Chapter 60: Rebirth
Raw pain and despair followed by an ever-present abyss of darkness threatening to swallow his entire sense of self!!
That was what Tang Mu's mind had felt when his body exploded into bloody pieces after facing the sonic attack cast by Elder Weeping Ghost. His entire being grew weaker and weaker until he even started losing his perception of his surroundings.
All signs of life steadily but surely seeped away, and even his clone, which he had previously stowed away in the Star Orb storage space, was in dire straits. It couldn't survive without the aegis of the original soul that had given birth to it. The clone was also twitching erratically as the clutches of death slowly gripped its core and dragged it toward cessation along with its original body.
No, I shouldn't sleep! I won't manage to wake up again if I allow myself to sleep here!
Tang Mu's unwavering resolve forged over two lifetimes exploded forth.
He tried his best to hold on to what was important to him, including the memory of all his loved ones, plus his hopes and goals. His determination seemed to harden, and his mind subconsciously performed a wondrous action of visualizing the Star God Celestial Diagram.
At that instant, something miraculous and mysterious happened.
A jolt passed through Tang Mu's entire being, and just as quickly, his consciousness, or his very soul, seemed to escape the confines of his physical body.
But that wasn't all. His memories, thoughts, awareness, psionic abilities, and other core traits that defined him fled the clutches of the endless life-draining darkness before allowing his will to manifest within an enigmatic blood-red world.
Soon enough, another tremor passed through his sense of self, and his perception transcended the confines of the blood-red world. It began functioning like his spiritual sense and, in some way, allowed him to understand his current circumstances.
Surprisingly, he hadn't faced 'true death' after his body faced the lethal sonic attack and exploded into a gory of bloody pieces. Instead, his sense of self had been reborn in the blood-red crystal with the conspicuous green eye incorporating a striking vertical black slit as a pupil. All his most defining aspects had seemingly shed off their mortal flesh and blood bindings before reappearing within this crystal that had always remained floating in his unlocked Galactic Chakra.
Talk about a true-blue miracle in life — this was it.
After inspecting the mysterious crystal that currently defined him, Tang Mu allowed his spiritual sense to spread out even further.
An overflowing sense of relief washed across his soul when he discovered that the mysterious crystal had already escaped the actual world and teleported into the Star Orb Storage space. His thoughts stabilized after realizing he had narrowly fled away from the enemy without facing his end.
He swiftly withdrew his spiritual sense from his surroundings before focusing on the blood-red world inside the crystal containing his most defining aspects.
The green eye with a striking vertical black slit as a pupil hung high above in the blood-red world like a glowing star. At the moment, it was repeatedly pulsing like a beating heart while absorbing traces of mysterious energy from the surroundings. Its pupil, which was a black slit, continuously converted all the drawn-in 'energy' into vital essence that was starting to saturate the surroundings.
I was wrong! The crystal isn't a manifestation of my Mentifery superpower. It's something else, and it's currently drawing in the energy to help recover my vital aspects.
If I access enough energy, I might even rebuild my body quickly.
A few conclusions manifested within Tang Mu's thought center as he observed the workings of the mysterious crystal.
He didn't know what the blood-red crystal was or what it represented. But just by instinct, he inherently knew that it was the secret that had allowed him to escape immediate death even after he lost his physical body and all its vital organs, including the heart, lungs, and brain. He could also deduce that it would be the key to his recovery.
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I need more energy to rebuild my body!
Tang Mu was full of yearning. He immediately extended his spiritual sense towards the nearby clone body, hoping to connect with it and utilize it to fetch the origin essence and psionic crystals he could absorb for his endeavor.
But to his dismay, he soon realized that he could no longer form any link with his secondary consciousness, which made up the clone's mind. He could only watch on helplessly as the clone continued twitching on the ground as if it was repeatedly experiencing seizures.
What can I do?
Feelings of desperation started manifesting in Tang Mu's thought center.
He feared that the process of rebuilding his body would take very long if he only relied on the passive ability of the blood-red crystal to absorb energy. His consciousness might even spend hundreds of years locked away and isolated in the blood-red world if he couldn't find an alternative energy source to meet his needs.
I guess this is better than facing death. At least I'll have a chance at rebirth. I only have to wait for my body to reform, and then I can return to the real world to take my revenge.
