Chapter 683: Resurrection
As the quantity of black smoke continuously increased, her struggling power gradually diminished, until she was finally assimilated by the black mist, her human silhouette no longer discernible within.
Mei Lin watched everything unfolding before him with intense concentration, so engrossed that he didn't even notice the continuous bleeding from his nose and eyes. Not until a guard behind him offered a handkerchief did he realize his face was already stained with blood.
Equally engrossed were a group of people aboard the Human Federation's fleet. Though most of them were utterly bewildered, understanding little more than snippets, it was a rare opportunity to observe a Celestial Immortal in action, and one who allowed for such open observation at that. It would be too great a waste not to watch.
"Put on a mask." Scott, the captain of one of the immense flagship vessels, tossed a protective mask to Mei Lin. He sought to forge a connection with these influential figures among the 'natives'.
Observing high-tier Spirit Arts itself constituted a subtle psychic pollution; ordinary people without protection could easily suffer a backlash.
The surrounding guards, having realized this, turned their heads away, avoiding direct gaze at the black smoke in the center. Bu Lan Du, clinging tightly, was protected by his master's force field, leaving only Mei Lin to suffer the consequences of his rapt attention.
"Primordial Light."
A few faint points of light ignited on Bai Mo's five fingers of his right hand. Then, the black smoke mass, like starving wolves spotting meat, surged entirely towards his fingers.
As for the living person who had been in the center, not even ashes remained at this moment.
The points of light devoured every single wisp of the surging black smoke, leaving not a drop.
The previously faint light source began to grow, the points of light on his five fingers slowly connecting, transforming into a single orb of light.
The orb of light swelled as if inflated, quickly reaching the size of a bicycle, seemingly filled with something within.
"Bashaka..."
In the center of the orb of light, Mei Lin saw the face he had yearned for day and night.
He wanted to reach out, but feared disturbing the Spirit Arts.
His hand, extending then retracting, betrayed his thoughts.
"Pop!"
The orb of light burst open like a soap bubble, making everyone instinctively imagine that very sound.
Within the fading shimmer, the girl, her eyes tightly shut, naturally swayed backward as all support vanished.
But Mei Lin, who had been prepared, caught her firmly.
"It's her."
Whether it was the feel of her hand or the familiar scent, both unequivocally told Mei Lin that this was his wife, who had been dead for many years.
"So, humans can be born from eggs too..." The young attendant, Dalton, suddenly found this thought sprouting in his mind.
Of course, he didn't dare voice it, afraid of being beaten to death.
"A Thread of Celestial Design." After completing this 'masterpiece,' Bai Mo suddenly spoke.
"Could the Celestial Immortal please clarify? I, a foolish man, truly do not understand." Mei Lin gazed at him, perplexed.
At this moment, having regained his beloved, his mood was exceptionally good, and his posture humble in the extreme.
"The girl who served as the sacrifice did not die. She will share this body with your wife.
Every day, for one hour, her consciousness will control the body."
"Why?!!!"
Mei Lin felt like spitting up three liters of blood.
The girl he had taken as a sacrifice harbored an ocean of hatred for him; he feared that the very second she gained control of the body, she would grab a knife and stab him to death.
Yet, inconveniently, she shared a body with his wife, making it impossible to harm her.
Still, he secretly rejoiced that he had chosen a beautiful woman as the sacrifice. If he had picked a man, and that man controlled Bashaka's body... the image was too grotesque to imagine.
"Heaven always leaves a thread of vitality."
"For mortals."
Bai Mo's latter half of the sentence was spoken so softly that only Xu Xuan Ling, who was present, could barely make it out.
"I originally thought he was merely using atomic-level control to change the woman's form from the inside out, then reconstructing her memories, achieving an effect almost like resurrecting the dead. I never expected..."
Xu Xuan Ling had also simulated this matter before, so she had some ideas about the principles behind Bai Mo's operation.
What appeared to be the resurrection of the dead, by employing the methods she had considered, Xu Xuan Ling could also achieve.
Deep manipulation at the atomic level, and the reconstruction of ordinary people's memories—these were standard abilities for a seventh-tier Celestial Immortal.
One could say that as long as a Celestial Immortal was willing to spend more time gathering information, 'resurrecting' an ordinary person was no difficult feat.
With the same appearance, the same body, and the same memories, practically no one, apart from the deceased individual themselves, would believe that it wasn't the original person.
Precisely because of this, cultivators who walked the Celestial Immortal path often harbored many particular thoughts regarding clones.
Xu Xuan Ling was no exception.
She had once thought of resurrecting those she had accidentally killed, but ultimately, she couldn't overcome her own mental hurdle.
As the creator, she knew all too well that it was fake; a resurrected 'dead person' could deceive others, but not herself.
What meaning would there be in repenting to two mere replicas?
...
"At least she's alive again." After half a minute of silence, Mei Lin, supporting the slowly awakening Bashaka, bowed deeply to Bai Mo.
Regardless of the sci-fi film, he had never seen such an amenable alien from a high-level civilization. Water Blue Star directors almost invariably depicted these advanced races as exceedingly arrogant, even in movies where aliens were benevolent towards humans.
A high-level civilization had assigned him a task, yet the rewards had been fully disbursed even before the task was complete.
"Perhaps it's because they don't believe we can escape," Mei Lin mused with self-deprecation.
"Are you... Mei Lin? Wasn't I dead? Is this heaven?" The girl, cradled in his arms, opened her drowsy eyes and asked, somewhat uncertainly.
In her memories from before her death, Mei Lin should have been a red-lipped, white-toothed youth, not the middle-aged man before her.
Yet, the two looked remarkably similar in appearance, which couldn't help but cause her confusion.
"It's me. This is still—the mortal world!"
Mei Lin, embracing the woman in his arms, was teary-eyed.
The two nestled together, showering public displays of affection, which left Xu Xuan Ling feeling a little displeased, as it reminded her of past events.
With a subtle flick of her finger, an almost imperceptible wave of Spirit Energy brushed past Bashaka.
"Darling... you beast! Go to hell!" Bashaka, lying in Mei Lin's arms, suddenly went berserk and clamped her hands around Mei Lin's neck.
Bai Mo glanced at Xu Xuan Ling; he knew she was behind it, having prematurely awakened the consciousness of the sacrificial girl, who was only supposed to emerge for one hour each day.
...
"CRASH!"
"CRASH!"
"CRASH!"
With several crisp sounds of shattering glass, a burly man in a Daoist robe wielding a Gatling gun, a twin-pistol-wielding girl in a high-slit qipao, and two muscular youths with afros in form-fitting combat suits—these four crashed in without warning, bypassing layers of defenses from outside the imperial side-hall window.
"Nobody move!"
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