Kiana's mind is in a huge mess. Her dreams entailed some very unspeakable stuff. Her riding skills went up to the [Great Accomplishment] mastery all at once. Later on, however, Kiana was retaliated against by Shi Tian and was made to understand the immensity of heaven and earth.
Just then, she woke up.
Her big blue pupils blinked in an attempt to fight the remaining sleepiness. Kiana hasn't felt this drained since a year ago. If it wasn't for her body cultivation, she would've been dehydrated…
"AH?!"
A startled shout came from her.
Turns out, Kiana gave Shi Tian a bear hug and made him into a human-sized body pillow.
Worse, she rubbed her body against him and did something completely immoral.
She could still feel the wetness on her lower body. The slight weakness of her legs, coupled with the thick smell of something, explained everything. The dampness of such a large place could only be explained by repeated rainfall.
She hastily took out the immortal version of an alarm clock.
'9:30 AM… One night..!'
Overwhelmed by embarrassment, Kiana's mind stopped working. Even her breathing paused.
In an attempt to undo her hug, something big struck her right thigh.
"..!"
'No, no, no!'
Although Kiana was very proactive, her mind could not handle this level of stress.
"Hum…"
The moment she saw Shi Tian woke up, she cast the fastest cleaning spell she ever did in her life.
The somewhat sweet and Kiana-related scent disappeared…
But the surrounding yin qi did not.
In the end, Kiana teleported Shi Tian out of the subspace. She did not consume much honkai energy due to the fact Shi Tian did not 'resist'. If a Purple Mansion Realm resisted, she would have spent more trouble using her Herrscher Authority.
Without a word, the Tuna sent him away.
That was when Shi Tian fully woke up. He was startled when he felt spatial fluctuations nearby.
"It was a dream about the phoenix at first, but why did it turn into Kiana being a maid? She is clumsy enough to spill drinks on my pants…"
His eyes suddenly noticed the traces of a cleaning spell.
"What the hell…"
A vague guess entered his mind, to which he banished in the next moment. Shi Tian recalled everything that happened last night.
"My heart can't take it much…"
Fortunately, the Heavenly Phoenix he fought left him a way to escape. If it didn't, the dual cultivation side art would have seen the light of day.
"Where's Kiana..?"
*****
"Fu…"
Seele heaved a deep breath. Behind her are two dozen people. All of them are knocked unconscious with their arms cuffed behind their back.
Three days ago, she flew to the Salt Lake Base and talked with Tesla. Seele wanted to take on some "missions" that they could not settle.
Tesla was hesitant at first, but she ended up trusting the combat ability shown by her inside the simulation room.
A Foundation Establishment Realm wouldn't die even with high-caliber bullets. They can react on time and dodge it. Even if it hits them, it would not make so much as a shallow wound.
Only nukes can kill Foundation Establishment cultivators.
As for Purple Mansion…
That becomes questionable.
Seele possessed the body cultivation of peak Foundation Establishment. Her qi and mental cultivation stays at early and middle stage, respectively.
With such a line-up, Tesla entrusted several missions to her, to which she ended up completing.
One quick sweep of her spiritual consciousness can knock all ordinary people. The highly-trained ones will be left without any combat effectiveness. The remaining ones operated remotely. But, to their shock, guns, tanks, and missiles did not work on her.
The earlier half entailed asking her other self to show up and deal with trouble. Seele was inexperienced and let her guard down to those missiles.
She gradually learned the gist of fighting in the latter half. Playing around with Titans and splitting them in half became the norm.
{"You want this. I am not joking with you."}
"..."
{"No need to be scared. Would you hide behind your Sister Bronya forever? Or what, expect he would always be there to save you?"}
Seele could not speak.
She is scared.
At first, she wanted to get out of her comfort zone. But when she was fighting, she felt that blood and violence elicited a certain reaction from her.
The sharp contrast between that and her peaceful nature made her feel very conflicted.
'I can do this!'
After a round of self-talk, Seele regained her composure. She waited until the Anti-Entropy agents arrived and took care of the entire establishment.
It belonged to one of the Executioners in the radical faction. Everyone in that group has more or less private laboratories and child-trafficking syndicates on their hands. Gathering children with good honkai adaptability is the norm.
This is the last few remaining facilities after a month's worth of uprooting. It can be said that Welt Yang's prestige came back, with his authority over Anti-Entropy reaching an all-time high. He controls most, if not the entire organization.
Beep-!
Tesla's projection came up on Seele's smartwatch.
"That settles it. The remaining few bases can be handled by us alone. The top to bottom approach worked well. Thank you, Seele."
"Um. Got it."
With a renewed sense of pride and confidence, Seele flew back home. The three days' worth of fighting could not completely eliminate her cowardly nature, but she took some steps away from it.
At least, she won't hesitate to fight when needed.
This also helped Seele make up her mind.
{"There's already something fishy between them. Your only choice is to steal him from her."}
"W-w-what?!"
She stuttered when she heard her other self's suggestion. A part of her disproved it, but the majority of her shockingly… approved.
There was no way.
Seele found herself akin to someone forcing herself between two people with a good relationship.
Kiana had the luck and fate to encounter Shi Tian first. Their friendship gradually becomes dubious. It is not impossible for the two to fall in love.
Seele, the latecomer, bears the destiny of being the losing heroine.
Her other self acknowledges this fact severely. Seele's only other choice is to act against the norm and be the bad person. In fact, her other self drew up dozens of scenarios to steal Shi Tian away from the Tuna's grasp.
"No, I can't…"
{"Then give up."}
"...I can't… do it too…"
{"What do you even want?"}
"I…"
The silence between the two lasted until Seele arrived back at the orphanage.
There, she saw Shi Tian standing beside the huge gate. His current immortal-like demeanor coupled with his tied-up shoulder-length hair attracted her eyes at first glance.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Cocolia's act of inviting the two to live in the orphanage is the best thing that happened to Seele's life. She got to know an amazing friend… and an unreachable crush.
Everything he did, whether he succeeded or failed, looked good in Seele's eyes. His prior awkwardness on interacting with the other kids was well-appreciated. She witnessed him outgrow these flaws, all the whilst showing a better confidence to oneself.
The unique attributes of cultivation hearts appear.
As for Seele's [Scythe Heart], it exists to slice, pierce, and hook enemies closer to herself.
"I… want to be by his side."
{"..."}
"Even if… even if his heart already belongs to someone else…"
That determination felt very strong… until she saw something:
Kiana's unique aura.
The moment she came closer, Seele became more certain. Kiana is in close proximity to Shi Tian. Sitting together, hugging, kissing…
Her entire body froze for the nth time.