Welt Yang processed what happened in the past hour.
Tesla first received a pre-recorded video from Shi Tian. It mainly talked about what happened during their absence—the reawakening of the Second Herrscher. It is followed by new information, such as Cocolia’s shady dealings. It is placed under the guise of his non-existent Master.
What follows next is Kiana’s phone call. She talked to Tesla for a while before arriving on the Salt Lake Base. The Anti-Entropy trio readily agreed to her arrival. It is much better to closely monitor Kiana’s current condition.
That was how she ca across Siegfried’s troubles.
“Mister Yang. My father is in Shenzhou, right? Which city is it?”
“Sovereign. How did…”
Welt Yang cut off Ryoma first.
“It’s a long story. I will tell you the details later.”
“...Understood.”
Ryoma knew it was his turn to hang up, and so he did.
“Please don’t be reckless.” He said as he faced her. “I will not prevent you from going.”
“...What should I do?”
Contrary to expectations, Kiana did not recklessly storm off the lounge.
Welt Yang looked at Einstein. He saw from the latter’s face that she had already cooked up a plan.
“We need to use the quantum gateway today.”
Soon, a feasible plan was cooked up. The capabilities they displayed gave more hope to Kiana.
‘I will definitely find you..!’
*****
Three days ago.
“...No.”
Shi Tian pressed the wound on his left arm. His groggy consciousness beca wide-awake.
His current situation is bad. He could have beaten back Sirin with less trouble… but that posed greater risks. He aid for an overkill—to have a sure-fire way of damaging Sirin’s ego.
The Golden Core equivalent of sword cultivation, [Sword Light Refraction], ensured that. Shi Tian struck her unguarded. That gave out better results.
Either way, twenty years of lifespan is too cheap. His current lifespan now is at least 250 years. It can go as high as 500 years. Proper spiritual artifacts must be made to precisely detect it.
Except for physical injuries, his dantian, mind, and soul are rely overexerted. There are no issues that hindered his future cultivation. Once he gets over this weakened state, he can return to his previous stable cultivation life.
That is the ideal plan.
Shi Tian looked upwards.
“Was this it? i described it as a vague connection… that she cut off.”
Every fiber of his being is telling him: Soone’s watching.
He instinctively felt he could deal with this peering gaze with his usual strength. The [Sword Light Refraction] is enough to cut it off.
Unfortunately, he is not in the right condition. The mont he burns his lifespan and uses [Sword Light Refraction] again, it would end up in even more severe injuries.
Shi Tian keenly sensed the surroundings. He is looking out for the sudden changes that might occur.
“A disaster in making…” He muttered.
The signs were there from the beginning.
The nightmares that drained his dantians? His mind and body rejected the Will of Honkai’s influence.
Dreaming about Kalpas? The Herrscher Core.
Finally…
“My previous life.”
Shi Tian disregarded it. He treated his past life as a journey fulfilled. Yet, his dreams about it accounted for the majority.
Sothing is wrong.
Sothing.
…
“Taixuan.”.
Grand Void… or better known as Eminence.
Shi Tian mastered the [Blade Mantra] to the highest level in three minutes. He previously thought it was caused by his comprehension and [Sword Nurturing Pagoda].
He is only half right.
What did Fu Hua experience to be able to stand at the top of [Blade Mantra]?
Thousands of years of mories.
Shi Tian did not have that.
What did he rely on, then?
“Eighty six thousand… four hundred…”
A vague whisper passed by Shi Tian. He stood up with shaky knees and looked around. He found no one except the unconscious Kiana.
“One hundred… seventy-two thousand… eight hundred.”
The whisper appeared again. He looked around and found nothing. He did not remain idle. A high-tech looking pistol appeared in his right hand. It is one of Welt Yang’s creations.
Instead of requiring spiritual qi, all that’s needed is a spirit stone. It can function as a proper spiritual qi fueled gun.
Hum-!
The blue lines on the pistol lit up. It gave off a gentle blue glow.
Click.
“Six hundred four thousand… eight hundred…”
Bang-!
A streak of red appeared on the bullet’s trajectory. A miniature fla dragon headed straight to its path.
Rumble-!
