IdleYoungMaster

Chapter 254: Shura Field???

“The person in charge accepted our request.”

“That’s good.”

Standing in the conference room was Theresa. She, along with many high-ranking officials, are gathered together to form a temporary war council. The sudden announcement regarding aliens as well as Earth’s intention to help Mars was met with zero resistance all because of one person:

Shi Tian.

The legendary First Cultivator held the highest authority within the Wushi Dao Sect. Although the Federation and the Wushi Dao Sect are two separate entities, everyone knows that half of the Federation’s high-ranking officials are sect disciples on a management mission. The remaining half are those who have extraordinary governing talent but possess low cultivation talent.

Most importantly, everyone present was screened through layers upon layers of character tests. It effectively reduced corruption rates to an extremely small rate, with cases of them occurring on the lower levels of administration.

Nobody inside this room knew that the First Cultivator is right beside Theresa. The perception alteration of a peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator is unmatched throughout Earth.

In their eyes, Theresa is sitting silently while sifting through reports.

“It will take ten more minutes until Hyperion is ready for launch. Will that be fine?”

“It won’t be a problem.”

Hyperion has been retrofitted according to immortal cultivation standards. However, it will only play a minor role this time. 

Aside from the projected cultivators using the seventh grade [Dream-Eating Tapir’s Gemstone], the ones who would face Sa would be the active Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.

Out of the ten Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, only Bronya and Fu Hua are in seclusion. The six present—Kiana included—are more than enough to finish off Sa.

The two chatted for a while before Shi Tian drifted away. Theresa subconsciously glanced at the direction he left.

‘Blood… it’s his blood..?’

Her face almost turned red at the thought of it. Theresa held supernatural powers related to the Dao of Blood, Moon, and Yin. The blood of Demon Beasts serves as a good tonic to her cultivation.

Back then, she was puzzled as to why Shi Tian gave off such an attractive scent. She realized by now that it was his blood. Kiana bit too hard before the formal meeting with Siegfried and Theresa that it left traces of blood within his immortal robe. Theresa happened to sense it because of their close proximity.

Since then, it never left her mind.

‘No, no! This is bad…’

Unbeknownst to Shi Tian, his hidden incubus traits troubled someone else’s aunt.

*****

Nascent Soul Realm cultivators possess the speed of light… at bare minimum. I appeared atop Mars’ atmosphere instantly. Its red soil extended throughout the surface. Large cracks appeared periodically on the ground. The most extreme places of this planet spewed out magma from the ground.

A brief reconstruction of its appearance a billion years ago confirmed it is habitable. Two Moons riddled with cracks and craters revolved around this celestial body.

Mars…

I wouldn’t have dreamed of visiting it in my past life. 

“Still busy daydreaming?”

Kiana’s voice drifted into my ears. I looked back and saw her being ever-so-elegant. The Finality battlesuit is the pinnacle of human ingenuity, I swear…

“It’s not like you didn’t like daydreaming.”

“Oh…”

She nodded her head in embarrassment. Her aggrieved look made it clear she will…

“Hum.”

…retaliate.

I froze on my tracks. She bit my neck. As if that wasn’t enough, she used her tongue to tickle it.

“Others will come at any time…”

“Mn..? I don’t care.”

“...”

With a teasing voice, she carried on what she did. Her breasts pressed onto my back. Her arms locked me into a lock, with her fingertips circling atop my garment in a teasing way.

It took a while before I realized what’s happening.

Kiana misses our dual cultivation sessions.

It is the Tuna’s pent-up frustration spanning four years. Our dual cultivation session right after I woke up did nothing. Three months are too short for her now.

I used my spiritual consciousness to shield us from the real world. 

“Hm…”

This fueled her to take more drastic actions. Her right hand already entered my inner garb…

Zoom-!

The two newcomers left me with no choice but to close my eyes and accept whatever’s coming next.

“Sister Kiana.”

Seele’s voice forced Kiana to let go of me. I fixed my messy clothes with a spell.

“Ah. How is it going, Seele?”

“Not bad…”

After Kiana’s greeting, she went straight to playing with my right hand. I could feel Veliona’s piercing gaze, what more of Seele’s increasingly… lustful look.

Before I could catch a breath, another newcomer appeared.

It is Sirin.

She did not say anything and walked right behind me. Kiana gave her a look and enthusiastically gestured to my right hand. Sirin is stunned for a second before joining Kiana in playing with my right hand.

I saw Seele and Veliona exchange glances. They steadily walked up to my left side… and began playing with my left hand.

Nobody said a word, yet I could feel a sense of connection between them.

They are quadruple teaming against me!

My speechlessness erased the very notion of speaking. I let this situation be until the others arrived.

Hei Xuanyuan is the first one to do so. She kept her eyes on me as she stood ten feet to my right—like a loyal bodyguard. Ji Xuanyuan appeared right beside her. She whispered something to Hei Xuanyuan. I chose not to intrude further and focused on the matter at hand.

Three hundred kilometers above its surface lay a huge monster. It is surrounded by dark clouds and huge bolts of lightning. Bird-like monsters numbering in hundreds surrounded its radius.

It is a part of Sa, a tentacle so as to speak. Unless the true Sa comes out—her final phase during the Boss fight—she will remain unaffected by whatever comes to her.

It is why she was defeated only when Misteln locked her out of the Sea of Quanta, allowing Kiana to snipe her from the Moon.

That terrifying Tuna is right beside me, but not completely. The Kiana beside me is a projection born out of the Dao of Void. Her true self remained on the Moon. She will be responsible for dealing the decisive strike later on.

After a while, Sin Mal caught up to us. She brought Misteln along with her. The moment Kiana caught a glimpse of her, she fell silent.

Sin Mal’s eyes directed a huge amount of grievance towards me, and then… jealousy..?

Although everyone is quiet, a torrent of emotions swept me like a strong gust of wind. It is a trial experience of handling eight women at once. It is very difficult, but I have a hunch I will face far more terrifying things than it. All I need to do is to man up and learn how to handle it.

I broke this strange yet chaotic scene.

“That thing in the sky is a part of her true form. I sensed a foreign power within her.”

Sa chooses to hide deep within the Sea of Quanta. Why would she, a steady person, suddenly make a move knowing Kiana is still here?

There’s a simple answer for that.

“An Aeon gazed upon her.”

*****

A/N: Starting today, I will be increasing the numbers of chapters per patreon tier. The $10 tier will go from 40 to 50 advance chapters. The $5 tier will go from 10 to 15 advance chapters. This stemmed from me being over-motivated during our semestral break. I wrote twenty advanced chapters. I don't know how it happened, but it did. So yeah, enjoy these chapters~!

Chapter 253: Collission of Two Goddesses

Mars, also known as Luoxing. 

It is the fourth celestial body in the solar system. Roughly one billion years ago, it faced the threat of Honkai and succumbed to it. The Cocoon of Finality’s failed embrace resulted in its civilization’s destruction, leaving behind one final failsafe to ensure their people’s continuation.

Two Bubble Worlds appeared, with each of them housing the remaining ‘survivors’. In truth, these Bubble Worlds are connected and operated by a huge supercomputer reminiscent of Sa’s creations.

The people inside these Bubble Worlds have no choice but to live their lives inside the supercomputer’s simulation. That was until the Cocoon of Finality departed from Mars. Time froze for a billion years. It only ran after Kiana’s Embrace became successful seventeen years ago.

This was the Project STIGMA of Mars.

If there is Kevin to supervise it, then there is also someone in that position.

The Goddess of Mars, Leylah.

Her long black hair is styled into a “hime-cut”. Her pupils bore a dark pink shade, with her irises having a mix of yellow, green, and light pink. Their mystical appearance draws anyone to them at first glance. Her outfit is akin to a black battlesuit, with a pair of earrings to match her elegance.

“Unacceptable!”

At this moment, her fingernails sunk deeply onto her palm. Her sight was filled with nothing but the desolate Mars crumbling down. The area outside the pale pink barrier became nothing but floating space rocks. The core at the depths of the planet is on the verge of destruction.

All of that was caused by the huge entity floating amongst Luoxing’s skies.

Its size covered the entire planet, though it wasn’t Leylah’s main concern. An enormous crack littered beneath its body. The power of dreams, turned into wishes, turned the injury permanent.

“Seventeen years ago… Things started to go wrong. Was that woman a part of it?”

In the original story, Kiana’s embrace into the Cocoon forced her to fall into a coma. Everyone thought it was a simple process of accepting the Cocoon’s power, but that wasn’t the case.

Her coma was inextricably linked into Mars’ Cocoon of Unwoven, the previous Goddess of Mars, Senadina. She, along with three other aliens, arrived at the solar system one billion years ago. They settled on Mars after seeing the Cocoon of Finality’s actions. They were the mainstays against the Honkai’s Embrace.

Ultimately, three perished due to various reasons—sacrifice, end of lifespan, and the futile search of one’s Path. They failed to stop the Cocoon’s descent.

Hence, the final failsafe was made: Mars’ supercomputer. Besides the sole alien and Leylah remaining, every other “survivor” lived inside the simulated world. This continued until time halted after the Cocoon’s disappearance. 

Seventeen years ago, everything returned to normal… but not quite.

Kiana, who was supposed to fall into a coma, was awake due to her Nascent Soul Realm cultivation. The Embrace was no longer an ‘ant’ becoming one with ‘God’, but rather, a superpowered individual gaining god-like powers. It was a huge difference compared to her original counterpart.

Instead of heavily leaning towards the Cocoon of Finality, Kiana’s cultivation allowed her to stand on a slightly equal ground as it. As a result, she has more grasp over the Cocoon’s capabilities.

Among the Honkai Energy she took back for safekeeping was the shadows on Mars. These shadows are the outdated version of the Cocoon’s Embrace (i.e., the equivalent of Honkai Eruptions and Herrschers). In the midst of doing so, however, she encountered another fragment of Finality stained with a foreign influence. She did not hastily break it as she sensed it was tied to Mars itself, thus she isolated it instead.

This resulted in the Dream-maker System and the remnant of Goddess Senadina herself falling into a slumber.

Leylah relentlessly tried to fix it for seventeen years. Just as she was doing so, Sa struck and almost destroyed the entire supercomputer. Its physical components alone were destroyed by half. Its conceptual components were heavily affected by Sa’s power. 

Fortunately, Sin Mal took action. She struck a blow to Sa’s Bubble Worlds, causing her to lose a great deal of energy source. Misteln also helped her to inflict injuries using the [Heart Intention] realm of the Blade Mantra.

In the end, they were able to set up an imaginary barrier that delayed Sa’s descent onto Mars. Sa was forced to utilize her power to invade both Mars’ supercomputer and Mars itself.

In Leylah’s eyes, Sin Mal was nothing short of a goddess. 

“This is..!”

Her thoughts were cut short by a sudden intrusion. Despite using her administrator privileges, she could not kick out the newcomer who entered the simulated world. She immediately logged in and faced the mysterious attacker: a small girl with a pair of drill-styled twintail.

“Administrator of the Simulated World. The Federation requests to communicate with you.”

Her emotionless words made Leylah frown. She could not trust anyone given her current situation.

“The Vice Sect Master of the Wushi Dao Sect, Sin Mal, left this planet twelve Earth minutes ago. We have enacted several countermeasures against the enemy of your civilization, the Abyss of the Sea of Quanta.”

“Sin Mal… the Goddess..?”

Prometheus did not answer her question but posed one of hers.

“Earth will send its reinforcements upon your approval.”

After these words, she fell silent. Leylah eyed Prometheus and tried to find out details about her—about Earth.

“The Earth Federation is a unified governmental body managing Earth’s official affairs…”

“The Wushi Dao Sect is the recorded number one sect with ten Nascent Soul Realm powerhouses in total. It is headed by the First Cultivator responsible for the Honkai’s defeat and the destruction of a foreign god’s influence…”

Leylah’s eyes shrank upon hearing the “Honkai’s defeat” and “Foreign God”. She was no foreigner to these terms, especially the latter.

The world beyond this solar system houses Aeons that govern their own Path. One of Senadina’s companions was a Pathstrider of Permanence capable of granting others immortal lifespan.

Most importantly, Leylah woke up to the confrontation between Shi Tian and Nihility. That fight made her wary for seventeen years. She never left Mars and focused on fixing the damages within the Dreamseeker System precisely because of that.

Knowing that person is leading the Wushi Dao Sect, Leylah made up her mind.

“I agree.”

*****

A/N: That’s it for the Part 2 shenanigans. To be honest, I haven’t delved deeply into Part 2 itself. The farthest I went on the game was Part 1.5 (ahem, Vita). My current knowledge of Part 2 is a result of research and skimming through in-game dialogues (and of course, Kiana’s meeting with the Memorykeeper that made rounds on the Internet). You can imagine my shock when I found they are blatantly connecting HSR to Hi3rd. Finishing Part 2’s story is still up to my future self’s decision, though I cannot deny I enjoyed delving into it.

PS: There will be a good surprise for tomorrow ;)

Chapter 252: Sin Mal is Courting Death

My last impression of Sin Mal was that of a naughty brat. She does not show her internal thoughts as much as others, preferring to hide them under her snobbish mouth. A lot of things could have been solved had she not done so. Bronya’s case is a good example. I forced her to integrate within our circle back then. I also punished her whenever she did something bad. That was especially important given her disposition to act as a psycho.

At the very least, the good and bad has to be made clear to her.

The current Sin Mal is anything but a trace of her usual self. Her long purple hair, mixed with light pink undertones, swayed along the wind. Her pair of heterochromatic eyes, a mix of yellow and blue, further pushed her elegance to the next level. Her appearance elicits a sense of peace.

“I am not courting death!”

That image was shattered by her mouth.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

“If she stayed put on her base, I would’ve beaten her a long time ago. She’s just lucky.”

“There is a ten percent chance of it happening. The remaining ninety percent results in our defeat.”

The woman beside her commented flatly.

“You..!”

Ashamed of being called out, Sin looked at her angrily. The woman did not show any notable expressions, however.

I looked at the woman who bore the appearance of Cecilia Schariac. She also sensed my gaze and returned it to me.

If Kiana sees her…

…

I need to try reversing time at the Divine Transformation Realm. I want to make up for these regrets soon. The Previous Era, too. Kevin and the rest of the Flamechasers are still stuck in the resurrection match.

“Thanks for helping Sin out.”

Misteln nodded emotionlessly. I turned my gaze back to Sin. I went ahead of her and explained my arrangements.

“I had Theresa issue a national emergency. The same goes for the sect.”

From the phenomena in the sky to Sin’s return, it lasted half an hour. I called on everyone outside their seclusion and had them ready for an upcoming fight.

“Can you help me out with something?”

I took out a fist-sized gray rhombus crystal. From within, one could see the ever-changing sceneries of nature, life and death of a mortal, and all sorts of mysterious phenomena.

It is too late to arrange a new formation now. I can only improvise with this material.

“I am planning to use the Star Network to send people’s projections onto Mars. There are a lot of small fries suitable for training.

“That material…”

“It’s seventh grade.”

“...”

I relished her surprised look. Somehow, she directed a resentful look towards me.

What did I do wrong..?

“Alright. I can do just that. It will take a while.”

“That’s fine.”

I looked towards the Moon. I could feel Kiana watching over that place as we spoke. As long as she doesn’t make a move, Mars wouldn’t be in grave danger. This is our biggest confidence in using Sa as Earth’s trial card in facing hostile gods. There are still a lot of secrets to uncover, such as why Kiana’s coma was tied deeply onto Mars.

Hence, despite the people of Mars living in a simulation-like world, we treated it with prudence.

I handed over the [Dream-Eating Tapir’s Gemstone] to Sin and began instructing her on what to do. I didn’t spend much effort in doing so; she majored in formations as well. I also fed her various recovery pills to take care of her serious injuries.

Exactly thirty minutes later, a temporary function was added to the [Myriad Stellar Transformations Diagram], the core of Star Network.

All that’s left are the official announcements and then…

We’ll head straight to Mars.

*****

Honkai. Sky People. Hostile civilization. Mars.

These five words took the headers during nighttime. The majority of Earth’s citizens were jolted awake by a national emergency alert. There, the small Theresa explained the ongoing events.

First, the Federation’s military force is to be placed on active status. They will ensure no chaos will occur within the cities.

Second, everyone fitting the criteria set by the Federation has to enter the Star Network and await further instructions. These people must be an undergraduate of an Immortal Academy (i.e., the equivalent of universities).

Third, the participating immortal cultivators will receive various resources based on their merits.

The following announcements sent everyone into a frenzy. The merit list alone listed a bunch of cultivation resources extremely rare to the outside world. However, there are also others who wondered why the Federation made a huge fuss.

These questions are answered once they enter the Star Network.

One of them was Chen Tianwu. His breakthroughs in cultivation rejuvenated his entire body. He looked nothing like thirty-years-old, but rather, an eighteen-year-old man. He passed the secondary schools and entered his second year in a top Immortal Academy. His talents and encounters allowed him to reach the middle stage of Foundation Establishment Realm.

He calmly entered the spiritual qi cabin and logged onto the Star Network. The virtual world unfolded in his sight at once. Several selections appeared on his menu. 

Once he confirmed he was in for the “conscription”, he entered a new virtual space. It was nothing but an endless expanse of white space.

A gray-haired girl appeared in front of him. Her iconic double drills gave rise to endearing nicknames such as “Promy” from the majority of Earth’s populace. Little did they know, she is a genuine remnant of Prometheus, an artificial intelligence spanning fifty thousand years.

Bronya picked her up and turned her into the Star Network’s administrator. For the Wushi Dao Sect’s special network, there was a certain cabbage who acted as the administrator.

“The current mission is an expedition to Mars’ surface. Your mind will be projected into virtual bodies and sent into the battlefield. Take note that the monsters and humans you will encounter are within the scope of the Federation. Any violators of the Federation’s Laws will be subjected to court-martial; death penalty at worst…”

She explained everything concisely.

“A scan will be performed to create a projection matching your original body’s capabilities. Please perform the following actions indicated. It is advised to perform within your normal capabilities. Your data will be cross-checked with the current data submitted to the Federation’s database. Any attempts to falsify will result in forfeiture of…”

Chen Tianwu did as he was told. He never had any idea of falsifying data. The Star Network’s decades’ long existence proved how formidable the Federation’s “super-AI” was.

“Scan complete. You will depart in ten seconds. Your current spawn point will be: Langqiu City, Simulated World. Good luck.”

With the grip of a familiar spear in his right hand, Chen Tianwu greeted his first visit to another planet.

Chapter 251: Becoming a Sword

“I won’t enter seclusion anymore. Call me once you start creating the next part, Sect Master!”

I waved goodbye to the overwhelmingly enthusiastic Li Shushang. After the discussions, we agreed to develop the next level of Blade Mantra together, the [Blade Mantra 3.0] suitable for sixth level Tao Hearts.

“So you are also taking in disciples now?”

“???”

After seeing off Li Shushang, only Hei Xuanyuan remained. Her confused looks made me want to laugh.

“No. I don’t have time for those things.”

“Got it, respected Martial Instructor.”

“..?!”

For a moment, she was flustered. A strange sense of satisfaction came to my mind. 

First, it was Fu Hua. Then came Hei Xuanyuan. I don’t have a hobby of teasing the Shenzhou girls, am I..?

“I still have a lot of things to do…”

“Wait.”

Hei Xuanyuan’s attempt to escape has been halted.

“I want to ask something.”

She turned around and faced me again.

“...Go ahead.”

“Why did you agree to using the breakthrough materials?”

Call it literal divine intuition, but I felt I should resolve something with Hei Xuanyuan. She is bottling up something inside of her. I did not peer further using my Hexagram Spirit and decided to talk to her personally.

Hei Xuanyuan’s embarrassed look turned serious. She pursed her lips for a while before she spoke.

“In our first meeting, you showed us a sword. You persuaded that fool to keep on living… and that I have a lot of things left to prove.”

Despite our height difference, Hei Xuanyuan seemed just as tall as I. 

This kind of determination… 

I saw it on Kiana, Seele, Veliona, and Sirin.

“I wanted to become your sword. That is the answer I came to. I waited for a long time, hoping you would wield our body… the Xuanyuan Sword. I am the stupid one for thinking like that.”

…

This is my fault.

Had I properly talked with her, she wouldn’t have bottled this up for decades. A proper talk. It’s not that difficult to fulfill.

“So I decided. It wouldn’t matter if I have a physical body. As long as I become strong enough…”

As if making up her mind, her eyes gazed directly at mine.

“I can become your sword.”

Hei Xuanyuan said no more. She looked forward to my answer. She did not ask for anything difficult. To become my sword meant being my most loyal warrior. This is the purpose Hei Xuanyuan found.

I walked up in front of her and began pinching her cheeks. Caught off guard, the seriousness in her eyes turned into bafflement, and then fluster.

“How lucky am I to find such an adorable sword?”

“...!”

“But if it is what you want, I will give it.”

I already have a position in mind. The Wushi Dao Sect’s disciples are meticulously screened based on talent and character. However, there are always people who cannot stand the allure of power and the status it gives.

Inevitably, there will be corrupt people within the sect—the Federation as well. The others hadn’t established this necessary faction yet. They chose to wait for me due to its sensitivity. After all, this is a faction designed to deal with the corrupt—both in the sect and in the Federation.

“The Law Enforcement Hall. You will be its leader.”

This moment is interrupted by a huge invisible explosion in the night sky. The Hexagram Spirit ran simultaneous divinations. I arrived at one conclusion.

Mars is in a huge mess.

*****

Somewhere in the Imaginary Space, two figures rested on a recently converted spirit vein.

“This failure is a foregone conclusion.”

“It’s not a failure!”

Though Sin Mal strongly retorted, her current state said otherwise. Her physical body had just returned from being turned into mush. The quantum energy from the Sea struck her with a heavy blow. That was the result of her attempt in meddling with Sa’s arrangements in Mars, something that should have never happened in the original story.

Originally, Sa hid herself within the Oort Cloud, far from Earth where the Cocoon of Finality resided. By exploiting what is left from Venus’ civilization, she managed to create a Bubble World. Its denizens contributed their dreams and fed it back to Sa, their creator.

However, this peace did not last for long. 

When Kiana did her Embrace, Sa was scared off to hiding;

When Shi Tian struck Nihility with the World Rendering Sword, she was pushed to the depths of despair. 

She could not exist without worrying about the two Swords of Damocles hanging onto her neck. This led to her doing something she wouldn’t have done: to put her hands on Mars’ inheritance.

Earth was aware of Sa’s existence within the Oort Cloud. Sin Mal had plans to deal with Sa herself. Hence when she found Sa’s traces not on the Oort Cloud but on Mars, she was forced to take action pre-maturely. 

Sin Mal majored in the Dao of Dreams. Coincidentally, Sa relies on turning dreams into wishes to serve as her sustenance. It was a battle on who controlled dreams better.

In the end, Sin Mal and Misteln were forced to retreat after a huge battle. Mars’ Cocoon of Unwoven remained safe temporarily. Sa remained within Mars’ vicinity due to Sin Mal’s imaginary barrier.

“Earth’s planetary formation can wipe her out.”

Misteln’s suggestion silenced Sin Mal. Earth’s sixth-grade formation, [Myriad Stellar Transformations Diagram], was recently set up by Bronya and Kiana. It is capable of erecting a barrier that withstands Divine Transformation level attacks. It is also capable of offense as well as connecting Earth’s spirit veins together. 

Its greatest function is to merge every individuals’ power to unleash a fatal strike.

“There is a reason she left Sa alone.”

“I know. I am not dumb.” Sin Mal replied. “They want to use her as a common enemy.”

With the knowledge of Aeons and the likes outside the solar system, their views are more future-oriented.

To prevent Earth from being lax and complacent, they planned to launch the sixth grade formation and attack at the Oort Cloud. It gives a sense of crisis while ensuring Earth’s safety (i.e., Kiana).

