Cultivation Nerd (xianxia)

Chapter 366 - A Teacher's Job

Chaos. Absolute chaos.Cai Hu sighed as he looked around the lab and at the new decorations he had added to it.

This place used to be Liu Feng’s not-so-secret secret laboratory. When he had come here, there was no bed to be seen; everything lay in disorganized heaps, and shards of glass still littered parts of the floor for reasons he would rather not think about.

He leaned back in his wooden chair and glanced at his disciple, who had been lying unconscious on the new bed for two weeks now. A purple-tinted array surrounded the young man, gently pulsing as it aided the recovery of his mental energy.

Cai Hu would have preferred a level seven array, but aside from a handful he knew by heart, most of those required constant Qi infusion. As a Core Formation cultivator, he simply couldn’t sustain that kind of expenditure. In the end, he had settled for a peak level six array.

He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret over it.

If he was honest with himself, even maintaining this much was already pushing him to his limits. He still hadn’t recovered from the sheer Qi and mental exhaustion he’d suffered while sealing that body-hopping immortal. He likely never would.

Heh. What a story that was.

When Liu Feng had first come to him with the explanation, Cai Hu had hoped fervently that his disciple was mistaken. Not because he doubted Liu Feng’s diligence or honesty, but because the truth was simply too heavy. Liu Feng would never make a claim like that without doing his research and being sure of his findings.

And yet… Cai Hu had hoped.

Defeating a body-hopping immortal, by Cai Hu’s measure, that should have been the crowning moment of his life.

If that story were ever told, though, he would be drowned out by the noise and would be a side character at most. With his name bastardized as it was spoken by drunkards in a tavern.

But none of that mattered.

It had been only two weeks since Liu Feng had fallen into a coma, and in those two weeks, the outside world had descended into madness. The four sects had escalated their conflicts without restraint, and the front lines had become nothing more than butcher fields.

At least Cai Hu had been spared witnessing it firsthand. He had remained here, alone, tending to his disciple, unbothered by news from beyond these walls.

He sighed once more and turned back to his work, spreading his senses to check Liu Feng’s condition. Carefully, he took notes on the progress of his recovery. If Liu Feng woke up with his mind intact, he would no doubt want to study this himself. This was also something to occupy Cai Hu's mind away from the thought of what would happen if Liu Feng woke up unwell.

“You should change this,” a voice said suddenly, rough fingers tapping one of the sentences Cai Hu had just written. “He isn’t mentally suppressed by some unknown method.”

Cai Hu froze.

He hadn’t sensed anyone approach. He hadn’t sensed anyone here.

Slowly, he looked up.

A young, almost teenage face stared back at him, one he was certain he had seen before.

“Instead,” the figure continued calmly, “he is using this time to repress and seal twenty thousand years of memories.”

“The honor is mine, great immortal,” Cai Hu said immediately, standing up, clasping his fists, and bowing deeply. “To what do I owe this visit?”

The Blood Step Immortal didn’t even look at him.

His gaze remained fixed on Liu Feng.

“When I was his age, I was quite a bit stronger than him,” the immortal said, a low chuckle escaping him at the end as he finally glanced at Cai Hu, who still kept his head bowed. “But this level of mental control, how he handles the mind, was something I only truly grasped after reaching Nascent Soul.”

He paused, eyes narrowing slightly.

“That Sky Grade Technique suits him too well. Almost as if a certain Four Way Immortal is nudging things along a specific path. And yet our friend here wasted quite a bit of time using it to control beasts,” he added, closing his eyes as though sensing something unseen. “Interesting… he left no divine will behind. Not even a remnant of his soul within the boy. Is he truly that confident everything will unfold as he predicted?”

The immortal opened his eyes again.

“What do you think, old man?”

“I know nothing of such matters, my lord,” Cai Hu replied carefully, though his mind churned with unease.

When elephants fought, it was always the ants that were crushed.

And what in the heavens had his disciple gotten himself tangled up in? One immortal had already been dealt with, and now there were two whose schemes brushed against Liu Feng. Powerhouses beyond comprehension.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

If Liu Feng were still a child, Cai Hu would have slapped the stupidity straight out of his skull. Sadly or perhaps fortunately, his disciple was long past that.

“What a boring answer,” the Blazing Sun Immortal muttered, his attention drifting back to Liu Feng. “The Blood Step Immortal had the will to become an immortal, but never the mindset. That flaw shaped his technique making it pathetic, fragile, and destined to fail. A technique that allowed him to be killed… and then hide like a coward.”

Why was he saying this to him?

The realization struck Cai Hu a moment later.

These words weren’t meant for him. They were meant to be passed on.

When Liu Feng woke up.

Of course. Unlike his disciple, Cai Hu knew when to obey and when to cut his losses.

Damn it all, what had he done in his past lives to deserve a disciple like this?

