Cultivating in Honkai!

Great cultivators change the course of nature on their whims.

Golden Core True Lords preside over planets;

Nascent Soul Dao Lords can influence star systems;

Divine Transformation Deific Lords alter galaxies at will;

Void Refinement Star Lords place star sectors under their grasp;

Dao Integration Venerables utilizes the unity of man and nature, thus enveloping an entire universe by themselves;

Tribulation Transcendence Supreme controls universes with their thoughts alone. 

They are capable of creating brand new universes by themselves.

Finally…

True Immortal, also known as Mahayana.

Standing high above the universe, reality is like a play dough in their hands. All kinds of dimensional scaling does not matter;

For they are beings that cannot be scaled.

…

Ow.

I felt something slapping my face. Darkness receded. I regained my sight.

That's right. I was sleeping. I woke up from my cultivation dream. The planets I wiped out with a swipe turned out to be a dream.

Then…

"..."

I looked in front of me. 

I am sure I slept on the couch last night. Kiana slept very soundly on the bed.

Why are her feet in front of me again?

It's not just one, but BOTH of them!

"Ow."

One of her feet kicked me in the face. She did not stop there. Her foot remained in my face. Her other foot kicked me in the jaw.

"Ow…"

Not a day goes by without thanking my cultivator status. I can withstand these things perfectly fine.

Feeling my dantian, it almost reached its limit. The qi circulation in my meridians is more active than ever. A feeling of 'fullness' is transmitted every time I pay attention to them.

…

"Fu…"

I stopped my thoughts. My embarrassment flared up. This was not the only time Kiana sleepwalked. For the past forty-five days, we toured all over Russia. A total of two and a half months have passed since my first arrival.

Sadly, we did not find Siegfried. His [Deadbeat Dad] skill is leveled MAX. We did not come across any other minor honkai eruptions either. At best, some small incidents of zombies in isolated streets.

This led us to heading to a dangerous place… Siberia.

"Feet again…"

Luckily, I learned some contingency plans like Batman. 

I urged my spiritual qi to circulate near my feet. The operation is perfect. Within my sight is a pair of hotel sleepers. The next moment, my position changed.

I easily slipped through Kiana's grasp like that. My entire body is lying on the ground. I stood up and saw the slipper take my place. It is the [Taiji Inversion] at play.

I chose not to approach her further. Her second incident of sleepwalking taught me not to move her feet. She will wake up by then.

"Hm…"

I went inside the bathroom. I took off my shirt, pants, and underwear. I made sure not to wear any clothes.

I sat on the cold floor and placed my palms facing upward. The feeling of 'fullness' in my dantian appeared yesterday. It could no longer be increased by qi cultivation.

That meant I reached the threshold to Qi Refining's middle stage.

Along with it was another feeling of wanting to 'stretch'. It means I can break through at any time.

"I slept for this…"

I thought of the sleeping Kiana. She isn't so sensitive to spiritual qi. Only by moving her feet will she wake up.

Once the [Two Phase Art] converted all 'free energy' into spiritual qi, it became prevalent throughout the entire room.

My thoughts went straight to my dantian. It is filled with spiritual qi. I vaguely felt a connection between it and another inactive dantian. I know it exists somewhere, but it is like grasping something in a dark room.

Worse, it only becomes tangible once I reach the pinnacle of the early stage.

I stayed in this state for a while.

"Hm…"

A snort escaped my nose. I was too excited and got out of my cultivation trance. 

Oops.

Thankfully, I am able to return to that state a second time. I grasped the brand new dantian corresponding to Qi. Directing the spiritual qi stored in my first dantian, it crept outside the other dantian.

It circled around for a while but to no avail.

Then…

I directed my spiritual qi to surround it. Slowly, more spiritual qi gathered. I supplied five times' worth of spiritual qi from my first 'Qi Sea'. It required a lot of recovery, patience, and focus. The time I spent here must be an hour or so.

Buzz-!

My head started to buzz. The spiritual qi encirclement broke down. The second Qi Sea began accepting them.

Consequently, my body felt liberated. I felt a hallucination of my body floating to the sky. It is similar to the elevator dreams, but ten times more intense.

Instinctively, I bit my lower lip. I did not dare exit this state. I endured this somewhat dizzying and satisfying feeling.

Spiritual qi continued to pour onto my second dantian (Qi Sea). It did not stop until it became full.

"Fu…"

A sense of strength invaded my body in all directions. From my feet, to my legs, then to my torso…

Every single blood flowing in my body felt very hot. Their movement converged atop my head where the brain is located.

Crack-!

Crack-!

Crack-!

Scary popping sounds rang in my ears. My body did not feel abnormal. The surge of strength kept on appearing. It did not take long for my mind to enter a daze.

…

"Huh…"

I breathed out. I automatically exited my daze. I opened my eyes and saw black liquids on my legs. A quick inspection is enough to see it all over my body.

A pungent smell went inside my nose.

Fuck.

I coughed a few times to remove that smell. It is worse than shit. I opened the shower to wash these black fluids on my body.

Middle stage…

This is supposed to be the 'shedding mortality' part. It cleanses all unclean things from one's body, including 'impurities' caused by pollution, diseases, and the likes.

The entire sense of Qi Refining's early stage is to forge a spotless body. It will be continuously protected by the first dantian, known as the 'Jing', from external things.

"It should have been more…"

I lived on my Earth for twenty-four years. I expected these 'impurities' to be more. That's considering my twelve-year-old version in my previous world. There's also my heart disease.

This confirms it, then.

I have a brand new body. The impurities now are only the ones I got within these two and a half months. Even, it is not much. Other things must have played a part in it.

Shocking, but not much.

"Oh…"

I looked in front of a mirror. The person reflected looks good.

Oh, it's me.

"Fourteen…"

I am not sure about my changes. I am sure I grew one or two years, though.

Just...

I look different from the fourteen-year-old self I know. 

Unblemished face, unbloated cheeks, good jawline, and a perfect pair of eyes. I had to move my bangs upwards. I noticed how my hair extended to my shoulders now.

I look good.

Is this the saying "No cultivators look ugly?"

Thank you, immortal cultivation.

"Tsk, tsk. I get why Madam Herta is narcissistic…"

Just then, I looked below.

"..."

Seriously…

It is standing erect. It matched my body's growth. It's definitely bigger now than before.

What follows is the typical hormone surge of a teenager.

All sorts of wild thoughts appeared inside my mind. 

…

Nope.

I sighed.

My deep breaths served to calm it down.

Like a true cultivator, I silenced my inner demons.

My Sword Heart grew slightly stronger. As long as sword cultivators follow their heart and become unfettered, they will achieve the state of cutting everything in one sword. 

I am looking forward to that day.