Ye An stood above the clouds, the sky vast and endless around her, as the first hints of spring stirred in the wind. The bite of winter was fading, replaced by sothing softer, warr. Even with only one eye, her vision was keener than most. From her high vantage point, she spotted Liu Feng below, a small figure among a cluster of teens as he patiently demonstrated the fundantals of array conjuration.
She watched him kneel to adjust a boy’s stance, his movents calm as faint flickers of Qi ford translucent shapes in the air. It was such a gentle scene, so unlike the chaos she usually associated with him, that she lingered longer than intended, the breeze tugging at her robes as an unexpected peace settled in her chest.
What’s gotten into this guy?
Liu Feng was the kind of person Song Song got along with, and that was no coincidence. Beneath the mask of a patient teacher, he was chaos incarnate.
She watched as he demonstrated weak lightning arrays, pinning students in place with harmless jolts. Their laughter and stunned expressions betrayed genuine excitent. So already looked determined to dedicate themselves to arrays.
Lightning arrays… huh.
The sight dredged up an old mory. Of a certain man that she hated more than anything else, soone who had taken a lifeline from her. Hu Jin, injured, was delivered to her like a baked chicken. His chest had been torn open, his heart gone. Yet she rembered the burns too, the kind left by lightning.
She had never considered it before. But who had injured Hu Jin? Who had essentially killed him?
Only weaker cultivators had been allowed into the immortal tomb’s inheritance. Hu Jin, as much as she disliked him, had been hard to kill and as tough as a cockroach. She had tried many tis to corner him, but to no avail.
But Liu Feng… his array work was precise, and his control over lightning stood out. The hole in Hu Jin’s chest might have been extre, but who knew what secrets Liu Feng had?
Who else could it have been? Song Song? Possibly, but her fighting style was reckless, direct, more like Ye An’s own. Only a scheming bastard like Liu Feng could’ve taken Hu Jin down.
So, in a way, she owed him for that.
Liu Feng… she hated owing people. Especially him.
If she had her way, she’d rather kill soone like him. He was too dangerous. Even at Foundation Establishnt, he radiated a threat that was not easy to ignore.
What if he stumbled upon so fortuitous encounter and gained talent to match his will? He’d suppress this whole generation, forcing his vision on anyone who disagreed. He hid it well, but his actions were always overbearing. Just like that bitch, Song Song.
Perhaps others missed it, but she saw it as plain as day. The only thing Liu Feng lacked was cultivation talent. And how long would that remain a weakness? If he solved it… she didn’t like imagining the result.
Ye An sighed and sat cross-legged on a cloud, letting her body sink into cultivation.
Now that winter had truly passed, she grew bolder, releasing the seal she’d been holding back.
Her Qi erupted like a dam breaking. The cloud beneath her crystallized, spreading into jagged ice. Frost cascaded from the heavens, painting the spring sky white. The brief warmth of the season was smothered by her presence, as though winter itself had returned for a final stand.
Qi condensed in her dantian, her ghostly core solidifying.
It was painful, but she broke through to two-star Core Formation.
Blood trickled from her lips. She exhaled, silver-white strands of hair brushing across her face.
Below, Liu Feng finished his lessons and tilted his head toward the sky. She was so high that only another Core Formation cultivator could have sensed her. But she wouldn’t be surprised if he sensed her.
Descending, she landed at the library pagoda once the last disciple had gone.
Liu Feng raised a brow at her appearance, unsurprised.
“What do you want?” he asked, like a bored shopkeeper.
“I just ca to look around,” Ye An said, masking her injuries by suppressing them.
Her breakthroughs were never gentle. Ever since Core Formation, her condition only worsened. Spiritual roots regrew like stubborn branches anyti she had to unseal them to cultivate, and her body carried hidden injuries with every step.
“Uh-huh.” His flat tone made clear he didn’t believe her.
“Well, you probably sensed my breakthrough,” she said. “So I ca here to have you convince not to imdiately go and kill Song Song.”
Though injured, Ye An knew she had to wait for her body to settle before moving again. Still, as a two-star Core Formation cultivator, her chances against Song Song had elevated; the gap between each star at this stage was imnse.
“If you can sohow kill Song Song, then I will make sure you die,” Liu Feng said, gaze steady and unwavering. “Whether it takes a decade or a century, I’ll either kill you myself or make enough enemies for you that they’ll do it for . In the end, your fate will be the sa: death.”
The conviction in his tone was almost intimidating, but his weakness made it little more than words. He had no chance of catching up to her, even with better talent.
