A glaringly bright light pierced through his eyelids, generating a familiar pain as inner strength and a nascent will erupted to strenuously open them. As the eyes gradually adapted to the light, gaining clarity of the external world, the sight of a young woman's face became his world. Her countenance was incomparably delicate, as gorgeous as the full moon standing at the forefront of endless stars, as brilliant as the brightest solar star, and as beautiful as physically possible.
The same familiar thought surfaced once again: If fairies existed, she was the queen of them all.
Wei Wuyin found himself in the warmth of dainty and soft arms holding him while faintly trembling; he was welcomed by the silver-colored irises of the young woman before him. And despite the color of the world being dullish, an intermix of black, white, and grey, the clarity of those eyes were images he would never forget in his lifetime, after death, or even if his soul was destroyed by the Heavenly Daos.
'Mother.' Wei Wuyin wasn't as surprised as he once was, his heart extremely calm as he focused on regaining his sense of self. However, as he did, he found himself reaching out with his short stubby fingers, trying to grasp that incomparably beautiful face, drawn to those eyes that were as heart-stirring as a lighthouse to a seaman after days adrift at sea.
He found that his hands were like magnets, and she leaned into them and allowed him to touch her smooth skin marred by exhaustion and sweat. She smiled so brilliantly that Wei Wuyin felt that his little heart could explode, but his actual heart was relatively stable. Every nascent heartbeat in the outside world was pumping to drive him further into life.
'Hm?' Long ago, during the Mortal Star Formation tribulation, Kratos' tribulation, he had somehow traversed time and re-experienced his 'firsts' in life. Even to this day, Wei Wuyin was unable to determine if he had gone back in time or not. But during that time, his mother had reacted differently, and then she…
'What is this?' Wei Wuyin found himself unable to control his actions, and the infant-like sounds coming from his mouth, the mindless wandering of his gaze, and the movements of his little limbs were beyond his control. It wasn't like before.
"My sweet little boy. My sweet little boy." His mother gently held him, and despite the gentleness in it, he knew that her fingers were like heaven-gripping tools that would never let go without reason to ensure that he was safe. Unlike before, Wei Wuyin remained calm as he observed her with the most focused gaze. While his actual eyes moved here and there, he needle-focused on her, specifically the depths of her pupils.
When he was last here, she had experienced a strange state. At first, Wei Wuyin was too distraught to pay it any attention as the concept of time travel was beyond anything he'd conceived. Now? He knew that time travel wasn't only possible, having done so himself, but the Heavenly Daos could achieve it on a stupendously terrifying scale.
The Temporal Reincarnator had been sent back from their timeline to the past, given foreknowledge all because of the Heavenly Daos' unwillingness to see one of its high-level Blessed perish. Their Karmic Luck fueled their second chance, and even at the expense of hurting itself, the Heavenly Daos achieved it.
Now that he was back here, his mind was incomparably focused. He watched his young mother cradle him gently in her arms. It didn't take long before her eyes, filled with warmth, gentleness, and motherly love were replaced by confusion and a distant stranger's gaze.
'Here it is.' It was later than before, not spurred by her recognizing him as if she was aware of his time-traveling exploits, but it had happened nevertheless—the sight of her losing any sense of familiarity.
"Not again! Not again!" A manly voice ran into the room with harsh steps, his voice reverberating with sorrow.
Wei Wuyin's heart roared despite his repeated urging to calm himself down. His father! He would recognize that voice anywhere, and his heart ached so heavily that he felt he could die. But his newborn self merely ignored the voice, focused on the stimuli from the young woman holding him.
Wei Wuyin wanted to see his face again. Will this dream-like scenario end here? To his surprise, he found a strong pair of arms grabbing him away from his mother. The depths of her pupils were absent of any self, confusion, and uncertainty flooding her gaze. She let her husband take him, but in the end, as if something in the depths of her soul was resisting, she reached out with a frown to grab him back.
But those strong, muscular arms were swift and hurrying, and then moved Wei Wuyin hastily into the arms of someone thinner. He saw a blurry back of a tall, imposing man as his hands formed hand-seals, releasing soft spiritual light that surged into the young woman's eyes.
Wei Wuyin found himself awkwardly held and then turned around to see a pouting face that caused his heart to bleed so violently that he felt as if he was going to die. If he couldn't control himself, he would cry out with heart-rending pain, but he didn't. His stubby arms and fingers only waved aimlessly as the young teen before he eyed him curiously.
"So you're my little brother? You have Mother's eyes." The boy's voice lacked that steady, experienced, and stern tone that was always there before, but he recognized it without fail. It was like music to his ears, soothing his very soul.
'Brother…'
"Will Mother be okay?" His older brother asked curiously, inspecting the couple that was glowing with spiritual light.
"..." Unfortunately, the man was too occupied to reply. His entire focus was on the young woman's current state, either trying to probe or reverse her situation.
