Hmm... this feeling is really strange. How come I seem to... seem to be able to connect with that primordial consciousness?
It really is a strange feeling... At this moment, Zhou Ziwei had completely severed the connection between his soul power and the big bearded man's body, letting the violent and fierce aura completely corrode his soul power.
However, Zhou Ziwei discovered that he had not lost his soul consciousness.
Even though there was no longer any connection between them, and that little bit of original consciousness had lost its carrier of soul power, Zhou Ziwei could still vaguely sense the situation in the bearded man's sea of souls. This feeling seemed to be completely independent of his own consciousness, just like... just like he was a perfectly normal person who was suddenly split in two and turned into two relatively independent individuals.
These two individuals are vastly different; one is extremely powerful, while the other is extremely weak. Despite this huge difference, they are relatively independent of each other. However, no matter how independent they are, Zhou Ziwei can clearly feel that both of them are himself.
This eerie feeling gave Zhou Ziwei an urge to go crazy, a mental breakdown... Damn it... Could this be the legendary mental breakdown?!
Zhou Ziwei's eyes widened. The hand had long since left the bearded man's head, but he could still clearly feel that wisp of original consciousness helplessly fighting against that dense, blood-red, ferocious aura in that narrow sea of souls.
The malevolent aura that filled almost the entire sea of souls was undoubtedly extremely powerful. Compared to it, Zhou Ziwei's little bit of original consciousness was like the difference between a firefly and the moon.
But this tiny firefly has an amazing tenacity. It seems like it could be easily crushed with a finger, but it was unexpectedly hit by a mountain, yet it was not harmed in the slightest.
This primordial consciousness was constantly enveloped in a thick, blood-red, malevolent aura, suffering astonishing torment. If Zhou Ziwei's spiritual body had not been completely split into two parts, relatively independent and not interfering with each other, he would have collapsed long ago under such intense torment.
Zhou Ziwei didn't know if the legendary eighteen levels of hell really existed, or if there were really so many terrible tortures in the legendary hell. But Zhou Ziwei did know... no matter how terrible the tortures in hell were, they probably couldn't compare to the pain he was experiencing now. Moreover, this pain came entirely from the deepest part of a person's soul. Even if his body were torn into eight pieces, Zhou Ziwei estimated that he wouldn't feel this bad!
However, Zhou Ziwei's wisp of original consciousness was indeed quite tenacious, because it was essentially a new individual that had split off from Zhou Ziwei's soul. So, if Zhou Ziwei simply gave up resisting and allowed this wisp of his original soul consciousness to be completely devoured and refined, then his pain would cease as soon as this wisp of consciousness dissipated.
However… Zhou Ziwei did not want to give up this wisp of his consciousness so easily, because he had a vague feeling that this… might be a good way to temper his willpower and mental strength. After such tempering, even if this wisp of original consciousness eventually dissipated, Zhou Ziwei's spirit would still become much stronger as a result.
The tenacious primal consciousness, instead of diminishing in the slightest under the tempering of that fierce red mist, seemed to become even more resilient and solid.
If Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness was initially just a rough piece of ore, then after being devoured and corroded by this malevolent mist, it was only corroded away with some impurities, and instead became a purer piece of refined steel.
After a long period of devouring and corroding, the fierce aura filled with violence seemed to have realized that this bone was too difficult to chew, so it simply gave up. Instead, it slowly forced the wisp of original consciousness, which had been worn down to its purest form, out of the red mist and forced it into the corner where the bearded man's soul power and soul consciousness were cowering...
"Buzz..." The bearded man's soul consciousness, which had been huddled in a corner and dared not move, pounced like a hungry wolf as soon as it realized that Zhou Ziwei's soul consciousness had entered. It swallowed Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness whole.
It wasn't that the bearded man couldn't distinguish friend from foe; in fact, his consciousness had completely fallen into a state of slumber, almost like that of a vegetable. The reason his original consciousness wanted to devour Zhou Ziwei's consciousness was entirely out of his own instinct.
