Cultivation is Creation [World-Hopping & Plant-Based Xianxia]

Chapter 168 - 163: I'm Leaving

The trip back to the Han compound was... interesting, to say the least. I'd experienced many awkward situations since finding myself in Han Renyi's body, but walking through the streets of Blue Horizon City at night, trying to come up with a plausible explanation for our twelve-hour disappearance? That was definitely in the top five.

"Maybe we could say we were meditating?" Han Renyi suggested after I had given a carefully crafted summary of my meeting with the Immortal Boy.

"For twelve hours?" I replied. "In the storage room? Without telling anyone?"

"Well, when you put it like that..."

We turned a corner and nearly collided with a patrol of city guards. They took one look at Han Renyi's merchant robes and moved to intercept us.

"Young Master Han?" The lead guard called out. "Your father has half the district looking for you!"

Ah. So that's what a realm-wide

"Yes," I said simply. There was no point in trying to soften this particular blow. "Soon."

There a long pause.

"How soon?" Han Renyi finally asked.

"Within the hour, I think. The pull is getting stronger."

He nodded slowly, as if he'd been expecting this answer but still wasn't quite ready for it. "Will you... will you come back?"

"When I can," I promised, keeping the plan to one day annex this realm into my own inner world to myself. "Though time moves differently between worlds, so I can't say exactly when that will be."

"Different how?"

"It's complicated," I said, then caught myself using the exact cop-out I'd just been discussing. "What I mean is, time flow between realms isn't consistent. Sometimes a day here might be a week in my world, sometimes it might be the other way around. It depends on a lot of factors that even I don't fully understand."

He absorbed this information with a thoughtful frown. "So, when you say you'll come back 'when you can'..."

"It could be tomorrow for you, or it could be years," I admitted. "That's why I don't want you to wait for me. Focus on your cultivation, on protecting your family. Make your own path."

"But..." He paused, and I could feel him struggling with his next question. "Couldn't I come with you?"

It was that same question again, but now I had a better idea on how to answer. "Not yet. The barrier between realms... it's not something you could survive crossing at your current level."

"What level would I need to be?"

"The Celestial Sovereign clearly chose Tier 7 for a reason, with Astralis's help, that should be enough to crossover."

His shoulders slumped slightly. "That's... that's beyond anything I thought possible."

"Is it?" I asked. "You've already surprised yourself with what you can achieve. Why stop now?"

That got his attention. He straightened up, a familiar determination entering his eyes.

"Master, you promised to tell me about your world. So... what is it like?"