The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 228: Core Memory

Just as Wei Ping was praying for his allies to hurry to his rescue, he quickly shook those thoughts out of his mind.

When did I grow so weak? Leaving my fate to others?

Wei Ping had grown up alone from an early age. He was once proud of his independence and resourcefulness, but he had at some point become reliant on his companions! The unwillingness to allow such a travesty to continue reignited his determination. His mind started to race in a different direction. He began brainstorming ways to survive, whether it be by escape or by buying more time. He had to stack the deck in his favor.

Having just witnessed a man being sucked dry of his life force nearby, all the passive plans were quickly thrown out. He needed to be proactive and do something quickly.

His captor, Yuan Kai, had returned upstairs after claiming the life of a victim. From the conversation Wei Ping had overheard, he believed he was trying to break past the shackles of mortality, like he had been desperately trying to do. The main difference was that these deviators had no scruples with taking other human lives to fuel their progress.

That meant he was like a human Foundation Pill to these deviators. Yuan Kai could return at any time to claim another pill to make another attempt to break through.

Even knowing his allies were on the way, Wei Ping had a feeling they might not make it in time. There were just too many Foundation Establishment cultivators in this stronghold. No matter how strong their two allies from Nightmoon Valley were, it was hard to defend someone else while fighting a life-and-death battle against overwhelming numbers.

I’m just too much of a burden! Wei Ping dejectedly thought.

This train of thought soon led him back to the wall he had found to be insurmountable in recent times. The wall to the Foundation Establishment realm.

He believed his chances of survival would exponentially increase if he managed to break through. He wanted to do so right away to stop being a burden. This feeling had grown so strong that Wei Ping would’ve already consumed a Foundation Pill by now if his space ring was still with him.

His lack of resources made him beat his head against his knuckles as he tried to come up with alternatives.

“Hey, you,” a voice whispered. “There’s no use beating yourself up over the situation. If you make too much of a ruckus, our owner may come and punish us, so please stop.”

Wei Ping glanced over at the source of the voice, a young woman from the adjacent cell. She had a full figure that seemed out of place for a prisoner, and her eyes were glowing bright, like her auburn hair.

“You—y-you’ve been down here for a l-long time?” Wei Ping asked.

“Huh? Well yeah. For who knows how long.”

“Why hasn’t t-this Yuan Kai person, finished you off then? He b-brought us here to act a-as his feed, right?”

“You can survive as long as you follow the rules. He doesn’t usually consume all of our life force at once. The side effects are too much for him to handle, so he only takes a bit at a time. This allows us to recover, which means he will be able to gain more in the long term, too.”

This allowed Wei Ping to relax a little. It didn’t appear he was in imminent danger. His cellmate continued with her explanation.

“Unless there’s an urgent situation or you’re an orthodox cultivator. Then he may consume all of our life forces at once to empower him or give him a chance at a breakthrough.”

The caveat returned the tension back into Wei Ping’s body.

“Um, what c-counts as an urgent situation? Would this p-place being attacked count?”

“Well, yeah. This place only has one entrance, so one exit. The last time those righteous people appeared nearby, he immediately took a few of us to help fuel his breakthrough attempt. It seems he wants to impress his master this way. Not that he’s ever succeeded, though.”

Once again, Wei Ping sighed. This meant Yuan Kai would soon go into emergency mode and desperately try to break through when his friends arrived. He knew he practiced orthodox cultivation as well. The double whammy meant the situation looked bleak for him.

“Do y-you know how to get out of h-here?” Wei Ping asked, his voice becoming more serious with every word. “Just temporarily is f-fine. I need to retrieve something.”

Before his cellmate could answer, the hatch leading above opened, and the figure of Yuan Kai could be seen climbing down again.

“Haha, it’s my lucky day to have come across another feed of the orthodox way. That last feed may not have satisfied me, but surely you would!”

Wei Ping’s fear had come true. His new captor turned his fangs to him. He cursed how easy it was for the nature of his cultivation to be revealed. He desperately tried to break free from his restraints so he could put up a fight against his deranged captor.