Nobody expected for Sin Mal to actually strike first—and to cause huge losses to Sa atop that.

Sou-!

After several stops, they finally returned back to Earth.

“..!”

Sin Mal looked around and saw someone waiting for them. He immediately tossed a pill bottle in her direction. She could not look at him straight in the eyes knowing she was in the wrong.

“How was courting death, Sin?”

Shi Tian’s words echoed in the mountainpeak.

*****

A/N: Bonus chapter.

Chapter 250: Shenzhou's Sole Hope

Rita is the same as I could remember. Her professional air showcased her identity as the Perfect Maid. When it comes to the selection of her Battlesuits, she transforms into an elegant woman, or to be more precise…

A succubus.

I am glad we had our first meeting. That’s another small wish crossed out in my notebook. I also managed to persuade her to use up the treasures I left on the Sect Treasury.

I spent zero money nor effort in having these treasures. All of them came from the gacha. Even if I have shitty luck, I can still accumulate a lot of good things.

For example, the special storage rings. Unlike other items given out one-by-one, these special storage rings contain items inside. It is the equivalent of getting a treasure vault filled with unknown stuff; a gacha within the gacha.

Sometimes, I receive truckloads of jade slips.

Other times, I receive the treasure vault of an entire Divine Transformation Realm sect.

It just so happens that I received the latter. 

The current draw rates are once a day; the highest the golden orb could give. That was the information it fed back after I reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

365 days a year, fourteen years in the Nascent Soul Realm. That’s approximately 5,110 draws. Since I am at the Peak of Nascent Soul Realm, my draws are now defaulted to the Divine Transformation Realm. Out of them, thirty received a high roll and went to the Void Refinement Realm.

Ridiculously, one out of the thirty made a miracle and high-rolled to the Dao Integration Realm.

The sheer volume of spiritual materials I possess is enough to turn any cultivation worlds upside down again and again. The special breakthrough materials and pills for the Nascent Soul Realm are negligible compared to my current wallet.

Did I imagine a day I will become rich with gacha? Hell no.

Am I enjoying this? Absolutely.

Then again, overflowing resources does not mean I can cheat my way through immortal cultivation. Spiritual pills alone need to be consumed and digested properly. There is also the somewhat shaky “Plus One Law” that dictates ingesting something more than a major realm higher than yours will lead to overexertion and self-implosion. I cannot recklessly consume the Void Refinement Realm pills I received.

For now, it is better to spend resources to empower Earth and my partners. That way, the Dao of Enlightenment and Tao Gifts will feed back to my progress.

As most people would say, “The future looks promising!”

As I strolled to my next destination, my thoughts drifted to the Dao Integration Realm reward I received. It is a Dao Treasure of the auxiliary type known as the [External Universe of Divine Medicines].

It is practically a “Cave Heaven” that can be tied to oneself. It is special as its sole purpose is to accelerate and nurture a spiritual herb’s growth. It is directly tied to the Dao of Life. Anything below the eighth grade (i.e., Dao Integration Realm) can be grown within ten years. Qi Refining Realm materials will outright mature minutes after being planted.

Its “huge” requirement is the procurement of an entire eighth grade spirit vein. Once it is absorbed by the artifact, it will function. Most would not choose this. Spirit veins are the lifeblood of immortal cultivators. What use would spiritual plants be if they can use these spirit veins to nurture strong immortal cultivators instead?

This drawback, however, is nonexistent in the honkai world. There are a bunch of unused spirit veins within the Imaginary Tree. All I have to do is to use the [Two Phase Art] and take them.

Moreover, there is also the [Herb Garden] function the golden orb imparted. It can boost a spiritual herb’s growth by a thousand times. Its range depends on my current realm. The same goes to the level of herbs it can affect.

It can boost fifth grade or below spiritual herbs by a thousand times. Anything beyond that receives a reduced boost. Even so, it is more than enough.

Once I placed this [Herb Garden] inside the [External Universe of Divine Medicines]...

That’s an unlimited source of spiritual herbs.

For now, I plan to use it within a close circle at the Wushi Dao Sect only.

Giving treasures to spark the beginning of immortal cultivation is fine, but spoonfeeding them with resources forever is a big no-no. It is better if Earth relies on its own to generate spiritual materials and the likes. 

I don’t mind giving out resources to accelerate this process, but once Earth can sustain itself with spiritual materials and the likes, I can slowly withdraw this assistance.

Given the current progress with fusing imaginary energy technology with immortal cultivation, it won’t be too far off.

Soon, I arrived at my next destination: the Physical Cultivation Vein. It convenes physical cultivators and martial artists (i.e., Blade Mantra users) alike.

I shielded myself using my spiritual consciousness. It is more than enough to fool the senses of the disciples residing here.

Just then…

“...Ah.”

I came across someone.

*****

Hei Xuanyuan used her spiritual consciousness to conceal their presence in the outside world. It is extremely effective, turning them into ghosts. Li Shushang thought it was a particular hobby, but never had she expected…

‘So it came from the Sect Master!’

Li Shushang’s guess was right. When the two Xuanyuans wandered around the Bubble World Earth, Shi Tian taught them some useful tricks.

Hei Xuanyuan’s gaze wandered around Shi Tian who sat across from them.

“You can pose your questions, Miss Shushang.”

“Ah, alright. In the Section Three of the Clear Mirror chapter, it is advised to speak of the mantra with a sword. I understand how to enter this state, but I am confused why it works that way.”

“The original Blade Mantra is an inspiration from a Previous Era warrior’s abilities. I believe you know about it.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Its core revolves around utilizing the Sword Heart to enter a special resonance state. This state ultimately allows the interaction of the higher dimensions with one’s mind, given they are within the right ‘frequency’...”

Li Shushang did not beat around the bush and asked the things she did not understand with the Blade Mantra. Hei Xuanyuan did not feel alienated between the two as she herself studied the Blade Mantra.

Only, Shi Tian’s understanding is through the roof. His five years of focused studying of the Blade Mantra incorporated the Previous Era’s knowledge along with the Immortal Cultivation’s countless inheritances.

‘...She understood it all. She’s the Vill-V equivalent of martial arts..!’

His evaluation of Shushang came to an end. The girl’s eyes lightened up as her questions got answered. Along with her realizations came her subconscious movements.

The moment she tried running [Blade Mantra] again, she felt the insane optimizations. 

‘The further it goes, the more it relies on the side of immortal cultivation…’

Li Shushang stared at their Sect Master with a renewed gaze. His appearance alone is extremely addicting to look at, more so his pair of golden eyes that could captivate anything.

A new thought arose in her heart.

Admiration.

‘To have created something like this…’

Shi Tian gained a new fan girl today. 

Chapter 249: Maid's Analysis of the Sect Master

Rita Rossweise.

Schicksal’s former S Rank Valkyrie. An exclusive assistant answering the Overseer’s calls. When Schicksal was integrated into the Federation, she became the highest ranking officer for General Affairs. Halfway through, she also became one of the four Vice Sect Masters of the Wushi Dao Sect.

The fact she is able to manage between these two roles spoke volumes of her capabilities. One is the management of the general public. The other is the management of high-level immortal cultivators.

Rita’s management capabilities even earned her a title: Immortal Secretariat.

Unbeknownst to the outside world, her thoughts often wandered somewhere else.

‘Shi Tian, the First Immortal…’

Oftentimes, she acquired the classified information opened to her level. Her investigation of Shi Tian’s early life up until the battle on the Moon is extremely meticulous, all for a single reason:

Bianka mentioned his name hundreds of times.

‘Two meetings. Is it worth it to be remembered like that..?’

Every time she heard of the name from Bianka, she could see a strong pursuit of Shi Tian’s back. Bianka trained relentlessly just to reach his level. This obsession became particularly stronger without the Honkai’s crisis.

As a responsible maid who took care of Bianka for years, Rita felt obligated to study about him. 

Then…

She saw who he truly is.

His mere presence is enough to be etched onto one’s mind. Nobody will forget about someone like him. Objectively, he possessed the most perfect proportions, akin to a work of nature. Subjectively, every gesture of his held a hint of his charm. 

Appearances aside, Shi Tian emanated a peaceful and quiet aura. It was a far cry from the authoritative aura she imagined. This forced Rita to reconsider her prior findings.

Fortunately, she was able to take care of their first meeting by judging his character cues. She did not force onto the role of a maid, but more of a friend. 

‘Decisive. Friendly. Humble. Has no inclinations over status. Authority… he prefers to leave it in the background.’

The more she learned during their conversation, the more convinced she became:

This is the man who saved the world.

‘No wonder…’

With Bianka’s pure mentality, Shi Tian has become a goal she wanted to be equal with, if not surpass. Her awakening came from the moment of her teacher’s death. Only with power can one protect what they love—to prevent the malicious darkness from taking them away. She also learned that the world is not purely black and white. Without power, they need to compromise.

Rita is the one who witnessed all of it, hence her unprecedented care towards the strong girl.

“I want you to take up the Nascent Soul Realm breakthrough materials.”

Shi Tian’s words halted her thoughts.

‘So it is this matter…’

Rita did not show it outwardly, but she felt somewhat apprehensive about it. Immortal cultivation alone is a miraculous art, and Shi Tian is willing to share it to everyone. Not only that, he also risked his life to fight for humanity. He even gave away resources without any restraints.

Compared to what the others did, equivalent exchange is practically nonexistent. Shi Tian is a living, benevolent saint who did everything for humanity’s benefits. At the very least, that was how Rita saw him.

It wasn’t just her. Many people who knew the inside story (i.e., Schicksal and Anti-Entropy) saw it like that. Nobody opposed Sin Mal’s nigh-glazing behavior when she wrote Shi Tian’s history, partly because of this. Though there is also the factor of her being one of the few Nascent Soul Realm cultivators at that time.

Given such circumstances, the best they could do is to govern and push Earth into a positive direction. Everyone worked hard with that as their driving force.

It is precisely because of this that they could not bring themselves to ask for more. It is a matter of principles.

“I know what you are thinking. Resources… I have too many of them. It is better, in my opinion, to turn them into tangible impacts. It’s not like I would break through the Nascent Soul Realm again, would I?”

Shi Tian did not pull any stops. He addressed her internal conflicts in one go.

“It’s not like I wouldn’t benefit from it. Do you remember the time you awakened your spirit roots?”

“Yes. You appeared at that time.”

Nihility struck him hard back then. It caused the loss of all traces of his spiritual consciousness in the outside world. Fortunately, he was able to momentarily reach the eighth level Tao Heart, World Rendering Sword. Shi Tian was able to call forth the power of a Dao Integration Realm expert at that time, allowing him to obliterate Nihility’s traces for good. He used its remaining power to erect a temporary barrier during Kiana’s Embrace.

The last remaining bits were transferred to the Spirit Root Awakening Devices, thus replacing the traces of spiritual consciousness that were destroyed.

“You asked me if I was willing to become your partner.”

“Partners benefit from each other. When I become stronger, you also become stronger. The same applies when reversed. I receive a tangible benefit whenever you become stronger…”

Shi Tian is aware that Rita knows the specifics. The traces of his spiritual consciousness explained the full extent of becoming his Partners. Nevertheless, it is different with him personally explaining things. 

‘He is trying to make himself look more selfish, but…’

The more Shi Tian acted honest and sincere, the higher Rita’s impression became. She had seen many people. Out of them all, only Shi Tian can lay himself as openly as this. Coupled with his feats and sacrifices, Rita’s impression of him is unshakeably good. Even if the relationship between ‘friends’ is considered, it is still a feat nobody can achieve…

Nobody except Bianka.

“I will accept it, Sect Master.”

Shi Tian felt lighter when he resolved one of his pending issues. A vague intuition appeared in his heart, though he was too preoccupied on other things to notice.

“That’s right. I have something else to ask. Have you heard of the Tao Conference Plan from Miss Hua?”

“I have heard of it.”

“Can we set a specific date around it? I am planning to hold it before breaking through.” He paused before adding, “Part of my efforts to strengthen Earth is due to the situation outside.”

Paths, Aeons, and huge cosmic organizations spanning the entire universe. On the face of it, Earth is nothing but a speck of dust… at least for now.

“We can set a final date in three years. The sect will announce it and have people be ready for it.”

“That works. Thanks for the hard work, Vice Sect Master.”

Chapter 248: Shenzhou's Savior; Perfect Maid

“Ah… This feels like I slept for another five hundred years!”

Seventeen years of exposure to immortal cultivation pushed Earth’s technological prowess to leaps and bounds. The commercialized intercontinental-class flying ships alone is straight out of a sci-fi film produced in the early 2000’s.

Not to mention the city sprawling with floating isles, high-rise buildings, designated honkai combat zones, Soul Tempering Tower…

Heck, there are even licenses for using flying swords within each city’s airspace.

Li Shushang looked around eagerly like an excited child. The passing pedestrians acted as if they hadn't seen her, however. All of it is because of the woman walking in front.

“Who asked you to seclude yourself for seventeen years?”

“Hehe…”

She did not say anything to retort Hei Xuanyuan. For once, she literally is the founding emperor of Shenzhou. Her snobbish attitude came off as being strict and sharp-mouthed to Shushang. 

What’s more, she freeloaded on the Physical Cultivation Vein for almost two decades. The ancient Shushang is extremely embarrassed to have done so.

“Well, you are not to blame. I know someone who did the same.”

“You mean…”

“The one and only.”

There is only one person who could be called the First Cultivator. He is the first not only because he is the Dao Ancestor; but also because he is the strongest cultivator.

Sin Mal’s hand in writing his feats further fueled the public’s respect for him. He is a major player in the decisive battle against the Honkai. He is also the one who taught others immortal cultivation, thereby the current Earth’s prosperous state.

Li Shushang met him once during the time Otto set out his plans for the Imaginary Tree.

“What a pity. I want to talk to him!”

Hei Xuanyuan gave her a side glance. The current Shushang treaded immortal cultivation. Sensing the hidden sharpness within her, Hei Xuanyuan chose not to speak.

‘Fifth level Tao Heart… Is it genuine curiosity or..?’

Thinking of the women surrounding Shi Tian, Hei Xuanyuan felt genuinely helpless.

‘If we hadn’t known him for years…’

Shi Tian’s reputation as a scumbag might have spread far and wide.

The two wandered around for five days. Even so, it wasn’t enough to cover all of Earth’s changes.

For example…

“The things you called phones… How come they are invisible now?”

“Cars… Aren’t they supposed to traverse the land? They are flying now?”

“Teleportation array..?”

“Star Network… Isn’t it called the Internet?”

Hei Xuanyuan answered some of Shushang’s questions, though she remained helpless for the others.

‘I shouldn’t have secluded for… wait a minute.’

She recalled something and hastily took out a jade slip. It was left in front of her room’s door. Along with it was a brief message stating this item’s purpose.

‘To catch up what I missed…’

Hei Xuanyuan took a quick glance at it using her spiritual consciousness. All sorts of information followed.

“...”

She blankly looked at the jade slip that introduced the changes in the past five years. As much as she wanted to scold herself, she could not do it.

“Ahem. Take a look at this.”

“Hum?”

Shushang caught onto the jade slip she threw. Once she used her spiritual consciousness, countless information entered her mind. It took a few seconds for her to process everything. Though her enthusiasm diminished a bit, she still wanted to see these new things herself.

“This is very useful!”

Shushang wanted to ask why Hei Xuanyuan didn’t give it to her early on but prevented herself from doing so.

Just like that, Hei Xuanyuan’s face was saved. Li Shushang achieved her goal of gaining a preliminary understanding of this new Earth.

A single message interrupted their trip.

Hei Xuanyuan appeared to be in a daze. It took a while until she came back to herself.

She faced the still oblivious Shushang and asked:

“Don’t you want to meet him?”

“Ah? I do. I have a lot of questions with the [Blade Mantra 2.0]...”

“Then let’s go.”

*****

Turns out, I wasn’t the only one who liked to go into seclusion. Nearly everyone did. Although, they did one thing better than me.

Their scheduled seclusions are akin to rotations. It won’t work if all of us go into seclusion. At the very least, there has to be a select few left to run the sect as well as Earth’s development.

This time, Fu Hua and Bronya are in seclusion. It is Rita’s turn to manage the sect, and she did so exceptionally.

I sat on a confectionary table. The teacups themselves are ready. The exquisite engravings present on them showed their intricacies. I could see the delicate process of its creation.

My thoughts wandered until the person I am waiting for arrived. She carried a teapot emitting faint white fog. Wearing the same maid outfit I could remember, Rita strolled with an elegant gait. Her steps are neither hurried nor slow; striking within the perfect balance.

Our eyes met. Her dark pink pupils showed no hesitation in meeting mine. This stare-off lasted until she placed the teapot above the table. She poured onto the teacups before sitting down.

All of my thoughts corresponded to her actions. I worried whether she would remain standing as we talked. It was as if she saw through a portion of my thoughts and acted upon it.

…

No wonder she is Schicksal’s perfect maid.

“This should be our first meeting.”

“Yes. The Young Miss spoke quite a lot about you, Sir.”

“Miss Durandal… We can arrange for a spar sometimes.”

“She will be glad to hear it.”

With a common ground, our conversation flowed very smoothly. The topic went from Durandal down to her official affairs. In-between, she refilled my emptied teacup several times.

“I have heard about Miss Durandal’s position at the Sword Peak. I hope she becomes its Peak Master.”

For a moment, she paused.

“I heard there are some problems in that position. Will my words help in that regard?”

“Absolutely. I will make sure to relay your orders.”

I nodded to her response.

I heard that one of the most popular Vein is the Sword Vein. Part of it came from Sin Mal’s effort. All of the world knew that I possess a sixth level Tao Heart belonging to the sword path. Many people once pushed Mei, my sole student, in that position, but she declined. Without any suitable candidates, no one dared to touch the Sword Vein’s Peak Master position, leaving it for the Elders to manage.

Durandal became the leader of these Elders, though I have a hunch Rita helped her a lot behind the scenes.

“Actually, there is one more thing I want to ask of you.” I looked straight into her eyes and continued, “I want you to take up the Nascent Soul Realm breakthrough materials.”

Chapter 247: Seclusion (Lite)

A few days have passed since then. Not a lot of things happened. I accompanied Sirin until she woke up. Her entire mind is in a mess. I decided to leave for a while and let her calm down. I also gave away the Tao Gifts to others.

There are still a lot of things in my to-do-list but…

{Body: Peak Nascent Soul (100%)}

{Qi: Peak Nascent Soul (100%)}

{Mind: Peak Nascent Soul (100%)}

My entire state is ready for a breakthrough. All that’s left is the perfect time as well as catching up with the two new techniques. That way, all fifteen aspects of my Dharma Avatar will step into the Divine Transformation Realm.

My passive income of Tao Gifts never stopped, either. The past ten years stored a bunch of them, primarily coming from my ‘partners’. I only used Seele's portion to heal my injuries.

The accumulated Tao Gifts of four Nascent Soul cultivators and thirteen Golden Core Realm cultivators are massive. Only Rita and Himeko held middle grade spirit roots; everyone else possessed high grade spirit roots. It’s akin to having more than a dozen geniuses feeding onto my cultivation.

Now, I could say that all of my efforts in nurturing them paid off. I received trustworthy allies and broken cultivation hacks.

Nobody else interrupted my thoughts. This is Kiana’s imaginary space… or rather, Cave Heaven. It is the term for the imaginary spaces that are converted into spirit veins. This place alone houses Earth’s rarest eighth grade spirit vein—capable of sustaining a Dao Integration Realm’s practice.

And so my hacking began. 

Silver lights flew out of my soul. They appeared tangibly as rays of light circling around me. The more I drew their power, the more exaggerated their size became.

My thinking speed grew faster at first. The level of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator allows for the comprehension of low-mastery techniques extremely fast. 

Then, the blessings of the Tao Gifts showed their might. Vast amounts of insight came one after another. Hundreds of thousands of similar techniques flashed in my mind. Their similarities to the [Universe Covering Winged Kunpeng’s Descent] and [Endless Combinations Art] are highlighted in an easy-to-understand manner. It was as if I was looking at the most simplified version of these techniques. Their core principles remain untouched; it was me who saw them differently.

Finally, the Dao of Enlightenment stacked onto these effects, pushing my comprehension to another level altogether. Ideas flowed endlessly as the cross-referencing ensued.

The existence of the techniques I knew, the power of Enlightenment, and my own comprehension created this miraculous progress.

Time passed endlessly. 

{Universe Covering Winged Kunpeng’s Descent: Unentered > Great Accomplishment}

{Endless Combinations Art: Unentered > Great Accomplishment}

Looking at the halved reserves of Tao Gifts, I let out a soft exhale. An urge to call out my Dharma Avatar arose. I followed my instincts.

Zoom-!

The human-sized avatar let out mystical lights corresponding to the Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Extremity, and Void. It swirled into a pale purple orb before entering my Dharma Avatar’s chest.

Hum-!

A special sensation emanated from my chest. The power of creation gathered in my fingertips. 

I touched the space in front of me. The three-dimensional space multiplied at fast rates, creating brand new spatial layers at once. I willed it to shatter and turn into a sharp blade.

Everything it went through got reduced to shreds. The imaginary space I resided on shook intensely until I dissipated this power.

My Nascent Soul’s spiritual qi reserves got reduced by half. The next moment, it was filled up completely. The recovery of an ultimate grade spirit root is no joke.

A single seclusion allowed me to access the Dao of All Creation. It happened naturally right after I had the corresponding techniques to the [Great Accomplishment] mastery.

This…

I didn’t expect this.

The [Great Accomplishment] mastery of [Xiutian Art] allowed for Tao Gifts to be used in techniques. Similarly, progress in technique masteries also gave out Tao Gifts. Nonetheless, comprehending a single technique to the [Great Accomplishment] mastery cannot be done by Tao Gifts alone. They boost your base progress. It still depends on your capabilities. If two people spend the same amount of Tao Gifts, their progress will differ based on their talents. 

…

This doesn’t matter.

I took out a mechanical clock from my brand new storage ring. It is Welt Yang’s special creation. It can exist in a highly chaotic place such as the imaginary space and Sea of Quanta.

The time… 9:30 AM.

The date… August 30 2032.

I entered seclusion in 2030. 

Two years passed, just like that..?

I swear it felt like an hour at most. I can only accept my overwhelmingly skewed sense of time. Fortunately, the gacha function of the golden orb stored any missed charges. That was how I managed to obtain ten years’ worth of loot before.

I checked my current status and confirmed I am ready for the Divine Transformation Realm breakthrough.

Just as I opened the entrance to the Cave Heaven, numerous rays of light flew to my side. I caught onto one of them. It is a transparent dark blue cube. A single touch revealed Kiana’s words.

“The Empyrean broke through successfully.”

I wasn’t surprised when I heard about this news. Prior to my seclusion, I left half of the resources I gained from the gacha to Fu Hua. This stemmed from her request regarding Body Reconstruction spiritual materials. She wanted to give Senti her own body. While I don’t know how their relationship went, I gladly gave her the necessary materials.

There are also some spiritual treasures useful for the Nascent Soul Realm’s Heart Demon Tribulation. A set of them guarantees 100% breakthrough.

As expected, the successful breakthroughs came one after another. After Fu Hua came Bronya and Hei Xuanyuan.

The two sets remained unused…

Ah, I got it.

Nobody wanted to use it.

In my perspective, giving away these key resources is absolutely fine. The stronger they get, the more Tao Gifts I obtain. It also doesn’t matter since these resources are practically free. There is also no use in hoarding breakthrough materials when I could no longer use it myself.

To the others, however, taking something without giving in exchange feels awkward. Fu Hua and Bronya are fine since I talked personally with them. The rest would feel awkward in taking these resources.

The only solution here is to talk with them myself.

I continued catching up on Kiana’s news. One of them surprised me.

Sin attempted to mess around on Mars. She ended up coming back on Earth seriously injured.

Sin…

…

I made a mistake.

