Cultivating in Honkai!

Chapter 444: Chapter 443: Shut-in Goddess

The Divination Peak is home to the Wushi Dao Sect’s master diviners. All of the high-level diviners within the solar system were produced by the Divination Peak. They used to be broke in the past. Their divination capabilities were extremely limited at lower realms. Only when they stably produced Golden Core True Lords did they gradually break out of their financial troubles. A single session earns them enough resources to use for several years. After all, divinations are handy not just in life-and-death battles, but also opportunities.

For example, the matter of when they should go out to receive a sudden enlightenment, when to enter seclusion to ensure it would produce a successful breakthrough, who to commission to have a guaranteed success rate on forging artifacts, and so on.

Simply put, divination is a useful hack everyone desires to have. The popularity of the Divination Peak skyrocketed in the past few centuries.

However, this resulted in a rather strange development within the Peak.

The majority of them became shut-ins.

Perhaps it was due to the stressful environment in the past or maybe it was their occupation that changed their preferences. Almost everyone within the Divination Peak followed Wendy’s example and lived a shut-in life. Since they could earn enough resources without working hard, they spent most of their time in seclusion.

It didn’t help that their Peak Master is one such person. She seemed unfathomable to some while lazy to others.

In her best friend’s eyes, however, four words explain her best.

World’s number one bum.

Anna worried for her best friend when that Sea of Suffering struck. It was something that came out of Shi Tian’s golden blood... or at least a future projection of his. Seele’s blood-chilling pressure at that time made a deep impression on her.

As the previous Commander-in-Chief of the Federation’s military force, Anna faced a lot of strange situations. There are ’aliens’ similar to the Sugars roaming freely within the imaginary space. They are other civilizations destroyed by the Honkai—far before it even arrived on Earth. They possessed a connection with the Cocoon of Finality due to it, landing onto the solar system whenever fate dictates it. This occurrence is an inevitability.

There were also the Bubble Worlds formed out of the discarded branches within the temporal dimension, and in turn, the Imaginary Tree. Anna saw all sorts of oddities occur in that place. For once, there was a Bubble World where the high and mighty beloved President of the Federation became an idol. Another world was where she became the Emperor of a nation, sporting a character that was the exact opposite of their loveable Theresa—cold, calculating, and ruthless.

At the very least, Anna’s life experience was very rich. Although the Sea of Suffering affected her, it failed to overwhelm her. She was able to stabilize her mental state in the face of that despairing sensation.

If there were words used to describe it—

’The pain of wanting to die but you can’t...’

In Anna’s mind, the Sea of Suffering centered around extreme guilt, followed by severe self-hatred. Dying seemed more comfortable and simple than to live with such an experience. The Sea of Suffering lived up to its name; its terror seemingly unsurpassed by anything else Anna had seen in her life.

Flutter-!

The ends of her black trench coat fluttered as she made her way towards the mountaintop. She followed along the rock staircase built in its path. Her pale-pinkish irises flashed with a complicated glint every now and then. Her worries grew the closer she got to the mountaintop. Once she reached that point, a tall wooden gate greeted her face.

Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Bam-!

The next moment, the wooden gate swung wide open. She wasn’t surprised by this occurrence. Wendy is a shut-in who developed a control freak tendency of her entire home. Every inch of her residence was under her control. Only then could she remain relaxed.

A stone path led towards the courtyard garden. Wendy was already waiting for Anna across the table, seated on one of the ivory-white chairs. A faint white mist enveloped the entire courtyard. Several flashes of lights appeared within the said mist. These are the representations of the Daos comprehended by Wendy over the years.

She possessed a high-grade wind spirit root. Its ultimate-grade counterpart was the Three Thousand Divine Winds Spirit Root. Similarly, it embodies the Dao of Unfettered Gale. Underneath it was the Dao of Freedom, Wind, and Time.

Its greatest manifestation is to move freely across the myriad worlds, unfettered by time and causality alike. This "Freedom" attribute was what pushed Wendy to become a Diviner. It gave Wendy a trait that lowers the cost of life and death Divination. Otherwise, peeking at Shi Tian’s fate that involved the True Immortal Realm would outright kill her. She won’t get off with something as "simple" as staving off three-fourths of her current lifespan.

"Hm? What’s with the look? What got you so worried?"

She flashed a clueless look as she met Anna’s serious gaze. The latter stared at her blankly before putting it away. Belatedly, Wendy realized her concern was directed towards her. It took a second for the shut-in Peak Master to put two and two together.

"Hmph. I am not that weak."

"Should I thank you for it?"

"..."

Anna’s deadpan was enough to silence her. Wendy felt embarrassed after this losing confrontation. Her eyes darted away from Anna before her emotions calmed down. Anna sat right across her seat.

"That golden sea..." Wendy muttered. "Had I known things would lead to it, I would have peeked further."

What will Shi Tian experience to be pushed towards that edge?

That question gnawed at Wendy’s heart for the past month. She refused any visits and secluded herself just to barely move her focus away from it. Even so, she could not escape these thoughts. Her heart was entirely on Shi Tian’s future dire straits.

’...It shouldn’t be like before... like my clueless self who didn’t know a single thing.’

Wendy hated that feeling, and at the same time, found herself hyperfixating on Shi Tian because of it. She is extremely grateful for him—for saving her. Wendy was no longer her clueless past self. She is well aware of divination’s capabilities. It wasn’t difficult to infer that Shi Tian knew a piece of Earth’s future, which was why he took the effort to save her while transacting with Otto Apocalypse.

Most importantly...

’I want to feel it again.’

Undergoing a life and death divination for Shi Tian did not scare Wendy; it made her feel lighter. The gratification of finally having a "use" brought her joy. When she received Shi Tian’s concerns and reprimands, it transformed into warmth.

In the end...

She would never forgive anyone who takes it away from her!