I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 373: That Trick Again?

As far as the system was concerned, Gojo and Eirene didn’t exist... at least not while he was here.

His cultivation realm had also reached the brink.

Peak Nascent Soul.

He could feel it even without the panel. His qi was dense, refined to an extreme degree, circulating effortlessly through his meridians.

If he went into a few days seclusion, he could definitely into the next stage.

But not now.

"No time for breakthroughs," Victor muttered.

He dismissed the interface and stepped out of the cultivation space.

Before he could go far, a familiar figure rounded a corner and froze.

Chen Wen stared at him as if he’d seen a ghost.

"F-Fang Chen?" he exclaimed. "You’re back?!"

Victor smiled faintly. "Looks like it."

Chen Wen rushed forward, gripping Victor’s shoulders with barely restrained excitement. "You vanished again! No warning, no message—just gone!"

"I had... things to handle," Victor replied calmly.

Chen Wen laughed, shaking his head. "I should’ve known. But you came back at the perfect time."

"Oh?"

Chen Wen’s expression softened. "Ting Ting has delivered."

Victor blinked. "Delivered?"

A grin split Chen Wen’s face. "A healthy baby boy."

For a brief moment, Victor simply stood there.

Then warmth spread through his chest.

"That’s..." He exhaled. "That’s great news. Congratulations."

Chen Wen’s eyes shone. "Come. You have to see them."

Victor followed without hesitation.

As they walked, something inside him felt different. In the past, he would’ve dismissed this as just another scripted event... NPCs following a prewritten path.

But now?

Now he knew better.

This world might be real.

Not a game.

Not lines of code.

Real lives... real emotions... real consequences.

They entered a quiet residence and the interior filled with gentle spiritual warmth. Bai Ting Ting lay resting on a bed with a radiant but tired expression. A small bundle rested in her arms.

She looked up and smiled.

"Fang Chen," she said softly. "You’re back."

Victor nodded. "I heard the news."

Chen Wen stepped aside as Bai Ting Ting carefully lifted the bundle. "Would you like to hold him?"

Victor hesitated just for a second and then he nodded.

She placed the baby into his arms.

The sensation... the warmth, the weight and the tiny, steady breaths all gave him an inexplicably feeling.

Ascendant Realms had always been known for its realism... the way wind brushed against skin, the way weapons vibrated on impact, the way pain felt real.

And now Victor was starting to realize that it all felt this way because it was in fact real.

The baby’s fingers curled around Victor’s thumb and something inside Victor cracked.

"We named him Fang... after you," Chen Wen whispered.

Victor swallowed hard.

"I... I don’t know what to say."

Chen Wen laughed quietly. "Say you’ll visit."

Bai Ting Ting smiled gently. "And that you’ll stay safe."

Victor nodded, unable to fully trust his voice.

They thanked him again for the changes he’d brought to Lingyun over the past year. They reminded him that without Fang Chen, the city wouldn’t be what it was today.

Before leaving, Victor reached into his storage.

A sword appeared in his hand. One of the many loots he had acquired over the years in Ascendant Realms.

"I wasn’t using this," Victor voiced while holding it out. "Let him have it... when he begins cultivating."

He infused a trace of Void energy into the blade gently.

This was meant to boost the properties of the blade. It was a blessing, not a curse.

They accepted it with reverence.

And then Victor left.

Lingyun Town greeted him with a sight that made him pause.

Although it couldn’t be called a town anymore at this point... it was technically a City.

What had once been a modest town had expanded significantly. Stone walls reinforced with formation arrays encircled the settlement. New districts stretched outward, filled with bustling streets, spirit markets, and training grounds. The flow of cultivators was steady and organized.

It was no longer a backwater.

It was a small city.

And Victor felt an unexpected swell of emotion rise in his chest.

"There are always more changes whenever I return here..." he whispered.

As he walked through the streets, people noticed him.

Whispers followed.

"Isn’t that Fang Chen?"

"Our Saviour..."

Victor kept his head down, trying to avoid gathering a crowd and soon leapt into the air, crossing hundreds of feet in an instant.

At Lingyun outskirts, he summoned his anchor disk and frowned.

It was with him.

"Right, didn’t leave it at blueflame city," he muttered. "Can’t teleport."

Which meant only one thing.

He’d have to travel to Blueflame City the hard way.

His gaze turned toward the distant horizon.

Misguided Misty Paths...

