It has been well over 6 'sessions' of consciousness since his discovery of hands, and with intensive thinking, Tang Jun can now say... that either the Illusion is overwhelmingly strong against him... or that he just really has been turned into a baby. And the first option is getting near impossible because the supposed 'illusion' is just as seemingly real as the first time we woke up!
To understand this, you need to understand the resources behind an illusion; Spirit Power! To first use an illusion, you need a great amount of Spirit Power to just to initially fool their mind, then you have the need to constantly send Spirit Power to keep the illusion up, which inevitably results in an enormous drain! Don't say days or weeks, even keeping an illusion against a same-level Spirit Master for half an hour would deplete everything! (Though half an hour is plenty of time to kill them or have him turn on his allies)
And because Spirit Power is everything for an illusion, the way to counter an illusion is also through Spirit Power - to sever the connection! Very few people are trained to fight against an illusion because of how rare illusionists are, so naturally very few people know how to counter one. There are two ways of doing so:
The first, and the slow method is to force your Spirit Power into the connection and to essentially 'plug up' the 'pipe' in which their Spirit Energy goes through, and without an energy source, the illusion will dissipate!
Then there's the second way, the quick method, and it is to mentally slash the connection and sever it forcefully!
The difference between them is that the slow method, while being slow, uses only a moderate amount of Spirit Power and is relatively easy, while the fast method, while fast, requires a lot of Spirit Power and Mental ability to mentally materialize a blade and slash it, and the sudden crash of Spirit Power could easily destroy one's mind!
Here's the problem; someone who has a higher level than you will always have higher Spirit Power reserves, and so you will have a harder time casting it, while they will have an easier time countering it! It may not be that obvious against someone just 1 or 2 levels above you, but when it gets to 9 or 10 levels someone who's been trained is going to shred through the illusion like cheese!
Tian Jun was a level 97 titled Douluo! Think about it! To make an illusion for so long and so realistic against someone so high leveled would require an ungodly amount of Spirit Power! Even if supposedly grievously injured, his total Spirit Power recovered should be at the minimum of a Spirit Sage, and to keep a Spirit Sage under a 'perfect' illusion for days, even weeks straight?
Even a Limit Douluo (Level 99) would not dare to make such a claim!
But it falls apart even further. Tang Jun has tried to sever the illusion, but... there is what is essentially no Spirit Power to use! There just wasn't any Spirit Power in him! Even in an illusion, someone would still feel their Spirit Power in their bodies, but right now he could feel basically nothing! From this Tang Jun is essentially certain that he is actually a baby now, rather than being in an extensive illusion, and that whatever tiny amount of Spirit Power in him was a baby's natural reserve. Of course, there is always the change of some godlike technique or tool trapping him endlessly and perfectly, but even he wouldn't entertain that idea.
So here he was. Stuck. Though stuck may be a little harsh for his situation, depending on how you look at it. You could see it as a second chance; to rebuild from scratch, to perfect his cultivation, to once again ignite the flames and soar phoenix-like to the top! Or you could see it as a downfall; to be stripped of his work, abilities, to stand at the peak and then topple down, down, down to the bottom.
Tang Jun normally wouldn't say himself to be optimistic or pessimistic, but right now he would much prefer to see it as the first option, because of Tang Jun's defining feature; his inquisitiveness! He prized knowledge incredibly high, for he was both a warrior and an intellectual! This supposed 'rebirth' gave him a chance to seek out more knowledge, to test out previously impossible ideas - to him, this was invaluable!
Though he was most famous for his ability in battle, few know that he was also equally skilled and knowledgeable in research! He loved to explore the depths of knowledge, especially in Spirit Rings, in which he specialized.
It is here that we tell you what mattered to Tang Jun, and there are 3 things he values above all:
Firstly, Tang Sect! Tang Sect was both his home and mother; he was raised there, cried there, made brothers there, loved there, and learned there! He was an orphan, so he never knew the true feeling of parental love, so Tang Jun saw Tang Sect as a parent!
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Secondly, Brothers, Sisters, and loved ones! They loved him, and he loved them back! He valued them for obvious reasons.
And Thirdly, knowledge! Tang Jun has always been inquisitive and had a thirst for knowledge, for behind every Spirit Ring, every Spirit Beast, every Spirit Skill comes a myriad of intricate synchronizations, perfect balances, and complex structures! And he loved to unravel them, discover mysteries, and exploits. Yes, exploits! There were potential exploits within Spirits, incredibly hard to pull off, but which still fascinated him to no end. Knowledge is the ultimate resource in the continent; cultivation without knowledge trains merely pawns - cultivation with knowledge trains true warriors!
