Chapter 51: Awakening the Cosmo
According to her calculations, Lin Beiya would still need some time before he could break through to the Soul Elder realm.
This meant there was only one explanation left—Lin Beiya must have encountered a life-threatening danger, forcing him to summon back the Aries Gold Cloth to defend himself.
Her right eyelid had been twitching the entire day; the uneasiness in her heart was growing stronger and stronger. In the end, she could no longer sit still. She dispatched Porcupinefish Douluo, one of the two Titled Douluo bodyguards assigned to her by her grandfather, to return to Spirit Hall and investigate.
"Beiya, you must be alright… You promised me that once you broke through to Soul Elder, you would come visit me."
Perhaps her prayers had finally worked. The unconscious Lin Beiya, who had been lying in bed for nearly a week, slowly opened his eyes.
The maid who had been tending to him let out a startled cry.
"Ah!"
"Lord Beiya, you're finally awake! I'll go inform the healing soul masters and Her Holiness the Pope!"
As the maid rushed out in a panic, Lin Beiya slowly pulled himself out of his confusion.
He looked around. The furnishings were extremely familiar—it was his residence inside the Pope's Palace.
Lowering his gaze, he examined his hands. Something felt different about his body, but what exactly had changed? He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
He was about to sit and meditate to adjust himself.
But the moment he closed his eyes and entered a meditative state, the sight of a nebula filling his spiritual sea shocked him awake.
"This… what is this?"
"Is this… a Cosmo?"
"Did I… actually break past my physical limits and step into the Sixth Sense?"
After a moment of stunned disbelief, joy surged within him. This was truly a willow planted unintentionally growing into shade—he had pondered for so long without any results, yet after going out for one fight, he actually awakened his Cosmo.
"So the awakening of the Cosmo is triggered by immense pressure, forcing one's potential to erupt?"
When faced with a crisis involving one Soul Emperor and two Soul Kings, defeating them with his original strength was simply impossible. At that moment, the explosive surge of his Cosmo had been the only answer.
Suppressing his excitement, Lin Beiya attempted to construct the Crystal Wall before him.
Yes—constructing the Crystal Wall without wearing the Aries Gold Cloth.
As the transparent wall slowly materialized in front of him, Lin Beiya was both delighted and deeply moved. He could feel the Cosmo within his spiritual sea radiating a brilliant light.
All his guesses were now confirmed. To use Saint Techniques without relying on the Gold Cloth, the Cosmo was the foundation.
And now that everything had naturally fallen into place, there was no longer a need for him to fully rely on the Gold Cloth's power in battle.
He was about to continue testing his newly obtained abilities when footsteps sounded outside the door.
His "cheap master" entered with several healing-type soul masters he had seen before.
"You brat, you've finally woken up?"
"Yes, Teacher. Sorry for making you worry. And thank you for taking care of me these past few days."
The joy on Bibi Dong's face slowly faded. She waved at the healing soul masters beside her.
Understanding her intention, the healing soul master hurried over, rolled up his sleeves, and began a series of examinations—so many that Lin Beiya grew impatient before the man finally stopped.
"Your Holiness, Lin Beiya is no longer in any danger. All bodily indicators are normal, and his soul power is abundant."
"Mm. And you still can't figure out why he stayed unconscious for an entire week?"
"Uh… this… well…"
"Forget it. As long as he's fine. You may all leave."
"Yes, Your Holiness."
Bibi Dong didn't intend to make things difficult for the workers. Since the result was good, that was enough. After everyone left, the master and disciple stared at each other again.
After a long moment, Bibi Dong rubbed her forehead and spoke:
"Alright, tell me—what exactly happened?"
From her conversation with the healing soul masters, Lin Beiya finally understood that he had been unconscious for a full week. After thinking for a moment, he said:
"It might be due to the mental exhaustion caused by using the hidden battle technique. I probably needed some time to recover."
"Hidden battle technique?"
Bibi Dong had also worn the Taurus Gold Cloth before. Aside from the Great Horn and the Iaido Barrier, she too had sensed that the Gold Cloth still held combat skills she couldn't activate, no matter how she attempted to communicate with it using soul power.
Now that she thought about it, Lin Beiya must have successfully used one of those hidden skills.
"Are those techniques very strong?"
Lin Beiya shrugged, indicating he wasn't sure either.
"Teacher, I just woke up. Whether I can still use them or not needs more testing. It's also possible that they only triggered because I was in a life-or-death situation."
"Mhm. That's reasonable. Rest for a few more days before testing it again. There's no need to rush."
"Yes, Teacher."
After talking for a while, Bibi Dong brought up how she intended to deal with Devil Bear Douluo. Lin Beiya expressed his understanding.
First, there was no direct evidence pointing to the man. Second, given Bibi Dong's current situation, she couldn't make any drastic moves even if she wanted to.
Besides, when it came to personal grudges, Lin Beiya preferred settling them himself once he grew stronger. So he didn't mind Bibi Dong's approach.
After all, their master-disciple relationship existed purely because of aligned interests.
Once Bibi Dong left, Lin Beiya immediately began experimenting with the wonders of the Cosmo again.
Aside from combat techniques, the Cosmo was capable of awakening many incredible abilities:
Manipulating elements, foresight, telekinesis, flight, illusions, mind-reading, mental control, intuition… and other supernatural gifts.
Whether he'd have the luck to awaken any of these, he didn't know. But if he did, the benefits would be immeasurable.
Unfortunately, for someone who had only just awakened the Cosmo, all of that was still far out of reach. For now, he could only use it to trigger Combat Techniques whose mechanics he already understood.
After two days of rest, Lin Beiya decided to resume his usual training. The biggest problem had already been resolved—now all he needed was steady, persistent effort to continue growing stronger.
But before that, he wanted to head to the back mountain's training grounds and test the ultimate technique he used that night—the Aries Gold Cloth's finishing move: Stardust Revolution.
Using the Cosmo to create a galaxy, then raining down countless meteors from it, forming a massive, rapidly rotating cosmic cluster that annihilates everything in its path. Its power was absolutely terrifying.
That night, he had defeated two Soul Kings using only the meteor impacts, without even being able to control the meteors into a proper rotating star cluster.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Lin Beiya rushed to the back mountain, found an open area, and immediately summoned the Aries Gold Cloth.
Fixing his gaze on a small mountain range in the distance, he focused his spirit to the extreme. Starlight gathered in his palms. Everything seemed like it should fall into place naturally—
But to his disappointment, no matter what he did, he couldn't recreate the Stardust Revolution like that night.
"Tch. So because my Cosmo still isn't strong enough, it's become a technique that only works when it feels like it?"
"It seems the road of cultivation is still long. I'll have to keep working hard!"
He then switched to the Taurus Gold Cloth. As expected, he still couldn't use Taurus Gold Cloth's ultimate move—Titan Nova. That technique was famed for its absolute destructive power, strong enough to shatter entire mountaintops.
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End of Chapter