Grrrrrrnnnnd…
With a loud grating sound the heavy stone block acting as the door of the Cultivation Abode shifted aside, and from it came Mikael, who momentarily stopped in his tracks as he caught sight of both girls.
A small smile then made its way onto his features as he approached them, "Already back? Our separation really really wasn't long, didn't know you missed me that much…" he said in a teasing tone.
"Hehe, we're back," joyfully declared Yulan while throwing 'eye signals' at Lifen.
Gulp.
Lifen had frozen the moment she saw Mikael appear, her throat bobbing with nervosity, a nervosity that hit her in full force.
"H-hello M-mikael," she stammered, which instinctively had him raise an inquisitive eyebrow, his gaze sharpening as his attention fixed on the girls.
He instantly took note of a few details that caught his eye.
Yulan seemed strangely 'fake,' the airhead beauty throwing discreet eye signals toward Lifen.
Meanwhile the tsundere beauty wasn't much better—in truth it was even more eye-catching—she was a nervous mess, her earlier stammering proof enough as she sneakily threw uncertain and shy glances at him.
A glint flickered in Mikael's eyes, but whether he discovered something or not he didn't show an iota of it as he raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "Soooo what's really happening?"
Tug, rustle.
Yulan tugged at the hem of Lifen's robe as she murmured, "It's time, go on Lifen!"
The tsundere beauty hesitated for a moment, torn between speaking her feelings or fleeing behind an unrelated excuse, but after a deep breath she forced herself to stay true to her earlier decision and took a step forward.
And another, and another, and another.
Until she was nearly glued to Mikael, standing just before the one she admitted to have feelings for…
"Haaaaah…" Lifen took a deep breath, her black eyes sharp with focus now, emptied of the earlier shyness and nervosity, locking onto Mikael's emerald eyes.
Slowly, almost like she feared she might be bitten, Lifen's arms wrapped themselves around Mikael's broad back.
At that instant she froze, but seeing that Mikael didn't have any adverse reaction she grew bolder, tiptoeing up as her chin lifted and her pink lips edged closer to his visage.
The tsundere beauty moved slowly, almost fearfully, giving him the time to react, and if he wanted, if he wanted to…to move away from her…
Ba-dum.
Fortunately for her self-esteem and her poor heart, which was beating at thousands of miles per hour, he didn't move—on the contrary, a glint passed in his eyes, a glint that seemed to say took you long enough!
He tilted his head downward and closed the distance, it rapidly vanishing until their lips finally brushed—
"Mmmh~"
Their lips met softly at first, nothing more than a tentative brush, yet the moment it happened a shiver ran down her spine as if the world itself had fallen silent for them alone.
The warmth of his mouth spread through her, melting the last fragments of hesitation until her arms clutched tighter around his back.
"Mnnnh~"
The small sound escaped her against her will, muffled between their lips while Mikael's faint smirk curved into the kiss as he savored the moment he had waited for.
Rustle.
He pressed closer to the tsundere beauty, his hand raising to caress her small back while his other hand gently caressed her cheek.
BA-DUM.
Her heart pounded violently in her chest, every ba-dum echoing louder than the wind that swirled around them, louder than the world itself, until nothing existed but his scent, his warmth, and the intoxicating sensation of their mouths locking together in perfect sync.
"Mwah"
Their lips parted with a final kissing sound, but though the kiss ended they didn't move away, instead staying pressed to one another, Lifen's head resting against his wide and firm chest as she listened to his soothing heartbeat while basking in his warmth.
"Now you are mine~" he murmured into her ear, which made the tsundere beauty smile as she whispered into his chest, "Yes I am!"
Normally this would have been the moment where they simply held each other and enjoyed their newfound relation, but unfortunately—
"Hiiiiiiii it's happening!"
Yulan was there, gushing as she saw her beloved sister declare her feelings to Mikael and be accepted in an all's well that ends well moment.
Both Mikael and Lifen looked at Yulan with blank, annoyed expressions as they obviously weren't the most happy to have their romantic moment interrupted…
"Oopps?" sheepishly murmured Yulan as she watched both her beloved and her sister eye her.
It was on that note, and after some gentle interaction with Yulan, that the scene of Lifen's nervous, unvoiced confession ended with her successfully confessing her feelings to Mikael, which in turn ended with both of them becoming a Taoist Couple.
At that moment Mikael expected the Bai Sisters to stay in the Sect—after all, the 'reason' they had used to leave earlier wasn't needed anymore, so they should stay…right?
Which seemed even more the case now, considering the new relation he had with Lifen, a relation as a Taoist Couple that had just been established, but unfortunately—
The reasoning that Lifen had used to justify her first departure wasn't only her wanting to 'escape,' but had actually carried a relatively big part of truth in it!
So even though both sisters truly wanted to stay with Mikael in the Wandering Sword Sect, they couldn't, and they needed to return to the Stillwater Palace.
It was on that bittersweet note that the Bai Sisters left for their own Sect, but not without a promise from Mikael that he would come to visit them soon enough when he had the time.
Rustle.
Mikael brought a finger to his lips, the warmth of her kiss still lingering, while his gaze stayed fixed on the horizon, the last place where he had seen the Bai Sisters before their departure.
