HolyMouse
patreon
Cultivation Nerd: Chapter 89
🕑 Added 2024-05-06 14:32:44 +0000 UTCChapter 89 - Falling Moon
Animals needed access to Qi in some way to be considered monstrous beasts. While humans had Qi and didn't change much appearance-wise, monstrous beasts were the opposite. When encountering a monstrous beast, one could usually tell by their size and features unless it was an extremely rare case.
Despite having Qi and its effects on their bodies, it didn't mean they could consciously use it. Doing so required more than just instinctual intelligence.
Of course, I had read this in books, but it was something I had yet to see or prove for myself. Just like with every rule, there were exceptions, and there were Qi Gathering monstrous beasts that could use Qi too. If a couple of such monstrous beasts existed among those that surrounded us, then we were done for.
I slammed my palms on the ground before any of the monstrous beasts started attacking. A web-like light spread out onto the ground, and a burst of mist exploded, obscuring the vision of anyone in the area. Except for myself, since the array was made by my own Qi, I could sense every slight movement within the mist.
Monstrous beasts didn't have the same training humans did, so despite being physically stronger than humans of the same stage, they couldn't sense Qi.
I put my hand on the Lu Clan Leader's shoulder and quietly guided him away while trying to make as little sound as possible. Thankfully, he understood what was happening and didn't say anything either.
But two steps into our plan of escaping this mist, the monstrous beasts charged. At first, I thought it was a mad charge without a goal, which would be expected of monstrous beasts. Instead, what we got was all the monstrous beasts charging toward us with pinpoint accuracy, none of them even a little off.
Immediately, we set off, and I whispered, "They can sense us!"
The Lu Clan Leader's eyes widened before he looked at me and followed along as we tried to run toward the town.
The implications of what was happening were terrifying.
These monstrous beasts could sense us? Not just one or two of them could do that; all of them could, almost as if they were trained to do this.
However, despite the realization, I felt strangely calm as I tried to think of how we should play this out. My chances of survival were relatively high, especially since I could just throw the other guy under the bus as he was slower than me. But that was not something I would like to do, despite how annoying the Lu Clan and Hong Clan Leaders were.
"Shit," the Lu Clan Head cursed under his breath as a frog monstrous beast the size of a car opened its mouth and had its tongue wrapped around the Clan Leader's leg.
Without hesitation, I turned around and swung my arm as if I were scratching the space before me.
Falling Moon Claw!
The air where I had swiped and aimed with my Qi twisted and turned before a condensed slash of wind shot toward the frog's tongue, easily cutting through it and allowing the Lu Clan Leader to escape.
But before the monstrous beast could retract its tongue, I grabbed onto it and swung it around like a bowling ball on a string. It hit the other monstrous beasts, landing on a bat causing it to fall from the sky, land head-first into a tree, and skewer itself. But at the same time, my new weapon also suffered some damage due to now becoming nothing more than a clump of bloody flesh.
What a shame; I thought it would have a stronger body as a monstrous beast. But soft-fleshed creatures like frogs usually had weaker defenses, even as monstrous beasts. They make up for such weakness with their long-range or poison. However, it seemed like this one was still in development and hadn't reached that stage yet.
This stunt of mine had pushed several monstrous beasts away. But it had also given others the time to get closer. From what I could sense, the Lu Clan Leader hadn't gotten that far away, as his movement technique was quite slow.
I was about to turn around when I noticed that while some monstrous beasts were clustering, they were getting in each other's way.
They might be able to sense and perhaps even use Qi. However, they were still unable to communicate with each other and do complex maneuvers while working together.
At that moment, I decided to put escape on hold as an idea came to mind. Though I kept running away from them, it was slower than my max speed, and they would catch up to me soon enough.
The first one to reach me was a human-sized praying mantis-like monstrous beast, and it swiped one of its blade-like arms toward my head. But I sensed the attack and crouched down, swiping at its midsection.
Falling Moon Claw!