Dark Canyon...

Devil Forest...

Qilin Frost Mountains...

Places that had nearly killed him the last time he passed through.

Victor’s lips curved into a calm, dangerous smile.

"Fortunately," he said softly, "I’m not the same anymore."

...

...

Minutes later, mist rolled endlessly before him.

But this wasn’t ordinary mist... this was the Misguided Misty Paths, a stretch of land infamous even among veteran cultivators.

The fog here was thick, pale, and alive with spiritual interference. It swallowed sound, twisted perception, and turned distance into a meaningless concept. Mountains could feel like arm’s reach and still take days to reach. A single wrong step could send one walking in circles until their mind eroded into nothing.

Victor stood at the threshold.

Four years ago, he had died countless times here but now...

A translucent system panel unfolded before his eyes.

[Region Entered: Misguided Misty Paths]

Threat Evaluation: LOW

Estimated Survival Rate: 99.9%

Active Threats Detected:

• Illusionary Spirits

• Qi-Devouring Beasts

• Spatial Distortions

Victor stared at the numbers for a moment, then let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh.

"Four years ago," he muttered, "you practically wrote my death certificate."

Back then, he had entered this place barely at a much lower realm with low mastery on his techniques. His Void Emperor Bloodline was also dormant at the time.

Every illusion had felt real. Every whisper had threatened to pull him apart.

Now?

He felt... calm.

The mist pressed in from all directions, but it couldn’t touch him.

Not really.

Victor stepped forward.

The moment his foot crossed into the fog, the world tried to change.

Shapes shifted. The ground beneath him subtly altered, turning uneven. The sound of distant footsteps echoed behind him...

A familiar voice whispered softly.

"Victor... why did you leave?"

He didn’t even turn around.

"That trick again?" he said flatly. "You’re four years late."

His Void Emperor Bloodline stirred and space stabilized.

The illusion shattered like glass.

Victor didn’t walk through the Misguided Misty Paths.

He passed over them.

Qi surged through his legs as he activated Shifting Winds Arts.

The technique responded with far greater efficiency than it ever had before. Air compressed beneath his feet, forming invisible platforms that lasted only fractions of a second but this was long enough.

Victor blurred forward and hundreds of feet vanished in a single step.

From above, if anyone could see him, it would look as though the mist itself was being sliced apart by a phantom wind. His body skimmed the fog’s surface with his feet barely grazing the ground as he used momentum, airflow, and precise qi control to maintain an almost flight-like traversal.

The spatial distortions tried to interfere.

The world warped as paths looped back into themselves with distance folding inward.

Victor felt it immediately.

Four years ago, he wouldn’t have noticed until it was too late.

Now?

He reached out with Telekinetic Qi Control, not to grab, but to feel.

Space responded.

"Wrong," he said softly, twisting his wrist.

The distortion collapsed.

The path straightened.

The mist recoiled.

Illusionary spirits emerged next.

Translucent figures formed from condensed fog with faces half-familiar, half-nightmare. Some looked like people he once knew. Others were distorted mockeries of fear itself. Their mouths stretched too wide and eyes were hollow and pleading.

One drifted close, whispering again.

"You failed her... you failed your mother..."

Victor stopped mid-stride and the spirit froze.

Slowly, he turned his head with a calm gaze.

"You don’t get to say her name," he said quietly.

He released Nascent Soul pressure and the world shook.

A pressure wave rolled outward and the illusionary spirit shrieked soundlessly as its form crumpled. Mist dispersed as if crushed by an invisible mountain.

Every other illusion in the vicinity dissolved instantly.

The mist thinned.

Even the land seemed to hold its breath.

Victor resumed moving.

A ripple passed through the ground below.

Something large shifted beneath the fog.

A Qi-Devouring Beast burst upward without warning.

It’s massive body was covered in rough plates that throbbed hungrily with dark light. Its maw opened wide, revealing rows of crystalline teeth designed to tear qi directly from a cultivator’s meridians.

Four years ago, Victor would’ve run.

Now?

He didn’t even draw his sword.

The beast leapt and Victor stepped forward instead.

He released his aura causing the pressure of a Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator to slam down on the beast like mountains stacked atop one another.

Its body convulsed mid-air as its muscles locked in place. The overwhelming disparity in existence crushed its will to attack.

Its roar died in its throat.

The ground cratered beneath it as it slammed down, completely pinned in place.