Chapter 76 - An Innocent Mind, Tainted!

Song Song stared into my eyes, then without hesitation, kicked the unconscious guy in the head. His body flew away like a rag doll, bouncing off the ground several times before coming to a halt.

That kick inflicted more damage than I had, and there was a good chance she might have killed him with it. Though her kick wasn't at full power, the guy was defenseless in his unconscious state.

A small stream of blood seeped from his head, adding to the danger he was in.

"You know, I actually went through a lot of effort to not kill him," I stated, meeting Song Song's gaze while keeping an eye on everyone else and their reactions.

Most seemed undisturbed, as expected from Song Song's subordinates. However, my cousins had a strange look in their eyes as they stared at the downed guy. Ye An also appeared disinterested in anything happening around her.

"Then you shouldn't have bothered. Saving pretty girls, I can somewhat understand," her smile hinted at something more as she glanced at Ye An. "But being gracious to useless people is a whole other deal."

"I thought you could use another meat shield, and not everyone can afford to break the Sect's rules without a second thought," I shrugged.

"You are under my protection. I feel insulted that you even think someone would dare touch you. If they have a problem with you, they can come and talk to me," she stated confidently.

If she acted more like this, more people would be willing to follow her. However, her brazen behavior put many people off. Certain people, like my clan, seemed to have decided to back Song Song. Not only one, but three of my cousins from the inner sect came out.

"I will keep that in mind for the next time," I said, nervous with so many people staring at me. "By the way, why would you send someone so annoying to come and get me? Did you think this would have ended any other way than with him getting a beating?"

Song Song's smile didn't waver as she said, "We were short on hands."

Short on hands? I looked at all the people around us.

Aha, no one else was from the outer sect, and the others were too prideful about their position to do something like this.

My cousins might have been a better option, but Song Song wanted to show something to everyone else.

"As you can see, you are the only outer disciple coming with me and my group. Due to my position, many in the group objected to you coming with us and how you should have been with the rest of the outer disciples, marching to the cities on foot," Song Song said, her eyes wandering around the crowd as if she was pointing out who disagreed with having me on the team.

Was she trying to show me off to others? Now that I understood her motives, I decided to play along for now.

"I agree with them on that point. No outer disciple has a place where an inner disciple is needed for the job. Just like an inner disciple is not needed in a job that requires a Foundation Establishment elder," I said nonchalantly, my gaze settling on the downed guy who was bleeding profusely, forming a small pool of blood below his head. "Then again, with what that guy had shown, I almost thought you were running a charity case here."

"Well, someone has to guide the unskilled and the stupid to make better decisions," she blatantly said.

"Looks can be quite deceiving," I added, responding with my own smile. "By the way, how is your preparation this time?"

Song Song showed me the silver ring on her pinky finger, "I already gathered all the foodstuff we will need for the rest of the journey here."

Smart. Not only was Song Song prepared, but she also had control of the food in the group. Seeing how these inner disciples acted, I wondered how many were careful enough to pack their own food. Hunting would not be easy with monstrous beasts running rampant, so Song Song had quite the power in the group already.

"Well, if you need me for anything, I'm at your service," I bowed my head and went through the whole theatrical scene for the onlookers.

Song Song's base was already weak, and the last thing she needed was an outer disciple disregarding her authority. However, I wanted to bring a couple of things to her notice.

But for now, I stepped back and went toward my cousins, as no one else appreciated my presence there that much.

The closer I got to my cousins, the more an awkward knot formed in my stomach. The only one I personally knew was Liu Bo, the friendly guy. But the other two were just faraway memories.

"Thank you for helping me with that problem a couple of months back," I first showed them that I was grateful for their help.

"No need to thank me, you're part of the Liu Clan. We are family, after all," Liu Qian said, her shoulder-length dark hair and a nonchalant look on her face making it hard to figure out what she was thinking.

On the other hand, Liu Heng, with his dark hair, dark eyes, and a strict look on his face, simply nodded. He seemed like the kind of guy who would remind the teacher that they had forgotten to give them homework.

All in all, the meeting with my cousins was underwhelming.

Just as I was about to relax and stay in the background without getting in anyone's way, Liu Bo put an arm around my shoulders. "Here he is, my favorite younger cousin. How has the outer Sect been treating you?"

"Well enough, I suppose," I smiled, trying to end the conversation there.

But Liu Bo didn't get the message and continued, "Heh, I bet. Anyway, I came around to try to visit you whenever I could. But you were always in the library, not your dorm, even at night. I swear, I have seen the twins more often than I have seen you, and you have been in the Sect a year longer than them."

I was about to answer him with some excuse I just made up when someone, not even an arm's length away from me, said, "Well, some people often just get too absorbed in their work. Sometimes, I also get too into reading recipe books and forget the time while testing how different ingredients work together."

I held myself back from flinching at the soft feminine voice. Turning toward the source, I found a young girl resembling Song Song. She was shorter than Song Song, had silky dark hair tied in twin tails, deep blue eyes, and a smaller chest. Even the rest of my cousins turned toward the newcomer, surprised. They too hadn't sensed her approaching.

