Chapter 8
As I continued to stare at the moon while drinking my wine, I felt Yan Ling start trembling in her sleep again, making me start patting her back which calmed her down.
I really wanted to sigh in exasperation, but I knew that such an action would immediately cause the girl to sit up in fright so I refrained from doing so. In the end, I just adjusted my body to get a better position on the recliner as Yan Ling continued to sleep on my chest, curled up like a tiny squirrel.
‘Seriously, What the hell happened to make a little girl like her have nightmares every single night??’
‘The same thing that happens to everyone. Humans. Specifically, Cultivators’
‘I know that Cultivators tend to view mortals as nothing more than tools. Hell, I remember quite clearly how I used to see them as beneath me before that incident in the Sect. But I never imagined it would be this bad.’
‘What was it that you said a few years ago? Power corrupts?’
‘Power Corrupts, Absolute power corrupts Absolutely.’
‘Yeah, that. That is considered a very normal thing to happen to cultivators on this continent. And I don’t really think that kind of thinking is wrong. We work hard, hard enough to nearly destroy ourselves, to achieve our power. Don’t we deserve some kind of reward for all of our effort?’
‘….I don’t know where to begin describing just how wrong that statement is.’
‘Don’t worry. Once you reach the Nascent Soul realm, you will understand it. That intoxicating sensation of sheer power is something that no one can resist.’
I felt a shudder go down my spine at his words and worriedly looked down at Yan Ling.
Will I really become a monster like the cultivators of this world once I reach Nascent Soul? And if that is true, should I even attempt reaching that realm? Should I just advance to the peak of the Core Formation realm and stop cultivating afterward?
Ever since I decided to accept Yan Ling as my disciple over three months ago, she has changed significantly. Both physically and mentally.
Thanks to her Spirit Roots, she advanced extremely quickly in her cultivation, easily reaching the peak of the Qi Condensation realm. A feat that would cause even someone with an extremely high status, such as that two-bit villain Xiao Kai from the sect, to go green in envy.
However, even with her body becoming stronger and starting to develop rapidly alongside her mental health improving a lot thanks to spending her days either training or playing around with the other children in the village, there was one thing that refused to change.
I do not know if she is faking her happiness or if the source of the problem is something else entirely, but every night, she has night terrors so strong that she ends up either wailing in her sleep or so terrified that she refuses to go back to sleep again.
Even worse, she refuses to tell me what she sees in her nightmares, leaving me clueless about just what is causing all of this.
In the end, I had no choice but to watch over her when she slept. Making sure to provide a comforting pat on her back or her head, reassuring her that she was not alone so that she could have at least some sleep.
Thank god I don’t require sleep due to my ‘cultivation method’ enhancing my body to ungodly levels. Who knows what would have happened if I ended up sleep-deprived for three months straight?
‘At this point, aren’t I more like a parent than a teacher?’
‘….Now that you mention it. Your behavior is indeed that of a parent and not like a teacher. In fact, I think your style of doing things should paint you as an extremely overprotective parent, the kind that will give rise to an arrogant young master or mistress.’
Once again, I felt a shudder go through my body. This time, due to the sheer wrongness of that image.
‘Please don’t tempt fate like that. Can you imagine the disasters that would ensue if Yan Ling ended up becoming an arrogant young mistress? Especially with her luck?’
‘….My bad. I will refrain from ever entertaining such horrific thoughts.’
Thankfully, the old demon is not so lost that he doesn’t recognize the tragedies awaiting us in the future if his words come true.
It did not take me long to realize that Yan Ling’s luck acted similarly to my own. Coupled with her tragic past, her talents, and her potential future, it was quite clear that she was either a main character in her own right or something similar to that.
However, her luck, or rather, her physique, acted in ways that left me scratching my head in confusion.
Just like in the memories of the old demon, Yan Ling has extremely pure Fire Spirit Roots. Alongside that, she also has a special physique known as the Nine Suns Extreme Physique.
While possessing a physique different from normal people is already considered special, the physique that Yan Ling has is considered even rarer. Such physiques are known as Supreme Physiques and anyone that has such a physique is considered both blessed and cursed depending on their background.
In my entire life up till now, excluding the old demon’s experience, I have only ever come across such high-level physiques three times.
Xiao Kai, the arrogant young master who was the main cause of my misery back in the sect, has the Heavenly Thunder Physique, although it was kept a tightly guarded secret with only his grandfather, his parents, and the patriarch of the Yun family knowing about it due to his life being put in danger if sects or forces that were more powerful than the Heavenly Sword Sect caught wind of it.
In the same way, Yun Xing, the girl who was supposed to be my fiancé and the young mistress of the Yun family, has the Extreme Yin Physique. Another secret that is closely guarded by the Yun family.
The last person that I knew with a powerful physique was my mother, Huxing Ruyue, who had the Supreme Jin Physique, a physique that is related to the element of metal and the reason why she was taken in by the patriarch of the Wang family since her physique would perfectly compliment the Iron Mountain arts of the Wang family.
