[Word Count 2029]
Pain.
What is pain?
What is really the perfect definition of pain?
Keep all that stuff about sensory physiology or emotional baggage out of what really describes… pain.
Pain is unavoidable in life since there are all sorts of pain one can experience.
For starters, maybe even Pain himself doesn't understand what pain truly is. Just joking. He does. Just like everyone else in the vast universe, no, to be more accurate it's supposed to be the omniverse. Pain transcends the concept of fictional restraints. It really has no bars.
On that painful day, Zhao Wei came to understand what 'pain' is. He embraced it, letting it all run rampant all over his body, mind, and soul. To know pain, one had to experience it. One can never understand loss, without losing something.
"Aaargh!" A dreadful grunt erupted like a tumultuous wave and destroyed the silence inside his room. It was heart-wrenching, soul-shaking, and nerve-jarring.
Ominous dark tendrils could be seen spreading like an unstoppable plague all over his body, and then deep down to the invisible realm - his very soul.
His perfect teeth were grinding against each other with intense biting force. His soaked back was curved like a bow as his hands instinctively gripped and fragmented the wooden tub into tiny wooden splints to at least alleviate the intense pain that he was feeling. If he had been a normal human, those wooden splints thrusting themselves into his fingers nails would have made him bitchily curse for an eternity. That kind of pain was rather inconsequential compared to the myriad poisons that could even affect the soul.
Despite the suffering and sporadic convulsions, Zhao Wei's mind barely managed to pull through the ordeal. He didn't forget to recite the [Divine Celestial Technique] in his weakening mind to convert and refine all that toxic energies into strands of celestial inner energy.
A strong mind is a learned trait and must be earned through these kinds of extreme situations. Even though his mind was teetering between the realm of consciousness and unconsciousness, the embers of fiery determination inside his very being didn't allow him to succumb. No, he refused to leave his own fate to luck. He was taking risks so it was a must for him to have the complete reins of the entire situation.
Zhao Wei was even being ruthless to himself to achieve what he wanted.
To what felt like a prolonged eternity as he persevered through the indescribable suffering, it only happened within a few minutes.
And since fortune favors the bold, Zhao Wei was finally successful as he formed his first strands of inner energy inside his Dantian. All of the poison that had perfectly seeped throughout every inch of his body were all now nonexistent.
"I have now gained a passive immunity to all poisons due to the existence of the [Divine Celestial Technique] and my little dance with death." Zhao Wei clenched his fist excitedly.
"I have no fear of any poison right now unless a conceptual type of poison attack is involved. As for curses and hexes… they will be the most annoying ones to deal with." He thought while frowning subtly.
"Curses and hexes are the enemies of the soul. I stand on neutral grounds but as I grow stronger I will naturally meet various types of enemies. The type of enemies that I would really not like to encounter are those of the Ancient Shaman Race."
The Ancient Shaman Race was ranked second in the list of Ten Thousands Ancient Races. They were extremely mysterious and very troublesome to deal with. They were very hard to understand and little was known about them. What most people fear is the fear of the unknown. It was the strongest type of fear. How can someone easily cope with a suicidal enemy with horrifying abilities that they couldn't even begin to comprehend? With his current strength, it would really bring him immense worries and tension. But it was good that he wasn't the type of person that would go throwing himself to such terrifying enemies unless… they threatened his dear life that is.
"True God Race aka Ancient Race were the most powerful in the Ancient era and their undeniable might originated from their bloodline which was the only thing next to impeccability. Even such a race feared the sneaky curses of the Ancient Shaman Race." Zhao Wei couldn't help but remember some of the knowledge about the top powerful ancient races.
"And then there's the fifth ranked God Martial Race which is said to be the race with highest comprehension level when it came to martial arts. Do I maybe have traces of some of their bloodline since I have high comprehension?" Zhao Wei chuckled at his own wishful thinking.
If he had such a bloodline, he would have been with a higher cultivation than his current level and have no bottlenecks when it comes to breaking through.
"What I find interesting among all these races is the knowledge that the Heaven's Legacy race hold in their hands. If I could acquire their research…" Zhao Wei sucked in deep breath while in his mind, he thought about the limitless possibilities that lay within their forbidden knowledge.
"They could recreate complete bloodlines from the ancient times and for that to happen, they would have probably used secretive means to obtain the blood of each race."
Shaking his head in amazement, Zhao Wei discarded the thoughts about the Ten Thousands Ancient Races. It was too early for him to think about those overpowered beings. He had to live in the present and walk step by step until he grows into the kind of being that all of existence would learn to fear.
"Fan Universe is not my limit…" His vision wasn't limit to the heavens of Fan Gu but further beyond - the Greater Multiverse, Primal Chaos.
If you knew that your existence was part of someone's dream, would you stay still? It depends.