Where did someone like this come from out of nowhere? I didn't even notice her when I was looking over the ground.

"My name is Song Sia, one of Song Song's cousins on her father's side. Though not to confuse each other, you can just call me Sia," she introduced herself and bowed her head in respect. "By the way, I heard what happened with Han Lan. It seems like you went out of your way to bring him unharmed, even though what you did was self-defense."

Who was Han Lan? Did she mean the guy I strangled?

It felt weird seeing someone who resembled Song Song so much speaking so kindly. Since she was Song Song's cousin, who was related by blood, there was a good chance she was someone from the bloodline of the Blazing Sun Immortal.

"Thanks," I answered. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before. Song Song never told me about her relatives."

"What?" Sia had a panicked look on her face. "We practically grew up together! How could she not mention me? Practically all her childhood stories involve me in some way!"

Even the one where Song Song drowned one of the Sect Leader's concubines to death? I wanted to ask but held my tongue.

Sia's eyes watered up, and she went toward Song Song, no longer sticking around to talk to us. After the weird encounter, even Liu Bo let go of me, and my three cousins exchanged looks.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"No," Liu Qian answered. "Though we didn't think Song Song would accept her in her group. While Sia is impressive, she and many of her relatives live under Song Song's shadow."

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Huh, that was interesting.

Despite the weird news, I stayed in my lane and did not dig further into this matter. At least Sia looked kind enough.

As Song Song talked to the guards and my cousins whispered amongst themselves, I took a book from my robe's inner pockets and began writing down the stats before setting off.

Name: Liu Feng

Age: 17

Talent: C (fifty-three spirit root branches)

Cultivation: Body Tempering (nine-star)

Strength – 9.3 → 9.9

Agility – 9.2 → 9.9

Endurance – 9.8 → 9.9

Qi – ? → 1

Techniques:

-Sonic Fang Fist (Mortal Grade)

-Rushing Bull Step (Mortal Grade)

-Turtle Shell Body (Mortal Grade)

-Dancing Jade Armor (semi-Earth Grade)

-Falling Moon Claw (Earth Grade)

Skills:

-Array Conjurer - Lvl 1 → Lvl 2 (Practitioner)

Since I could sense my own Qi better, I decided to quantify the Qi I had right now as 1. I did not have more Qi than the average person now, so this was the average person's Qi, too. However, it wasn't a standard number, as some might have had a bit more or less than that.

With that done, we walked outside of the Sect walls, and for a second, I was expecting a flying ship or some other mode of transportation. But there were none. This made sense since it wasn't just land; monstrous beasts were on the hunt for food during winter.

Even flying monstrous beasts wanted to eat, and no doubt, a flying boat filled with Qi Gathering Cultivators would be a good snack. Humans, even cultivators, were just prey in the sky when it came to flying monstrous beasts of the same cultivation rank.

So, we were traveling on foot toward our destination.

It didn't take long for Song Song to motion for me to come over with her hand. She was at the front of the group, and I was in the middle. As I approached her, many people's gazes settled on me again, making me increasingly uncomfortable.

When I walked next to Song Song, she shooed away her cousin and said, "Can you put a silencing array around us?"

"Sure," I put my hand in my pocket, gripped a spirit stone, and put up a level 2 silencing array anchored to the stone. The array followed us even as we walked.

During that split second it took me to put up the array, I glanced back and noted in my mind some people who did not seem pleased to see me close to Song Song. For most, it seemed to be a matter of pride about how I, an outer disciple, was closer to their leader than them.

The only one not looking at me was the bloodied guy I had strangled to unconsciousness. He was awake and had a bandage wrapped around his head courtesy of Sia. But he no longer looked my way and seemed actively trying to avoid my gaze.

I would have been more worried about him, but my cousins were watching him. They seemed to have their own plan for the guy.

"So, why did you call me here?" I asked Song Song.

In response, she took out a detailed map with a clear route. "This is the plan for the journey until we reach our destination. I wanted a second opinion on this."

She handed me the map, and I must admit, the map had many details handwritten. It seemed like Song Song had learned a lot since our last meeting.

Reading through the map, I tried to find any mistakes or inconsistencies. There were none.

"What's up with your relative? I never knew you had a cousin who was also your dear childhood friend," I said while handing her back the map. "Also, as far as I can tell, there seem to be no inconsistencies or mistakes. There should be no major hiccups on the way there."

"Are you talking about Sia?" Song raised a questioning brow as she put the map back in her storage ring. "While she might be my cousin, calling her a friend is a bit of a stretch. She was mostly my servant... Well, more like a minion who did whatever I wanted when we were young."

As I suspected, Sia greatly exaggerated her friendship with Song Song.

It was nothing against her, as she seemed like a lovely young woman. But Song Song was not the kind of person who made friends with people just because they were nice. She liked being around people with some basic competence.