To balance out the ridiculousness of such physiques, they also attract much more powerful heavenly tribulations during their breakthroughs and face nearly twice the amount of tribulations compared to a normal cultivator. Alongside that, most of those who have special physiques are not considered to be very lucky, unless your physique's very existence revolves around luck, like the Monarch physique which is said to bring its owner ridiculously high levels of luck which would soon be followed by disasters of equal magnitudes.
Similarly, Yan Ling’s physique is also Supreme Physique, which means that she also suffers from bad luck. However, her bad luck is usually followed by a windfall of a much higher magnitude than the misery she experiences.
I witnessed this personally during our journey back from Starfall City when we got separated due to a sudden Demonic Beast stampede.
It took me three days to find her hiding in a small cave nearby, large enough for only a child like her to crawl through.
It was only when we got back to the village that she revealed the space ring she found within that cave which contained a decently large number of Spirit Stones and other such artifacts that would be considered suitable for a beginner cultivator.
If this was all her particular brand of luck did, I would not be so worried about the old demon’s words.
The thing is, her luck fails to distinguish between friend and foe.
Like the time when we were training in the forest and ended up being struck by lightning out of the clear sky. Since she was already a beginner cultivator by this point, the injuries she received were not fatal but could still be considered very serious. The problem here is that the lighting didn’t just hit her, but me and nearly hit Little Xing as well who only managed to avoid the hit by sheer chance.
Thankfully, my body had long since become strong enough to ignore such acts of nature so I barely got a scratch on me.
Then there was the time when a tree randomly fell on us while we were fishing by the river, and then there was the time when the beast we were hunting suddenly broke through during the fight and nearly turned the tables on us.
And these are just a few of the many, many peculiar events that we experienced in the past three months. Each one resulted in Yan Ling gaining something from the disasters but the disaster in question acted like an AOE attack and caught anyone nearby, mostly me, in the crossfire.
I really hate this stupid Xianxia world and its stupid way of doing things.
Now, consider what would happen should her peculiar luck combined with the sheer arrogance and the behavior of a young mistress.
I have no doubt in mind that a great tragedy would befall everyone in her vicinity.
That is why, I cannot afford for her to become an arrogant person.
Thankfully, even before I was struck with this revelation, I had already begun on the path of teaching her morality from both objective and subjective perspectives alongside cultivation so the possibility of her becoming similar to the cultivators of this world is extremely small for now.
‘Keeping aside that terrifying image, what kind of cultivation technique should I teach her?’
‘Why are you asking me? Putting aside your justified distrust for me and anything that I have to say, isn’t she your disciple? Shouldn’t you be the one deciding things for her?’
‘My purpose as her master and teacher is to give her the knowledge and tools to succeed, not dictate her future for her. And, I am asking you because you are the one who has more experience with orthodox cultivation methods between the two of us, even if I hate to admit it.’
And I really hate to admit it.
The old demon had originally been just like me until the incident where we were crippled by Xiao Kai. Even then, this guy still continued on the orthodox path for quite a while, even reaching the peak of the Core Formation realm through his own efforts. It was only when he failed to reach Nascent Soul realm that he turned to the demonic path.
Even then, he did not stop collecting and studying orthodox methods to supplement his demonic cultivation. It was one of the many reasons alongside his sheer obsession with power which allowed him to terrorize the continent for a thousand years unchallenged.
‘….Since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you. In my opinion, the perfect method for her would be either the Heavenly Flame Scripture or the Great Sun Wheel Technique. Normally, I would suggest the Yin Spirit Technique but given its nature as a Yin technique, it would clash with her Physique which is heavily associated with the Yang.’
‘So, either Heavenly Flame Scripture or the Great Sun Wheel Technique. Both of them have their own challenges to cultivate.’
‘Of course. They are both extremely powerful techniques that are now categorized as Heaven-Grade techniques even when only a few fragments of them still exist openly on this continent. It was only pure luck that I managed to find their complete versions during my travels.’
Of course, you would be lucky. It's not like we are both a perfect fit for the so-called Child of Heavens or anything.
‘For the Heavenly Flame Scripture, I’ll have to find a Heavenly Flame for Yan Ling to absorb as the basis of her cultivation. While I do know of a few and where they are located thanks to your memories, I am not strong enough to make that kind of a journey yet. As for the Great Sun Wheel Technique, Yan Ling will have to gain an extremely high understanding of the concept of heat and the Sun to achieve any kind of success in it. No matter how I see it, The Great Sun Wheel technique is the only one that seems possible for her to cultivate for now.’
‘How so? She is just a child who has just begun walking the path of cultivation. How would she even understand the concept of fire? Much less the Sun?’
‘So what she does not know those things? Don’t I know them already? Even better, don’t I know exactly what the sun is and what fire is? I can teach her my understanding of those things. If we are lucky, she can gain a good understanding of those things and advance.’
‘Suit yourself. However, prepare a backup cultivation method just in case.’
‘Already on it.’
I spent the rest of the night going over what other techniques would suit her spirit roots and physique with the old demon.
Hopefully, my knowledge of modern science and understanding of fire and the sun would be good enough to help her cultivate the Great Sun Wheel technique. If not, I can only think on ways to get my hands on a Heavenly Fire or have her learn a lesser cultivation technique.