It struck one of the rocks and created a cloud of dust. Apart from that, there was nothing else.
“Wu… character for boundless.”
The voice is shakier compared to before.
Bang-!
“Shi… charac… fo… Wushi...”
Bang-!
It was the voice’s breaking point.
“One.”
The count restarted again. The voice returned to normal…
Bang-!
Bang-!
…
Each ti Shi Tian pulled the trigger, the voice spoke.
“Thirty one million…five hundred fifty… eight hundred… seconds.”
The voice broke down again. The count was reset back to one.
“Huh?”
Click.
Shi Tian beca absent-minded. He looked at the gun’s nozzle that is about to lt. He did not care about it.
The swathe of mories he previously ignored began to resurface. His entire life flashed into his eyes. He no longer saw the imaginary space. Instead, he saw his viewpoint at birth.
He can vividly recall the masked doctors and nurses. Then ca his boring childhood life. He is raised in a well-off family. He had no worries except for studies.
Elentary…
Highschool…
College…
The fateful day soon ca.
Shi Tian’s lost mories returned. It was not sothing covered by his Foundation Establishnt.
He is sound asleep on his comfortable bed. His eyes shot open when a dizzying tinnitus ca to his ears.
Shi Tian could not breathe. He instinctively clutched his chest. His heart beca constricted.
“Why…”
He took care of dication. He had a heart surgery. He did everything he could.
Yet, he was destined for death.
It was a painful five minutes of struggle. Shi Tian tried to reach out for his phone, only to see it on his desk ters away. He could not stand up. He is paralyzed. He had no one when he died. He did not die in his sleep.
Surprisingly… death did not spell the end of everything.
“Huff..!”
Shi Tian felt as if he drowned. He heaved for air.
“Where am…”
He looked around and saw a vast expense of darkness. Strangely, he could see his own body. It is not darkness that is caused by lack of light. It is sothingelse.
In his first hour, he walked around aimlessly. His body did not get tired. He did not feel hungry either. Everything was strange to his eyes.
In his second hour, he felt more uneasy.
In his third hour, the silence drove him crazy.
“What kind of… Is this purgatory? Hell? Reincarnation?”
Shi Tian began talking to himself.
Four hours.
Five hours.
Six hours.
…
One day had passed.
Nobody responded to Shi Tian’s calls.
“Others reincarnate with a golden finger. I am sent to the backrooms… or should I say, black rooms?”
His dry humor gave him life.
Two days.
Three days.
Four days.
…
Shi Tian is walking aimlessly for several weeks straight. Every ti he turned silent, he started going crazy. The endless expanse of nothingness has pushed his mind to its utmost limits.
“Am I being played by an omniscient being? Hello? Can you send to another world? I don’t care even if I have no cheats!”
Nothing but silence greeted him back.
That split second of silence made him pause. His eyes started turning red. The silence drove him crazy. He could not stop speaking. That is the only way to hold onto his will.
“Fuck. This shit made crazy. My British accent is obliterated. Can I speak… wo neng… Shit. My Chinese accent turned normal?!”
Weeks turned into months; months into years.
Shi Tian beca a bonafide crazy. His dry humor no longer bore any aning. The years of existence into this black space exhausted all his possible jokes.
He resorted to reusing his old jokes.
Unfortunately, they did not feel the sa.
One ti.
Ten tis.
A hundred tis.
Shi Tian grew numb. He could no longer feel anything whenever he spat out his jokes. Each ti his jokes got reused, he slowly sank into despair. Sothingis pushing him towards that feeling.
Shi Tian relied next on counting each second of his existence. That turned into his sole purpose in life.
Even then…
It did not work forever.
His ntal state collapsed. Every ti he reached the one thousandth mark, he started counting back from one. The influence insists on pushing him to the depths of abyss.
Along the way, he gave himself countless titles. Shi Tian played around with his na.
Shi stands for ti.
Tian stands for heaven.
Wushi. Beginningless.
Tianzun. Venerable.
It made up for so cool nicknas.
Unfortunately…
It was all for naught.
Shi Tian broke down completely after what seed endless years. His eyes remained dazed by the endless darkness. The influence started to consu him thoroughly.
