Cultivation Nerd-Chapter 249: The Intoxication of Absolute Control

The sensation of having absolute control over someone was… strange.

It settled over me slowly, like warm water pouring down my spine, foreign but not unwelcome. I could feel the creature’s thoughts, its instincts, its urges… and I could silence them all with a mere flicker of will. It wasn’t just obedience, it was surrender. Total, unquestioning submission.

In a way, it was euphoric.

There was a heady thrill in that power, in knowing that something so massive, so wild, was now held tightly in the palm of my mind. I could see, with startling clarity, how someone might become addicted to it. That kind of control could eat away at a person and twist their sense of self until they genuinely believed the world was meant to kneel before them.

It was power in its rawest form.

And like all power, it whispered. In a more metaphorical sense, this was not Star Wars.

Even I, someone with no real interest in controlling monstrous beasts, found myself wondering. Should I pursue this further? But at the end of the day, things that held little of my interest had even less influence over me.

I stared at the red tiger as it padded beside me.

What was truly frightening about this technique was that, for the first time, I could feel myself pushing beyond certain boundaries. Even the Qi inside the tiger… I could control it almost as easily as my own.

However, the sad part was that this tiger had lost all its potential. Sure, it could increase its cultivation like normal, but any chance of genuine innovation was gone.

I expected some kind of mental backlash or something from using a Sky Grade Technique. The mental strain was something I had grown used to by now, but there was none.

What a strange thing.

It felt as though I’d separated a part of my mental energy and attached it to the beast. It wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want it to. And despite that, my mind, or the technique, didn’t feel burdened. I could still use the Eight Mind Phantoms as usual.

Part of me wondered what filling all eight control slots would be like. Just from this experience alone, I knew I could likely control humans in the same way I had this monstrous beast.

No. I shouldn’t even let my thoughts wander in that direction. There were lines I shouldn’t cross.

I shook my head and decided not to dwell on the full potential of the Eight Mind Phantoms Technique.

By controlling key figures, like the Thunder Wolf King, I could amass monster hordes and bring entire regions to heel. Eight Nascent Soul-level beasts could command hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of their own kind.

With numbers like that, I could take over the entire Western Continent.

Assuming, of course, I reached Nascent Soul cultivation myself. And that no immortals interfered in the process.

Which… was nearly impossible.

Also, I had no interest in taking over the continent. It was all tedious work with no real reward.

I turned toward the tree bark where the tiger had been lying and approached it. With a casual wave of my hand, a dozen translucent jade shovels materialized and began to dig.

After all, it wasn’t uncommon for monstrous beasts to nest near treasures that aided their cultivation. Usually, they just ate such treasures instinctively. But one could always hope.

At the same time, I extended my Qi senses, probing the area for anything unusual.

As the hole grew to the size of a small car and nothing turned up, I finally decided to give up.

No point in wasting any more time.

I turned toward the red tiger I had tamed and read a trace of its memories. It had chosen to rest there simply because the spot felt warm. It may have been a fire-type treasure, but now it seemed more likely the sun had just hit the place at the right angle.

Sometimes, I wished I had the kind of lucky encounters I read about in xianxia stories. But those things were rare in reality. Sure, some normal treasures like herbs weren't that rare, but finding one was about as likely as stumbling across a wallet on the street. Not impossible, just uncommon enough to be unlikely on an everyday basis. A lot of people go through life without finding a lost wallet.

Being in the wild increased my chances of these kinds of encounters. But it was still unlikely.

Sighing, I jumped onto the tiger's back and grabbed a handful of its fur. The crimson strands were warm. Honestly, this would make a perfect sleeping blanket.

I used the jade shovels to refill the hole. No point in defacing nature for nothing.

"Go," I said, even though I didn't need to give verbal orders.

The tiger moved, and despite its earlier laziness, it tore through the forest at a surprising pace. Almost as fast as me using Galloping Horse Power, and I wasn't exactly slow when I used that technique. So yeah, some monstrous beasts could move faster than cultivators using Earth Grade movement techniques.

Though to be fair, that was a pretty loose comparison. Tigers were known for their speed.

After about twenty minutes, we arrived at the base of a massive tree. The trunk was as wide as a bus, and the tree itself stood as tall as a fifteen-story building, its branches sprawling out and blotting the sky.

"I've seen cats climb trees before. I bet you can too," I said, rubbing the tiger's fur.

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I probably shouldn't get too attached. I had certain plans, and there was a good chance this cat wouldn't be sticking around for long. Still... I had a soft spot for animals. Which had grown more because of Speedy.

With no more encouragement needed, the tiger leapt upward, covering half the tree's height in a single bound. The wind whipped through my hair, and I felt like a kid on a rollercoaster. I almost hollered.

The tiger clung to the trunk, its weight dragging it down slightly as its claws gouged deep into the bark. When we finally slowed, it started climbing like a proper cat, almost running straight up the tree.

As we ascended, I saw a large nest nest among the branches. I spread my senses, but there was only one Qi signature inside.

We reached the branch, and the tiger perched on it, upright and stable. The branch was thick enough to hold us, and more importantly, it also supported the nest I'd been eyeing.

Inside the nest lay a pelican-like monstrous beast, its head tucked under its wing, seemingly asleep.

But the second we arrived, it stirred, pulling its head up and snapping its beak toward us with a loud, piercing screech that shook the branch beneath us.

