Cultivation is Creation

“YOU DARE KILL MY GRANDSON?"

A cave mouth I hadn't noticed before was opening, darkness spilling out like liquid shadow. The pressure intensified as a figure emerged – tall, broad-shouldered, with a beard that would make mountain sages jealous.

The Ancestor of the Three-Leaf Clover Sect didn't so much walk as glide, each step carrying him impossible distances. His eyes found me immediately, burning with a fury that would have terrified most cultivators.

I felt Han Renyi's consciousness recoil slightly at the sight, but I kept us steady. After all, I'd been expecting something like this – you don't kill a sect elder without anticipating some family drama.

"YOU DARE?" The Ancestor's voice boomed across the compound again, and I had to admire the theatricality of it. The way the sound seemed to come from everywhere at once, how it made the very air vibrate... that took skill. Well, if you're going to emerge from several centuries of seclusion to avenge your grandson, you might as well do it with style.

"Calm down," I told Han Renyi's panicking consciousness. "This is exactly what we planned for."

"This was NOT in the plan!" he shot back. "You said we'd intimidate the sect master, not fight a Tier 4 ancestor!"

"Details, details..."

Without a word, the ancestor raised one hand.

The attack came faster than I expected – not a simple wood spear or tangle of roots, but a complex weave of branches that spiraled through the air like a drill. The technique was beautiful, really. The way the wood twisted and compressed, guided by perfectly controlled rouqi... if I wasn't the target, I would have taken notes.

But I was the target, and more importantly, I was ready.

The wooden drill shot toward me with enough force to level a small building. Li Jie's eyes widened – probably expecting to see me either dodge the attack or counter with something more devasting. Instead, something much more interesting happened.

The moment the Ancestor's attack came within range of my qi, it... changed course. Like a puppy spotting its favorite toy, the wood construct completely ignored its original trajectory and curved around me in what could only be described as an eager spiral.

I reached out and patted it. The wood actually vibrated with pleasure.

The Ancestor jumped high into the air, covering the distance across the sect in less time than it took for me to blink, and landed on the ground in front of the tree with a large thud that cracked the stone beneath his feet. His expression when he looked up and realized that his attack didn’t have the intended effect was... well, priceless, really. I wished I had some kind of image-capturing formation. This was the kind of moment you'd want to preserve for posterity.

"That's..." He frowned, his magnificent beard twitching with confusion. "That's not..."

Before he could finish whatever profound observation he was about to make, I caught a flicker of movement. His arm was rising again, rouqi gathering around his hand in a distinctly unfriendly way.

"Time for the next part of the show," I told Han Renyi, who had at least stopped panicking long enough to be curious about what would happen next.

I stepped off the branch and rose higher into the air, floating with deliberate casualness above the Ancestor Tree. In this world, true flight was a Tier 5 ability. Just by doing this, I was making a very specific statement about my supposed power level.

The Ancestor's attack dissipated as his jaw dropped open. "Tier... Tier 5?" he whispered, then shook his head violently. "No, impossible! This must be some trick!"

“Seventh Ancestor, no—” the Sect Master’s words were cut off as the old man gathered more rouqi, this time with a distinct fiery edge to it.

Ah, right – Tier 4 cultivators could use multiple elements. That could have been problematic if I hadn't already prepared my trump card.

Before the Ancestor could launch his attack, the tree beneath me came to life.

Now, when I say "came to life," I don't mean it just moved or swayed. I mean every branch, every leaf, every root suddenly awakened with the kind of enthusiasm you'd expect from someone who'd just discovered coffee after a century-long nap.

The Ancestor barely had time to widen his eyes before a branch thicker than his torso slammed into him with all the subtlety of an angry mountain. He went flying through the air in a graceful arc that ended rather ungracefully through several walls.

The Sect Master’s face was doing fascinating things as he processed what he'd just witnessed. I could practically see the thoughts racing through his mind: Not only was I apparently Tier 5 (impossible in this age), but I was also a formation master (explaining the disabled barriers), and now the Ancestor's Tree – the very symbol of their sect's power – had just betrayed them to side with an outsider.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The Ancestor slowly emerged from the rubble, his beard slightly askew but otherwise looking remarkably intact for someone who'd just been used as impromptu demolition equipment.

I decided it was time to twist the knife a little.

"A Tier 4 junior seeking death?" I let my voice carry just the right amount of disdain to remind him of the vast gulf in our supposed cultivation levels.

Then, in what might be the most impressive technique I'd seen yet, his entire demeanor transformed. The rage vanished, replaced by a grandfatherly smile that probably worked wonders on junior disciples. He even managed to make brushing debris from his robes look dignified.

"This junior," he said, dropping to his knees and pressing his forehead to the ground in a formal kowtow, "begs forgiveness from the honored senior for his grievous offense."

When I didn't immediately reduce him to ash, he raised his head slightly. Seeing that he was still alive, he seemed to gain a bit of confidence.

"In fact," he continued, performing a second kowtow, "I must express my deepest shame at my grandson's unfilial behavior. Zhou Shentong was... problematic."

A third kowtow followed. "Always causing trouble for the sect..."

