Gēzi and Shùzì looked at Chén Líng together. Chén Líng was still unconscious. Gēzi touched his forehead and said with a frown, "This is a bit troublesome now."
"Gēzi, could it be that Chén Líng..."
Shùzì understood Gēzi's thoughts. Gēzi nodded and confirmed what Shùzì was thinking. Líng Fēngyún, watching the two speak in riddles, looked confused and asked, "What are you two talking about! What exactly happened to Princess?"
"Don't worry for now, this is not the place to talk. Let's go inside the fortress first."
Gēzi calmed Líng Fēngyún's emotions. Gēzi knew that Líng Fēngyún was not from this world and didn't understand its rules at all. Different worlds had different rules and heavenly principles. Líng Fēngyún followed Gēzi into the fortress.
Inside the fortress, Gēzi placed Chén Líng on the bed. The origin of Chén Líng was in his left hand. Gēzi looked at Líng Fēngyún and said calmly, "You should know that this world is a special one."
"I naturally know that. What does that have to do with Princess being in a coma?"
Líng Fēngyún had never encountered such a situation, let alone the Ling race. Líng Fēngyún was at a loss and didn't know what to do. In any case, Princess absolutely could not be in danger; this was what Líng Fēngyún cared about most.
Gēzi explained, "This world is a connection point of the universe, a junction of the universe. Outside the universe, there are many other universes. There are barriers protecting the universes from each other, but these barriers require energy to operate. This world is precisely the source of the barrier's energy."
"This is also why this world belongs to a low-martial world. Because the world itself has condensed all its energy onto the barrier, the world is deprived of a large amount of energy and thus becomes sealed."
"I've never heard of this before."
Líng Fēngyún's mouth hung open. This was the first time she had heard of such a thing. In fact, Gēzi had only heard of it for the first time, and it was Chén Tiān who had told him. Gēzi turned to look at Chén Líng and said, "Now, Chén Líng's origin cannot return to her body. A new origin has formed inside, repelling the previous origin. This is not wrong, but her consciousness is gathered on this origin. Currently, Chén Líng can be said to have a body but her consciousness cannot return to it."
"Do you know the origin of this new core, and why it can repel the original core?"
Gēzi hoped Líng Fēngyún could provide some insight. Otherwise, little sister Chén Líng might sleep forever and never wake up. Her consciousness could not fully gather, leaving her with an intact physical shell.
"Perhaps the origin of the Ling race is recovering. Can you let me examine it?"
Líng Fēngyún suddenly thought of a possibility, but she needed to investigate before she could know if it was true.
Gēzi believed that Líng Fēngyún would not harm Chén Líng, and they also wanted Chén Líng to regain consciousness and wake up. Líng Fēngyún placed her hand on Chén Líng's chest, and her entire body emitted a breath. The two breaths surprisingly resonated. In the next second, Líng Fēngyún's body was thrown out, hitting the ceiling and slowly falling down.
"This... this... this is impossible, such a thing cannot happen, it is absolutely impossible."
Líng Fēngyún shouted crazily. What had she seen to be so panicked? Gēzi and Shùzì came to Líng Fēngyún's side and asked, "What's going on?"
"Princess's origin actually has three. Three independent consciousnesses are fighting for this one body. Unbelievable, three origins sharing one body. No one in the universe has ever triggered such a thing."
Líng Fēngyún's hands trembled as she pointed at the sleeping Chén Líng. Three origins, three consciousnesses. This meant that Chén Líng was three people in one. Currently, the consciousnesses of the three people were fighting for this one body, causing Chén Líng's consciousness to be unable to focus and gather. Now, only a small portion of Chén Líng's consciousness remained.
Most of the consciousness was in the origin in Gēzi's palm. A battle of consciousnesses?
"This is bad. If it's as you say, then most of Chén Líng's original consciousness is on this origin. The consciousness remaining in the body cannot be a match for the other consciousnesses and will be erased."
Gēzi exclaimed and rushed to Chén Líng's side. He placed his hand on her heart and injected energy. Gēzi was injecting his own energy into Chén Líng's body to support the consciousness remaining within.
At this moment, in Chén Líng's sea of consciousness, three figures stood in a triangular confrontation. One figure was illusory and flickered constantly; this was Chén Líng's original consciousness. Chén Líng's original consciousness looked at the other two and said, "Now is not the time for you two to leave. Stay here with me."