Tang Mu consoled himself as his entire being bubbled with boundless hatred.
He almost couldn't contain his wrath towards Elder Weeping Ghost and the Crimson Brotherhood behind him. He yearned for revenge, and if he could recover, he would ensure that he wiped the entire underworld organization off the face of the universe.
He desired to make them regret the act of ever trying to end his life. That was a promise to himself, and he would not rest until he fulfilled it.
Tang Mu's thoughts eventually grew calm as his awareness began to adapt to the confinement of the monotonous blood-red world within the crystal.
He soon pushed his hatred aside, hoping to weather away the long years he might spend isolated with an optimistic mindset. He also expected to use the solitude to meditate and cultivate his mind.
But fate worked in mysterious ways, and just then, another fortuitous twist happened.
Before Tang Mu's consciousness could acclimatize to the new solitude, he felt a tremor impact the very crystal containing all the remaining aspects that defined his sense of self.
He swiftly extended his spiritual sense while suppressing the growing dread that threatened to overwhelm him. And just as quickly, his alarm turned into pleasant delight as he realized that a basketball-sized sphere of a green and sticky fluid had just appeared out of the blue and glued itself on the blood-red crystal housing his consciousness.
The liquid in question exuded vibrant waves of life and soul energy that immediately started nourishing his source of life. Not wishing to waste even a portion of this treasure, he pushed everything else, including his excitement, out of his thoughts and did the needful.
He activated the Star God Celestial Diagram and relied on this wondrous technique to actively absorb the vital and soul essence from the fantastical treasure. He sank into a meditative state and forgot everything else as an innate ability he wasn't even aware of started the rebuilding process of his body in a way he couldn't have ever imagined.
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In the meantime, Little Green continued observing Tang Mu's Crystalline Soul Body after her elder sister left. She watched the blood-red crystal absorb all the sap of the world tree from the Elven Universe before it began to pulse with vibrant waves of life energy.
As the minutes and hours passed, a series of miracles continued happening, starting with the formation of a beating human heart around the Crystalline Soul Body.
With every pulse, this vibrant heart that was a vital core of every carbon-based humanoid lifeform drew in more energy to serve as the fuel for the gradual rebuilding of Tang Mu's body. It continued beating like a drum, prompting more and more body parts to form around the Crystalline Soul Body.
Firstly, smaller body tissues and muscles that exuded vibrant vitality manifested around the heart. These attached themselves to a budding bone fragment, which continued absorbing more energy to form a six-foot skeleton that exuded a golden luster.
The miraculous process continued as the Elven Universe world tree sap worked its magic. Not long after, Tang Mu's body was rebuilt in incredible ways beyond ordinary understanding, with the finishing touch being the formation of a pair of deep green eyes and a glowing pale white skin that could give the most celebrated supermodels a run for their money.
Nonetheless, the astounding series of events had yet to end, even after the rebuilding of Tang Mu's physique. The transformation process just couldn't cease because of the incredible amount of energy remaining within the sap of the Elven Universe world tree that Tang Mu had drawn into his Crystalline Soul Body.
Little Green watched on with a glint in her green eyes as Tang Mu utilized this very energy to restore the connection between his physical body and his already unlocked Galactic Chakra.
She then nodded to herself as she saw him rely on the Star God Celestial Diagram and the Elven world tree sap energy to swiftly ascend through the steps of primary, secondary, advanced, and peak stages of a rank one psionic.
Everything progressed smoothly, and within just an hour, he reached the 'very' apex and hit the bottleneck that stopped many from reaching rank two. At that juncture, the psionic energy within his unlocked Galactic Chakra had already crystalized, meaning he was just a tiny step away from opening another chakra.
He should only have used up three-quarters of the energy within the sap of the Elven Universe world tree by now.
If he pushes on tenaciously, he should be able to utilize the remaining energy to unlock another chakra and ascend to rank two. The disaster was really a blessing for him.
Little Green's pretty face lit up with a smile as she observed Tang Mu's rebirth. Her superior penetrating sight and exceptional mind allowed her to deduce a few things. She could predict that the lucky guy would transcend his previous self and become a higher-ranked metaphysical being. He had really benefitted greatly from a misfortune.
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