Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

“Atropos, you should understand that I’m not actually that afraid of death, otherwise I wouldn’t have been so foolish as to choose to violate the rules without hesitation, even after realizing that they were set by the gods.”

"But this time, I will not die meaninglessly like this. I will cultivate that Taixu Sword Qi manual, regardless of whether that god has any perverse sense of humor in it."

“Aren’t you a witness? Then be a witness. Just like that god, even I hate the boring and monotonous death. If I come back here next time, I will definitely fight to the last moment of my life.”

Having experienced two helpless deaths, the boy made a solemn and resolute vow in the endless darkness.

[...Then one day, I will await your return, and in the name of Atropos, I will witness the beginning and the end of your life and death.]

Atropos's words still echoed in his soul when the darkness before him suddenly vanished, and the world turned upside down, time and space reversed.

2013年11月9日，上午9点34分。

Inside a coffee shop in Changkong City.

The coffee shop was quiet with no customers. The young man sitting at the cashier's counter propped his head up and looked at the time on his phone, a hint of relief on his handsome face.

At this point in time, we should still be able to see Kiana, right?

I just don't know if she'll ever come back to work here again.

"Ding-a-ling~" The wind chimes hanging on the eaves in summer were still in use, and they made a crisp and melodious sound.

The person who came in was a foreign girl with unusual hair color. She was dragging a large suitcase into the quiet coffee shop.

She was wearing a grey hoodie that was half a size too big, and the Houmu pattern floating on the chest of the hoodie accentuated the girl's good figure. She was wearing hot pants that were mostly covered by the hoodie.

The black thermal stockings accentuated the beautiful lines of her legs, making them appear exceptionally slender. She wore practical and durable black sneakers, and the simple and casual outfit was stunning on her.

The girl's azure eyes were fixed on the menu on the blackboard, her expression indifferent and calm. She seemed to have just finished a long journey and was now at a hotel where she was only taking a temporary rest.

But when she noticed the boy sitting in front of her, her usually calm mind was suddenly stirred. It was like a familiar person and thing, or a familiar but nameless scent from her memory. But upon closer examination, it vanished without a trace.

"Give me a latte. With ice and extra sugar."

"You've been accepted."

The two spoke at the same time, and the atmosphere became subtly awkward.

"Meals and accommodation included, hourly wage 3500 yen." Su Qing'an continued shamelessly, her seemingly expressionless face slightly flushed.

"3500 yuan?!" The girl's indifferent expression instantly crumbled.

"Correct."

"Hourly wage?!"

"Correct."

"They even include room and board?!"

"Correct."

"...What kind of people are you recruiting here?"

"...a waiter and a cashier. This shop usually has very few customers; most of them are regulars. One person can handle it all." The young man calmly added, maintaining the demeanor of a normal stranger.

Are there any specific working hour requirements?

"Come whenever you want, just stay at least five times a month. The place is on the first floor of the coffee shop. The room is 60 square meters, I'll clean it up in a bit, it'll be enough for you."

"Are all the jobs in this country this well paid?" the girl exclaimed in shock.

"Yes, almost." It was only a tiny difference, Su Qing'an answered against her conscience.

"Ahem, I've got your shop covered," the girl said with a friendly pat on Su Qing'an's shoulder and a carefree smile. "My name is Kiana Kaslana. I'm an exchange student from Germany, and I'm a freshman at Chiyu Academy this year. Nice to meet you."

“I’m Su Qing’an, the manager of this store. I’m from China,” he said, a warm and genuine smile curving his lips. “Hello, Kiana.”

On November 9, 2013, at 9:38 a.m., red maple leaves danced outside the French windows, the sky was high and the clouds were light, cats and pedestrians passed by on the roadside, and the swirling wind tinkled the wind chimes. A boy and a girl met here, a scene as beautiful as a painting.

12. A young girl's thoughts

2013年11月9日中午11点13分。

After putting the wireless signal receiver, eavesdropping device, and other equipment back into her huge suitcase, Kiana collapsed heavily onto the bed. The soft mattress and blankets made her sink halfway into them, as if to wash away all her fatigue.

The snow-white quilt is the perfect thickness for autumn and winter, and the lavender scent that fills the nostrils is a perfectly light fragrance. Inside a row of wardrobes that occupy one wall are two sets of bathrobes and shower caps with tags still attached, and neatly arranged hangers of various sizes.

The private bathroom has a shower and a bathtub. On the sink are unopened bottles of shampoo, and a few small packets of shower gel and hand soap.

In his recollection, the boy apologized, saying he didn't have any conditioner, shower gel, or extra toothbrush and toothpaste for girls, but he would bring them to her from the general store when he made dinner. He even thoughtfully asked the girl about her preference for the Houmu pattern on her toothbrush cup, among other details.

Kiana was completely taken care of throughout the entire process. When the boy was tidying up the room, the girl offered to help, but Su Qing'an seriously refused, saying that Kiana was a guest and it was impolite to ask a guest to do things according to the customs of Shenzhou.

To reassure her while she waited, Su Qing'an skillfully prepared a latte with ice and extra sugar. The latte was presented to Kiana with a black and white layered appearance in the glass. When the boy explained that it was an employee benefit, Kiana's eagerness to pay vanished.

My intuition tells me that all of this is pure and full of goodwill.

Kiana's intuition is very accurate. This may sound a bit mystical, but she can indeed tell the atmosphere between people, the degree of lying, and whether there is kindness or malice.

Since embarking on her journey to find her father, many things she has experienced have proven the existence of this intuition. Therefore, she usually doesn't like to use her brain when doing things. Most of the time, she can't solve things with wisdom because she can't solve things with obvious malice, but she can't escape the perception of hidden malice.