I bisected the monstrous beast, kicked its lower body away, and grabbed its upper body before it could fall to the ground. It almost surprised me that despite its injuries, this bug could survive quite a bit longer than normal creatures who took this much damage.
But since I had grabbed onto its neck, I didn't dodge its attacks and instead just moved it around like a rag doll, causing all its attacks to miss. Then, I shot another invisible slash at its arms and used its arm as a sword against a kangaroo-looking creature with deer antlers.
The creature tried to block, but my new weapon only ended up slicing through its arms and neck like they were nothing.
No wonder cultivators hunted monstrous beasts to create cultivation materials and weapons. These mantis' claws were faster than anything I had seen before.
Then I used the mantis' arm to pierce through its beady eyes, ripped off its other arm, and used it as an improvised weapon. Holding onto the scythe-like appendages was uncomfortable and inconvenient, with mantis blood sticking to my palms and making my grip quite slippery.
As the monstrous beasts were clustering closer, now would be an excellent time to turn around and run away. But there was an idea stuck in my mind that even if I risked my life, I wanted to try it out. It wasn't often that I had live targets to practice on.
The countless beasts charged toward me with maddening hisses and roars. Some were even drooling as a hungry glint shone in their eyes.
It was scary, but I was calm. Such a contradictory feeling.
Concentrating, I gathered Qi into my hands and tried to imbue it onto my weapons. This was quite a few steps above what I usually did with Qi control. But unlike usual, I had an incentive to make this happen beyond just entertainment. Because if those monstrous beasts were not culled, then there was a good chance I would die.
Somehow, the Qi poured into the mantis' arms, but it was inefficient and spilled out way too much.
Imbuing Qi into inanimate objects was already hard, but doing so in the body of a creature that used to have its own Qi was harder. Their body would naturally fight the foreign Qi.
That was why I didn't linger for long, tightened the grips on the fleshy parts of the mantis arms, and swung them like curved swords.
Falling Moon Claw!
Once again, the earth-grade technique was activated. But this time, it wasn't by hand, but by some sharp weapons. There was a fifty percent chance it wouldn't have worked, but it seemed like the coin flip had landed on my side.
Two invisible slashes flew off; the only proof they existed was the Qi imbued into them and the shifting winds. But despite the monstrous beasts sensing my attack and most likely being fast enough to dodge, it was a new method and slower than usual when I used it with the mantis arms.
However, the monstrous beasts were so clamped together that even as they tried to move out of the way of my attack, they just ended up bumping into each other. Two monstrous beasts were bisected immediately, and the force behind the attack weakened. However, some monstrous beasts were behind and still got injured.
But despite the drawback, I couldn't help but smile a bit. These weaknesses in the technique were only there because I was new to using this with weapons in hand.
"Just a bit more practice, and I have this in the bag," I muttered.
Yet whatever plans I had were interrupted as something jumped at me. The creature was too fast for me to see its figure clearly, so I quickly pulled my guard up and brought the mantis claws to protect my vital parts.
A clanging sound rang out, and I was pushed back, leaving a trail on the ground as my feet dug into the wet dirt.
My hands shook, my elbows were in pain, and it felt like my shoulders were about to pop out of their sockets. But at least I had protected my vital organs.
Yep, this was a good sign to get the fuck away from here.
Before I could turn around, I caught sight of my attacker, and it was one of the giant snakes. The monstrous beast stared at me with its cold eyes, coiling onto itself, and its body shook as every one of its muscles tightened.
Was it about to jump at me again? I was not going to stick around and find out.
Using Qi to reinforce my legs, I jumped back as far as possible. While mid-air, I maneuvered myself and turned my back toward the monstrous beasts while keeping my senses sharp in case they decided to take advantage of this. I crouched mid-air, and my thighs swelled as all the muscles on my lower body expanded to an unnatural degree.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, the earth below me cracked, and I shot forward like a bullet.
Rushing Bull Step was a perfect technique for this because I soon reached the field, and then it was just a straight running patch. It didn't take long before I had almost caught up with the Lu Clan Head, who was still running with his mediocre movement technique.
I looked back, and the monsters were still giving chase like mad beasts.
