple and nothing advanced. You even had to use Qi to keep the poison afloat; quite amateurish."
"Poisons were never my specialty," I said, trying to hand the thin brush back to him. However, he kept reading the poison recipe like a madman, as if trying to find secrets in the recipe. But there were none.
"Tch, this looks more like an overcomplicated array than a poison," Song San sighed, and the paper disappeared from his hand, likely into whatever storage artifact he was using. "How did you keep the people in town safe then? I heard of no genocide in the town you managed."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
I broadly explained how the battle had transpired. By the end, Song San looked like a conservative parent whose son had just co out of the closet. He looked like his soul had been crushed.
"This poison recipe is useless unless the user is a half-decent Array Conjurer," Song San sighed before grumbling, "I'm not good at arrays. Even then, it's not worth the effort learning arrays for a poison like this."
I shrugged. I hadn't made this poison with thoughts of how everyone would be able to use it. I created it thinking of how to make sothing deadly with the resources I had on hand. The poison was lethal but nothing special, and if a pro looked at it, they could probably make an antidote in a day or two. But I had been fighting against monstrous beasts, and they had no poison specialists.
"You will still keep your part of the promise, right?" I asked, just to be sure.
Song San sighed and nodded. "I will take you to the Sect Leader. But whatever happens after that will be on you. The Sect Leader might decide not to hear you out."
He would be a fool not to at least listen to . After all, I was an outsider with no ties to the clan who had been in the midst of the Song Clan compound. I doubted the Sect Leader was too fond of the Song Clan after Song Song had killed his concubine. I should at least get a eting in hopes of unveiling Song Clan's secrets.
Whatever guided him to give a chance, I didn't care as long as he would listen to . Unless, of course, he took my friendship with Song Song the wrong way. And there were those rumors about our relationship... the guy might just decide to take revenge for his concubine.
Fuck, this was why I never liked reckless plans based mostly on unproven assumptions.
A giant green leaf the size of a car appeared next to Song San. His Qi flowed into the artifact, and for the first ti, I could sense his presence. His Qi slowly imbued the leaf until it floated a foot off the ground. I got a rough estimation of his cultivation: Song San was in the upper levels of Foundation Establishnt, around six, seven, or at most eight-star. He was definitely not the Song Clan Leader. Either that or he was very good at hiding his Qi signature even when using Qi.
"Get on," Song San said as he jumped onto the leaf-like artifact and sat down.
I followed his actions and did the sa. The leaf was surprisingly comfortable, though too soft for my liking, as it felt like I might fall through at any minute.
The leaf artifact shook, and then, with an explosion of Qi, it shot off into the distance. Though slower than the granny, it was still fast.
Song San had the common courtesy to form a spherical barrier around the artifact to protect us from the strong winds generated by our speed.
As I looked at the green-haired guy, I couldn't help but wonder who he really was. After all, he had just appeared out of nowhere.
"No need to answer if it's uncomfortable. But who are you exactly? What's your position within the Song Clan?" I asked.
Though I held little hope he would answer, he seed like the kind of guy who wouldn't do sothing without so benefit.
"I'm a Core Disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect and the son of the Song Clan Leader. Though I guess you would be more familiar with Song Song's brother," he said nonchalantly.
Song Song had a brother? They looked nothing alike!
Though I guess it made sense. They might be from different mothers. Powerful cultivators, especially male ones, were known for their vast harems. Song Song probably had many more siblings, though most of them might not have the talent to cultivate. Either way, Song Song didn't seem like the kind who would be a loving sister. She never even ntioned her siblings once.
"So... how is your relationship with Song Song?" I inquired, curiosity getting the better of . Also, if this guy and Song Song got along, I could use him for my plans.
"Well," Song San rubbed his chin, seemingly thinking about how to explain. In the end, he just shrugged and said, "I tried to poison her a couple of tis when we were younger. But overall, I don't think our relationship is so bad. I haven't tried to kill her even once in the last eight years."
What? How could he say all of this with a straight face?
"When you say poison, do you an like a prank poison where her birthday cake was spicy or sothing like that? Or do you an the deadly kind of poison?" I asked.
"The deadly kind, obviously," he looked at like I was the weird one.
Wow, okay. That was sothing. This family was all kinds of ssed up. But in a weird way, there was still hope he and Song Song could get along. After all, he hadn't tried to kill her in a while. Perhaps he had grown up and understood that hurting his little sister wasn't the best way to live his life. Growing up in a place like the Song Clan, this was the best one could expect.
"At least you didn't try to poison or kill her during the last eight years, and that ans sothing," I tried to spin this on a positive note, planning my following words carefully.
This guy was an unlikely ally but an ally all the sa as long as I could play on his brotherly protective instincts.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Song Song started living with her master eight years ago. Poisoning her beca really hard after that."
Oh... so that was why he stopped.
A man had to know when to give up. After learning all this, it was easy to tell there was no chance Song Song or any of her siblings would beco allies. This guy only stopped trying to poison her after it beca too difficult and tedious.
After that ss of a conversation, I stayed quiet and thought about what I could tell the Sect Leader. There were so military strategies from Earth, but...
Carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, describes the bombardnt of a given area with bombs, destroying as much as possible in the given area. Like a carpet that covers the floor, bombs should cover the area. Carpet bombing is usually done by dropping a large number of unguided bombs. The planes could be replaced by disciples on flying artifacts, throwing down explosive artifacts or potions.
Sadly, that was no good because of flying monstrous beasts. In the worst-case scenario with carpet bombing, we might make the monstrous beasts learn from them and beco much more dangerous. After all, while monstrous beasts could move their armies, we couldn't move our cities.
The plan of acting like we were retreating so we could encircle the enemy was useless, too. They were monstrous beasts; they would break the encirclent easily, and flying monstrous beasts would attack relentlessly. It might be effective initially, but it was not good enough.
No, my plan would only work based on the logic of this world. It was sothing original that I ca up with, and it would not work on Earth. But here, it was perfectly logical with what I knew.
It should work... hopefully.
Reviews
All reviews (0)