Chapter 835: The Deep Slumber Before He Was Reborn
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Complete Possession!
At the instant Su Ming's Possession was fully completed, Ecang's will withered away. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared without a trace, causing the purple Ecang tree to become Su Ming's clone from then on!
It was also during the instant Su Ming completed his Possession that vast waves of ancient memories surged into his soul like a flood that had broken through a dam.
Those memories were incredibly jumbled up, and a great swelling sensation rose within Su Ming. It was painful, as if those memories were imprinting themselves deeply into his soul. That pain could not be described with words… However, at the same time, Su Ming had a strong sensation that his soul was swiftly growing stronger. As those memories gathered together and his soul continued becoming stronger, he sensed that his cultivation base changed drastically.
It was as if he had suddenly come to understand the changes in the world within an instant, and the trains of thought that had been previously blocked opened up.
One hundred thousand galaxies. One hundred thousand golden seas. One thousand Ecang trees within one hundred thousand planets. All of these things shook, and Su Ming sensed that at the instant he turned into Ecang, he could feel numerous others galaxies that existed beyond these one hundred thousand.
There were nine wills that were on equal ground to his in this galaxy. Each of them contained the power of one hundred thousand galaxies. At that moment, they were gathering and surrounding the galaxies that belonged to Su Ming, as if they wanted to rush in, but were also hesitant to do so.
He did not need to think much to be able to tell that these nine wills that were lingering about beyond the area he controlled was the other wills of the great Ecang tree that had been torn apart.
Ecang had been split into ten parts all those years ago, and these parts used Western Ring Nebula's foreign land to heal themselves. If Su Ming had not appeared, then perhaps after a long period of time had passed, they would have devoured each other and conglomerated into the real Ecang. However, since Su Ming appeared and successfully Possessed the purple Ecang, and the purple Ecang sent out those ripples before its death, the other nine wills came over in an attempt to devour him beforehand.
If Su Ming was interrupted in the critical moment before he managed to form his clone and was devoured by the nine wills, then even if he Possessed the purple Ecang, the results would still be of no good to him. He would only become part of the true Ecang's soul.
Originally, these nine wills would planned to rush into the one hundred thousand galaxies that belonged to the purple Ecang and execute a brutal process of devouring Su Ming and fusing with him, until the purple Ecang Su Ming Possessed would be completely devoured. Then, these nine would will become much stronger.
Before the purple Ecang died, it had sent a divine thought to the nine wills with exactly this intention, because it had made a promise with the other nine Ecang souls before. Before the ten of them fully recovered, they would not devour each other. They would wait until they were all complete before they did so. Only then would the true Ecang be eventually born without any injuries, and would even be much stronger than before!
That was why if the purple Ecang had not sent that divine thought to them, the other Ecang souls would not have come forward. However, the purple Ecang did not expect that Su Ming's Possession towards it was not the traditional Possession that would wipe away its soul because the possessor only wanted its body. Thus, it had miscalculated.
The traditional Possession would cause a great aversion within the nine other wills, and they would immediately rush in to devour Su Ming. However, Su Ming's Possession was the Abyss Builders' inborn ability. This sort of Possession not only wanted to take over the target's body, but also their soul, and even the brand of their lives. It was a Possession that aimed to gather together a body from the purple Ecang's form, and that body would be identical to Ecang, in terms of both its presence or signs of life.
It was just like how Su Ming had Possessed one of the three Crimson Python Phoenixes all those years ago and the remaining two had not noticed him. Instead, they had always thought that he was their companion. Since even his presence had not changed.
This was the Abyss Builders' Possession!
It was also the reason why the purple Ecang failed even after it died!
To be precise, the Abyss Builders' Possession was divided into three steps. The first step was to create confusion by blending the false with what was real. It could be seen as the invasion of the soul, just like what had happened to the purple Ecang just now and what had happened to the Crimson Python Phoenix that had devoured Su Ming's soul all those years ago.
The falsehood here was referring to Su Ming's soul, and the reality was referring to his target's body and soul.
The second step was to substitute what was real with a fake. He would completely Possess his target's body, soul, mark of life, and even Life Matrix, in a manner akin of exchanging the sun and moon in the sky. The Su Ming right now was at the final stages of this step. Once he completed the Possession, he would have changed the sun and moon in the sky with a fake.
The main point of this Possession was to change, not to wipe off. That was why it had the third step.
To turn what was decaying into something amazing.
The decaying part symbolized the past, and the amazing part symbolized the future. The change between what was decaying and what was amazing was akin to a process of rebirth. It would use the decaying parts of the past to be reborn into something amazing.
This step was precisely what Su Ming was prepared to do at that moment.
In a sense, there were too many intrinsic differences between Su Ming and Ecang. But from another point of view… they were the same!
