Cultivation is Creation-Chapter 176: A Sleepy Dreamwalker

There's something oddly peaceful about working on potentially lethal techniques while traveling through monster-infested wilderness. Maybe it's the multitasking: your conscious mind stays alert for threats while your spiritual senses dive deep into the intricacies of qi manipulation. Or maybe I'm just weird. Azure would probably vote for the latter.

"The key," Azure explained as we continued our journey, "is to maintain the pollen's structural integrity while keeping the qi infusion subtle enough to avoid triggering defensive responses in higher-stage beasts."

I nodded mentally, watching through my spiritual sense as gossamer strands of qi wove through the theoretical construct we were building in my inner world. It was like trying to create a net made of spider silk: too fragile and it would fall apart, too strong and it would be obvious.

"Think of it like making soup," Azure continued, apparently deciding I needed a more relatable metaphor. "You want the flavors to blend seamlessly, not hit someone over the head with individual ingredients."

"Did you just compare battle techniques to cooking?"

"Would you prefer a tailoring metaphor? Something about the proper tension in spiritual threading perhaps?"

I had to suppress a smile at his dry tone. "No, no, soup is fine. Though now I'm wondering if we could actually—"

"Master," Azure interrupted, "please focus on one potentially dangerous experiment at a time."

He had a point. The technique we were developing: which we'd decided to call Dreamshade Miasma: was tricky enough without adding culinary cultivation into the mix. The basic concept was simple: create a cloud of spiritually-infused pollen that would affect lower-stage beasts without drawing attention from stronger ones. The execution, however...

"Try reducing the qi density in the outer layer by about 30%," Azure suggested. "And maybe add a slight spiral pattern to the distribution..."

We'd been at this for hours, refining and adjusting. The nice thing about developing techniques in your inner world is that you can test theories without actually risking blowing yourself up. The downside is that you look like you're completely zoned out to anyone watching.

Speaking of which...

"You're very quiet," Liu Chang observed, breaking into my thoughts. "Are you worried about the mission?"

I blinked, pulling my attention back to the physical world. "Just thinking about formation arrangements," I lied smoothly. Well, partial lie: I had been thinking about formations earlier.

"Ah yes, the life of a formation practitioner, always in their head." He smiled, but there was something evaluating in his gaze. "Actually, that brings up a good point. We should probably all familiarize ourselves with each other's capabilities before we reach the village. Proper teamwork could make the difference between success and failure."

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Su Yue nodded emphatically. "Especially with beast waves. Individual power matters less than being able to coordinate effectively."

She had a point. Beast waves were chaos incarnate: hundreds or thousands of spiritual beasts all moving together, driven by some primal force that even the scholars didn't fully understand. Individual power meant little if you couldn't coordinate with your teammates.

Though of course, like everything in the cultivation world, that rule only applied up to a certain point. If you were powerful enough, numbers became irrelevant.

I'd heard stories of elders casually wiping out entire beast waves with a single technique, or Life Realm cultivators treating thousand-beast armies like particularly annoying swarms of insects. It was one of the fundamental laws of this world: sufficient power would always trump numbers in the end.

But since none of us were anywhere near that level yet, coordination it was.

"I'll start," Su Yue offered. "My cultivation method is the Crimson Sun Breathing Technique. It creates an artificial sun in my inner world that lets me absorb and refine fire essence." She held up her hand, summoning a small flame that danced between her fingers. "Most of my techniques revolve around heat manipulation: I can create barriers of superheated air, generate focused flame attacks, that sort of thing."

The flame expanded, forming complex patterns before dissipating. "My ultimate technique is called Solar Devastation Wave. It's basically concentrated solar fire that keeps burning until the target is completely destroyed." She grinned. "Though I try not to use that one near populated areas. Tends to make the locals nervous."

"I practice the Immutable Titan Scripture,” Liu Chang went next. “My inner world, the Titan's Colossus Realm, is filled with mountain-sized stone giants that embody unshakable will."

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He stamped one foot, and I felt the ground beneath us solidify. "My techniques focus on defense and absolute stability. I can harden my skin to near indestructibility, and as long as I'm in contact with the ground, my injuries heal continuously."

I couldn't help but be impressed. The Immutable Titan Scripture wasn't something you'd find in a typical sect's library. It sounded like a Heaven Rank method, it had to have come from the Capital City, probably from one of the major cultivation clans. The fact that Liu Chang was here instead of cultivating with his clan suggested either a very interesting story or a very tragic one. Possibly both.

All eyes turned to Chu Feng, who sighed dramatically. "Fine. Sky Sundering Sutra. Wind techniques. Lots of cutting things. Can we move on now?"

"That's... not very detailed," Su Yue pointed out.

"What else does he need to know? I make wind blades, they cut things, end of story."

I caught Liu Chang and Su Yue exchanging glances. Clearly, this was typical behavior for their teammate.

