"...there is an abnormality with your soul!"
The words slammed into his mind with the weight of a Heavenly pillar. Of course, he couldn't hide it from her. Based purely on his memories, his mother was close to a transcendent being. How could she possibly not find anything wrong with him? She was an Overgod. Sweat drenched his back instantly. Quickly, he baited his breath and fought to calm his mind.
"It really seems you were hiding something," Tian Ling sighed.
Tian Ling understood his fear. She easily saw through his soul and noticed the extra addition in his mindscape. She didn't quite like that Tian Zhao, Tian Shi's father, still chose to go through the Ascendance ceremony without her consent. Now, her son had suddenly become confused and unaware of reality. A flash of killing intent sparked in the depths of her eyes. Even if Tian Zhao had gone through with the ceremony years prior, the memories wouldn't have awakened so soon unless someone had almost succeeded in killing her son.
Tian Shi didn't know what to do. He hadn't even begun acclimating to this new world, and he was already discovered. He had no chance of escape; her power was insurmountable in his current state.
"Yes. I've been hiding. I don't even know if I can call it that," Tian Shi stated. "I can't remember anything from the last two days. Suddenly, I have a new set of memories from a previous life that I cannot begin to fathom."
"You are you and will always be you," Tian Ling spoke.
Her words reverberated through the entire world, creating a spark in the heart of reality. Her power, even a minuscule amount of it, threatened to wrench existence apart—she controlled it impeccably, reducing the strain it had on the world, and gently tapped Tian Shi's forehead.
Tian Shi instantly felt the memories in his mind undergo a distilling process. The pressure of wielding more than a million years of memories was alleviated. He suddenly felt like himself once more—his mind much clearer.
"Do not worry; those memories are as much yours as your current self," Tian Ling stated. "Don't let them change who you are. You weren't supposed to awaken them so early, so I've simply sealed most of them."
Tian Shi became confused. He understood the crux of her explanation, but he didn't quite comprehend what she meant. How could the being in his mind possibly be him? Clearly, he had a family of his own, siblings, and most of all, the cultivation level he reached could simply be described as boundless—one of the reasons he grew complacent, thinking he could hide his changes from his parents. She managed to alleviate the pressure but failed to quell his curiosity.
"What do you mean the man in my memories is me?" Tian Shi asked.
"You are too weak to know, too weak to survive, and too weak to understand the implications of your memories," Tian Ling stated with a bite of coldness that Tian Shi wasn't used to.
"That still doesn't answer my question. How do you expect me to be satisfied with such an explanation? I have memories in my head," Tian Shi raised his voice.
"Don't raise your voice at me. This discussion ends here," his mother said. "I need to speak to your father."
"What does he even know? Why am I the only one who doesn't seem to understand?"
Tian Shi's words barely left his mouth when his mother's figure disappeared from her seat. He was left alone, gazing at the endless lush green expanse from a god's point of view. But none of the emotions, let alone the pumping vital energy, managed to bring light or life back to his mood. His fingers trembled as they held onto the cup of tea in his grasp. Things developed far faster than he could count. Just as he thought he had managed to stabilize himself, something new came and sank his ship.
In spite, he threw the teacup. It ruptured space and crashed against one of the walls of the pagoda. Tian Shi stomped to the edge of the pagoda's courtyard and clutched the rails. He took a deep breath to calm his mind, an action that greatly aided him in understanding the nuances of his mother's words. If his parents weren't going to be truthful, he had no choice but to figure things out on his own.
Tian Shi gathered himself, drew a smile on his face, and summoned one of his shadows. An instant later, he arrived at his courtyard once more. This time, without any disruption or sudden hazards, he walked into his abode. The place was quite simple. The sitting room only had a large mat that occupied the entire space, accompanied by a small embroidered table at the center. He walked past the sitting room toward his cultivation chambers.
In contrast, the cultivation chambers were filled to the brim with various luxury items and resources trillions could only dream of receiving. He sat comfortably in the center of the qi-gathering formation.
His first ordeal was simple.
Without the bludgeoning pounding of memories, he focused on outlining a strategy for his next endeavors. At the top of his personal list was finding out the truth about his memories—at the very least, why they awakened early, as his mother put it. Her thoughts and actions implied it was a major issue, one he wasn't privy to due to his weakness. The mere fact that he had so many memories yet couldn't recall anything that occurred in the past forty-eight hours proved it.
The only way to surmount that was through gaining strength. But what level of strength was enough? His mother was a God; he was still a mortal. The gap between them would take trillions of years to surmount. That meant he needed to change his strategy. But in order to even create a feasible strategy, he wanted more information.
It all led back to his cultivation and strength.