Fourth kowtow. "Constantly embarrassing the family..."

Fifth kowtow. "Making unreasonable demands of other clans..."

By the sixth kowtow, he was really getting into it, his forehead practically wearing a groove in the stone as he listed every possible flaw his grandson had possessed. According to his new opinion, Zhou Shentong had been responsible for everything from failed harvests to bad weather.

The seventh and final kowtow was his most elaborate yet, his long beard sweeping the ground as he pressed himself lower than I would have thought possible for someone his age. Seven kowtows did feel appropriate coming from the Seventh Ancestor.

"This junior humbly requests the honored senior's guidance," he finished, maintaining his prostrate position.

Beside him, the Sect Master’s expression practically cried: "Thank the heavens the old fool isn't going to get us all killed."

As the Ancestor stayed on his knees and continued his impressive retrospective revision of his grandson's character, I reflected on how we'd gotten here. Despite what Han Renyi might have thought, this hadn't been nearly as reckless as it appeared.

The plan had been simple, really.

Use the Shroud rune to hide my identity while letting just enough of that distinctly unfriendly red sun energy seep through. Not enough to reveal its true nature, but enough to make them think I might be something they really didn't want to deal with – a powerful demonic rouqin.

It was probably the same in every world, Demonic cultivators had a certain…reputation. Most sects would rather avoid offending one, if only because their revenge usually involved creative uses of human anatomy and a complete disregard for collateral damage.

But I hadn't relied solely on intimidation. That wouldn’t have been enough, especially since I wasn't sure what would happen if I died here. Was there a loop for time to reset? Would Han Renyi stay dead? Not the kind of questions I wanted to find out.

No, what had really made this work was the sect's specialization. Had they focused on any other element, I would have advised the Han family to relocate immediately while I bought them time. A Tier 3 cultivator was roughly equivalent to someone in the early Elemental Realm, and I knew exactly how that fight would end.

But wood style? That I could work with.

The first thing I'd done upon arriving was disable their barrier formations. They weren't particularly complex – most Level 2 formation practitioners could have managed it, though perhaps not as quietly.

Then I'd sensed it – the massive tree at the sect's heart. Even without actively using my qi, I could feel it calling to me. Azure had suggested it might recognize the World Tree Sutra's influence, and I wasn't going to argue with him.

During my silent staredown with the Sect Master, I hadn't just been going for the mysterious-intimidating-visitor effect. I'd been carefully feeding qi into the tree, establishing a connection while staying under the sect master's spiritual sense.

The moment I felt the slumbering power within the tree respond, I knew we'd won. Which was why the Ancestor's appearance, while surprising, hadn't been particularly concerning.

"But what if the tree hadn't responded?" Han Renyi asked, after I explained my plan to him.

"Then we would have had a very exciting night involving multiple escape plans, some creative use of explosives, and possibly a brief career as traveling merchants in a distant province."

I could feel his exasperation, but at least he wasn't panicking anymore.

My attention returned to the present as I noticed the Ancestor was still talking, having moved on to a detailed criticism of his grandson's choice in women.

The tree's branches twitched questioningly, and both the Sect Master and the Ancestor tensed as they recognized the gesture for what it was – an offer to remove these annoying insects.

I reached out and patted the nearest branch. "Now, now," I said casually, "I'm sure these juniors were about to invite me in to examine their techniques." I turned my attention fully on them, letting my eyes glow just a bit brighter. "Isn't that right?"

The two sect leaders shared a quick glance before nodding enthusiastically.

"Of course!" the Ancestor said quickly, his smile now firmly in please-don't-kill-us territory. "We juniors would be honored to receive guidance from such an esteemed senior!"

"Master," Azure's voice held a note of amusement, "I believe you're enjoying this performance a bit too much."

"Can you blame me?" I replied mentally. "It's not often I get to watch a higher tier cultivator try to convince me that he definitely wasn't just trying to kill me, and would I perhaps be interested in some tea?"

"Well, just don’t get too distracted, we seem to have found something very interesting about this world's history."

He was right. The Ancestor's Tree didn’t seem to be just any sacred artifact. Its reaction to my qi, the way it had instantly recognized and responded to the World Tree Sutra's influence... this was something older, something that predated the Three-Leaf Clover Sect by a considerable margin.

Which raised some very interesting questions about the Celestial Sovereign, this world's structure, and possibly why everything was slowly falling apart.

The Ancestor was already leading the way toward what appeared to be the sect's main hall, constantly glancing back as if afraid I might disappear – or worse, change my mind about not killing him. The Sect Master followed, maintaining a carefully respectful distance while probably trying to figure out how this night had gone so completely sideways.

I floated along behind them, maintaining my air of casual superiority while actually considering our next moves carefully. The immediate crisis was handled – between the tree's support and their belief in my power level, the sect wouldn't dare move against the Han family now.

But long-term stability would require more than just fear. These people needed to believe they were getting something valuable out of this arrangement, something worth more than their lost face and dead elder.

"Time to play the mysterious senior who might be willing to share some profound insights," I thought, already planning how to leverage their desperation for advancement.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!