What a terrifying thing it is for someone else's consciousness to invade one's sea of souls. As the saying goes, two tigers cannot share one mountain, and in a place like the sea of souls, even a male and a female would not be able to survive. In the end, only one of them can survive.
Therefore, he had to devour Zhou Ziwei's wisp of original consciousness, otherwise his own original consciousness might be destroyed in the end.
As for why the bearded man's original consciousness could coexist peacefully with that fierce and malevolent aura, it's because, in essence, fierce and malevolent aura and the original consciousness of the soul are not the same. Strictly speaking, it should be considered a byproduct of the original consciousness of the soul. If a person has little or no fierce and malevolent aura, then that person's personality will appear very gentle and friendly to everyone. On the other hand, if a person has a lot of fierce and malevolent aura in their sea of souls, then they will appear very irritable and vicious.
Of course... Generally speaking, no matter how much ferocity and malevolence a person has, it is still an appendage completely controlled by the original consciousness of the soul in the sea of souls. But someone like this bearded man is completely different. His ferocity and malevolence have been so great that they have completely suppressed his original consciousness.
That is why, once this guy's body wakes up, he will still be devoid of any rationality and will not consider anything other than killing. However, no matter what, although this fierce and malevolent aura can completely suppress the bearded man's original consciousness, it can still coexist with him in the same space.
Otherwise, if the bearded man's original consciousness were completely destroyed, then this malevolent energy would have nowhere to hide.
However, the original consciousness of this bearded man was absolutely incompatible with Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness. After the two became entangled, they immediately began to devour each other frantically.
In an instant, Zhou Ziwei felt as if he had been thrown naked into an endless pack of wolves, as if countless invisible mouths were frantically gnawing and tearing at his body. The feeling was completely different from the corrosive effect of the ferocious aura he had just experienced. However, these two different feelings had only one thing in common: pain.
Are you a dog? You bite everyone you see! I'll fight you to the death!
Feeling his original consciousness being completely swallowed up by the bearded man's consciousness, Zhou Ziwei had already prepared himself to lose this part of his original consciousness completely. However, he did not expect that the feeling of being swallowed up by someone's consciousness would be even more painful than when he was being tempered in the fierce and malevolent aura. Zhou Ziwei was immediately enraged. He didn't care about anything else. Even though he knew that the original consciousness he had split off was only an insignificant wisp and could not possibly fight against the bearded man's complete original consciousness, Zhou Ziwei was determined to annoy him even if he couldn't beat him. He fought hard and fought against the bearded man's original consciousness without giving an inch.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 568: Doppelganger Possession
This is a true life-or-death struggle. Only one of Zhou Ziwei's wisp of original consciousness and the bearded man's original consciousness can survive; it is absolutely impossible for them to coexist.
Judging from their relative strengths, the bearded man's primordial consciousness was clearly far superior to Zhou Ziwei's. After all, Zhou Ziwei had already prepared for destruction when he split off this wisp of primordial consciousness. Since he knew it would be destroyed sooner or later, why would Zhou Ziwei split off too many soul consciousnesses to die? In any case, as long as a tiny bit of soul consciousness could penetrate into the bearded man's sea of souls, it would be enough to understand what was happening there.
Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness was only a tiny, insignificant part separated from his soul; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was just a drop in the ocean.
However, the bearded man's original consciousness was basically intact, and the difference between the two was vast.
The result was predictable: Zhou Ziwei's wisp of primordial consciousness didn't struggle much before it was swallowed whole by the bearded man's primordial consciousness, just like a tadpole being swallowed whole by a great white shark, without the slightest effort.
Zhou Ziwei felt his other consciousness instantly enveloped in a strange energy ball. Then, as if two grinding stones were inside, they sandwiched his wisp of original consciousness and began to grind it vigorously, seemingly trying to completely grind him down into a consciousness energy body without any independent consciousness, so that it could be truly and completely devoured by the bearded man's original consciousness.
