Chapter 816 - 404: Comprehension; Second Life: Transforming into a Dragon

Chapter 816: Chapter 404: Comprehension; Second Life: Transforming into a Dragon

"When will the next one begin?" Cheng Zongyang asked, looking at his clone.

"Let me properly digest everything first," the clone said, shaking his head slightly.

"All right." Cheng Zongyang nodded.

Soon after, the clone’s Divine Soul returned to its body and left the Hall of Ten Thousand Races.

When he reappeared, he was still on that mountain peak platform at Tianduan Mountain.

He slowly sat cross-legged and gently closed his eyes, as if to isolate himself from all the disturbances of the outside world. At this moment, the various scenes he had experienced during his reincarnation continuously surged in his mind like a turbulent tide. He began to carefully digest the experiences of this reincarnation, attempting to extract the most core insights from the complex fragments of memory.

In the world of the Demon Race, he had deeply felt the hardship and cruelty of survival. Every demon struggled desperately for a bite of food and a place to rest, not to mention having to constantly guard against enslavement and slaughter by the Human Race. He thought of the Ape Demon companions who had mined alongside him—the exhaustion and fear in their eyes, and the flashes of a yearning for freedom. This made him realize that survival for the living beings of this world was inherently difficult, and the inequality and oppression between races only exacerbated this hardship. The law of the jungle was displayed to its fullest extent.

Regarding the complexity of human nature, the Human Race was not entirely evil, yet neither were they entirely good. Those humans who enslaved the Demon Race certainly had a greedy and cruel side, but within their groups, there were perhaps also helpless individuals forced to follow the crowd for the sake of their families and their own survival. Like that old alchemy master—his greedy ambition drove him to commit deranged acts to control life and death in the world. But from another perspective, wasn’t it also the extreme desire for immortality at work?

This interplay of good and evil, this human nature with complex motives, made him realize that he couldn’t simply judge a race with sweeping generalizations. Everyone was pursuing one single point: survival. It was just that upon this point, various desires were added, giving rise to different philosophies and ways of doing things.

The impermanence of fate taught him an even more profound lesson. It was a transformation from ignorance to knowledge, from simple rebellion to deep contemplation. He had once thought that through his own efforts and struggles, he could change the fate of the Demon Race. Yet, in the end, he was still mercilessly thrown into the alchemy tripod, dissipating from the world. This made him realize that the trajectory of fate didn’t always develop according to one’s personal wishes. Sometimes, even if one fought with all their might, they could still be swayed by irresistible forces.

Power was perhaps the true root that determined everything! But this didn’t mean one should give up trying. Instead, while adapting to the grand trend of fate, one had to pursue their goals with even greater determination, even if the final result was unsatisfactory. Even if it was all in vain.

Then there was the conflict with humans, which wasn’t merely a simple fight over interests. It was the immense differences and fierce clashes between different races regarding survival resources, living spaces, and ideologies that triggered those tragedies. He realized that resolving this conflict didn’t require one side to compromise to the other. Rather, it required both sides to put themselves in each other’s shoes and find a point of balance that would allow both to survive and develop.

On this tranquil mountain peak platform, the clone sat quietly, letting his thoughts weave through memories and insights. In the back-and-forth between inner conflict and understanding, his mind seemed entangled in invisible threads, yet he strove to find order within the chaos and comprehend it with poise. Hesitation followed him like a shadow, causing his steps to falter on this unknown path. But a calm power slowly fostered afterward, like a candle flame in the dark night, dispelling the panic in his heart and becoming resolute.

A thick fog of confusion once obscured his vision, leaving him lingering in contradiction. However, he didn’t sink into it. Instead, relying on his instincts, he conducted a deep exploration, attempting to find the faintly discernible light of truth deep within the fog. Amidst the struggles and growth in his heart, he gradually outlined his own trajectory of enlightenment. He knew that only by thoroughly digesting these experiences could he face the unknown more calmly in his subsequent reincarnations, and only then could he draw closer to the truths of the Celestial Dao hidden behind all things in the world.

A year passed in the blink of an eye.

On the platform, the clone, now covered in dust, slowly opened his eyes, revealing a touch of profundity. It was as if he had already found the direction to move forward through this period of digestion and summarization, though many mysteries still remained. Looking at the scenery below, a faint smile graced his lips, and his body exuded an otherworldly aura completely different from before.

"Ring Spirit," the clone called out softly.

The next moment, he vanished from the platform, leaving behind only a clean spot where he had sat.

The Hall of Ten Thousand Races, Reincarnation Space.

His main body did not appear, as it was currently in secluded cultivation.

"Do you have any requests this time?" the Ring Spirit asked.

"For different insights, one naturally has to cast aside inherent thoughts and ideologies to obtain brand new truths."

"...Understood," the Ring Spirit replied.

"But I have one request."

"What is it?"

"Give me an ability."

"Why?"

"I want to test if power determines everything."

"Don’t you think that’s cheating?"

"Power is the basic foundation for increasing insight."

"...Anything else?"

"One is enough."

"..."

It really didn’t like talking to the clone; it was too exhausting.

Thus, it stripped away his Divine Soul, applied a Feng on his memories, retained a sliver of "thoughtful" perceptive ability, and then added the "Refining" ability to him before throwing him into the reincarnation environment.

The Ring Spirit didn’t provide a Cultivation Technique, since the world was randomly selected. Nor did it directly bestow combat strength, as there would be no insight to gain without the process of improvement.