Fenghuang watched Su Yu.
Being killed a thousand times leaves no scars in a consciousness space — but it does leave something else, something that defies easy description.
He had changed. Changed in ways even he himself hadn't noticed.
"If it's you..."
Fenghuang's voice was as calm as ever, but laced now with a deeper, more complex weight.
"Then perhaps it truly is possible — to bring Kiana salvation in this world, and to forge within her the strength to overcome the Herrscher of the Void."
Su Yu smiled faintly and waved it off.
"Alright, Squad Monitor, let's not sit here getting sentimental at each other."
He rubbed his temple, still slightly swollen — the aftereffect of having burned through far too much mental energy.
"You didn't keep me here just to drink tea with you, did you?"
Fenghuang gave a single nod, her expression shifting back into focus.
"The violent emotional collapse just now inflicted no small amount of shock and damage on Kiana's psyche."
She spoke slowly.
"Fortunately, I used what remained of Yu Ducheng's power to... apply some appropriate editing to those memories."
"For her, it will feel more like a dream — a harsh one, yes, but ultimately just a dream. That way, the actual trauma will be considerably reduced, and she won't be crushed by the weight of those death-memories the moment she wakes."
Su Yu exhaled with relief. A silver lining in an otherwise grim cloud.
"However." Fenghuang's tone shifted, dropping lower.
"The Herrscher's erosion is unconscious. It is a part of her very existence."
"Just as your... the System, as you call it, has said — every act of remembering, every time she brushes against the wounds of her past, accelerates the awakening of the Herrscher's consciousness and deepens its erosion of her own mind."
She looked at Su Yu, clear concern in her eyes.
"Even if the Herrscher of the Void herself — or rather, her consciousness — chooses to lie low for a time after the lesson of tonight, she can only slow the erosion. She cannot stop it. Still less reverse it."
"Not even the Herrscher herself can fully control this force — this assimilation and consumption of the Host's consciousness that springs from the very nature of Honkai."
Su Yu's brow furrowed slightly.
"So when all is said and done," he muttered, a note of grim resignation in his voice,
"everything I just threw myself into — dying God knows how many times fighting her — all it did was swap an immediately detonating fuse for a time bomb? As long as the game keeps going, as long as Kiana keeps touching her memories, the thing's still going to wake up when it wants to, and keep eroding when it wants to?"
"That's one way to put it." Fenghuang did not deny it.
"Moreover, the Herrscher's erosion isn't limited to the mental plane. Once it reaches a certain threshold, Kiana's body will begin to exhibit abnormalities as well."
"She will experience increasingly unbearable pain. Her senses will gradually become disordered and distorted — she may even, in time... progressively lose all five senses."
Su Yu was silent for a few seconds. Then he raised his head and looked at Fenghuang.
"The fact that you're telling me all this," his voice was steady, "means you must have a way to solve it, or at the very least... some path to fight it. Right, Squad Monitor?"
Fenghuang held his gaze. Then she gave a firm, definitive nod.
"Since you know everything about me," she began, "you should also know about the Tai Xu Sword Qi."
Su Yu's eyes lit up immediately.
"I do. Derived from your Shenyin techniques, specifically designed for the control and manipulation of Honkai energy. And one of the most important legacies you left to future generations for combating Honkai."
He spoke quickly. "Is it the key that will allow Kiana to overcome the Herrscher?"
"Yes." Fenghuang confirmed. "When the Tai Xu Sword Qi is cultivated to its highest realm, the Heart Essence forms its own self-contained world within — one that no outside corruption can penetrate."
"Its core lies in the unity of Spirit and Form — and above all, the indestructible spiritual will forged by the Heart Essence is one of the most effective weapons for directly combating the erosion of a Herrscher's consciousness."
Su Yu stroked his chin.
"But here's the problem." He raised the critical point. "In this world, there is absolutely no Honkai energy. The techniques you're describing can't be cultivated at all — you can't cook a meal without rice, Squad Monitor."
"You're right — and you're not entirely right." Fenghuang explained. "The foundation of the Tai Xu Sword Qi does indeed lie in the precise manipulation of Honkai energy. But its highest state — the Eminence of Taixuan — and the Heart Essence that underpins everything: their true nature is the ultimate refinement of one's own spirit and will."
"If Honkai energy is the firewood, then your spirit is the spark."
She paused, tracing a few arcane patterns through the space around her.
"And here — in this space composed purely of consciousness — the firewood may not exist. But the forging of the spark can still be done."
"The most important part of cultivating the Tai Xu Sword Qi — the tempering of the spirit — is possible here."
Su Yu seized on the key point immediately.
"So what you're saying is: have Kiana cultivate the mental techniques of the Tai Xu Sword Qi here? Temper her spirit so she develops the willpower to resist the Herrscher's erosion?"
But Fenghuang shook her head, a look of helpless resignation crossing her face.
"I've tried."
"But Kiana's heart... still resists me. Because of my betrayal. Because of... many complicated reasons."
"Even if I wished to, I cannot transmit my voice or my image directly into the depths of her consciousness. I cannot guide her cultivation."
She looked at Su Yu, her crimson eyes carrying the unmistakable weight of an entrusted duty.
"That is why I need you, Su Yu."
Su Yu pointed at himself. "Me?"
"You will cultivate the Tai Xu Sword Qi." Fenghuang said, word by deliberate word. "Here, guided by me, you will cultivate the Heart Essence portion of the Tai Xu Sword Qi."
"Once you achieve a basic grasp of it — once your spirit and will have been tempered and strengthened — you will be able to act as a more stable Reality Anchor, and through that, influence and assist Kiana."
"At the same time, you yourself will gain the ability to resist mental erosion, so that you won't end up again like you did tonight..."
