Cultivating in Honkai!

After sparring with Kiana, there are a lot of things to do outside. It is mainly teaching the kids and experimenting with the Dao of Enlightenment.

It turned out there are two modes of enlightenment. One is a weaker but continuous boost to comprehension. The other is a stronger but momentary bout of epiphanies. Both of these depend on my spiritual qi. I can also use its effects on myself. Most importantly, it grows stronger the more cultivators become stronger.

It is another plug-in cheat with great potential.

From two years ago to now, I reaped a lot of benefits as the first immortal cultivator of this world. There are a lot of difficulties, but they are outweighed by the benefits I received.

Twelve supernatural seeds, four unlocked golden orb functions, Purple Mansion Realm cultivation…

Now, I stood amidst the golden orb space. It is still the same darkness with the orb's brilliance serving as the sole light.

My mind thought of the fourth function.

Buzz-!

Swiftly, the surroundings changed. It turned into a misty mountaintop. Several trees, presumably spiritual plants, emitted traces of dao. The [Encompassing Eyes] identified them as late third grade.

Can I pick them up?

Creak-!

Rumble-!

A monster went out of its camouflage.

To my surprise, it is a dozen kilometers long azure dragon. Its body circled mid-air, its green pupils flickering with deadly murderous intent.

My first match in this Demon Arena is a dragon!

Azure dragon. Dragon blood. Middle Purple Mansion qi realm. Late Purple Mansion body realm. Late Purple Mansion mental realm. Supernatural Seeds, Water, Clouds, Power.

My judgement did not delve deeper into its origins. I haven't seen any actual spiritual beasts yet. My subconscious is hastily sorting out all the information related to it.

Roar-!

The dragon did not give me time.

Rumble-!

Buzz-!

The skies turned black instantly. The moment I looked above, I saw a literal tsunami descending. Accompanying it are bolts of lightning, all of which threatened to strike me down.

Buzz-!

Bam-!

I avoided it with [Cloud Seeking Steps]. A portion of my spiritual qi was spent, only to be recovered due to the abundant spiritual qi around.

The thunderstrike scorched the ground. Much to my surprise, it did not shatter easily.

That's right.

Judging from its concentration, this is a peak third grade spirit vein. The toughness of this place is exceptional, far surpassing Earth.

Bam-!

Buzz-!

My thoughts popped up as I avoided its attacks. It happened three more times before the kilometer-long azure dragon finally decided to use its body.

I have no time to waste. I need to experiment some things here. But, the death of my opponent will eject me from this space.

One decisive strike, just enough to incapacitate it.

Crunch-!

I tried to pick up a tree leaf, only for my hand to go past it. I tried to do the same for the other trees and the same happened.

It left me with no other choice but to use a spell.

Crackle-!

A flame dragon emerged from my palm. It swiftly grew as it rotated around my body, consuming a portion of my spiritual qi. The supernatural seed containing the Dao of Flames became active, imbuing this spell with further strength. Once it reached two meters, it stopped growing.

Rumble-!

After avoiding its thunderbolt for the fifth time, the tsunami finally descended. The azure dragon's body merged into the unimaginably huge swathe of water, intending to collide against me.

Hum-!

A bright rainbow hue emerged from the small dragon. It flew straight to the tsunami in the sky, its most destructive purple qi now being mixed with the rainbow hue.

Everything can be a sword.

Flick-!

Sou-!

The [Sword Light Refraction] showed its prowess.

Facing this huge spiritual beast, the rainbow light easily went past the surging dao rhymes within the water. The dragon could not react until the light easily cut through its body.

Boom-!

The surrounding water melted. Scorch marks appeared on the dragon's body. The tsunami spell dissipated into nothingness.

From head to tail, a horrifying burnt wound was left on its body.

RUMBLE-!

The azure dragon fell to the ground. A small leaf won against a huge tsunami and a dragon.

The tough ground relented to the dragon's might. It caved in. The remnant aura of [Sword Light Refraction] alone caused damage to its surroundings.

Surprisingly, the "trees" weren't affected by it.

Only now did I realize the sheer size of this "mountaintop". My spiritual consciousness traced the dragon's body and found half of it sprawled halfway through the mountain.

This mountain is bigger than Everest.

Unfortunately, I could not go past the mountaintop.

I popped up two pills to recover my exhausted spiritual qi and mind. These are simulated pills; the real ones remain in the real world.

Unleashing the [Sword Light Refraction] can only be done once at my current level. I need more restorative pills besides the five or so bottles of qi and mind-restoring pills.

While it is empty, I tried using my Herrscher Core… but to no avail. It remained unresponsive.

Oh.

I instinctively drew honkai energy from the surroundings—it came from the imaginary space. This space does not have the imaginary space, therefore no honkai energy.

Using the small bits of honkai energy in my body, it responded normally.

Roar-!

I didn't care about the dragon's dying roars. I tried to pick up a fruit from a certain tree.

