Cultivating in Honkai!

Chapter 442: Chapter 441: Blood... Thirst?

A month had passed since then. Theresa and the others worked hard to put the Federation back on track. They didn’t sleep one bit during the transitional period. Pushing the Federation from its normal operation into war-time took a lot of law revisions and the likes. It didn’t help that Theresa’s perfectionism flared up when she left retirement to help out.

Everyone was happy except for Theresa...

"One month!"

She crossed her arms atop the desk before burying her face on it. The familiar sensation of unpaid overtime caught up to her. It didn’t help that she was feeling other grievances too.

"One month..."

Kiana specifically called her to give an update on Shi Tian’s situation. It was a brief call, but Theresa couldn’t help but feel there was something odd to it. She went through their call over and over again before arriving at a certain conclusion.

"Those two naughty kids..! They... those things..!"

No matter how flawless Kiana acted, she inevitably left traces. Theresa’s senses, coupled with her hyperfixation and Void Refinement Realm cultivation, is more than enough to catch them on.

As to why they did it, nobody knows. One thing was for sure, however.

Theresa’s heart is itchy!

’How does it feel..?’

Recalling the times she played with herself right in this office, a streak of blush appeared on her face. She buried her face deeper into her arms, leaving behind her reddened ears.

’To be loved like that...’

Her mind flashed back to her time at the Zixiao Palace. The Sea of Suffering contained the future Shi Tian’s sorrows. Everyone was made to feel it. Theresa was at a loss at first. She didn’t know how to face such overwhelming emotions. It was Shi Tian’s mental state when he lost everything. The mere thought of losing everything she held dear was enough to suffocate her.

That was until she realized something.

’I... I can face this with someone else.’

If there was someone who could stand beside her, someone who would bear these emotions with her...

It wouldn’t be as heavy as it is now.

Following it was her Tao Heart’s breakthrough to the eighth-level. It cost her something, however. Theresa became more fixated with that thought—with the certain someone she wanted to be with. He just so happened to be her niece’s husband.

At first, she felt guilty and apprehensive. Theresa couldn’t picture herself fighting over others for Shi Tian’s affection. It all changed when they drank together that night.

The warmth on her lips, the stickiness on her tongue, those strong and sturdy arms hugging her waist...

Since then, Theresa could no longer forget about those memories. Her heart beat faster every time she thought about him. Her mind felt lighthearted and giddy. Her tongue tasted sweet despite eating nothing.

She fell real hard.

With the Sea of Suffering’s influence, Theresa sank deeper into the Shi Tian addiction. Her physical body craved for Shi Tian’s taste and blood. Her mind craved his presence.

’If we...’

Her dainty fingers reached out on the hem of her dress, pulling them upwards. Theresa placed them underneath, tracing along her gartered stockings. Her fingertips soon reached her laced black underwear. Her scarlet-red pupils turned hazy as her shoulders trembled with each touch she did. Only the underwear’s fabric separated her touch from her already moist slit. Her breathing grew unsteady, with her heartbeats turning faster due to expectations.

Soon, Theresa found herself unsatisfied with the fabric’s hindrance. She went to its sides and parted it to the side, revealing her pink slit underneath the desk. Tiny undulations appeared on her chest as it pressed down onto the top of the desk.

The moment her fingertip touched her slit, her entire body was electrified.

"Mn..!"

The familiar stimulation struck forth. Her eyes widened, slightly tearing up, before narrowing down in pleasure.

’Was this... what my niece is doing?’

For the first time, Theresa felt extremely envious. The shallowness of her heart intensified after the Sea of Suffering’s influence. Her strong willpower allowed her to pass through it, but it doesn’t mean it was over. So long as she doesn’t fill up this ’hollow’ part of her heart, it would come back to bite at her tenfold.

’When will I also...’

*****

"Why..."

Sin Mal still couldn’t believe what she saw. The first time she met Shi Tian, she was drawn into his color. It was thought to be his Sword Heart at first, but that didn’t seem to be the case. It wasn’t until his experience with IX was revealed did Sin Mal understand what she saw—

An indescribable, blinding light that never extinguished.

Her eyes could see through someone’s soul. Sin knew which person held great malice; or which person was genuinely sincere. Bronya’s sincerity was the one that made her obsessed in the first place. Unfortunately, she wasn’t good at communicating with others. Growing up in a dysfunctional family does just that.

Shi Tian was the one who helped her become closer with Bronya. She paid him more attention as time passed by. Before she even knew it, she found herself attracted to him—to the purity of the man named Shi Tian.

That was why she couldn’t believe what she saw that day.

Pitch black darkness; an abyss devouring everything.

Simply put...

Sin Mal was scared.

The Shi Tian of that day was the exact opposite of the Shi Tian now. He accepted sacrifices. He accepted compromises, to the point he was willing to harm everyone to make them stronger!

’What did he experience?’

She was all too familiar with that kind of feeling—despair. The times she felt so helpless she couldn’t find a way out. When she heard her foster parents selling her out to a ’noble’, she could only drop to her knees unable to do anything. The feeling of helplessness—of wanting to do something yet she cannot—was something she didn’t want to feel again!

Such was the case with Shi Tian. He was cornered to the point he found himself incapable of doing anything. The dazzling, inextinguishable light turned into an eternal abyss.

"Why..."

Sin Mal was truly scared for him. She didn’t want to see Shi Tian turn into that... monster. The sorrows that drowned her made Sin Mal think about Shi Tian, not herself.

Days passed and she remained seated at the corner of her room. She didn’t talk to anyone nor eat anything. Sin Mal doesn’t know where to begin. She found herself back in the past. Back when she accepted being confined in her little bedroom.

"...A light."

Her heterochromatic eyes let out a low glint. Sin Mal understood something after a month of isolation.

Just as she wallowed in helplessness before Bronya’s accidental entry to her life, Shi Tian would head towards the road of no-return—to that scary abyss—if he didn’t have someone to pull him back.

Hence, the answer was simple.

"I will become that light."