A Thought Through Eternity

Within the illusory world, Bai Xiaochun’s saw the heavens and earth being smashed and thoroughly torn apart by the claw of that ancient beast. It seemed as if his consciousness had also been affected; he could feel bursts of fractures were being transmitted throughout his consciousness.

Following this fractures, signs of his mind gradually dissipating began to show. Bai Xiaochun was seemingly at a lost. This claw that tore open the heavens made him thoroughly stunned.

Bai Xiaochun was incapable of imagining what kind of power this was. He subconsciously thirsted for it; this kind of pinnacle power, which could split the heavens and earth, made his mind fully concentrated on trying to absorb and comprehend this. He wanted to obtain this power, even if his consciousness was gradually dissipating after the appearance of those fractures.

The more he thought about this, the faster his consciousness dissipated. But when almost twenty percent of his consciousness had dissipated, Bai Xiaochun suddenly trembled. He faintly realized that something was amissed. While he was engrossed with this claw, he vaguely felt that he had another purpose for coming here.

This thought gradually became even stronger. Finally, when it had replaced the thirst for the power within the claw, the dissipation of his fractured consciousness slowly stopped. As if time had reversed, it once again pieced itself together.

Within the illusory world, that enormous spirit beast appeared once again. This time, it wasn’t a claw, but rather the whip-like tail behind its body. It swept through the heavens and earth, rending the earth and causing the heavens to fall, and the booming sound it emitted was like the Big Bang.

During this rending of the earth and falling of the heavens, Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness once again lost its bearings.

In the outside world, as night descended, Bai Xiaochun’s twenty-sixth day of enlightment suddenly pa.s.sed. The twenty-seventh day arrived and morning turned into the afternoon, which turned into the evening, which turned into midnight.

In the Testing Stage where Bai Xiaochun was, the expressions of the countless disciples of the North Bank changed. By the end, every single person had their eyes widely opened.

Beihan Lie, the Gongsun siblings, Xu Song and the Heaven’s Chosens from the inner sect felt great waves surging in their minds.

“He has exceeded...twenty-seven days. He has exceeded Senior Brother Gui Ya!”

“Heavens, this Bai Xiaochun could actually attain enlightenment to this degree!”

“How long will his enlightenment actually be able to last? Thirty days? Thirty-five days? Or perhaps… forty days!”

After a brief moment of repressed emotions and silence, the countless people gathered near the Testing Stage flew into a violent uproar as they exclaimed. When everyone looked at Bai Xiaochun who had no aura, they were all overwhelmed with shock.

However, their shock was clearly too early.

Time pa.s.sed again, and the thirtieth day, the thirty-third day, and the thirty-seventh day pa.s.sed… all the way until fortieth day. By then, every one of the disciples of the North Bank were at a loss.

Not only were they loss, the Ancestors of the four mountains also took a deep breath. Every extra day in the Realm of Enlightenment had a completely different significance. Under that type of enlightenment, one day could be compared to several years of normal cultivation, or even more.

Gui Ya was silent, but an astonis.h.i.+ng light appeared in his eyes. He looked at Bai Xiaochun. He wanted to know... what did Bai Xiaochun see?!

“He definitely managed to find his way after losing his bearings from that claw. So, what did he glimpse after that?”

Within the illusory world, Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness was incessantly shaking. He didn’t know how long he had lost his bearings within the strength of this ancient beast’s tail, and his consciousness was dissipating at an extremely fast speed. However, a thought within his brain was still unceasingly occuring while his consciousness was quickly dissipating. This tail’s frantic strength… was still not his purpose for coming here.

“This isn’t it!” He muttered to himself.

The instant when this sound echoed out, his consciousness stopped collapsing. When there were no more signs that his mind was dissipating, that enormous ancient beast suddenly opened its mouth and exposed something that was even more frightening than its claws, even more frightening than its tail… its sharp teeth!

That row of teeth seemed to contain evil spirits that could fill the sky and destroy everything; as if it could bite and shatter everything that existed. With a single bite, the entire world became pitch black and began to collapse once again.

“No, this is still not what I came here for!” Bai Xiaochun’s muttering sounds echoed in all directions and got even stronger.

“What I came here for is to observe this ancient beast, which with I can use to birth… the Water Nation Technique’s Spirit of Life!”

“What I want isn’t the strength of this ancient beast’s claw, tail or teeth. What I want… is to carefully observe this entire ancient beast, firmly imprinting it in my mind and use it to unlock my Water Nation Technique’s Spirit of Life!”

“And it will not become my Spirit of Life. Instead, this ancient beast will merge into it, becoming a part of my Spirit of Life!”

“This is only the reason… why I came here!” Bai Xiaochun’s voice was no longer a mutter; it was now like a thundering roar. As this illusory world began exploding apart and unceasingly spread in all directions, his consciousness suddenly condensed itself and changed into a beam of light, directly flying towards the distant ancient beast.