Now it was my turn, and I had to choose my words carefully. Obviously, I couldn't tell them about the runes, the red sun energy, or any of the other things that would raise uncomfortable questions. Better to stick to what they could find out from speaking to any outer disciple in the sect.

"I practice the World Tree Sutra," I said, deciding to lead with the obvious. "It's a wood-attribute cultivation method that focuses on plant manipulation."

Liu Chang's eyebrows rose slightly. "The World Tree Sutra? Isn't that the one that..."

"Kills most people who try to cultivate it?" I finished. "Yes, that's the one."

"Brave of you," Su Yue laughed. "Every year some poor fool takes that thing out thinking they'll be the one to master it. Usually ends with them fertilizing the sect's gardens, if you know what I mean." She gave me an appraising look. "Though you seem surprisingly non-dead so far. Try to keep it that way, at least until after the mission?"

"I'll do my best," I replied dryly. "I'd hate to inconvenience everyone by exploding into tree saplings at an inappropriate moment."

Chu Feng, who had been unusually quiet during the explanations, was watching me with an intensity that didn't match his supposedly nervous personality. There was something about the World Tree Sutra that seemed to have caught his attention.

"Master," Azure's voice interrupted my observations, "there's a spiritual beast approaching from the northeast. Qi Condensation Stage 6, moving towards the village."

“How fast is it moving?”

“Slowly…extremely slowly.”

Now that was strange, but I still opened my mouth to warn the others.

Chu Feng must have also sensed the beast because without a word, he vanished in a blur of wind, leaving behind only disturbed leaves and confused teammates.

"Well," Su Yue sighed, "I guess we're fighting now."

We followed Chu Feng's trail, arriving just in time to see him engaged in combat with... what exactly was I looking at?

The creature looked like someone had tried to describe a sloth to an artist who had never seen one, then told them to make it "more cultivation-y." It was massive, easily fifteen feet tall, with fur that seemed to shift between different shades of green.

"A Sleepy Dreamwalker," Azure identified the strange being. "Normally solitary creatures that prefer to stay in the deeper parts of spirit forests. They feed on dreams and spiritual essence, usually from plants but occasionally from cultivators who fall asleep in their territory. This one seems... odd though. Its energy patterns are unstable."

The battle itself was even stranger than the beast. Chu Feng, who should have been able to handle a Stage 6 beast without breaking a sweat, was struggling. His wind blades seemed to pass through the creature's fur without effect, while its slow swipes somehow kept forcing him to dodge at the last second.

The Dreamwalker, for its part, seemed more interested in getting past Chu Feng than fighting him. Its movements were erratic, almost desperate, as if drawn to something beyond our position.

But what really caught my attention was Chu Feng's expression. He wasn't fighting like someone dealing with an unexpected threat: he was fighting like the sloth had personally offended his ancestors, all nine generations of them.

Each attack was delivered with an intensity that seemed completely out of proportion for what should have been a routine beast encounter. Wind blades filled the air, turning the clearing into a landscape of cutting force. Trees toppled, rocks shattered, and still the sloth kept trying to disengage.

"Enough of this," Liu Chang stepped in, qi surging as his flesh into what looked like living metal.

The difference in power was immediately apparent: being three cultivation stages higher, his mere presence caused the beast to falter and even whimper.

I stayed back, partly to observe their dynamics and partly because, well, it seemed like overkill to have four people gang up on a single Stage 6 beast.

Liu Chang didn't even need to use a named technique: a single qi-enhanced palm strike caught the beast in its core.

The impact sent shockwaves through the clearing, shattering rocks and splintering tree trunks. The beast's ribcage caved inward with a sickening crack as it fell, its fur no longer shifting colors but settling into a dull gray.

But before its massive form could even crater the ground, Chu Feng had already moved: faster than he'd shown himself capable of during the entire fight: storing the corpse in his storage ring.

"I need the corpse," he said quickly, noticing the others' confused looks. "I'll compensate you with spirit stones for your help. Though," his tone turned slightly acidic, "I don't recall asking for assistance."

"You seemed to be having trouble," Liu Chang pointed out. "Are you still injured from the last mission?"

Chu Feng's expression flickered between annoyance and something else: worry? Fear? "Yeah," he said finally. "But it won't affect the mission. I can handle myself."

Liu Chang and Su Yue exchanged concerned glances but didn't press the issue. As we resumed our journey, I noticed they were positioning themselves slightly differently now: keeping Chu Feng in their peripheral vision more often than before.

"Master," Azure's voice was thoughtful, "there was something strange about that beast."

"What do you mean?"

"Just before Chu Feng stored its corpse, I detected an unusual energy signature. It was only for a moment, but..."

"But what?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Azure admitted. "It happened too quickly, and Chu Feng moved the body into storage almost instantly. But whatever it was, he knows about it. And he's going to considerable effort to keep anyone else from finding out."

I mulled this over as we continued down the path. A supposedly nervous cultivator who fought with inconsistent skill levels, a beast that seemed more interested in reaching the village than fighting, and now mysterious energy signatures that Chu Feng wanted to hide…