It was a shame I was not strong enough. Otherwise, I could have experimented some more and tried other moves. It wasn't like I got the chance often to practice on live targets where I could go all out against them.
Within a dozen seconds, I caught up with the Lu Clan Leader, who had been a disappointing deadweight until now. As I got closer to him and looked at his face better, I couldn't help but frown. The guy was pale and looked scared.
What was up with that? Why was he panicking? He was the veteran here.
"Everything okay?" I asked, trying to see whether he was poisoned or anything like that.
The Lu Clan Leader shuddered. "Your theory might have some merit. The monstrous beasts did not fight or feel like their usual wild selves."
What?—I frowned.
I recalled how the clan leaders and governor agreed that my hypothesis was reasonable. Why was this guy reacting like he just...
Ah, he hadn't believed my claims all along. He had just agreed so he would get on my good side. Were the governor and other clan head like this too? Had they sung my praises just so they wouldn't get on my bad side?
That was annoying...
Now I understood why Song Song liked honesty so much despite how often I had gotten under her skin.
Just like before, the monstrous beasts were slowly catching up to us since I was moving at the same speed as the Lu Clan Head.
I glanced at the Lu Clan Head and contemplated leaving him behind. When I thought of Qi Gathering Cultivators, I thought of them as useful fighters. But with how it was going, they seemed nothing more than dead weight.
I also valued my life enough that I wouldn't be willing to put it on the line for every hobo out there. More importantly, I wouldn't like my life to be left to someone incompetent.
These guys did not inspire the confidence Song Song exuded. If she was around, I wouldn't have to even think about worrying about my life—not like this guy, who would have been better off if I hadn't taken him along to spring this trap.
Sighing, I stopped again and turned to face the approaching monstrous beasts.
Perhaps I was judging him too soon, and this was his first time facing monstrous beasts like this. But in the future, I should calculate how much I would be willing to sacrifice to keep these guys alive. Putting my life on the line for them was not worth it.
If I had learned anything from Song Song, it was that there were times in someone's life when they needed to be cold and logical.
I slammed my hand on the ground, and a translucent purplish barrier rose. Some monstrous beasts walked in without hesitation and immediately became wobbly and sleepy. Most slowed down, and a few fell asleep.
Huh, they seemed they hadn't been trained to handle certain arrays. So, my Sleeping Array was quite effective. Good...
I turned around and decided not to attack the drowsy monstrous beasts as they could awake at any moment. Just an instinctive discharge of Qi would break a simple and weak effect like sleep.
As soon as we reached the wall, I jumped up in one swoop. The Lu Clan Head did the same. While his movement sucked at speedy escapes, it had good maneuverability, as he seemed to almost dance on the wind as he climbed up.
In the distance, the monstrous beasts awoke. But instead of continuing to give chase, they retreated.
"How did everything go?" asked the old governor.
I turned toward him and then glanced at the Clan Heads.
Having someone else on the team, even someone relative to her stage in cultivation could still be a liability. With how the Lu Clan Leader had acted out there, I couldn’t trust this guy to peel a potato, much less handle a war against a dangerous enemy.
Note to self, not everyone was Song Song.
Comments
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter!
BookwormLich
The principle of infusing Qi into monster part is quite interesting, and although being raw they surely aren’t as permeable to outside Qi, I guess once refined it could be a powerful weapon. Now I wonder of MC just realized some principle already being discovered and used or he’ll be a pioneering crafter of monster parts weapon capable of conducting Qi? And I wish MC had kept his Mantis scythe 😁
BookwormLich
“Note to myself, not everyone is Song Song” 🤣🤣 Time for the MC to readjust his view of the cultivators.
Straven
Be interesting to see if anyone from either clan is actually worth anything. Thank you for the chapter, enjoyed the read quite a bit!
Kanyau
Our boy brought a notebook to a knife fight 😂
Bonobo
Thanks for the chapter, loved it!
