One month is not a long time.
My sense of time had long been skewed. I can spend an entire week engrossed in studying techniques. Fortunately, I did not. I am able to watch over Mei's daily progress. The same went for the others.
Fu Hua…
She did not need my teachings much. She understood most of the essential things from the get-go. It was as if she was born for immortal cultivation. I am happy to see this happen.
Rumble-!
The moment I saw the tribulation clouds appear, I knew Mei went past her inner demons. I am quite worried about her. She's very similar to Seele. It is beyond my expectations to see her complete the Foundation Establishment breakthrough in one go.
Buzz-!
Bam-!
…
Thirty minutes later, Mei finished dealing with the thunder tribulation. She wasn't as unscathed as before. She wasted a third of its power before she managed to absorb these tribulation thunders. Her cultivation techniques revolve around the power of lightning. By utilizing them, she becomes the incarnation of thunder itself, replacing even the heaven's most cruel thunder tribulations.
"Shishou."
She maintained her formal greeting before walking to my side. Mei did not speak much. It is reasonable. They did not know each other well.
"Just watch. I'll finish this in twelve… no, ten minutes!"
Sin Mal spoke proudly.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't get slapped in the face."
"No way!"
Why does it feel like it has a double meaning?
I didn't have much to do. Punishing Sin Mal like Veliona does not suit my tastes. It's better to embarrass her so bad she won't commit another bad thing. Spanking is the best choice for it.
Especially when she tried to use her spells to invade Kiana's dreams. A Purple Mansion Realm's mind is incomparable with her Qi Refining Realm. It's still a wonder why she did it.
I could only sigh at her.
Unlike Mei, Sin Mal did not get stumped by her inner demons. She even wore a scary smile while she completed the mental skill check. Her mental state is leagues beyond that of ordinary people like Mei. Add to that her psycho tendencies, I wouldn't be surprised if she enjoyed dealing with her inner demons.
Rumble-!
Buzz-!
Bam-!
The tribulation cloud sent down three waves of tribulation lightning to Sin Mal. She was inexperienced at first, but she managed to use her dream technique later on.
The tribulation cloud turned bright white and started to shrink to her hand. She observed its miniature scale for a while before dispersing it.
There's no way. High grade Spirit Roots are blatant hackers when it comes to tribulations. Instead of posing as a threat, they are more of a gift.
Sin Mal came back.
"Fifteen minutes. Where's your previous words before?"
"..?!"
She wore an incredulous look.
"You took too much time in the mind stage."
"Ah…"
Her arrogance was swiftly retracted, turning into a slight sense of glum.
"Since we are here, why don't you two spar?"
I looked at the dejected Sin Mal and Mei.
"That way, you can become more aware of your strength."
The two had no objections. I saw the desire to show off in each other's eyes. Sin Mal wanted to get back from her previous aura debt. Mei underwent some mental changes and is more keen to see progress.
Click-!
Buzz-!
Bam-!
The first bout ended with Mei's victory. She already had a background in swordsmanship. Contrary to her previous vulnerable state, she struck swiftly, not even giving Sin Mal a chance to strike back.
Her charged blow possessed overwhelming power. It is part of the sword technique I taught her. It is basically an amplifier involving swords, mental cultivation, and thunder. The charged blow is the strongest state, followed by the normal amplification state. The amplifications depend on her mastery.
Sin Mal, on the other hand, can pull her enemies into "dreams". Its lowest level is an illusion while its highest level is capable of forcibly dragging everyone in a new "world" (i.e., a dream).
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to showcase its strengths today. Her mood turned for the worse as she got relegated to the bottom of the three girls.
"You don't want to challenge anyone else?"
"No."
She sat somewhere in the corner of the Antarctic continent. Her clothes remained untouched despite the harsh weather and the tribulations. The same went for Mei and Fu Hua.
It is all thanks to Welt Yang. His talents in artifact refining is godly. Given enough resources, he can create artifacts of fourth grade and above.
This is something he proved recently.
I took a sword out of my storage ring. It housed the same appearance as the jian I used since the beginning.
[Beginningless Sword]
Grade: Low Fourth Grade
Traits: Sword cultivation output enhancement; ease of world alteration; compatibility to ten elements; sword will storage; sword will superimposition…
It started from when I comprehended the 'true' Dao of Causality. The supernatural seed "bloomed", allowing it to evolve into a supernatural power the moment I step into the Golden Core Realm.
Due to it, the [Two Phase Art] went to the [Small Accomplishment] mastery. It enables the conversion of 'non-living things' into their immortal cultivation equivalent. The 'non-living things' include plants and weapons.
That single improvement gave birth to a lot of first to third grade spiritual plants and materials. The honkai weapons are also converted into first to third grade spiritual artifacts.
Things change when it comes to Divine Keys.
I used it on the Xuanyuan Sword, successfully turning it into a late third grade sword. When Welt Yang helped me combine it with my original jian and peak third grade spiritual ore, it went up to low fourth grade.
Hum-!
The sword in my hand vibrated. The spirituality contained within fourth grade spiritual plants and artifacts give birth to spirits. They have the same intelligence and will as normal humans, except that they are very loyal to their owners.
"Miss Hua. Care for a spar?"
"Hm."
Although surprised, Fu Hua accepted my deal. A light blue sword emerged from her storage ring. A symbol of yin and yang is present on the middle of its hilt.
[Water's Edge]
Grade: Late Third Grade
Traits: Heightened control over water elements; sword will enhancement…
There are a lot of things I converted from honkai to immortal cultivation. Fu Hua brought this sword during our fight. I asked her whether she wanted to reforge it to become suitable for immortal cultivation, and she agreed.
It meant something to her. Fu Hua's decision stemmed from it, that I can tell.
With my nod, our "light" sparring began.
*****
A/N: Bonus chapter.