"The injuries to one's True Spirit are the most terrifying — even existences bound by laws can only slowly mend themselves through passive slumber after being wounded…"
Leilin smiled bitterly. "And this is only from splitting off the tiniest fraction of my True Spirit. If it were someone like Beilusebabu, the main body could easily be destroyed outright…"
"Hsss…"
Behind Leilin, the phantom image of the Taglian Winged Serpent had completely withered, slowly fading away into nothing.
A tiny mote of light, tinged with blood-red, emerged from between Leilin's brows and drifted down into his palm, flickering like a firefly.
This was the miniature True Spirit that Leilin had split off. He had to conduct the experiment immediately — otherwise, after being exposed to the outside world for too long, it would simply self-destruct on its own.
"Astral Gate — open!"
Leilin murmured the incantation, and the same process as before began to unfold. His soul force traced the vast Astral River, carrying him directly to the exterior of the immense crystalline barrier surrounding the
"The Mande-Hawk Disc!"
The stone disc in Leilin's hand moved toward the crystalline barrier, radiating a brilliance that caused an area of the wall to begin showing signs of melting.
"Seventh-Tier Wizardry — Reincarnation in Another World!"
The instant the passage through the crystalline barrier opened, Leilin's eyes lit up, and the immense fluctuations of the seventh-tier spell radiated outward from his body.
The wisp of True Spirit in Leilin's palm, enshrouded in the radiance of the Reincarnation spell, plunged directly into the World of Gods.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time it was over, the entire Mande-Hawk Disc had already shattered into a pile of dust, and even the crystalline barrier had rapidly sealed itself shut, leaving not the slightest trace of a gap.
"Now, it's all up to the True Spirit…"
The immense Astral Gate gradually collapsed, and a bitter smile appeared on Leilin's face.
In his current state of severe injury, he could probably do nothing but slumber in his laboratory and wait for time to slowly heal him, while simultaneously directing the clone in the World of Gods to begin its work.
"These injuries will require at least several hundred years of sleep… If there isn't sufficient gain in the World of Gods, this will be a tremendous loss…"
With these thoughts in mind, Leilin's body gradually sank into the floor of the laboratory.
As his main body entered slumber, he was able to project his entire attention onto that clone.
The cleansing and tempering by the World's origin power was a truly terrifying process.
Leilin's true spirit could feel it — the moment he entered the World of Gods, a terrifying vortex of energy immediately formed around him, ceaselessly scrubbing away the traces of power that still clung to him.
This was obviously the effect of that seventh-tier wizardry spell — Reincarnation to Another World — which had brought Leilin directly to the very core of the World of Gods, subjecting him to yet another transformation by its origin power.
Once this transformation was complete, he might be able to wash away all traces of the other world and truly become a native of the World of Gods.
This transformation was extremely swift. First, the radiance carried by the outermost Manderhoke's Disk — which had already been heavily consumed in the process of opening the World of Gods — was now completely obliterated, without leaving the slightest trace.
Next came the power of the seventh-tier spell. Having helped Leilin reach this place, the light of the Reincarnation Spell also began to gradually fade.
It was as if an outer coat were being peeled away layer by layer, and when the radiance of the Reincarnation Spell had fully dissipated, Leilin's true spirit was directly exposed to the vast darkness beyond.
Vast! Terrifying! Boundless!
This was the first impression upon Leilin's true spirit — compared to this enormous world, his mere sliver of true spirit couldn't even be called an ant, and could only tremble feebly to the side.
A cold, formidable force instantly invaded the interior of Leilin's true spirit.
His true spirit, already a highly concentrated and condensed mass of energy, began to slowly shrink even further under the cleansing of the World's power.
"Even my soul power is being forcibly stripped away…" Leilin's true spirit watched this process with a bitter, helpless smile.
The continuous stripping of soul power meant that Leilin's will was also beginning to blur and fade.
Gradually, the transformation by the World's power delved even deeper, reaching into the very deepest layer of his true spirit — where all his memories and most essential origin resided.
The vast World's power pressed forward ruthlessly, without the slightest hesitation.
"Could it be… that I've failed just like this? In such a laughable way?"
In his final moments, this was the only thought that stubbornly surfaced from Leilin's true spirit, as though making one last desperate struggle.
Buzz! At that very moment, a bright point of silver-white light emerged from the memory region of Leilin's true spirit.
Under the influence of the white light, the Power of the World seemed to hesitate for a mere instant before bypassing Leilin's memory region and commencing its transformation elsewhere.
"Is this... the power of the otherworldly reincarnation technique? So it still had a final spark of energy left, stored within my memory region? Or... is it something else entirely?"