“One day, soone wearing the face of the person you love most. Perhaps your children, or your confidant, will stab you in the back. That I can promise you, if you try to kill Song Song,” Liu Feng added, as though discussing the weather.
“Scary,” she said, smiling.
The only thing scary about him was that empty look in his eyes, like looking at a shell, sothing that was trying to be human that clearly wasn't.
“Of course, those are just empty threats. If you could kill Song Song, you would have already done so. I doubt my opinion matters that much to you," he said.
Ye An opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off.
“Essentially, you’re still not convinced you can win. And despite your hatred, you’re not foolish enough to try. Song Song’s father is still around and at least at peak Core Formation. You’d be signing your own death warrant.”
This creepy guy… truly sothing. Who knew what else he wasn’t saying? Would it be better to kill him now?
She considered it, but knew if she attacked here, in his library, he’d stall long enough for that crazy woman to arrive. For now, he was smoothing enmity, but who knew what he might sche later? Besides, he was one of the few she couldn’t afford to kill; his knowledge of extre physiques was unmatched.
“I don’t know how you’ve survived this long,” Liu Feng said suddenly, rubbing his chin. It gave off the illusion that he wasn’t intimidated in the least. “Even if you ate a Yang Fruit, its effects should’ve worn off long ago.”
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Her heart skipped. He was absolutely right.
Instead of despair, hope flared. Maybe Liu Feng could actually help her.
She searched for a way to handle the situation, but ca up empty. She hadn’t co just to push him around anyway.
“I use my Core Technique to seal my roots,” she admitted.
“Oh? Interesting,” Liu Feng nodded, thoughtful. “But if your roots are sealed, your Qi can’t naturally recover. And that organ isn’t only for cultivation, it also governs Qi manipulation, sensing, and control outside the body. With all those drawbacks, there’s no way you can defeat Song Song.”
With just a hint, he’d dissected her problem thoroughly.
“Perhaps for now,” she conceded. “But in the future, when I’m five-star, six, even eight-star Core Formation... Do you think it will matter if I can’t regenerate Qi properly? For soone like , defeating Song Song will be trivial.”
Her talent as an extre physique surpassed the norm. Even with the limiters she placed on herself, she was advancing faster than anyone else. The gap between them would only widen.
“Yeah, probably,” Liu Feng agreed. “But now I’m going to tell Song Song you plan to murder her. So why are you really here? You’re not stupid enough to walk in without a reason.”
Ye An narrowed her gaze. His calmness gnawed at her.
Did he already know her condition was worsening? He shouldn’t. The seal and Yang Fruit had kept it stable so far.
“I ca here to make myself vulnerable to you,” Ye An said. “In a way, to take advantage of your kindness and your curiosity. Don’t you want to know what a successful survivor of an extre physique can do? I’ll even swear never to harm Song Song, and I’ll help you if you solve my current problem.”
“What can I help you with, that you’d go this far?” he asked, eyes tightening, still guarded. His tone gave the illusion of agreent, but she knew better; he was just playing along.
“It’s beco impossible for to break through to Nascent Soul. My seal would collapse under the surge of Qi, my physique activating out of control.”
The words weighed on her tongue. She hated asking for help. But that’s what this was.
“Hmmm…” Liu Feng rubbed his chin. “You should’ve gone for a wider-reaching elent and risked madness. That might have overpowered your physique.”
Though his tone was calm, there was an anxious glint in his eyes. This was the first ti he had shown emotion on his face since he began talking to Ye An.
What was that about? Was he faking it?
“Co back to the library this weekend. I’ll show you sothing,” Liu Feng said, turning his back to her without hesitation.
Not that it would’ve mattered, if she wanted to strike, facing her wouldn’t protect him. But that carelessness… was he really not worried?
Ye An frowned, staring at his back before she too turned away, refusing to give him more of her attention.
“Just rember, I don’t tolerate sloppiness,” she said.
Usually, she would’ve teased him about Song Song, about his odd nature because while she knew he was dangerous, she enjoyed needling him. But this ti, her own problem weighed too heavily on her mind.
…
When Sunday ca, Ye An arrived at the library tower as the first rays of dawn stretched across the sky. The air was crisp with dew, rooftops glistening gold. Yet even then, Liu Feng was already there, arms crossed, standing at the edge of the tower as if he had been waiting all night like a shadow that never left.
He raised a hand to her. “Co on in.”
He turned and entered the library, and she followed. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of old books, the place dim and heavy with silence. Not even the wind stirred; it was as if he had erected a noise-cancelling array around the tower.
He guided her to the back wall, tapped a rhythmic sequence, and the stone shifted open to reveal a lit stairwell descending underground.