Thankfully, the red tiger dug in with its claws and growled in response, holding steady.

My eardrums rattled. If a normal human had heard that screech, their ears would've probably burst on the spot.

The bird flapped its massive wings, stirring a gust that pushed against us like a soft storm.

We were no longer in the mood to wait. The tiger lunged forward, charging the bird before it could take flight. If that thing got into the air, our chances of winning or even catching it would plummet.

Sure, I could fly with various methods, like a flying sword. But I wasn't delusional enough to think I could outfly a beast born for the skies.

But, to my surprise, the monstrous bird didn't fly away. Instead, it charged toward us, its long beak aiming straight for the tiger.

Huh? That wasn't a smart move.

Usually, monstrous beasts had better instinctual fighting sense. In some ways, they were more strategic than humans and less clouded by pride or arrogance.

As it closed in, I briefly considered forming a jade barrier. At that speed, it would probably shatter through the barrier. Yet the sheer momentum might be enough to break its own beak in the process.

But I quickly abandoned the idea. I wasn't here to cripple a potential asset.

Instead, I looked the pelican in the eye and sent out a subtle thread of mental energy. Until they reached Foundation Establishment, monstrous beasts were generally simpler-minded than humans and easier to influence.

With our minds connected briefly, I sent it an auditory memory of a hissing snake.

The pelican froze for a split second, eyes darting to the side. When it saw no snake, it broke through the lackluster illusion.

But by the time its attention snapped back to us, I had already leapt off the tiger's back and closed the distance. I was right near the bird's head.

Taking a deep breath, I narrowed my eyes as the bus-sized pelican thrust its beak at me. It was sharp and long, like two kayak boats lined up end to end.

I summoned a translucent jade platform midair to block it. Still, the bird's beak focused all that power into a single needlepoint.

Cracks spread instantly through the barrier like spiderwebs.

"That's quite the attack power," I muttered, half impressed. Even though I knew it probably didn't understand a word.

It likely would've pierced right through if I'd stuck to my original plan of splattering it against a rigid barrier. No normal barrier would've held that kind of impact.

Instead, green jade chains erupted around me, wrapping around the bird's beak, then sliding down its long neck and coiling tightly around its wings and body. The constriction brought the bird crashing down onto the branch.

It thrashed, stirring up more wind just from the sheer force of its movement. But as a bird-type beast, raw physical strength wasn't its specialty.

Even so, my jade chains weren't invincible. They wouldn't work against many higher-tier beasts, and usually, they wouldn't have worked here either. If the bird had dodged, it might have broken free with ease. frёewebηovel.cѳm

I glanced at the nest, where a human adult-sized white egg sat, speckled with red spots.

There was the reason the pelican couldn’t fight at full power.

Monstrous beasts that laid eggs had a unique defense mechanism. The eggshell would develop camouflage properties specifically attuned to the beast inside it. That’s why I couldn’t sense the Qi of the pelican chick, even though it had clearly been born with it.

It was one of nature’s little wonders. I didn’t know how accurate the tales were, but there were records of even Core Formation Cultivators failing to detect these eggs unless they focused their senses directly in the egg’s direction.

That was impressive. Core Formation Cultivators were monsters in their own right. Depending on their element, their sensing range could span hundreds of miles or even the size of a small country.

I approached the struggling pelican, stepping carefully onto its beak. Then, I gently laid my palm on its forehead.

And just like that... the resistance stopped.

The bird went still, its will wholly absorbed into the Eight Mind Phantoms Technique.

I swallowed hard, feeling my pulse thundering in my chest.

This is too easy.

I could order this bird to eat its own egg and to destroy its offspring. My control over it was that complete.

When I’d thought about using this Sky Grade technique before, I imagined it would work by altering the victim’s perception and twisting their emotions until they believed they were loyal to me. Something indirect. Something that still gave them a fighting chance.

But this wasn’t like that.

This was absolute control. No thoughts. No resistance. No chance.

Maybe I should have explored this part of the technique sooner. But the other aspects had always been more interesting to me.

I looked at the egg with its red dots... then at the pelican’s pristine white feathers, inked black only at the tips of its wings.

Admittedly, I felt a bit guilty. I would hate it if someone did this to Speedy.

This creature had done nothing to me. I had barged in, enslaved it, and might end up leaving its offspring to die.

But that didn’t change anything.

Song Song had sacrificed so much for me. She’d been imprisoned and tortured after killing her cousin while I lay injured. If she could set everything aside for me... then I could bury my meager guilt for now. Also, this was for my own good, too.

“Don’t worry,” I said softly to the giant pelican. “I’ll take care of your offspring.”

There was no response. The beast was too deep within the prison of my technique.

Theoretically, someone with an extremely strong will might resist the Eight Mind Phantoms Technique during the enslavement process. But in practice? That was unrealistic. Unless someone had trained their entire life specifically to resist this, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

I looked down at my hand and at the palm that had just enslaved two lives in less than an hour.

And for the first time, I felt overwhelmed by the power of a Sky Grade technique.

I turned toward the egg. It was nearly as tall as I was and twice as wide. I placed my palm gently against its shell and a gentle warmth pulsed beneath my skin.

Due to the ambient fire Qi, the pelican inside would almost certainly develop a fire-type mutation.