I shouldn’t have gone into seclusion immediately. The outside world is in a mess. I have a vague feeling that Sin carried out that plan because of me. Anything sensed by my intuition often turns out to be true. This is the intuition of a fifth grade Diviner.

There are also others. 

Mei did not partake in the breakthrough materials I left. Her rough relationship with her Queen stigma persona hasn’t been fixed… something tied to me.

The five partners whom I haven’t even met… 

I might have placed them in awkward positions.

Overall, my entire interpersonal relationships are in a mess. I don’t know where I previously got the courage to ignore them and focus on my impending breakthrough.

That’s it.

Before I settle everything else, I will not start my breakthrough!

Chapter 246: Having a Stable Foundation

In the end, I managed to stop Kiana from starting a dual cultivation session right from the get-go. She was eager to start a dual cultivation session together with Sirin, though she considered that Sirin hadn't done her first time yet. I was left to accompany the sleeping Sirin who remained clinging onto me.

The Tuna has become a pervert, and so is everyone else…

Seele and Veliona got addicted to dual cultivation as well. When they managed to handle their exaggerated sensitivity, they became unhinged. 

I thought it would be men who would be more perverted, not the other way around. If there comes a day I become overwhelmed and dried out…

No, that day won’t come.

I have to become stronger… for the sake of dual cultivation.

I don’t know whether to cry or laugh at this notion. 

Having nothing else to do, I continued my retrospection. I kept watch of my current accomplishments and statuses. There are commendable achievements, but I also have glaring problems.

During the time inside the Bubble World, I focused on studying the [Blade Mantra 2.0]. It is the biggest bridge between the honkai and immortal cultivation, an extremely strong cultivation hack per se. 

However, I lost the time to learn my cultivation techniques. I have a total of sixteen aspects of the Dharma Avatar, yet I only learned eleven techniques to correspond to them. The Dharma Avatar can be compared to a fine sword, while the techniques are the ways to handle them.

In my case, I have a busted sword but lack full control over it. This resulted in my combat power not being ‘optimal’ to my current realm—like the difference between 90% and 100%.

Back then, this didn’t matter. The lacking 10% wouldn’t help much against the Honkai’s fake immortal cultivators, given their realm advantages.

No matter how strong my Purple Mansion Realm became, it won’t matter in the face of awakened Herrschers. The gap between physical strength can be rendered meaningless by overwhelming Awakened Herrscher Authorities comparable to Dharma Laws.

I was forced to forsake the traditional ‘peerless foundation’ and chose other options that will give power-ups faster (i.e., ‘unstable foundations’). Blade Mantra is a part of that choice.

Now that the Honkai is dealt with, it is better to rectify this ‘unstable foundation’. The Dharma Avatar aspects that have no corresponding techniques are Life, Ice, and Void. I am fortunate to have learned the [Heaven Shrouding Karmic Projection Art] moments before my clash with Nihility which filled in the gaps for Time, Mirror, and Permanence.

The Dao of Enlightenment is a special power, thus it didn’t need any techniques for its full utilization. 

Life, Ice, and Void.

Hundreds of thousands of peerless cultivation techniques appeared inside my mind. Their sheer volume is enough to bring down any kind of cultivation world to its knees. From the cultivation side arts down to cultivation techniques capable of becoming golden fingers (i.e., cheats) in its own right, I have them all.

I recalled the time I learned my first technique—Toushen Yin-Yang Aperture Spiritual Guidance Manual. Then came the times I coughed up blood due to mind overload brought by learning a cultivation technique.

Who would have expected Sirin to be sleeping while sitting in my lap now?

The nostalgic memories receded once I chose the appropriate cultivation techniques.

For the Dao of Ice and Life, I chose a spell technique similar to the [Five Elements Dao Sutra], the [Universe Covering Winged Kunpeng’s Descent]. 

It is an automatic technique that utilizes the Dao of Ice and Life to increase one’s physical prowess to exaggerated levels. It grants a permanent multiplier to one’s physical body realm. The best thing about it is its adaptability to other techniques. It works with the recovery effects of [Five Elements Dao Sutra] (Dao of Water) and [Ten Directions Body Art].

In terms of speed, nobody can match me if I decide to use the [Universe Covering Winged Kunpeng’s Descent] and [Cloud Seeking Steps].

In terms of recovery, I can tank two to three blows from the Divine Transformation Realm, something a normal peak Nascent Soul will die in one strike.

In terms of physical blows, I can tear apart the entire solar system with bare hands. It is the literal tearing apart of space and destroying what is within.

In short, I can burst out a power surpassing my major realm in a brief moment. It is like a forbidden technique, but with weaker drawbacks and weaker burst potential.

As for the Dharma Avatar aspect of Void, I chose a simpler technique, the [Endless Combinations Art]. It is an auxiliary technique that serves one purpose: to combine various Daos into one.

Unlike Kiana’s broad range of application, this technique is a bridge to combine several techniques’ output. It has its pros and cons. For its pros, being simple meant being easier to learn. For its cons, it lacks a direct effect when the technique is used alone. It means forsaking the ability to control space and other dimensions.

Nevertheless, its function is enough for me. I did not plan to major in the Dao of Void. My main goal has always been to combine the Dao of Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Extremity, and Void to harness the Dao of All Creation.

Nihility struck fast enough to the point I wasn’t able to learn the fusion of these four. I only managed to utilize its strength through my future projection during that fight. It was a decisive strike that forced Nihility to tank my fully powered attack. The end result is our victory.

Given my capabilities now and the Dao of Enlightenment that reached the level of a Divine Law, studying new techniques is but a trifle. The difficulty comes from upgrading my mastery from [Great Accomplishment] to [Perfection]. It will definitely take up a lot of my time.

[Perfection] is the final realm of mastery over my cultivation techniques. Once mastered, the techniques’ prowess can be used up to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. With special circumstances, it could even reach the threshold of a True Immortal.

For now, the [Great Accomplishment] mastery is enough for my current progress. Crossing the major realms ahead will take years. I might have comprehended my techniques to that mastery when that time comes.

“Our future…”

Being able to think freely of the future…

Perhaps this is the meaning of immortal cultivation.

*****

A/N: A major event will happen next. It's been withheld for some time, but it's time to settle things within the solar system ;)

Chapter 245: Past, Present, and Future

I saw my life flash right before my eyes.

Kiana is normal. Her image as a lively girl when we first met never changed. That included her clumsiness when it comes to many things.

Seele’s situation is different. The circumstances she faced made us helpless. Spending time in an eternal time loop is detrimental to her mental health, hence her mental afflictions. 

Sirin…

She had it the worst.

She was just a young girl when she faced the world’s malice. Despite being wronged by Otto, she could not exact her revenge. People even prevented her from doing so. In the end, she was pushed as the common enemy of humanity, going down as one of the most destructive Herrschers of the Current Era.

I…

I underestimated her problems.

A single person who understands her well is enough. With the sets of circumstances we came through, I happened to be the right person to be in that position.

Sirin’s face is an inch away from mine. Her long purple hair brushed my hands placed atop my lap. A special kind of fragrance is emitted from her supple skin. 

Her breaths touched my nose as it turned more hurried.

“I… want you.”

…

I am moved.

I swallowed the words I am about to say. Sirin did not have a shred of hesitation in speaking her thoughts. She made no effort in concealing her emotions.

She means it.

I have to make one thing clear.

“Even if I have Kiana..?”

“She is me. What’s the problem with that?”

“How about Seele?”

“I don’t care.”

The verification process was completed instantly. Sirin did not hesitate any further as she closed the distance between our lips.

I expected for her to be as proactive as Seele, but she did not turn out to be so. She is satisfied with the light kiss.

Playfully, she let our lips come in contact with each other for short periods of time. It made me realize of one thing:

She knows what Kiana did.

I could not help but see her shadow on Sirin. She wanted to emulate Kiana.

As proof, her hands began to wander inside my garb. She skillfully took off my robe, and then my inner robe. 

Her petite figure became more pronounced in my eyes. She grew up as much as others, considering she reached the Golden Core Realm. Her height grew to 165 centimeters. 

If there was one thing that remained constant, it would be her other features. She is barely above Fu Hua. The flesh above my thigh isn’t plump, but rather, firm.

…

I halted these wicked thoughts.

“You don’t need to mimic Kiana.”

Sirin’s body froze.

“You are not a replacement… nor a carbon copy. I want to see you.”

“...”

A few seconds later…

Sirin began crying.

*****

Immortal cultivators have an extremely keen sense. Kiana knew well not to peek with spiritual consciousness. Hence, she chose the most primitive way of stalking—to look with her eyes.

After shielding herself from the external world’s perception—both with immortal cultivation and the Cocoon’s never-ending power—Kiana pulled it off.

The moment she passed through the door, Shi Tian noticed her. Her entire body jolted, like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

Fortunately for Kiana, he did not blow her cover. 

She watched as Sirin cried herself to sleep. Only then did Kiana show herself properly.

“You really are a pervert.”

“I am just curious!” She retorted.

“So you’ll watch our dual cultivation session?”

Kiana saw the speechlessness in his eyes.

“That’s not it. I have a feeling… she won’t do it. She’s too tired.”

Seeing her concern over Sirin, Shi Tian dropped his playfulness.

“It’s fine now. Her emotional outburst helped a lot.”

“She didn’t want to talk to anyone else. It’s good you are here… just like when you were there for me.”

Kiana’s situation wasn’t far off from Sirin’s. Just when she found herself a family, Siegfried abandoned her without a word. She was forced to wander the streets on her own, barely making a living with her street smarts. Though Ryoma anonymously gave her funds a few months later, what came next was the feeling of being lost.

She wandered the world alone. Kiana showed off her liveliness outwardly, but she knew well how lonely she felt.

It wasn’t until she met a travelling buddy, Shi Tian, did her life turn for the better. In a sense, Sirin was a version of herself had she not met Shi Tian.

“So she’s like a sibling.”

“Now that you put it that way…”

A strange thought entered the Tuna’s mind.

“I know what you are thinking.”

“What? Am I not right? You did it with those two, too…”

“...”

Shi Tian could not find the words to retort back. He did it, after all. While nobody expected the occurrence of quantum entanglement, Shi Tian was the one who took action in the end.

“Let’s talk about it later.”

“You are agreeing..?”

“Yes.”

Like that, their banter came to an end. They went back to talking about serious things.

“I am planning to break through soon.” 

He said as he patted the sleeping Sirin sitting on his lap.

“Do you need anything?”

“I need to isolate my tribulations.”

“Um. Other than that?”

“I want the world to see it.”

Earth has been progressing as an immortal cultivator civilization for twelve years. That short span of time was enough to give birth to hundreds of Purple Mansion Realm cultivators. Earth’s high-end cultivators are at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Realms.

For them, seeing a Divine Transformation Realm tribulation is a great opportunity. It also bolsters Earth’s drive towards immortality. Be it for his Dao of Enlightenment or Earth’s overall strength, they are both beneficial.

“We have two thousand years at most. We need to make the most out of it.”

“Two thousand years? It can last longer.”

Kiana pointed at the distant stars. An invisible, “non-existent” barrier suddenly made ripples. It was the imaginary barrier she set up in the aftermath of the Nihility fight. It was designed to hide, reject, and speed up Earth’s time compared to the outside universe.

The forecasted time was originally ten thousand years. That corresponds to ten years of the outside world.

“The futures I saw indicated something else. There are several high-level powers causing disruptions. They must have set their eyes on Earth already.”

Nascent Soul Realm cultivators have the privilege to dig deep into the “Present” frame within the temporal dimensions. Using it, they can deduce the past and the future. It has three levels in total.  It is different from the "Past" and "Future" themselves.

Consider a case: You are living with Elysia. One day, you found out that the pudding you stored was gone.

In terms of "Present", you deduced it was Elysia who ate it by since you know about her tendency to eat desserts.

In terms of "Past", however, you will see a vision of Elysia eating the pudding. It is more direct than in the "Present". Nonetheless, comprehending the "Present" is still helpful at his current level.

Shi Tian maxed it out a long time ago, thus gaining an insane capability to ‘see’ the general outline of the future accurately.

Although the Aeons’ nature far exceeded that of the Nascent Soul Realm, they inherited this world’s flaw within the temporal dimension. The “Past” and “Future” held by the Imaginary Tree are “flawed”. The Aeons inherited that aspect—lacking any control over the “real” Past and Future. 

Shi Tian exploited this weak point and was able to divine the events directly connected to the Aeons themselves.

‘Aeons replaced the Herrschers as the fake cultivators…’

“Two thousand years. That’s the safest range we have.”

“That means we need to practice more.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s start.”

“...”

Kiana’s dual cultivation addiction flared up.

*****

A/N: Bonus chapter.

Chapter 244: Yandere Pufferfish

It’s bad.

Very bad.

Immortal cultivators have a lot of perks mortals do not have. Sensing others’ emotions, more so the ones closer to me, is very easy. It is akin to a ‘divine intuition’.

Looking at the dazed Sirin who opened the door…

She’s on the verge of committing suicide.

No wonder Kiana felt something was wrong. Sirin’s mind is a tangled mess from thirty five years ago. While Kiana had a serious talk with her, it wasn’t enough to fully deal with it.

Sirin did not say anything when I came in. There isn't anything inside her dwelling, either. 

No, it is not right to call it nothing. There is a bed, carpet, table, and a pair of chairs. 

I carried the chairs to face each other. The simple telekinesis is nothing but a trifle to the current me.

Sirin understood what I wanted and sat across the other seat.

For a while, nobody spoke. Her gaze wandered around me, though it did not linger much. I turned speechless when her gaze ended up landing on me, only for Sirin to turn away.

I am speechless. It isn’t embarrassment, but complete aversion. Sirin developed a dislike for interacting with others, turning into a pufferfish with social anxiety issues…

“Kiana wanted me to talk with you.”

“...”

I chose to tell the truth. Their connection through the auxiliary technique allows them to grasp each others’ emotions unless they actively block it. 

Kiana never did so.

“I want to hear it. The things that bother you.”

*****

‘Ah…’

Envy.

That was Sirin’s most prevalent emotion. To have someone who understands them is a peerless treasure. At the very least, she also wanted to have someone like that.

All of her pent-up frustrations, mental burdens, trauma, hatred…

A certain idea began to reappear in her mind.

Sirin viewed herself as unworthy, to the point she wanted to disappear and let her other self live her good life in peace.

But…

‘I want it too..! I want it too!’

Her internal thoughts turned into a messed up blender. The aura she emanated turned extremely heavy, echoing her similarly heavy thoughts.

Shi Tian never expected to elicit such a response just after a single sentence.

Just then, Sirin thought of something. It was a bucket of cold water to her head. A vague sense of disappointment emerged from her heart.

‘He must be doing it for Kiana…’

Her pressing aura was retracted. Her eyes flashed a look of doubt.

“Does it concern you?”

“Yes.”

“Because it will hurt Kiana?”

“Because it hurts you.”

“...”

Sirin wanted to retort but failed to do so. The look in Shi Tian’s eyes said it all. He was never lying.

Her heartbeats started to quicken. Still, she vehemently denied everything.

“Hah. As if you’ll care about someone you wanted to kill back then.”

“Why can’t I? Back then… I am powerless to do anything else. I cannot convince you to stop your revenge. I can only fight for Kiana’s safety.”

Shi Tian did not shy away from her accusation. He lacked the power to take Sirin down ‘safely’. He opted for the killing blow to save Kiana. 

“There are a lot of things I could not do because I was weak.”

His statement resonated with Sirin.

‘Weakness is a sin…’

The more it did so, the more she leaned towards accepting… no, stealing Shi Tian from Kiana. Her internal thoughts could barely be contained. All of her mind’s mess slowly transitioned into an obsession.

As a last resort, Sirin voiced out the final piece of her doubt.

“You’re talking as if you wouldn’t get in my way…”

“There’s nothing wrong with your revenge. I wouldn't get in your way if it was possible.”

“..?”

Seeing the look of utter confusion in her eyes, Shi Tian took it as a sign to continue.

“Otto did unspeakable things. He practically robbed you of your entire life. Being used as an unwilling experimental subject, and then humanity’s common enemy… I would have gone even crazier than you if it happened to me.”

Shi Tian saw Sirin’s life in the lens of a bystander—of a player. This perspective gave a lot of insights on her story. It is something unimaginable to the people of this world. Nobody can calmly evaluate Sirin’s story as much as Shi Tian did now.

“There’s no use talking about morality at that time. Everyone who gets in your way is an enemy. Even the general populace of humanity is also your enemy. Part of the reason they experimented on you is to protect them. Your revenge is understandable…”

He hesitated for a moment and completed his words:

“So you don’t need to think much of it. I would rather see you two let go of it… of your past. Though I know more than enough this won’t happen.”

“...”

Sirin’s world stopped.

She was utterly stunned. Bewildered. Words tried to escape from her mouth, only to form unrecognizable sounds.

“Ah…”

Her mind broke. She stared blankly at Shi Tian. The more she did so, the more captivated she got. His words resounded repeatedly in her mind.

The hesitations and doubts she previously had dissipated into nothingness. His final words pushed her to make a choice.

‘Someone… who understands me…’

Buzz-!

The surrounding space cracked. Black slits appeared all over the room. The ground shook rhythmically as the sounds of explosions appeared one after another.

Amidst it all, Shi Tian watched as Sirin’s gaze turned into something he is familiar with:

Obsession.

‘It’s worse than Seele’s!’

Those golden eyes saw nothing but Shi Tian. Her love was so suffocating it was an utter disregard of herself.

Everything else lost meaning in Sirin’s eyes. 

Shi Tian…

Only Shi Tian exists in her world.

‘This is dangerous…’

Before he could say anything, Sirin’s figure reappeared in front of him. She unhesitantly sat on his lap, facing him. Her hands pressed on his shoulders. Shi Tian had his back pushed against the seat.

Sirin’s eyes housed uniquely-lined irises. It formed a geometrically perfect criss-cross pattern akin to a focused sniper scope.

Now, this scope is aimed solely at Shi Tian.

No words were said between them. The deafening silence did not hamper Sirin’s turbulent emotions.

“I… want you.”

Chapter 243: Future Foreboding

The talks finished relatively quickly. It took an hour in total.

Kiana wanted to use up the excess time for something else.

“Is it really delicious?”

“Mn…”

She did not bother speaking. Like a true vampire, she bit on my shoulder until it bled. Her Nascent Soul Realm physique is barely able to penetrate my defenses—after relaxing them, that is.

Sucking blood while standing on the desolate Moon…

Only vampires can do it. I did not expect Kiana to do the same.

It took a while until her mouth separated from my skin. My wounded shoulder healed instantly.

“You became more delicious.”

“Literally?”

“Um…”

Before she awakened a new fetish, I had to stop her.

“Do you want to taste mine? So it’ll be fair.”

“...”

Kiana gestured at the open spot on her Finality battlesuit. Her supple skin paired with her ethereal aura almost intoxicated me just by looking.

In the end, my will prevailed.

“No. There’s no need to. You can do it as you feel it.”

I do not have any strange fetish. I can’t bring myself to harm my partners during our dual cultivation sessions. I can tease them, but that’s it.

Kiana’s eyes turned into a worried look as she said:

“You’ll get taken advantage of.”

“By whom?”

“Your future partners.”

“...”

I chose not to say anything else. Three is enough for now. I don’t know how I will do it with four, five, six… ten..?

“I am planning to break through now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. We can deal with the ones hiding on the Ooort Cloud after that.”

“So you kept her as a whetstone?”

“Kind of.”

Kiana’s prowess with the Cocoon’s power far exceeded her game self. Although her powers remain borrowed from external sources, her standing as a Nascent Soul Realm made a lot of things easier for her.

For example, processing vast amounts of information and locking onto targets within eleven dimensions. She won’t need any anchors and can attack on her own now.

“I planned to leave her to others at first. But as you know… they have their problems.”

Kiana nodded.

“Sirin. She’s been in seclusion after defeating Otto. I tried to talk to her about it, but it’s of no use.”

Tao Hearts are a symbol of one’s determination to stick onto a specific mindset. It is often used as a scale to measure one’s determination to pursue immortality, but that is a mere fallacy.

Seele, for example, formed her fifth level Tao Heart by centering herself around me. Living forever (i.e., immortality) is a secondary option compared to being with me. It was absurdly strong; she does not care about anything else.

She can go as far as to kneel down in a dogeza to apologize for what I viewed as a small matter

In short, a higher level Tao Heart does not mean a cultivator is free from mental scars and afflictions. These mental problems are just small enough to be neglected. Once it grows bigger, it becomes the legitimate ‘Inner Demons’ which poses a threat to the Tao Heart.

Of course, there are also ‘Inner Demons’ that become strong enough to hinder the progression of Tao Heart, and at worst, cause it to shatter.

Immortal cultivators place a huge importance on mental well-being. 

“I am afraid she might do something drastic. That’s why I kept her here.”

“...Alright. I’ll try talking to her now.”

“Thanks.”

*****

To a girl whose entire two lifetimes are dedicated to revenge, what came next after accomplishing it was emptiness.

‘Why am I here…?’

From her birth, the brief but happy childhood, being brought inside Babylon Labs for experimentation, the death of her beloved friends…

Sirin came a long way.

Back then, she was consumed by nothing but burning hatred. What’s even more infuriating was the waves of self-righteous people that appeared one after another.

She, who wanted to seek revenge on Otto, was stopped again and again. First was Siegfried, then came Theresa, Welt Yang, and Cecilia.

The first one shall not be explained further. He viewed Sirin as a pure threat that needed to be eliminated. 

While Theresa offered her an inkling of empathy, being convinced into forgoing her revenge did not help.

One of the most hateful people in Sirin’s eyes was none other than Welt Yang.

When the peace talks failed, he utilized the belief of humanity against Sirin. He did not bother taking time to understand that it was the very same humanity that pushed Sirin to this state. It was humanity who turned her into a monster with burning hatred.

Finally, there was Cecilia. She, like Theresa, offered what Sirin lacked the most—maternal love. It was she who gave her the dream of living a normal life, thus resulting in K-423, Kiana’s, existence.

Nonetheless, she was like the others. She prioritized neutralizing Sirin, becoming an obstacle in her way of revenge.

The entire ordeal is akin to someone being beaten badly by someone. When they wanted to beat up the same person who messed with their face, waves of people appeared one after another. All of them aimed to convince her to pull her punches, to forgo her hatred, and to forget the suffering she and the others had suffered.

It was intolerable.

Nobody spent a little bit of time understanding her. Sirin felt how it was to fight against the entire world… and so she bombed the world with her Moon fragments.

Sirin ended up being defeated, with her “remnant soul” staying on the Herrscher Core. Kiana’s story began after that. Through her, Sirin managed to fulfill her wish. She got to meet Shi Tian, the person she loves the most. 

However…

Sirin is not Kiana.

No matter how much Kiana tells her she also has the right to be happy—that she can live a normal life—Sirin could not see herself in it. She anchored herself to the thought of killing Otto with her own hands. She managed to hold on for years because of that thought alone.

When they faced Otto in the Imaginary Tree…

Sirin enacted her revenge. She made sure that Otto would not be able to achieve his plans. Kiana willingly handed over the Herrscher Core’s control, to which Sirin used it to strike him with Void Renormalization. Only, it is destined not to last long.

Otto was not able to pull off his wishes until the very end. He did not manage to form a new branch of the Imaginary Tree due to Sirin’s meddling.

Unfortunately, she did not see Otto’s reaction at that time.

Since then, she felt emptied-out. Doubts consumed her mind. She felt like she had no other reasons for existing in this world.

Her long-awaited revenge turned out to be duller than she thought. Sirin let Otto off easily, as compared to what he made her suffer to.

All of these situations piled up resulting in the current Sirin. Twelve long years of seclusion turned her into an extremely deflated pufferfish.

When she was about to spend another day like this…

“Can I come inside?”

…he arrived.

Chapter 242: Formal Approval

The meeting with Siegfried and Theresa.

