The Ultimate Evolution

After a series of examinations, Sheyan’s health report was produced. The professor who presided over the project could not help sighing while looking at the report.

“This volunteer’s body is as strong as a bear! Is he a professional athlete?”

Zi could not help smiling. “That’s why he has the guts to be our lab rat.”

The Professor nodded in satisfaction and tried to persuade Zi, “Actually, director, you don’t have to stay here. You can go do your own thing first while we wait for the result. SARS sounds like a terrible disease, but its notoriety is mainly caused by its high pathogenicity, high infectivity, and the lack of a specific cure. Its mortality rate is actually only 9.3%.”

“Therefore, the notorious SARS is actually way less dangerous than diseases that have a mortality rate of almost 100% like AIDS, Ebola and rabies. Few young adults die from SARS, because they have strong immunity and strong bodies. Usually, the deaths in young adults are caused by complications such as dyspnea due to pulmonary edema, exhaustion and multiple organ dysfunction. Based on the physical results of this volunteer, I can say with almost 100% certainty that he’ll recover just fine.”

Zi shook her head. “We can’t be so optimistic, professor. The SARS virus that we’re about to inject into him is a mutated strain. Except for the method of infection, every other aspect of the virus has been greatly enhanced, including the onset time and the symptom intensity.”

The professor’s face became dead serious when he heard that. He re-examined the surrounding area carefully, including the disinfection and sealing facilities, and brought another disinfection chamber over. A disinfection chamber is a glass container commonly seen in movies, normally used for dissecting mice. All operations are done using the mechanical arms in the disinfection chamber.

The virus was extracted from the virus box Sheyan brought here and injected into Sheyan’s lung.

The effect of the virus was astonishing. It could be seen that Sheyan’s lungs were instantly severely damaged, and there were a lot of black lines extending along his blood vessels. Sheyan no doubt suffered monstrous pain during the process, but he endured it without making a sound. Sanzi was extremely worried to see Sheyan’s fists clenched tight and green veins bulge out on his forehead. Zi appeared indifferent, but her nails were digging deep into her flesh because her palms were clenched too tightly.

Amidst the extreme pain, Sheyan suddenly sensed something warm. He immediately looked towards the source and found that the warmth came from the string of Dzi beads given to him by the man named Reyno when his innate ability was upgraded. This string of beads had a large amount of the power of prayers in it, but Sheyan could not understand why it would behave so strangely at this time.

What Sheyan did not know was that Tibetan Buddhism originally belonged to the tantric path. It emphasised toughness, endurance and humility; to understand the teachings through experiencing the sufferings of the world. Some ordinary believers were even willing to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land thousands of kilometers away by foot.

There was even a saying that the practices of yoga actually originated from a sect of asceticism in the Tantric Sect. The way of this asceticism sect was to twist one’s limbs to the limit to find release in pain.

Reyno only intended for Sheyan to use this string of beads as a communication device when he gave it to Sheyan, but that was only one of the many mysterious functions of the beads. Its most important function was as a ritual tool that Living Buddhas of the Tantric Sect wore during their cultivation!

Tibetan Buddhism was very prosperous in Reyno’s dimension, so this string of beads was not a big deal, but in this dimension, this string of beads could be considered a very rare treasure.

Usually, when a person was in extreme pain, there would be very subtle changes to their breathing, heartbeat, endocrine, magnetic field, brain wave, electrocardiogram and so on.

Meanwhile, the beads that had the power of prayers in them were like a fixed-frequency radio. The subtle fluctuation produced by Sheyan, who had a very strong physique, under extreme pain slowly approached the “frequency” of the beads, thus triggering the activation of another of their function: the function as a ritual tool for cultivation!

Because the warmth felt very comfortable, Sheyan instinctively tried to pursue that warmth. He brought the beads out of his personal storage space with his mind and quietly grapsed them in his hand. Sheyan’s palm was hidden from view under his side, so even though there were many people watching, they did not notice his actions.

With the string of beads in his hand, the warmth gradually spread all over Sheyan’s body. A strange feeling slowly emerged within Sheyan. He felt like he was calmly observing the pain from the perspective of a bystander, as if the pain was acting on someone else’s body.

He then felt the strange pain pouring into the beads, while the beads emitted an indescribable warmth in return. Sheyan felt like he was wrapped up in a soft, strange warmth which made him feel like he did not need to eat or breathe at all.

Darkness, tranquility, softness and warmth made up his whole world. There was infinite peace and joy in his heart. It felt as if the tranquility would last forever.

Little did Sheyan know that this was the most profound realm of cultivation in the Tantric Sect, the Fetal Realm!