PatronTurtle
The clan leaders are probably 99% politicians and just got to Qi Gathering from money alone. Couldn't fight our boy at Body Gathering
King Henry V
lol he doesn’t know that the clan head is terrified of him, just broken through and effortlessly killing the beasts lol
Traellium
If this is anything like other Cultivation worlds, I bet there are higher realms where breaking through to Foundation Establishment is expected of 5 year olds. Also I'm curious how Dao will work in this novel. Is it enlightenment = power, or a different take, mhmm.
Valderan
Yeah, he might be taking the idea of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" a little too far but he is who he is and he can't change that from moment to moment.
BZD
Did he keep his knee scythe weapon? That would be cool. And it would give him time to experiment more with this imbuing technique. And it would have the side effect of training him better. Because he would get used to having to fight the residual qi of a living creature, so that when he uses the technique on something that was always inanimate, it will be/feel much easier for him.
Slycerr
I also think that it has to do with cultivation speed and time. The older you get the the slower you cultivate, making it economically the thing you focus on. Also the higher you go in cultivation, the more acces you have to better techniques. Making your older techniques (seem) useless. It is still important for skill to synergise and your techniques to build on each other (which I think most of the time is done for you by a teacher/mentor/master). Also the speed of mastery from fang is prodigy level which skews or perception of how difficult it is to master them. Don't forget, the original Fang had only one technique master in his 17 years while our Fang has pushed said one higher and added 2 techniques to that same level and added an earth grade technique and almost broke an semi earth to almost earth grade on his first try.
thaughton2
That was pretty epic. It's genuinely hilarious how utterly disaffected he is. In a life threatening situation and his main emotion is disappointment he can't experiment more.
jean
i think what this shows is that 1 the sect is of higher strength than standard clans and 2 he is training and mastering his martial arts and not many does that we have song song and the sickly bitch but isn't sure about her mastering her skills or just her talent giving the boost nobody really research and trains like liu feng does he doesn't learn skills for the name or just so he can do barely to the standard of the book he masters and invest in researching and making sure all his skills compliment each other like rushing bull and piercing fang does and a large portion falls back on being of higher cultivation than actual skill and mastery to overpower their opponents if they are weaker think about it most people get killed fighting against higher cultivation like a body tempering at the 7 stage fighting against a 9 stage isn't gonna win unless they are very skilled liu feng at i think the 7-8 stage was fighting a 1 star qi gathering cultivator and survived and retreated without a major injury where anyone else would have been killed or like the guy who slapped him there was a major stage difference if the guy had used qi properly he could have escaped from liu fengs grasp but he got chocked out :P and its mostly a skill and level of mastery and training that make a difference and most people lose focus and only thinks about cultivation level and not all the other areas :P because yea cultivation boost everything with every level gained so it is good to increase but if that is your only logic to thinking your strong than your quickly becoming a paper tiger yea your higher cultivation gives a edge and everything else is sub par at best aka you can't defend against people at your own stage and fight at a weaker level than what should be possible with your cultivation stage
jean
if you think about how she said she didn't mind letting her group of 30 die instead of saving them just a few chaps ago i think he understand her better now why she doesn't give much thought to people who want something from her but doesn't have the competence or skills to offer anything worth the exchange or investment because after they get what they were after they either don't care anymore or aren't worth the trust if they get nothing why should they invest in song song after she has given them what they were after not to mention they lie and suck up to her to get things from her liu feng is honest even if he knows she doesn't like the answer and he isn't really after anything she can't give with little effort and he is competent and has skills making him worth more than the group following her even her cousin though trust worthy is not worth anything since she lacks in the brains department and probably doesn't have anything to offer other than cooking at mortal level not really worth investing in eh :P
Mortamir
Heck yeah! This chapter is great!
Confused
Wow the difference between body tempering and Qi Gathering is immense given how effortlessly Liu was fighting all those beasts. Even if he had to retreat in the end.
Green0Photon
He's really understanding why Song Song likes him. And not just because of his honesty. A high (or low) level doesn't make you competent. Being competent does. And Song Song snatched up our boy from the very start. Smart of her.
Chris
first!!!
