The Spiritual Sea was the embodint of the mind. The control center his consciousness used to operate his body. While the soul was a separate entity without a body to contain it or a mind to drive it, it would discorporate and move on to the afterlife. Sage still found himself existing, but had no connection to the senses of his body. Given the attack that he had suffered, he could only hope that he wasnt dead and this was rely a very powerful attack upon his mind. The monts of respite between each life might be that mont of clarity when his mind was freed from the assault. Could that fla be forcing him to live out many lives filled with regret? What would be the point of that?
Only, he realized that after each reincarnation he seed to be weakening. Was that the trick? Just purely ntal exhaustion? After he lived a thousand lifetis would his consciousness just fade out from fatigue?
Unfortunately, after thinking to this point, Sage found himself being born again. This ti he gave himself an unceasing desire to reach the top of the world and unlock the full secrets of the mind at any cost!
The life that followed was particularly violent, fighting to reach the top was no serene pursuit and after so moderate success he was killed in his thirties battling over an ancient legacy.
After the usual acclimation and recovery of his mories, he hastened to find a way out of his predicant. Hed hoped to gain ntal techniques to help him out of this situation, but thinking about it now, none of those techniques still existed in his mind. Were the lives he was living real? Could he take techniques from them and apply them to the real world? After making dozens of attempts he found not only did they not work, he couldnt even rember how to perform them. Just like the things that happened in a dream, the details quickly faded.
His ti was up yet again and he gave himself suprely suicidal goals. The newest life was the most chaotic yet, the self harming fellow jumping off a cliff in his early teens after sabotaging every possible relationship and good thing that ca his way.
This ti, Sage was surprised to find that he was weakened less than the previous tis hed lived and died, but that wasnt a solution in itself. If that was all he had he was still dood. Fighting the urge to panic, he maintained his calm and ran through every an he had available. Before he could formulate a plan hed need to find out what tools he had left.
His connection to the outside world was severed, he had none of his senses. Yet, he still felt a subtle reaction. It took him a while to understand it, but he eventually realized it was a resonance of the soul. The Blacksilver Pawns! Or at least the Soul Fragnts hed placed within them. The Blacksilver King had been destroyed and with it the pawns hed used to make it. Yet, they were just an amalgamation of his own powers and not profound objects. The Soul Fragnts werent destroyed and just as before they responded like his own limbs. They were driven like appendages for his soul, yet without any external senses they couldnt really be made into a body on their own. That was why Sage had only been using them as controllers for mass created through his Heavenly Materials.
The Soul Fragnts didnt seem all that useful to him at the mont, as he was very much lacking in thods and techniques related to the soul. Even so, they pointed him in the right direction. After another quick and suicidal life and death, Sage tried to focus on his own soul. Normally, his consciousness could easily fall into his body and enter his dantian where that space nebula and planet existed. Except this ti, there seed to be so sort of force or power restricting him. He was locked into this dark silent space without any way to escape.
Thoroughly infuriated, he mustered all his strength and tried to smash his will against the walls that trapped him. Even if he couldnt see or sense anything, he imagined his mind and consciousness charging forward and smashing through whatever contained it. He felt a sudden pain and weakness. Pain like he hadnt experienced in years washed over him, but instead of being distressed he was excited.
Sothing other than darkness and silence!
He repeated his actions, imagining his consciousness to be a giant. An invincible mountain of strength that could stomp and smash its way through any confinent. There was more pain and weakness, but it felt great! He was still here! He hadnt been thrown into another new life again! As if to celebrate this situation, he redoubled his efforts and went on another imaginary rampage.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light in the darkness. A large crack ford in front of him and light spilled through. He envisioned his ntal colossus shoving his hands into the crack and prying it apart.
Crnk!
Like glass shattering the darkness fell away and Sages realized he was back at the center of the Infinite Immaterial Seat. Yet, it was nothing like it had been before. The whole place looked like it was made of wax and it was left outside on a warm day. Everything was lting and drooping. Even the formations and patterns that had ford from consuming the Psionic Crystals were warped and destroyed.
Outside of the ntal fortress, the human shaped giant of fla was still there and fire continued to fall from the sky. Only, the giant was no longer roaring. It was not staring right at him. It was like the many walls and obstructions of the labyrinth didnt exist and the giant could see directly at him in the core. The fla giants face twisted into a smile and Sage felt a huge pressure weigh upon him.
Boom!
Everything went dark and then he felt cold and heard the wailing of a newborn once again. He tried to inspire suicidal thoughts to escape quickly again, but he suddenly felt powerless and his mories faded quickly.
After living sixty years as a humble shoe cobbler, Sage found himself in his ntal fortress again and felt his strength had decreased yet again. His mind is just too strong!
Giving up thoughts of a direct ntal battle, he tried to return to the real world. If he could find the source of the fla giant he might be able to kill his body. Without a body the mind would quickly fade. At least unless the enemy had beco a Nascent Soul, and with how little these people seed to know about cultivation there was little chance that was true. This world seed filled with people that only used Spirit Power so they likely knew absolutely nothing about Qi Cultivation.
Failure!
While hed broken free of the prison his mind had been in, there seed to be a second layer around his Spiritual Sea. He couldnt regain control over his body! Sage struggled mightily, bashing against the wall until he was forced into another cycle of life and death. He didnt give up, fighting through three more cycles before there was finally a crack. He dove into that Spiritual Sea and sent his consciousness into his body. The fla giant didnt follow after him, just laughing as he left.
Without inhabiting his mind, there was no way to drive his body, so the fla giant felt no fear and continued to burn and destroy Sages ntal fortress. Worse still, without even the protection of that ntal fortress if Sage tried to return to his Spiritual Sea hed be completely helpless against the enemy. Once the fortress was gone he could work on the island and when that was finished hed dry up the Spiritual Sea. At that point, Sages body would be an empty shell. A coma patient that would quickly pass away.
Sage couldnt let that happen. While it may seem foolish to work so hard to ensure his own destruction, it was the only thod he could think of to break free from this situation. Even if the enemy he faced had no Qi Cultivation, its Spirit Power was many tis stronger. Sage had always had difficulty choosing a path for himself, spreading himself thin and always chasing after the next best thing he ca upon instead of devoting himself to mastering a single subject. Hed thought that his drastic improvent in Spirit Cultivation and the fortress hed built in his mind was enough to face anyone, but it seems he was mistaken. There was always a taller mountain out there and it was his misfortune to run into this one.
Faced with this deadly situation, he found only one route to salvation.
Get stronger!
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