"That's the wrong move," Liu Xing grimaced, wiping blood from his chin. His will wasn't strong enough to forcefully push both of his cores apart. They were too heavy. There had to be a better way.
Wei Yi snapped his eye toward his location and, without hesitation, shot a red laser as big as his thigh at him. Liu Xing jumped to the side and landed atop the remnants of the giant's bursting heart. Wei Yi's laser traced a line on the giant's wall, following him. Wei Yi knew his location because of the blood that painted him.
Willing invisibility to swallow the blood covering him, he jumped from organ to organ while gritting his teeth, trying to maintain some semblance of control over his cores while enduring the pressure. This slowed Liu Xing's movements; moving too much hurt him. Still, he had an idea: jumping from organ to organ meant Wei Yi would need to be precise to avoid harming his own creation.
Inside his consciousness, both cores brush against each other as if seizing one another. He could see their trajectory becoming shorter and shorter; it was truly a matter of time before they collided.
"I need to do something," Liu Xing muttered. He felt there must be a way to make these two cores move in harmony, but what? What was the secret to pulling this off?
The only thing he could think of was pushing both cores away, but the last time he'd done that, he had coughed up blood. It was a violent reaction, making him think it was the wrong approach. But what if it was actually the right thing to do, just done incorrectly?
As Liu Xing moved here and there, dodging Wei Yi's attacks, his mind began to search for good ideas. While he didn't find a perfect solution, he did come up with another idea nonetheless. He needed to gather more information, and to do that, the only option was to try pushing both cores again. If he observed them more carefully, he might gain a better understanding of what was actually happening.
Liu Xing licked his lips. It was a painful idea, but the best he could devise in a short time. Steeling his heart once more, Liu Xing peered into his consciousness. The movement of both cores was now so short, their trajectory more chaotic, as if locked in a mad dance.
Liu Xing inhaled deeply, a breath he took coincidentally as both cores moved away from each other. Seizing the opportunity, he encased both cores with his will and then pushed them apart.
Once again, Liu Xing felt tremendous pain, as if being torn apart, and his internal organs ruptured, blood rushing to his mouth. He had become fully invisible again, and Wei Yi's attacks traced the walls far from him. Knowing that another spray of blood would reveal his position to Wei Yi, Liu Xing gritted his teeth and swallowed the blood and pain, all while trying as hard as possible to observe both cores.
The movement of both cores slowed for a moment, as if his will were some kind of rubber band that successfully snaring them. He knew it would only last briefly, and using all his power, he tried to observe both cores: their movement, their trajectory, every twitch and vibration. He needed to see it all.
His will strained with each second, and soon he felt it snap. The cores broke free from his momentary control. It hurt as if his entire being shattered into a million pieces, but amidst the pain and the cores brushing against each other once more, he realized the gap between his two cores had actually widened. This was proof that pushing the cores was possible, but unsustainable. After all, if Liu Xing tried to do this several more times, his body would explode from the inside out.
He needed a better idea, one that needed to materialize in his mind as soon as possible. He tried to think outside the box, considering if his knowledge from Earth could offer inspiration to tackle this problem, something related to gravity, planets, or even the Sun and solar system.
As soon as he thought like that, the first thing that came to mind was a Chinese sci-fi novel: The Three-Body Problem. This novel was about first contact, where an alien race tried to hinder Earth's scientific progress. The title, Three-Body Problem, referred to the chaotic planetary system of the aliens, where their planet was pulled by two suns.
As his mind considered this story, an idea struck him. Perhaps he needed to introduce another entity with a force akin to gravity. If he had three cores pulling each other, the gravity would interact and create a three-way tug-of-war.
"Is it a good idea?" he muttered. After all, he knew the three-body problem was a real scientific problem, almost impossible to solve. Hell, the whole plot of The Three-Body Problem revolved around the aliens trying to take over Earth because they wanted to escape their home planet, one orbiting two suns so chaotically that day and night could shift within minutes or last for hundreds of years. Adding another core to his body might likewise add another gravitational force, making his cores' movement even more chaotic. He reasoned this problem would arise when he needed to form his third core, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't create a third core right now.
He needed another idea, a good one. As he jumped around with massive pain coursing through his body, he began to think about how other cultivators tackled this problem, and this line of thought gave him another idea, expanding on his previous one.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Other cultivators would be inside their consciousness when trying to break through to the second stage of the Core Splitting realm, while Liu Xing was not. This made him question what would happen if he dived into his consciousness right now. Would he gain better control of his cores, or perhaps even emit a similar gravity-like force?
Licking his lips, he guessed there was no way to verify his thinking except by fully submerging himself into his consciousness, but doing so would expose him to danger. After all, he couldn't just sit down and cultivate right now. He still needed to deal with Wei Yi and the giant.
"Damn it," Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He had no other idea. If he wanted to deal with Wei Yi and the giant as soon as possible, he needed to break through as soon as possible. At other times, breaking through would bring excitement and immense joy, but right now, this whole process was annoying and a hassle, something he wanted to be over with as quickly as possible. Thinking like that, he decided to take a risk. He needed to submerge himself fully into his consciousness.
