Cultivating in Honkai!

"The places you visited…"

Upon returning to the familiar bakery, we were greeted by the owner. Another round of bottomless eating began.

"The limit is not only on distances. It's on duration."

"So… you can teleport across the world as long as you were there an hour ago?"

"Yes."

The newly upgraded [Cloud Seeking Steps] has a passive and active effect. Its passive effect lies in its increase in movement speed. Its active effect, on the other hand, works two ways.

I can either scale my spiritual qi consumption on spatial distance or the duration I left a place.

Teleporting from Earth to the imaginary space is impossible with my current qi realm—if spatial distance is used as the basis. It is a higher realm far out of Purple Mansion Realm.

However, if I use "time", it will consume much less; because we came out from there half an hour ago. The longer the time passes, the more spiritual qi it will consume.

By the second hour, I will no longer be able to sustain that travel.

That applies to everywhere else. Higher dimensions won't matter; only time.

The complexity of the Dao of Time is truly fascinating.

As to how I comprehended it, I have a feeling it is related to the mental cultivation I once achieved. Aside from the Void Refinement Realm cultivation, there is also the poison. Nihility is a special being presumably on the level of Dao Integration Realm.

It won't be strange to be affected by his influence one way or another...

"I can't see much use for it."

"How about we spar? You and me."

"That's a good idea!"

Her eyes lit up.

"We can use anything, even honkai. Whoever gets put to danger first loses."

"I'm in. When will we do it?"

"Tomorrow. We still have to settle our rooms."

*****

"Liliya. Is that who I think it is?"

"Positive. He is the legendary brother they told us about."

Shi Tian halted his descent to the stairs. His gaze swept over to the hallway, where two girls could be seen peeking on their door. They have light blue and pink hairs, respectively.

'Another nonchalant stalkers… no, wait. They're just like us…'

Rozaliya is fiery and reckless; Liliya is calm and collected. That was the exact duo Kiana and Shi Tian were.

'Gray Serpent hasn't done it yet…'

Aside from the noticeable honkai corruption they suffered from, he saw nothing else.

'I hope they have good enough spirit roots…'

Shi Tian's attention did not linger for long before he went down.

There, he met the new arrival.

Kiana and Seele are talking to the newly arrived Bronya. Unlike Seele who visibly grew up, Bronya's changes remained very minimal. She is still the same old duck.

For a few seconds, Bronya's gaze remained on him.

'Was it really a special case? He, too, grew up…'

She put aside this small thought.

"How is Miss Cocolia?" He asked.

"She is treated well in terms of prison standards."

It was Bronya's turn to ask this time.

"The Bronya heard you will stay in the orphanage."

"Yes. We will stay here for a longer time."

He explained their plan to teach the children here. Kiana no longer had any reason to travel—her father's living well in the Far East. She forced him not to stir up trouble, which was then backed by Welt Yang.

The high-end combat power of Anti-Entropy exploded with immortal cultivation's existence. Thus, they no longer remained as passive as before.

It removed Siegfried's need to draw attention. They can already handle Schicksal's forces. Similarly, it gave Kiana a reason to stay in one place.

The orphanage is a good choice.

Seeing the three of them chatting together, Shi Tian relaxed.

'There aren't many threats for now… except for Otto and Kevin.'

His current strength warranted safety to most. There is still a lot he hasn't tried out. Cultivation aside, Shi Tian's honkai adaptability and the Herrscher Core aren't put to use yet. There is no telling how strong he had become. The spar he proposed to Kiana is one way of finding that out.

'Give me three, no four years… I will find a way to harness that mental power and… put an end to honkai.'

Soon, he rejoined their conversation.

*****

Ring-!

I was instantly blasted out of my trance. My qi cultivation session stopped. The heavenly comfort of the late third grade bed tempted me to continue lying down.

A heavy weight disrupted my thoughts. Came with it is a girl's voice.

"Heh… A dragon…"

No matter how far I distance myself, I wake up with Kiana using me as a body pillow.

Last night passed by quickly. My distorted sense of time was barely sustained by that alarm clock.

I heard it was developed by Welt Yang. It is an alarm clock filled with intricate carvings of heaven and earth patterns. It is a middle second grade artifact designed to disturb a cultivator's mind. If it wasn't for it, going into seclusions for months is the norm.

"Hum… It's already morning..?"

Her bright blue eyes met mine. Her messy double braid spoke volumes of her bad sleeping posture.

She is nothing like an elegant jade beauty.

"Mn…"

Kiana continued acting like there was nothing wrong. She removed her arms on me, stood up, and started stretching.

I followed suit and stored the bed inside my storage ring. Then, I came inside the golden orb space and claimed my daily techniques.

Ever since my [Cloud Seeking Steps] reached [Great Accomplishment]—with the [Taiji Steps] doing so as a bonus—I gained insights about the Dao of Time.

I tried to find techniques similar to [Cloud Seeking Steps] but to no avail. This led to me finding more time-based techniques. It is broadening my horizon, nothing else.

I have way too much to learn, after all.

Buzz-!

The golden orb suddenly let out a flash of golden light. It travelled through space and reached my forehead in an instant.

Akin to jade slips, it fed me with new information.

…

"Huh."

I expected the golden orb to change with each major realm. That did not happen. The technique and draw functions appeared randomly. It was as if... it was broken?

This bug-like performance is like a broken system. I didn't think much of it before, but now, I feel more uneasy about it. Nothing dangerous came out of it, though.

I temporarily stashed that thought at the back of my mind.

Now, two new functions have opened up. One of them is very useful to my current situation. The other one is broken if used right.

First, the Demon Arena.

It creates a demon—beasts—on the same level as me. It will have nothing but rational bloodthirst, forcing it to fight me to the death. This function can be opened once every ten days. It does not consume my spiritual qi.

I can voluntarily forfeit too. It will waste ten days of waiting, though.

Second, Farming Space.

I can turn a certain space into an exclusive Farming Space. I am required to find the spiritual soil and spiritual plants to fill it up.

Its sole function is to boost spiritual plant growth by a thousand times. This depends on my qi realm.

For reference, peak Qi Refining plants take a hundred years to grow. Peak Foundation Establishment takes a thousand years; Peak Purple Mansion Realm takes ten thousand years.

A multiplier of ten is present to them. That was why I emphasized the "if used right" part.

Qi Refining plants will grow up in more than a month. Foundation Establishment plants will grow in a year. Purple Mansion? Ten years.

This solves most of the problems with resources.

As for the farming space's size, it is roughly the same as a factory warehouse. I can maximize its space by creating staircases of fields…

It seems like I am no longer solely aura farming.

I will farm for real.