Darkness, tranquility, softness and warmth were the four senses that supported the sensory world of a human being. That was what babies felt when they grew up in their mother’s womb.

The Fetal Realm sounded very mysterious and profound, but most Living Buddhas could reach this realm.

The Rebirth Realm above the Fetal Realm was the supreme law of Tantric Buddhism. This realm was usually reached only when Living Buddhas who achieved Nirvana before they died burned out the remaining life force in their bodies.

The Fetal Realm could restore the senses back to the environment in a mother’s womb during the fetal period. Meanwhile, the Rebirth Realm was the highest realm which would allow one to experience their own death, experience reincarnation into the Fetal Realm, and experience rebirth. This was equivalent to travelling to the future and witnessing the world after!

That was why in Tibetan Buddhism, Living Buddhas could often very accurately predict where and how they would die. The details of their predictions were often amazingly accurate!That’s because they had really seen these things!!!

But the Rebirth Realm was truly a very profound realm. Generally speaking, reaching this realm was an ascension for the soul, but a great burden for the body. That was why there was a saying that reincarnation happened in a month. After reaching the Rebirth Realm, one normally would not live past a month before one would have to get ready to reincarnate.

What was more cruel was that even if the soul had ascended to such a powerful realm, it was still unable to escape a brutal cruelty when it reached the afterlife during the reincarnation process —

The mystery of the womb!

More commonly known as Meng Po Soup.

(TL note: Meng Po Soup is similar to the River of Forgetfulness in Greek Mythology. Souls of the dead would be given a bowl of soup by Meng Po in the afterlife before they reincarnate. The soup makes them forget the memories from their previous life. )

Although many Living Buddhas could slowly recall some of the skills, such as medicine, or scripture, from their previous lives based on their habits after reincarnation, they could not reach a realm where their present and previous lives completely coincide.

In order to unravel the mystery of the womb, which was the supreme realm of the Tantric Sect, they would need to maintain the Rebirth Realm for a prolonged period.

The realm was called….The Unity of Heaven and Man!!!

It was also the realm of freedom that Reyno was ardently pursuing.

(Author’s Note: The Fetal Realm, Rebirth Realm, and The Unity of Heaven and Man are all products of my imagination. They have nothing to do with reality!)

***

Sheyan himself did not expect that he would have to suffer so much pain and difficulty to upgrade the ‘Air-borne Diseases’ under the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ skill tree to the limit!

He also did not expect that under such a condition, with the help of the power on the ritual tool – the Dzi beads – that the Living Buddha Reyno had sent to this world, he would achieve the Fetal Realm which many monks and even some Living Buddhas could not reach in their lifetime!

Amidst the infinite silence, warmth and serenity, Sheyan found light above and below him.

The light above was very volatile, just like starlight. When he did not pay attention to it, it would feel very bright, but when he paid attention to it, it would feel dim. On the other hand, the area below him was brightly lit.

Sheyan found that without even using his body, he could move using just his mind. It was very difficult to drift upwards, but it was easy to drift downwards.

Little did he know that if he drifted upwards, he would be attempting to break through to the Rebirth Realm in cultivation. As someone who only reached the Fetal Realm with the help of external power, if he did try that, he would just be tormenting himself.

On the other hand, drifting downwards was to go to the realm below the Fetal Realm, the Reflection Realm.

To reach the so-called Reflection Realm through cultivation was actually quite simple. In scientific terms, one would only need to clear out all the memory fragments and traces in their mind, then construct it back in reverse bit by bit, without missing any memories.

As we all know, memories would slowly blur with the passage of time. What have we done today and how many times we have done it? These memories should still be very clear. The memories from yesterday would be a bit sloppy. But what about the memories from a month ago? From a year ago?

The cultivation of the Reflection Realm was to backtrack in this way. First, the cultivator would have to think back on what they had done today, then yesterday, then last week, last month, last year, and so on. They could not even miss a single day.

When the cultivation reached the highest level, the cultivator would be able to clearly list out in their mind everything that had happened from the moment of their birth up to the current moment! It was equivalent to when a person sees the flashback of their whole life the moment before their death!

The highest level of the Reflection Realm was to recall the first scene the cultivator saw when they opened their eyes in this life, when they were still a baby. If they could continue to break through and discover the memories when they enter the womb, they would successfully break through to the Fetal Realm.

Sheyan’s current action was equivalent to backtracking and reconstructing.

He reached the light below and stepped in. By doing so, he entered the memory of the first time he opened his eyes. He naturally saw something that the adult him had completely forgotten…father, mother!!!

(TL: This chapter makes me realise that I’ll never translate a cultivation novel. Ever.)