I Cultivated Too Long and Got Isekai'd Into a Game-Chapter 205: Henrietta’s Assimilation Core

Henrietta’s loss of sanity became the trigger for other "accidents" to happen. One example of this was the unusual appearance of her assimilation core.

The assimilation core, instead of looking like a bright, burning flame of life, appeared to be half-baked red flames. This was surprising, considering it was the stolen remnant of the Blazing Wrath Fiend that Henrietta had just defeated.

"Henrietta..."

The flickering flames wound around a small, frightened figure—Henrietta’s soul in the image of her childhood, a trembling thread of blue that looked like a frightened girl’s silhouette.

Xu Tao stepped toward Henrietta but was forced to stop.

The fiend’s essence snarled. It saw him and lashed out, a surge like a physical blow that shoved Xu Tao back.

"Ugh!" He groaned.

Right now, Xu Tao was only a soul body. He wasn’t as tough as his real body in this state. Thus, even a weak fragment could push him around. Still, while staggering, he braced his inner senses and pushed forward.

This was no duel of blades; it was a meeting of wills, a weaving of intention. The fiend had made itself host here, taking over the will that Henrietta had lost—like a barnacle on the shore, bitter and jealous.

"..." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Xu Tao did not speak.

He reached instead for that "ribbon" Uriel had spoken aloud—her small things—and let the memory color him. The child-soul peered at the scent: the sugarbound peach.

A flicker of recognition passed over the little figure’s face; it reached a small, trembling hand toward the peach-scented ribbon.

And for a brief moment, as if overpowered, the core stiffened.

Xu Tao used that moment to slide a thin silver cord around the assimilation core. His technique was surgical: a harmonizing lattice that gentled flames and rewove threads of identity. Henrietta’s identity... and the Blazing Wrath Fiend’s supposedly erased identity.

His control was beyond precise. He rearranged the soul lattice, compressed the violent patterns into a single bundle, and separated the personal memories of each so they could be returned to their rightful owner.

The fiend screamed—an echo that rippled through the empty street. For a heartbeat, Xu Tao felt his tether strain as if an external tide tried to wrench him out.

He met that force with his own blood signature.

Back in the room, his sigils burned brighter; the golden tethers tightened and bled warmth into the bed. He fed them a slow current of his own life-Qi, a measured sacrifice to keep the pathway open.

In the soul-space he wove the harmonizing lattice tighter, threading it around the bundle until the fiend’s violent impulses were isolated like a raging storm trapped in crystal.

He didn’t annihilate the fiend; he exiled its violent center into a contained vessel that could be sealed and policed, a place Henrietta could visit only with conscious control. Time had no meaning in that place.

The cord hummed.

Voices came from outside—Uriel’s sobs, Jehanne’s prayer, and Zetian’s silent chants. Those sounds were threads he could follow back when he needed to return.

But his job was still far from over. He had managed to isolate the fiend’s personality and negativity, but he was still far from restoring Henrietta’s sanity.

With one last coil, he tightened the lattice and used the final sigil: a loop of his blood across the fiend’s core matching the one drawn over Henrietta’s heart.

It bound them in a pact.

Henrietta would keep what she had taken: the strength, the cultivation. But the compulsive frenzy, the unreasoning hunger, would be sealed into a vessel and flagged with alarm should it stir. At the same time, Xu Tao used a fraction of it to rebuild Henrietta’s shattered ego.

It was like trying to piece a jigsaw puzzle back together, but instead, using the pieces from Tetris. It was obvious they wouldn’t fit, but he had to make it work.

He twisted, compressed, and flayed the parts of the fiend, then used them as building blocks, filling in Henrietta’s collapsing ego.

As he did this, the fiend let out a sound like metal shearing. The pain of having its very concept twisted was beyond imagining.

But thanks to his actions, the childlike Henrietta finally relaxed.

Slowly, the pillar of flame shivered into a blue mist and drew inward, shrinking into a bead of cold glass—the real and final form of the assimilation core.

Xu Tao carefully tucked it behind the lattice like a stone in a pocket.

"Phew... That was nerve-wracking." He sighed in relief.

With this, the "first aid" was done.

As if to match his timing, he felt the tether ease.

The golden threads in the room loosened as well.

Uriel’s hands stopped trembling, her expression slowly turning into a smile. She could feel Henrietta’s change in real time, her cold, dead-like palm slowly becoming warm, as if living again.

"Ritta...!" she whispered, wiping her tears away.

At that instant, Xu Tao pulled himself back. Thankfully, following the ribbons tied to his soul and to the girls outside, he made his way out without getting lost. As he reached the exit, a bright flash welcomed him.

Xu Tao slowly opened his eyes to see Uriel leaning over Henrietta, both crying and laughing at once. Jehanne was at the side, gripping the blanket so tightly her knuckles stung. She had been tense the entire time, both from worrying about the procedure and about Xu Tao.

Zetian casually opened her fan. Her movement was as usual, but Xu Tao didn’t miss the signs of fatigue. She had overexerted herself protecting him and Henrietta, despite how short it all took.

Henrietta’s chest rose on a deeper breath.

"Mmm..."

Her lashes fluttered; a weak groan escaped.

She blinked, confused, tears streaking across her face. She felt as if she had just seen a sad dread, but even if she tried closing her eyes again, she couldn’t recall what it was. For a long moment she kept her eyes closed, gathering a fragile sense of self... before falling asleep once again.

"Ritta...! You’re back!"

Uriel pulled her into a hug, then carefully used the bedsheets to cover Henrietta’s naked body.

On the other hand, Xu Tao felt tired—bone-deep. The exhaustion hummed like a bell rung well, purposeful. He sat up and let a small smile touch his lips.

"I helped fix her sense of self, but it’s far from being back to usual," he told them.

"When she truly wakes up tomorrow, she’ll be herself—only quieter. Her vessel is sealed and anchored, stabilized. But be warned: she lost more than she gained. Although she’s stronger now, she will need even more discipline later on."

Uriel sobbed softly and threw herself at his feet, clinging to his ankles. "Thank you... Master," she whispered. There was no difference between gratitude and worship in her voice.

Xu Tao reached for her head and ruffled her white hair the smallest fraction. "Get rest," he said. "All of you."

He watched Henrietta for a long moment, the girl fast asleep—tired mentally and spiritually.