Despite confirming it countless times, Tie Xingzhen felt it was all too fantastical.
His current physical condition was undoubtedly beyond his comprehension.
He clearly remembered that he was completely dissolved under that blade of light, and should have been reduced to nothingness.
But unexpectedly, he woke up again.
His body was transparent; he, along with several fellow cultivators who had perished with him, now appeared in a strange world.
The sky was golden, and beneath his feet lay the boundless black earth. A rich, creamy light enveloped him.
This world is not empty; besides them, there is a giant white crane standing in this world, like a giant who created the world.
The fine lines on the white crane's feathers were much larger than his.
He reached out, but couldn't touch anything. He subconsciously tried to summon his magic Magic Power, but his body was gone, and he couldn't control anything.
It felt as if I had truly become a soul, only able to see but unable to touch anything.
However, staying in this place was indeed very comfortable, as if he were soaking in a dream. The surrounding environment gave him an extremely comfortable feeling, and he felt that he wanted to stay here forever.
Fortunately, as a cultivator, his will was quite firm. Seeing that the other souls were still asleep, he began to explore this strange world.
Apart from that crane, there seemed to be nothing else in the world; no matter which direction he went, it was as if he was pacing in the same place.
Aside from circling around a few times, nothing else changed in the surrounding area.
Is this the Underworld? Or is this the world people appear in after they die?
But why are there only a few of them? That's strange.
Just as Tie Xingzhen was wandering around, the monk holding the banner also noticed his movements.
"A soul within the banner has awakened!"
The monks had returned to the Earthly Capital and were now sitting in a large medical laboratory.
There were many people in the laboratory at this time, most of them dressed as doctors. They were all gathered here, paying close attention to the movements inside the Soul-Guiding Banner.
Around them were several tubular nutrient chambers, each containing a tiny baby immersed in the equipment, receiving nutrition through artificial amniotic fluid and umbilical cord.
Although they have not yet developed full consciousness, these babies already have some innate conditioned reflexes.
These are the cloned bodies prepared for the cultivators.
Although it sounds cruel, that's the truth. The current Divine Land doesn't have the ability to Samsara; they can only "possess" the babies that are regrown from their own body tissues.
The cloned body is also a living person. It has its own consciousness after it grows up. There is no such thing as directly cloning an unconscious body. As long as the body is alive and has neural circuits, it has consciousness.
Although it may seem somewhat Dao of Humanity, there are no legal restrictions on possessing another version of oneself.
Fortunately, the preparation time on the Divine Land side was relatively short, and these so-called infants had only just begun to take on the form of a person, with their consciousness not yet fully formed.
They're basically at the level of someone who's just three months pregnant; strictly speaking, they can't even be considered human yet.
Besides this body, there were also about a dozen white jade-like crystals on the table next to the laboratory.
These are several magical artifacts that Li Xingkong refined during these few days.
Although he had experimented with this thing many times in his Divine Sense, he still did not recommend giving it to these cultivators directly before they actually used it.
The reason they brought them over was because, among these souls, besides the cultivators, there were also the souls of a few Snail People.
People are hesitant to conduct experiments on their own people, but they feel no qualms about using Snail People as subjects.
Everything is ready; all that's left is to wait for the soul within the banner to regain consciousness.
"Now that you're awake, let's let you out for a spin so we can get a basic understanding of the soul."
One of the monks dressed as a doctor spoke.
The banner-bearing cultivator nodded, made a hand seal, and guided the awakened soul out.
Tie Xingzhen engrossed in his exploration when suddenly, he felt a darkness above him. Looking up, he saw that the white crane had lowered its head, bitten him in its mouth, and then flapped its wings, piercing the golden sky and carrying him into the heavens.
After breaking through the golden sky, Tie Xingzhen felt his body grow larger with the wind, and quickly returned to the size of a normal person.
He then looked around and realized he was in a laboratory. He was familiar with the people around him; they were mostly from Divine Land.
It seems that his soul's awakening wasn't in some afterlife, but rather that he was saved.
" Tie Xingzhen, Late Qi Refining Stage body cultivator, right?"
After he appeared, a monk who looked like a doctor took the file and began to ask questions.
Seeing that everyone around him was from Divine Land, he felt much more at ease and answered all his questions readily, being very cooperative.
After all, he rose through the ranks in the military, so his obedience is by no means an issue.
The doctor asked him questions starting from his childhood, asking about many things he remembered, and Tie Xingzhen answered them one by one.
He remembered some of the memories, but had no recollection of others. After several rounds of questioning, Divine Land concluded that the closer to the time of death, the clearer the memories, while the earlier the memories, the more blurred they were, and some were even missing.
After the doctors finished asking their questions, they presented him with two methods of resurrection.
For these cultivators awaiting resurrection, Divine Land did not reveal all the details of the two resurrection methods to them; it only stated that there were two ways to be resurrected and briefly mentioned the advantages and disadvantages.
Tie Xingzhen a cultivation fanatic, and his foundation in cultivation was extremely solid. Naturally, he chose to live again, resurrected as an infant.
He had absolute confidence in his cultivation; if he had another chance, he would only recover to his current level of cultivation even faster.
As for becoming a god? If his cultivation doesn't improve at all, there's no point in living for him. Besides, being a local deity or mountain god doesn't really suit his personality.
Rebirth is relatively simple to do; you just need to separate your soul from the Soul-Guiding Banner and then integrate it into a cloned body made from your own Flesh and Blood.
Without anyone guiding him, Tie Xingzhen found his own body on his own.
The natural connection was so strong, it was as if a rope was tied between him and his body. After he decided on his chosen method of resurrection, the banner-bearer released the banner from his control.
Tie Xingzhen's soul simply drifted into his body and merged into it.
After a few breaths, the baby still in the test tube suddenly opened its eyes and made a difficult gesture to the crowd outside.
It's done!
However, after making a few gestures, Tie Xingzhen, who had transformed into an infant because his body was still developing, couldn't help but fall into a deep sleep.
At this point, he is still quite some time away from his actual "delivery date."
As Tie Xingzhen regained consciousness, the other cultivators also woke up one after another.
Only a minority of people choose to live a second life; most cultivators prefer to try the so-called "deification."
While their reluctance to give up their cultivation was a factor, it was only a small part of the reason. More importantly, they were willing to be guinea pigs for this new direction.
However, it's not their turn to be the guinea pigs.
The cultivators who chose to be conferred as gods were left to remain in the surrounding area and the process did not begin immediately; this was at Li Xingkong's behest.
They had to wait for the souls of those Snail People to awaken, and let those Snail People act as guinea pigs first, before it was their turn.