Zhou Ziwei was speechless. This guy was too ruthless! He had already swallowed her whole, so why did he have to execute her by slow slicing?
Actually, it's not entirely fair to blame the bearded man for being ruthless. It's just that... Zhou Ziwei's tiny wisp of primordial consciousness was incredibly resilient. Although the bearded man's primordial consciousness swallowed Zhou Ziwei's wisp of primordial consciousness, he couldn't melt it at all. And since Zhou Ziwei's wisp of primordial consciousness hadn't melted, the unique consciousness belonging to Zhou Ziwei naturally wouldn't disappear. As a result, the bearded man would instinctively feel as if he had swallowed a living creature, which was unbearable for him. Of course, he had to spare no effort to find a way to completely eliminate this hidden danger.
Imagine someone eats a toad, but... they swallow it raw, and this toad is incredibly resilient, still jumping and thrashing about in that person's stomach. No one could stand that, and naturally, they would try every possible way to kill the creature inside their stomach to feel at ease.
After Zhou Ziwei's wisp of original consciousness was swallowed, he was already somewhat resigned to his fate. However, the feeling of being slowly tortured to death was too unbearable, forcing Zhou Ziwei to fight back. His wisp of original consciousness transformed into a large mouth and bit into the strange consciousness energy body that was squeezing him from all sides... that is, the original consciousness of the bearded man.
With a "crunch," a burst of crystalline light flashed as he took a bite.
The bearded man's original consciousness was relatively complete, but unfortunately, it was far less resilient than Zhou Ziwei's insignificant wisp of original consciousness. When Zhou Ziwei took a bite, it was as if he had bitten into a large piece of tofu, easily tearing off a large chunk.
Moreover, once the large piece that Zhou Ziwei had torn off was enveloped by Zhou Ziwei's wisp of original consciousness, it immediately melted in the mouth like refined cheese. The original consciousness left by the bearded man in this piece of consciousness energy immediately disintegrated and, in the blink of an eye, turned into an extremely pure consciousness energy that completely merged into Zhou Ziwei's wisp of original consciousness.
In an instant, Zhou Ziwei's originally faint primordial consciousness grew much stronger.
No way! This guy is all show and no substance, a mere showpiece. Wow... Well, I'm not afraid of you at all... Don't be fooled by your size, I'll devour you piece by piece. Even a tiny ant can eat up an elephant like you.
If the person whose soul Zhou Ziwei was invading was a member of the Dragon Group, then Zhou Ziwei might have some reservations. However, this person was from the underground biological research base in the United States, so Zhou Ziwei naturally had no sympathy for him. Feeling that his wisp of original consciousness might be able to fight the other party, he naturally did not want his wisp of original consciousness to be destroyed. So, for the next hour or so, Zhou Ziwei began the great project of ants gnawing at an elephant.
Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness, nourished by the immense power of the soul for a long time, naturally became more and more solid and resilient, far beyond what ordinary people could compare to.
So even if the bearded man swallowed his seemingly weak primordial consciousness, he wouldn't be able to digest it. But if Zhou Ziwei were to fight back, he could swallow and digest a small part of the bearded man's primordial consciousness with a single bite.
Although the size ratio of the two was too different, the bearded man had no way to deal with Zhou Ziwei. However, Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness gained something with every bite. As the bearded man's original consciousness weakened, Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness would rapidly grow stronger.
As a result, the size difference between the two sides gradually decreased, and Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness was no longer as insignificant as an ant in front of the bearded man, so he was able to devour the elephant much more efficiently.
A full hour passed before Zhou Ziwei finally and completely devoured all the original consciousness that originally belonged to Big Beard.
After the last wisp of the bearded man's consciousness dissipated completely from Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness, the pitiful little bit of soul power—only eleven remnant soul energies—that was also deep within the sea of souls and squeezed into this corner by the immense ferocious energy, along with the clusters of soul memories that originally belonged to the bearded man, instantly merged completely with Zhou Ziwei's newly formed original consciousness...
