Now That Things Had Come to This, He Might as Well Eat First (Please Bookmark)

Nan Liujing felt as though he had had a very long dream.

In the dream, he heard his mother's gentle voice once more. A soft, warm hand had also lightly caressed his face.

The chaotic fragments of memory that had tormented him ever since his birth slowly began to merge. Like layers upon layers of fog swept away at once, they became clear and distinct. Everything was no longer dreamlike and illusory.

His mother's fleeting gaze, like the warm sun of spring, gave him an indescribable sense of reality.

In the dream, he seemed to hear several other voices as well. One younger voice appeared to be bidding someone farewell, its words filled with gratitude.

Nan Liujing had wanted to keep listening, but his consciousness grew increasingly hazy. The fused memory fragments shattered once again, like a scrambled puzzle. Everything returned to chaos and deathly stillness, and he was once more the only one left in the world.

The familiar scene and circumstances had returned, growing worse each time. He could not help sighing inwardly.

Nan Liujing felt like an unlucky man who had fallen into the water. No matter how hard he struggled, he could never find that sliver of hope, and could only watch helplessly as his body sank into the depths.

The nightmare-like sensation and years of suffering had left him utterly exhausted in body and mind.

Was it time to give up?

He felt somewhat lost.

Rumble!

Just as he sank into despair, not knowing what choice to make, a deafening sound suddenly exploded in his mind. Like Shocking Thunder suddenly crashing down on a rainy day, it made his heart tremble.

Startled by the thunder, Nan Liujing's consciousness jolted sharply.

Following the source of the sound, his pupils involuntarily contracted.

The pitch-black, deathly still chaos of his consciousness was trembling without pause, as though it had suffered some terrifying impact.

Bang!

In the next instant, time seemed to slow down. The heavens and earth were illuminated by a strange purplish-red divine light, and endless radiance poured in. The chaos within his consciousness was like a mirror struck to pieces, silently splitting into hundreds of millions of fragments.

In contrast, hundreds of millions of bolts of lightning flooded madly into it.

Every bolt of lightning was like a blade capable of tearing apart the sky and earth, leaving an indelible mark upon his consciousness.

Nan Liujing stared in astonishment. He did not feel the slightest danger. On the contrary, as the countless bolts of lightning raged through his consciousness, he felt that his life, which had contained no vitality at all, was beginning to show new signs of life.

The memory fragments that had condensed and shattered countless times fused together once more. This time, however, there was no sign of them breaking apart again.

After darkness came light. Once the countless bolts of lightning filled his consciousness, they silently gathered together. In the end, a purplish-red sphere of light, containing divine patterns and wreathed in lightning, floated there.

Nan Liujing instinctively wanted to see it clearly.

Suddenly, a voice like an elder sternly reprimanding someone echoed unexpectedly beside his ears.

"Heaven never seals off all paths. Even I have never given up, so how dare you speak so lightly of giving up?"

"Awaken!"

Nan Liujing's expression changed drastically. He suddenly felt his body falling downward, as though his consciousness were being stripped away from this world.

On the soft bed, the boy who had been unconscious for several months abruptly opened his deep eyes. A strange electric pattern flashed through the depths of his gaze and vanished.

"Pant... pant... pant..."

Breathing heavily and swallowing instinctively, Nan Liujing stared blankly at the ceiling. After experiencing this situation so many times, even though he had awakened, he still did not dare believe that he had truly recovered.

"Was it a dream? Or reality?"

Yet that authoritative, reprimanding voice still seemed to echo in his ears.

Click.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening rang out.

Nan Liujing instinctively turned his head and saw someone enter through the door.

The man was probably over two meters tall, with a powerfully built frame. His arms in particular seemed capable of strangling dragons and slaughtering tigers. He had a square face, an unsmiling expression, bronze-colored skin, and an imposing presence. If an ordinary person stood beside him, they would likely have revealed a respectful, fearful expression long ago.

Apparently not expecting the boy on the bed to be awake, the visitor's previously heavy expression instantly dissipated.

Sun Kong froze for a moment as his eyes met the boy's. The highest administrative official of Star Luo City, known for his harsh governance, displayed visible delight in his gaze.

Inside the bedroom, quite a few people moved back and forth. Like a puppet on strings, Nan Liujing allowed a group of doctors dressed in white to examine his body.

"His mental state is stable."

"His blood and qi are abundant."

"His meridians are showing Soul Power feedback. Our preliminary assessment is that his Martial Soul is about to awaken..."

The conclusions produced by the most advanced medical instruments within the Spirit Pagoda, coupled with the confirmation of an old man who made Nan Liujing's expression complicated and had nine rings pulsing around him, proved that there was truly nothing wrong with the child's body.