Resolving Mei’s and Sin Mal’s mental afflictions.

Officially taking over the Sect Master position.

Meddling with the development plan of the sect for the next thousand years.

Meeting with my new partners.

…

Shit.

The backlog I had after ten years of absence is nothing short of my college experience.

I decided to forgo the other things and focus on the first one.

In a blink, I arrived on the Moon. The Moon surface remains quite desolate. All of the infrastructures are centered around the rebuilt Palace of Selene. The huge corpse of the Herrscher of the End disappeared after Kiana’s embrace.

Aside from a select number of Palaces, I saw thousands of entrances leading to the Imaginary Space. These entrances are scattered all over the Moon’s surface. It does not interfere with the real world.

Kiana is essentially the landlord with thousands of potential spiritual herb gardens. Once the problem of insufficient workforce is solved, there will be a steady stream of spiritual plants from the Moon down to Earth.

Of course, it is destined to take up a lot of time.

I waited for a while but to no avail. She must still be sleeping. I decided to wander around.

Unsurprisingly, there are three people present on the Moon: Mei’s counterpart, Hei Xuanyuan, and Sirin. All three of them are in seclusion (i.e., sleeping). Out of them, Sirin stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm, though I did not sense any fifth level Tao Heart on her. The other two remained at the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm.

With the Nascent Soul Realm as the highest benchmark of today’s Earth, almost everyone who fought against the Honkai remained at the upper percentile.

Numerous idle thoughts floated in my mind until someone hugged me from behind.

“So you haven’t forgotten to drop by. Humph.”

“How do you want to make up for it?” I asked the Tuna behind my back.

“Dual cultivation.”

“Alright…”

Upon hearing my words, she let go of me. I looked back and met her star-like pupils. Kiana’s temperament is absolutely crazy at this moment. The mix of elegance, gentleness, ethereal… every single description fitting an immortal fairy fits her.

Coupled with her Finality battlesuit, it made my heart skip a beat.

“Let’s meet with your dad and aunt.”

“Are you sure?”

A hint of worry appeared on her pupils.

“Maybe it will end badly. My old man… he’s not the type to compromise easily.”

“This is my responsibility. Otherwise, wouldn’t I become a generic scumbag from third-rate novels?”

A light chuckle escaped her throat. 

Kiana stepped forward and took hold of my right hand.

“As long as you won’t forget about me… everything else is fine.”

A pang of guilt struck my heart.

“Don’t feel guilty. It’s something we chose together.”

Kiana’s words really stopped me from feeling guilty. 

That’s it.

I will pamper her a lot... with lots of dual cultivation session.

*****

“This day finally came…”

A full ten years.

That was how long Siegfried waited to talk to the couple.

When he discovers that Shi Tian has another girlfriend, the looks on his face are terrifying. He tried to talk to his daughter about it but was rejected. Instead, she came up with the proposal of talking together once Shi Tian wakes up.

For one of the saviors of humanity, Siegfried had no choice but to relent. Nonetheless, the sense of confusion and bafflement he felt when Shi Tian had two girlfriends did not disappear.

“Such a responsible kid is actually…”

He chose not to comment further. It wasn’t as if he was any better in his earlier years. Before he managed to defeat Cecilia, he was trained by a lot of Valkyries. Though he had zero romantic entanglements with them, Siegfried teased them from time to time.

What he did not expect, however, was for Shi Tian to do it for real. That was something he could not tolerate as a father.

Theresa shared the same perspective as his, thus it turned into a meeting of four of them. 

Moments later, the short Theresa entered the door. This meeting took place within the Federation’s central building. Her short stature did not diminish the authority she built over the past few years.

“I am telling you in case you lose your temper.” Theresa coughed seriously as she continued, “Your daughter can beat you with a finger.”

“...”

Siegfried could not retort to her. Kiana really can beat him with a single finger.

“The kid, too.”

“You’re making it look like I am looking for a fight.”

“Thank goodness you are not.”

The years as the Federation’s president shifted the dynamics between Teriri and Siegfried. The former is dominating the latter in terms of word play…

‘Is this what years of being a leader does? It’s… terrifying.’

He was destined to never be able to gain superiority on the loli principal again.

Soon, the couple arrived. Siegfried was about to say something when his words got struck on his throat.

The two acted lovey-dovey and did not find feeding dog food to them. Once they sat down, only then did they stop.

“Greetings, Principal and Father-in-Law.”

The two did not say anything except for a nod.

“You must have known why we wanted a meeting.” Theresa initiated the conversation. “Does Kiana accept your behavior?”

“Aunt Theresa… It's me. I suggested it to him.”

“..?!”

Kiana began explaining the entire story to them. Her discovery of Seele’s feelings, the ordeals they went through inside the Bubble World…

Before their bafflement reached its peak, Shi Tian intervened.

“It’s not just her suggestion. I also considered it myself. I have a fault in this rega—ow.”

Shi Tian looked at the hand that pinched his waist. He seemed unfazed externally, though he already began saying his prayers internally.

“Father-in-law, Principal, I won’t leave Kiana. I know words are not enough to convince you, so I am asking for a chance. A hundred, no, a billion years from now. I will always stay by her side.”

The twist and turns of this meeting silenced Siegfried and Theresa. The two-man act of them owing up the responsibility showed how deeply they cared for each other.

Questions such as “Why didn’t Kiana say it early on” arose, though the sharp Theresa saw through it.

‘A mutual effort… just like Siegfried and Cecilia.’

It wasn’t just them who grew up. Shi Tian and Kiana learned a lot of things when it came to maintaining a healthy relationship. The two of them speaking up is much better than only one of them doing the work. It shows their utmost sincerity.

“There’s nothing left to say. I am in no position to separate you two. Siegfried?”

“...Neither am I. Just one thing.”

He stared at Shi Tian with an extremely serious look.

“I am watching over you. The day you break your promise is the day you can no longer call me father-in-law.”

“Understood.”

Everything looks like it was resolved peacefully.

There was just one problem, however.

Theresa organized her thoughts and looked at her son-in-law strangely. She confirmed several times and concluded this only appeared now.

‘Why does he smell so good..?’

Chapter 241: Lethal Joke

I saw nothing except the land of milk and honey. Veliona’s snow-white neck filled my sight. The ends of her red hair highlights stuck closely to her skin as beads of sweat rolled down. Her arms tightly embraced my neck, having no intention of letting it go. Her legs locked behind my back.

I stood still while holding her waist. With each thrust, her slender body trembled.

“Huff… Why is it always me?!”

Though her words sounded sharp, her eyes are the exact opposite. It showed nothing but infinite gentleness—to be more precise, horniness.

Veliona cooperated with my rhythm as her body pressed further on mine. The sensation of doing it while standing and on bed differs. The former is more… stimulating.

Her tight insides clung to my flesh rod. I spotted several drops of tears falling from her eyes as a waterfall ensued below.

The sound of a liquid dripping down the ground stimulated me further. 

“Hum..!”
After repeated climaxes, Veliona lost the strength to cling on to me. Her eyes turned shut. Her breathing soon turned steady.

She fainted; though her honest body did not.

The clapping, moist sound echoed in this silent room. Veliona’s tightness increased at an exaggerated pace, as if her pussy wanted to push my dick out.

This was but one of the small details I discovered.

Seele and Veliona had this special trait. Once they faint, their bodies turn exaggeratedly sensitive.

Psshk-!

Veliona’s breathing turned more labored as she climaxed even in her sleep. Her dripping fluids beneath have already turned into a small pool. Her body trembled non-stop, forcing her to awaken once more.

She tried to lift her eyes fully but to no avail. Veliona could only look at me with her eyes turned into narrow slits.

“Tian…”

…

My heart skipped a beat.

No matter how many times Veliona shows me her soft side, I will never get tired of it.

My right hand crept up from her waist to her head. My left hand supported the entire weight of her body with ease.

Her hair rustled as I brushed my hand along her head. The head pats she once so loved evolved into something else.

“Eek..!”

Her insides tightened as she sent out the never-ending supply of her fluids outside. It just so happened to be the time I reached my limits.

My white fluids came out uncontrollably.

It took a while before I moved from our stillness.

Aside from the insurmountable satisfaction and pleasure of bonding together, there is also the creation qi from the [Sun Moon Creation Art]. From Seele and Veliona’s [Innate Yin] down to the creation qi we accumulated within the span of almost two years, it all went to the repair of my body, soul, and mind.

The [Innate Yin] of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator far exceeds that of a Golden Core Realm’s, more so with Seele and Veliona possessing a high grade water spirit root. It is akin to a built-in physique for dual cultivation.

The twenty years I needed to heal my injuries got cut down to nothing. Dual cultivation healed all of my injuries completely.

All of that with the hard work of the two girls with me.

I pulled out my rod and carried Veliona to the bed. She accompanied the sleeping Seele. After cleaning up our mess, no traces of it remained.

I gently pulled her away from Seele and laid down between them. Almost instantly, they clung onto my arms and chest.

As for my meeting with Siegfried and Teriri…

I am already too late. There’s no point in thinking about it further. I can only make it up to them later.

*****

The Wushi Dao Sect has a complete system that operates on immortal cultivation. It has numerous cycles that feed back from one another.

An example is the prestigious Alchemy Vein. Led by the seven hundred year old Seele, a bonafide fifth level alchemist, they provide all sorts of spirit pills needed by cultivators within the sect. 

The highest leveled ones (except for Shi Tian's partners) are at the Purple Mansion Realm. The third grade pills they require are easily produced within the Alchemy Vein. This, in turn, empowers immortal cultivators to do other tasks. A portion of them tend on the spiritual plant gardens opened throughout the Earth.

In the end, these plant gardens send back spiritual plants back to the Alchemy Vein.

Nobody disturbs the Alchemy Vein’s mountain peak, more so the dwelling of the Peak Master.

Only a few people can come unannounced. It just so happened that one of these “few people” greeted Shi Tian when he came out.

“Two years… Does it really take up that amount of time?”

Bronya asked in a calm voice. Her proud mountains stood firm as she crossed her arms beneath them.

“Want to experience it?” He asked.

“Sure.”

“...”

After a period of silence, Shi Tian clarified:

“I am joking.”

“Me too.”

“...”

The tip of his mouth twitched several times.

‘The duck of the past is no more. She is clearly the teasing devil…’

Whether the words she said were true or not, Shi Tian chose not to dwell over it. 

“I came here to tell you some things. You might want to meet the others.”

“My partners?”

“Um.”

He did not respond for a while.

“Did they say something?” He asked.

“Quite a few. They did not explicitly say it, but they do want to meet you.”

“That’s fine. I can meet them one-by-one later. Other than that?”

“...Some people might need your help.”

Shi Tian looked at her.

“Is it Mei?”

“How did you guess?”

“I know it from some time.”

During these ten years, Bronya got closer to others. Most notably, to Rita and Mei. The former is her co-worker. They are both the designated Vice Sect Masters of the Sect.

As for Mei, it was due to their personalities. There is a reason they became good friends in the original story.

“It’s my negligence.” He shook his head. “Was it only Mei?”

“...No.”

Shi Tian finally realized the impact of fighting against the Honkai. All sorts of mental scars and afflictions presented themselves after the war. Without any external pressure to focus on, it is bound to happen.

“Sin, too.”

Thinking of the girl with a special pair of eyes, he sighed. He had a gut instinct about the girl’s peculiarities a long time ago.

“You should also ask Kiana. I heard Sirin hasn’t left her residence for the entire decade.”

“Got it.”

With a renewed to-do list, Shi Tian left a streak of light.

Chapter 240: Horni Seele

There are not many people who knew of Shi Tian’s return to Earth. Their reactions are varied, though the one who reacted the most was none other than Kiana.

“Hmph…”

She did not peek through the residence. Knowing Shi Tian entered Seele’s ‘house’ and did not leave for an entire year spoke of everything she needed to know.

“Even if I knew it…”

Seeing is one thing from expectation. To have one’s lover, whose very soul is bonded onto yours, also to do it with others elicit negativity. 

Jealousy, to be exact.

Shi Tian is the luckiest bastard to have the understanding Kiana by his side.

Nonetheless, she was still affected by it. Her heart tightened. She wanted to monopolize his love and attention. As she had previously admitted, she is a very greedy Tuna.

But…

Thinking of Seele’s similarly deep feelings—bordering the strongest obsessions on the world—Kiana could not say anything else. She loves him just as much as she does.

For that alone, she gave Seele a chance. Shi Tian willingly bore the burden of loving two… three people at once.

It was because of these things did Kiana act “generously”.

“Hum. We’ll sort it out once we talk together.”

The goddess on the Moon fell asleep once more.

*****

I never knew managing a harem is difficult.

Three girls took up my energy. Seele and Veliona drained me physically and mentally. My thoughts wandered to Kiana in the process of doing so, which dealt a critical damage in my mind. Thinking of a girl while spending time with another girl is scummy.

Scumbags have it easy. They do not consider their partners’ emotions, appearing and disappearing as they please. They do not care about their partners wholeheartedly, only during the time they are by their side. 

However…

I condone them the most.

Such behavior is not love… at least not in my perspective. I would rather be inconvenienced thinking of ways to balance my affection than to become a monster like that. 

A healthy relationship is a product of mutual effort. One-sided love is just as bad as a toxic relationship. In the scumbags’ case, they pass on the inconvenience of understanding, balancing, and resolving the problems of the relationship to their partners only. They make no efforts in attaining mutual understanding, merely focusing on temporary satisfaction.

I want to be a true great immortal lord with a harem. I wish to be able to fulfill my current partners’ needs, emotions, and desires. Only then can I pride in myself as the Venerable of the Beginningless Dao (lit. Wushi Tianzun).

…

The legendary sage time soon ended.

I looked at the current battle situation. Veliona fell asleep. Seele remained awake, though barely. Pushed underneath me, she gave a pitiful yet enchanted look.

Just then, I remembered the time.

Six months…

Six months!!!

I have an appointment with Teriri and Siegfried!

This thought cooled my burning body down.

“We’ll have to continue it next time.”

“Um..? Okay…”

Seele’s disappointed look did not escape from my eyes. Her swan-like neck dripped with beads of sweat. Our breaths became entangled. Our lips soon touched, followed by the tip of our tongues. Our noses touched each other.

Like a kitten, her head swayed left and right as our noses touched again and again. Her tongue became more elastic and flexible during the process.

It took time before we could extricate ourselves from our reverie. I pulled out my hands from the sunken bed mattress.

In an attempt to cool down, I shifted the topic of our conversation somewhere else.

“How is the Bubble World?”

“It remains frozen.”

The Bubble World inside Seele did not work as I expected. Time got frozen to the moment we broke the barrier down. Only when she brings others out would time continue for them.

“Can we do something to help them?” She asked gently.

“Not for now. Our power is insufficient to pull it off.”

I used to think that being a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator is enough to reverse time in this world—that I can do it given the Honkai hacks. I was gravely mistaken. 

The “Past” and “Future” of this world are flawed. They are artificially generated by the Imaginary Tree, akin to a computer server that “stores” and “predicts” data. Since the server itself has a problem, its data also has a problem. I don’t know why it happened, but one thing’s for certain:

I cannot rely on the Honkai as it is tied to the Imaginary Tree itself.

That was the reason why I saw the “Past” and “Future” of this world being so clouded. Only the “Present” remains unaffected. My best guess is that the “Present” exists as a special timeframe. It is the origin of the “Future” and the one that records the “Past”.

In the past, only the present exists as the future;

In the future, only the present exists as the past.

Only in the present can there be the past and the future, a complete temporal frame.

For now, though, it does not matter much.

The Nascent Soul Realm is enough to reach all three levels of the “Present”. The “Past” is relevant to the Divine Transformation Realm, while the “Future” is relevant to the Void Refinement Realm.

To be able to ‘resurrect’ the dead from the past, becoming a Void Refinement Realm cultivator is the safest option. 

“A thousand years at maximum. I can help them by then.”

“One thousand years… It’s not very long.”

Seele nodded affirmatively.

“Will we have children by then?”

“Ah?”

I got stumped by her question. I managed to get my bearings back in the next moment.

“How many do you want?” I asked.

It was Seele’s turn to be silenced. Her facial expressions showed the internal turmoil she is going through.

One thing's for certain:

It's all about horniness.

“Three… no, four..?” She paused before hastily continuing, “That’s four each for us.”

Four… each.

Can we handle that?

I voiced my complaints with my actions…

Chapter 239: Two-on-One

Dual cultivation with Kiana is manageable. The gap of a major realm, matching spirit roots, cultivation techniques catering to dual cultivation, and several other traits made things easier. If I lacked even a single thing, it would have been my turn in the losing side.

My prowess is more absurd now. 

Two high level Tao Bodies, one of which specializes in virility. 

An ultimate grade spirit root, the pinnacle of talents all immortal cultivators dream.

The perfection of Nascent Soul Realm.

The [Great Accomplishment] of my main cultivation and dual cultivation technique.

Things change when there are two Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. The gap of a major realm disappears. What remains is the sheer resilience of a bonafide dual cultivator.

I can still handle this.

Looking at the two identical-yet-different girls beside me, I felt like living inside a dream.

One year.

Doing nothing but dual cultivation for an entire year is an absurd concept to a mortal, but not for immortals. If it wasn’t for their need to rest every half a year or so, this would have continued for years.

Ultimately, it stems from an immortal’s skewed sense of time. Humans cherish each second they have due to their limited lifespan. Immortals, on the other hand, can live for a hundred and fifty years at minimum. That was twice the lifespan of the world’s average lifespan. Not to mention those with higher realms.

A typical peak of Nascent Soul Realm has a lifespan of a million years. By then, would the ‘duration’ of time spent in ‘daily’ necessities still matter?

This is a kind of arrogance deeply rooted in immortal cultivators.

The passing of time did not matter. I did not do anything either, merely staring at their sleeping faces. Clarity stemmed from serenity. Despite their identical appearances—only differing in hair and eye color—I could tell who is who.

Seele is pure. She does not bother hiding her thoughts. Her eyebrows do not curl often, resulting in a neutral gaze. Her breathing is softer than Veliona’s, likely fearing I might get disturbed.

Veliona has noticeable differences. Perhaps it is her penchant to think that gave rise to her ‘grumpiness’. Her eyebrows look sharper than Seele’s. An intimidating aura emanates from her pale red eyes whenever she stares at me.

Seele is more honest with her feelings than Veliona. The latter’s tendency to hide her inner thoughts turn things more difficult. Seele's timely intervention removed any troubles related to it.

Quantum entanglement, a powerful and broken power, used to teleport Veliona to the bedside…

It is funny.

The moment I had that thought, her eyes went wide open.

Seele gave me a tempting look before directing her gaze to Veliona.

Surprise, surprise.

She also woke up.

A tangible tremor went through Veliona’s body. Her chest touched my right arm, hence it was transferred. A moderately silent splashing sound rang throughout the bedroom. Part of my legs got covered with a touch of wetness.

Even in our sleep, Veliona rubbed herself with my thigh.

Their title as the Daughters of the Sea seems more befitting now.

“K-kuh..!”

Veliona’s face swiftly turned red. She hid herself on my arm, refusing to give us a glance.

“I-it feels good, alright? Ugh, why am I explaining myself..?!”

“Hm…”

I got startled when Seele started to rub herself on me too. Veliona raised her head and gave her an incredulous look. Her mouth opened in shock.

Knowing she could not stop Seele, she directed her gaze on me.

“It’s all your fault.”

I did a double take by giving her a similarly incredulous look. Shame spread further on Veliona’s face as she spoke:

“You are too tempting.”

“...”

Words that I have heard came from her mouth. Veliona’s tolerance to shame no longer allowed for her to go further. She pretended not to see Seele’s actions by digging her face into my chest.

Unexpectedly, Seele extended her grasp to my left hand. She pulled it towards her lower body. She proceeded to give me a naughty look. Her ocean-like eyes concealed nothing about her desires.

I am not a stone man, thus I made my move.

Two of my fingers sensed Seele’s moist insides. The inner folds existed solely to cling tightly on it. Their warmth transferred to my skin.

I thought this was the end of it… when Veliona did the same. Akin to a telepathic communication, the two girls went ahead and mimicked one another. Their reactions became more and more similar given their shared senses.

The first one to climax was Seele.

“Hee…”

Her blue pupils turned misty. Her lips trembled, and so did her entire body. Akin to a jolt of electricity, it turned her into a human-sized vibrator. She could not help but tighten her embrace on my arm.

Seconds after, Veliona followed in her footsteps. Her trembling was more intense than Seele’s.

The two of them wetted the bedsheets. The mellow scent of a flower’s nectar—or a beehive’s honey—drifted to my nose. 

My third leg rose up to its fullest extent. My breathing became hurried. 

“It’s really big. No wonder it couldn’t fit inside…”

I heard Veliona gulp as she complained. Her fair and dainty hands crept up to my flesh rod and started playing with it. Seele did not say a word, though she expressed her thoughts with her actions.

Two hands stroked it. Their coldness thawed a part of its burning rage, but not all. A jolt of electricity went straight to my spine.

““Hum.””

Their teasing went as far as to my ears. They placed it on their mouth and started licking them both. A funny, ticklish sensation assaulted my senses. They then proceeded to push their abundant breasts on me.

Five words describe my overall experience:

Land of milk and honey.

Their offensive relaxed as they saw no changes from me.

“Your stamina…”

“This won’t work.”

“Yeah.”

The pair of succubi discussed their strategies right in front of me. Their tacit understanding allows them to communicate their thoughts, yet they do not. It is their play—the type of teasing they chose.

Four hands are better than one… or so they say.

I started another round of battle to prove this saying wrong.

Chapter 238: Daughters of the Sea

A/N: Lemons up ahead.

*****

Five years of being with Kiana allowed me to explore a lot of things I did not know. That included a woman’s weaknesses, fetishes, and the likes. 

“Hm..!”

I removed my right hand on Seele’s thigh. I looked at the wet areas beneath the mattress she sat on. Her legs trembled relentlessly. A brief touch caused her to cum for the second time.

When my eyes met hers, it was filled with nothing but mist. Her irises are unfocused, appearing to be dazed. Her cheeks flushed as her lips quivered. She wanted to say something but could not do so due to embarrassment.

Fortunately, I can see what she wants to do.

I took the initiative to close the distance between our lips. The beauty of her body temporarily departed from my mind. Seele’s fragrance assaulted my nose. Her eyes narrowed in utmost pleasure.

She took the initiative to extend her tongue to my lips. I accepted her invitation and touched the tip of her tongue with mine. Her awkward and amateurish movements gradually evolved under my guidance.

I did not leave out her thighs. Stroking it with my fingers alone stimulated Seele. This is a brand new experience for me. Kiana isn’t as sensitive as Seele, unless she uses the slave mark from before.

Two minutes later, another splashing sound came. The shaking of her legs became stronger. Her tongue stopped moving momentarily.

I hesitated whether to proceed or not, but seeing the eagerness in her eyes, I went further.

My fingertips arrived at the entrance of her slit. Drops of clear liquid remained on Seele’s pinkish entrance.

The moment I touched her clitoris, her entire body tensed up. She nearly jumped out of her seat.

Splash-!

Seele lost the strength to sit upright. I had to catch her waist with my free left arm. Our lips separated. I met her eyes and they appeared to be lost.

“Ah…”

The blush on her face reached its peak. She is very embarrassed with her apparent sensitivity. The small puddle that could not be absorbed by the mattress is a testament of it.

I decided to make her relax.

“I like it.”

“Ah..?”

“I like the sensitive Seele.”

I lay her body down on the bed. She did not wear anything at all, revealing the full glory of her beauty. Her breasts fully developed after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. While they aren’t as exaggerated as Bronya’s and Kiana’s, they are still big.

Their size fitted her upper body’s proportions perfectly. Her waist is slender enough to be held by my hands. Its curves followed up to her butt.

Seele is the very definition of medium is premium.

The mark of her Natural Stigma added another charm to her.