Leilin's true spirit was somewhat confused, but having been reduced to an absolute minimum, it quickly sank into slumber.
Time stagnated at this moment, yet it also felt as if an eternity had passed.
"Where... am I?" Regaining consciousness once more, Leilin surveyed his surroundings with a dazed astonishment.
Perhaps "surveyed" was no longer accurate, for he no longer possessed a body, and naturally, no eyes or similar organs.
Now, his method of perception was simply using his consciousness, groping outward like tendrilous feelers.
Darkness... utter darkness surrounded him, without a single speck of light. Having awakened, Leilin took stock of his own condition, and a profound sense of helplessness rose in his heart.
"Is this all that's left of me now? My very true spirit has vanished, leaving only a composite of memories and a fragmented soul?"
A grim awareness dawned upon Leilin's will. At that very moment, a vortex resembling a black hole seemed to manifest in the void before him, sucking his consciousness completely inward.
Leilin's consciousness dazed for a second, then plunged back into deep slumber...
"How long have I slept?"
When his consciousness finally roused itself again, the surrounding environment seemed to have changed.
Though it was still pitch-black around him, a faint, diffused orange glow filtered down from above. He had even, in a trance-like state, caught a few low murmurs.
Fortunately, although his consciousness was still incredibly feeble, Leilin felt that his will was no longer a sourceless stream. Instead, a weak but steady stream of energy was now replenishing him, allowing him to continue existing.
"In this state, what I need most is to minimize expenditure, allow my consciousness to rest, and accumulate sufficient energy..."
Leilin's consciousness drifted towards sleep once more. However, before willingly entering this dormant state, he automatically gave himself a suggestion.
His own terrifying computational ability, in this moment, instead became the most precise stopwatch.
Once his subconscious had counted to 17,280,000, Leilin awoke again.
"Hmm! 17.28 million seconds... that's equivalent to two hundred days having passed?"
His newly awakened consciousness was delighted to discover that it had grown a bit stronger once more, and there was a distinct sensation of energy being transmitted — as though a warm current was flowing through his abdomen, pouring into it ceaselessly.
"Abdomen?! Hmph!!" A jolt like static electricity shot through him, and in the next instant, Leilin felt his right leg twitch.
"This is…?" His willpower surged to full wakefulness, and he began conducting a more detailed examination.
Thanks to this period of dormancy, his range of perception had expanded considerably. The final image that formed was the translucent silhouette of an infant clutching its head, every blood vessel and even the bones inside its body clearly visible.
"I have a body! Then that means everything before this happened inside a pregnant woman's womb — in the form of an embryo!"
Leilin suddenly understood.
"So it looks like the Otherworld Transmigration technique really did succeed!"
But moments later, Leilin was immediately thrown into a dilemma. "Do I really have to start all over again as an infant? This is just… far too embarrassing…"
That said, given Leilin's thick skin, he only blushed for a moment over the awkward situation before calmly beginning to think it over.
"A newborn is far too weak. Judging by my current state, my parents are probably just ordinary human natives of the Divine World… Unfortunately, in my current condition, I have absolutely no means of self-defense and can only put my faith in luck…"
Right now, every last trace of energy Leilin had carried over had been washed clean away. Even the soul power that Wizards were most proud of had completely dissipated. Apart from a sliver of consciousness, he was no different from any other fetus — and naturally possessed no ability to protect himself.
Moreover, even just thinking this much was enough to make Leilin feel dizzy and groggy.
"This isn't good! An infant's brain isn't fully developed yet. In my current state, I should restrain my thoughts as much as possible and sink back into dormancy…"
Leilin had fully grasped the situation.
Consciousness could not exist independently of the body — and in the Divine World, where the rules were even more unforgiving, this was especially true. The current Leilin had completely lost his materialized soul ability; replenishing his consciousness and Spiritual Power could only rely on this still-developing embryonic body. He naturally couldn't push it too hard — if he caused a miscarriage, he would have nowhere to even shed tears.
Having figured this out, Leilin could only silently hope that this expectant mother would remain safe and healthy. Beyond that, he had no choice but to helplessly sink back into dormancy.
"Mmm…" And just at that moment, in the Divine World, in a certain port city.
A young noblewoman clutched her already swollen belly, her brows knitted tightly together.
"What's wrong, my dear?!"
A young man standing beside her immediately hurried over to support her, his face full of anxious concern.
"It's the baby — he's kicking me..." A tender smile graced the young woman's face, radiant with the glow of motherly love.
"What a little rascal!"
The young man crouched down and pressed his ear snugly against her rounded belly, drawing an amused protest from her in return.