The four sacred beasts were immensely anxious that Jiang Chen was still in a coma.
From the conversation between the two forefathers, they’d discovered something important: the demonic army were gathering to invade Myriad Abyss in droves after seven days.
Three days had passed since then. Perhaps the demonic army was already prepared to march into Myriad Abyss. If Jiang Chen remained unconscious, they couldn’t even return to Winterdraw, let alone the Eternal Sacred Land.
If demons took over Myriad Abyss, the four sacred beasts wouldn’t be able to turn the tide without Jiang Chen. None of them was much of a leader.
All they hoped was for Jiang Chen to wake up as soon as possible and take the reins.
Gains abounded after the battles with the demon forefathers, both in terms of material gain and in cultivation. The sacred beasts wanted to immediately return to Veluriyam Palace through Winterdraw, and enter closed door cultivation in order to make their breakthroughs.
……
Jiang Chen’s consciousness wasn’t dormant in the coma. In fact, after three days of recovery, his consciousness had fully reinvigorated himself.
However, he hadn’t yet awoken. Countless thoughts about both his past and current life swarmed in his mind.
One moment, he was the son of the Celestial Emperor, reading classics by his father’s side.
The next, he was back in Sacred Peafowl Mountain, gazing upon the vast starry sky with Huang’er.
Sometimes, thoughts from his past life clashed with those from his current life. Both forces wanted to pull Jiang Chen into their camp.
They were at a standstill. Neither side was willing to let go of him, which prevented him from sorting out his mind and regaining consciousness.
One single thread of thought in his mind remained in control and called for him to break out of the trance, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the remainder of his consciousness.
Unconscious, he didn’t know this was his personal divine tribulation. He’d never encountered any difficulties in pursuing a perfect constitution and martial dao. As a result, his divine tribulation didn’t manifest as a physical trial, but a trial for his one weakness: his unconsolidated questions about his two lives.
His bifurcating fate resulted in two diverging strands of thoughts in his consciousness, which became his own unique divine tribulation.
If he could come to, his tribulation would be overcome.
If the tribulation was too overpowering, he might just remain unconscious forever.
During his fight with the demon forefathers, Jiang Chen had pushed himself completely beyond his limits, which in turn struck a fatal blow on his mentality. His weakened autonomous thought made it difficult to keep the two opposing perspectives in check, which resulted in a coma.
Without understanding his condition, not even the four sacred beasts could help him.
There was nothing wrong with Jiang Chen’s physical condition. In fact, his physical strength improved substantially after the fight, thanks to all the tempering imparted during the battles.
He simply couldn’t wake up.
Fortunately, his remaining strand of consciousness nagged at him every now and then, reminding him that he mustn’t stay asleep and abandon everything.
He had to push forward both for the sake of his past life and his current life.
“Jiang Chen… Jiang Chen! The demonic butchers are about to rest their blades upon your neck. Are you going to keep remaining asleep like this?” A voice cut through his coma and called out anxiously.
“Chen’er, the heavenly planes have shattered, and I have been trapped in this secret realm for millions of years.” Another fatherly voice murmured in his consciousness. “I have been tormented for aeons. When will I greet your arrival to my aid?”
“Brother Chen, Brother Chen… You promised you’d be with me until death do us part. Are you really going to abandon me and have me face a life of isolation?” The voice sounded like Huang’er.
“Haha, you’re the legendary human genius Jiang Chen, aren’t you? I’ve fought many ancient cultivators, and the only human who has made me suffer such a defeat is you. Good, very good. Your life is mine from now on, boy!”
Jiang Chen didn’t know who the voice belonged to, but it troubled him greatly.
One after another, different voices sounded in his consciousness, coming at him like whip lashes.
“No, I cannot fall deeper into slumber. I can’t lose to myself. I must wake up, I must. There is so much unfinished business waiting for me!”
The one stand of consciousness remaining under his control insistently pushed and motivated him. Little by little, his thoughts found their way back to where they should be, and his mind slowly recovered from its chaotic state.
His mind was a pond in which sediment gradually filtered and sank to the bottom. His consciousness began to clear.
“I am Jiang Chen, both in my past and in my current life. I’m Jiang Chen both to my father, the Celestial Emperor, and my family and friends in this life. I do not live for myself alone. Both lives are my fate. Both fates run on the same path. My past life is the cause, and my current the effect. I must wake up. Wake up!”
The one strand of consciousness continued to grow stronger, as if enhanced by a mysterious power, while the intrusive thoughts sank deeper and deeper, like rocks and sand sinking in a lake.
Suddenly, he shuddered as an electric shock went through his body and cleared it of all intrusive thoughts. He opened his eyes, his gaze clear and focused.
Another chain seal had lifted in his consciousness.
“Huh? I’ve ascended to fourth level divine realm in my coma?” That was his first discovery after waking up.
Another breakthrough, another seal unlocked.
With his thoughts sorted, his consciousness went back to normal operations. Everything about his two lives became much clearer to him. His consciousness was a mirror that allowed him to inspect every minute detail about his lives.
“Ah, I fell unconscious due to overtaxing my mind during the fight against the winged demon forefathers. I didn’t expect to ascend to intermediate divine realm during my coma!”
Jiang Chen immediately sorted through his thoughts.