I placed one of my knees between her legs. My hands grasped her legs before reaching her feet.

A brilliant idea popped up in my mind. I started to massage her feet.

“Hn..!”

Not even ten seconds later, a gush of water sprayed mid-air. Some of them reached my face. 

Seele did not have the strength to look at me directly. She covered half of her face with her arm. It remains unknown whether she bit on it or not.

“You are too sensitive. We’ll start with the basics first.”

“Um…”

The scenes repeated endlessly. Seele came every minute or so. The massage went from her feet, to her legs, and then to her breasts. Whenever I teased her nipples, it was a guaranteed way to make her cum.

Her bodily fluids drenched the entire bed. The total number of times she came are in the dozens . The number of times she fainted is also in the dozens.

At some point, she regained clarity in her consciousness.

“Ahn..!”

I did not let her do so.

Currently, my face is right in front of her pink slit. The tip of my tongue intruded her insides. Her inner folds desperately squeezed it out, but to no avail. I fought against her contractions with my tongue.

Splash-!

My mouth received the Seele juice instantly. Her thighs tensed up as they squeezed my head. 

The taste of light honey entered my tongue. It is for this exact reason I awakened this kind of fetish. The traces of yin qi dispersed into my entire body. My desires surged further as I absorbed it.

I raised my head and saw my pants about to burst out. I stood up from my kneeling position and undid my clothing with a single tap. The automatic “unequip” is but one of the functions added in spiritual garbs.

Seele barely had the strength to raise her head. She looked at me with unclear eyes. Only desires and lust existed; there was nothing else. The moment our spiritual consciousness entangled each other, these emotions became nothing but clearer.

“I am putting it in.”

My hands carried her legs upward before my glans penetrated her pussy. The moist entrance acted like a natural lube. 

Instantly, the compressive force of her inner folds emerged. It attempted to push my dick out, but to no avail. It did not take long before I reached a thin layer of flesh.

My eyes met with Seele’s once again. She understood my thoughts and nodded.

Psshk-!

I did not hesitate to break her hymen apart. Drops of blood dripped out of her slit. Seele’s toes curled up, both in pain and pleasure. Her irises rolled upwards. I could not focus on the Creation Qi gained from her Innate Yin at all.

Splash-!

Seeing another waterfall wet the bed, I swallowed my saliva.

Seele…

Is she turned on by pain?

This thought fed into my desires. Before I knew it, I found my waist thrusting back and forth. The depth of Seele’s insides is comparable to Kiana’s, though Seele’s inner folds squeezed tighter than hers. A portion of my shaft remained outside.

Plap-!

…

Each thrust brought nothing but pure pleasure. Seele’s varying expressions—mostly of pleasure—further stimulated my mind. She came every ten thrusts or so, making it feel like her pussy has been turned into nothing but a waterfall.

She truly is the Daughter of the Sea.

Her toes curled up for the umpteenth time. I could not retract my hands from her swaying legs. I opted to stimulate one of her toes using my mouth.

“Hum..!”

Disregarding her fluids, I started to lick the soles of her feet. My tongue made its way down to her toes once again.

At this point, I felt my dick was about to explode.

Just then, a feeling of swelling surged throughout my body.

The Creation Qi..!

My desires cooled down a bit. I started to allocate the Creation Qi into my injuries. The most injured aspect of mine was my mind, followed by my soul. Physical injuries took the least.

A renewed sense of clarity emerged from my very being. My perception felt like it was unclogged several thousand times. The fullest capabilities of a peak Nascent Soul Realm presented itself.

Next was my Nascent Soul. From becoming invisible, Dharma Laws emerged like a colorful piece of artwork. The flow of my spiritual qi became flawless.

I closed my eyes until I finished processing the removal of my injuries. When I opened my eyes, I found myself still thrusting onto Seele.

The sense of pleasure erupted. My renewed clarity perceived every single bit of our movements. Seele’s bashful look turned me on until I could no longer think straight.

After an unknown amount of time, my cum erupted. I slowly thrusted my dick onto her insides, using her inner fold’s squeezing force to let out my cum.

It took five minutes to settle everything. My exaggerated virility improved my stamina, endurance, and cum volume to unimaginable levels.

Once I pulled my dick out, white fluids dripped out. It mixed with the clear liquid on the mattress, forming a lewd sight.

I checked on Seele and found she fainted. I cleaned up the mess during our first round and waited until she woke up. While waiting, my dick inevitably turned erect again. The sight of her body alone is enticing, not to mention the expressions she wore during our first time.

Her eyes spoke nothing but love—a pure and overwhelming love I wanted to carry.

Seele soon woke up.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t be. It’s your first time. It’s normal to be like this.”

“...Did Sister Kiana also act like this?”

“She’s slightly better, but not by much.”

Hearing it, Seele’s expression eased.

“I want to be on top.”

Her determined look made it impossible for me to stop her. I lay on the bed and allowed Seele to move atop me. Surprisingly, her recovery went well. One short ‘sleep’ was all it took for her body to stop shaking.

She naughtily sandwiched my dick on her legs. She moved up and down while intentionally placing my shaft in front of her slit. Her gaze never left my eyes. Her hands remained atop my chest, emitting a fading sense of coldness. It must have come from her nervousness during our first round.

Seele stopped moving after a while. I noticed how her legs started to tremble.

…

It’s barely been two minutes.

As if sensing my thoughts, she let out an embarrassed look. She hastily averted her gaze from me. Instead, she used her right hand to place the tip of my dick in front of her entrance.

Then, with a single insert…

“Hn…”

Splash-!

Her eyes narrowed as her clear fluids showered. It took a while for her to be able to move again.

Seele’s body vibrated like a human-shaped vibrator. Still, she managed to start moving.

“Nn..!”

Her eyes widened. She forcibly took my dick inside her pussy. It went far deeper than usual. Her opened mouth spilled a part of her saliva.

“Don’t force it all.” I reminded her.

“Um…”

Seele’s body weight got transferred to her hands. She couldn’t sit normally with my dick inside of her. The worst that can happen is her womb being penetrated by it. I haven’t done it with Kiana yet. Seele’s lower tolerance will make things harder for us.

I held her waist with my hands. I guided her movements. Seele did her best not to faint due to extreme pleasure. She could not prevent herself from cumming non-stop, however.

Her face got messed up. I saw her gritted teeth amidst the bits of saliva that spilled out of her lips.

This sight…

It’s making me harder.

Knowing she is trying her best is enough to make my desires explode. These thoughts tickled my heart with a feather, creating an itch that needed to be satisfied. It did not help that I can feel Seele’s similarly exploding desires. Her deep longing for me is the best form of motivation.

Our mutual efforts led to the second eruption. The relentless contraction, squeezing, and scraping of her inner folds to my flesh rod placed it to its limits. 

Waves of pleasure traveled from my spine. My dick let out streams of white fluid non-stop. Seele’s pussy also came non-stop. The clean bed got messy again.

Her body fell to my chest. A pair of soft breasts pressed onto my chest. I moved my hands from her waist to her back.

I focused on the Creation Qi for a while. I placed it to my remaining injuries. The forecasted twenty years of recovery got cut down to five years or less.

I looked at Seele and saw tears in the corner of her eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“Hu…m.”

Her breathing turned steady. 

She fell asleep.

I pulled out my dick and cast another series of cleaning spells. I did not dare play around with Seele. 

Kiana didn’t have her heightened sensitivity during our first time. She lasted for two to three hours before fainting. Seele only lasted for one session, roughly around fifteen minutes in total.

If Seele also bore the slave mark that we tried out…

She wouldn’t last for five minutes before fainting.

Her experience made me realize the differences in women’s constitutions. I cannot generalize them. I cannot do the same to each girl.

Just as I was engrossed in my thoughts, I sensed the power of the Sea of Quanta appearing out of nowhere. I glanced beside me and saw someone appear.

Veliona.

At this moment, her eyes are in a daze. The scent she gave off is the same as the sweet and mellow fluid that Seele produced. Veliona’s Stygian Nymph Dress appeared to be soaked in it.

“...Tian…”

“Veliona.”

“Wu…”

She’s helpless.

A quick look with my [Encompassing Eyes] told everything I needed to know. Seele opened the function of sharing physical senses to Veliona. Both of them are very sensitive.

Seele’s perspective stimulated Veliona which led to the latter playing with herself. Add to that Seele’s physical senses, these stimulations are doubled. Veliona remained in a daze without a care for the world.

I gently placed Seele down and went to Veliona’s side. Her eyes absentmindedly followed me. Her dress became somewhat messy. She slowly pulled the hems of her skirt until it fully revealed her exquisite legs.

Most importantly…

She went commando.

Veliona did not wear any underwear. Her spring water flowed incessantly. She exhibited all the things Seele did. Worse, her mind is in disarray due to excessive stimulation.

Though I have experiences of fucking Kiana while she is sleeping, she was the one who brought it up. I can’t do these things unless the girls themselves want it.

I placed my fingertips on Veliona’s forehead. Golden light seeped onto her. Moments later, the power of Enlightenment woke Veliona up.

“Ah..?!”

Her high-pitched shout woke up the sleeping Seele.

“Um..?”

Veliona directed her gaze to the naked Seele before she shifted it to me. Her face flushed crazily, painting her cheeks with the same color as her long hair’s highlights. She even stopped breathing due to the sheer amount of embarrassment she felt.

If there was an embarrassment meter, she would have broken it already.

Veliona’s lips quivered. She could not bring herself to speak. Her gaze shifted rapidly until it stopped at my dragon rod. Her desires visibly rose to new heights as her throat bobbed.

She fared worse than Seele.

“Do you want to..?”

Veliona’s eyes returned back to me. The hands gripping her skirt tightened before she pulled it up completely. Her soft and rapid breathing caused her chest to heave up and down.

She did not say anything except nodding her head.

Before I could make a move, she pushed her upper body upward. Her moist pink lips touched mine. Veliona did not stand in ovation and immediately used her tongue to pry my mouth open. It felt like a repeat of what happened earlier, but not exactly. She is more proactive than Seele, aiming to touch every bit of my mouth with her tongue. That included my teeth and gums.

To that, Veliona gave me a triumphant look. Her eyes narrowed while savoring this very moment. One of my hands sunk onto the mattress while the other sunk onto her breast.

“Hum..?!”

Her eyes widened to my surprise. My fingers skillfully traced the area around her nipple. Though it is covered by her considerably thick dress, it proved to be effective.

Veliona soon lost the high ground. It became my turn to attack her with my tongue.

I saw her grip the sheets on the corner of my sight. Her legs clasped together as her body kept shaking.

Veliona’s narrowed eyes turned from being playful to being lost. My right hand already cast the undressing spell, causing her tight dress to fall, though not completely. It did become loose enough for her breasts to show themselves.

The premise of teasing Veliona with her clothes fed to my desires. My right hand touched the skin beneath her clothing, revealing her similarly bountiful breasts. She possessed the same medium size as Seele. It is not wrong to say that their bodies are identical.

Fondling her breast with my hand felt fulfilling. Veliona’s expressions hidden in her eyes is also a sight to behold. The panic that emerged after losing ground turned me on.

“Mhm..!”

Splash-!

I separated my lips from hers. It was time for her to catch her breath. Underneath, the poor mattress is soiled once again.

“I… I want it. Stick it inside me.”

I got caught off guard by her remarks. Veliona’s voice contained a hint of urging.

“L-let’s stop playing around. You already know I experienced everything she did!”

She pointed towards the sleepy Seele. The latter’s face already turned beet red with Veliona’s accusation.

“You want to skip the foreplay?”

“Um…”

Veliona answered while averting her gaze. 

Seeing this, I did not shy away from her request. I kept her loose dress untouched. My fingertips touched her supple thighs… which reminded me of what Seele did earlier. Her panicked state is very cute. Once Veliona did it, the contrast from her snobbish persona (i.e., gap moe) makes it even cuter.

Our spiritual consciousness intertwined, forming a deeper connection between us. We can perceive each other’s thoughts clearly, though we still preferred to talk normally.

I placed the tip of my glans in her entrance. A familiar squeezing sensation greeted my nerves. A sloppy wet sound rang as my shaft went deeper inside.

“This will hurt a bit.”

“Um. Don’t use any spells.”

“Alright.”

Her hymen was broken in a single thrust. 

““Ahm..!””

I swallowed my saliva as I looked at Seele. She grasped her pink slit with her fingers. She bit her finger as her irises rolled upwards.

They are sharing senses.

This thought was enough to awaken something inside me. I moved my waist faster than usual. The sound of flesh bumping onto one another became more prominent.

The suction of Veliona’s inner folds kept increasing. Her desire to cling tightly onto my dick, coupled with her moans, scratched the itch inside my chest.

“...Seele.”

“..?”

Our eyes met. She understood what I wanted to do. She stood up with wobbly legs and sat next to me.

Without a word, Seele initiated a kiss. She slid her tongue inside my mouth. It swirled around my tongue, which turned my dick harder.

“Huff… It feels really weird..!”

Veliona, who is below me, placed one of her fingers inside her mouth. The shared senses between the two allowed her to feel our kisses.

While the kiss occurred, my right hand went towards Seele’s slit. The mere act of using my fingertips tracing her waist made her cum.

““Hm..!””

The two girls moaned in-sync. Veliona came at the same time. Both of their bodies shook non-stop.

Just as I paused for a while, Seele pulled my hand towards her pussy. I answered it by placing my fingers inside. 

Immediately, I felt Veliona’s insides twitch. Her breathing became more labored. Her eyes no longer held a hint of her pride; only pure desires remained.

Soon, I reached my limit. I poured everything inside Veliona. Seele is already hanging limply on my shoulders. Her drool spilled on my shoulders as I held her waist to prevent her from falling.

It wasn’t just her. Veliona shared the same predicament. She fainted alongside Seele.

The scent of mellow honey filled the entire room. This sight did not kill my enthusiasm; it became stronger.

Several slow thrusts was all it took to finish cumming. I hastily led the Creation Qi to my injuries before continuing.

Hum.

Drip.

The recovery spell, [Life Extending Heavy Water], woke up the two girls. Their eyes contained nothing but their desire to continue this decadence.

“It’s Seele’s turn.”

“Hm…”

Veliona looked a bit dissatisfied upon hearing that but she nodded.

“Tian. It’s Veliona’s turn.”

I looked at Seele who lazily placed her head on my shoulder. She wants to be fair.

“Alright. Sorry…”

“Humph. Make up for it with actions.”

“I will…”

Our positions shifted. We moved to the edge of the bed. We stood up together. Veliona perked up her supple butt. Her breasts pressed tightly on the mattress. This posture revealed her enticing back. Seele did the same on her right side.

I gave in to my inner demons. After inserting my dick, I began leaving hickeys throughout her back.

“Hum..!”

My left hand grasped her breasts. My fingertips circled around her nipples while feeling its soft sensation. My right hand started fingering Seele’s insides. Her inner folds clung tightly even to my fingers.

“Hee..!”

Once Veliona started cumming, it did not stop. This effect extended to Seele.

“Tian…”

“Wu…”

Their voices turned into soft moans. Veliona’s shoulders trembled as I placed yet another hickey on it. Pinching her nipples added further to her gibberish words.

The pool of clear liquid beneath the bed grew in volume. The bedsheets are crumpled as the two girls’ gripped it.

Under such a stimulus, I came faster than usual. Veliona’s womb was filled up in no time.

“Mine… next…”

Seele’s words drifted onto my ears. Veliona did not respond. She fainted again. Seele outlasted her. She built up some sort of resistance to her sensitivity. The more we fuck, the longer her endurance becomes.

In a certain sense, I am training Seele.

“Tian…”

Looking at the messy sheets, wet carpet floor, and then the two girls’ exquisite bodies, my lower body felt hotter. My dick became hard once more. It twitched inside Veliona’s insides, prompting her entire body to jolt. I pulled it out and went to Seele. She turned into a missionary position, revealing everything she kept hidden under fine clothes.

“How about Veliona?” I asked.

“...Um. She will… fine.”

I didn’t question her decisions further. 

I…

I want to see Veliona’s reaction with the shared senses thing while sleeping.

Seele’s desires, Veliona’s desires… and my desires.

It is destined to be fulfilled in this dual cultivation session.

*****

A/N: Here is the complete version of this chapter. It took up a total of 3.6k words. Enjoy~!

Chapter 237: Heart-to-Heart

The fight against the Honkai is a race against time. I woke up in this world in 2012. The Honkai is set to have its decisive battle in 2017. Five short years was all we had.

I neglected a lot of things in this process. The burdens others bore had to be set aside, all for the fight for the greater good. The sacrifice we made for humanity is no small matter. The wounds remain hidden, but it exists.

Seele’s burdens presented themselves in full view.

There was not enough time for me to think. My body acted almost instantly, lifting Seele like a cat. I maintained a tight hold over her armpits as I placed her on the bedside.

A pair of eyes as deep as the ocean’s color contained hints of being lost. Everything came into my sight. Be it the pair of perky flesh mounds, the perfectly flat abdomen with not a single trace of fat, the deep ravines that turned her assets more lethal, the fragile waist that embodied the golden proportions… 

I have seen them all. However, I felt like a monk with no desires. I pulled the folded blanket and wrapped it on her.

I lost any mood to joke around.

“Let’s talk.”

“Hu…m.”

*****

Seele’s mind became chaotic.

‘I… I did not consider him. I only cared about myself. This shouldn’t be it…’

The seven hundred years of longing pushed her to do things beyond the norm. Her emotions, so strong and overwhelming, could not be stopped by any societal standards. 

A small mishap—misunderstanding—escalated into something bigger.

‘What should I do..?’

Her entire life experience flashed in her mind. She locked onto a tradition uniquely available in the Far East. It is a way of expressing the sincerest apology at the expense of one’s dignity. It is an apology doubling as humiliation.

Thinking she could ‘make up’ for her mistakes, Seele did not hesitate to pull it off.

Unexpectedly…

Shi Tian carried her to the bedside and had her covered. The sequence of events left her stunned, if not speechless.

‘Did he forgive me already?’

‘Is he angry?’

‘Will he reject my apology?’

…

All sorts of bizarre thoughts were generated by her overthinking mind.

“I… did not think much of what happened last time.”

That was until Shi Tian began his extremely clear explanation.

“It is a minor inconvenience. You did nothing wrong.” He said. “It is fine to make mistakes. I won’t hate you for that. So… there is no need to apologize.”

“Ah..?”

As if afraid he would leave any misunderstandings, he further added:

“A good relationship requires mutual effort. We’ll work together and discover new things. Again, it is alright to make mistakes. Aren’t they still a part of our memories?”

“...”

Seele’s blank expression turned into a flustered one.

‘I…’

She was afraid of causing dissatisfaction. Seele immediately thought of the bad endings—an instinctive move left as a shadow of her countless time loops.

Back then, she resigned to the greater power. Believing the simulated world is false, she did nothing but accept each ending. What Seele could not accept, however, is a bad ending caused by her actions.

This led to her mental state going to the extremes. It remained untouched up until now.

It is but one of the side effects of her seven hundred years of life experience.

‘Fifth level Tao Heart… No, it’s not that.’

Shi Tian’s internal thoughts, no matter how calm he may be outwardly, were turned into a mess.

‘The fifth level emphasizes the understanding of self. The self-actualization of a person. It does not guarantee freedom from mental afflictions…’

Immortal cultivators are beings who do not conform to mortal social norms. What the Tao Heart affirms was their dedication to go further the path of Dao. Anything else is a side effect—be it killing people, enjoying others’ suffering, or in Seele’s case, becoming heavily in love with a person.

‘She is determined to stay with me… forever.’

Only now did Shi Tian track down Seele’s most genuine thoughts. He looked at the girl who bore the semblances of the Sea. Flashes of relief, embarrassment, and desires flared up inside her ocean-like eyes.

“You didn’t like it?”

“Huh?”

“That play…”

“...”

Shi Tian froze. 

Memories emerged from his mind. There was a time Kiana did it. Dogeza is a play that satisfies one’s vanity in exchange for dignity. He did not enjoy it as much as Kiana expected, which led to it being shelved.

Shi Tian is someone who could not bear to see his lovers in distress, much less in pain. Since Kiana did not have that hobby, that memory was left to be a memory.

Silence remained between the two.

For Seele, tension reached its climax. Her heart could not stop beating strongly. Anxiousness added to the mix. Along with it were desires. 

‘He loves me so much…’

‘Love…’

Unbeknownst to her, both her legs started rubbing against each other. It did not take long for something to occur.

Seele, on the peak of her embarrassment, let out a startled yelp. She instinctively grasped her lower body. Her legs touched each other as they shook tirelessly.

A gentle sea breeze scent swept towards his nose. It was mellow and sweet like honey. The blanket surrounding her as well as the mattress she sat on was turned wet.

Shi Tian was more than familiar with it.

A strange yet suggestive atmosphere permeated between the two.

Seele could no longer speak properly. She expressed everything she wanted through her eyes.

‘Love…’

‘I want it.’

‘I want it.’

‘I want it.’

…

She barely made out a few words.

“Teach me…”

It served as the opening shot.

Seele’s blanket drifted back to the mattress, revealing her pure and flawless body.

*****

On the distant Moon, Veliona was awakened.

There are quite a few people who chose to live on the Moon. They did not take up any affairs on Earth—on the Wushi Dao Sect. 

“It’s happening…”

A mix of anticipation, excitement, and worry filled her heart. She felt Seele’s emotional changes in real time. Most importantly, she did not cut off the shared senses between them.

Seele’s desires exploded at that moment; and so did Veliona’s.

Her hands gradually made their way to her waist. Her remaining hand went straight to her lips. Their shared sensation made it feel as if Veliona was in Seele’s place.

“She’s so brave…”

Her breathing soon turned unsteady.

*****

A/N: There'll be upcoming lemons. Though, it might be uploaded late since I haven't finished polishing it and I have one last exam tomorrow (and yes, it's another lengthy lemon worth 3k+ words).

Chapter 236: A Yandere's Extremes

Seele did not have a lot of dreams. Oftentimes, to cope with the mental pressure posed by the never-ending loop, she secluded herself, cultivated, and willingly died in the end.

There was one person she never forgot to visit. He was akin to a living checkpoint. He exists to give Seele valuable advice. Not once did he fail to notice her failing mental state. Within each loop, he helped Seele barely recover.

He also did one other thing without fail: self-sacrifice.

When he knew he would bring trouble to others, he chose to deal with it all by himself. He feared it would reach out to others—that it would break the beautiful world he once longed for.

Seele saw it happen every single time. For seven hundred years.

‘He…’

How can one call something love?

It is something so beautiful, yet it remains unspoken. 

For Seele, all that’s important is it exists.

Her spiritual pillar for seven hundred years, all within arms reach…

“Ah.”

Seele ‘woke’ up in a literal sense. She found herself sleeping peacefully on her bed. Her dress remained untouched.

A swathe of memories assaulted her mind.

Having been excessively excited, Seele’s first thought was to claim Shi Tian. She wanted to do so many unspoken things, going as far as making her marks. Then she went overboard.

Her physiological reaction caused her to climax. Her god-like body fell into a slumber right after doing so. It was evident Shi Tian helped her clean up before leaving. This care only worsened her guilt.

“Oh no…”

Regret came crashing down.

“I shouldn’t have done it..!”

Being clearheaded has its perks. Seele realized she acted solely based on her desires—on her wants. She never considered what Shi Tian wanted. Every time she showered him with her heavy love, she never thought of what he felt. Receiving his acknowledgement was all that mattered. With Shi Tian being unconditionally considerate, she received it with ease.

Only when her desires erupted overwhelmingly—her love turning unbearable—did she receive a wake-up call.

‘I did not consider him well…’

Seele made herself comfortable at the expense of Shi Tian’s troubles. It was a small rookie mistake, but in Seele’s eyes, it was a show of her inconsiderateness.

Her chest heavy, she got up and prepared to find Shi Tian. She paid no heed to the people of the Alchemy Vein. She focused on the one person inside her mind.

