Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 132 part 2! Hope you'll enjoy it!
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
The young man was, after all, merely at the Peak of Chi Gathering.
Well, the odds were low, but not nonexistent.
So, the two felt it was much better to keep to themselves for a while longer.
Better safe than sorry.
While Sergei and Ling's minds were full of a myriad of thoughts, Demian's Soul Space was still following the breakthrough process.
Interestingly, though still slow, after 10% of the Red Dust covering his consciousness was shaken off, the process of Seed condensation seemed to have grown significantly faster.
It was as if...
'That Red Dust should be what's stopping the condensation of a Dao Seed, so the more of it I can remove, the faster the condensation should be. I guess the 'Refining' part in Refining Seed isn't there for nothing.'
Demian contemplated in a rare moment of lucidity, though those moments had clearly grown more frequent thanks to the combination of the Bell and Voice's heaven-defying effects.
Before he could ponder further, however, he noticed the Bell clapper moving at a speed that was paradoxically as slow as a snail and as quick as lightning, confusing the young man's perception, though not for long since as soon as the metal ball struck the Bell walls, it sent an even stronger vibration through his entire being, knocking his consciousness back into sleep mode.
The knell had similar effects to the previous ones, with one key difference: With the Merging Acupoint now completely unlocked, it was the turn of the Main and Secondary Energy Channels connected to that same Acupoint to be dredged up, though when the chime stopped resounding, those Energy Channels were only partially excavated, a 'problem' that was quickly solved with the Heavenly Voice's now expected intervention.
"I experienced the unending struggles of the Mortal World."
As each words were uttered, the Red Dust was shaken off from his Consciousness.
With their disappearance, many past memories were bought to the forefront of his mind, from his own previous life's death, the three men he mercilessly gunned down during the penthouse's short gunfight, especially the last one he shot in the back of the head in cold blood, leaving him no chance to surrender, the dozen people he and Bryn massacred when they went to Yanov's house, the many Chi Gathering cultivators he crushed during the Fallen Fire Estate's battle, along with the two Danilov Foundation Building he personally ended, and finally, those more than ten cultivators who ended up crippled for disrespecting their noble's 'Dignity'.
Every act of violence and conflict resurfaced in his mind, forcing the young man to face his past actions without excuses or justifications to hide from the truth.
The idea of facing one's own inadequacies would be terrifying for anyone, even those who felt justified for their past actions.
After all, you could use any justification for your actions.
However, at the end of the day, the result was the same.
'Was what I did worth it?' was the question in everyone's subconscious mind, though it was usually hidden behind layers of self-deception.
Now, though?
The truth was laid bare in front of Demian's eyes, even though his consciousness was still in a semi-dormant state, making it easier to weather the mental shock.
An unknown time later, as the voice died down, Demian's consciousness roused back from dormancy, though this time he was too preoccupied to notice that another 10% of the Red Dust previously polluting his Consciousness Fog had vanished, while those Energy Channels related to his Merging Acupoint were now completely free from obstruction.
At that moment, the only thing left to unlock was his Merging Aperture, the latter being the 'door' to the Middle Core for all those Channels.
However, with the third Bell's chime, the barrier blocking the Aperture gained more and more cracks before finally crumbling into dust when the Voice resounded again.
Similar to Yin and Yang, the Bell and Voice each mainly targeted the Body and Mind, respectively, complementing and even elevating further the transformation process.
"I felt the extremes of desires."
The Voice uttered this time, pulling up another set of memories from the depths of his mind.
While Demian's consciousness was still trying to find a way to deal with the 'Mortal World's struggles' memories, the new set appearing was now completely related to every one of his deepest and darkest desires, from controlling others through Power and Wealth, to the most twisted sexual fantasies he had ever imagined, though all of them had merely been intrusive thoughts buried deep within his mind in an effort to forget them and thus, 'protect' his own psyche.
After all, who could accept having thoughts that would label him/her as a deviant?
Granted, thoughts were just that:
Thoughts.
Merely a figment of one's imagination.
However, they still had some weight for their 'owners'.
Especially for someone like Demian, who considered himself a respectful gentleman with only a few perverted tendencies that would not make the average youth from the 21st century blink.
As those memories arose in his mind, however, the young man had to face a reality he was not exactly prepared for: The 'perfect' image he had of himself was completely false.
Instead, darkness filled his thoughts.
Having buried those thoughts for years, only now did he realize how dark and twisted his mind was.
Was it a case of a thief calling others thieves?
Had Demian become what he despised?
A monster with no moral baseline?
A demon in human skin hiding its inner filth?
Was he truly wrong about who he was for so long?
Now faced with his true self without any filter in between, his Mind started to sink little by little, the sheer amount of darkness-filled memories crushing his consciousness through the sheer weight of their corruption.
With his mind turning progressively more sluggish, it created a vicious cycle that made it harder and harder for the young man to extract himself from that self-destructive state of mind.
Fortunately, his previous encounters and victories against Heart Demons had a great strengthening effect on his mind, slowing down the damage, though the direction the situation seemed to take was anything but positive.
Another Bell's chime, and it was the turn of his Creation Acupoint's barrier to fracture.
That particular Acupoint was part of the set of three Lower-Core-Acupoints (Earth for the Dantian, Creation for the reproductive organs, and Confluence for the Tailbone).
With the Merging Acupoint and its respective Channels and Aperture completely unobstructed, out of the three Heaven(Soul), Mortal(Heart), and Earth(Dantian), only two Lower-Core-Acupoints were left to unlock: The Creation and Confluence Acupoints.
Thus, a situation that would normally need a mind-boggling amount of extremely rare and precious Heaven and Earth Treasure, along with a considerable length of time to refine them, was currently happening in front of the group's eyes.
