From being a person, to becoming a sphere.
This experience wasn’t exactly good for Zhang Wen, but it wasn’t entirely bad either. At least he survived from the mouth of that strange tree.
Being alive, keeping his life; that was enough.
With this in mind, Zhang Wen lay in this bizarre forest for another day before finally regenerating flesh and gaining a little mobility.
"This damned ghostly forest!"
Whether his Tao practice stored in the Great Tao ran out, or the distance from the Cosmic Realm to the Celestial Profound Realm was too far, anyway, when Zhang Wen’s body recovered to about seventy percent, he was faced with a reality he didn’t want to, nor dare to confront.
His Nirvana reserves were depleted!
"I..."
Looking at the arm that hadn’t fully recovered in half a day, the thigh that had new skin but no epidermis, his entire body nearly without a single unscathed spot, Zhang Wen swore it was the first time he’d heard of a cultivator in the Nirvana Realm unable to restore his own body!
"Very well, very fine, so now I’m not even considered a Nirvana Realm cultivator, and if we add in these injuries, I’m afraid I’ll have to run if I encounter a True Self Realm monster..."
The trembling Zhang Wen could barely speak.
Is there a Nirvana Realm cultivator more miserable than him?
His Lifebound Flying Sword and storage spiritual artifact were both lost in a spatial rift, and then he was swallowed by a monster right after he escaped, barely managing to save himself by self-exploding his trump card, the ’Blazebringer Pearl’, an invaluable treasure usable up to the Longevity Realm, only to find he’d ’lost’ the Nirvana Realm when he escaped!
To know before coming to this Cosmic Realm, Zhang Wen was one of the most promising candidates in the Southern Domain Alliance to reach the Peak!
Furthermore, he was someone who rose from poverty, battling his way to become a prodigy now at the Nirvana Ninth Realm!
To not exaggerate.
Sometimes Zhang Wen even thought that had Chen Zhixing not been born into a Noble Family, if they switched identities and that Star Venerable started from his beginnings, perhaps even now that Star Venerable would not outmatch him!
Hmm.
Although it’s something that cannot be proven, if he were to ask Chen Zhixing, perhaps the answer given might allow him to realize his wishes.
Indeed.
If not for coming from a Noble Family and having benefits, for Chen Zhixing to rise from farmer origins to the Nirvana Ninth Realm in less than a century would nearly be impossible for him too.
Yet Zhang Wen, did accomplish it.
If one must use a single adjective to describe Zhang Wen, perhaps only ’excellent’ fits him.
Extremely excellent, creating the present Zhang Wen.
However, with such innate talents, when faced with a cross-realm task that Chen Zhixing considered trivial, Zhang Wen found himself in circumstances where life felt worse than death.
Yes.
Put Chen Zhixing in Zhang Wen’s situation, it’s unlikely Chen Zhixing could achieve what Zhang Wen has, but what Zhang Wen doesn’t understand is, if it weren’t for Chen Zhixing’s background, he would never fall into these dire straits.
That’s something Zhang Wen doesn’t understand.
Or rather, Zhang Wen doesn’t want to, nor can he understand.
Truly originating from a poor background, Zhang Wen might have read ’A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall’ and heard sayings like ’A flawless jade doesn’t tread by a well’, but having never received enough education from elders, he had no channel to grasp the meanings of these phrases.
And even if you told him these things, Zhang Wen would not care.
In Zhang Wen’s eyes, what good does understanding everything do?
To find a viable path to the Longevity Tao, he had to come on this journey to the Cosmic Realm!
Without coming, how could he gain the Star Monarch Tao?
Without the protection of that Star Venerable, given his background and foundation, how could he cultivate to the Longevity Realm in the Celestial Profound Realm where all the Taoist Lords drain everything?
He felt he had no choice.
No matter how talented, daring, or astute he may be?
The Three Great Sacred Lands never granted Zhang Wen even a chance to pledge allegiance!
If any Sacred Land offered him Zhang Wen a promise, giving him even the slimmest ’fair’ opportunity for enlightenment, even if it’s a Longevity Tao Fruit like those Nobal Families, he’d have accepted.
But he never had such a chance.
He never received any.
Thus, he had no choice but to venture into the Cosmic Realm and ended up in his current situation.
Wandering through the dark and desolate woodland.
Looking up, he couldn’t see sunlight, only faint glimmers seeping through the crevices of the hundreds of Inverted Mountains above.
"Only the Cosmic Realm, just a part of my long life, and when I succeed in proving the Tao someday and reflect on today’s situation, perhaps I’ll smile wryly, treating it as a peculiar experience."
Dragging his severely injured body forward continuously, Zhang Wen was already contemplating leaving the Cosmic Realm.
The blood within him was continuously draining.
He was severely wounded, urgently needing healing.
Now, he could only use his strong will to continuously console himself, because he knew, if he couldn’t return to the Celestial Profound before his next bout of unconsciousness, he might never wake again.
’Where exactly is the spatial rift when I came?’
’Damn it, just how far did that Flesh Tree take me? How far am I from that rift?’