This feeling was quite wonderful. The original wisp of Zhou Ziwei's consciousness, due to its complete separation from his main body, had now developed into a second consciousness of Zhou Ziwei. And when this second consciousness merged with the big bearded man's soul memories, he seemed to transform into Dwight, the M biologist with Germanic blood.
In an instant, Dwight's life story flowed through his consciousness like a movie, making him feel as if he had experienced half a lifetime in just that short moment.
Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness was only a tiny wisp that had split off from his main body. The memories associated with him were not strong, so much so that after falling into Dwight's memories, he was momentarily disoriented and couldn't even tell whether he was Zhou Ziwei or Dwight.
Dwight was a brilliant biologist who showed exceptional talent from a young age. After graduating from university, he traveled the world to study and served as a principal researcher in several biological research projects. Later, he received an invitation from his university classmate Susanna, which led him to join the mysterious underground biological research base.
After joining that mysterious base, Dwight learned that it was a secret organization that appeared independent on the surface, but was actually subordinate to the M country government and whose main goal was to develop biological and chemical weapons.
When Dwight realized this, he immediately wanted to back out. He was just a pure scholar, and naturally had the pride of an intellectual. Of course, he did not want to use his knowledge to help the government create such inhumane biological weapons.
However, he had already fallen deeply in love with his college classmate, Susanna, who was the main project manager in this underground research base.
The two argued about this several times, but in the end, Susanna won. Dwight had no choice but to stay, remaining in the underground research base for love.
However... although his people stayed behind, their mindset did not completely change because of Susanna.
Both men were undoubtedly very patriotic and were willing to dedicate their knowledge entirely to their country.
However, the two had a big disagreement about what constitutes patriotism. Susanna believed that the reason why the United States was so powerful was because it had an absolute advantage in military strength that could deter the entire world. If the country wanted to become stronger, the only way was to ensure that the United States always maintained its strong military advantage in the world.
As biological researchers, their job is to develop biological weapons for the United States.
Dwight, however, believed that the United States' militaristic expansion would eventually lead to a painful lesson, and that its research into chemical weapons would only hasten the country's demise.
They are scholars and researchers, and their ideal goal is to contribute their knowledge and intelligence to improving people's lives.
Although Dwight had his own opinions, he couldn't convince his lover, and he didn't want to lose Susanna, so he had no choice but to stay at the underground biological research base.
However… he always seemed somewhat perfunctory in his research on biological weapons, putting in a lot of effort but not putting in the work, which led to a stalemate in his relationship with Susanna, putting Dwight in a difficult position…
I love my country, but I also love my Susanna. How should I choose?
Zhou Ziwei groaned inwardly in great distress, but then suddenly jolted awake...
What the hell? I'm Chinese... What do I love about the US? What does the US have to do with me?
After this period of alertness, Zhou Ziwei's second consciousness finally fully and completely absorbed all the soul memories that originally belonged to Dwight, completely merging the identity of this diligent biology PhD with his own original consciousness.
In this way, the second consciousness that Zhou Ziwei split off finally became full and complete. Although it was still inseparable from the main body, it was more independent and was already like a clone of Zhou Ziwei's main body.
Of course, this clone of his is currently just a fragile soul suppressed by malevolent energy, unable to even control its own body, so it's still somewhat of a stretch for him to be a clone...
It's just a bunch of fierce and malevolent energy. Watch how I wipe you out!
When Zhou Ziwei's second consciousness was just a weak wisp of primordial consciousness, it was naturally helpless against such a large mass of ferocious and malevolent energy. But now that it has fully absorbed the soul that originally belonged to the bearded Dwight, it is naturally no longer afraid.
Or perhaps, for others, no weak soul could destroy such a large mass of malevolent energy. Even the original Dwight was completely helpless against it, and could only let his soul cower and hide in a corner of the sea of souls, barely surviving.