However, Demian was currently incapable of appreciating his luck as his mind was too deeply ensnared in his losing fight against his Heart Demons.
And the following words from the Heavenly Voice pushed him further along the path of destruction.
"I lived through the impermanence of Life and the inevitability of Death."
More specifically, it was not the words themselves, but the third set of memories dug up, which brought his Consciousness Fog, though having lost more than 40% of the Red Fog covering it, almost to the point of shattering.
Expectedly, that last set of memories was related to how fragile life could be and how swiftly and unexpectedly death could strike.
From his own death in his previous life, forcing him to lose everyone he held dear forever, to the death of his loved ones, from his mother to his grandparents, he relived the scenes themselves, but also the feelings that came with them.
It was not only real death he was forced to face, though, but also all those times when Seraphine, Adeliya, and Brynhild barely escaped losing their lives.
From the penthouse's shootings, where a single stray bullet could have snuffed out Seraphine's or Adeliya's lives in an instant, to the Estate's battle when the two sisters' injuries were so heavy that if it was not for having access to his Perk for Seraphine and having awakened a physique-focused bloodline for Brynhild, the two would have most likely ended up dead on the spot.
Life was so fragile.
One instant, you could be bantering happily with the women you loved dearly, and the next, they could be lying cold on the ground, their life force gone, their soul dissipated, and nothing you could do to bring them back to life.
It would not take much, honestly.
A mere aftershock from a battle involving high-level cultivators, a Heart or Lightning Tribulation too powerful to transcend, or even a random Void Crevice appearing randomly close by.
Oh, how little it would take for him to lose everything a second time, to lose everyone he cared about, those he had learned to both care for and rely on in his new life.
Oh, how easy it could be, how terrifyingly easy...
With his mind on the brink of destruction, the mysterious Bell rang for a fifth time, barely stabilizing the young man's mind for a short while, saving it from an unchangeable destruction.
However, before all was lost, the Heavenly Voice spread once again through his Soul Space, this time with completely different effects.
"I plunged into the sea of illusion and through it, I realized the Truth."
From being completely overwhelmed by those darkness-filled memories, or more specifically, by his own Inner Demons, the young man suddenly felt a sense of clarity return, akin to a drowning man suddenly being pulled out of water, allowing him to breathe some fresh air once more.
Nothing had changed, but at the same time, everything did.
Those memories were the same, but his vision was drastically different.
Indeed, drowning in a sea of illusion, he was finally seeing the truth, finally seeing those memories for what they truly were: Mere mental constructs his mind conjured to give a sense of continuity to his existence, and, through them, learn and grow.
Those memories, representing the past, were unchangeable, but what was he actually trying to do? Steeped in regret and self-loathing, he despised them, despising his own existence in the process, wishing for them to have never appeared, wishing for his past to be different.
However, how could it be so easy?
As his Mother always said, 'Choices have consequences.'
If the past could be changed, would that sentence even be true?
Would life be different?
Would it...
Would it even have meaning?
If one's past could be rewritten, then what were all our efforts worth?
Were all the risks we took, the fears we overcame, and the lessons we learned pointless?
Absolutely not!
Everything Demian lived through told him that life in its entirety had meaning, that even the most insignificant experience mattered, and that, no matter how bleak his situation seemed, how wretched his urges and thoughts could be, as long as he faced his own Heart, he could grow and become someone better, someone he could respect and even admire...
"Awakening to the Truth shall remove the Red Mortal Dust from my consciousness."
Following the Entity's Voice, this time combined with the Bell ringing for the seventh time, every speck of Red Dust swiftly vanished from his Consciousness Fog, now leaving the Fog a grayish white, its form slightly unstable from the ordeal it had just gone through.
"My Will shall be as stable as the Earth."
With the words, the shaky Fog suddenly acquired a sense of stable 'heaviness', mirroring the Earth's stable state.
With invincible solidity, his consciousness would now be difficult to shake.
"As Free as the Heavens."
If the Consciousness Fog was extremely solid, after those words resounded in his Soul Space, his consciousness instantly gained a measure of flexibility, which created a perfect blend of lightness and depth, just like the Heavens and Earth.
"And as pure as the Universe."
From a grey-white color, the Fog suddenly obtained a light golden hue, swiftly replacing the previously grayish one.
Now a mix of white and gold, the Consciousness Fog gave a hint of natural Aura.
Having finally succeeded in overcoming his Inner Demons, Demian could not help but feel a hint of pride, though it was tempered by the thought of having almost failed, making him extremely grateful to the Chaos Soul Ring for helping him go through the whole ordeal.
After his emotions calmed down slightly, a thought came to him.
'Do others have to face these kind of Demons when breaking through to the Refining Seed Rank? Because if they do, it's a miracle that even a small number of them actually succeed.'
What the young man did not know was that his own experience was relatively unique and due to his Perk's actions.
Indeed, experiencing extremes was well-known to be the best and fastest way to refine one's Will.
Of course, it was also the most dangerous way, akin to a high-risk, high-reward situation.
Thus, with his Perk always choosing the most efficient way to 'improve' Demian, and with its innate link to the Chaos Soul Ring, it 'decided' to push Demian's mind to the brink of destruction by amplifying the effect of those memories on his psyche before helping 'see the Truth', and thus achieving the most efficient Will tempering.
Otherwise, with how morally upright the young man was, his mind would have never been so affected by a few 'intrusive thoughts' and old memories.
After all, the current Demian was leagues beyond his old self in every way.
While Demian's thoughts were occupied by his current situation, the outside world was anything but peaceful.