The Sect Leader's son? While it might sound like a special position, it really wasn't. As one of the most powerful men on the continent, the Sect Leader had a harem. And since condoms weren't a thing here, he had around a hundred children.

I didn't know the exact number, but he had many kids. As far as I knew, none of them inherited his talent, mostly because their mothers were chosen for their beauty and were mortals. It was hard for a high-grade talent to transfer, though with these odds, the Sect Leader had been more unlucky than most.

Then again, I hadn't paid much attention to these rumors. I didn't know exactly how many children the Sect Leader had and was just speculating and crunching numbers.

"You think he can defeat you?" I asked.

At first, as we approached the town, there was only the sound of snow shuffling beneath our feet. Song Song's gaze seemed distant as she looked at the sky.

"No," she answered. "I can defeat and destroy everyone in the race to the top. There is no question about that."

"You sure?" I teased her. "The clan head has a lot of children. One of them is bound to be more talented than you."

"The only ones I have to worry about are those children from the union of the Sect Leader and my aunt," she said nonchalantly.

Song Song wasn't foolish enough to overlook the Sect Leader's other children, so there must be a reason for this.

"Why? The talent should still translate well, and the clan leader reached his position without the help of the Song Clan. There's a chance one of his children with another member of his harem will have that same potential," I explained.

"Well, let's just say that my aunt isn't the best stepmother... It's no coincidence that none of the children from the concubines have shown any talent for cultivation," she smiled as if reminded of an inside joke only she knew. "Also, she's insufferable enough that despite being married to the Sect Leader, they only had a child thirteen years ago."

Oh, so the only child of the Sect Leader she was worried about was her own cousin. From what Song Song was hinting at, it seemed like her aunt was either crippling the cultivation or poisoning the Sect Leader's newborn children so they could never become cultivators. No wonder the Sect Leader only had one child with her.

Also, what was up with the Song Clan and their women? Why were they all crazy? I felt sorry for the Sect Leader. Just imagining having someone like Song Song as a wife sent a chill down my spine.

"Have you at least ever met your cousin?" I wondered what kind of genius could worry Song enough that she would even entertain the notion that he could surpass her.

When I thought of someone who could best Song Song, the first thing that came to mind was someone with the ruthless efficiency to be her cousin, yet level-headed and humble due to his father's commoner background. A charismatic guy who could draw both sides of the Sect to his side—that was a terrifying opponent. Even if I owed Song Song a lot, that was not the kind of dude anyone wanted to fight.

"He is just some pansy, a thirteen-year-old brat who has reached the peak of Body Tempering and has been stuck there for a whole year now," Song Song explained with a bored look in her eyes. "Nobody knows his cultivation talent, or at least it is not public knowledge."

Nobody? The Sect Leader likely knew, which clarified why Song Song hadn't already been pushed out of the race.

She shattered all my preconceptions about someone who could cause her to worry. The only thing in her way was her own craziness.

As we approached the wall, a few ideas came to mind about why they might hide his talent. It made no sense unless he wasn't talented or had an Extreme Physique that meant he would die young, making it unnecessary for anyone to support him.

Extreme Physiques were rare; it was considered often if they appeared once a century. It would be improbable for the kid to have one. Still, we lived in times when heaven's favorites strolled about, so anything was possible.

"He seems to have advanced to the peak of Body Tempering quite fast. Did you do it that fast too?" I teased, trying to keep a smirk from forming.

"You damn well know that advancing through Body Tempering fast doesn't mean anything when he has so many resources. Also, if it wasn't for learning secret family techniques, I would have advanced faster than him," Song Song declared.

She saw through my ruse but couldn't stop herself from being offended.

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Despite how fast he advanced, it mattered little. Unless there was an outlier like myself, someone with low spirit roots would struggle to sense Qi and take years to advance. Some never did. That's why Spiritual Roots were so important.

"Okay, enough talk about boring things. How about you send some strategies my way? That's where I need to improve, and talking about things we can't change isn't going to help anyone," she insisted, kicking some snow as the walls got closer. Some soldiers atop the wall pointed at us, and a few went away, likely to notify the governor. But Song Song didn't seem worried and continued, "What would you do if this same situation played out during spring or summer? Because of how things are going, this war could last a while. We could enter other seasons and still be at war."

"I would poison the food and water source of the monstrous beasts," I answered faster than I was comfortable with. I was getting used to this world, and while contemplating how to deal with the monstrous beasts, I'd thought up a lot of plans on how to kill things. "I'd probably keep the same strategy if they infiltrated the city. I could also figure out how to spread the poison through plant pollen."

