Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 392 - Nerf ME!? Nerf Your Shameless Nether Regions!

It was a short pedestal, only one-third of a Long Di tall and upon it was an old wooden box that experienced the buffering of the ages and…

“The golden key… neat!?”

****

Long Di didn’t waste time and quickly snatched up the key. He then wasted no time and looked at the old box and slowly opened it only for bright light to illuminate the room.

He squinted his eyes from the sudden illumination, but he soon acclimated to it. When he looked closely, he saw nine almost crystal-like pills.

They looked like small crystal spheres filled with swirling energy. They were mesmerising to look at and they reminded him of what his cores looked like before they became star cores.

Long Di saw these and was confused.

Why were these pills by themselves? Their value was obviously far above the ones outside.

The Destiny Scale suddenly spoke up. [You can put these pills in your storage ring.]

“Oh, you're still alive,” commented Long Di as he studied the pills.

[Keyholder, I'm…]

“Steely, listen. Unless you're going to give me useful information, I'd rather not hear it. You're genuinely withholding information from me, useful information at that. And I don't think it's because of the karma you're always going on about. Some of it maybe, but not all of it, and that says a lot.”

[…]

“Why do you think these pills can be brought inside my storage rings unlike the ones outside?” asked Long Di.

As he said, he didn't want to hear much of anything from the Destiny Scale unless it was useful. Since this information was useful, he had no problem asking it this.

Long Di treating it like this was not an issue. For all intents and purposes, the Destiny Scale had no emotions, it was just that Long Di had that unique quality to bring out the worst in everyone and everything, even if there was nothing there, to begin with.

Sure, this should be impossible, but... once again, this was a cultivation novel, and this is Long Di. Impossible was thrown out the window of a moving carriage down a cliff and into the mouth of a waiting shark that was struck by lightning while it suffered a heart attack.

Regardless, the Destiny Scale answered. [This cave is an isolated realm within a realm. This is why the darkness here is so palpable. You were traversing the passage between two realms.]

Long Di looked back through the open door and saw the consuming darkness staring back at him. It would explain why his spiritual sense was so restricted and why his heavenly gaze was rendered ineffective.

So that was one thing cleared up. Curiously, the pills commanded his attention even more for some reason. "What do these pills do?"

[…]

“Steely tell me what these pills do or so help me god, I will—”

[These are qi condensation pills.]

“And their use is fooor?”

[Oh boy…]

Long Di never heard this level of ironic dread from the Destiny Scale before. “Steely, what are you hiding from me?”

[So… these pills are used for condensing qi.]

“Wow, I could not figure that out from the name.”

[Truly!?]

“Learn sarcasm you sentient piece of history. Now continue.”

[Right. Well, you are aware of the nature of the core during the Core Condensation realm, right?]

“Well, yeah," Long Di answered before explaining. "One needs to continuously refine and purify their spiritual qi until it transforms into spiritual essence.”

Spiritual essence was crystallised spiritual qi in a sense. It was far purer, more powerful and more useful in its application. The cores gave Long Di the ability to construct his qi shield, which was why it was so powerful.

Even then, the qi shield still wasn't as strong as the cores since constructing something on that level took way too much time and thus wasn't feasible for battle.

Even the crystal dantians were created using the exact same mechanics of his cores.

[Correct. This is spiritual essence so... with that being said, the qi condensation pills are for…] the Destiny Scale's words trailed off.

As it said this, Long Di's brow rose ever higher. It waged war and invaded the realm of his hairline before it ran all the way to the back of his head. It didn't stop even when it scaled the length of his back down his legs and escaped the room into the darkness.

Long Di's brow left him as his shock banished it to the nether realm.

“You sonnuva—”

[Keyholder, I'm sorry!]

“I've been cultivating incorrectly all this time!?”

[I can explain!]

“I have seen the fool, and it is ME! My head is my ass and my ass is my head for trusting you.”

[Give me a chance to explain!]

“Get out of me!”

[Keyholder!]

“Get out!”

[Just calm down!]

“You've literally been living rent-free in my mind. Get out!”

[Keyholder!]

“GET OUT!”

Shu!

Boom!

A massive steel stele appeared and smashed into the ground with a crash.

An imposing and ancient aura wafted from it. Anyone who stood before it would know that this thing is a peerless treasure of incomparably shocking origins!

Apart from the word Destiny Scale, most of the other characters were indecipherable, yet they did nothing to take away from its grandeur.

Long Di tapped his feet on the ground like a peeved-off mother as he stared at the Destiny Scale. “I will leave you in here. Don't test me. Do you know your wrongs?”

[I do.]

The reason why Long Di was angry with the Destiny Scale was because he just learned that instead of cultivating spiritual qi like he was currently, he was supposed to be cultivating spiritual essence.

Just like how Long Di would refine and purify the spiritual energy and turn it into spiritual essence for the construction of his cores, he could do the same with his spiritual qi.

However, he passed the stage for doing this, since this was only possible in the Core Condensation realm.

“How do we fix this?” Long Di wanted to find a way to fix this, and fast.

While it may not seem like it, Long Di was very diligent when it came to his cultivation. He made sure that every step was done with great care and to the utmost limit.

He had never felt anyone in the younger generation or in the older generation, for that matter, using anything remotely similar to spiritual essence.

Well... maybe the demons from the Yuan family and that freaky-looking demon from the Iron Body Forge Sect did, but somatic essence was a different beast altogether and it was very hard to get a read on the nature of anyone's somatic essence.

[First, allow me to say that this practice is usually only done by those in the Central Realm.]

“Is this the same place Qin Ling was talking about?”

[... Yes.] The Destiny Scale finally admitted after a moment's hesitation.

“Continue.” Though Long Di's tone never changed, the Destiny Scale knew that as of now, Long Di brooked no argument and wanted, nay, demanded answers.

[It is something known and done only by those within the Central Realm... or those on the same level as those within the Central Realm.] The Destiny Scale continued. [This is because the cultivation environment there and here can't be compared. I didn't tell you at the time because, by the time I fully absorbed the divine lightning and was awake, you were no longer in the Core Condensation realm.]

“Goddamn it. This is what I get for being an overachiever.” Long Di recalled that the sequence of events was indeed as Steely said.

“But then why didn't you tell me so I could help Shen Ling, Xiannu Liang and the rest?”

[It would be best for them to attempt this once they reach the Ninth Core of the Core Condensation Realm. By then, I would have figured something out for them.]

“That's good,” Long Di sighed a breath of relief when he heard this. “But for myself, is there nothing I can do?”

[Well, I can suppress your cultivation base to the Core Condensation realm so that you can take those—]

“Excuse your entire existence?”

[I’m sorry?] The Destiny Scale didn’t know what it said wrong.

“Do you mean to nerf me?”

[Yes?]

Long Di's head cocked to the side as if his neck lost all structural integrity and his blank eyes lost even more of their lustre as they bore deep into the Destiny Scale.

The Destiny Scale realised that it proposed something that maybe it shouldn't have.

“Nerf your nether regions.”

[Come again?]

“Nerf your shameless regions!”

The Destiny Scale realised that it pressed the Nerf button… it shouldn’t have done that. [Wait, Keyholder I misspoke—!]

“I will melt you down to a porta potty, unclog the heavenly constipation that has plagued me and unleash upon you a collection of evil so vile, so malodorous that Gods will weep and Devils shall Bawl. Not on your life are we doing this. We're going to find another way around this.”