Chapter 696: Departure
The comparison completely shattered Yi's composure.
Why was it that a super-lifeform as powerful as him possessed a lifespan of merely a hundred years, half of which was already gone?
Yet, any random ant from the other side's race lived as long as he did.
This fellow, who was only evenly matched with him in battle, had a lifespan a hundred times his own.
In the other's eyes, he was nothing more than a mayfly born in the morning and dead by dusk.
No matter how strong this mayfly was, compared to ten thousand years of time, it wasn't even a fleeting meteor.
In the time it took to nap, a Solar Star Spirit might have already gone through several cycles of reincarnation.
"Fate has been too cruel to me!"
Yi didn't struggle much; with a sigh, he succumbed to the allure of a longer lifespan.
Some shadowy figure had just introduced it to an incredibly spectacular world, and it hadn't experienced any of it yet.
I could have endured the sun, had I not seen the darkness.
For it, this was the perfect description.
"Myriad—Souls—Heavenly—Lure!"
The moment it made its decision, it began preparing for reincarnation and human transformation.
Unlike lower-tier lifeforms, an Immortal-level entity wishing to transform into a human through the Transformation Art would first need to reincarnate into a human body and undergo a Reincarnation Tribulation.
The less residual power from its previous form it retained, the higher the success rate.
If it were willing to abandon all its power and reincarnate as an ordinary human, success would be guaranteed, but it was unwilling to do so.
......
An indescribable gravitational pull emerged from deep within the body of the fused Solar Star Spirit Yi. Group after group of lower-tier Solar Star Spirits, who had already fled far away, were "snatched" back by this gravitational force specifically targeting them.
They struggled desperately, their cores vibrating wildly, their flame-bodies flickering erratically as they frantically tried to escape.
But it was futile.
Without exception, they were swallowed by that magnificent "grape," then, after a few gulps, spat back out.
Only then, they had turned into salted fish, losing their former vitality and merely drifting aimlessly.
Yi had devoured all of their intelligence.
Solar Star Spirit intelligence could be enhanced through active fusion with one another, or by devouring and plundering their kin.
In simpler terms, eating another's brain made one a bit smarter.
However, before devouring, one had to activate a Calamity Form, and this was the greatest taboo in Solar Star Spirit society.
Aside from a fight to the death, virtually no Solar Star Spirit would activate it.
Otherwise, other Solar Star Spirits would regard it as a madman who wantonly devoured its kin, ostracizing it to a social death, much like a cannibalistic pervert in the real world.
That was why the lower-tier Solar Star Spirits were so terrified of Yi in its Calamity Form.
Because it was both the most suitable form for battle and the most suitable form for devouring them.
Moreover, it was the combined form of the strongest king; concepts like social death were non-existent for it.
Perhaps, more than death, the fate of becoming mentally deficient was even harder for the Solar Star Spirits to accept.
After all, putting oneself in their shoes, some might face death unflinchingly, sacrificing themselves for righteousness, and dying gloriously.
But there was absolutely no way they could endure becoming a mentally disabled person, cross-eyed and drooling all day, unable to care for themselves, only capable of idiotic laughter at the sight of anyone, and habitually incontinent.
They would rather die on the spot.
"Don't waste them."
Although the Solar Star Spirits whose intelligence had been devoured by Yi were as powerless as salted fish, to Bai Mo, they still held value.
Boundless darkness swallowed them whole; on the other side of that darkness lay the Soul Realm of the Nine Netherworlds.
These pitiable beings, stripped of their intelligence, having regressed from intelligent lifeforms to the level of beasts, soon found liberation, transforming into myriad specks of soul fragments within the Soul Realm.
The countless fragments drifting everywhere would undergo prolonged collisions, re-igniting sparks of intelligence, transforming into new specters, completing a cycle of reincarnation from life to death.
Two colossal whales, their sizes exceeding that of Earth, began hunting throughout the Sun.
Yi needed more intelligence; it instinctively knew this would be immensely useful for undergoing tribulation and rebirth.
It wanted to preserve its power as much as possible after reincarnation, while also aiming for a higher success rate.
"That's enough." Half a day later, Yi, who had rampaged across most of the Sun and gorged itself until it could swallow no more, finally ceased its feeding.
The Solar Star Spirits, once as ubiquitous as small fish and shrimp in the sea, had been swept clean by it, leaving the Sun's interior resembling a fishing ground scoured by a dragnet.
Stuffing so many "brains" in so abruptly, even for a powerful entity like it, caused its thought core to swell as if on the verge of explosion.
But it was all worth it.
In half a day, while furiously feeding, it had already analyzed the Transformation Path Bai Mo provided and calculated that it had at least a ninety-five percent chance of recovering from zero to the Celestial Immortal level within thirty years after reincarnating as a human and successfully awakening its true self.
By then, it would be an orthodox human Celestial Immortal, enjoying a lifespan of ten thousand years.
"Farewell..."
With a sweep of its grand sleeve, the fused Solar Star Spirit reverted into four initial-tier Solar Star Spirits and entered the passage Bai Mo had opened beforehand, appearing to not doubt anything Bai Mo had revealed.
"Doubt, curiosity, and finally, relief." Bai Mo observed Yi's emotional changes throughout, surmising that the other party likely possessed a method to discern the truth of words directly, beyond language itself, much like his Heavenly Net ability.
......
"Traitor..."
After Yi departed, a small Solar Star Spirit stumbled out of the void, revealing its form.
Compared to its Solar Star Spirit predecessors who had lost their intelligence and reverted to beasts, it clearly still retained sufficient intellect.
This little Solar Star Spirit was born with an ability to conceal itself in the void. Although it couldn't truly deceive the highest-level existences, Yi, who had been devouring indiscriminately, hadn't paid attention to a single one that slipped through the net.
Thus, it survived.
"Do you... desire revenge?" It was the voice of a devil.
Bai Mo had clearly discovered it as well.
The little Solar Star Spirit instantly recognized that the other party was the source of all calamity.
If not for his invasion, its home would not have been destroyed, and its friends and kin would not have been devoured!
But it was too weak, utterly unable to muster the courage to resist.
That was an existence claiming to be the Great Darkness Heaven, one for whom devouring the sky and earth (the Sun) was a trivial matter. As for itself, a mere small Solar Star Spirit, it had no advantages whatsoever apart from being slightly smarter than its kin.
It dared not reply, wanting to feign idiocy, just like those salted fish.
"The one you should hate isn't me, but it."
Even if the little Solar Star Spirit was wholeheartedly feigning idiocy, in Bai Mo's emotional vision, the purple representing fear and the red representing anger on its body still easily betrayed it.
Fools didn't possess such emotions.
"I'll give you a chance." With a casual flick of his hand, Bai Mo also sent the little fellow, still feigning idiocy, into the reincarnation passage leading to the Manghuang Realm..
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