"Why should you seal us for thousands of years? Now is our time to control the body. Do you think I would let this opportunity go?"
"Also, Princess Ling said 'I', not 'you'. This body should be returned to me."
The consciousness of the Ling Princess roared. Ever since Chén Líng's consciousness appeared, she had been suppressed for thousands of years and could no longer endure this time. She wanted freedom. She wanted to control Chén Líng's body and erase Chén Líng's consciousness.
"You two were originally derived from my consciousness. I am the master. Do you still want to betray me?"
Chén Líng's face turned cold. From the moment Chén Líng was born, her consciousness was divided into three, with Chén Líng's main consciousness as the primary and the other two as secondary. However, when Chén Líng experienced the great war in the Divine Realm, these two consciousnesses wanted to control the body and gain freedom. Helpless, Chén Líng had no choice but to seal all her consciousness, leaving behind the origin and consciousness of the Divine Realm's Chén Líng.
Sealing consciousness meant sealing the origin. This was why Chén Líng had no memory of the Seven Races of the Universe or the Ling race. Because the individual consciousness of the Ling race was sealed, Chén Líng lost that part of her memory. Chén Líng knew very well that she couldn't seal these two origins forever, but now was not the time.
Once the origin was replaced, Chén Líng would cease to be Chén Líng and would forget everything. Chén Líng had not yet saved the Divine Realm and could not have her consciousness replaced here.
"I don't care, what can you do now? Give up the body."
The Ling race's Chén Líng consciousness attacked without hesitation. As long as Chén Líng's remaining consciousness was shattered, it would be her moment of freedom. Chén Líng's consciousness was only a residual part and not a complete consciousness, so it was no match for the others. On the other side, a consciousness remained quietly. This was another consciousness born from Chén Líng. The origin of this consciousness was even more terrifying. Chén Líng knew very well that even if the Ling Princess consciousness escaped, this fellow absolutely could not.
Otherwise, the universe would be in chaos. And this consciousness understood its origin and consequences very clearly. It did not intend to fight for the body and was content to watch the show.
Chén Líng's consciousness faced the Ling Princess's consciousness, becoming increasingly feeble, as if it would disappear in the next second. Suddenly, a pure energy entered Chén Líng's consciousness.
"Hold on, Chén Líng, I'll help you provide energy. You must seal them, otherwise your consciousness cannot return to your body."
Gēzi's voice echoed in Chén Líng's mind. Shùzì's voice followed, "I believe in you, Chén Líng. Your abilities are not just this. Your willpower is your strongest weapon. Keep going!"
In the room, Gēzi, Shùzì, and Líng Fēngyún injected energy into Chén Líng's body. The pure energy entered Chén Líng's consciousness. The originally illusory consciousness, about to dissipate, gradually solidified.
"Oh!"
The consciousness beside them saw this and seemed to have a thought. It rubbed its chin with interest.
"No one has ever done this before. It's unprecedented!"
After sighing, it fell silent and remained quiet. Why were the personalities of these three consciousnesses, all split from Chén Líng, so different?
One was like a princess, one was quiet, and one was mischievous and prone to crying. Alas!
Chén Líng's consciousness and the Ling Princess's consciousness clashed. They were evenly matched. This was with the energy support from Gēzi, Shùzì, and the three of them. Gēzi and Shùzì's energy was not infinite. Chén Líng needed to seal the opponent before their energy was depleted.
As for the other consciousness, Chén Líng was not worried about it trying to seize the body; it would automatically seal itself.
Perhaps thousands of years of sealing had changed the consciousness. The person from before did not have such a personality.
Time changes everything, it seemed.
Outside, Gēzi and Shùzì's faces were pale. All their energy had flowed into Chén Líng's body. In the next second, both of them were panting heavily, completely depleted of energy.
The rest depended on Líng Fēngyún to persevere. Líng Fēngyún was indeed from the Ling race, a race from the universe. She injected a lot of energy, which combined was more than the total of Gēzi and Shùzì. If it weren't for the exclusion between Chén Líng's origin aura and Líng Fēngyún's origin aura, causing sixty percent of the energy to be wasted, Chén Líng would have woken up by now.
After a long period of energy infusion, Líng Fēngyún's energy was finally depleted after three days and three nights. She collapsed. Gēzi came to Líng Fēngyún's side and helped her up.
"Rest for a while. You can't inject energy for these few days. I have a feeling that something strange is happening here and I need to recover quickly to investigate. This fortress will be yours to guard later."
