Cultivating in Honkai!

Chapter 436: Polar Opposites

The framework for Blade Mantra was invented by Fu Hua during her time as the Immortal Jingwei. By utilizing known information about the Honkai and the principle of Aponia’s ‘Discipline’, it turned into a comprehensive technique that forces the physical body to adapt to the existence of honkai energy. A set of strange and unintelligible syllables act as the ‘Discipline’, calming one’s mind whenever recited. Its payoff was the enhanced control of the Honkai, with the highest known level allowing someone to draw honkai energy from the imaginary space; something similar to what Herrschers could do.Prior to immortal cultivation’s involvement, it possessed four levels: Absolute Calm, Flawlessly Clean, Clear Mirror, and Taixuan. The first three levels allow someone to actualize a peerless mental state. It rids any distracting thoughts, leaving nothing but emptiness. That emptiness was superficial, however. Only by achieving true emptiness could one reach Taixuan (lit. Grand Void).

In actuality, ‘Taixuan’ pertains to an infallible mental state.

Fu Hua, with her experiences, reached Taixuan. Unfortunately, it was impaired by the ‘Discipline’ engraved into her, something every MANTIS soldier suffered from. They required a ‘directive’ to retain their original selves. Without it, they would rampage and become mindless honkai beasts, adding to the enemies humanity has to fight.

It remained within Fu Hua even after the Previous Era civilization had perished. She carried on the directive to ‘Kill Honkai’. It did not help that her brain began to experience an ‘overload’ due to her long lifespan. She had to remove memories to make space for new ones. This, in turn, pushed her further away from humanity.

In the eyes of her disciple, she slowly became a heartless killer who would kill even those who had less severe symptoms of honkai corruption. When one of her disciples suffered from severe honkai corruption, Fu Hua’s order was to kill. Yet her disciples disobeyed, killing her instead.

Only after immortal cultivation came was Fu Hua able to completely recover from the injuries she incurred in the past. ‘Taixuan’ also became more accessible. Later on, Shi Tian was able to carve out a higher-level for it, True Form.

It stated that one cannot just be infallible. They must also retain their true intentions and carry it until the very end. Then came Heart Intention, the realm that further confirmed one’s intention and ‘purpose’. Finally, there was that was jointly created by those proficient at the Sword Dao. It suggested that their true intentions and infallibility, even when moulded into different shapes, would remain the same. That even if they lived out another life, it would be the same. It was an aspect derived from Shi Tian’s will.

Converted into immortal cultivation, it is the equivalent of the Dao Integration Realm. Everyone was clueless on how to develop it further. The Tribulation Transcendence Realm was still too far away from them. The techniques from the golden orb were ultimately theoretical. They didn’t have a real source of a Tribulation Transcendence Realm expert’s might. All they could do was theorize over and over again.

Li Sushang was able to improve through this way. She removed all sorts of requirements such as the need to ‘fix’ this universe’s temporal dimension. They only needed to ‘bypass’ the two Aeons responsible for maintaining the universe’s temporal dimension—Nous and Fuli—to be able to hijack a Path’s authority.

Nobody expected Li Sushang to come up with the ‘next level’ right now.

‘Eternal Will…’

Fu Hua quietly wiped off the trace of golden blood from her mouth. The stain on her white and blue hanfu—her outfit as the Empyrean—was burned to nothingness. The slight spiritual qi fluctuation caught Senti’s attention.

‘Is the old timer…’

She tried her best to look for any inconsistencies on Fu Hua’s expression, but to no avail. The latter felt slightly relieved when Senti hadn't noticed her abnormality. Fu Hua’s chest felt extremely heavy. 

She knew her mental state as of the moment was wrong. While she wasn’t as close to Shi Tian as others do, the murkiness of his thoughts greatly affected him. She saw the phantom of her past self within them. The version of herself who lost things over and over again. They are akin to sand slipping past her fingers. No matter how desperately she caught them, Fu Hua could stop the losses. The Shi Tian clearly lost his beloved. She felt sympathetic towards him, more so when she realized she never got to truly know about Shi Tian. All of these doubts stacked atop each other.

Without resolving these emotions, they were left within Fu Hua’s heart.

‘An … Even he could not prove it.’

Shi Tian’s greatest feat was to withstand IX’s erosion as a for countless years. Everyone believed he would be the closest to the . It reminded Fu Hua of their shared belief towards Kevin in the past. He was someone closest to realizing Fire MOTH’s grand plan. Yet, he ultimately failed in the end.

The possibility of living through another failure shook her heart greatly. Living through the Previous Era left numerous indelible scars in Fu Hua’s heart. To live through a similar ordeal made her doubt herself.

‘To remain in the past… must I experience it once again..?’

*****

The dark and empty void was as cold as it ever was. Dots of starlight glimmered across the cosmos, letting out a faint glow. 

From the moment the long-haired man appeared, the stars dimmed visibly. The representing worlds shook. It was akin to an Aeon sending their gaze over to the real universe. However, it was stronger than that. 

Amidst the chaos produced within the cosmos, the man looked behind his back. Twenty-one dim stars suddenly regained their brightness. Their presence caused a subtle fluctuation to spread throughout the universe. It seemed like nothing changed, but it was not.

Guilt could not be hidden from his eyes. His self-remorse couldn’t be explained by words alone. He would have killed himself if it could undo all of his regrets!

“It’s been a long time.”

His voice couldn’t be heard within the scope of the real universe. Instead, it reached out towards the twenty-six brightly-lit stars. The man said no more, quietly sensing the turmoil within each of these stars.

As future projections, they possessed the capability to affect the present. The higher their realm was, the stronger the influence they could exert. The future Shi Tian who was at the pinnacle of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm was basically one of the strongest gods of myriad worlds, second only to .

The consequences of their actions go beyond that, however. They are future projections originating from specific . Interfering in the present would make it more likely for the present to follow their futures. Though the chances are not high if done right, it is considerable. Still, they couldn’t help but interfere. They would rather take this gamble than sit still at all.

“A different future… It seems I have failed you .”

The future projection Shi Tian saw it at a glance. The ‘future’ he came from was different from the ‘future’ the twenty-six came from. He recognized it as the exact opposite of his future.

One was a future where only survived; the other where survived.

Both carried unspeakable burdens… sorrows. The suffering had experienced was no less than them. Such was the pain of losing the .

“Answers cannot be found in the future, but in the present. So…” He paused before speaking, “Let’s leave it all to them .”

His pleading words drifted across the twenty-six stars as his body turned into cosmic dust. None spoke a word, but their attitudes became clear. After a momentary hesitation, the twenty-one brightly-lit stars turned dim. They left their final gifts all over the universe, waiting for the most opportune moment to arise.

Soon, the world returned to stillness…