Contrary to the shitty experience from before, things are much better now.
With each use of [Sword Moves Like Thunder], it is getting stronger. I am learning new things out of thin air, too.
The same goes to the [Blade Mantra]. Its main function is to gain control over honkai energy. Later on, I felt its capability to control raw imaginary energy. It has a lot of potential for growth. All that's needed is to create higher levels.
My [Xinhai Sutra] also showed a huge amount of feedback. My current mental realm is at the Peak Stage of Foundation Establishment. It might be the first of the three to break through the Purple Mansion Realm.
Unlike Qi Refining, the realms above can be developed disproportionately. The most optimal way lies in the "Plus One Rule". I can raise my mental realm to the Purple Mansion Realm without damaging my body and spiritual qi.
Anything higher than one major realm will start to cause self-inflicted injuries, much like what happened with my poisoned high-level mental cultivation. That's why cultivators are all-arounders, unlike the crazy yet possible minmaxxing honkai does.
The [Encompassing Eyes] grew as my mental realm progressed, too.
Heck, all of my stats are going to INT and WIS. That's how absurd this poisonous mental cultivation is.
The sense of progress removed any bit of meaninglessness inside this space. Simultaneously, the leaves appeared in front of me on a daily basis. It is helping me digest the pure attainments better.
Most importantly…
What the fuck.
That was my only thought when I managed to enter the golden orb space.
I sighed.
It shouldn't have been surprising. Its power, based on what I saw, surpassed Aeons by a large margin. It won't spit out techniques up to the True Immortal Realm if it wasn't that strong.
I also have a vague feeling about it throwing me out to IX. It's a major tribulation for sure. That sounds like the things related to the [Tribulation Transcendence] Realm.
What if its greatest novice gift lies not in this shitty mental state, but that?
I put these thoughts aside and tried to use its usual functions.
It works.
The gacha took six days of wait.
I am surprised to be able to draw spiritual qi from my physical body. This is when my mind is completely cut off from my body and soul.
Before I lost consciousness, I used the [Two Phase Art] to convert the surrounding energies into spiritual qi. The center of it lies on my body. Wherever I went, I converted stuff around into spiritual qi. The automatic circulation took care of recovery.
I estimated my body to have recovered. The same goes to my dantian.
Anyways, the gacha resulted in late second grade apples. The amount of qi I utilized is already on the late stage.
I tried to send them outside.
Lo and behold, it fucking worked.
I don't know if Su is outside. I don't know what he's thinking. Let this apple cause him confusion.
Since then, my daily routine has been set in stone.
My mind kept track of time. I received new techniques every day. The gacha worked on the sixth day. The rest of the time was spent on cultivation. Sleeping is rare in my case. Once a week works well.
This is the biggest difference compared to before. Nihility's influence is far weaker. I can enjoy moments of peaceful silence, not the crazy-inducing ones.
Thirty days later, my proper mental realm reached the Purple Mansion Realm. I should have seen and understood the dao rhyme in my surroundings.
Unfortunately, all I am seeing is this space of black and white. I can't really test it out.
I tried to analyze the black space and received a scary warning.
Nope.
I am not doing that again.
I focused on scaling my spiritual consciousness range instead.
If I use my feet as a scale…
Around 528,000 feet. That's a hundred miles or so. This is within the standards of early Purple Mansion Realms.
For reference, peak Purple Mansion Realms are twenty times that—two thousand miles.
That's how I surmised they can shatter continents.
Once it reaches early Golden Core, it expands to ten thousand miles. That's the truly terrifying powerhouse of immortal cultivation. Then again, I admit this comparison is wrong. There are a lot of other factors affecting combat power.
Nonetheless, these prospects motivated me more.
One hundred days passed in total. My mental realm is raised to the middle Purple Mansion Realm. My sword cultivation and Blade Mantra remains on the same level.
This progress…
It's insane.
The timeline I estimated required years of cultivation in Foundation Establishment. I am speedrunning the mental realm in months!
In a sense, trapping my mind with this poisonous power accelerated my mental cultivation speed by a lot.
The next gacha came. I sensed my new limit. My qi cultivation is upgraded to the Peak Stage of Foundation Establishment. I estimate I will break through soon.
As for my physical body, I have no clue.
The honkai screwed around by injecting huge amounts of honkai energy to it. I gained a Herrscher's Stigma and a Herrscher Core.
If the honkai's destruction is supplemented by spiritual qi's repairing effect, it should have grown stronger.
Swoosh.
A familiar leaf appeared in my sight.
This time, I did not touch it immediately. Su's voice did not appear either.
Ever since he spoke during the first day, I never heard from him.
I placed the [Encompassing Eyes] to work. A bright gold line appeared on the green leaf.
Contrary to my expectations, it looked less like an artifact and more like mental strength. Its intensity is far stronger than mine.
An idea struck me.
Using my middle stage Purple Mansion Realm mental cultivation, I let my spiritual consciousness cover the entire leaf. I wanted to find a way to contact Su.
I expected it to be difficult.
Out of the cast, Su's ending is the most mysterious. After death, he transcended dimensions and met a mysterious will. That mysterious will wasn't explained up until my death.
"Hm…"
"So you can speak."
Hearing his response made me relieved.
"Thank god."
That was the first few words I muttered out.
"Thank you too." I said.
"...You're welcome." Su paused before asking, "You really are a human?"
"I have two arms, a pair of eyes, nose, a pair of ears, and a mouth… Yes, I am human."
"...I see."
I called it.
Su is the intellectual type who says something like that.
"Do you have my body?" I asked.
"I fished it out. Yes, I have it."
I could see the semblances of my joke here.
It's just…
Something's bothering my mind.
The Second Divine Key is an observation tool at its base form. It can observe countless bubbles within the Sea of Quanta.
A "beacon" is needed to orient its zeroth power. It unlocks the capability to open a door to the imaginary tree—by extension, the imaginary space.
That thing should be with Kevin, and as of now, he's at Bikini Bottom…
Well, at the bottom of the Sea of Quanta.
I have a hunch.
Su paid a certain price.
"I haven't even asked for your name. I am surnamed Shi, with the first name Tian. Shi Tian."
"You are free to call me Su."
My proper conversation with another Flamechaser began.