It was hard to describe how fast his speed was, and within the blink of an eye, he had already approached the ancient beast. With an explosion, his consciousness actually merged with the body of the ancient beast and in the instant they touched. Soon, it began to spread out. Bai Xiaochun’s mind was violently trembling. He had a strong feeling that at this moment, he… appeared as if he was transforming into this ancient beast!

The process of transforming into the ancient beast was exactly the process of him comprehending this ancient beast. There was no other method that was better suited for him to observe this ancient beast. It had gotten to the point that this was no longer observing, and it had exceeded the point of observing it down to the smallest details. It had reached… the level of being one with the body.

Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness rapidly dispersed and continuously merged with the entire body of the ancient beast, understanding it, a.n.a.lysing it, grasping it, observing it, and...controlling it!

It started from its flesh and slowly extended to its scales, then its spikes, claws, teeth, bones, and its internal organs… Bai Xiaochun forgot the concept of time, and his entire consciousness was rapidly comprehending this ancient beast.

This went on until a certain time when Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness suddenly shook. It had finally filled the entire body of the ancient beast, and he had become the ancient beast.

He faced the sky and roared, and the world seemed to tremble. However, following that, the body of the ancient beast twisted, and its flesh, using some kind of mysterious technique, rapidly and unexpectedly changed into a Three-Eyed Black Crow!

This black crow had an enormous body, and when it was rapidly flying in this illusory world, its eyes had Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness within them. And within the blink of an eye, the black crow once again twisted, changing into a Seven-Coloured Phoenix.

And later on, it changed again into an enormous lizard, and in the next moment, with Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness, it even transformed into the Mountain Ghost of the Ghost Tooth Mountain. It didn’t end there though; following that, Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness unexpectedly transformed into the near thousand spirit beasts from the Hundred Beasts Courtyard.

The flying tiger, the pangolin, the huge bear, and the all the other spirit beasts. Even if had transformed into all of them, it still didn’t end there, and soon he also transformed into the spirit beasts that were beside the disciples of the North Bank that Bai Xiaochun had secretly observed.

This went on until a booming sound occured, and all of those spirit beasts disappeared. Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness changed into a lump of dense fog which was unceasingly undulating, as if there was some kind of frightening spirit that was about to be born.

This was Bai Xiaochun’s Water Nation Technique’s Spirit of Life.

It was not possible to clearly see what in the world this spirit was, and even Bai Xiaochun’s own consciousness was unable to see it clearly. It was as if… this spirit’s body wasn’t complete yet.

But with an incomplete body, at this moment, it released an astonis.h.i.+ng aura, and an enormous beast could be faintly seen within the dense fog. Its bony spikes could shake the heavens and earth, and it had an unimaginable imposing aura which continuously condensed following the undulations of the dense fog.

At the same time, Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness was unable to support the unceasing transformations and started to rapidly dissipate. 10%, 20%, 30%... within a blink of an eye, 50% of his consciousness had dissipated!

Following this dissipation, the entire illusory world started to tremble, and signs of dissipation unexpectedly appeared in the Spirit of Life that was being born in the dense fog.

“Faster, just a bit faster! Before my consciousness dissipates, Spirit of Life… awaken!”

Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness was yelling out. Quickly, the booming sounds overflowed the heavens, and the dissipation of his consciousness became even quicker. 60%, 70%, 80%... 90%!

Cracks appeared in this illusory world, and it started to collapse. It transformed into a storm which swept outwards in all directions, submerging the dense fog. In that instant, when 100% of Bai Xiaochun’s consciousness had dissipated, he let out a final anxious roar.

Boom!

The world collapsed, but at the moment it collapsed, within the rapidly dissipating dense fog, a pair of red eyes suddenly… opened!

“Spirit of Life, AWAKEN!!!”

In the outside world, after Bai Xiaochun’s enlightenment had exceeded forty days, it was still continuously increasing. Fifty days, sixty days, seventy days, eighty days, ninty days… one hundred days!

This increase of time finally made all of the disciples of the North Bank feel terrified.

“A hundred days, over three months; Bai Xiaochun… he is actually still in the Realm of Enlightenment!”

“He couldn’t have died, right…”

“Too frightening, I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life!”

The outer sect was in a panic, and the inner sect was thoroughly shocked. The minds of Beihan Lie and the others seemed to have been blown apart by thunder. This still did not end; the hundred and tenth day, and the hundred and twentieth day all pa.s.sed, all the way until the noon of the hundred and thirty-first day, where under the North Bank’s Testing Stage, Bai Xiaochun’s body suddenly shook.

This trembling was immediatly noticed by the disciples of the North Bank who had been staring at him for a long time, making them all rub their eyes. After opening their eyes, they saw Bai Xiaochun’s body tremble again, and they immediately let out cries of surprise.

It was during this moment when the cries of surprise echoed out… that Bai Xiaochun’s eyes, suddenly opened!

...

1st sponsored chapter of the week. Special thanks to Kristian S. for sponsoring this chapter, as well as the next sponsored chapter tomorrow. Thank you for the support!

Edited by: Jin, Arch, Mantoulnv