'Father's cultivation is too lacking for this.' Wei Wuyin thought as he noted that his father was only at the Second Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, the External Flow Phase, and thus was incapable of determining the issue with his mother. This issue would later lead his father and mother to scour for a cure in the demons' territory, and their life and death would be uncertain since that day.
While it could be said to be uncertain, it was clear that they died somehow. After all, after a decade, they never returned, were never seen, nor heard from again.
Wei Wuyin, however, did not lack knowledge or cultivation comprehension. Furthermore, he knew what was happening to his mother, all were essentially confirmed after he revisited this scene, and his heart howled with extreme frustration.
She was experiencing what he had long ago, his original mind was sealed within his Mind's Eye, and slowly a newer consciousness was formed that he devoured at appropriate times. Whenever his body-controlling mind grew too developed, he would hastily consume it for fear of it taking over as the main consciousness, trapping him forever.
After fleeing from the Wall of Heaven, Wei Wuyin caused cataclysmic damage to his brain and Sea of Consciousness after saving Bai Lin. Somehow, this kept his original consciousness from collapsing, allowing him to heal slowly, and then after finding an impetus, or more so, regaining enough mental strength by absorbing Eden's original consciousness, he shattered the bindings that both served to constrain him and preserve him, regaining himself as the main consciousness.
To the Medicinal Sages of Red Dove City, this was termed Chronic Amnesia. It was an extremely rare disease, practically unheard of, that his mother had been inflicted with that caused her to lose her sense of awareness. According to those old clan elders, his mother and father fell in love after an episode of hers left her unable to find her origins, and since then, he'd constantly taken care of her and continuously made endless efforts after each and every episode to find their love again.
And each time…he succeeded.
'I thought it was a coincidence. What if it was hereditary?' Wei Wuyin finally got confirmation when the light in her eyes became extremely fresh, as if devoid of anything but the barest of instincts and core knowledge, such as language, how to breathe, walk, and cook.
In Wei Wuyin's case, he never lost his innate work ethic or alchemical instincts developed after each reset in the Eden Earth Sect, so his main consciousness was certainly the Initial template for every newly formed consciousness.
'Mother…Father…Brother…' Wei Wuyin painfully sighed at the level of his soul. He realized that this was likely the Temporal Eye Astral Tribulation in effect, and it was causing him to relive his earliest memories. From the records he read, the Temporal Eye Astral Tribulation develops a cultivator's Temporal Eye, the ability to see through the essence of time—past, present, and future.
After grasping this power, they could absorb time energies and execute abilities such as Temporal Dissonance that could affect the temporal perception of others, or even use their powers to view certain scenes that occurred in life, reliving certain things to better figure out what they did wrong or right, or gaining a unique instinct towards their future. It became an essential cultivation tool that was of enormous help in all aspects, especially when it came to matters of life and death. The sensation of a deadly crisis would become extremely clear.
However, the details of what one faced weren't too clear. According to the records, the tribulation attempts to corrode the mind, body, and spirit using terrifying temporal power. If one were unable to resist, they'd vanish into nothing. Not even their corpse will be left behind.
An absolutely lethal tribulation feared by many, failed by millions each year in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region. When a cultivator at the Realm World Phase goes missing, most believe they failed their tribulation.
Wei Wuyin knew the first objective of this type of Tribulation was to 'sense' the flow of corrupting time energies that threatened to slaughter him in body and soul. If he simply relieved his life here, he was certain to be affected.
"No need," Eden's voice erupted from the depths of his soul. In the background, Kratos' roar could be heard. The bloodline of a True Void Dragon wasn't just for show.
Wei Wuyin frowned as his brother brought him to his mother, her gaze still blank, and he innocently pushed Wei Wuyin closer. "Mother, do you want him?"
His father hurdled in the corner while cold sweat wet his robes. He buried his face in a book that was scribed with tiny characters compacted together, like a journal, and he was slowly writing in it with extreme solemness.
"Him? A baby?" The silver-eyed young woman was baffled as the light in her eyes regained a smidge of intelligence and awareness. She instinctively reached out and gently grabbed Wei Wuyin's newborn body. She slowly cradled him, an incomparably beautiful warmth-filled smile surfaced on her face, and her eyes grew abnormally warm.
"What's his name?" Her sweet voice, still lingering with exhaustion, resounded. Wei Wuyin couldn't see, his focus entirely honed onto that gorgeous face, but he knew that his brother was clenching his fists tightly.
"You don't remember? You named him, Mother."
"Named him?" Those silver eyes were besieged by confusion. "Why do you call me 'Mother,' young man?"
"..."
"What is it?" The silver-eyed woman cocked her head back. Her reaction made it clear she wasn't fearful of either the muscular man or the young teen. This was another clue that Wei Wuyin found, further supporting the possibility that his mother was experiencing exactly what he had!
"N-no-nothing." A stutter of hectic emotions resounded. "His name's Wei Wuyin."
"Oh? Such a domineering name. With that name and those breathtakingly gorgeous eyes of his, he's bound to be a breaker of many hearts."
"...yeah…"