I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 400: Cultivating On Earth
The world folded inward as Victor’s vision fractured into layers of light and shadow, and his consciousness was pulled away from Fang Chen’s body like a tide retreating from shore.
The avatar vanished and the courtyard fell silent.
---
Qin Lau remained coiled within the courtyard with his wings folded and his massive form barely contained by the space. His eyes were closed, but his senses were sharp.
He could still feel his master...
Distant...
But present.
That was all that mattered.
So when footsteps approached the courtyard boundary, Qin Lau’s eyes snapped open.
A young man stepped forward hesitantly.
Above his head floated a name tag.
Jin Kade.
But of course only players could see this name tag.
His expression was tense with urgency written plainly across his face.
"Fang Chen?" Jin Kade called out. "I— I need to speak with you. It’s urgent."
Before he could take another step, a massive shadow blocked his path.
Qin Lau shifted slightly.
The pressure alone was enough to freeze Jin Kade in place.
"My master is cultivating," Qin Lau deep voice reverberated through the courtyard as he said calmly. "He shall not be disturbed."
Jin Kade swallowed.
"It—it’s important," he insisted. "I’ve already sent multiple messages through the system. He hasn’t replied. Something’s happened—"
"That is not my concern," Qin Lau interrupted coldly. "Leave."
Jin Kade clenched his fists.
"...Please."
Qin Lau’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly.
"Leave."
That single word carried enough oppressive authority to make Jin Kade’s legs tremble.
He took a step back. "Well, I don’t plan on losing my precious realm so... let him know I came by."
Reluctantly, he turned and left with frustration and helplessness etched across his face.
Qin Lau watched him go, then settled back into place.
’Master is cultivating,’ he thought. ’Nothing else matters.’
---
Victor gasped as his consciousness returned to his original body.
Air rushed into his lungs heavy and thick with unfamiliar scents.
He blinked rapidly, disoriented.
Then steadied.
"...I’m back," he said quietly.
"You are," came Eirene’s voice, calm as ever.
Victor turned his head.
Eirene sat nearby with her dark hair unmoving despite the wind and her expression as composed as always.
"How long?" Victor asked.
"Almost two days," she replied. "You were unconscious for most of it."
Victor exhaled slowly.
Two days here.
Nearly two weeks there.
The disparity still unsettled him, even though he was used to it.
"And the trip?" he asked, pushing himself upright.
"Smooth," Eirene said. "Gojo followed the routes your directions. We avoided all major anomalies."
Victor nodded, relieved.
He rose to his feet and finally took a proper look around.
Then he frowned. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
"...This isn’t anywhere I scouted."
As far as the eye could see, there was water.
Not a river.
Not a lake.
An ocean.
Endless and dark, gently rippling under a pale, foreign sky. The wind carried a faint saltiness, and the horizon curved unnaturally, giving the unsettling impression that the world itself was bent.
Victor’s instincts flared.
"Gojo," he called out. "Land."
Gojo let out a low rumble of agreement and descended.
Below them, a small stretch of land emerged from the water. It was a lonely island no more than a few hundred meters across.
Rough stone formations rose unevenly from the surface with their edges smoothed by centuries of erosion. Strange blue-green moss clung to the rocks, faintly luminescent, casting an eerie glow as the shadows deepened.
The island looked... quiet.
Gojo landed heavily, shaking the ground with his massive form.
The moment his claws touched solid earth, he released a tired breath that turned into mist.
Victor immediately noticed.
"You’ve been flying nonstop," Victor said, frowning.
Gojo huffed softly.
Victor didn’t waste time.
He placed a hand against Gojo’s scaled flank and activated Celestial Restoration again and again causing golden-white light to seep into Gojo’s depths. The damage receded, but the exhaustion remained.
"You need rest," Victor said firmly. "Restoration can’t fix fatigue."
Gojo lowered himself without argument.
Victor quickly set up the beast-skin tent again, anchoring it between stone spires to shield them from wind.
As he finished, a soft, almost imperceptible sound reached his ears.
A quiet growl.
He turned.
Eirene stood perfectly still but her stomach betrayed her again.
Victor stared at her for a moment.
"...Have you eaten?" he asked.
"No," she replied honestly.
Victor sighed, walked up to her, and without warning, flicked her forehead.
Eirene blinked...
Once...
Twice...
"...What was that?" she asked flatly.
"Discipline," Victor said. "Just because I wasn’t here doesn’t mean you should ignore basic needs."