However, no matter what he tried, the restraints wouldn’t budge, and Yuan Kai got closer by the second.

He entered Wei Ping’s cell and reached out a hand to his forehead. Just as he was about to make contact, the entire mountain suddenly trembled! The world stilled as everyone was confused at the sudden incursion.

Only Wei Ping knew what it signified.

Soon, Yuan Kai recovered from the sudden shaking and turned his gaze back to Wei Ping. His eyes gleamed with an animalistic shine.

“Yuan Kai, come up,” an old and regal voice resounded from every direction. “Pack away some things to bring with us in case we need to escape before tending to other matters. Remember, we always need to set up an escape plan ahead of time. Otherwise, you’ll come to regret it.”

Whether it was thanks to a stroke of luck or not, Wei Ping exhaled upon seeing his captor disappear back up the hatch. To his surprise, his cellmate resumed their conversation as if that little ordeal he had experienced never happened.

“To answer your question, these cells are enchanted by our owner’s master. There’s no way out. At least not without them noticing. Just conserve your energy and keep quiet—is what I was going to say, but you’re an orthodox cultivator? For real?”

Wei Ping nodded. The cat was already out of the bag. There was no use fooling some random captive in the adjacent cell.

“I can’t say you’ll be able to survive much longer, then.”

Despite the negative news, Wei Ping didn’t react. His mind was drawn back to his earlier idea, but even more radical!

His mind constantly weighed the benefits against the risks. The logical part of his brain had to constantly reprimand its more reckless side by explaining how stupid his thoughts were. The more he tried to convince himself to take the cautious approach, the more he was reminded of how weak he was. He hated that even after becoming a cultivator, he still didn’t have the ability to protect himself. It reminded him how far away he was from his goal. Even with all the help his boss had provided him, he hadn’t made any progress in recent months.

The more Wei Ping pondered, the more he hated himself. He was desperate for change, to change himself for the better.

These mixed feelings eventually invoked an old memory of his past. One that he barely remembered.

On a sunny day in the central plaza of a regular village, several kids could be seen playing around. When kids socialized, both good and bad things could happen. On that day, it was regrettably the latter.

“Ha ha, Little Ping was the first to be tagged again! What a slowpoke!”

“Hey now, he can’t help it. After all, he’s the child of that Stuttering Peddler. I bet his brain stutters like his dad, so it’s natural his reactions are slow.”

When he was a small child, Wei Ping was as timid as could be. He had hated himself back then as well. There was a huge difference between him and his dad, who could speak his mind despite stuttering. As a result, he idolized him.

“Don’t you dare badmouth my dad!” the young boy screamed as he charged his bullies. He flailed his fists randomly around, but his small stature meant there wasn’t a lot of power behind each blow.

The two larger kids were easily able to push him back and wrestle him down. In a one-on-two struggle on the ground, the side that prevailed was obvious.

That day Wei Ping returned home in filthy clothing and with a swollen face. His dad, who greeted him upon his return, said nothing and simply patted him on the head. He then sat Little Wei Ping on his lap as he got a piece of damp cloth and began wiping his son clean.

“Dad—aren’t you going to ask me what happened?” the little boy grumbled.

“Hmm, do y-you want to talk about i-it?”

The young boy blinked blankly.

“If you force me to, I would.”

“Hahaha. Forcing people t-to speak is one of the most u-useless things one can do. Words a-are just a tool used to communicate. If one i-is unwilling to do that, then forcing them to s-speak is a fruitless endeavor.”

“Words are just tools?”

“T-that’s right. Just like with all things in life, p-practice makes perfect. You can’t g-give up, okay? It may be scary, but keep practicing until y-you get it right.”

Unbeknownst to Little Wei Ping at that time, this was one of the last conversations he would have with his father. He had even mostly forgotten about it. That was because a much stronger memory had overpowered all other recollections of his past—one in which his father had been murdered.