Howwl.
The wind howled, tugging at his hair as his hazy eyes lingered on that distant line for several long seconds, until at last he shook his head and let his gaze drift away.
'L…let's get back to training,' he thought as he walked away in a bittersweet mood, for while he was happy with Lifen's confession it was undeniable that he wasn't happy to see them leave.
These conflicting feelings left the extremely handsome cultivator in a strange mood as he threw himself back into training.
And as Yulan had 'explained' earlier to Lifen, he was currently training in: 9. Continue foundational cultivation (increase cultivation realm slowly, focusing entirely on building the strongest possible foundation).
This was more or less Mikael's first time truly 'cultivating,' which was kinda ironic considering he was already a 1st layer Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator and one that had 'stayed' in the Wandering Sword Sect for nearly three years, but in truth he had actually…never cultivated!
At least not in the traditional sense of the term that's for sure, he had trained plenty but never cultivation to increase his realm, and even this step of his training which was called 'cultivation' wasn't really an exception.
The reason behind this seemingly stupid decision to delay his cultivation was that he knew the Foundational Phase he was currently in was actually the moment where one's foundation was the most malleable and easily alterable.
Because of that Mikael didn't content himself with just stupidly increasing his cultivation realm, he wanted to forge the strongest foundation possible!
Which was the actual goal of the ninth thing on his list, not increasing his cultivation but simply strengthening his foundation, and even then it wasn't the end.
After all, even when he had finished the nine things on his training list it wouldn't be his limit, as he could still grow stronger, far stronger, all without breaking through in cultivation, which would further solidify his foundation but simply in a different direction, and he wouldn't be shortsighted enough to break through right now and weaken it.
"Urggh, Amelia…" he grunted while rubbing his temple as his thoughts drifted to Amelia, who had reached the 2nd layer of the Spiritual Foundation Realm.
As the warrior and strength-driven woman she was, she had trained and cultivated hard and was the first to break through, but she soon learned that it was actually an error…
So after realizing this she was kinda down about it but quickly gathered her spirit and focused on training, and she, like Mikael, was now determined to stay in her current Cultivation Realm for a long long while.
His thoughts then returned to his own foundation-strengthening endeavor.
He knew that even when he had finished the ninth thing on his list it wouldn't be the end of this seemingly endless 1st layer of the Spiritual Foundation Realm, as there would still be other opportunities to further grow stronger.
Like for example reaching Great Success or even Mastery in the Sun-Moon Unity Technique, the Divine Sense Refining Method, and other Cultivation Methods would allow him to grow stronger while staying in the same realm, which in turn would solidify his foundation.
He knew that by breaking through, even by only a minor realm, his foundation would 'harden' so to say and become far harder to modify, and that by growing stronger within the same realm his foundation would also become stronger.
Like if he broke through to the 2nd layer with the Sun-Moon Unity Technique at Great Success, for example, his foundation and consequently his strength in various aspects would be weaker than if he did so with it at Mastery.
That and a lot of other factors were in his mind, which was why he was determined to not increase his cultivation realm before having, at the extreme minimum, reached Mastery in all of his current Cultivation Methods.
Of course, all these factors that were currently swimming in his mind weren't directly related to his current 'cultivation,' as what he was doing wasn't tied to any Cultivation Method but was instead pure foundation training.
On that note he continued with his foundation training, absorbing Qi and solidifying his base.
Days rapidly slipped by amidst his cultivation and the extreme consumption of pills.
{1 Year, 6 Months: Just after beginning his foundation training the impurities in his body reached their limits, so he focused on the Ninefold Impurity-Free Physique Method and, after a week and a half of training, successfully completed the 5th transformation. After that he returned to his pure foundation training.}
{1 Year, 7 Months: In this fashion a month quickly passed. During this time Mikael's foundation grew more solid and stronger by the day as he absorbed Qi, which increased not only the amount of Qi in his Dantian but also its quality.}
{Using his numerous advantages together allowed him to progress rapidly, to the point that in a single month his foundation grew far firmer, with both his Qi Quantity and Qi Quality increasing by 23%, greatly boosting his battle power.}
{1 Year, 8 Months: He continued to absorb Qi and reinforce his base, but the stronger his foundation became the harder it was to push it further, each advance demanding far more time and resources.}
{Even then his progress remained clear, with both Qi Quantity and Qi Quality rising further until they reached 39% above what they had been at the start.}
{1 Year, 9 Months: The difficulty only increased, and this time the growth amounted to a mere 11%, bringing the total to 50%.}
{He pressed on for another month, solidifying his base until at last he chose to stop, his Qi Quantity and Qi Quality now 60% stronger than when he began.}
{And that wasn't even taking into account any Talents, Cultivation Methods or anything else, it was his pure foundation that had grown stronger.}
{Seeing how the results were extremely positive he obviously wanted to continue this training, but as he saw his progress growing slower and slower he understood that he had reached his 'limit'.}
{And while he knew he could still go beyond this 'limit', he also understood that it would only grow slower and slower, and that it wasn't worth the time investment anymore—at least not now!}
{He knew that one day he could and would return, once he found a way to temper his foundation further beyond this point, but for now it was wiser to stop here.}
Author Note:
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