Everything turned aningless.
But then, it was not all aningless. Accompanying aninglessness is void. It is a ntal state attained by high-level taoists... or in other terms, immortal cultivators.
Those who have nothing can have everything. Their minds transcends dinsions. They are free from the karma of the world itself.
An invisible golden light protected his soul. His body did not exist in this black space.
Shi Tian's mind began to transcend his mortality.
The endless aningless carried the truth. It pointed the way towards the True Immortals.
As such...
He achieved the ntal cultivation of Void Refinent Realm!
It gave insights to the highest level of dao; of the world. Things he could not begin to comprehend ca to his mind. His very existence began to sublimate into sothing higher.
However, it posed a big problem. The beings of this world is born flawed.
aninglessness....
Nihility is flawed.
If it was a normal world...
If it was a normal concept of Void, it would have been fine. It has no will, and as such, it brings no harm. The Dao of Void, a more complex application of the Dao of Space, helps future breakthroughs.
The "nature" of this world's Void is different.
Nihility has an unconscious will. It exerts the influence of aninglessness to its surroundings. It is polluted nature (concept) that harms whoever sees it.
As such, the ntal state Shi Tian experienced is flawed. It is not the true ntal cultivation of a Void Refinent Realm. It is riddled with holes due to Nihility's influence.
The conflicting aninglessness and Void Refinent's realizations continued to clash. What seed like an endless stalemate of confrontation was forcibly halted after endless years.
A small sphere of golden light glowed in his chest. It shone brightly and blinded his eyes.
The golden orb began dragging him upwards. He broke free from his daze. He regained the sanity he lost over the countless years.
Shi Tian saw the true form of the darkness that trapped him.
A black sun.
One word ca out of his mind: Nihility.
Had the golden orb not intervened, he would have continued to fight against Nihility for the long years to co.
Nihility…
IX did not care about Shi Tian's departure. It is nonchalance incarnate. It cares about nothing.
It knew there was soone that fell into it. That is all. It never cared about him in the first place.
The golden orb soon acted.
It gave Shi Tian the biggest opportunity of this world. The beginner's package in cultivation.
With a proper experience with void, one’s future cultivation path becos extrely smooth. Receiving the ntal cultivation of a Void RefinentRealm in advance makes cultivation before that realm extrely easy.
It is the novice gift it granted to Shi Tian.
The golden orb did not care...
Rather, it intended to let him experience a tribulation.
Only when Shi Tian is on a long stalemate did it act.
He is rely a human. Forcing him to comprehend Nihility's influence gave him a Void Refinent ntal cultivation poisoned with IX's will. Just using it will awaken IX's leftover influence. It has to be fought back by Shi Tian himself.
Being able to contend against an Aeon as a forr mortal is completely insane. It highlighted his uniqueness; the reason the golden orb ca to him.
Finally, he began to instinctively deal with this poisonous ntal cultivation. His transcendent will started to act unto itself.
Shi Tian wanted to reduce the flawed ntal state's impact to the barest minimum. Since this ntal cultivation is riddled with poison and flaws, it is much better to sever this cultivation... and so he did.
His ntal cultivation started to drop.
Void Refinent...
Divine Transformation...
Nascent Soul...
Golden Core...
Purple Mansion...
Foundation Establishnt...
The mind borne by his soul dropped to Qi Refining. The severed ntal cultivation turned into a form of ntal energy. Inside it, white and black lights clashed. The forr symbolized the pure realizations attained as an immortal cultivator. The latter is IX's influence.
With the last bit of power remaining, Shi Tian contained it in a seal and placed it unto his soul. It is akin to putting a small box inside a bigger box. There won't be any problems as long as the small box remains intact.
Even, its existence will gradually improve Shi Tian's ntal cultivation speed. It avoided the risk of Nihility's flaws while retaining its advantages. Once he truly reaches the true Void Refinent Realm, Nihility becos aningless.
All of this happened with the golden orb protecting his soul. It ensured it won't break down due to his use of high-leveled power.
The golden orb followed his instincts. It began to search for the solar system. Once it did, it brought him to Earth.
A familiar place… the regrets of not being able to attend the Glastonbury field trip.