Just like before, I failed in doing so. Everything except the azure dragon seems like an illusion. It is apt to say it is a projection. Only the dragon is real.

The entire mountain is filled with first to third grade spiritual plants. Harvesting this entire mountain will make me rich overnight.

Sadly…

It's like robbing a bank, only to see that the vault's emptied out.

Fuzz-!

With my Herrscher Authority, I ended the poor dragon's life.

******

Teaching Anti-Entropy immortal cultivation is something I will never regret.

My one year absence did nothing to stop their experiments. It was the lack of resources that forced them to be cautious step-by-step. More resources meant they can experiment with less restraints.

One week has passed since our return to the orphanage. Nothing much changed except for the children's enthusiasm towards immortal cultivation. They mainly formed a small competition based on how fast they can learn "magic" spells.

With the occasional guidance of "seniors" (i.e., us), the ones with middle grade spirit roots already entered the early stage Qi Refining Realm.

The harvest from the Demon Arena is good. The azure dragon's body is a huge treasure.

For once, its monster pill. Unlike humans, beasts form a monster pill similar to the Golden Cores, but it is far weaker. It is called the "Demon Core".

It is a translucent blood-like orb containing the most potent power of the said beast. Be it their most concentrated blood essence (bloodline) or dao rhymes, everything is stored within it.

In this azure dragon's case, others call it "Dragon Heart". It made me remember a certain auxiliary technique that can enable the simultaneous and automatic cultivation of all three cultivation techniques.

I only need to gain some other spiritual plants to use it.

Aside from that, its flesh reached seven kilometers. I don't know how many people have to eat to finish it. Even Kiana's black-hole level stomach got filled after eating a tenth of it.

It was our first time eating a spiritual beast. It is very filling and slightly improved our qi and body cultivation realms.

There are also its claws, whiskers, eyes, scales, and so on. I sent some materials to Anti-Entropy, mainly for creating spiritual artifacts.

My mind recalled that illusory mountain.

It is merely a peak third grade spirit vein, but it must have existed for thousands of years. The amount of spiritual plants it housed is insane. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any of them.

The future scene of our currently desolate low fifth grade spirit vein made me excited.

"Fu…"

With my bare eyes, I can see nothing except endless blue and white. Flying high up in Earth's atmosphere does that. My physical body did not feel any strain whatsoever.

Both my mental and physical cultivation reached the late stage. My qi cultivation fell behind at the middle stage.

My spiritual consciousness began to spread out.

Ten miles.

One hundred miles.

Five hundred miles.

One thousand miles.

The total range of my spiritual consciousness is one thousand miles, roughly around 1,600 kilometers. It covered more than a seventh of the entire Siberia.

I did not scan deeply. Only when there are some unusual honkai energy readings will I highlight them. My spiritual consciousness followed as I flew at a fast speed.

Just then, the presence of a Sword Heart attracted my attention. The class rep's familiar face flashed to my mind.

Unsurprisingly, she looked up. She could not discern my location, however.

Not even a second later, I found Himeko tailing Fu Hua. She stood more than a few kilometers away, looking at her with a scope.

The present I left…

It's good enough to plant the seeds of doubt. Otto kept a lot of things from Theresa. Siegfried's status as a rebel, the truth of Cecilia's death, Kiana's involvement in Project Sirin…

It is exactly what pushed her to ultimately join forces with Anti-Entropy in the game.

I put aside contacting them for a while. I continued my usual search.

…

I found another one.

The presence of a dead Herrscher Core grabbed my attention.

Seven Thunders of Retribution.

Its wielder, Raven, was startled by my spiritual consciousness sweep. I retracted it soon after, but not without seeing her vigilant state.

The inspection did not take long. Siberia's length is around 7,000 kilometers. It is akin to taking a garden stroll. Thirty minutes is enough to inspect the entire Siberian territory.

The power I possessed manifested tangibly. I can do a lot of things I could not do before.

The only remaining threats aside from the honkai are Otto and Kevin. Everyone else, I am confident of defeating.

A Herrscher's Authority and immortal cultivation…

I saw how terrifying this combination can be.

With Foundation Establishment Realm as a minimum, they will be leagues ahead of their original counterparts.

These thoughts remained for a while before my position shifted.

Buzz-!

Using time as a scale, I went back to the city where Fu Hua stayed.

Both she and Himeko remained within the city. There aren't any other tails.

…

Wait a minute.

Fu Hua. Otto.

Raven. World Serpent. Kevin.

These two…

I have a hunch they are cooking something… or at least want to see something.

My strength? Maybe.

Su managed to spot me within the imaginary space. It's not impossible for Kevin to do the same.

As for Otto… perhaps he's doing a blind guess?

I put it at the back of my mind. I can do a lot more compared to before. All that's left is to see what they are up to.

For now, the reunion with the second sword cultivator takes place.