Returning Again

San Fran City, New California.

Hazed awoke in the same flower field, however, he knew everything was different.

From how he felt, to the absolutely gorgeous kitten sitting on his shoulder.

Even the field of flowers had a new beauty to it that he couldn't see before.

His depression was completely wiped away and newfound confidence replaced it.

'This time I won't lose anyone! I'll protect my family, and that includes the Earth that gave me this chance!' He thought with a firm resolve.

After reaffirming his resolve he couldn't help but look closely at the adorable version of Luna.

She had deep and dark purple fur that had an ethereal feel to it, and every one of her stripes looked like miniature copies of the Milky Way, silver and made of stars.

Luna's voice entered Hazed's head and woke him from spacing out, but her voice sounded completely different.

He didn't know if calling her voice 'meek' was right, but it was definitely adorable.

~Yo-you're embarrassing me by staring at me so much…" her voice became quieter, "...especially so passionately... ~

"But you're so beautiful! Weird, for some reason you seem much different, and not just your voice."

It wasn't just her voice that'd changed, she had changed too.

~Of course I'm different! Our reincarnations worked completely differently. When you reincarnated the first time you kept your soul age, this reincarnation made my physical age, soul age, and soul strength match yours.~

"So you're physically 20 and mentally a couple of centuries-old like me?"

~That's super young for a Celestial Tiger!~ Luna yelled with furry red cheeks.

That's right, she blushed so much it could be seen through her ethereal purple fur.

Or maybe a blushing Celestial Tigers fur turns red, he didn't know enough about them yet to be sure.

~This area will be saturated in Space, Time, and the Aura from the Divine Realm after three reincarnations in the same place.~

"Oh?! Really? How big of an area will be affected? And how long will it last?" Hazed asked with barely containable excitement.

The Earth right now is almost completely desolate for cultivators. Only certain 'Holy Lands' still have large Cultivation Environments. Most of the other Cultivation Environments are small Secret Realms or other separated spaces.

~Around half a mile(800m) in each direction from here. And although I don't know how long it'll last it should last at least a year. It would be easy to increase both those with resources though.~

"Awesome! Let's head back to my house and see exactly what day it is. I laid in this field quite a few times."

Hazed lived in a small cabin at the edge of the woods, only a short walk from the field of flowers.

~Is this our home?~

Luna asked as they entered the cabin.

The first room that they entered was a living room/dining room combo that was right next to the kitchen. In fact, it might be better to say it was a combination of all three of them.

It was rather messy but not too bad, being closer to 'well lived in' than a pigsty.

There was also a bathroom downstairs and a washer/dryer closet across from it.

Even though there was no real upstairs, Hazed bedroom was the loft above the living room area.

"Mm, sorry. I know it isn't up to your standards…" At first Hazed hadn't thought about it, but now he was embarrassed knowing that Luna lived a life beyond luxury. Even if she was a minimalist or just didn't care about any of that, either way she'd never be forced to live in such a baron environment before.

~You're overthinking things if I'm ever uncomfortable I have the best place ever to stay.~

After saying so she dove directly into a Hazed's body and a tattoo appeared covering most of his body below his neck.

~When you open your dantian I can nourish myself in there too.~

"That's awesome! As long as I don't want to wear shorts or short sleeves that day it should be fine, haha. Otherwise, everyone would think I went crazy to get such a tattoo out of nowhere."

~When I'm outside the Dantian I can't hide the tattoos, but at least they nourish your body and they should quicken the pace that you assimilate the Celestial Tiger bloodline.~

***

There a week until Hazed's sophomore year in college began, and three days until his younger brother arrived.

"Do you have any Cultivation Methods that I could give to my brother?"

~I have seals on much of my memories, techniques, and knowledge. Your purchase only included the Celestial Tiger Cultivation Method, and me. However, there is some knowledge of arrays, mainly space arrays within it. Sorry…~

Hazed shook his head, he didn't expect her to be able to honestly, he just thought it'd be stupid not to check.

"Don't worry about it, I know of an inheritance that's rather strong in the area, and by allowing him to have a fortuitous encounter where he earns the inheritance will be much better for him than just giving him a cultivation method. He is my little brother, not my little sister after all."

~Mm… What's the plan?~

After thinking for a second, Hazed said, "Well, even if this now a Cultivation Environment I still need to gather the materials for medicinal baths to strengthen my body before we can open my dantian."

The herbs required were not cheap so the first thing he needed to do was acquire some funds. Hopefully funds and friends.

"In an emergency what is your combat strength, either as support or fighting?" asked Hazed.

~When I'm supporting you, your physical body will go up to the First or Second Step, but I can activate it to bring you up to the Fifth Step for a short while. I'm not going to be any help fighting myself right now.~

Hazed nodded with a smile and said, "Mm, good enough. Let's go."

Right now Hazed didn't even have a particularly fit body, so every little bit help let alone becoming Second Step.

The Nine Steps were also known as the Foundation Forming and it was something that everyone had to go through to become a cultivator.

These 'Steps' lead up to the first breakthrough, and if you succeed you'll have evolved past being human, and if you fail, well, usually only death awaits those who fail any breakthrough in cultivation.

The first three steps focused on the skin and muscles of the cultivator, and to even take the first step you need to be in perfect condition, otherwise, your body won't be able to withstand the medicinal baths and it'll cause more harm than help.

The next three steps were focused on the bones and organs, and the last three were on blood and meridians.

There were quite a few options for his first move even after narrowing it down to 'acquiring funds', so he sat down and made a list of all of his choices.

Thankfully [Spiritual Edict Memory] was one of the few Soul Techniques that Hazed cultivated otherwise he would've forgotten way too much.

He didn't learn even a single combat technique sadly, but he did learn the Soul Searching technique and a few others.

He swore he'd put a lot more effort into his Soul Cultivation this time.

After finishing his list he read it over a few times and then made his choice, circled it, and walked out the door.

***

At the top of a small mountain hidden around 30 miles from the nearest road, there was a cozy looking shack with three people within it.

The three people were a young woman and her two children, and although all three of them looked healthy and were especially attractive, their attractive faces were hidden behind there obvious worries.

The mother looked to be in her late twenties at the latest, but if she didn't have her children very young she'd be older since her son looked to be around eighteen while her daughter looked fifteen or sixteen.

Both girls had golden hair and blues eyes while the boy had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.

"I told you never to talk about our secret to anyone! Now we have to flee and leave everything behind before they get here!" The mother yelled at her son in frustration.

The son could only apologize again, "I'm sorry mom! I'll never make the same mistake!"

His sister sighed and said, "You'll never get the chance."

"Nevermind, we need to focus on packing up what we can and getting out of here! Who knows how many people he'll bring."

Suddenly a stranger's voice interrupted them, "That's exactly what I need to know, how many people will he bring and how strong will they be?"

Standing at the entrance casually was a unique and handsome young man who gave of the presence of a master that made them dare not underestimate him.

He was at least six feet with dark auburn hair that was a true lady killer, especially deep and eyecatching eyes, they were blue with a purple tint, and were deep like the cosmos; sucking people in and not letting go, and a handsome face that was the most common thing about him, however, that would change soon since his face was gaining a feline elegance from his new bloodline.

***