Once a proper physical body is ford, his long years’ of mories are sealed up.
The clueless Shi Tian woke up to an unfamiliar place.
“...Shit.”
…
…
…
“So that’s how it was.”
His dull eyes began to scan his surroundings. A single thought was all it needed for the imaginary space to buzz.
From the hospital, to the schools, to their family ho, to the college dormitory...
The world changed as he willed. Like a lock being opened, this polluted ntal power started to rge back to himself.
The ntal strength of a Void Refinent Realm began to seep out... until his body showed signs of disintegration. Blood did not co out of him. Instead, his crumbling body turned into dots of five-colored light.
His physical body is starting to show cracks. Once it worsens, his physical body will turn into dust.
Whether or not Nihility's presence is there, Shi Tian is bound to cut off his high ntal cultivation. This is the correct answer out of all. An extrely high ntal cultivation without the corresponding body and qi realm harms oneself.
Without the protection of the golden orb, his soul will break. He is extrely fortunate to not have his body at the ti within the black sun.
He began to thoroughly cut it off again.
The sound of a thunderstrike rang in his ears. It is followed by a blinding white light.
Shi Tian’s accomplishnts with swords began to fight back the poisoned ntal cultivation. The effects of the [Thunder-Like Sword] and Blade Mantra’s [True Form] are small, though they began to grow.
They are akin to invincible weapons hitting a level 999 boss. Each damage they deal to the polluted ntal power, they grow stronger.
Only, it is not realistic. The best way to deal with this polluted ntal power is to cut it off again. Getting stronger in this thod will result in his body's and soul's collapse.
'The mind. I can cut it off from the body and soul.'
Isolation.
He cannot do it as thoroughly and delicately as before. He does not have the golden orb's protection. The best he can do is to isolate his mind from the body and soul. That was also the limits of what he can do.
A tinge of hope briefly returned Shi Tian’s sentience.
He looked at his chest. Honkai energy began to surge from his surroundings. A brand new connection between him and the Will of Honkai. A bright blue crystal erged inside his chest. A huge marking is drawn on his back.
Before, the polluted ntal power is sealed tightly within his soul.
However...
The Will of Honkai planned to take advantage of his misfortune. It wanted him to rge with this ntal power. It broke the small box (seal) and caused its contents to leak to the bigger box (soul).
The mont it laid its eyes on Shi Tian, he turned into the most perfect vessel to destroy humanity. So long as it could bring out the "imnse darkness" inside him, it will succeed.
It wasn't a dark personality.
Instead, it is pure ntal power tainted with an Aeon's influence. It was never the "imnse darkness" it awakened. It is IX's shitshow plaguing Shi Tian's novice gift.
The foreboding disaster he sensed...
It was the Will of Honkai's tempering of the seal he made.
The Cocoon of Finality wholeheartedly supported its endeavors. This entity destroyed his arrangents!
“No… Not here.”
His last bit of will led him to walk at the rock’s edge. He took off the storage ring in his finger and dropped it to the ground. In doing so, the gun fell down to the imaginary space. Its fate remains unknown.
“I can see it.”
Shi Tian saw the way out. He can sever his mind from the body and soul. That is the best he can do while preserving his body and soul. He can revert back to his forr state, even erging stronger than before.
Now, his sole wish is to get away from Kiana to prevent any accidents. Although the honkai failed to turn him into a controlled Herrscher, who knows if it chooses to affect Kiana.
There is also the fact that the honkai wanted him to rge with the ntal cultivation and Nihility alike. The Will of Honkai or the Aeons' influence...
He does not want her to get affected by them.
“I will co… back.”
Just like that, Shi Tian’s free-falling body signified his long drop amidst the imaginary space.
*****
A/N: I hope this answers everything. I spread out the hints since the early chapters. It’s mainly the random consumption of his dantians plus the dreams/nightmares. That, and Blade Mantra. I wanted to make it so that things only make sense when the reveal drops… which is now.
Anyways, it will be a tiskip and a powerspike next. It won’t be as absurd as facing the Cocoon in one go.
I do hope I executed it right. All sorts of opinions and comnts are encouraged. I want to make this fic better.
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