In the corridor outside the bedroom.

With a hint of joy in his eyes, Sun Kong asked impatiently, "Elder Lin, is there really nothing wrong with this child's body anymore?"

Elder Lin had evidently been proven wrong before, so he hesitated slightly before saying, "I do not dare claim with complete certainty that he has fully recovered. However, judging from the current examination results, all his physical indicators are stable, and he is even healthier than many others. It's just..."

"Just what?" Sun Kong frowned, his heart rising once more.

Elder Lin turned to glance at the bedroom and said in a low voice, "This child's Spiritual Power was innately stronger than that of ordinary people. During the examination just now, his Spiritual Power value even rose to nearly one hundred and fifty. That means his Spiritual Power realm has already reached the initial stage of the Spirit Connection Realm."

A trace of surprise appeared in Sun Kong's eyes upon hearing that.

As the times developed, especially with the growing importance of soul spirits, Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent had long since classified Spiritual Power cultivation in great detail.

From low to high, Spiritual Power was divided into six major levels: Spirit Origin Realm, Spirit Connection Realm, Spirit Sea Realm, Spirit Abyss Realm, Spirit Domain Realm, and the legendary Divine Origin Realm.

The Spirit Origin Realm represented the beginning of all things and the renewal of all phenomena.

Everyone possessed Spiritual Power at the Spirit Origin Realm from birth. It was also the most basic form of Spiritual Power. Spiritual Power at the Spirit Origin Realm could support yellow soul spirits and any soul spirits below yellow.

The maximum value of the Spirit Origin Realm was one hundred. Beyond that was the Spirit Connection Realm.

The Spirit Connection Realm meant the spirit connected with all things, thoughts reaching wherever intent went. Upon reaching the Spirit Connection Realm, one's control over Spiritual Power began to take shape. One could truly control their own Spiritual Power for personal use and support two yellow soul spirits or one purple soul spirit.

For someone whose Martial Soul had yet to awaken, having Spiritual Power directly leap to the initial stage of the Spirit Connection Realm was exceptionally rare.

One had to know that many Two-Ring Great Soul Masters did not even reach the Spirit Connection Realm in Spiritual Power. They remained trapped by it for life, unable to break through to the three-ring Soul Elder realm.

Elder Lin chose his words carefully. "I have examined this child several times as well. Perhaps his Spiritual Power surpasses ordinary people because of his intermittent comas over the past few years. Just as some Soul Masters undergo an inexplicable second awakening of their Martial Souls after falling unconscious, this is an opportunity—something that can only be encountered, not sought."

By then, the doctors in the bedroom had already packed up their equipment.

Seeing this, Elder Lin gave one final instruction. "Keep a close eye on him for the time being. If anything happens again, contact me."

"Yes. Thank you for your trouble." Sun Kong was extremely respectful toward Elder Lin, a healing-type Titled Douluo renowned throughout the continent.

If not for his leader's connections, how could this healing-type Titled Douluo, ranked among the continent's top five, have personally come here?

After seeing Elder Lin and the others off, he immediately took out his Soul Guide Phone and reported the examination results to those two.

When he returned to the bedroom, before he could speak, he saw a rather interesting sight.

Nan Liujing was frowning as he stared intently at a map of the Douluo Continent.

Looking at the marked dot labeled Shrek City, Nan Liujing, as the person involved, felt as though ten thousand llamas were stampeding through his heart.

Amid those chaotic, fragmented memories, he knew that he had transmigrated. He had even transmigrated to the Douluo Continent and begun growing up again from infancy. But everything had been vague, and his memories had become especially fragmented with his comas. It was as if a text had been scrambled and the arrangement of its words had completely gone wrong, so he had never taken it seriously. He had merely thought he was suffering from schizophrenia.

But who would have thought that after being scolded awake by that mysterious voice, his mind had indeed stopped being muddled and his chaotic memories had become complete? Yet he felt that his sanity had become even more severely divided in another sense.

Otherwise, why would that old man have nine soul rings around him?

There was even a jelly-like slime covered in green-gold light sticking its tongue out at him.

"Are you hungry?"

A gentle voice sounded beside his ear.

Suppressing his unsettled emotions, Nan Liujing put down the map and looked at Sun Kong.

What else could he say?

Now that things had come to this, he might as well eat first.

Some readers have asked why I cannot update more, but it is because this is the new-book period.

If I update too much and the word count exceeds the limit, the book will fall off the new-book rankings. For a small author like me, that is pressure I cannot bear.

I also understand that the new-book period is especially uncomfortable for readers, because four thousand words are gone after only a few moments, and waiting is frustrating.

I hope all you handsome men and beautiful women can understand. I also wish everyone good health, success in all things, and abundant wealth in the new year!