“Pretty cool, right?” He glanced at her. “It took a lot of effort to build this. Many departnts were involved, though I handled the arrays myself.”
Sure. Was she supposed to be impressed?
He seed oddly proud of it. Ye An didn’t argue she’d t plenty of people with strange fixations.
At the bottom, he led her into an underground laboratory. Blue array lines glowed faintly across the stone walls, casting a cold hue over shelves cluttered with tools, jars, and half-finished scrolls. Preserved animal parts and miniature organs floated in glass containers. But the centerpiece was impossible to miss: a colossal beast’s paw, the size of a horse, suspended in a tank of bubbling liquid. Wires burrowed into the flesh, pulsing faintly, as if the limb still drew energy.
“If you’re creeped out, don’t worry. Those aren’t human organs,” Liu Feng said casually. “The small ones ca from snakes, the larger from other beasts.”
“I don’t really care,” Ye An replied flatly.
He motioned her to a table with two chairs. They sat.
From a case, Liu Feng drew out a thin, strange needle and extracted her blood, the glass chamber filling dark red.
“I’ll analyze this, check if anything’s genetic,” he explained. “Though I doubt it.”
Ye An nodded. Then Liu Feng paused, as though sothing had just occurred to him.
“You’re from the Ye Clan of the Azure Frost Sect, correct?”
“Yes,” she said simply.
“Any immortals in your bloodline? If it’s too private, you don’t have to answer. But I need to know whether this is caused by outside factors or sothing intrinsic we can’t control.”
“No,” she shook her head, offering what her clan had long kept hidden. “But my clan’s goal has always been to create an immortal. They’ve been trying for millennia… with no success.”
*******
The Ye Clan was much like the Song Clan, only rooted in the Azure Frost Sect. I swear, these great families were always scheming sothing.
Then again, no clan survives millennia without so stubborn, guiding obsession.
Ye An… Every ti I looked at her, I rembered the girl I once saved from her, the sa girl who later died in the heavenly calamity. It was almost maddening. The world always seed to let the reckless and destructive linger on, while the innocent were the first to be taken.
Still, with Ye An coming to for help, I was glad Wu Yan had chosen an erratic elent like change. That path was more resilient; it allowed her to handle her condition as early as Foundation Establishnt without needing a specialized Core Formation technique just to keep herself alive.
Ye An’s choice, by comparison, simply wasn’t enough. Not terrible, given her circumstances, but limiting.
“I have no solution for your condition right now,” I told her. “But I’ll keep looking. In the anti, prepare as many Yang Fruits as you can.”
Yang Fruits were rare, borderline heavenly treasures. Luckily, the sect still held plenty in reserve, and with her status as a Core Elder, Ye An could likely get access to one. In these chaotic tis, it was easier to get allocated treasures. I needed to study their properties more carefully, why they stabilized her condition, beyond the simple notion of balancing Yin and Yang.
It would eat into my ti, especially with a new batch of disciples set to arrive this spring. Recruitnt usually happened in the sumr, but we couldn’t afford to wait.
I wondered how many youths the Liu Clan intended to send. Whoever they were, I’d need to keep an eye on them.
Still, I was eager for the newcors. It ant testing the new curriculum and finally seeing how effective it really was.
Ye An left soon after, satisfied enough with my vague answers, and I returned to savoring the gentler spring air.
Above, the clouds distorted by her breakthrough still trailed across the sky, shedding faint snow as they drifted away. Watching them, a thought stirred in .
Now that winter was gone, with life settling back into rhythm, it was ti to test my theory about Jiang Yeming.
Inviting them over was easy. I simply told them it was their first chance to see my ho. Jiang Yeming’s curiosity flickered in her expression, while Tingfeng seed indifferent, but he ca all the sa.
We rode flying swords toward my place. Tingfeng broke the silence first.
“Why do you have two houses?”
I smiled. “Because I have so troubleso family mbers.”
“Troubleso?” Jiang Yeming frowned. “I didn’t think you had children.”
I only chuckled, leaving it at that, and we touched down before my stone house. Fu Yating wasn’t on the porch, lunch was near, and Speedy wasn’t outside either, with the sun climbing higher.
I led my two disciples up to the door and knocked. Wu Yan’s aura stirred inside, and I had to suppress my grin as I stepped aside.
The door creaked open.
“Oh? Newcors,” Wu Yan said. “You must be the fresh disciples.”
I turned toward Jiang Yeming. At first, she looked normal. Then her face drained of color, eyes widening like saucers.
Checkmate.
Yep, she really was a…
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