What you need to take away from this is that Tang Jun loved knowledge, he craved knowledge! Though his understanding of illusions may be totally irrelevant to most battles he fought, nevertheless he took his time to fully understand them! There is no such thing as useless knowledge to him - Something 'irrelevant' today could be life-saving tomorrow.
Though saying all of that, Tang Jun still needed one thing; Power! Power was crushingly absolute in this world, and without it, he could neither protect his loved ones, honor Tang Sect, or seek his craved knowledge! Nothing was possible without power, so he valued power as the only means of getting his goals!
-
So now he got the whole: 'Baby or not' situation out of the way, Tang Jun decided to check out more of his environment. Over the course of some time, his eyesight and hearing got better and better, and he is now at the point where most things could be heard and seen. And oh boy did he hear. Every so often he heard the wailing of some child, crying for attention, while some people hurriedly attended to their needs. There was more than just his crib in the room, exactly 15 when he counted, each one of them caging a horrible monster that was an infant within.
How he hated to be with them! They screamed and cried; the terrorizing noise seemed to be just right at disrupting is analyzing and thinking. Tang Jun also hated his experience as an infant; he has never been so humiliated in his life! He would rather not say what utterly traumatizing things he has been through, but you just need to know about one thing.
Fuck bottles.
Though humiliating this might be, as an infant, he has one resource in buckets; time! Tang Jun has basically all the time in the world to plan and think and train! He will use this time to ready himself for his future plans, in which they all require him to be extremely strong. Using this time to train would give him a head start over his peers, who don't have nearly the intelligence or willpower to train even 3 years from now!
But what is he going to train? He can't train any martial arts, because, well, the whole 'baby' thing. He can't train any special skills because he doesn't have any Spirit Power in him. But he can train his internal Qi, by using the Mysterious Heaven Technique!
Yes, The Mysterious Heaven Technique! It was the technique used by the founder of Tang Sect, Tang San, to train his Internal Qi and who acended to Godhood 4000 years before Tang Jun's death! It was a highly reveared and powerful technique, and was sought after by all of Tang Sect's members.
To start cultivating it, he first needs to enter a state of meditation, and so he closed his eyes and focused.
Tang Jun breathed slower but longer and deeper. His senses began to be shut off, utterly concentrating on his Dantian to draw out his Spirit Energy. Tang Jun got deeper and deeper into his trance; he could hear his heart pumping, his breath inhaling and exhaling, then...
"Ahh!"
A terrorizing scream flooded his ears, instantly shattering his concentration and breaking his attempt at meditation. It was the wailings of some infant, crying for attention of adults. Tang Jun seethed, quite pissed off at the interference with his meditation. He heard the steps of someone arriving, presumably someone attending to the infant's needs. A minute or two later, whatever was needed to be done was done, and he heard the footsteps of someone leaving the room.
Tang Jun readied himself for another attempt at meditation; slowing down his breath, focusing on his Dantian, and blocking out the world. He was in a trance, going deeper, into the dark alleys of his mind and body. He focused on his Dantian, feeling the tiny amount of Spirit Energy contained within. However small the amount be, it was enough to start the first cycle of the Mysterious Heaven Technique. Tang Jun drew it out, slowly, gently, and he felt the tiny strand float out of dantian and into one of his Meridians. This was the second step!
Then, he with utmost care and gentleness, he guided it through his Meridians, and every time, he felt the sharp pain from the Strand of Spirit Energy squeezing through, widening his tiny infant Meridians. It was most definitely not a pleasant experience, but certainly a necessary one for his plans. Tang Jun continued to cycle through them, but lost in his meditation and having no sense of time whatsoever, he spent a whole day and night just getting through 1 full cycle of all his Meridians! This was the third and final part! The reason he took a full day and night to do this was because the amount of Meridians used in The Mysterious Heaven Technique were ten times of that used in normal cultivation, and so the time used would naturally be enormous!
Furthermore, it was incredibly exhausting to train in, but the benefits were numerous! It allows him to resist pressure and poisons, improves physique and recovering, while also widening and removing impurities from his Meridians!
Tang Jun had used what little Spirit Energy he had in order to do this, and as soon as he finished the first cycle it dissipated, leaving him weak and exhausted. He felt empty, tired, and about to collapse into sleep any second now; the signs of Spirit Power exhaustion. Tang Jun didn't fight the sleep, enveloping it's misty, opaque embrace, and soon enough the world was blank.
He again slept dreamlessly.
-