Three days and three nights of pursuit had left Xu Mu utterly exhausted.
So, after the Qiongqi left, he closed his eyes without hesitation and began to sleep.
Yes, sleep, not heal.
He was not injured, merely overworked, and needed rest.
Xu Mu sat cross-legged on the mountaintop, a gentle breeze caressing his face, and drifted into dreamland.
He subconsciously believed this place was safe.
But it wasn't safe at all, because it was full of people.
The most terrifying enemies in the world were never great demons, but humans themselves.
While Xu Mu slept, Fang Jia of the Northwest Four Fiends had already silently positioned himself behind him.
His right hand rested on the back of Xu Mu's head, his sharp, pale fingernails curled inward. With a slight exertion, the nails dug into the flesh of the youth's head.
It was painful, but Xu Mu showed no reaction.
Normally, if someone dared to touch his head like this while he slept, Xu Mu would have instantly drawn his blade and severed the attacker's arm along with the hand.
But at this moment, both his physical body and his soul were at their limits. He had no capacity to be on guard, sleeping more soundly than a pig.
Thus, facing danger, the youth merely frowned slightly, a natural physiological response to pain.
Fang Jia opened his mouth and laughed silently, inhaling countless pollen grains, appearing like a mute.
He hadn't expected to get so close to this peerless genius so easily. The youth slept so deeply, and everyone else was busy healing, not paying the slightest attention.
Therefore, all he needed to do now was to unleash his ability and perform soul-searching. All of Xu Mu's memories from birth until now would be unearthed and become his.
Even though it would turn Xu Mu into an idiot, that was precisely what he desired!
A smile spread across Fang Jia's face. From this point on, Xu Mu's fortunes would become his, and he would slowly ascend to the pinnacle of the world, replacing Xu Mu!
"Come on, let me see, what secrets do you hold!"
Mist seeped from the tips of Fang Jia's five fingers, drilling into Xu Mu's head and then entering his Sea of Consciousness without any obstruction.
That ball of gray mist slowly transformed into the shape of an eye within the Sea of Consciousness, identical to Fang Jia's own eyes.
Fang Jia then closed his eyes, preparing to transmit his soul into Xu Mu's Sea of Consciousness, above the gray mist.
This process would take three seconds.
During those three seconds of darkness, Fang Jia was already impatient:
"The Eight Trigrams and the physical body, and the mysteries of your talent, will all be mine!"
He laughed wildly in his heart, his soul merging with the gray mist, and thus he arrived in Xu Mu's Sea of Consciousness.
Then, his wild and triumphant smile froze on his face.
Upon seeing this Sea of Consciousness, the soul body formed by the gray mist trembled violently and shook uncontrollably.
Because Fang Jia saw an ocean.
Xu Mu's Sea of Consciousness was an ocean?
Fang Jia swallowed silently. Although it was called a Sea of Consciousness, for others, it had always been merely a metaphorical term.
The soul power of the human body was theoretically limitless.
And "sea" precisely represented vastness. This was why people called the place that contained soul power the Sea of Consciousness, yet it was merely an exaggerated term.
Normally, the Sea of Consciousness of a peak Stage Four cultivator who specialized in soul power could barely be compared to a rushing great river.
The difference between a river and an ocean was more than a hundred, even a thousand times. Even a Domain Lord, or perhaps a Human King, might not be able to truly transform their Sea of Consciousness into an ocean.
This was not like abilities; the higher the realm, the greater the increase.
But at this very moment, within Xu Mu's Sea of Consciousness, he truly saw an ocean.
Fang Jia turned his head, held his breath, and gazed at everything before him in disbelief.
It was a vast expanse of azure, sky and water blending into one. There were reefs and waves, but no end.
Was it truly an ocean?
"Impossible!"
Fang Jia suspected he was hallucinating, so he blinked his eyes hard.
Even his external body involuntarily shook his head in disbelief.
And when Fang Jia finished doing this and opened his eyes again.
He still saw an ocean.
Fang Jia's soul was utterly stunned.
So, the Sea of Consciousness was not an exaggeration, nor a metaphorical term.
It was a literal descriptor.
Xu Mu possessed such a vast Sea of Consciousness; how much soul power did it contain, thousands or tens of thousands of times more than his own?
Fang Jia pondered blankly. He wanted to find Xu Mu's soul power in this space, but after searching for a long time, he found nothing.
Then, with a stiff neck, he slowly looked down at his feet.
Beneath his feet was seawater.
But the color of this seawater was peculiar, a blue with a slight transparent radiance.
Waves crashed against the reefs, spray flying, and splashing onto him, eliciting a strong soul reaction.
Fang Jia was numb.
From the moment he first met Xu Mu, the youth had brought him too much shock to describe in words.
So, Xu Mu's soul power had always been present.
So, Xu Mu's soul power was an entire ocean!
…
Xu Mu was unaware that while he slept, Fang Jia had infiltrated his Sea of Consciousness and been profoundly shaken.
Actually, Xu Mu felt there was nothing particularly surprising about it.
Once you get used to it, it's just like that.
The soul power within the ocean could not be taken outside the body. The portion that could be freely controlled was perhaps only one in a billion, tied to one's realm.
This was why he felt mentally fatigued.
Otherwise, even if he performed divination for a hundred years straight, he wouldn't feel tired. Now, after only three days of calculation, his nerves had swollen, and his head pounded with splitting pain.
But fortunately, his soul power could continuously nourish his brain, and with the help of sleep, he should recover completely soon.
His physical body was the same. Xu Mu possessed the Sacred Glazed Heart, which astonished even Fuxi. That noble blood, propelled by the heart's beat, filled his limbs and then flowed back. Each circulatory beat brought nourishment to his parched and cracked body.
And the pollen floating in the space contained the purest abilities and medicinal power. Thus, Xu Mu's body acted like a black hole, drawing energy from the phantom of the shore flower above the distant mine. The extraction was so fierce that it even stirred up a gust of wind.
Soul, body, and abilities, all three working in tandem.
It wouldn't take long, perhaps less than a day, for Xu Mu to recover and awaken.
And if, at that time, Fang Jia had not yet found the shore of that ocean, Xu Mu would show him what cruelty was.
Fang Jia might die without even a speck of ash remaining.
Just like the baboon that was burned to death by the Samadhi True Fire of Qiongqi!
…