"No, I'm too late."
Wang Wei heard these words as his body, soul, and Dao were instantly annihilated. However, a soothing power seemed to have preserved the last remnant of his existence, buying him a little more time.
However, he did not know whether this was a good thing or not. After what he experienced today, every second of living was the worst torment imaginable.
Ca-Cha!
The world broke apart, and Wang Wei opened his eyes.
"Where am I? What was I doing?"
He looked at the cultivation room before checking his body and hands. He had a terrifying sense of deja-vu. However, before he could better analyze the situation, he received a notification that someone was outside.
"My Hong'er," he muttered with a loving smile; his eyes brightened as he remembered she would soon be truly perfect. He walked out of the room at a brisk pace.
"Hong'er, what has gotten you so excited?"
"Husband, your plan worked," said Wu Hong, full of excitement.
"Plan?" asked Wang Wei. "You mean we caught someone?"
"Yes."
"Then, let's go see who it is."
Wang Wei went to see the Fiendeye Emperor and learned about the White Shadow Cat. Then, he repeated the day again, reliving the pain of losing the love of his life. And according to the mechanism of Di Tian's illusion, each time he relived that day, his pain and despair would be increased tenfold.
However, something occurred on the third time Wang Wei relived that day. The illusion broke off after watching Wu Hong die instead of after the Heaven Opening Emperor saved him.
A terrifying will emanated from Wang Wei's body and shattered the illusion. Sadly, this was not enough for him to wake up–at least not so soon. As the name of the Ten-Tails Emperor Scripture implied, her illusions contained an infinite layer.
So, even if someone breaks it, they would just find themselves in another layer. And each successive layer is better than the former one as the illusion could evolve and correct itself to ensure no one escaped its clutches.
Furthermore, the Black Sea of Forgotten Memories would forcibly seal Wang Wei's memories, making it difficult to understand he was in an illusion and wake up.
As fate would have it, in the fifth life, a reaction between the Black Sea and Wang Wei's soul occurred. The aura of Samsara contained in the sea awakened some memories deep in Wang Wei's soul.
So, Wang Wei saw something his mind was subconsciously trying to hide to protect him–it was eons of memories after the space crack swallowed him back on Earth.
In an instant, Wang Wei regained consciousness as all these memories rushed into his mind. He made a swift decision not to immediately absorb these memories. He knew his soul would become sluggish and maybe even slightly injured if he absorbed all of them at once.
And since he was in the midst of a battle, this was not a wise choice. However, he did peek at one of the core memories. To be exact, it was the last memory of himself when he was a mass of aggravated soul.
The last thing he remembered when in that state was entering a white light. Then, he was a baby being stared at by a bunch of giants. However, Wang Wei finally knew what happened between these two events.
He saw his soul forcefully enter Samsara. However, he did not undergo the proper procedure to seal his memories, weigh his karma, get a proper identity, then reincarnate into a new life.
Instead, he used his strength to skip all the steps, beating anyone in his way as he forcefully entered the passage of reincarnation. In the process, he realized his massive soul could not reincarnate in a normal body, so he forced himself to seal all his strength and memories.
"
'No, it seems I preserve my memories from Earth,' he analyzed. After living for so long in the void, it was odd his main personality was based on his memories from Earth. So, he deduced it was not a random event but a conscious choice he made, ensuring that personality would be the main one.
'That's not important,' thought Wang Wei. 'Someone is not adding up.'
After reviewing his reincarnation process and using his current knowledge and understanding of the world, he found too many anomalies.
'With the way I barged into the world, Heavenly Dao would have detected me without a proper identity. Better yet, True Heavenly Dao would have interfered, given how I could not properly hide the aura from my Paragon Tier Soul.
'So, it should have been alerted of my presence and dealt with me.'
Wang Wei knew True Heavenly Dao would not care if a mere Paragon entered the Eternal Ascension World. However, with his method of infiltrating through reincarnation and being born in the lower dimension, he would have been identified as an anomaly and a threat to be dealt with.
'Furthermore, the Seven Parasites and 2 Suns should have detected my reincarnation because of my soul. Yet, I have a perfect identity that is recognized by the world.
'How did I survive? How did I not get caught? And who gave me the identity?'
He pondered deeply, thinking about countless possibilities. He used all his trillion Spirit Particles to use his Thought Acceleration Ability.
'Could it be that old man, Hongjun?'
Wang Wei frowned as he took a moment to check his memories to see if he could find something.
'Myriad Devour? Is that what they call me?'
He saw some memories of people trying to kill him, and that's the name they called him.
'I am sure someone has been following me and helping me deal with the truly powerful people trying to kill me.'
With a brief scan, he learned many things.
'There is a high chance that person is Hongjun. However, the chances of him helping me through reincarnation are not high.'
Wang Wei saw how after his soul reached probably the Paragon Level, no one protected him. After that, he suffered many injuries in battle and often had to run away. And a few times, he came close to death.
So, his current theory is that Hongjun stopped helping once he reached a certain level where he could protect himself.
'So, if it's not Hongjun, who is it?'
Honestly, Wang Wei wished it was Hongjun. He already owed the latter a great deal of karma, so it's not a problem to owe more. Furthermore, as of now, Hongjun has shown to be an ally instead of an enemy.
But now, there appeared to be someone else involved in his life, dictating his fate. And he did not like that–especially since he had no information about who that person was.
For someone like him, there is no greater threat than an unknown enemy with little to no information.
'The only good news is that I know of that person's existence. So, I have a direction to begin my search.'
Wang Wei exhaled as he placed this new discovery at the top of his priority. Then, he focused on this battle.
'I was careless–-I never thought he could counterattack through my soul and succeed.'
His soul has always been his strongest point. In his early years, he basically ignored it since he never had to cultivate it. Later, after many experiences and warnings from his wife and elders, he learned how to use it better.
However, it seemed he never completely dealt with the arrogance he had about having such an innate mighty soul. As a result, he almost suffered.
He opened his eyes and saw Di Tian bleeding while half kneeling in the void. The emotions in his eyes kept changing from despair, incomprehensible loneliness, and desire for death.
Wang Wei's eyes flashed with the power of time as he saw what happened in the past few seconds.
After placing him under the illusion, Di Tian did not immediately attack. Instead, he swallowed a pill, probably with the intent to heal his former injury and return to his peak.
The latter knew he could not keep Wang Wei under the illusion for too long, which was evident with how the power of the Black Sea was consumed at an alarming rate.
So, he wanted to heal as fast as possible and injure his opponent, leveling the playing field. And his plan worked at first, as his injuries were almost healed with the pill.
Unfortunately, when Wang Wei's memories awakened, the illusion backlashed him. On the contrary, he saw–no–experienced Wang Wei's time in Primordial Chaos as the Myriad Devourer.
After spending eons in the infinite space, with the soul and mind of a mortal, his mind almost broke due to loneliness and despair. If not for Di Tian's long life and numerous reincarnations that tempered his mind, spirit, and will, his soul would have collapsed under these memories.
'I now understand why his Willpower is so terrifying,' thought Di Tian as he removed all these memories and their influence on him. Additionally, he used the remaining energy of the pill to ensure his soul was intact and not injured.
