[Ding! Compiling statistics...]
[Ding! Main quest "Guard" completed, awarded: 4000 Wish Power, one Star Soul Essence.
Side quest "Collection" completed, five illustrations collected, awarded: 2500 Wish Power.
Achievement quest completed, ten Star Soul Warriors defeated (including Blink Knight), awarded: 5000 Wish Power.
Salvation quest completed, awarded: Core of Reason x1.
Hidden quest completed, 50% of Earth's vital energy burst points guarded, awarded: 1000 Wish Power, Dragon Vein Crystal x1.]
[Ding! Total for this world: 12500 Wish Power, 2 Merit Points, Core of Reason x1, Dragon Vein Crystal x1, Star Soul Essence x1.]
[Dragon Vein Crystal: Five-star, a crystal that condenses the energy of underground dragon veins.]
[Star Soul Essence: Five-star, the essence of a planet's core, equivalent to a planet's "soul."]
"That's it for now."
Ling Feng closed the light screen and disappeared, leaving the rest space.
St. Freya Academy, Ling Feng's bedroom.
A figure suddenly appeared before the computer desk. Ling Feng looked down at the electronic clock beside the computer, which was emitting a faint blue light.
Twelve o'clock sharp.
Time to sleep...
"Huh?" Just as he lay down in bed, Ling Feng's arm brushed against something incredibly soft.
"Mmm~~"
A captivating voice immediately sounded from under the covers.
Ling Feng froze.
He instinctively squeezed, and at the same time, the voice let out an even more alluring moan.
Ling Feng's eyebrows shot up. He abruptly pulled back the covers and, as expected, found a delicate and beautiful woman lying in the bed.
"Mmm~ Ling, you're back."
"Zhen, why are you in my bed?"
"Because I feel like your bed is more comfortable to sleep in."
Zhen, whom he hadn't seen in a while, flirtatiously swept away a stray strand of hair from her forehead and pouted with a娇滴滴 (jiāo dī dī - delicate and charming) tone.
"Sigh, never mind, let's sleep."
Ling Feng shook his head helplessly, re-covered Zhen, and then crawled into the quilt himself. He couldn't just kick her out, after all, Zhen was his woman now.
Suddenly, a faint fragrance wafted into Ling Feng's nostrils. Her voluptuous figure leaned closer, encircling his arm, and she breathed warmly into his ear.
"Ling, I'm suddenly not sleepy anymore, I want..."
With Zhen's seductive provocation, how could Ling Feng resist? He moved his mind, set up a soundproofing barrier, and then pulled the covers over them.
By the time Ling Feng emerged from the bedroom, the clock on the living room wall showed six o'clock in the evening.
Ling Feng leisurely entered the kitchen and simply cooked two bowls of noodles. He carried the noodles back to the bedroom.
It was the weekend. Keqing had gone out early. As for Hong Hong... after cultivating with him last time, she had gone into seclusion.
A week later~
White Rock Grotto, within the towering and majestic White Rock Mountain Range, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, a brilliant golden light suddenly shot up into the sky. The multiple layers of clouds above the White Rock Mountain Range were instantly pierced, creating an exaggerated, massive void!
Immediately after, a terrifying aura erupted from the center of the golden light, sweeping out in all directions. This aura was as vast as the sea, flowing endlessly, and it affected hundreds of miles around.
After about ten minutes, this aura gradually receded and finally calmed down.
In a cave dwelling on White Rock Mountain, Ling Feng, who had been sitting cross-legged on a cushion, exhaled a turbid breath and slowly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp.
From his still somewhat uncontrolled aura, it was evident that his cultivation had returned to its peak.
However, there was more than just joy in Ling Feng's eyes.
"What's going on? How do I have two Nascent Souls? Could Nascent Souls have twins?"
Looking inward at the two plump, white Nascent Souls within him, Ling Feng's face was filled with astonishment.
When he had first broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, he had only one. Now, suddenly having two, he was quite bewildered.
Feeling the surging power within him, Ling Feng muttered to himself.
"Now my strength is even greater than when I first broke through to the Nascent Soul stage. Could it be because I have two Nascent Souls?"
After a moment of contemplation, Ling Feng gave up thinking. He closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and began to consolidate his current realm.
Having two Nascent Souls was not unheard of. It had its pros and cons. The advantages were already obvious, while the disadvantage might be that his cultivation speed would slow down again, as he had to nurture two Nascent Souls.
However, after returning to the Nascent Soul stage, he felt much more at ease. In Honkai Impact 3rd, he finally had the ability to protect himself. He couldn't say he could walk around with impunity, but at least his life was safe.
...........
In a remote mountain town in the Far East Branch, the town was now in ruins, with corpses strewn everywhere.
A dozen Herrschers, wielding weapons, aimlessly roamed the streets. Suddenly, something alerted them, and they immediately "came alive," their gazes uniformly fixed in one direction.
In that direction, Ling Feng, clad in black exoskeleton armor and wielding a prototype pulse greatsword, walked towards them step by step, his expression serene.
"Destroy humanity..." A Herrscher holding a longbow instinctively raised its bow and drew the string. An arrow condensed from Honkai energy slowly took shape.
The other Herrschers, armed with swords and other melee weapons, charged at Ling Feng with blood-red eyes.
"BOOM!" The sound of the bowstring was deep and powerful. In the blink of an eye, the arrow had crossed several meters and was aimed directly at Ling Feng's face.
Ling Feng raised his hand and caught it, the sharp arrow hovering less than a centimeter from his face. At this close distance, the arrow could not advance any further.
"CRACK!" With a slow increase in pressure from his fingers, the arrow "popped" and dispersed into points of energy.
At the same time, the other Herrschers swarmed forward, their swords and sickles slashing down at Ling Feng.