Ecang used Sui Chen Zi's death to be born and devoured his Divine Essence. Su Ming was reborn within Ecang's body. He absorbed what Ecang had absorbed and also devoured all that was Ecang. If one looked at it that way, the Abyss Builders were even more domineering than Ecang.
Because…
"You were born by devouring the universe's Divine Essence, and I will devour your life to live," Su Ming mumbled. As the windstorm of jumbled up memories in his soul continued imprinting themselves in his heart and body, Su Ming's understanding towards the Abyss Builders' inborn ability to Possess others became even greater.
After all, since ancient times, Su Ming was the only one among the Abyss Builders who could devour something like Ecang, which was an only existence in the universe!
"Abyss Builders… Just like how small fish eat shrimps to live, while big fish eat small fish. This is the law of the jungle… I didn't expect that this idiom would be portrayed so vividly in the Abyss Builders' inborn ability."
The black venous pathways and the black hearts within the one hundred thousand purple Ecang trees in the equally numbered galaxies turned into one hundred thousand faces of Su Ming at that moment. As he mumbled to himself, he found the reason as to why the other nine Ecang wills were lingering around the area of his perception.
"To their senses, my presence is not that much different compared to that of the purple Ecang, but since the third step still isn't complete, there are still some differences. That should be why they're lingering about and won't leave.
"This phenomenon will last until I complete the third step in this Possession. Once I turn what is decaying into something astonishing, it will end…" The eyes of Su Ming's faces shone at the same time and revealed a piercingly cold glare.
"I need time. This might not take long, or it could take an eternity. My soul will also descend into a deep sleep because of this. After all… the purple Ecang is not like the Crimson Python Phoenix, where I could instantly form my clone. The purple Ecang is too big…
"In this period of time, which might last for a long time, but also might just be a short while, the nine wills will become a lurking threat. If they continue lingering around the area… I don't want to use my life as a gambling chip and bet that they won't come and devour me.
"Fortunately, I have the black stone fragment. This Seed of Life Extermination, which is what the purple Ecang called it, seems to be from the same generation as the bald crane based on what it said. That's why Ecang had mentioned an 'also' when it said those words previously.
"'Did it also fail..?'"
"The mysteries of the ancient time of Sui Chen Zi's era will slowly reveal themselves before me as I Possess the purple Ecang. At this moment, I no longer have the wills from Yin Death Region manipulating me, and I don't have Di Tian trying to control me and using me in his plan. From now on… I am me!
"The only thing I need to worry about… is that Di Tian will definitely not accept that his plan to lie in wait and steal an Abyss Builder's body had just failed like this. And since he can no longer control my soul, he will definitely choose to use his full strength to plant his back-up plan in my physical body, which is within the land of Immortals right now!
"He knows that my physical body is my foundation. In the end, I will have to return for it. If he keeps watch over it, he will be watching over my core.
"But… if my physical body is the core of my being, then it is also… Di Tian's life."
The current Su Ming was different from who he was in the past. He was now like a fish who had returned to the sea, a tiger who had returned to the forest, a dragon who had returned to the clouds. It was confidence and temperament that would naturally appear within a person after his fate was no longer controlled by someone else and he gained full control over his own self.
Only at that moment could Su Ming truly be considered as Su Ming.
As he mumbled softly to himself, a burst of light erupted forth from the black stone fragment with a bang in accordance to his will. It immediately manifested the purple Ecang's soul and presence to make up for what Su Ming had yet to complete in the third step of his Possession. When there were no longer any differences between his soul and the presence Ecang, Su Ming sent his divine thought outwards.
"There was a cultivator that wanted to Possess me and almost succeeded… but he still failed in the end. I… am still me. The promise we made with our souls is still in effect. Now… leave these one hundred thousand galaxies of mine! The time for when we finally devour and fuse with each other has yet to arrive!"
As Su Ming's divine thought and the presence of Ecang's soul which was formed by the black stone fragment spread out furiously, the nine wills formed from the portions of Ecang's soul that were lingering beyond Su Ming's one hundred thousand galaxies gradually faded away. After a moment, they disappeared from his perception.
As the nine wills of Ecang's soul faded away, the edges of the one hundred thousand galaxies where Su Ming were starting to show signs of merging together. They were gradually turning into one.
At the same time, the Ecang tree that had been separated into one hundred thousand parts also started showing signs of gathering together as the galaxies slowly merged together. Su Ming gradually fell into deep sleep.
"When I awaken once more, I can tell that this clone of mine will be even stronger. My level of cultivation base will surpass what I have now, and this Ecang clone of mine… will become the foundation for me to become the strongest in the future.
"I look forward… to how I will be different… when I wake up," Su Ming mumbled. All one hundred thousand of his faces slowly shut their eyes, and a fusion, a rebirth, a serendipity, and the final step of the formation for Ecang's clone began.