He crouched slightly to meet her gaze.
"You hear that sound your stomach made? That’s it telling you it’s hungry."
Eirene stared at him.
Something... strange flickered behind her eyes.
Warmth.
"...Noted," she said quietly.
They ate together beneath the tent as what seemed to be the ocean, stretched endlessly beyond the firelight.
Later, as Gojo slept and the waves whispered against stone, Victor sat cross-legged once more.
There was no qi in this world.
Not naturally.
But he closed his eyes anyway and slowly reached across the boundary, drawing qi from the other world.
From Ascendant Realms...
The faint blue-green moss clinging to the stone cast an eerie glow across the area, illuminating his unmoving figure.
Victor’s consciousness was turned inward, drawing qi from across dimensions.
At first, thin streams of spiritual energy slipping through the invisible bridge between worlds and entering his body. The qi circulated through his meridians, spiraling down into his dantian where his newly formed Soul Transformation core was located.
But the moment the energy settled, it slowed drastically.
Victor frowned.
"...Too slow."
He could feel it much clearly now.
Back in Ascendant Realms, cultivation had felt almost natural. The qi density alone was incomparably richer, heavier, more responsive. And beyond that—
His Core Disciple Courtyard.
The formation arrays.
The spirit-gathering formations.
The sect’s blessings.
The location itself was optimized for cultivation.
It increased absorption efficiency.
Stabilized qi flow.
Accelerated soul refinement.
Even the ambient air there carried traces of spiritual nourishment.
But here?
Nothing.
This world was barren.
No natural qi.
No cultivation formations.
No spiritual veins.
Only the fragile thread he himself created between realities.
And that thread...
Was inefficient.
Every cycle of cultivation yielded barely a fraction of what he would normally gain.
However, Victor remained calm... he didn’t stop.
He continued circulating qi through his meridians, refining what little he could pull across the dimensional boundary.
Hours passed.
Then more.
By the time 12hours had passed in this world, Victor had gained so little progress that it was almost negligible.
He opened his eyes slowly.
"...I forgot how inefficient this place is."
It wasn’t surprising.
Ascendant Realms wasn’t a game...
It was a world designed for cultivation.
This world wasn’t.
Victor exhaled quietly, knowing fully well that he couldn’t slip back into Ascendant Realms just a day after getting pulled out when the timer exhausted.
He couldn’t send his consciousness back into Fang Chen’s body yet.
He had already discovered this limitation earlier.
Whenever he exited Ascendant Realms due to the timer limit, he would be locked out for approximately 24 hours in his original world before he could return.
But the problem was...
Time dilation.
One day here equated to over six days there.
Which meant—
Every single day he spent here doing nothing was equivalent to losing nearly a week of cultivation progress in Ascendant Realms.
Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"That’s unacceptable."
He couldn’t afford to waste time.
Not with the Hidden Legacy Realm exploration approaching.
Not with enemies lurking across both worlds.
Not with power being the only guarantee of survival.
He needed to maximize every second.
Victor remained seated.
Then—
He made a decision.
He closed his eyes once more.
And activated it.
<[ Void Emperor Bloodline Activated ]>
Immediately—
Translucent silver markings appeared across his skin, spreading like living calligraphy. They shimmered faintly, throbbing with ancient authority.
The air around him trembled as Victor’s breathing slowed.
Then—
He extended his will outward.
"Void Emperor Domain."
The world obeyed.
A silent, invisible boundary expanded outward from his body.
Within a radius of several hundred meters, time itself began to warp.
Not visually.
Not dramatically.
But fundamentally.
Victor could feel it instantly.
The ocean waves slowed.
The wind weakened.
Even the microscopic flow of particles in the air became sluggish.
Time was slowing.
Not for him but for everything else outside of the Void Emperor Domain.
Victor’s silver eyes opened.
"Time dilation," he murmured.
This was different from Time Remap.
Time Remap manipulated specific events.
This manipulated the entire domain continuously.
Within this Void Emperor Domain, time moved differently.
For every one hour outside the domain...
Nearly ten hours passed inside it.
Victor exhaled slowly.
"Good."
This changed everything.
He had just created his own cultivation sanctuary.
One that made his cultivation speed irrelevant.
Victor immediately resumed cultivation.
The moment he began circulating qi again, he noticed the difference.
The dimensional tether to Ascendant Realms felt stronger and stabler.
Time itself was no longer working against him.
It was working for him.
He could now cultivate ten times longer without losing access time.
