Now That It Had Come to This, 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 gently stroked 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 being swept away, they became clear and distinct. Nothing was dreamlike or illusory anymore.

His mother's fleeting gaze, warm as the spring sun, 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 saying farewell to someone, its words filled with gratitude.

Nan Liujing had wanted to keep listening, but his consciousness became increasingly hazy. The fused memory fragments shattered once again, like a puzzle thrown into disarray. Everything fell back into chaos and deathly silence, and once more, he was the only one left in the world.

The familiar scene repeated itself, 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 life, and could only watch helplessly as his body sank deeper and deeper.

This nightmare-like sensation, this pain that had lasted for years, had left him utterly exhausted in body and mind.

Was it time to give up?

He was somewhat lost.

"Rumble!"

But just as he sank into despair and did not know what choice to make, a deafening boom suddenly exploded in his mind. Like thunder crashing down on a rainy day, it made his heart tremble.

Nan Liujing was jolted by the thunder, and his consciousness suddenly shook.

He looked toward the source of the sound, and his pupils contracted.

That pitch-black, deathly silent chaos within his consciousness was trembling ceaselessly, as if it had suffered some terrifying impact.

Bang!

The next instant, time seemed to slow down. The heavens and earth were illuminated by a strange Purple-red Divine Light, and endless radiance poured in. The chaos in his consciousness was like a mirror struck to pieces, silently splitting into countless fragments.

In contrast, countless bolts of lightning crazily flooded into it.

Every bolt of lightning was like a sharp blade that could rip apart the firmament and the earth, leaving an indelible mark in his consciousness.

Nan Liujing stared in astonishment. He did not feel any danger. On the contrary, as the countless bolts of lightning raged through his consciousness, he felt his life, which had possessed no vitality at all, showing new signs of recovery.

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

After the darkest hour came the dawn. Once the countless bolts of lightning filled his consciousness, they silently condensed. In the end, a sphere of light, entirely purple-red, containing Divine patterns and wreathed in lightning, floated there.

Nan Liujing instinctively wanted to see it clearly.

Suddenly, a voice like an elder's stern rebuke echoed abruptly beside his ears.

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

"Wake up!"

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 a soft bed, the boy who had been unconscious for months abruptly opened his deep eyes. A strange electric pattern flashed past from the depths of his gaze.

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

Gasping violently and swallowing unconsciously, Nan Liujing stared blankly at the ceiling. This had happened too many times. Even though he had awakened, he did not dare believe that he had truly recovered.

"Was it a dream? Or reality?"

Yet that authoritative rebuke still seemed to echo by his ears.

"Click."

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening rang out.

Nan Liujing instinctively turned his head and saw someone entering from outside the door.

The man was probably close to two meters tall, with a burly build. His arms in particular seemed capable of wrestling dragons and slaying tigers. He had a square face, an unsmiling expression, and skin like aged bronze. His presence was overwhelming; if an ordinary person stood beside him, they would likely have shown reverence long ago.

Apparently not expecting the boy on the bed to be awake, the newcomer's previously grave expression instantly vanished.

Sun Kong froze for a moment, meeting the boy's gaze. The highest Administrative Officer of Star Luo City, known for his strict governance, visibly filled with delight.

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

"Brain activity is stable."

"Qi and Blood are abundant."

"The meridians show Soul Power feedback. Preliminary judgment: his Martial Soul is about to awaken..."

The conclusions produced by the finest medical instruments within the Spirit Pagoda, together with confirmation from an old man whose body pulsed with nine rings and whose presence gave Nan Liujing mixed feelings, proved that there was truly nothing wrong with the child's body anymore.

In the corridor outside the bedroom.

Sun Kong's eyes held a trace of joy as he asked impatiently, "Elder Lin, is there really nothing wrong with this child's body anymore?"

Elder Lin had clearly suffered setbacks before. After hesitating slightly, he said, "This old man does not dare say with absolute certainty that his body has completely recovered. But judging from the current examination results, all his physical indicators are stable. They are even better than many people's. It is just that..."

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

Elder Lin glanced back at the bedroom and lowered his voice. "This child's Mental Power was stronger than that of ordinary people from birth. During the examination just now, its value even jumped to nearly one hundred and fifty. That means his Mental Power realm has already reached the initial stage of the Spirit Connection Realm."

At those words, a trace of surprise appeared in Sun Kong's eyes.

As the times had developed, especially with the growing importance of Soul Spirits, Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent had long since divided Mental Power cultivation into exceptionally detailed levels.

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

Spirit Origin Realm: one origin giving rise to all things.

Everyone possessed Mental Power at the Spirit Origin Realm from the moment of birth. It was also the most basic level of Mental Power. Spirit Origin Realm Mental Power could support yellow Soul Spirits and those below yellow.

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

Spirit Connection Realm: the mind connected with the spirit, intent arriving wherever thought went. Upon reaching the Spirit Connection Realm, one began learning to control Mental Power, truly wielding it for one's own use. One could support two yellow Soul Spirits or one purple Soul Spirit.

For someone who had not yet awakened a Martial Soul, having Mental Power directly leap to the initial stage of the Spirit Connection Realm was absolutely exceedingly rare.

One had to know that many Soul Grandmasters with a Second Ring had Mental Power that had not even reached the Spirit Connection Realm. They remained trapped by it for life, unable to break through to the three rings Soul Elder realm.

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

By then, the doctors in the bedroom had already packed away their instruments.

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

"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 the Boss's connections, how could this Healing-type Titled Douluo, one of the top five powerhouses on the continent, possibly have come in person?

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

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

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

Looking at the dot marked with the words Shrek City, Nan Liujing, as the person involved, felt ten thousand grass-mud horses stampeding through his heart.

Within those chaotic, shattered memories, he knew that he had transmigrated—and had even transmigrated into the Douluo Continent, growing up again from infancy. But those memories had been hazy, and his comas had left them especially fragmented, as though a text had been scrambled and the arrangement of its words completely ruined. So he had never taken them seriously, simply assuming he had developed schizophrenia.

But who would have thought that after being awakened by that mysterious voice's scolding, his mind was indeed no longer muddled and his chaotic memories had become whole? Yet he felt that his sanity had become even more severely split in another sense.

Otherwise, why would that old man have nine Soul Rings around him?

There was even a slime-like creature glowing all over with green-gold light, like a "jelly," sticking its tongue out at him.

"Are you hungry?"

A gentle voice sounded beside him.

Nan Liujing suppressed his still-turbulent emotions, put down the map, and looked at Sun Kong.

What else could he say?

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

Some readers have asked why I cannot update more, 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 know that the new-book period is especially frustrating for readers. Four thousand words are gone in no time, and waiting is annoying.

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