However, no matter how powerful this fierce and malevolent aura is... he believes that as long as he uses the Six-Syllable Mantra, all the problems will naturally be solved. Of course... the premise is that the soul of his current clone also has the ability to truly control the Six-Syllable Mantra.
"I'll risk it... I've already been given a second chance at life, so if I die, so be it. Otherwise... I can't keep being suppressed by this malevolent energy and living like a ghost forever!"
Zhou Ziwei made up his mind, and then slowly began to recite the six-syllable mantra of Om Mani Padme Hum, which he had recited countless times before and was extremely familiar with...
"Om Mani Padme Hum—"
The six-syllable mantra was recited by Zhou Ziwei's original consciousness in his sea of souls. Instantly, small white light symbols appeared in his small sea of souls. The light symbols transformed into light circles, which expanded and then contracted in the sea of souls.
"Sizzle—" The blood-red aura, radiating a fierce and malevolent energy, reacted as if it had been branded with a red-hot iron upon touching the rings of light, emitting waves of frenzied fluctuations.
However, each time a halo disappeared, the malevolent aura that almost filled the entire sea of souls seemed to be immediately weakened.
There's a way... Sure enough, this clone of mine can also use the Six-Syllable Mantra, which makes things much easier.
Zhou Ziwei breathed a sigh of relief. What he feared most was that the clone he had painstakingly created was too weak and couldn't even deal with the fierce aura lurking in the sea of souls. In that case, the clone would have no value.
Furthermore, if the Six-Syllable Mantra cannot be used, then this clone obviously cannot inherit the special abilities of the original body.
In that case... even if he could resolve that malevolent energy through other means, wouldn't that mean that the latter half of his clone would still be just like the original Dwight, at most only able to become a relatively outstanding biology PhD for the rest of his life?
Or for an ordinary person, becoming a PhD in biology is already a remarkable achievement, or even making further contributions in this field and winning a Nobel Prize, then their life can only be described with words like great and glorious. But... even so, for Zhou Ziwei, it was just an ordinary life.
The existence of such a clone is utterly unnecessary for him.
The discovery that this clone could also use the Six-Syllable Mantra immediately put Zhou Ziwei's mind at ease.
Even though he discovered that the Six-Syllable Mantra used by his current clone had actually reverted to its original, most basic form.
But what's there to be afraid of? As long as there's a seedling, it will grow. Back then... didn't his Six-Syllable Mantra also slowly rise up level by level from the white halo? If all else fails... let's launch a counterattack... go back to the US and cause some trouble, let those bastards chase after me, and take the opportunity to slaughter them until there's a bloodbath. Wouldn't that provide enough nourishment to allow this clone to level up quickly?
Hehe... This is basically the same as playing a game. It's always difficult for a newbie to start a new game. But if you find a high-level player to help you level up, it's easy. Just find a crowded place to grind monsters, and your experience points will go up in no time.
Hmm... but Dwight's original sea of souls was really too small. If so many souls were stuffed in at once for this clone to absorb, it would probably burst in an instant. There's no time to rush that.
While Zhou Ziwei's main body was lost in thought, his clone tirelessly chanted the Six-Syllable Mantra repeatedly within the Sea of Souls. Under the cleansing light of the almost continuous rings of light, the malevolent energy that had filled the entire Sea of Souls gradually shrank in size. However, as the malevolent energy shrank, its color seemed to intensify until finally... when the entire mass of malevolent energy had shrunk to the point where it could not shrink any further, it transformed into a striking drop of bright red blood.
What... it seems there's no way to purify it anymore!
After Zhou Ziwei's clone recited the six-syllable mantra dozens of times in one breath, he found that the bright red, blood-drop-shaped object no longer reacted at all, which immediately made Zhou Ziwei frown.
How could it not be completely purified? In the past, after absorbing excessive soul power, no matter how much killing intent it contained, it could always be completely purified by the Six-Syllable Mantra. But... this fierce and malevolent aura is quite strange... I'm afraid... there must be some trickery involved...