Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 21: Let The World Feel The Pain

In his mind, he felt more and more cool air gathering inside him. But once it got inside, it just disappeared, like a rock sinking into the depths of the sea.

Fang Xiu was puzzled.

_'Where does the Specter's energy go after going inside me? Is it my soul?'_

He tried to look deeper into his mind, allowing it to flow with the coolness, drifting toward an unknown place. It felt like a small boat on a river, eventually merging into the vast ocean.

There, Fang Xiu sensed a gray heart beating slowly. It looked as if it was covered in a layer of thick dust, and all the cool air went right into the heart.

_'Is the soul the same as the heart?'_

_'No. They're not. A soul doesn't have a set shape. Its appearance as the heart is a reflection of the subconscious.'_

_'I know my soul; I can change how it looks.'_

By just thinking about it, the gray heart started to transform. It became a sword, then a knife, and even into Fang Xiu.

Fang Xiu was right.

But how the soul looks wasn't what truly matters. What matters was using its psychic power.

So, the soul went back to looking like a heart.

As more cool air flowed in, the heart's pulse became faster and stronger. A soft light began to shine, but it was obscured by the thick dust.

Fang Xiu waited for a moment, and then something happened.

There wasn't a magical momenta breakthroughlike in fantasy novels. It was just a normal change.

Suddenly, the dust at the corner of the heart disappeared, like someone had cleaned it.

At that corner, a deep, black light shone like a black hole.

That was Fang Xiu's real soul.

Then, all the Specter's energy rushed to that spot, turning into a red light. The energy flowed into the soul.

The black and red lights mixed together. The red tried to stain the black with its hue, but the black light stood firm.

Ultimately, the red blended into the black, and everything became quiet again.

Right then, Fang Xiu felt a great change inside.

It was as if the black light had cleansed his entire being. His sensessight, hearing, smell, touch, tasteheightened incredibly.

Before, it felt like watching the world behind a veil, but now that veil was lifted. He could see everything clearly.

Besides the heightened senses, his thoughts and reactions got faster.

Even if he didn't get physically stronger, his control over his body had improved. Where an average person might use only 40% of their muscle strength, Fang Xiu could use over 80%.

Muscles move because the brain tells them to, and the soul guides the brain. Only in really intense or dangerous times can people use all their strength, but most people might never get there in their whole life.

In the Han Dynasty, a famous general named Li Guang once mistook a rock for a crouching tiger. Quickly, he drew his bow with all his strength and shot the stone. Surprisingly, his arrow went three inches deep into it! But after that, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't do it again.

But Fang Xiu could release that level of strength any time he wanted. His body remained the same, yet his control over it had completely transformed. And as he kept getting stronger, the power he could unleash would also become greater.

Slowly, Fang Xiu opened his eyes. A hint of dark light flashed in his sharp eyes.

"Is this what they call spirituality?"

At that moment, he had a deeper understanding of spirituality.

This thing they call spirituality happens when the soul's natural power mixes with the power from the Specter.

Normally, a soul contained a lot of power. But this power couldn't do anything in the real world. It only worked in a dream world.

It was like being a superhero in their own world. In your head, you could imagine being all-powerful, but it wouldn't translate into real life.

The power from the Specter, however, was different. It let the soul's power work in the real world.

But it didn't mean once you had spirituality, you could do anything and everything.

First off, only a tiny bit of Fang Xiu's spirituality was awakened, maybe about 1%. So, only 1% of his soul's power was active.

And even if someone had 100% of their spirituality awakened, they still couldn't do everything they dreamt of because the soul wasn't just dreams or imagination. It had something to do with one's feelings, memories, thoughts, and more.

Spirituality was closely tied to inner strength.

The stronger someone was inside, the stronger their spirituality was. But they also needed enough of the Specter's power mixed in, or it wouldn't work in real life.

Every psychic's spiritual power showed up in its own unique way, depending on what they wanted most, their personality, dreams, surroundings, and many other reasons.

That was why every psychic had different powers. These spiritual powers were a kind of mirror of what was inside their soul.

_'So, what power do I have?'_

Fang Xiu couldn't help but wonder.

_'More importantly, what do I want the most deep down?'_

Thinking about it, Fang Xiu tried to feel his new, dark spiritual power.

Then, suddenly, he sensed a wave of information, which shocked him.

His power was pain!

_'Does that mean deep down, all I feel is pain?' _

Fang Xiu was confused. As he thought about it harder, he gained a more detailed description of his power.

"Inflicting harm on others can make them feel pain."

_'Huh?' _

To Fang Xiu, that seemed too simple._ _

_'How the hell is that a "special" power?'_

_'If I hit someone without my power, they can still feel pain. So what's the difference?'_

But as Fang Xiu began to practice using his power, he discovered something unexpected. In his dark spiritual visions, he "watched" himself die in various ways.

Devoured by his wife eighteen times, crushed by a little girl, and beheaded by the "doctor."

With each vision, an all-too-familiar pain filled him. It wasn't just the pain from dying, but also the deep emotional pain. The despair, fear, sadness, hate, anger, and all the negative feelings he had ever felt were tied to this power.

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His spiritual power was to make others feel every terrible thing he'd ever felt.

He suddenly laughed out loud. It was wild and uncontrollable.

Zhao Hao, standing nearby, jumped, "Xiu? Did it... work?"

Fang Xiu just laughed even more.

_'This is amazing!'_

A rush of happiness and excitement coursed within him.

He was so thrilled with this new power. Even if he'd gotten the ability to control time or space, it wouldn't have made him this happy.

Deep down, this was what he really wanted.

Ever since he came to this world, he had felt so much pain. All he wanted was to get back at those who hurt him.

And now? Now, he could make his enemies feel everything he'd been through. Nothing could possibly be better than that.

He cackled, the joy bursting from him.

_'All the pain this world gave me, I'm going to give it right back!'_

_'I want everyone to know what pain feels like!'_"