The instant his consciousness returned, the terrifying pressure of ten thousand times gravity surged over him like a tide once more, making Tang Wulin's bones creak.
But the look in his eyes was utterly different now.
Gone were the stubbornness and defiance of someone fighting heaven for his life. In their place lay an acceptance and depth as boundless as water.
"Persistence is not a shackle, but a driving force."
"Life is not about calculation, but protection."
The Green-Robed Woman's words echoed through his mind, like a seed taking root and sprouting in the soil of his heart.
"I understand now."
Tang Wulin took a deep breath. He no longer tried to resist that gravity with brute force, nor did he simply pit the Golden Dragon King's blood essence against it.
He closed his eyes and began searching inward.
Inside him, the "life core" he had just obtained radiated gentle yet powerful fluctuations.
Life Spear, what you need is not a warrior who can conquer you, but a guardian who can understand and cherish you.
Tang Wulin silently recited those words in his heart.
He mobilized the life energy within him—a pink-blue glow, warm, healing, and brimming with vitality.
He did not use this power to strike at the spear. Instead, he gently, tenderly tried to "communicate" with it, as though approaching an old friend.
Come. Let us... resonate.
Humm—!
The instant Tang Wulin's life energy touched the shaft, a miracle occurred.
The Life Spear, which had lain dormant for countless years, seemed to awaken from its slumber.
On its simple wooden shaft, the barklike patterns suddenly lit up, flowing with an emerald sheen.
The metal at its tip, locked within petrified vines, also released a clear dragon's cry.
Tang Wulin's consciousness was drawn into a strange space once again.