Ling Feng parried with his greatsword, blocking the incoming weapons with crisp, resonant "clang" sounds.
Ling Feng's eyes narrowed. He swung his greatsword, shaking off the weapons propped against it, and then unleashed a series of kicks, sending a few Herrschers flying. He stomped his foot, then leaped into the air, twisting to the side, dodging the swords and blades coming from both sides.
He supported himself with one hand on the ground, his arm slightly bent, and with a powerful push, he kicked two Herrschers away before landing steadily.
With a flash of his sword, three Herrschers were instantly cut in half at the waist, their pupils losing their life and turning gray.
"Clang, clang, clang!" After Ling Feng swung his greatsword to block several arrows, he took a step forward, actively charging into the midst of the Herrschers. With swift strikes of his sword, he blocked and killed, quickly eliminating the Herrschers around him.
Ling Feng's toe flicked up two long swords. He kicked the pommels, and the swords, like arrows released from a bow, pierced the last two Herrschers in the distance.
"Finished work."
Ling Feng clapped his hands with a smile, swung his prototype pulse greatsword, and walked towards the few people running towards them.
"How was it?" Ling Feng asked. As the vice-captain, he was in charge of the squad when the captain was absent.
"Me and Mei finished off the Herrschers and Honkai Beasts on the east side of the town. We didn't find any survivors," Kiana replied, hands on her hips. Mei nodded slightly, confirming Kiana's statement.
Ling Feng nodded and turned to look at Bronya and Mirai. Mirai shook her head. Ling Feng then turned to Keqing and Sagiri.
Keqing's answer was the same as Kiana's. In other words, everyone in the town had been infected by Honkai energy, with no survivors.
This was within Ling Feng's expectations. In Changkong City, a city of that size, there were very few survivors.
It was conceivable that the possibility of ordinary people surviving in the face of Honkai energy was infinitesimally close to zero.
Honkai energy bursts were not only triggered by the descent of a Herrscher. It was like a natural disaster, capable of occurring anywhere. It was just that compared to the Honkai caused by the birth of a Herrscher, these were minor squalls.
"Disband. The subsequent handling will be left to the logistics department."
"Yes!"
Soon, a combat helicopter received orders to take them back to St. Freya Academy.
On the plane, Keqing gazed blankly at the desolate town below. It was her first time on a mission outside, her first time seeing a town destroyed by Honkai. Listening in class was far less impactful than experiencing it firsthand.
"What's wrong?" Ling Feng's gentle and concerned voice suddenly reached her ears, bringing Keqing back to her senses.
She turned to look, and Ling Feng had somehow moved to sit beside her.
Keqing lowered her eyebrows, a slight wry smile appearing on her face. "It's nothing, I'm just a bit fortunate."
Fortunate that Teyvat didn't have Honkai everywhere like this world, otherwise, it would be a devastating blow to the entire continent. This world had its good aspects, and its bad ones.
However, she didn't know that five hundred years before her time, Teyvat had indeed experienced a world-spanning "Honkai (Abyss)" crisis.
"Relax, if the sky falls, there's someone tall to hold it up. Honkai isn't invincible."
St. Freya Combat Training Room
"Ding!" The training room door opened, and seven figures walked in, Ling Feng and his six companions returning from their mission.
However, except for Ling Feng, everyone else looked bewildered, not understanding why Ling Feng had brought them here.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem. Today, I'm bringing you to the training room primarily for close-quarters combat training."
"Close-quarters combat training?"
The few of them didn't understand why they were suddenly undergoing special training. They watched as Ling Feng brought over a weapon rack.
"That's right, close-quarters combat training. During combat, I noticed you've become overly reliant on firearms."
"Except for Keqing, Mei, and Sagiri, Bronya, Mirai, and Kiana, all three of you are like this."
"As a mature warrior, you should be proficient in close-quarters combat. Do you know about the two S-rank Valkyries from Schicksal?"
"Durandal and Rita of the Immortal Brigade. Their weapons are all close-quarters."
"Compared to close-quarters weapons, firearms have significant limitations in combat. Weapon energy and damage levels will affect their power."
"But close-quarters weapons are different. The power, attributes, etc., of an attack depend on how much Honkai energy you utilize and how you utilize it. In combat, you can fully utilize your Honkai energy, greatly reducing useless consumption of your internal Honkai energy."
"Therefore, having a suitable close-quarters weapon is very important."
Ling Feng gestured to the weapon rack placed to the side and continued, "Try them out. See if there's a weapon that suits you here. As for Keqing and the other two, you don't need to. After all, you already have your preferred weapons."
"Miss I'll go first!" Kiana, as always, took the lead. Looking at the variety of weapons on the rack, she began trying them one by one.
Perhaps it was due to hereditary bloodlines, but Kiana's most favored close-quarters weapon was also a greatsword.
Next was Bronya. After trying a few, she also found a suitable close-quarters weapon – a spear.
This was quite unexpected for Ling Feng. He had initially thought a short weapon like a saber would suit her, but he never imagined it would be a spear.
The last to choose was Mirai. This time, it was no surprise to Ling Feng; it was a longsword.
After this round, perhaps by fate, the weapons chosen by Kiana and the others were all very familiar to Ling Feng.
"Enough talk, let's begin the special training!"
Since they were all weapons he was familiar with, teaching them would be much easier.
During the special training, Ling Feng imparted his knowledge without reservation. For example, for Keqing and the others, he specifically taught them a set of sword techniques that were most suitable for them.
Of course, he had specifically revised some aspects, such as changing the use of True Essence to Honkai energy, which was not impossible for someone who had reached the Nascent Soul stage.
During the training, he also felt deeply moved, especially when watching Bronya practice with the spear. It reminded him of himself learning spear techniques from Shen He and Xiao back in the day.