And there she found him.

In a mountaintop’s open space, Shi Tian discussed things with a silver-haired woman. Her attire is atypical of the eastern sect’s atmosphere: a pair of white long-sleeves, black blazer, black skirt, and the surprisingly thin black stockings. Her proud bust threatened her top. Her skin, imbued with a snow-like hue, consolidated the otherwise cold image the woman emitted.

Almost instantly, she met Shi Tian’s surprised gaze…

*****

I wasn’t mistaken. Seele should have been there. But for some reason, she ran away the next second.

“What was it?”

“It’s Seele.”

Bronya fell silent. Her eyes looked at the direction I stared at before returning back to me.

“You should go first. The rest of the things can be discussed later.”

“...Thanks.”

I talked to Bronya for five days straight. What seemed like a long time was extremely short when it came with her. Ten years’ worth of backlogs are not a joke.

Nevertheless, I chose to heed her words. I went straight to Seele after bidding farewell.

Something’s wrong with her.

I reviewed the specifics of a few days prior and found clues.

I let Seele be active when it came to showing her love. I wanted her to find her own tempo. I did not make any moves in fear of inciting her discomfort. Even when she teased me to my absolute limits, I did not make any move.

It is a mistake.

I think…

Seele felt guilty—guilty that she made me uncomfortable. 

This did not happen with Kiana. She was with me when we explored a lot of things. It is not the same with Seele.

Perhaps it was regrets that made my chest unusually heavier. It is now that I realize how complex it is to navigate through a “harem”. This does not mean I am unwilling to face all these problems. They are something I should face as a responsible man.

My thoughts halted when I arrived at the pagoda’s front door. 

It was left unlocked. I vaguely guessed Seele’s intentions.

I pulled the sliding door. Inside is something reminiscent of an empty space with white tiles. Not much decorations could be seen except for what seems like a lounge.

The next floor was filled with a bunch of rooms. It was akin to a maze, confusing and disorienting. The same thing is present throughout the remaining seven floors.

Seele organized all of her things in each room, taking up seven floors in total. All signs point to an obsessive-compulsive disorder. From the second floor, the items are sorted alphabetically, then in types.

Like someone entering a brand new home, I re-discovered a lot of things I did not notice when I first came here.

A realization flashed in my mind.

Seven hundred years.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

…

I hoped it wouldn’t be the case… but it is highly likely.

The ninth and final floor was dedicated to nothing but a vast room. Outside was a plethora of books and jade slips. The pagoda’s expanded space turned it into a fantasy-like library. It spanned high up to the skies.

If there was something that did not fit in, it was a white door.

The false image of the bookshelves flickered. The door revealed itself tangibly in my hands. The cold touch of the doorknob proved it is real, not just a hidden mechanism detected by my spiritual consciousness.

Click.

The door swung open. The familiar bedroom presented itself. Aside from the carpet and several bed-side cabinets, there was nothing else.

No, there is someone.

Above the carpet lay someone.

A fully-exposed back. The pink-ish hue of her skin emanated a healthy glow. The trace of her vertebrae could be seen barely, hidden underneath a thick layer of flesh. Her shoulder blades, akin to a butterfly unfolding its wings, became more pronounced as she remained in a peculiar kneeling position.

Seele’s chest pressed down on the ground; and so did her forehead. 

It was a dogeza.

“I am sorry.”

…

…

…

How did things come down to this?

Chapter 235: Crazed Pursuit

I still underestimated what ten years could do to others. I did not feel it from Kiana, Seele, and Fu Hua. The former is practically living in seclusion. The latter two spent hundreds/thousands of years to see any visible changes.

It was Bronya that opened my eyes.

From an inexperienced girl with a low emotional quotient, she became a well-spoken corporate leader. Her calm and composed disposition contrasted the Bronya I knew back then.

The passage of time…

Rather, it is the reality from my previous life. I never bothered about long-term developments—not until the Honkai was defeated. Without its threat, everyone around me experiences growth.

“So, have you talked to Mister Siegfried and the Principal? They wanted to make some things clear.”

This time, I was really caught off guard. Bronya’s maturity is way beyond my expectations.

“Not yet.”

Her silver eyes stared deeply into mine.

“I put you in a bad spot. Sorry.”

“It’s nothing. From what I could see, you are also being put in a bad spot.”

“...”

Bronya saw many things on my personal problems. She did not hesitate to give this advice even if it ran the risk of my bad reaction.

“Thanks. You always tried to help us from way back then.”

I gave my sincerest thanks to her.

Her eyes flickered. She blinked several times in an attempt to process things. It ultimately turned into a satisfied look, one reminiscent of joy.

“Seele didn’t give you a hard time, no?” She asked.

Bronya even predicted this part…

“Her emotions are overwhelming. She doesn’t know how to express it all.”

Seven hundred years of longing.

To say I wasn’t affected by it is the highest form of lying. Being on the receiving end of Seele’s boundless affection cannot be explained in a few words. All I know is I love her so bad I wanted to show it to her.

Unfortunately, her overwhelming exhausted Seele. I left her sleeping back on her lodging.

“Can I help?”

I thought for a moment and responded.

“You are her best friend. If she comes over for your advice, feel free to speak out your thoughts.”

“You really trust me with this?”

“Why not?”

*****

‘He also changed.’

Twelve long years had passed. Serving as the Wushi Dao Sect’s Vice Sect Master undoubtedly led to a lot of opportunities and interactions. Bronya learned what was right and wrong. Her flaws from the past turned into lessons she would never forget. 

She never forgot where she started.

Meeting Shi Tian was a chance encounter. Cocolia sent Bronya to establish a connection with them. Cocolia did not mind the extra tag-alongs in her orphanage. 

That ended up as the most important turning point in her life. Through it, she saw what the person named ‘Shi Tian’ entailed.

He treaded the path opposite to hers. He learned how to fight to protect what’s beautiful. Bronya, on the other hand, wanted to appreciate a normal life from being a child soldier.

Opposite paths, yet they ended up at the same destination:

To become someone who appreciates life and fights for it.

‘I wanted to be like him.’

And so she did. She spent more time with Seele. She learned what the world entailed. Her mentor, Welt Yang, taught her everything he knew. That included his view of humanity, of the weight they held, and the beautiful life they exhibited.

At last, Bronya reached her destination. She saw the man that sparked changes in her once again.

An explicable feeling emerged.

The travelers who once crossed paths had reached their destinations.

Was that the end?

Shi Tian’s eyes betrayed her initial thoughts.

It is not.

‘He used to handle things by himself… to keep others out of harm’s way…’

It is different now.

Shi Tian learned how to fully trust others. His trust towards Bronya is not limited to giving Seele healthy relationship advice. He trusts her enough to be with him when shit hits the fan.

‘A new destination…’

A thin smile appeared on her lips.

“Since you trust me so much, I will do my best.”

*****

The Imaginary Space is a chaotic “place” where all dimensions coincide. Without a proper anchor, one would get lost, never to return back to the real world.

The twizzling lights and numerous cracks are destined to not be seen by anyone. The combination of the two produced a spirit vein of the seventh grade. The surroundings turned into a vast expanse of mountains, then icebergs, a desert…

It halted when everything reverted to normal.

“Directly affecting the imaginary space… You are better suited to Project STIGMA than I.”

“I don’t want that lousy plan.”

Sin Mal immediately rejected Hare’s suggestion.

After the end of the Project STIGMA, Misteln Schariac disappeared. All that remained was Hare. It wasn’t wrong to think of her as the vestiges left from the Schariac Stigma Space.

After a lot of twists and turns, she ended up exploring the imaginary space with Sin Mal. The girl’s talents, coupled with her comprehension of the Blade Mantra to the [Heart Intention] level, gave power completely incomparable from the Herrschers themselves.

“Would I win?”

Hare knew what she asked about.

Kiana’s slumber left Earth with them. They are aware, however, of the latent danger on Venus. To be exact, the high-dimensional entity connected to it.

Though Kiana could beat her with some effort, Sin Mal tried her best to become stronger and beat it herself.

“No. It is connected to the Sea of Quanta. As long as the battlefield is not here, you will face a sharp drop of combat power.”

“...”

A trace of shame appeared on Sin Mal’s eyes.

“What if I…”

“We talked about this before. Are you fine with spending your life for momentary brilliance? More so if it is purely unnecessary?”

“Kuh..!”

Sin Mal knew her actions were “pointless”. Why struggle when there is Kiana?

However…

It is precisely because of that that she wants to struggle pointlessly. Sin Mal wanted to prove herself.

‘When he tried to handle everything by himself…’

Shi Tian’s actions did not remain private. He cut down the Theater’s anchor to isolate himself from Earth. Only Seele and Kiana caught onto him. 

Such a huge crisis, yet she remained unaware of it. Sin Mal’s prior accomplishments felt useless.

‘If I can’t be at his side… at his level..!’

Her ‘crazed’ attempts to become stronger lay on it. Her thoughts became absurdly pure, to the point she comprehended the fifth level Tao Heart without anyone else’s assistance.

Recalling that very beautiful light she had seen…

‘I want to…’

Chapter 234: Evolved Duck

The Alchemy Vein is the sect’s most valuable assets. Spiritual pills (i.e., drugs) are manufactured by alchemists. Not everyone possesses a talent to be one, to boot.

This led to the Alchemy Vein’s prosperity.

Seele’s residence is a nine-storey pagoda. It is filled with decorations on each floor. However, its ninth floor remains unadorned except for a huge bed.

All I can say is…

It’s too damn comfortable.

The light mass atop me went crazy with nibbling my neck. None of us spoke. Only the sound of Seele’s mouth licking and biting my neck remained. Her soft and hurried sighs, coupled with her trembling hands, made it clear she is nervous.

As if sensing my gaze, she looked at my eyes directly. The emotions contained within were just as bad as Kiana.

Fortunately, there is still a bit of reservation on them.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” She asked meekly.

“No. Even if you did…”

“That’s unacceptable. Did Sister Kiana…”

Seele’s gaze turned strange.

“We didn’t do those things.”

“Hum…”

In the end, Seele was satiated by hugs and kisses. I went along with her flow. When it came to the undressing part, her face turned beet red.

We can only take things slower. 

Despite her seven hundred years of attachment, Seele became very anxious, shy, and reserved when it came down to it.

It depends from person to person, I guess.

Once the two of us calmed down, she lazily went into a sleeping position. I got locked tightly by her embrace. Her chest pressed hard against mine. I felt her strong heartbeat pound strongly. It wasn’t diminished by her breasts at all.

The moment my thoughts went in that direction, it spiraled out of control.

Seele’s shyness invoked a sense of superiority—one that made me want to tease her more. At the same time, her emotions felt extremely heavy. She desperately wanted to leave her marks on me. I did not know how to respond except to let her.

My hands went to her waist. Her body froze briefly. Her heartbeats became faster. Seele refused to raise her head on my chest anymore.

The dual cultivation nature I possessed, enhanced by the True Spirit’s virility (i.e., Nine Dragons Primordial Universe Body), nearly caused my mind to explode. I barely held on with my exceptional Tao Heart.

Silence ensued until Seele broke it.

Her entire body twitched as her legs happened to touch upon my hidden dragon.

The ambiguous atmosphere between us came back at full force. Her breathing turned heavy as she raised her head.

Seele’s blush no longer reminded of shyness, but also of being turned on.

“I never knew about… it.”

I don’t know whether to cry or not when she began to use her legs to rub against my legs. Inadvertently or not, my hidden dragon gets affected.

What’s more distressing was Seele’s embarrassment erupting at this moment. She stopped playing around for a while, only to continue after a minute or two.

This calamity…

Will I survive it?

*****

The Wushi Dao Sect is the heaven above heaven. It is Earth’s Holy Land of martial arts and immortal cultivation. The resources one could get by becoming a disciple—even as an outer disciple—exceeds most of the resources allocated to immortal academies.

It absorbs the top percentile of talented immortal cultivators and guides them to become the pillars of the future.

Just the fact that all of the first generation instructors who established immortal academies came from it was enough to speak volumes of its influence.

Even the Federation’s high rung was run by people from the sect. Every disciple and elder had passed the character tests and are considered more trustworthy than most people. 

When some unsatisfied people tried to protest, it led to nothing. The majority of people on Earth are deeply grateful for the Federation. The unreasonable ones are swept away and scorned at by the crowd before they could voice out complaints to the Federation’s official offices.

Simply put, its raw power (i.e., high-level cultivators) and authority made it the undisputed leader of Earth itself.

“He’s back…”
Bronya stared at the pagoda in the distance. The spiritual qi fluctuations she caused soon died down. 

Fresh out of a minor realm breakthrough, the first thing she noticed after leaving seclusion was a “Sun”. To a Peak Golden Core Realm, a Nascent Soul Realm cultivation was like that. Their life level, Dharma Laws, and high dimensional capabilities treat the lower realms like ants.

She immediately sensed who it was.

“The pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Realm. As expected…”

Just as she thought that the two were having a happy time, she saw Shi Tian’s figure leave the pagoda first. He easily met her gaze and reappeared right in front of Bronya.

“It’s been a long time.” He said.

“Yes. How is your situation? The last time I asked Kiana, it was bad.”

“I can resolve it on my own.”

Shi Tian’s confident answer earned a nod from her.

“Shall we conduct a ceremony for our Sect Leader?”

“No, no. Keep it as it is.”

Just then, he noticed a sly glint on Bronya’s eyes.

“You learned how to tease people…”

“Some things change in a decade.”

Bronya was feeling quite smug when he shut her down in eight words.

“I heard your company is not doing well?”

“...”

Turns out, Bronya opened a personal company under a different alias. She wanted to satisfy her vanity and create games using it. 

Without the sect’s and the Federation’s influence, she managed to drive it to bankruptcy.

“How did…”

“Divination reveals a lot of things.”

Shi Tian’s smug smile came next.

When it comes to teasing, Shi Tian is the undisputed number one.

“Anyways, I learned of your hard work.”

Seeing him talk about serious stuff, Bronya dropped her pretenses.

“It’s nothing major. I can deal with interpersonal affairs. The others had it harder.” She replied.

“There is no merit without hard work. You can ask me for help if you need it.”

“I will take it in mind. We have some things that require your help.”

Bronya freely told the major issues they faced. 

“We are planning to create a star system wide formation of the eighth grade.”

“I can help with that part. It’s a feasible plan.”

“We found a high-dimensional entity anchored to Venus. Kiana mentioned another higher-dimensional entity tied to it.”

“Let’s settle it within next year. I have an idea of their identities.”

“The self-sustaining cycle of spiritual plants…”

Chapter 233: Class Rep's Slander

Fu Hua never expected for their reunion to turn out like this. She happened to see Shi Tian acting intimately with Seele.

To this, the millenia-old Empyrean almost had her processing hardware overloaded.

‘Was it like that..?’

Before she knew it, she found herself growing more curious. It wasn’t until she snapped out of it did she calm down.

Fu Hua returned after a while which ended up as a formal talk between the two.

‘Something’s changed.’

For the second time of the day, she went into a daze. 

Shi Tian’s current appearance and temperament are vastly different from the last time she saw him. It was far more complicated than “handsomeness”. His very presence elicits amicability and elegance. At some angles, he possessed a few points of cuteness that would make people swoon.

Simply put, Shi Tian has the appearance of every girl’s “dream guy”.

“You haven’t had any problems with overworking, have you?”

Shi Tian’s concerned voice brought her back to reality.

“No. It is of no issue. There are others who took turns handling the sect’s affairs.”

“I made you work for ten years—”

“That’s not the case.”

Far from understanding the joke, she seriously replied:

“The supplies you left are vital in Earth’s development. It is also advanced enough to support everyone else. Your merits in facing Kevin and giving humanity another chance… it is a debt everyone could not repay.”
“...”

Shi Tian paused what he was about to say.

‘In their eyes, it’s really like that…’

What he thought of as wish fulfillment was seen as noble in others’ eyes; rightfully so.

“It’s fine, then. You’ll have to work more to manage this sect.”

Fu Hua was satisfied upon hearing that.

“How’s the current supplies running…”

For a while, the two talked about formal affairs. It was here Shi Tian heard of the Wushi Dao Sect’s situation.

The storage rings he left to Kiana years prior held different kinds of fifth grade materials. There is also an accumulation of lower grades. Nonetheless, its high grades barely withstood the consumption of the sect.

Back then, Fu Hua decided to take on the finest immortal cultivators on Earth. She has prior experience of choosing talented people from her time as Taixuan School’s headmaster.

There was one problem: Earth has too many cultivators.

The current census shows there are 4.5 billion registered immortal cultivators. Their sheer number made it cumbersome to comb through talents. It took years to continuously recruit cultivators according to the sect’s criteria.

Their current population numbered over 50 million—over one percent of the entire immortal cultivation population. It is the gathering of the most elite group of immortal cultivators—a holy land that everyone aspires to enter. They are the strongest officially recognized Sect by the Federation.

‘One million… No wonder the Dao of Enlightenment is on the peak of a Divine Law.’

Earth’s population is enough to put most cultivation worlds to shame.

‘Fu Hua’s temperament is also different from before…’

Unbeknownst to Fu Hua, her serious words have less importance than appreciating her dignified aura.

“Once I settle things, I can hold a Dao Conference. You know, teaching others about immortal cultivation and the likes.”

Her eyes lit up on the familiar idea.

“We can work on it. You haven’t shown your face for a decade. If it wasn’t for Sin Mal…”

“It’s alright.”

“...”

A sense of embarrassment crept up between the two. Fu Hua being unable to stop Sin Mal from writing her “history” caused a tinge of guilt to emerge on her mind.

It further worsened with Shi Tian doing nothing but staring at her. Her embarrassment manifested tangibly as a faint red on her ears.

This was Shi Tian’s breaking point.

‘Oh, no. The Class Rep really is cute. I…’

He tried to calm himself down but to no avail.

In the past, as a bonafide player of honkai impact 3rd, his most favorite character is Kiana, followed by Fu Hua. Though this favoritism did not show much, Shi Tian found it relaxing whenever he listened to her mature and calming voice.

Add to that the gap between the serious and the flustered Fu Hua, it dealt a critical strike to his Tao Heart.

‘...I am turning more fickle.’

In the end, he let out several coughs to forcibly shatter this screwed up atmosphere.

“I’ll add some more demon beasts to the treasury. We’ll also have to prepare the others’ condensation of Tao Bodies…”

*****

If it was the previous me, I wouldn’t have thought like this.

Class Rep…

I am genuinely interested in her.

…

I turned into a full-time scumbag.

Setting aside these chaotic thoughts, I got to know a lot more than what I learned on the outside.

For once, all of the Golden Core Realm cultivators have mastered a fourth grade cultivation side art. The ones majoring in formations and artifact forging gathered together and used all of Earth’s spirit veins to form a natural seventh grade formation.

Natural formations do not require materials, merely the spirit veins themselves. Its biggest downside, however, was that the spirit veins would shoulder whatever burden the formation does.

Fortunately, Earth has abundant numbers of spirit veins. Opening a crack to the Imaginary Space and Sea of Quanta would create dozens of spirit veins at once. Earth’s exaggerated cultivator population doesn’t stand a chance against this cultivation hack.

What’s more…

{Two Phase Art: Great Accomplishment}

The Two Phase Art reached the [Great Accomplishment] mastery. It can now affect lifeforms. It can “convert” any unawakened special physiques and turn them into their immortal cultivation equivalent.

Technically, everyone on Earth can undergo this awakening. Most will receive varying Tao Bodies with zero cost. This is yet another one of the perks of falling into a non-cultivation world.

Of course, others can also choose not to awaken their non-cultivation physiques. That way, they can condense a Tao Body using special techniques first—most require the absence of any active Tao Body. Once they have successfully condensed them, they can awaken their non-cultivation physiques.

That way, they will have two Tao Bodies. 

It is the same as what I did. I condensed the [Nine Dragons Primordial Universe Body] before achieving the ultimate grade spirit root and condensing the [Ten Lights Immortal Physique].

No matter what happens, all I know is that Earth will be very broken as an immortal cultivation civilization.

“Do you like her? That’s no good…”

I looked at Seele who sat on my lap. She faced my direction, having zero hesitation on riding my lap. She isn’t satisfied with it and is still moving her butt forward.

“I heard from Sister Kiana that you like big breasts.”

“...”

Though she did not say anything, her surprise said it all.

The Class Rep slander reached Seele?!

As if confirming her words, she rested her chest on me. The Stygian Nymph dress she wore emphasized her curves further.

Most importantly, Seele’s eyes seeped with nothing but desire. Her quickening breath brushed against my neck.

“We haven’t had our time yet. Veliona and Sirin too.” She said in a low voice. It made her sound extremely pitiful.

I knew this is the time to put my emotional quotient to use.

Words are no longer required to be said.

I put them into motion.

Chapter 232: The Sect Master

“It’s bad to scare me like that.”

“Sorry.”

Theresa could not help but look at niece’s lover.

For some reason, she felt the urge to bite him.

‘What am I thinking?!’

She shook her head and distracted herself with other thoughts. Theresa could remember how serious Shi Tian was. The only times he let his playfulness slip was whenever Theresa was present.

‘It feels good to bully Teriri.’

Little did she know, bullying her was but one of Shi Tian’s small joys in life.

“Everyone thought you wouldn’t wake up until three decades or so. Kiana is very worried about you.”

He could only smile helplessly at her words.

“We also want to talk to you alone.” She declared. “Me and Siegfried.”

“I understand.”

Theresa pertained to the relationship between Shi Tian and Kiana. Nearly everyone was dumbfounded when Seele also became his girlfriend. Though it has been ten years, Siegfried and Theresa wanted to sort this out properly.

Then again, Theresa could not help but remember something.

‘The population crisis… So he’s the first case!’

The Previous Era’s arrangements altered the genetic line of humanity. Females tend to have greater honkai resistance than males. It led to the growing number of Valkyries.

Immortal cultivation is positively correlated to honkai resistance. The greater it is, the more chances of a Spirit Root from appearing. This makes females more talented than males when it comes to immortal cultivation.

Today, the immortal cultivators’ population heavily lean towards females—at an almost 7:3 ratio. The growing number of girls’ love or cases of harem show this exact problem.

Faced with Theresa’s strange gaze, Shi Tian felt uneasy.

“Drop a visit to Fu Hua first. She put in a lot of effort to establish your sect.”

“I heard of it. I want to ask, though. Who wrote my history?”

“That little girl, Sin.”

“...”

Shi Tian heard someone he had expected.

*****

The Federation’s history was brief. It was established twelve years ago, right after humanity’s victory over the Honkai. The events of that time were simplified and disseminated into the Internet. 

Out of them all, a certain someone stood out from the rest.

Me.

The First Cultivator of humankind.

The Propagator of Immortal Cultivation.

The rightful Dao Ancestor.

So many titles defined “Shi Tian” on the Internet, though these three stood out the most. Most, if not all people, held a certain respect for me. My feats are not hidden. Aside from the IX issue, it was publicized that I was one of the people who stood at the battle’s forefront. I also introduced immortal cultivation to this world.

It was so much so that the name “Shi Tian” resounded throughout Earth hundreds of thousands of times daily.

“Sin… Why would you leave it to her..?”

This explains Chen Tianwu’s reaction. Everyone on Earth must’ve heard my name by now. Young or old, I have become their inspiration.

All of it stemmed from the “history” propagated by the Federation’s higher ups. When I saw it, it felt embarrassing. I am not used to an entire planet glazing me to the heavens.

Just what was on her mind when she wrote them all?

In the end, Theresa and the rest couldn’t handle her Nascent Soul Realm cultivation. Everybody conceded the history-making rights to Sin Mal and allowed her to pass 70% of her original manuscript.

My resounding fame soon went to the establishment of the Wushi Dao Sect (lit. Beginningless Dao Sect). Its internal structure is classified from the Sect Master, four Vice Sect Masters, Peak Masters, Elders, Sect Deacons, and Sect Disciples.