"What, did you finally start falling for a pretty face again?" She smirked. "My cousin might be pretty, but she is empty-headed and dumber than a rock. While it is not my business to ask what you do with your nocturnal activities, I will warn you that you should at least get someone competent. Even bedding her would bring you trouble from my clan, as they would force you to marry her."

Though her words resembled a warning, the smile on her face showed that she was amused by this whole thing and was just looking for her dose of daily entertainment.

"Not interested at all, just curious," I shrugged.

"What a shame; I thought I could get you flustered this time," she said before looking back at the team following us. Noticing her gaze, everyone looked down and dared not to meet her gaze. "Here is another puzzle for you to solve. Why do you think there are so many women in my team?"

"Is there a prize for solving this puzzle, or am I just here to entertain you?" I smiled back, reciprocating her gesture.

While it might sound weird if said out loud, speaking with Song Song sometimes felt like hanging out with a friend. I didn't know if that said more about me or the crazy girl beside me.

"Prize?" Song Song rubbed her chin before a mischievous glint danced in her eyes. "Then how about this: if you can guess the exact reason why they are here, you can have any of them as a concubine."

"No thanks, I already have a fiancée," I answered immediately. "Also, one of those girls you offered is my cousin. But I will try and guess this for free since this journey will otherwise be quite dull."

Also, what was up with her and offering women off as concubines? I guess it was more accepted in these times. Perhaps she saw her father or a relative do something similar.

Not just women but anyone weak had next to no rights in this world. The opinions of non-cultivators did not matter either. But Song Song was pushing that a bit further. Also, my cousin was the future of the Liu Clan; I doubt Song Song had the power to just make her or any other girl here with a powerful clan behind them anyone's concubine.

Back to the puzzle.

Why were there so many women in the group? While there were men, almost twenty of the thirty members of the group were women.

The first thing that came to mind was that Song Song had said that her teacher was also a woman. Also, Song Song herself was not charismatic enough to attract these people.

Now, the question came as to why her teacher had primarily sent women to Song Song’s group? I doubted she cared much about the gender of the person who helped her disciple.

The only conclusion that made sense was that she had some kind of leverage that attracted mostly female disciples. What kind of leverage did a Core Elder have with access to all the information in the Sect? The answer was obvious.

“There are so many women in your team because of the techniques they practice. It probably has something to do with your teacher, and she no doubt knows some techniques that help when the cultivator is female,” I said.

There were weird things like Dual Cultivation, so there were bound to be techniques that worked or were more effective and helped with cultivation when the user was female.

Song Song stopped and looked at me, her eyes wide, “You… are right on that one. I knew you would probably guess it was a technique. But I didn’t think you would even pinpoint that it was my teacher. You know, you’re quite scary with those guesses sometimes. But yes, you’re absolutely correct.”

Well, guessing that her teacher was the one who did the talking was common sense. It wasn’t like Miss Psycho here would be good at negotiations that didn’t involve threatening someone’s life.

“For your information, it is a kind of technique that increases someone’s cultivation speed as long as they have their virginity intact,” Song Song stated.

My face scrunched up like I had just swallowed a lemon. I felt pretty uncomfortable conversing with Song Song about these things.

“I did not need to know that,” I said.

“What?” The smile on her face seemed to grow wider as she noticed my discomfort. “I thought you were interested in strange techniques and things like these. Do you want me to tell you exactly how the technique works? I practice it myself, so feel free to ask for any details.”

It seemed I shouldn’t have shown any discomfort, as Song Song would try her best to bring it up in any conversation she could now!

Also, I didn’t recall ever telling Song Song about my interest in martial techniques. How did she find that out?

But for now, I put such questions in the back of my mind. I tried to regain my composure, calmly stating, “It is still uncomfortable to talk with another person about these things. Though it might be an interesting book to read in the privacy of my own room.”

“Heh,” she jested. “The guy who is supposed to know everything is scared of women? Who would have thought?”

Her hawk-like gaze settled on me, trying to read any slip-ups. But I had learned from my mistake, and it was clear that she was trying to get a rise out of me. So I just smiled back and added, “True, I am allergic to pretty women. Though you’re okay, you can stick around.”

She chuckled at my backhanded insult and shrugged. The interest she had shown before had already faded in her gaze. Instead, she returned to business and asked, “What do you think of the group?”

What did I think of her group? Nothing much. I didn’t know them that well.

But I doubted that was the kind of answer she was looking for. Was she talking about the build of the team? Perhaps asking me to assess their balance? Well, once again, I knew next to nothing about them or how they fought.

“The only thing I can tell for sure is that there is a traitor in your team,” I stated the obvious.

That made Song Song stop in her tracks, and any chance of her teasing and joking any longer disappeared in an instant. Instead, everything was replaced by her murderous aura that flared like a bonfire.

Welp, this wasn’t something my silencing array could stop or hide.

The rest of the team, who were too busy sending me piercing looks before, began looking worried, and some turned pale.

Thankfully, murderous intent alone was not enough to break my barrier since I was now a level 2 Array Conjurer.

Song Song looked at her team, and an eerie darkness formed in her eyes, “Who is it?”