So What Am I?

Tonight was destined to be a long one. After their final dinner, both Tang Chenfeng and Ye Hongling felt tense. Village Chief Ye and Grandma Ling were usually gentle and considerate, but when it was time to be harsh, they would never go easy on them. Moreover, they always kept their word, so the hellish training was definitely coming. They just did not yet know what kind of hell awaited them.

"Brother Feng, can you sleep? I feel like I have insomnia." Ye Hongling was already lying in bed, but she could not fall asleep. Thinking of Village Chief Ye's words and the expression he had worn at the end only made her more awake.

"Yeah, I can't sleep either." Tang Chenfeng was sitting by the bed, looking at the Starlight Stone in his hand. That was the name he had given the pearl, because he always felt as though he could see an endless starry sky within it.

"We can only try our best to fall asleep. If we don't rest well, we might not be able to endure tomorrow." Tang Chenfeng could only sigh helplessly before turning off the light and preparing to sleep.

Though they said that, neither of them seemed remotely sleepy. In the end, they tossed and turned in bed for quite a while before finally falling asleep.

"Finally asleep." Drifting into dreams always brought a relaxing sensation. Tang Chenfeng was enjoying that feeling of letting go, but he quickly realized something was wrong. Why did he feel so awake? Slowly opening his eyes, Tang Chenfeng discovered that he seemed to be floating within the Sea of Stars, just like everything he had seen during the Martial Soul Awakening.

"It seems your mental state is quite good, and every part of your body meets my expectations." A sudden female voice made Tang Chenfeng alert. He found the voice rather familiar. Turning around, he saw that mysterious figure from before. However, she seemed much clearer and more solid than before, and she was also exceptionally beautiful.

"Who exactly are you? What is this place? How did I get here? And what is your relationship with me? Why am I the only one who can hear your voice?" Though surprised, Tang Chenfeng fired off question after question. He could sense that, at the very least, she bore him no hostility.

Faced with Tang Chenfeng's string of questions, the Light and Shadow first rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment. Then she crossed her arms and said somewhat angrily, "I'll answer your questions slowly, but stop calling me 'you' all the time. I have a name too!"

For some reason, her slightly irritated tone stirred up an instinctive fear in Tang Chenfeng's heart. He even felt as if he did not dare talk back. Only then did he cautiously ask, "Then may I ask what your name is?"

The Light and Shadow descended before him, then sat cross-legged and calmly said, "My name is Bai Xing. This is your Sea of Consciousness. You can enter whenever you wish, because I exist directly within your Sea of Consciousness. That is why only you can sense my existence. As for what I am, I am a Spiritual Sense Clone your mother left behind for you."

After hearing Bai Xing's answer, Tang Chenfeng gained a slight understanding of his situation. "So I'm inside my own Sea of Consciousness. Since you're here too, only I can find you. And you are my... my mother's..." After sorting through the information a little, Tang Chenfeng realized there was still much he could not understand. For example, what was Divine Sense? What was the Sea of Consciousness? But what shocked him most was Bai Xing's statement that she had been left behind by his mother.

"You... you, you..." Tang Chenfeng was at a loss for words. Even the starlight within the Sea of Consciousness began to flicker. Those words had truly struck him hard. Bai Xing merely sat there and watched him silently.

After a long while, Tang Chenfeng finally recovered. "Were you really left behind by my mother? Then where is she now? Why did she leave me in the Sunset Great Forest? Was it because I brought some kind of trouble..." Tang Chenfeng's voice trembled. He had never cried in all his life, but this time he truly could not hold it back. He desperately wanted to know who he really was, and he finally voiced the questions that had plagued him for so long.

Bai Xing rose to her feet and walked over to him. Her hands gently caressed Tang Chenfeng's face, while her own face held a tender smile and a trace of helplessness. It made Tang Chenfeng feel a warmth called maternal love. "I'm sorry, Chenfeng. Though I am only a clone, I am also a part of your mother. My true self is in a place unimaginably far away, somewhere the current you cannot reach or even imagine. Leaving me by your side was the only way I could accompany you. But I still love you. No mother does not love her child."

After hearing those words, Tang Chenfeng felt the pain in his heart lessen somewhat. He could feel Bai Xing's sincerity, and he understood that his mother truly loved him. Wiping away the tears at the corners of his eyes, Tang Chenfeng asked again, "Then why did you leave me here? Couldn't I stay by your side?"

Hearing this, Bai Xing could only shake her head helplessly. "You were left here because you carry a mission, one that can only be completed after you become strong enough. I can give you exceptional talent and limitless potential, but I cannot—or rather, I have no way to—give you power directly. You can only become strong enough on your own. Only then might we truly meet in the future."

Tang Chenfeng asked in confusion, "What kind of mission is it? Can I only see you after completing it?"

"Your mission concerns the future of the world, but I cannot directly tell you what it is. The reason seems to be sealed away. When you leave the ground, break through the sky, and reach the Origin Land among the stars, you should learn what your mission truly is. When you complete it, we should be able to meet again. Before then, I will teach you as much as possible about how to use and strengthen your own power," Bai Xing said.

"Mm, I think I understand now. Then please teach me." Tang Chenfeng had regained his usual confidence. His eyes were brighter than ever before, because he seemed to have found a goal of his own.

Bai Xing smiled in relief. "Mm. Maintaining confidence is also extremely important for cultivation. First of all, your cultivation is actually very different from that of ordinary people. Perhaps you have not noticed it yet, but you already possess a Soul Ring of your own."

"What? I already have a Soul Ring? Didn't they say you need to absorb a Spirit Soul to obtain a Soul Ring?" Tang Chenfeng asked in shock.

"Because you are a very special existence, far more special than anyone else in this world. Every time you rise another ten levels and reach the next stage, you can directly obtain a Soul Ring. However, after level twenty, advancing will become exceptionally difficult, because you will require an enormous amount of energy to sustain the Soul Power needed afterward. Normal cultivation will be very difficult for you to improve through," Bai Xing said helplessly.