I sensed the governor and the two clan leaders approaching the gates. They had been notified of my presence, and they knew it was me because the report likely mentioned the flying turtle beside us.

"What if you didn't have time to prepare at all?" Song Song broke me out of my thoughts.

"Then I would die," I shrugged.

Who did she think I was? Some invincible cultivator? I wouldn't need to scheme so much if I were that strong. I wasn't a miracle worker.

Despite my answer, Song Song frowned, clearly displeased. "You would really do nothing and just accept your death?"

"I won't give up immediately. There would still be hope that someone might come and save me. But what could I do when monstrous beasts were already charging from the fields?" I asked.

Song Song pouted, annoyed at my responses. "What if you had a day to prepare?"

"It depends," I shrugged. "If the monstrous beasts were in the fields around the town, I'd use the same tactic I used to gas the town with poison-"

"Damn, we could have probably used something like that in the cities we abandoned. It would have significantly cut down the number of monstrous beasts, " Song Song grumbled.

I was used to her antics by now and continued my explanation. "If the monstrous beasts were in the forest, I'd set fire to the forest, assuming it's spring or summer. That way, some of the beasts would suffocate."

CO2 poisoning was quite bad even for monstrous beasts. I had many other plans in mind, but most were theoretical. I wouldn't risk wasting time trying them if my life was on the line in this hypothetical scenario.

Song Song smiled, satisfied with my answer. "Hearing you speak like that makes me feel that no matter what, you will never lose. You have a plan for everything."

"I barely pulled a win," I chuckled.

"A weak victory is better than the strongest defeat," she stated. "If I had taken your warning more seriously and not acted arrogant as if I could do everything on my own, it would have been better to keep you by my side, giving me weak victories rather than horrendous losses."

What was she on about?

"This is unlike you," I said. "Do you need help with anything? I could brew you a good cup of tea."

"I don't usually fail," she said.

Her piercing blue eyes met mine, and for a second, we had a tense standoff.

"Well, if you thought you were going to live the rest of your life without failing, then you are delusional," I stated matter-of-factly.

When those words left my mouth, the temperature around us somehow grew colder. The tension in the air was palpable. But despite all that, Song Song ended up laughing and saying nothing.

Sometimes, it was hard to tell what someone like her could be thinking. What was going through her brilliant but deranged mind?

There was no more time for banter as we arrived at the front gates of Whitewall Town. The giant gates were already open, and the two clan leaders and the governor were waiting for us.

Among the three welcoming us, the governor caught sight of Song Song and paled. His lip shook, and his breaths hastened. It was a clear sign of panic. For God's sake, his face was sweaty in this bone-chilling winter.

At least the two clan leaders looked relatively normal, and the Hong Clan Head even had a smile on his face as usual. It seemed like they knew little about Song Song's reputation. Still, the governor looked like he had personal experience with her.

"Whitewall Town humbly welcomes the honorable cultivators-"

Whatever honeyed words the Hong Clan Leader was about to say were interrupted as Song Song frowned. Her deep blue eyes gained a red glint, and a dark mist began seeping out of her. The mist formed into intangible dark tendrils and spread like some unspoken horror.

"Since when did some trash get so confident? What made you think you could come greet me while standing? Get on your knees before I cut off your legs," Song Song said with an eerily calm voice.

Then, once again, that overwhelming killing intent lashed out. To some, it was like a physical force, crashing against the Body Tempering cultivators and throwing them back. At the same time, the two clan leaders and the governor's knees buckled and they fell to one knee.

The governor still seemed scared, but the clan leaders seemed to realize what was happening. Perhaps they thought that Song Song was the same as the governor since she was also at the peak of Qi Gathering. But she was in a whole other position and a hell of a lot crazier.

We had been having a nice chat before, so it was easy to forget. But Song Song was the closest thing this world had to royalty; she was a princess in the Blazing Sun Sect. She looked genuinely offended that these people hadn't greeted her on their knees.

"Perhaps you should stop releasing so much killing intent since it could harm the civilians," I advised.

"Don't worry, I tested this on civilians, and since they can't perceive Qi, the most they feel is a tingle… unless, of course, said civilians have good senses and can somehow sense Qi without being Qi Gathering cultivators. Then that's a whole different matter," she smiled.

Her murderous presence intensified once again, and the tendrils of dark intent were large enough that they looked like they were grabbing at the town.

She had gotten so much better at using this technique that it no longer felt like the same thing I had initially used. Despite how much I liked to tease her about being the one who created the active use of killing intent, Song Song had made this technique her own.