There are some people who would rather continuing living in that dream and never extricate themselves from it - they are the kind to remain oblivious irregardless of whatever their reality is.
Existential crisis aside, they also would always be those who want to escape the illusion - the system imposed on their very existence.
Zhao Feng was special since he was the holder of the Ancestral Eye of Dream and this easily paved his ascent to the World God Level but after inheriting Fan Gu's Great Dao he also became the master of Fan Universe, a true living existence.
If his current reality was a dream, then his status was that of a 'dream anomaly' which meant that he could also break away from the restrictions of the Fan Universe.
"This reminds me of the Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraftian Lore - where there are Outer Gods that can casually dream countless realities. Just thinking about it scares me witless."
Most entertaining Korean novels like 'Omniscient Reader's ViewPoint' and also 'Second Life Ranker' had some similarities when it came to incorporation of such concepts. In his past life, Zhao Wei had only managed to read ¾ of the Second Life Ranker novel but as for the Omniscient Reader's ViewPoint, he had only read the manhwa.
'Apotheosis' could be also thrown into the mix but its concept was one which was dependent on different levels of existence and dimensionality. It had the idea where, for example, a cultivator such as a Saint was a higher being and the people inside their universes were inferior secondary beings that could cease to exist the moment they step outside the confines of the said universe.
"I should wash myself and clean the mess I have made." Zhao Wei looked at the ground.
A few moments later, the room was at least presentable. He was now clad in the robes provided by Zhao Clan for its disciples.
"Perfect," Zhao Wei touched his chin while looking around.
"Now what follows next?"
"Training, of course!"
There were only 25 days remaining before the family sparring contest is held.
During the next following days, Zhao Wei continued to train like a maniac and when was taking a break, he would use various means to look into the news about Zhao Feng and Zhao Yufei.
Zhao Feng had the eye of an Ancient God while Zhao Yufei had the bloodline of the Spiritual Race, which were clear signs of great luck as well as being the main characters of the 'Dream'. During that time, he had also registered himself for the competition and was scolded by the Officials for being late by a few days. His saving grace had been his cultivation base, only though not worth mentioning, it had already met the requirements needed.
Everything was proceeding well and in perfect alignment with his future knowledge. The timeline had not been affected by him… yet.
Anyways, one thing that he had learned during the course of those days of training was quite profound.
It was a realization.
When one trained any technique to Grand Perfection or simply the Ultimate level, they would be able to realize the 'intent' and flow of things.
This 'state' made it easier to learn other techniques very quickly and efficiently.
Tao is the origin of everything between Heaven and Earth, and harmonizes yin and yang principles. Tao has flow which means that everything in nature has flow. When one reaches the Ultimate level, they are closer to Tao.
As a result of this epiphany, he had come up with a version of Full Counter Technique.
He had given it the name "Flowing Stream."
Flowing Stream - Gentle like a calm, boundless sea and heavy like a raging tsunami.
Strong, weak.
Softness, Hardness. Yin and Yang.
Be like water. Unpredictable.
Flow like a stream redirecting the currents into the sea.
Embrace the flow and be one with the formless Tao!
As simple yet profound as that explanation, the essence of the technique was pretty much self-explanatory.
[Flowing Stream] was a basic style that could redirect the opponent's attacks by grasping their flow. The returned attack was two times more powerful than the opponent's initial attack. Using your opponent's strength for one's self and then returning it twofold in kind.
The epiphany wasn't the only thing that had made [Flowing Stream] to come into fruition. Zhao Wei, as a seasoned Otaku, naturally had some inspiration from Estarossa's Full Counter and Bang's Water Stream Rock Smashing Technique. So his imagination and creativity as an otherworldly existence were really irreplaceable factors.
This realm of 'flow' had also made him have a basic understanding of the spear and sword. He could now effortlessly communicate with weapons after training with them for sometime.
Zhao Wei didn't have his own favorite weapon and took it upon himself to test various weapons. It was called being versatile for any type of situation.
Of course this didn't mean that he became a Grandmaster of everything. Knowing how to efficiently use a weapon was what mattered most. His personal strength naturally came first.
Zhao Wei always believed that the most basic things are usually the most profound or was it just a matter of him making a mountain out of a small hill?
Finally, the day of the contest had arrived.
It was time to experience fights with his fellow humans.
He just hoped that there would be surprises waiting for him or else he would be bored to death.
That was confidence stemming from his experience gained over those two months!
He wanted to have an enjoyable life outside training like a madman and laying low.
After all, the true way of living was not about always keeping a low profile but choosing the most appropriate way of doing things according to one's own strength, time, and opportunity.
That was the path of being unrestrained and unfettered, doing whatever you think you feel right about doing.
'The heavens above can't suppress me and the earth below can't restrict me.'
'Between Heaven and Earth, I am…'
Zhao Wei only smiled to himself as he walked towards the place of gathering - Sky Martial Field.
***
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