Yes. I found that cultivating in the Harmonized Settlement gained affinity far faster than at the cave. I ended up with Harmonized cultivating skill at near level 5000 by the time I got to Core 3 (just earlier today) with harmony band 12. It still wasn't fast enough Qi generation (just under 2 years per point), so I went to a Paragon city with a Lightning Beast form to get it done with training (the rate there was almost .8 Qi per year).