She left the sentence unfinished, but the meaning was clear enough — so he wouldn't end up as Sirin's personal punching bag, dragged into the consciousness space to be killed for sport over and over again.
Although, to be fair, that queen had been genuinely terrified out of her wits by Su Yu and had fled like a routed army abandoning its armor.
But that kind of burden was still far too heavy for Su Yu to keep bearing. Even a madman, cycling through countless hopeless and numbing deaths, would break eventually.
Su Yu rubbed his chin, his mind turning quickly.
Tai Xu Sword Qi... Inch Heart Dojo... motion capture data...
The System had said before: Collect sufficient motion capture data from Tai Xu Sect descendants, and once a threshold is reached, you will be able to summon a true master of the Tai Xu Supreme Arts.
He suddenly remembered the community side-quest the System had issued earlier, the one concerning the Inch Heart Dojo.
Wasn't the Fenghuang standing right before him someone who commanded the Tai Xu Supreme Arts?
But wait — that wasn't right.
The System's quest prompt hadn't been completed yet.
Which meant there was still another person to come — someone who could actually appear in the real world, a being who truly wielded the Tai Xu Supreme Arts.
In other words, the System quest wasn't pointing solely to Fenghuang. There was someone else. The true Herrscher of Sentience — or perhaps Li the Big Pillow?
Just then, that familiar semi-transparent panel materialized with a ding without any warning, nearly plastering itself across Su Yu's face.
[Key Story Node Detected!]
[Community Quest Updated — Justice · Fu Hua Side Quest (II)]
[Quest Description: An ancient guardian has extended her hand to you! Accept Fenghuang Fu Hua's guidance and begin cultivating the Tai Xu Sword Qi · Heart Essence Chapter within the consciousness space. This is the critical step toward resisting the Herrscher's erosion, stabilizing your own spirit, and ultimately helping Kiana!]
[Quest Requirement: Under Fenghuang's guidance, complete the preliminary introduction to the Heart Essence.]
[Prerequisite Reward (Already Granted): Successfully established a stable spiritual link with Fenghuang Fu Hua (Yu Ducheng Consciousness).]
[「Spiritual Link · Fenghuang」: Establishes a permanent spiritual channel with NPC Fenghuang. Fenghuang will be able to stabilize her own presence within the Host's consciousness and perceive the Host's spiritual state in real time. No physical contact required to enter the consciousness space for communication and cultivation.]
[Note: Until the bound target "Kiana" actively accepts Fenghuang, Fenghuang remains unable to communicate with Kiana directly. However, she may indirectly observe Kiana's condition through the Host.]
[Friendly Reminder: Congratulations on acquiring a 50,000-year-old personal trainer! Annual gym memberships are for amateurs!]
[Quest Reward: Determined by cultivation progress and comprehension. Note: Heart Essence training helps improve spiritual power, willpower, and resistance to abnormal mental influences!]
[Failure Penalty: None. (Though you may forever remain nothing but a punching bag for Herrshers to drag into their dreams and murder for fun, sweetie~)]
Su Yu stared at that final "sweetie~" on the panel. The corner of his mouth twitched.
He raised his head and gave Fenghuang a brief summary of the System notification's contents.
When she finished listening, a clear, rare light kindled in those eyes that were usually still as undisturbed water.
"That removes a great deal of difficulty." A trace of relief filtered into her voice. "Before this, I could only communicate with you through these chance moments of consciousness contact. With a stable link established, guiding your cultivation will be far more convenient."
Su Yu looked at Fenghuang's earnest expression — the face of someone who had finally found a dependable student — and couldn't help but laugh.
He scratched the side of his nose and said, half-joking:
"Alright, Squad Monitor. Looks like you've officially become my golden-finger fairy godfather now. How does it feel? Is there a sense of relief — that warm glow of I've finally found my successor?"
Fenghuang looked at the slightly impertinent, teasing smile on his face. She was silent for two seconds.
Then she let out a soft, quiet sigh.
The sigh carried resignation — but also, it seemed... something faint that even she herself hadn't noticed. A fragile, barely-there warmth.
"Don't be glib."
Her tone returned to its customary calm — but if you listened carefully, it was, just slightly, a little lighter than before.
"Cultivation is no trivial matter. Tempering the spirit especially — the slightest misstep, and you may injure yourself."
The smile faded from Su Yu's face as well.
He straightened up, turned to face Fenghuang, clasped his hands together in salute, and bowed — a deep, sincere bow — before this ancient guardian who had crossed worlds and ages.
His expression carried a gravity unlike any he had shown before.
"Ah Hua."
He called her by her name. His voice was clear and steady.
"I leave everything in your hands."
Fenghuang looked at the man before her — bright-eyed, posture respectful.
She seemed to see, as if through a long tunnel of years, those young faces from long ago — people who had bowed to her just like this, who had sought to learn from her.
The sands of time shift. Seas become mulberry fields. She had taught many, and witnessed many farewells.
But this time felt somehow different.
This man named Su Yu had come from a "previous life" entirely foreign to her — he knew everything about her, yet carried the most ordinary of identities while doing the most extraordinary of things.
He might not have been the most gifted. But he was, without question... the most singular.
Fenghuang slowly raised her hand and returned the salute, clasping her own hands together in reply.
Her flame-red sleeve fell with the motion. Her posture was precise and composed — bearing the solemn weight of ten thousand years of trials.
"I will do everything in my power to help you, Su Yu."
Two people faced each other across a low table, two bowls of long-cold coarse tea, and a floor scattered with moonlight broken into piano keys — hands clasped, bowing in return.
One who had lived for a little over twenty years.
One who had lived for fifty thousand.
A promise, forged in this moment.
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