So, stumbling and falling along the way, Kiana has always been more accustomed to letting her fists do the talking.

Yes, it's true in physics.

Kiana isn't actually stupid; theoretically, praising her intelligence wouldn't be considered dishonest.

In short, everything today is strange. Under normal circumstances, even with these conditions, Kiana would not agree to avoid trouble, because her outstanding appearance and solitary situation would prevent most problems from arising.

Well, Kiana's experience in this kind of thing is evident from her habitual use of eavesdropping devices, monitoring equipment, and wireless signal receiving surveyors.

But she agreed. Because that strange, familiar feeling directly broke through the shell she had built to avoid trouble, making her inexplicably want to stay.

Of course, another reason is that Kiana, who hadn't considered saving money along the way and had been spending money rather extravagantly, began to realize that the savings her father left behind had shrunk to a point where she dared not look at them too much.

"Su Qing'an, huh, what a strange fellow."

Kiana stretched out her five fingers and looked at the ceiling, muttering to herself. Her half-loose white braids shone brighter than the snow-white blanket. Sunlight filtered through her fingers and fell on her face, casting dappled light that made her cheeks blush slightly, making her look incredibly cute.

Being treated like this actually feels good, but some proud girls would never say it out loud.

On the other side, upstairs in the coffee shop.

Su Qing'an was in his room studying the Taixu Sword Qi manual. He was now basically certain that it was indeed written by a god. If you considered it as a game, Taixu Sword Qi would be a beginner's gift pack.

The reason for this confirmation was simple: Atropos told him.

Before his resurrection, Atropos did not give a direct answer to Su Qing'an's last words. As a witness, Atropos was like a tool; he had no reason to lie, but he also had no reason to explain things outside the rules and limited information.

But not answering is itself a form of answer.

The conclusion is that the Taixu Sword Qi is a product of the gods, possibly a modified version, the original version, or an incomplete version.

In short, he couldn't tell the difference between either one.

This is the helplessness caused by limited capabilities and information asymmetry.

Since there's no way to resist or break the deadlock, the only option is to obediently enter the pit and cultivate.

"The Sword Heart Technique," the boy said, closing his eyes, "I guess I'll just have to give it a try first."

“Po…Lu…Jidi…Fo…Luo…Leng…” The room echoed with the boy’s clear, strange syllables. An invisible force field fluctuated and transformed into a mysterious power that calmed his mind without any ripples.

Legend has it that the Taixu Sword Qi consists of five elements: Heart, Form, Intent, Soul, and Spirit. Among them, the Heart element is the first element to master and is also the most difficult element besides the Sword God.

It is divided into four levels.

A tranquil mind merges with the still waters of a lake.

The lake of the heart freezes over, becoming dustless.

A heart as clear as ice is a mirror.

The mind and spirit are formless, they are the Great Void.

According to the principles and limitations of this martial art, men can only reach the level of Wuchen at most.

However, no one could understand what the Taixu Sword Qi, modified by the gods, actually looked like, or what the limits Su Qing'an could reach.

The helplessness of time travel, the seven days spent with Hua, the pain of death, the guilt of breaking the contract, the despair of facing imminent collapse, the determination and anger when escaping Changkong City, and the death that comes again amidst the dancing cherry blossoms.

All these emotions surged forth like an unstoppable tide as the strange syllables soothed and calmed the mind.

Syllables possess a mysterious power, much like a train in motion with immense inertia. Even as his emotions surged to the point of near loss of control, the boy's syllables were still uttered at a calm pace.

“Liye…Luolengpo…Naluo…” Su Qingan felt an inexplicable power flowing through his limbs and bones, and the complex emotions as deep as mountains and as vast as abysses gradually turned into water droplets and slowly gathered.

For a long, long time.

When her emotions calmed down again, Su Qing'an opened her eyes.

It is formed from a vast lake of the heart, like an ocean.

A tranquil mind merges with a still lake.

Kenshin, complete.

13. Modified version of Taixu Sword Qi

2013年11月9日中午12点27分。

Su Qing'an cultivated a sword heart.

In just one hour, he achieved a state of perfect tranquility, where his mind was as still as a lake.

Incredible. Although he didn't understand how long it would take for an ordinary person to cultivate a sword heart, he clearly felt that a speed of one hour was quite excellent.

According to the teachings of the Taixu Sword Qi, the earlier one cultivates the Sword Heart, the better. Youth is the best time to temper the Sword Heart, and the earlier one does so, the purer the Sword Heart will be. For an adult to cultivate the Sword Heart is like trying to grasp the wind with the palm of their hand—it is all in vain.

At the age of 17, Su Qing'an was cultivating at almost the threshold of adulthood. Logically speaking, let alone completing the cultivation quickly, even completing it in March 2014, before the collapse, would have been a stroke of luck.

Is this the function of the soul's essence?

After eliminating all possibilities, the answer points to one's unique and special soul essence.

Atropos said that his soul essence was four times that of an ordinary person. It can be inferred that the essence of his soul probably affected his observation, comprehension, memory, and so on. In metaphysical terms, it is enlightenment.

Furthermore, his heart is exceptionally vast; it would be more accurate to call it a sea of ​​the heart rather than a lake, a change likely stemming from the essence of his soul.

According to his own understanding, the existence of the Heart Lake represents a way of utilizing the essence of the soul. Through this utilization, a connection can be established between the body and Qi (that is, Honkai energy), gradually improving one's adaptability to Honkai energy in order to achieve the purpose of resisting Honkai.

Therefore, the so-called "dustlessness," "clear mirror," and "great emptiness" above "sword heart still water" should all be higher-level applications and means to improve the essence of the soul.