Before I slept, the Xuanyuan twins are the elders of the Physical Cultivation Vein—rather, they are the sole members of the sect. It was more like “playing house” back then.

The one who made it true was none other than Fu Hua. She established the Wushi Dao Sect as one of its Vice Sect Masters. I did not expect that the ‘arrangements’ I left behind would lead to this.

Looking at the exaggeratedly tall Mount Taixuan filled with “mystical air”, it felt like I stepped onto a bonafide immortal cultivation world. The mountain scaled up to eight thousand meters above. 

Mount Taixuan is the equivalent of Mount Tai in my previous world. It is roughly 1,500 meters tall. Mount Taixua did not differ much from what I could remember.

Clearly, it is a result of human intervention and natural growth due to spirit veins. 

It wasn’t just Mount Taixuan. The entire Earth is ‘growing’ bigger. Its ‘toughness’ is increasing. 

Only Mount Taixuan possesses a seventh grade spirit vein in the world.

With a single step, I bypassed the fifth grade formation. My robes fluttered among the wind.

Along the way, I saw the ‘disciples’ of Mount Tai. More than half of them are martial artists who are also undertaking immortal cultivation. The rest specialized in an immortal art (i.e., alchemy, talismans, formations, etc).

With another step, I reached the dwellings of the Peak Masters. I wasn’t surprised when I saw Mei as the Peak Master of the Thunder Vein. The Xuanyuan twins are the Peak Masters of the Physical Cultivation Vein. Welt Yang took the post of the Artifact Forging Vein’s Peak Master. Himeko did the same, but with the Fire Vein.

There are also the Schicksal Valkyries I did not interact with. Wendy is the Formation Vein’s Peak Master. Anna Schariac is the Ice Vein’s Peak Master. Durandal took the same post in the Talisman Vein.

Finally, there was Bronya, Sin Mal, and Rita who became the Vice Sect Masters.

Everyone is no exception. They are all cultivating in seclusion. The one who took care of other matters are the ‘elders’, all of whom I did not meet before.

Just then, I gazed to the place where the Alchemy Vein resided.

Seele’s gaze instantly struck me. The thousands of meters of distance between us did not matter. She left the furnace open as she appeared right in front of me.

Ten years of separation…

…

She did not let me finish my quote. My lips became tightly locked with hers. Her arms refused to let me go. 

Disregarding our location, she used the tip of her tongue to pry my mouth open. The passionate and sensual kiss failed to quell Seele.

It only made her worse.

For twenty minutes, she consistently explored my mouth with hers. Only then did she decide to stop.

Her heavy breathing and eyes seeping with desire made it clear she wants to do it now.

“...I missed you.”

“Sorry for making you worry.”

“Hum…”

When Seele was temporarily pacified, someone else appeared a few meters away. Her spiritual consciousness had long caught onto what happened.

Seeing Fu Hua, Seele tacitly undid her hug and kissed my cheeks. Her eyes told a lot she wanted to say.

“Later.”

“Okay…”

I gave the newcomer an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry to have startled you like that.”

“...It’s not a problem.”

Awkward silence ensued between us.

“You wouldn’t mind, would you? I established the sect you mentioned…”

“No, no. It’s alright. It should be me thanking you. You even left that position for me.”

The Wushi Dao Sect, with its stacked lineup, became the undisputed number one force in the entire world.

Aside from that…

I am the Sect Master.

Chapter 231: Jumpscared Teriri

In my previous life, there was a saying that perfectly suits my situation.

Playing the pig to eat the tiger.

It is one of the most overused cliches in the novels I have seen. While it offers opportunities to “shock” the crowd (also known as faceslapping), it becomes stale when repeated hundreds of times.

I did not expect that I would encounter them now.

“Idiotka. That’s not how the registration procedure works. Choose someone with registered spirit roots.”

“S-so what?”

Despite Rozaliya’s tough act, she followed Liliya’s instructions. 

I watched as the two left.

Well, life is not like a novel.

The following events did not come off as surprising. I wandered around for a while and saw the average spirit root awakening rates.

For every one hundred humans, about forty to sixty possess spirit roots. It contradicted the implied information in the techniques I received which dictated only three to five people have spirit roots out of a hundred. This is a difference of thirty to fifty percent.

Aside from the Honkai and the Previous Era’s meddling of human genes, I can think of nothing else.

Out of these awakened people, the majority possessed low grade spirit roots. About ten percent of that forty to sixty people have middle grade spirit roots. Finally, there are zero known appearances of high grade spirit roots aside from the people I know.

As of now, Earth can handle the influx of immortal cultivators. The biggest problem, however, is the resources needed for the higher realms. It will take thousands, if not tens of thousands of years to nurture fourth grade spiritual materials and above.

Simply put, Earth is fine in its early stages, but once the majority of the new generation of cultivators reach the Purple Mansion Realm, material scarcity will arise.

We are fortunate that the most fundamental resource, spirit veins, are readily available. At the very least, it won’t hinder everyone’s progress. The scenario I thought of will take another hundred or so years to occur. We’ll find a solution by then.

I visited one city after another. It led to my growing respect for the others’ sleepless nights. Seeing my idea get turned into reality is a gratifying feeling.

The world is complex and filled with an endless web of karma. The seedling one planted yesterday may turn into a towering tree that will save countless lives in the future.

It took three months to finish my world trip. 

In-between, I entered the Demon Arena and killed off early Divine Transformation Realm demon beasts. Realm jumping at this point felt like a pain. I haven’t comprehended the next level of [Heart Intention] yet. Every fight is a close call even if I went all-out from the start. I gained several planet-sized corpses of demon beasts, so I am not complaining.

Sometimes, I encountered the kids in the orphanage that I enlightened—the first batch of immortal cultivators. Seeing them become successful professionals made me feel old—as if I have an unc status already.

Most of them taught at Immortal Academies. They are not exempt from the “Return of Service” under the Federation’s Sponsored Subsidies.

In exchange for immortal cultivation resources and zero tuition fees, they will have to teach for a minimum of fifty years. The more benefits they receive during the start of their cultivation, the longer this “Return of Service” becomes, up to a maximum of three hundred years. There will be a basic salary at that time. The typical lifespans of immortal cultivators are used as a basis for it.

There are also rewards and bonuses.

For every talented student someone guides, the Return of Service becomes shorter. They will also receive various privileges and rewards.

This ensured that the older generation will teach the younger generation well. By the time they fulfill their Return of Service, they are free to do whatever they want in their free time.

If they choose to continue teaching, they will receive generous salary and teacher privileges. This pushes them back to the instructor spot, ensuring a healthy cycle of immortal cultivation education.

In a sense, the Federation mobilized everyone’s strengths to nurture excellent immortal cultivators one after another.

The atmosphere of education contrasted the survival of the fittest theme of the immortal cultivation worlds I knew. The so-called “sects” will impose restrictions to the techniques they pass on. The immortal cultivation families will keep most of the good things to themselves. 

An unshakable class stratification will be formed under this set-up.

I don’t want to see that.

Aside from the fact that it won’t do good for the upcoming troubles (i.e., Star Rail), it will halt the rapid progress of my Dao of Enlightenment. 

Ten years ago, with two years of immortal cultivation’s propagation, the Dao of Enlightenment reached the level of Divine Laws. 

Now, with almost three billion registered immortal cultivators, it has long become the fragment of Dao itself—a step higher than Divine Laws.

The Void Refinement Realm focuses on comprehending a Dao. Only by completing their comprehension of it, along with spiritual qi requirements, can they become a Dao Integration Realm expert. They will attain a complete Dao, capable of affecting vast universes at a single thought.

The population of immortal cultivators allowed my Dao of Enlightenment to reach the threshold of becoming a complete Dao. 

I have a hunch it will become a formidable thing in my hands. It would affect even the future of my cultivation path. All it takes is time.

“It’s time to properly show up…”

*****

The Federation faced a lot of difficulties during the first ten years of its establishment. The sheer effort needed to rebuild a world government, all the whilst there are existing governmental bodies, is huge.

It was Welt Yang who tanked most of the workload. His newfound strength gave him more room to realize his ideals. 

After ten years passed, he passed on the President position to Theresa. He offended a lot of people within the decade. He also spent most of his time in management affairs, causing his realm to lag behind.

Hence, the position switch occurred. 

A period of transition was all it took for Theresa to fully adapt.

“Kuh…”

She gritted her teeth as she stared intently at an article on her holographic screen.

[Having an elementary schooler as today’s leader…]

Theresa unhesitantly called someone. In minutes, the article was taken down. The person who wrote it was also fined heavily.

She instantly felt a lot better.

Ten minutes later, Theresa received a priority call.

Upon hearing of a high grade spirit root, her eyes lit up.

“Another one… It’s too scarce.”

She settled the call and made corresponding arrangements to the newly found Chen Tianwu. 

Unbeknownst to her, someone stood behind her chair. The said person has devious intentions…

“Boo.”

“Eek..!”

…or not.

Chapter 230: Faceslapping Session?!

What changes can happen in the span of twelve years?

In my previous world, it was a huge transition. Though there weren’t flying cars, there were self-driving cars. Artificial Intelligence has also become the trend. Nobody would’ve expected that the likes of Skynet would come true in a decade.

Earth’s changes went beyond that.

The lengthy line behind me showed everything. The processing speed was fast. Once it was my turn, I received a packaged rice bowl. 

I chose from one of the available benches and sat down. The moment I opened the bowl’s lid, I was greeted by warm air.

Omelette, pork strips, and rice. The first two are ordinary. It was the third one that differed from them.

These are genuine first grade spiritual rice. It was given as food subsidies to the homeless. A single serving of it can keep a mortal filled for five days. 

After gobbling it up, I heaved a deep sigh. I looked upwards and saw the concentrated spiritual qi gather above. The vibrant blue skies are enhanced by its existence.

Unsurprisingly, this small city had a second grade spirit vein. Every populated city is like this.

For the first five years, they focused on training the next batches of immortal cultivators. The first candidates came from those with military experience. Only they could “cram” as much immortal cultivation knowledge swiftly.

While this happened, the Federation shifted its focus on solving real-world problems using cultivation’s extraordinary means. They produced first grade spiritual rice, formed a proper chain of command, and solved world hunger.

Pollution? Cleansing spells would do.

Destroyed natural landscapes? A single elemental spell would do.

Building houses in hours? A single earth control spell would do.

In the face of immortal cultivation, all of the previous world problems turned out to be a trifle.

So long as there are people maintaining order, nobody can take advantage of it. Most of those unhinged people were either dead or imprisoned, all thanks to Bronya’s purge.

With these problems solved, the Federation dropped one policy after another regarding immortal cultivation. 

Spirit Root Awakening, Immortal Cultivator Registry, Food Subsidies, Immortal Academies, Sponsored Privileges and its Return of Service…

In short, Welt Yang and Theresa cooked very hard.

In the short span of ten years, they transformed Earth from a planet distraught of the Honkai to an emerging cultivation civilization. 

The awe I had of the others’ hard work left me sitting for a long while.

“You must be new here.”

Someone greeted me before he sat down. It was a middle-aged man. His light gray hair was unkempt. A trace of youth could be seen on his face. 

A sudden urge to conduct a divination appeared. After completing it, I looked at the middle aged man again.

I had no scruples interacting with others as I used my previous life’s appearance.

“Is it rare to see someone like me?” I asked.

“Here? Most of the capable youngsters enrolled in the academies long ago. Those without Spirit Roots work in menial jobs at the Federation’s spiritual gardens and lakes. Only a few would choose to live leisurely.”

I looked around and saw less people on the benches.

“Everyone wants to be an immortal these days.”

“Wouldn’t you be the same?”

My words are met with a sigh.

“Ten years. Can you imagine how huge the changes are in a decade? The crisis from twelve years ago…”

The Earth Federation never hid the general history from the public. Back then, the majority’s obliviousness to the Honkai was met with mixed opinions. Many honored the unnamed heroes who died fighting behind humanity’s back. Some are outraged at the “incompetency” that caused the Project STIGMA.

Naturally, the latter died down quickly. The Federation’s actual competency and their achievements made everyone hold them in high regard.

The man beside me also looked at them that way.

“Life was difficult back then. It is hard to have ambitions when you are busy fighting for your livelihood. Being financially strapped with no money left for food… There are the honkai, to add. It's no wonder my sister preferred living in her dream world. I… failed her.”

The Project STIGMA’s aftereffects converted physical substances to energy fueling the Spiritual Adam. Though we forcibly halted it, the damage had been done.

“The world is progressing fast. Everyone is trying to catch up. That is why most of the youth are filled with ambitions.”

“The hope for a future.”

The man agreed with my words.

“I am telling you early on. Look for something worthwhile to chase for. To be an immortal cultivator or pursue the more arduous martial arts… it won’t do good being stuck with old guys like me.”

All I can see in his eyes is helplessness. He is determined to be left behind by the current era.

“You must have heard of the cultivation realms, no?” I asked him.

He nodded and said, “The nine steps to immortality.”

Nine realms, nine checkpoints, nine blockades. That was how the techniques granted to me described the nine realms of immortal cultivation. I had it easy due to hacks, opportunities, and talent. The others aren’t necessarily like me.

“The Void Refinement Realm breaks free of all restraints, causality and time alike. They possess the ability to go back in time and resurrect someone.”

“..!”

From his looks, this wasn’t in the general knowledge, though I can understand why the others wouldn’t make it common knowledge. Knowing too much on the higher realms could lead to mental issues. 

“Who are you..?”

“Someone surnamed Shi.”

The change in his expression was immediate. 

He knows me.

“Go and have your spirit roots tested. This is your chance, Chen Tianwu.”

With that, I disappeared from his sight. I did not bother waiting for his reaction, either. My [Encompassing Eyes] noticed something unusual on him. A quick divination revealed his latent high grade spirit roots.

He was the Owl of the World Serpent. The events of the canon never happened. He did not become a member of World Serpent, but a downtrodden middle-aged man instead. His sister did not die out of the Honkai, but of Project STIGMA.

This time, I appeared inside the Awakening Center. A huge office lobby greeted me. There are reception desks, waiting chairs, and the typical vending machines.

It is where the Spirit Root Awakening and the Immortal Cultivator Registry occurs. The latter are particularly important.

Mortals and immortal cultivators are distinguished to make a lot of things easier—tracking down crimes, proper manpower allocation, and the likes.

The people lined up are noticeably young, at most eight years old.

One of the staff members walked towards me.

“Excuse me. Are you also…”

“Yes.”

“Please follow me.”

For the past ten years, the majority of Earth’s population were tested. The children I am now seeing should be the ones born after the Honkai’s disappearance.

I used some little tricks on this staff member to get my process done. Having untested people beyond their teens do exist in this world. Chen Tianwu is one. The Federation never forced anyone to undergo Spirit Root testing, anyways.

Just then, a pair of acquaintances entered my sight.

“I told you. I wanted to accept a student today! You actually accepted one behind my back..!”

“Rozaliya does not have what it takes to teach a student. I am afraid you will mislead them.”

“We’ll see about that!”

Their hushed whispers could be heard loud and clearly by my ears.

The twins, having grown up, did not differ much from what I expected. Their tall stature added a hint of grace on the two of them. They possessed an aura that could leave everyone in awe.

Just then, Rozaliya happened to meet my gaze.

Under her breath, she muttered:

“That man will be my student!”

…

Say what?

Chapter 229: Ten Years Later

I waited for a while until Kiana woke up. After some kissing and cuddling, she explained the things I missed out.

“Ten years?”

“Yeah. Your situation looked dire at that time.”

Her words made a lot of sense. I didn’t have the time to greet everyone when I secluded the Theater of Domination. [Heart Intention] possessed enough power to manipulate Imaginary Energy, and in turn, the Imaginary Space.

The power exerted by [Blade Mantra 2.0] far exceeds their cultivation equivalent. [Heart Intention] requires a fifth level Tao Heart, though it can affect even the Divine Transformation Realm cultivators. I used up my lifespan back then to form that impenetrable barrier.

“Schicksal and Anti-Entropy dissolved. They made up the Federation you suggested.”

“How’s the opposition?”

“Most of the officials agreed. I heard Mister Yang coordinate with them to satisfy a portion of their interests.”

I nodded.

I wouldn’t be as detached to reality to think that everyone will agree to my plan. The most fundamental aspect of human relations are interests. Not everyone can be as selfless as the others. As long as a part of their interests remain satisfied, they can agree to go with the rest. Granted, these interests wouldn’t harm the overall interest of humanity.

Of course, I can also become a tyrant and force upon these changes, but for the sake of long-term benefits, becoming a semi-tyrant is better. Intimidating others with power while giving them small but tangible benefits is enough to propel their development.

As for corruption and the likes, there are a thousand ways to deal with it.

“Did you also…”

“Bronya took care of them.”

Kiana pertained to the vile ones. Their punishment ranged from imprisonment to death penalty. I enacted it alone on the Bubble World. Bronya did it on my behalf.

The death penalty is especially crucial to Earth’s future development. Giving vile individuals a strong individual power spells nothing but a disaster.

Bronya took the burden of killing them…

“Add it to the list of your compensation.”

Kiana’s nudge felt like she implied something.

“I’ll take care of it.”

She told me a lot of stories after that.

For example, there are four new partners that appeared out of my Spirit Root Awakening Devices. I left a trace of my spiritual consciousness in those artifacts to help others awaken their Spirit Roots. I unexpectedly formed four partnerships out of thin air.

The two of them have the potential to be Herrschers—Wendy and Anna Schariac. The other one, Durandal, wasn’t surprising. It was Rita that caught me off guard. We never had any proper interaction together.

When she mentioned them, Kiana’s gaze was very strong.

“Nearly everyone experienced stagnation in their cultivation.”

“Nearly everyone?”

“There are special cases.”

She proceeded to tell me Sin Mal’s story. Turns out, she attacked the Nascent Soul Realm Tribulation all by herself. Everyone was worried about her until she revealed her fifth level Tao Heart. She became the third Nascent Soul Realm cultivator after Kiana. Seele and Veliona followed next, bringing the tally of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators to five.

As for Kiana herself…

“Middle stage?”

“Um. The Cocoon’s power helped me greatly.”

After the final fight with the Honkai, everyone gained something. These gains are enough to shorten their original cultivation times by hundreds, if not thousands of years. I estimated Kiana to complete the Nascent Soul Realm in a thousand years (excluding Xiutian Art). That included imaginary energy for soul tempering. 

The Cocoon of Finality and her techniques at the [Great Accomplishment] mastery shortened that to twenty or so years.

If other legitimate cultivators heard about these feats, they would have coughed blood out of our sheer audacity. The Nascent Soul Realm cannot be completed without ten thousand years (as a high grade Spirit Root). Shortening that to twenty years is nigh impossible.

“Let me check if you are alright…”

Once again, Kiana played the role of a nurse.

*****

Qi Refining Realm, seven months.

Foundation Establishment Realm, one year.

Purple Mansion Realm, five months.

Golden Core Realm, five years.

Nascent Soul Realm, ten years.

‘I am living the life of an immortal cultivation cheater…’

Each one of Shi Tian’s records would have warranted uproar in a legitimate cultivation world. He took the phrase “Breakthroughs as easy as drinking tea” literally. 

Seventeen years after beginning the path of immortal cultivation, Shi Tian is on the threshold of the Divine Transformation Realm.

After giving Kiana a part of the “compensation” she demanded, he focused on retrospection. and recovery This lasted for half a year.

‘The ultimate grade Spirit Root is even more exaggerated than my prior Spirit Root. Add to that my two high grade Tao Bodies…’

Shi Tian’s raw cultivation speed can match those who are using the honkai hacks to proceed. Once he starts using his cultivation hacks, it virtually guarantees he would always be the strongest cultivator in human history.

‘There’s still the undigested gains. Hiss…’

With the remaining spiritual essences inside his Chaos Furnace, it guarantees a fast cultivation speed until he reaches the Void Refinement Realm. There is still the experience of using the [World Rendering Sword] ahead of time, an eighth level Tao Heart.

The gains of risking one’s life and confronting the Honkai and Aeons alike warranted bountiful gifts.

‘This world’s flaws… I can use it to have a headstart. The same goes for others.’

He sighed as he calmed his excited heart down. The more prosperous Earth’s prospects become, the more they need to be careful.

Having someone in the Void Refinement Realm warrants Earth’s standing.

‘I am still injured.’

Shi Tian is one lucky bastard for having survived the Dao Integration Realm experience. Despite Origin helping carry the burden, the small part that was left rendered him unresponsive for a decade.

Worse, the injuries left on him have to be recovered before he can progress on his cultivation. Attempting to break through without doing so is akin to courting death.

He has the ultimate grade Spirit Root, two high grade Tao Bodies, Blade Mantra 2.0, and all the other hacks. Being unable to use them feels very frustrating.

‘Twenty years. I can attempt the Divine Transformation Realm at that time. That... or more dual cultivation.'

He stood up clear-headed. With one step, he disappeared from the Imaginary Space.

‘Earth.’

Ten years of slumber made him miss out on Earth’s changes. Fortunately, everyone was more than capable in enacting their plans. 

One glance was all it took to see Earth’s overall situation.

‘Seventh grade spirit vein. I knew this would happen.’

The fifth level material he left was Shi Tian’s accumulation over five years. With the proper Qi Gathering Formation and the skillful use of the imaginary space, it is possible to create a seventh grade spirit vein.

They could even attempt to create an eighth grade spirit vein within the imaginary space. The concentration of spiritual qi was one thing; the “Dao” contained in that space allowed for the existence of the Dao Integration Realm.

Like a kid unraveling a gift box, Shi Tian’s anticipation grew.

‘Is it finally time to act as an unfathomable master?’

Chapter 228: When Today Becomes Yesterday

I understood what Kiana wanted. It’s just that I did not expect her to think that far.

I was about to reply when my entire head buzzed. My vision shook madly. I lost any semblance of sense of direction.

Helplessly, I stumbled down to the ground.

That’s right.

The stacked forbidden technique…

Thud-!

*****

The tension from the battle made Kiana forget a lot of things. 

Shi Tian used up the [Nine Lives Burning Samsara Art] to its fullest extent, sacrificing 1.5 million years of lifespan to temporarily attain the Divine Transformation Realm for ten minutes. 

The condensation of the ultimate grade Spirit Root (Perfected Five Elements Spirit Root) led to the emergence of the high grade Tao Body, [Ten Lights Immortal Physique]. Coupled with the breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm, his lifespan was extended more.

Nevertheless, the backlash of having 1.5 million years of lifespan drawn away was something that could not be negated by these two. The burden borne by the body, soul, and mind would have killed someone else had it not been Shi Tian.

“He’s alright now.”

“Um.”

Kiana brought him up to the Imaginary Space where she resided. Who knew Seele was actually sneaking nearby up until Shi Tian collapsed?

In the end, she also brought Seele over to her private space. Veliona left them alone for privacy.

“Thanks for helping him.”

“Um. There’s no need to, Sister Kiana. I… It was my fault he did not tell anybody else.”

Guilt appeared on her face.

“He knew I would worry about it. That must have played a part in his decision.”

“That sounds like him.”

Kiana acknowledged Seele’s understanding of Shi Tian. The seven hundred years of time loop wasn’t for show.

“Don’t think about it. We can ask him for compensation once he wakes up.”

“Ah..?”

Seele blushed at the thought of her ‘compensation’. Kiana, having seen it, knew well what her reaction meant.

“I-is it fine?” Seele asked.

“I mean, why not? Haven’t we agreed about it?”

Kiana’s statement filled her with joy. The matter regarding their romantic affairs concluded peacefully the moment they left that Bubble World. Seele could see Kiana’s feelings—and her possessiveness. 

The fact Kiana acknowledged Seele’s feelings and shared Shi Tian with her spoke a lot about her.

“...Thank you.”

 “Don’t sweat it. It’s not like we will be the end of it.”