He couldn't rush it, nor could he stay inside for too long. He needed to enter his consciousness, observe the effects while inside, and return to the physical world as soon as possible. Nodding, Liu Xing closed his eyes and focused his mind completely. As he landed softly atop a giant red vein he had cut, blood gushing out, he tried to enter his consciousness. As soon as he thought about it, he suddenly opened his eyes within his consciousness. All around him was white space, and in front of him, two cores bigger than him moved so fast they were like racing cars. Liu Xing widened his eyes, realizing he had awakened in his consciousness so quickly. While he had mastered the method to submerge himself, the process was faster than before. He thought perhaps this was an effect of the Flowing Meditation Method.
The hum inside his consciousness was deafening, like two giant bees flapping their wings as fast as possible. There was also the crackle of lightning emitted by his first core, and when the cores brushed each other, the wind they created hit his face like a strong punch.
Liu Xing's plan was to try pushing the cores again, thinking something different might happen since he was fully present. But before he could, a change suddenly occurred from his illusory core—the one closer to him. He could see, with his own eyes, that the core, in the process of moving toward his main core, was actually curving slightly. Its movement suddenly slowed, as if a car had slammed on the brakes and was trying to turn around.
Seeing this, Liu Xing instantly ran to the side. A hypothesis formed in his mind, and when he saw the illusory core begin to be pulled toward his new position, his eyes widened. "I also have gravity!"
At that moment, Liu Xing also realized that besides the still-illusory core—which was increasingly becoming heavier and realer—his first core was also curving toward him, as if he were a sun abruptly materializing in the middle of two dancing planets, disrupting their orbit and drawing them toward him.
This was likely how other people managed their breakthrough process; they probably used themselves as another anchor to pull their cores, instead of relying on will alone. As he moved, both cores broke from their tracks and rushed toward him, as if he were a man who had entered a farm with two murderous, territorial bulls. Seeing this, ideas rushed to his mind. It seemed he possessed more gravity than his two cores, and since he could move freely, he could try to manipulate their orbits. As he ran and thought, Liu Xing realized his illusory core was becoming more real, heavier, and emitting stronger gravity. He suspected that once it truly materialized into a real core, it would stabilize. The breakthrough process was probably about holding both cores so they wouldn't collide until he had two true cores inside his body.
As Liu Xing ran, his instincts suddenly screamed, as if sensing a giant sword poised to split his head from his neck. Trusting his gut, Liu Xing expelled himself from his consciousness just in time to see a giant red laser, one so wide and so big, coming straight toward him. Liu Xing’s eyes widened, glimpsing Wei Yi’s eye looking directly at him as if it knew his position. Instantly, Liu Xing activated Lightning Cloak Technique and kicked as hard as possible. For a moment, he thought he would be swallowed by the attack, but instead, it merely grazed his shoulder and side. He felt the intense heat before it slammed into the cutted vein where he had been standing.
Liu Xing summoned his shield and maneuvered around like a pinball. As he moved, he realized his invisibility had undone itself. His body, bloody and beaten, was now clearly visible. He glanced at his gun and realized it was no longer invisible either. This was probably because he had submerged himself into his consciousness. The invisibility could be undone as easily as he willed it, indicating he needed to actively maintain it. But when he submerged himself into his consciousness, there was no will to maintain his invisibility, and so it failed.
Gritting his teeth, he regretted learning this aspect of invisibility this way. He should have experimented with it more. Still, there was no use in complaining. He needed to accept that he probably couldn't fully submerge himself into his consciousness anymore. Peering inside conciousness, Liu Xing saw his absence had undone his effort to separate the two cores, though a change had occurred. Instead of two cars brushing against each other, they were now moving in a circle, orbiting each other. Their dance was more elegant than before, like two suns dancing, destined for a collision that would happen soon if he did nothing.
Wei Yi shot dozens of red lasers at him. The attack seemed weaker than before, but with the crushing pressure still upon him, even one hit could be fatal. As blood flowed freely from his mouth, he tried to think of how to fix his situation.
He recalled thinking Wei Yi was chasing two rabbits and would catch none, and how he arrogantly thought he would catch both. Shaking his head, Liu Xing tried to ignore this distraction and think as hard as possible. The path to break through was becoming clearer. He needed to submerge himself and attract the cores so they wouldn't collide. But he couldn't enter his consciousness—he would die if he did that.
“Think,” he muttered, and an idea struck him. Risky, but not riskier than submerging himself in his consciousness. His gun was soul-bound to him. It could appear inside his consciousness as a mote of light. Since it could appear in his consciousness, he thought perhaps, just perhaps, his gun also possessed some gravity. After all, Liu Xing himself had gravity that attracted the two cores, while previously, there had been no such force inside his consciousness.
With his heart beginning to pulse with measured excitement, thinking that perhaps this was the solution, Liu Xing dismissed his gun, and it appeared inside his consciousness as a mote of light. Comparing his gun to his two cores was like comparing a bear to an ant, and yet, the mote of light vibrated, as if it already knew what it needed to do.