Gēzi's expression became serious. In these three days, subtle changes had occurred around the fortress, but Gēzi's intuition told him these changes were bad, and he had to find the source.
Gēzi led Shùzì out of the room. Shùzì spoke with a smile, "Gēzi, are you sure this incident is a sequela of Xié Yuán?"
"I'm not sure. My intuition tells me it's ninety-nine percent. I mentioned it to you before. Back then, when the sky dissipated, I couldn't even find his figure, let alone how to solve it. The sky's recovery was abnormal in itself."
"It might be Xié Yuán's final move. Let's go take a look. The location is in a small village to the south."
"Alright."
Two beams of light flew south. As Gēzi and Shùzì left the room, Chén Líng's body underwent a change. Her appearance gradually altered. Líng Fēngyún saw this and panicked, fearing something might happen. Then, she felt the Ling origin within Chén Líng and was overjoyed. Could it be that the Ling origin had fully awakened? Chén Líng's eyes instantly opened, and she bowed, saying, "Finally, this body is mine."
"But where is this? This is not the Divine Realm, nor is it the Ling race. It seems I need to reacquaint myself."
"Comfortable. It's indeed better for myself to have this body."
Chén Líng's personality was completely different from before. Just as she was about to get up, she saw Líng Fēngyún and felt her Ling origin. She said lightly, "It seems the Ling race finally remembers me."
"Princess, I apologize. It was the King who sent me to escort you back."
"I know. I don't blame him, especially after what happened back then."
Chén Líng looked at the sky, her aura and temperament completely changed. A letter appeared in Chén Líng's hand and she placed it on the bed, murmuring, "I didn't expect it to turn out this way, but as long as I've regained my freedom, why bother with so much?"
Placing the letter on the bed, she waved her arm, and a magic formation appeared. A vortex formed by the formation materialized before her eyes. Chén Líng raised her finger and shot out a beam of light, which enveloped the entire fortress. Chén Líng said, "Follow me back to the Ling race. I've cast a great array here, so there's no danger for the time being. Rest assured."
"Yes, Princess."
Chén Líng and Líng Fēngyún stepped into the vortex and left this world.
Chén Líng was well aware of the exit. It was a pity that this time, the battle for the body had an unexpected situation: Chén Líng's origin had increased by one, making it a total of four. The consciousness formed by the fusion of these four origins. However, there was an advantage: Chén Líng could individually wield the methods and abilities of four people. The legacy of the Ling race, the formations of the Divine Realm, and the power of that individual.
But the fusion was not complete, leading to consciousness confusion. Just like what happened earlier, the person who produced the letter was not the intention of the Ling Princess's consciousness but the intention of the Divine Realm's Chén Líng consciousness.
Chén Líng's figure disappeared from the room. On Gēzi's side, the origin in his hand turned into a beam of light and vanished.
"Success."
Gēzi rejoiced. This situation meant that consciousness could return to the body. However, they were currently on a mission. Gēzi and Shùzì planned to investigate the situation and then check on Chén Líng's condition upon their return.
In the contract space, Chén Tiān watched the unfolding events. He opened his mouth and said, "Not bad, this Ling Princess. To have four bodies in one. Unprecedented. Even the one at their peak only had two consciousnesses, right?"
"That's her capability."
Chén Líng said with relief. Chén Tiān had known about Chén Líng's background for a long time. Before her consciousness was sealed, Chén Líng often talked to him. After she was sealed, she was like a child. Seeing Chén Líng leave, Chén Tiān felt a pang of pain.
"I wonder if I won this bet or you did."
"If you want to know, just keep watching."
Chén Tiān watched the screen. Gēzi and Shùzì arrived at a small village. The village looked normal at first glance. Shùzì's spiritual power covered the area, and he detected nothing amiss. Shùzì wondered, "Gēzi, are you sure there's something strange here? I don't detect anything."
"Sometimes the body can deceive you. Look closely at your surroundings. Look carefully."
Hearing Gēzi's words, Shùzì looked around and his expression suddenly turned serious. It was indeed as Gēzi said; something was wrong here.
Two sounds of clapping rang out. A voice said, "Such powerful insight. I thought I had hidden myself here and wouldn't be found. It seems I underestimated your strength."
Xié Yuán's figure emerged from the village. On Xié Yuán's forehead was a peculiar pattern, difficult to describe. It looked like a pattern, but it was more like a rune.