Cultivation Nerd (xianxia)

Chapter 270 – The Old Meets The New

Ling Huyin looked up at the sky, his breath steady, shoulders heavy.

The sun sank low on the horizon, casting its dying light across the clouds and staining them a deep, smoldering crimson, like blood smeared across the heavens. The lake before him rippled quietly, reflecting the fiery sky in its still surface.

He hoped, really hoped, this was the last lake.

This journey, wandering from one forgotten corner of the map to another, far from any trace of human civilization, had worn him down more than he cared to admit. Each place felt more remote than the last.

He exhaled through his nose and glanced around.

No shrines. No altars. No beasts. Just cold wind, tired legs, and one more sunset over water.

Let this be the last one, he thought, narrowing his eyes against the light.

There was a time when he’d been an Immortal, when he could cross the continent in a breath. But now, without enough Qi to support wide-range teleportation techniques, that time was long gone.

He’d need to be at least a one-star Nascent Soul cultivator to handle that kind of drain again.

As the soft, dewy snow crunched beneath his feet, Ling Huyin sighed. He sensed monstrous beasts in the distance, again.

He’d dealt with plenty of them recently. And with his meager Foundation Establishment cultivation, there wasn’t much he could do anymore. He’d already driven off two hordes and had no interest in dealing with a third.

If only the old rabbit hadn’t been so vague.

But Ling Huyin knew how these kinds of techniques worked. The information was never exact, and always veiled. After all, an immortal technique was an absolute glimpse of a future that couldn’t be changed. They were future certainties wrapped in riddles.

Still, it had taken him a long time just to begin the

The water was so clear it bordered on surreal. No murk, no scum, no hint of algae or decay. It was untouched. Untainted. Not by human hands, not by beasts, not even by time.

Ling Huyin had spent quite some time as an Immortal, and before that, as a peak Nascent Soul cultivator. He had almost forgotten the feeling of hunger, sleep… even breathing.

But now, with only a Foundation Establishment cultivation?

He felt mortal again.

And, strangely, a part of him liked it.

Eating something delicious after real hunger. Sleeping after a long, exhausting day. Feeling the bite of the wind against skin that could bruise.

It made him feel alive.

He shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside. Sentimentality didn’t suit him.

There were still lakes to search, likely even those unmarked on maps. If only he still had his inheritance. But that had almost certainly been destroyed by the Soul-Eating Piranhas that killed him in his last life.

Even so, he decided to rest for a bit.

His cultivation had stalled from traveling through dead zones, areas with no life, no Qi, nothing to absorb. In his previous life, talent had let him bypass these issues. But now?

His talent was average. He had to make every decision count.

Imagine wasting a second life because he couldn’t live long enough to break through. That would be tragic.

Still, if that happened… maybe he could leave behind something valuable. An inheritance in a place no one would ever find. A map for his next self. Somewhere to begin again.

Somewhere his future reincarnation wouldn’t have to start from nothing.

That thought was still dancing in his head when a voice interrupted him.

“Huh. Got some visitors here?”

The tone was calm. Almost lazy.

Ling Huyin didn’t flinch. He’d once been an Immortal himself, and he knew the difference between mundane stealth and the kind of presence that couldn’t be detected even with Sky Grade techniques.

He turned slowly.

A man stood behind him.

Tan skin. Average-looking. Dark hair, brown eyes. A straw hat tilted low over his face. White linen shirt. Dark pants.

If someone had asked Ling Huyin to picture a farmer who’d never ridden in a proper carriage, this would have been the image.

But he’d seen weirder.

No average person ever became an Immortal. They were all twisted, eccentric, and obsessed. It was that unique, immovable, and absolute sense of self that let them slip past the bindings of fate.

“Hello, new Immortal. I’m here to make a deal that would benefit both of us," Ling Huyin said and folded his arms. Finally having found his target.

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