An entire day passed with Elysia.
We ended up staying inside the Elysian Realm for an entire day. We didn't say anything after the tension between us.
The karmic line is as real as it could be. It is a connection that embodies all of my thoughts and feelings toward Elysia.
It is just like my situation with Hysilens. The circumstances we went through led to our mutual understanding. This time, however, Elysia is my teacher. She is the one who taught me what wishes truly are. She helped me find what I wished deep inside my heart.
I was powerless to do anything back then, but it is different now. I can bring back the dead back to life. Naturally, fulfilling Elysia's small wish—to experience the life of a normal girl—is something I want to help with.
I treated it as a form of repayment from that precious moment.
How wrong I am to do so.
The emotions that arose from the Dao of Miracles…
I don't know if it is love, only that I am sure it is not just love. It was something difficult to explain with words.
Elysia met up with the other Flamechasers while I processed it. I watched from afar before leaving. The atmosphere between them was something I never belonged to. My impression of them was stuck at the time we spent inside the Bubble World. I am more than aware to not treat them as how I knew them.
When the day ended, I glimpsed the cheerful Elysia.
She hasn't disappeared.
My power at the early Void Refinement Realm is enough to supply her existence for a day and a half. Exceeding that would send her back to her time—back to when she disappeared for good. The Imaginary Tree is akin to an unforgiving grinder that permanently deletes one's existence upon their death. The sole hope for reversal lay in All Creation—in my cultivation reaching the pinnacle of Void Refinement Realm.
Now, another alternative showed up in front of me.
Miracles' influence lingered between me and Elysia. It seemed perpetual, bearing zero costs to me whatsoever. A closer examination revealed its essence.
The missing Core of Origin.
It wasn't fully spent in my fight with IX, remaining in this brand new form. Going further on its origin led me to a karmic causality tied to the Cocoon of Finality.
The moment I touched upon it, Kiana sensed it. We had quite a long talk when it happened. We decided to talk in person after Elysia's matter was settled.
Elysia was about to say her farewells when I interrupted her through my mind.
"Don't say any goodbyes yet. You can stay for an extended period of time."
"A-ah?"
She directed a stunned gaze towards me. The others around her saw it and traced Elysia's gaze back to me.
…
The Miss Pink Elf can get clumsy sometimes.
I continued communicating with her mentally:
"I can't say for how long, but for now, there aren't any problems. You can stay inside the Elysian Realm or explore the outside world. It is your call."
"...Thank you."
Her words of gratitude made me feel lighter. A sense of tranquility arose within my heart, akin to a chance at enlightenment. The fleeting sensation did not last long, but it is more than enough for me to undergo a period of self-reflection.
The gray fog I possessed contained four lights within. A bright pink light shot towards it, staining the said fog with pink.
Before I knew it, the original four-sided setup of All Creation turned into five, with Miracles being the fifth. It is akin to a deus ex machina. It followed no form or reason. The countless cultivation techniques I have detailed of the Dao of Brilliant Miracles. However, it does not fit into the Dao of Miracles I held. It broke every single known convention there was.
Shaking my head, I met Elysia's gaze.
"If you want to visit the outside world, feel free to call me. I… haven't explored the outside world too."
*****
The progress on higher realms takes decades, if not hundreds of years.
Four hundred years ago, the majority of Shi Tian's partners reached the Void Refinement Realm. The time that passed up to the present was only enough to push them at the cusp of another breakthrough.
Rumble-!
Thunder flickered inside the grotto-heaven. The skies remained perpetually at night. Thunderclouds and lightning arcs emerged from nothingness, threatening to destroy everything within. The dark brown soil was devoid of life, merely serving as a foothold. Glittering purple crystals emerged to its surface every now and then.
Amidst it all was a young woman. Her purple-hair remained in a perpetually well-cared state. Its smooth and silky ends flowed along the shockwaves produced within space.
Crackle-!
The lightning and thunder reached its peak before slowly dying out. The ambient spiritual qi, formed out of an eighth-grade spirit vein, rushed straight towards Mei.
Before long, her shut eyes opened. A flicker of purple lightning streaked from within.
"Middle stage." She muttered under her breath, "Another achievement to show Shishou."
Mei's achievement relied on spiritual herbs, treasures, and the findings over the Sea of Quanta and the Imaginary Tree. For once, they are now capable of carving an imaginary space out to the real world. It easily reached the seventh-grade criteria at minimum; eighth-grade at maximum.
In immortal cultivation, it is akin to having a large supply of high-grade and ultimate-grade spirit veins. One ultimate-grade spirit vein was enough to house a Dao Integration Realm expert—an absolute powerhouse capable of affecting an entire universe with their presence.
Derived from that discovery was the imaginary energy's function to boost cultivation speed. It works at the Void Refinement Realm and above. The imaginary energy, holding high-dimensional information mashed together, has the effect of honkai energy for the lower realms.
Nevertheless, Mei had to focus on her cultivation for almost four hundred years before reaching a breakthrough. Her high-grade spirit roots worked hard in this regard. Unfortunately, reaching the ultimate-grade was something difficult without external assistance—something they never had up until now.
"Hm..?!"
Mei jolted out of her cross-legged position. The word 'active' shining beside Shi Tian's name was the sound of heavenly trumpets to her ears.
"Four hundred years…!"
For Shi Tian, an obsessed storm is approaching…