And yet… perhaps this recklessness, this willingness to stare into the abyss, was precisely what was needed to become a Level Eight Array Conjurer. Maybe that was why Cai Hu himself had only brushed against level seven, despite knowing the theory well enough. He lacked the mindset.

“The Blood Step Immortal was always careless, at least by our standards,” the Blazing Sun Immortal continued. “He has been killed many times. Once, he even died at the hands of a test subject while experimenting with one of his grotesque rituals. Fitting, really. That’s how losers who manifest reincarnation techniques tend to end up.”

He waved a hand dismissively.

“Anyway… Liu Feng’s caretaker? Servant? Whatever you are,” the immortal said, finally turning fully toward Cai Hu.

“How can I help you, Lord Blazing Sun?” Cai Hu bowed even deeper.

“No, you can’t help me. I was just bored,” the Blazing Sun Immortal said casually. “My new wife was pregnant, and we can’t even go on dates anymore. She sleeps all the time. So I came here to see what was happening.”

He sighed dramatically.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to do with that woman. I work all day in the fields, then I come home, and she makes me take care of the kid so she can rest. I swear, all women are like this…”

He launched into a long, rambling tangent that made absolutely no sense to Cai Hu.

An immortal… putting up with his wife?

There were countless solutions. He could leave her, summon servants, take concubines by the hundred. He could do anything he wanted. And yet here he was, complaining like a spineless man.

Cai Hu said nothing. He didn’t even dare nod when the immortal spoke ill of his wife.

After all, she was a woman that a man with absolute power chose to endure. No, stay with. Despite the complaints, there was no doubt the Blazing Sun Immortal loved her.

Cai Hu briefly wondered if this was all some elaborate joke at his expense. But what choice did he have other than to endure it?

The rambling continued. Complaints about how his wife wouldn’t let him go out with friends anymore. How she insisted he spend more time with their child. How the child probably wouldn’t even remember any of it anyway at such a young age, though, wisely, he had never voiced that particular thought aloud to his wife.

“Anyway,” the immortal finally said, waving a hand, “I’m impressed Liu Feng managed to pull this off. Even after his first plan to push the Blood Step Immortal into conflict with me fell through.”

He smiled faintly.

“I would’ve played along if I hadn’t sensed my wife was pregnant. You know how pregnant women are; very needy.” He paused, then sighed again. “That’s also why I love her.”

Another tangent followed. This one about fond memories, quiet moments, and shared time. Cai Hu listened in silence, unsure whether to trust a word of it, yet unable to imagine why someone of this stature would bother lying.

“He hasn’t woken up yet,” the Blazing Sun Immortal continued, finally circling back, “but I wanted to ask him whether he got anything useful from the Blood Step Immortal’s memories. That man was a loser that let himself be sealed because he didn’t want to be around when the Age of Immortals arrives.”

His smile sharpened.

“But not all of us are like that. Some of us can’t wait for the Age of Immortals. We’re just killing time until it comes.”

He took a deep breath, then pointed at Cai Hu.

“Tell him everything I told you today.”

“Of course, Lord Blazing Sun,” Cai Hu nodded.

The immortal sighed once more.

“Still… I don’t have much hope. If the Blood Step Immortal folded that easily, then he probably didn’t know much about the Age of Immortals either.”

Then, right in front of Cai Hu’s eyes, the man vanished.

There was no gust of wind, no spatial ripple, not even the faintest wisp of Qi. One moment he was standing there, casually rambling, and the next he simply wasn’t.

Cai Hu swallowed and finally let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

He couldn’t sense the immortal’s presence at all.

That, more than anything else, terrified him.

Song Song possessed a similar technique, one that allowed her to conceal herself to an extreme degree. Still, when she appeared, when she chose to be seen, her presence was unmistakable. Her Qi pressed down on the world like a blade poised at the throat.

But this man?

Nothing.

It was as if he had never been there to begin with.

Cai Hu felt a chill creep up his spine.

“And what in the heavens is this Age of Immortals supposed to be…?” he muttered under his breath.

His gaze drifted toward Liu Feng, lying unconscious within the recovery array.

“My dear disciple,” Cai Hu murmured softly, “must you always involve yourself in the most dangerous, troublesome matters imaginable?”

He sighed.

Then, inevitably, his thoughts drifted to that mad girl Liu Feng insisted on calling a friend.

Song Song.

Between the two of them, Cai Hu honestly couldn’t tell which one was more frightening.

At this rate, it would take a miracle for the sect to still exist by this time next year.

He sighed again, his third sigh in what felt like a very short span of time.

Dealing with troublesome disciples was part of a teacher’s duty, he reminded himself.

One had to take the bad along with the good.

Even when the “bad” came in the form of disciples who angered immortals and meddled with ancient conspiracies.