“Ah..?”

“Your other self. My other self. That makes up two already.”

“...”

Seele was baffled at first before it turned into acceptance.

Unfortunately for her, things did not end there.

“There is also his Daoist Friend, Shenzhou’s Empyrean. That crazy girl, Sin. Even Bronya might develop feelings for him, not to mention the Xuanyuan twins.”

“Sister Bronya..?”

She was about to speak up. 

But then, it all started to make sense.

Shi Tian is too kind to others.

Faced with such a perfect man, who wouldn’t fall for him?

“So, the best we can do is to talk it out. All of us.” Kiana solemnly declared.

The silent Seele came to a conclusion.

‘Sister Kiana loves him too much… to the point she gave way to us.’

Looking at the sleeping Shi Tian, she understood what it meant to be the first girl to be with him.

‘Love… I really love him too. If… If there are others… I won’t mind it too.’

Shi Tian was destined to be surprised once he woke up.

*****

“Remember. The final goal is not to be one with the world. It is…”

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.

The first thing that assaulted my senses was the familiar floral scent. I looked beside me and saw Kiana using me like a body pillow. My spiritual consciousness extended to the room we were in.

A tall chandelier decorated the pure white room. Its walls and ceilings are carved with various artistic flairs. A faint chill emanated from them.

The spiritual qi present is concentrated enough for me to reach saturation in one go.

I recalled everything that happened.

After deciding to face IX alone, Kiana and Seele unexpectedly reached my side and gave their assistance. I managed to fully resonate with Origin, which led to it giving me that final push to condense the high grade Five Elements Yin Spirit Root. This, in turn, led to the fusion between my Five Elements Yin and Five Elements Yang Spirit Root, creating the ultimate grade Perfected Five Elements Spirit Root.

I used Origin to draw a trace of its power, ending IX’s influence for good.

Then, Kiana used her newfound powers to isolate Earth from other worlds. I collapsed after that.

That’s right.

I am… fine?

I assessed my entire being with [Encompassing Eyes].

{Qi: Peak Nascent Soul Realm}

{Body: Peak Nascent Soul Realm}

{Mind: Peak Nascent Soul Realm}

What..?

I blinked twice and saw I wasn’t mistaken. I sensed deeper into my soul and saw the [Chaos Furnace] filled to the brim with spiritual essence. This amount exceeded what I gained from the Herrscher Cores and tainted soul fragments I obtained from the Bubble World.

It dawned on me.

The forbidden techniques contributed to this, though the one-time experience as a Dao Integration Realm cultivator is its main contributor. No matter how much lifespan I will spend, I will never be able to survive after that. Origin carried that burden alone.

Moreover, the Void Refinement Realm mental power is also gone.

Nearly half of its power was lost when I utilized it against IX. The rest got turned into spiritual essences that could speed up my cultivation speed.

{Lifespan: 230,000,200}

Looking at the long line of zeroes under my lifespan, my jaw almost dropped.

The Dao of Permanence enhances one’s lifespan fifty times. I can already live for 2.5 million years as a Peak Golden Core Realm cultivator. Breaking through the Nascent Soul Realm increased my base lifespan to 100,000. It goes up to one million years for Peak Nascent Soul Realm.

The Dao of Permanence’s enhancement works up to the Void Refinement Realm. Meaning to say, I can live for 50,000,000 years at minimum. Then there was the [Ten Lights Immortal Physique] and Perfected Five Elements Spirit Root that enhances one’s lifespan due to the power of All Creation. These two netted 200,000,000 years.

Subtracting the 2.4 million years I spent and the collateral damages they caused, it adds up to 247 million years.

…

Thank goodness I don’t live in a cultivation world.

Mine is a special case, but thinking of hundreds, if not thousands of other cultivators reaching a fraction of my lifespan implies a lot of things. They have more time to go further in the road of cultivation. Powerful beings would have populated such a world. A lot of problems would have arisen in such a civilization.

That was how broken the “immortal cultivation” brought by the golden orb is.

I can’t help but think. 

Did these techniques produce a True Immortal already? 

If that isn’t the case, the golden orb’s origin goes deeper than anything I could think of.

The questions for the future are fully unleashed. Both the Honkai and IX are dealt with. Earth has two hundred times the flow of time compared to the outside world. 

So many unknowns are popping up in my mind.

Looking at the sleeping Tuna beside me, I felt assured.

At least, there will be others facing this unknown future with me.

Chapter 227: A Ripple on the Moon's Reflection

The requirements for the Ultimate-Grade Spirit Roots are the existence of high grade Five Elements Yin and Yang Spirit Roots. Only with the harmony of ten elements would it become possible to harness the power of Creation.

All I needed at this point was one last push.

The Core of Origin gave it to me.

I watched as the Five Elements Yin Spirit Root successfully elevated itself to the high grade. The moment it did so, it spurned on a strong resonance to the Five Elements Yang Spirit Roots.

Hum.

The two sets of Spirit Roots fused with each other. They complemented each other, filling in their remaining innate flaws. With the two sides strengthening one another, a new kind of Spirit Root emerged.

Creation Spirit Root.

The ultimate grade Spirit Root written in the [Toushen Yin-Yang Aperture Manual]. Along with it came numerous enhancements.

The Divine Laws corresponding to the Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Extremity, and Void merged seamlessly into the Dao of All Creation. Ten different colored lights glimmered on my crown.

All of this occurred in an instant.

My gaze landed on IX’s remaining influence. It is severely weakened by Kiana’s and Seele’s strikes. It no longer possessed the overwhelming might it once had.

My fingers gripped the invisible sword in my hand. It has no substance, staying as nothing but a construct of my mind. The Divine Sword acts that way.

I could barely contain the light emitted by the Core of Origin. Its last bit of power seeped into the sword I held. The power of miracles manifested tangibly.

Its aura grew stronger. A trace of my ultimate grade Spirit Root’s power flowed onto it without restraints. Origin carried all the burden in doing so.

When wishes turn into miracles, logic is not needed. 

It happens because it happens.

A deus ex machina of sorts, perchance.

I stared in silence as the sword went beyond the seventh level. The Dao of All Creation is a Dao that leads straight to the Dao Integration Realm. Its partial influence allowed me to summon its might in advance.

The power contained inside every fiber of my being is channeled into this sword.

The sword that renders the very nature of worlds, the World Rendering Sword.

A swift stroke decided the outcome of this battle.

Buzz-!

*****

The Imaginary Tree connects all worlds through its branches. Every world has its own “bubble” (i.e., imaginary barrier) that separates it from other worlds. As of now, only Akivili’s Path of Trailblazing was known to be able to traverse them with ease.

It is for such a reason that a ripple has the power to spread throughout the vast worlds.

“A never-before-seen Path—”

The first to notice these changes was none other than Erudition. 

“The Path of Creation…”

A smile appeared on the witch’s face.

“How audacious.”

…

“The memories are not mistaken. Something is capable of shaking the oceans inside.”

The Memokeeper glanced at the Sky People cluelessly wandering around her before turning her gaze towards the direction of a world.

To her astonishment, its imaginary barrier grew stronger with each passing moment. Seconds was all it took to thoroughly isolate the world from the other worlds.

“Will this world witness the birth of a new Aeon?”

…

On a planet where there was eternal rain, a woman held her red paper umbrella. She looked above mindlessly. Nobody could see the thoughts in her eyes.

“A familiar feeling. Why were they there..?”

The woman could not help but feel lost.

…

“There is no future.” 

Brightly-lit characters appeared above a black cat. The elegant and beautiful woman beside it was about to ask something when the characters reformed themselves.

“A power interfered with the normal flow of time. The prior script will have less reliability.”

The black cat did not care anymore as it licked its paws and slept. Its words to the woman were akin to a reminder.

For a while, the Stellaron Hunters are destined to be on hiatus.

…

Each faction residing on the vast worlds kept different reactions. The emergence of a new Aeon was no laughing matter. The last time it occurred was fifty thousand years ago.

The Aeon of Destruction, Nanook, grew rapidly. The Antimatter Legion spread Destruction to hundreds, if not thousands of worlds, in the past thousands of years. They made a name for themselves, enough to make everyone wary.

One thing was certain: the “vague” signs of a new Aeon’s emergence was enough to spook everyone.

When everyone tried to probe for its origins, they left with no results. It was as if that power never existed in the first place.

Unbeknownst to them, immortal cultivators at the Dao Integration Realm had long severed their karma. Any attempts to pry open their secrets will be met with zero results, or worse, a major backlash.

The power gap between this world and immortal cultivators gave the latter an insane competitive edge.

As for the origin of that power…

“It’s done.”

“...Thanks.”

“Hmph.”

He is busy fighting for his life.

“I thought we talked about it before? That you wouldn’t risk going alone.”

“I have no other excuses for that.”

Kiana let out a soft hum on her throat before facing him again. Shi Tian did not bother making any random excuses…

And it worked.

She let out a helpless sigh.

“Whatever you are facing, tell me first, alright?”

“Yeah…”

Kiana took one step. Her body reappeared right in front of him.

“I need your compensation. Tonight.”

“...”

Shi Tian did not say anything else but nodded. He knew he would be under Kiana’s mercy tonight. Although, it remains to be seen who will outlast who.

“Your guess turned out to be the right one. Its embrace feels like a borrowed power.”

Kiana went to serious affairs.

For two years, she slept and accepted the Cocoon of Finality’s Embrace, thereby becoming the sole Herrscher of Finality. Her cultivator side allowed her to shorten the acceptance phase from a decade to two years. 

Unfortunately, the Peak of Golden Core Realm is limited when it comes to helping her better utilize the Cocoon’s power. 

That was until five minutes ago. Kiana successfully transcended the Nascent Soul Realm. This opened up to “more uses” of the Cocoon’s powers. Being able to touch upon dimensions more skillfully was one such perk. She no longer needed anchors in most circumstances—her eyes alone would do.

Most importantly, the Cocoon of Finality itself is a massive cultivation hack. It boosts cultivation speed by a notch above the typical soul tempering. That turned Kiana into Shi Tian’s biggest cultivation hack.

“What would happen if I hadn’t strengthened the imaginary barrier in time?”

Just then, Kiana asked a sudden question.

“Earth will be exposed to everyone else. We’ll have endless troubles by then.”

She nodded.

Right before Shi Tian’s [World Rendering Sword] dissipated, he used its final burst of power to temporarily isolate the solar system from everyone else. The degree of completeness—strength—of the Dao Integration Realm exceeded most of this world’s powers. That was enough to cover for Kiana’s ascension to the Nascent Soul Realm. Once she finished, she was more than capable in reinforcing the imaginary barrier to the next level.

Moreover, with the Cocoon’s power, Kiana messed with the barrier and added something else: time dilution.

Prior estimates show that Earth’s time will move two hundred times faster than the other worlds. That was something she could only do with the Nascent Soul Realm’s advancement.

“Now that we bought some time, isn’t it time to think about that?”

“What else?”

She did not say anything but smiled.

For a good reason, Shi Tian saw the desires in Kiana’s star-like pink irises overflow.

*****

A/N: Bonus chapter.

Chapter 226: Origin's TruE Meaning

“It’s faint.”

Su looked in a certain direction and heaved a sigh. He could barely sense the waves of Shi Tian's struggle.

Bright crimson flames surrounded his body. It was the [Nine Lives Burning Samsara Art] at work.

As early as four years ago, Shi Tian gave it to him before they parted. Shi Tian knew that Su, with his specialness, could exert far greater power with it. It was supposed to be a trump card against the honkai, though it remained unused until now.

He did not stop until he burned all of his lifespan. 

In the truest sense, Su died.

Buzz-!

The uniqueness of the [Nine Lives Burning Samsara Art] came into play. The bright crimson flames continued to become stronger. It began to consume the very essence of his soul, followed by a spontaneous burst of power from nowhere.

His closed eyes opened.

‘Burning the future…’

The highest level of the forbidden technique entailed burning one’s future. This results in complete obliteration without any way of resurrection—even if one tries to go back in time to resurrect others.

For a momentary brilliance, Su burned his everything. The level of his soul, which was already exceptional, was elevated. His act brought him up to the level of a Void Refinement Realm expert!

“It’s my turn to contribute.”

Just as he resolved himself, the higher spatial dimensions projected a figure. It appeared right in front of Su.

“To see a human willing to step onto eternal damnation. It has been a long while.”

The projection itself bore no face. It was a will based on the higher-dimensions.

“But again, you are not the only one. This world is special, indeed.”

Su thought of something and asked.

“Was it you?”

“It is I.”

The two went into complete silence.

“I will assist you once. A game of chess will do in exchange.”

An ethereal force stopped Su’s act of courting death. Simultaneously, it also elevated him to the absolute pinnacle of a Void Refinement Realm expert. Unfortunately, he could only do something “once” before it disappears.

Su gazed at the phantom once more. This time, he saw it took the form of an elderly man.

One concept popped up on his mind:

‘Erudition…’

*****

Ripple-!

It was a wave at first. Akin to stepping barefoot on the shore, it is negligible.

Crash-!

Its sudden increase to a raging tsunami woke up Kiana all at once. She fought the heaviness of her eyelids and the drowsiness of her head. Standing up felt like carrying a mountain as an ordinary human.

The disruption to her ‘Embrace’ to the Cocoon of Finality gave rise to problems, but they weren’t major enough compared to something else.

“Tian…”

Kiana’s senses exploded. She “saw” the full view of all eleven dimensions at once. The sheer amount of information exposed to her caused her mind to overload. It took a while to adapt to it.

She recalled his teachings of the higher dimensions.

“Three dimensional space… no. The Imaginary Space exists within all spatial dimensions. I have to look at them one-by-one…”

Being a Peak Golden Core Realm cultivator helped her a lot. Had she not been a cultivator, it would have taken ten years to get out of her sleep, much less properly control the Cocoon’s power. She bypassed ten years of effort by becoming one.

Then again, it only brought her on the starting line. Kiana still faced the problems she had when she first wielded Finality in the canon.

Without a proper anchor to look at, she found it difficult to exert her influence on the real world. The vast information found within eleven dimensions overwhelmed her mind.

Ripple-!

A figment of a green leaf suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Kiana stared at it and knew who it was.

The leaf turned into Su’s figure.

“Grandpa Su!”

“...”

He was speechless when he heard the familiar address.

“I will place the marker on where to strike. My power will not last long.”

“Understood.”

His figure disappeared after speaking those words. Moments later, Kiana ‘saw’ a noticeable anchor. She knew what she needed to do next.

Appearing on the Moon with a thought, Kiana gestured her fingers like a gun.

“We will have a talk later.”

Along with her words…

“Bang.”

…came the orbital bombardment.

*****

Admittedly, I felt cornered.

If this last resort fails, I would have to spend my life to eliminate IX’s influence. So long as it grows stronger, it will inevitably attract the Aeon’s gaze. The scene would be similar to the Black Sun in Takamagahara, but worse.

I was about to attack when a blazing white comet pierced a gaping hole inside the imaginary space.

It carried a faint set of words—one I am familiar with.

“We will have a talk later.”

…

I am screwed.

My lips inadvertently turned into a helpless smile.

My isolation for two years fucked up with my mental state somehow. Knowing I couldn’t lift the imaginary barrier I set up around this imaginary space, I chose not to burden others and handled it on my own. 

It was a bad choice, yet I did it. I also didn’t consider calling the sleeping Kiana at that time.

I am really screwed.

Looking at the half-melted puddle of darkness, the sense of unease in my heart dropped by half.

Between an angry wife and an Aeon, the former is scarier.

I scanned IX’s influence one more time. Its power dropped by a quarter. Shockingly, the power Kiana sent out bore semblances of the Dao Integration Realm. It was why her attack was so effective against IX’s influence.

I don't know why the Cocoon of Finality had that. Making sense of this world with immortal cultivation knowledge is useless.

“Tian.”

I looked up and saw Seele crawl into the hole created by Kiana. Her body left behind traces of blue butterflies as she landed on the ground.

I was about to warn her when I saw the power surrounding her. It belonged to the Sea of Quanta. It continued to surge upward, reaching the Void Refinement Realm in terms of level.

I swallowed the words I was about to say.

The shadows retreated with each of her steps. Seele’s body turned into a flash before reaching for a hug.

“I borrowed its powers and… it agreed. I can strike it once.”

“Leave as soon as you complete it.”

“Promise me you won’t risk yourself again.”

“...I won’t.”

Seele nodded and went for a light kiss.

Before I knew it, she was already sprinting towards IX’s influence. Veliona’s figure appeared behind her. The two performed a waltz as the blue and red lights intertwined.

IX’s figure disappeared amongst the sea of butterflies.

Bam-!

Shatter-!

True to their promises, Seele and Veliona ditched this place right after the attack. The shadow puddle reformed itself, but this time, only half of its original power remained.

These girls…

No.

It’s everyone.

I looked at my chest. The Core of Origin granted to me by Elysia grew brighter. I sensed its vague connection to everyone I knew—to all of humanity. The Dao of Miracles resonated with it, making that sensation even stronger.

Momentarily, I recalled her fairy-like smile.

“How dumb am I..?”

It was me who never truly understood Elysia up until now. 

Her will to fight for all that’s beautiful…

Her dedication to humanity itself…

It all stemmed from a single wish.

As if affirming my thoughts, the Core of Origin emitted a brilliant light that swallowed the entire space whole.

Chapter 225: Nihility

‘What am I doing here in the endless winter?’

The lack thereof. Such was the definition of meaninglessness.

‘You misinterpret everything, even the silence.’

Every answer has its questions, yet not all questions have answers. Was it still worth it to seek them if you are destined to find nothing?

‘I am free and that is why I am lost.’

Freedom does not necessitate happiness. Captivity does not bring happiness, also. Both sides do not guarantee anything. 

What is the meaning in life had it been like so?

How about if I sleep a bit longer and forget this… nonsense.

And so I did.

My eyes remained shut. I did not do anything when my face slowly melted like a candle’s wax. The deprivation of identity fueled my lack of purpose. I did nothing as my body turned into nothing but a puddle. 

Just then…

The memory of a girl appeared in my mind. Her bright smile and dazzling eyes brought a momentary halt to my numbing mind.

‘...’

Her lips spelled out words I could not understand. Yet, my heart skipped a beat.

A purpose emerged:

Longing.

The puddle of flesh and blood soon took the form of the girl. Her long white hair touched the ground. The crown tying her hair bequeathed a sense of elegance.

It hurts.

My longing grew stronger. It hurts so much, as if it is the knife I turn inside myself.

Was this… love?

Shatter-!

My consciousness regained its former clarity. My physical body reverted back to my normal appearance. The sense of desperation and being astray disappeared like bubbles.

The darkness crawling on the ground swiftly removed themselves from my body.

I…

Nihility.

It’s Nihility.

I looked at my storage ring and found it was destroyed. All of my supplies, sundries, and artifacts disappeared. Only the sword I kept inside me survived. Even my spiritual garb was utterly destroyed. I recreated my attire with a thought.

Fortunately, I didn’t lose much. I gave most of my fortune to Kiana before separating.

Nihility’s influence grows stronger. I did not expect to get sucked into that kind of brain-numbing scenario.

Kiana…

She saved me.

If I wasn’t able to create a flaw in that ‘place’, I would have fallen.

I am still too optimistic. I wasn’t able to attain the ultimate grade Spirit Roots after all these years. I have to make do with what I have now.

Click-!

Zoom-!

One thought was all it took to remove the Theater’s anchor. My surroundings no longer bore the classical theater, but pure darkness. I decisively separated the Theater from Earth.

It will take some time, but it will drift away from Earth nonetheless. I will never allow Nihility to succeed.

“Fu…”

I stood up. I disregarded my weakness. I cast the [Two Phase Art] and pierced a hole for imaginary energy to come into it. It soon turned into a sixth grade spirit vein.

Crimson red flames started to blaze around my body. The more lifespan I deposited, the more it turned golden. [Nine Lives Burning Samsara Art] allows someone to reach heaven even for a single second.

For me, it is ten minutes.

{Soul: Early Nascent Soul > Early Divine Transformation (Temporary)}

{Mind: Early Nascent Soul > Early Divine Transformation (Temporary)}

{Body: Early Nascent Soul > Early Divine Transformation (Temporary)}

My vast spiritual consciousness became more exaggerated as it turned into divine consciousness. My body can now shatter the barriers between dimensions with absolute ease. The amount of spiritual qi I could mobilize can rejuvenate a dead land in one go.

The golden flames carved out a golden halo atop my head. It is my Divine Realm, the ability bestowed to those who transcended their limits.

The sensation of being at the Divine Transformation Realm completed the final piece of my Tao Heart’s breakthrough.

A sense of being inviolable swept through my very being. No matter what it was, they could no longer invade the divine without trampling them. It is the pride of a cultivator manifesting as a tangible guard against anything else.

{Tao Heart: Fifth Level > Sixth Level}

Click-!

The stigma space I was connected to fully manifested inside the Theater. The darkness possessed by the shadows grew stronger. The white spots covering my feet soon converged into my soul.

Crack-!

The crown atop my head began to be littered with cracks. My soul felt like it was a bursting balloon. My physical body exploded into a golden mist. My head swelled so much it felt hard to discern what was happening to me.

Cling.

My Tao Heart stabilized the Void Refinement Realm mental power I forcefully ingested.

{Mind: Early Divine Transformation Realm > Peak Void Refinement Realm (Temporary, Overloaded)}

My physical body reformed itself.

Hum-!

A bright pink light swept over my entire being. The tiny cracks on the very core of my soul disappeared. The power of Origin bore the backlash of carrying two temporary powers all at once.

All of these thoughts passed instantly.

The puddle of shadows beneath my feet turned into a familiar Tuna.

Karmic lines appeared in my sight. It holds the past, present, and future of someone. 

My Tao Heart turned into a Divine Sword in my hand.

Click-!

Shiing-!

Seeing the shadow’s form obliterated to pieces, my heart raged. 

How dare you use my wife’s image..!

The shadow sludge understood nothing. It took on a brand new form, but this time, it was Seele. My anger grew once more.

She’s my wife too!

Shiing-!

Crack-!

The intensity of my attack caused cracks to appear at the Imaginary Space. The past, present, and future of IX’s influence was cut down once more. Only, they recovered after a second. Its power dwindled ever so slightly. It could no longer use Kiana and Seele’s forms.

Similarly, cracks appeared on the core of my soul—my spirit. It was healed again by Origin at the cost of its light fading slightly.

I shook my head.

Normal attacks won’t work.  

Slashing at it with the Divine Sword does nothing. It is similar to Kevin using his basic attacks against the Herrscher of the End.

I brought the big guns out.

The [Heaven Shrouding Karmic Projection Art], capable of summoning forth one's past and future bodies, made its first appearance in the real world.

Crack-!

Crack-!

Crack-!

…

Six translucent cracks appeared beside me. Space shattered like a fine mirror. Six figures similar to mine stepped out. Then, they merged into one. The figure’s power grew exponentially stronger as a result. He reached the threshold of a Void Refinement Realm cultivator in one go.

My spiritual qi are consumed at a crazy rate. My mind swelled as my body leaked out golden blood. Sustaining its presence even for a few seconds took a huge toll on me.

My eyes met with my projection. He possessed zero independent thoughts, thus he did not respond.

With a zoom, he stepped towards the puddle and touched its karmic lines.

The Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Extremity, and Void merged into a perfect form. The Dao of All Creation that I sought was performed in full view!

The projection left something on its karmic lines before it dissipated into nothingness.

I felt a slight connection to the shadow sludge. It was the “karmic debt” left behind by my projection. The sludge has no intent to remove it, but its very nature corroded everything, rendering them meaningless.

The karmic debt’s role was simple. No matter what attack I perform, its receiver must face it head-on. It would affect their very core, guaranteeing a severe injury once activated.

It would be troublesome to cast it on a cultivation world where everyone was accustomed to strange spells, but not in the world of honkai.

“One strike will decide victory and defeat…”