Emperor-class honkai beasts.
They are different from the other honkai beasts. The templars, chariots, and seraphs are mostly physical. Their variants possess an elemental attack, but that was it.
Even if they can spew out fire, create ice, do electric shocks, their powers are similar to the superficial elemental control of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Things are different with emperor-classes.
On paper, they possess a nerfed authority similar to a Herrscher's.
Facing them now…
"Shit."
A line of blue ice appeared on the ground. It rapidly extended to the sky—right in my position.
My [Encompassing Eye] is put to work. A tinge of gold appeared on my irises. The world slowed down a bit. Intangible lines appeared on everything. Upon looking at them, all sorts of information popped up in my mind.
The wind velocity is around fifteen kilometers per hour.
The dormant temperature lies in twenty-four degrees celsius.
…
The [Encompassing Eye] uses my knowledge as a base. It is similar to the [Appraisal] skill. I don't need to analyze things; their information appears straight to my head.
My inadequacy results in irrelevant results, however.
I shut down these thoughts. The intangible lines of the irrelevant things disappeared, returning my sight to normal. Only the blue-colored intangible line remained.
A thick cluster of blue lights emerged in my vision. They possessed the same "unintelligibleness" of dao rhymes, the type where your sneeze gets forcefully stopped.
Dao Rhyme. Presumed third grade or higher in cultivation terms.
I immediately made a choice. This is a simulation… and my purpose is to see my limits.
The silver-bladed jian appeared out of my right hand.
Ring-!
It let out a chime akin to a bell's. The sword light contained on its blade became thicker.
Seeing the pillar of ice with less than two hundred meters of distance, I raised my blade.
With one downward swing…
Fwoosh-!
A whistling sound descended. The hazy silver light flew out of the blade's tip. It went straight ahead to the ice pillar.
Crack-!
The silver light swam across the sharp ice pillar. Except for cracks, it served nothing. The ice pillar is rapidly approaching me.
There..!
My spiritual consciousness locked onto a rock.
A swift chant and operation later, I found myself standing on the ground. The rock I switched places with got frozen solid by the ice pillar.
It stopped as it did that. It has enough awareness to notice my escape.
I did not mind its reaction for the time being. I stared at the light blue string in the sky.
Sword will. Second grade. Affecting a suspected third grade power.
…
This is impossible.
I expected my attack to do nothing. A major realm worth of difference cannot be crossed like this. Purple Mansion Realm cultivates with Dao Rhymes. Without Dao Rhymes, lower-leveled attacks have a ridiculously low effect.
It's like Raiden hitting Senator Armstrong countless times.
It does zero shit.
This disbelief turned into confusion. I want to know why this happens.
The grip on my jian's handle became tighter.
*****
The establishment of Anti-Entropy after the Manhattan Incident (First Eruption) showed the gap between them and the gigantic Schicksal. Tesla and Einstein had to work hard to resolve these problems one by one.
The simulation room is a product of that initiative. It aims to place Titans into a more-realistic battle scenario. It is a test they undergo after completing the virtual simulations—the equivalent of flight simulators.
Its basis lies in their study on the Sea of Quanta. The way it holds information could be used to "store" information and recall them.
To date, the room is powered by a strong honkai reactor located underground. Its output could go as high as eight hundred Honkai Welt. Anything higher has to be made in a more isolated area. That was how far the safety measures in this base go.
Now, the area for testing military-grade Titans is being used by a single boy.
Boom-!
Shi Tian did not attack frequently against Parvati. The best way to describe his current situation is a game of tag, just that the one chasing him is a huge emperor-class honkai beast.
Without proper knowledge, the best thing to do is to prolong battles before dealing a decisive strike. He employed this strategy to learn more about Parvati.
Twenty minutes later, Parvati became visibly weaker. Shi Tian agilely avoided its attacks with [Cloud Seeking Steps]. The gathered momentum on his body is now far beyond his current realm.
Tesla watched him turn back to Parvati. Shi Tian is now facing Parvati head-on.
Ripple-!
Rumble-!
"That is…"
She heard something strange. She began to experience sounds of water drops rippling. Next came the cackling of flames. Then the stiff movement of wood branches, before turning into a loud thunderclap.
Tesla wore the glasses Welt built. She can use the artifact to sense the surroundings with an artificial spiritual consciousness at the cost of her spiritual qi.
In her sight, nothing changed. It was still Shi Tian flying straight to Parvati.
"His sword..!"
Her pupils narrowed. She did not understand anything about the [Daluo Sword Art]. It is a move he never used.
It only has two functions. One is to break down the opponent's move to increase the understanding of swords. The other is to stack all sword-related perceptions into a single strike, encompassing them 'all' and creating a higher-level attack. The level of one's sword cultivation could be raised.
In Shi Tian's case, he has the support of hundreds of sword techniques as cross-references. When all of them are stacked together, it allows him to briefly upgrade his sword cultivation by a major realm!
The moment Tesla tried to look at his jian, a blinding white light flashed her vision. The mysteries and dao rhymes it held is immediately transferred to her eyes; the glasses she is wearing.
"Ow!"
Crack-!
The glasses cracked. A strange and destructive aura seeped out of its cracks before dissipating.
"What's that—?!"
Nobody answered her question. Her blurry eyesight did not help.
It took Tesla half a minute to regain her normal vision.
"He…"
She could not finish her words.
Inside the simulation room, she saw the tall Parvati split in half. A fog of ice surrounded Shi Tian. He is visibly fine except for the extreme fatigue on his face. His breathing is heavy. He stabbed his jian to the ground.
The spiritual qi floating around became disordered and chaotic.
The attack that brought down Parvati, a genuine emperor-class honkai beast, caused it.
"What was that?"
Tesla canceled the simulation altogether. The room returned to its previous white state.
Using his remaining strength, Shi Tian placed his jian inside him. It magically did not injure him as it became smaller inside his dantian.
"My secret move. How was it?"
"You didn't use it before."
"Yeah."
She went out of the observation deck and walked beside him. Shi Tian remained standing with a middle grade spirit stone in hand. It came from Anti-Entropy. He is absorbing the huge amounts of spiritual qi inside it, boosting his automatic recovery.
'Giving them the spirit stone condensing technique is a wise move. '
"Are you fine?"
"Yeah." Shi Tian replied before continuing, "Let's proceed with the practical experiment, Doctor Tesla."
She paused.
For months, they respected Shi Tian. They did not ask him for samples and the likes. It changed more than a week ago. He actively sought for means to use spiritual qi against honkai corruption.
"Will you be alright?"
"It's nothing too big. You should have seen my samples."
"Yes. It is undeniably abnormal."
From the perspective of science, Shi Tian's Foundation Establishment physique is akin to superhumans. It is free of destructive forces like honkai and only has spiritual qi as its requirement.
What's even surprising is his body's retention of spiritual qi. The blood and tissue samples he sent over still have his spiritual qi. Months alone do not suffice in researching it.
Strangely enough, Shi Tian wants more progress to it—even at the cost of his body.
The sudden changes baffled the trio.
Tesla wanted to ask about it but chose not to.
She swallowed her words and started leading him towards their underground lab.
'What could have caused a big change?'
*****
A/N: There are hints of what is about to happen. No worries if you did not see it. It will all be the same once the reveal comes ;)