Chapter 4: A Mission, Also a Destiny!
Lin Beichen certainly had no idea what those press reporters were thinking, nor did he care. Right now, his mind was completely occupied with what he would do with his talents.
He wandered through the crowd like a detached spirit, dragging his heavy steps towards home.
"Shasha——"
Halfway there, a fine drizzle started to fall from the sky.
The silky rain fell on Lin Beichen, but he seemed unaware, completely lost in thought, with no memory of how he got home or entered his room.
When he came back to his senses, the dark clouds had gathered into a continuous sheet outside, blocking out the sun as the rain poured down heavily.
"But..."
"What can this heaven-defying comprehension be used for?"
It wasn't that Lin Beichen's mind was blank; he just felt that with his rebirth and such an extraordinary talent, following the conventional path of learning was exceedingly dull.
Lin Beichen gazed out the window, his melancholy magnified by the rainy day.
Outside, the gale howled, and raindrops pattered against the window.
The heavy clouds in the sky were blown up, piling and swirling like giant waves, seemingly about to sweep away the buildings at the horizon!
Tiny electric flashes crackled within the clouds, flickering and dancing constantly.
Suddenly!
A bright and thick lightning bolt, as if it had been waiting for a long time, streaked across the sky, dividing heaven and earth, illuminating half the sky.
"Crash——!!"
The sound of tearing thunder quickly followed, resonating through heaven and earth, deafening!
The swiftly falling raindrops seemed to tremble!
"Huh???"
Lin Beichen raised an eyebrow, his confused eyes suddenly focused, staring unblinkingly at the dark clouds through the rain-streaked window, his gaze bright and full of light.
The rain fell harder, as if someone above the clouds was dumping water from a bucket.
The tiny electric flashes within the clouds danced and flickered faster and brighter.
"Crash——!"
"Crash——!!"
"..."
Lightning flashed repeatedly in the dark sky as if it cost nothing.
The more Lin Beichen watched, the more engrossed he became, his dark pupils reflecting the lightning, the fine bright patterns nearly occupying his entire pupils!
At this moment, another lightning bolt streaked across the sky.
Instantly!
The bright patterns dispersed!
His pupils glowed, dazzling and bright!
In that moment, Lin Beichen felt everything around him fading away, the world growing quiet, and his thoughts seemed to detach from his body, riding the wind into the void, seeing the entire sky at a glance!
He imagined the threads of electric arcs distributed in every corner of the clouds, weaving and colliding at each node, birthing bolts of lightning.
In other words, each bolt of lightning was born from these electric arcs.
Lightning bolts crashed down from the clouds like a thunder prison!
Wherever the lightning went, electric arcs flickered, air seared, and raindrops evaporated upon impact, leaving no trace!
The moment each bolt of lightning fully discharged its electric arc, it dissipated.
It seemed that touching the ground was each lightning bolt's mission, and dissipating was its destiny.
Ultimately, the mission could not withstand the destiny.
Few bolts ever reached the ground.
But...
Every bolt that touched the ground unleashed astonishing energy, as if encouraging the yet-to-complete lightning to challenge its destiny.
Mission endures, destiny persists.
Yet,
who assigns the mission, who decides the destiny?
Why do some occasionally defy destiny?
In the grand scheme of things...
Only heaven seems to know!
Lin Beichen felt he had entered an indescribable state, thoughts flowing freely, boundlessly imaginative.
Just as he attempted to grasp one of the fleeting flashes of insight.
Another lightning bolt flashed!
This bolt seemed to have been gathering its strength since before the rain started, its majestic force sweeping across the sky, overshadowing all other lightning.
A lone spectacle!
"Boom——!!!"
The massive thunder sound brought Lin Beichen back to reality, the lightning in the sky magnified infinitely, exploding before his eyes.
In an instant, the electric arcs of that lightning seemed to flood into his mind, his neurons crackling inside his head, rapidly conducting and weaving into a thought network!
He had an epiphany!
He seemed to... finally know what he should do next!
"There is no original Cultivation Method, no Supernatural Power in this world."
"But now that I'm here..."
"They should manifest!"
"This is both mission and destiny!"
To create a Cultivation Method, to comprehend a Supernatural Power!
Once conceived, this idea grew uncontrollably!
The dark window reflected Lin Beichen's handsome and clear silhouette, a faint, expectant smile forming at the corner of his mouth.
"Let's start researching Supernatural Power from this lightning!"
In his past life, reading novels, Lin Beichen always envied protagonists who could control lightning and ride the wind. Now that it was possible, he wanted to try!
After all...
With a heaven-defying comprehension.
At the very least, it should be possible to comprehend a Cultivation Method worthy of such a term, right?
...
Lin Beichen's eyes shone brightly as he continued to gaze at the flashing lightning outside, but after a long time, the previous feeling still wouldn't return.
"Am I using the wrong posture for enlightenment?"
Lin Beichen recalled scenes of enlightenment he had seen before, where one had to sit cross-legged with a proper posture, so he immediately sat down cross-legged as per memory and focused his attention out the window.
One second...
Two seconds...
Three seconds...
...
After a moment, Lin Beichen's mouth twitched slightly, awkwardly scratching his head: "Isn't it a posture problem? Why don't I feel any enlightenment?"
He began to doubt if his heaven-defying talent could truly grasp this Supernatural Power.
"Could it be the limited space restricting enlightenment's potential?"
Lin Beichen suddenly came up with an idea, looked around his small room, and felt his guess made sense: "To study lightning, one must be closer to nature, personally experience its mysteries. How could it work cooped up in this little room?"
With this thought, he jumped up excitedly, opened the door, and rushed out of the house.