Cultivating in Honkai!

The realm of existence and non-existence, tangible yet intangible, is inaccessible to most. The notion of “person” exists in both material and idealistic planes. Just because one could not see a person, it does not mean they do not exist.

What if someone could remain solely at a single state?

What if their existence is limited to ideas? To the physical realm?

This results in someone closer to Remembrance’s Memetic Entity.

Shi Tian’s situation during his arrival at Amphoreus, ironically, happened for the second time. Only, there is someone who could interact with him—someone who pulled him back to their home.

Looking at the sleeping Shi Tian on her lap, Kiana suppressed her emotions. She wanted to give a reprimand—to lock him with the tightest hug. She considered his dire straits, refraining from doing as such.

‘Paths and Daos…’

Kiana gently brushed the strands of hair on his forehead. Her power as the Embrace of the Cocoon gradually thawed his special state.

They had all thought that the Cocoon of Finality’s limitations lay at the Void Refinement Realm. Now, Kiana does not think so. Reverting Shi Tian’s special state caused by the backlash of Remembrance’s exertion on a forcibly raised eighth-level Tao Heart takes much more than pills and the likes. Not to mention, there was also the accumulated backlash for utilizing the [Nine Lives Burning Samsara Art].

“Hm. I should have prepared that outfit from back then…”

*****

A clear buzzing sound came to my ears. I no longer possessed the need to breathe, yet my first instinct was to deeply inhale the air surrounding me. A familiar fragrant scent assaulted my nostrils—a mix of spiritual herbs and bodily scent.

My inactive divine consciousness opened. My sense of weakness gradually became more and more prominent.

The first thing I saw with my eyes was a pair of star-like irises. A pair of mountains blocked my sight from beneath.

I noticed the softness at the back of my head after much delay.

Kiana..?

Before I could react, my nose bumped with Kiana’s. The latter did not let it stop her kiss.

It wasn’t until some time later did she pull back.

“Sleeping beauty never needed that long of a kiss.”

“Hmph. What if sleeping beauty is a pinnacle Divine Transformation Realm who went into a coma for two hundred years?”

“...”

The frivolity I learned from Amphoreus could not stand against Kiana’s words. Her victory seemingly gave her an extra edge as a smile appeared on her lips.

“This lap pillow…”

“It lasted for two hundred years. How was it?”

“...Very good.”

I am not that surprised after hearing her words. A lap pillow lasting two hundred years is something this Tuna Goddess could do.

“I want to ask a lot of questions, but I will let you do it first.”

I heard a tinge of sourness from her voice.

Three hundred years…

This matter’s fault lies on me.

Everything I did was too demanding of my current realm.

I used up five eighth-grade talismans, connected it with my Tao Heart, and prematurely brought my Dao’s—the Dao of All Creation’s—existence into the universe. It helped that the five talismans are related to the Dao of Elemental Union (lit. Five Elements Union), with the last one bearing the Dao of Endless Void.

When Daos are spoken, it is common to see ‘overlapping’ authorities. The Dao of All Creation can exert control over the Dao of Fire, just as the Dao of Elemental Union and countless other Daos do.

Hence, the Dao Integration Realm is divided into two types: general and specialized Dao.

The first type takes the Dao Position of common Daos. It is easier to achieve than the latter, but it faces the risks of limited slots.

The second type creates a unique variant of a Dao Position. It does not take up any slots. It also has greater flexibility and can oftentimes exert control over the first type. The downside was its sheer difficulty and astringent requirements.

The five eighth-grade talismans happen to belong to the second type, thus they required more efforts to control. Their strength compensated for it.

“What happened after I pulled it off?” I asked.

“That time…” Kiana sighed as she recalled something. “I sensed a strong presence. THEY resonated with me… with the Cocoon of Finality.”

She told me the gist of things.

The multiple backlashes I faced sent me unconscious. Funnily enough, it has always been like this. I kept falling into a coma at every major event.

This time, my sleep lasted for three hundred years. It was only Kiana who could ‘interact’ with my existence at first. She had to borrow the power of the Cocoon to slowly remove this special state, allowing Seele and the others to diagnose my injuries more thoroughly. Her attainments as one of Earth’s greatest alchemists allowed for a more detailed examination.

With the help of treasures piled up in the treasury, they found the right spiritual herbs and pills, feeding me non-stop until I woke up.

“Your body has been cultivating automatically. You absorbed everything we gave you.”

Automatic cultivation?

That was when it dawned on me—

Technique masteries.

During the initial stages of our cultivation journey, we placed emphasis on mastering our cultivation techniques: from [Beginner] to [Great Accomplishment]. Once we reached that level, we focused more on stuff that could boost our realms… such as dual cultivation.

The highest-level mastery was [Perfection]. It spelled ‘perfect’ control over a technique’s functions, customizing them as they will. Blending them with other techniques and automatic cultivation is but a part of their functions.

Somehow, my time with Amphoreus—and interaction with the Remembrance Path—pushed my cultivation technique to [Perfection]. This mastery corresponds to the Dao Integration Realm.

I told Kiana this realization. She responded with a brief nod before revealing something.

“Actually, I once had an idea to use my Blade Mantra on the Cocoon’s authority.”

“The Cocoon?”

“Um. I can feel it working somehow. I chose not to do it for now.”

The Cocoon of Finality…

At first, I assumed it was just an entity bearing the same name as Finality.

I am dead wrong.

The truth I uncovered about Finality overturned a lot of my previous assumptions.

One thing is for sure: It has a connection with the Aeon of Finality.

“That’s good. Finality is not something we cannot deal with for now.”

“About that… We might have messed up.”

She continued her earlier topic.

“The presence I felt… Finality… I feel it would come earlier.”