"Lin Guang."

"Do you know why I gave up using instruments and called you here to use the domain for an examination?"

Lin Guang suddenly snapped out of it and shook his head.

"Listen carefully."

Kaiwen's tone was slightly low, seemingly carrying some helplessness.

"From my observation, at this moment, you are already at a very dangerous threshold."

"..."

Lin Guang blinked: "Did you discover something just now through the domain?"

"The domain only allowed me to finally confirm this conclusion."

Her voice sounded like a sigh.

"Humans have limits."

"But all along, you've been trying to treat the limit as your norm."

"You think that with profound inheritance, ample resources, and a strong enough backing to support you, along with strong determination and perseverance, you can ignore your body's abnormalities and reach the limit, even surpass it, again and again."

"If viewed from an insufficiently long time frame, this may indeed be true."

"But..."

She looked at Lin Guang's face and said softly: "Just like even the most solid crystal, when subjected to too much external force, slippage will occur at the crystal boundaries."

"What seems like a sudden fracture is actually the accumulation of countless tiny deformations."

"My domain tells me… your talent already shows some signs of instability."

"!"

Lin Guang widened his eyes.

Talent instability?

This sounded somewhat similar to sea of spirit turbulence, but in reality, they are two completely different concepts.

Sea of spirit turbulence is not unfamiliar to Spirit Masters, after all, those who practice the enslavement contract, if they wish to contract a Spirit Beast with higher potential than themselves, cannot avoid it.

Therefore, while troublesome, Spirit Masters have quite a few methods and medicines to deal with it, and simply stopping cultivation and resting for a period can basically solve it, so it's not something everyone fears.

But talent instability is different, allowing it to develop leads to much more severe consequences.

There is a living example, just recently appeared before Lin Guang—Li Kujie.

Falling in realm, being unable to progress in this lifetime would already be considered fortunate.

Many times, the collapse of a Spirit Master's talent tears their soul, and consequently leads to the collapse of the sea of spirit, with dire consequences obvious.

"But I don't feel anything particularly uncomfortable—"

"I have said."

Shaking her head, Kaiwen interrupted: "The almost unchanged stability when the Heart of Terra was first restricted, was actually your soul self-protecting, ensuring it doesn't sustain further damage."

"And after being stimulated by the Ore Disease, as it began the evolutionary process, it indeed became much stronger."

"But… it also became more susceptible to external influences."

"Recently, have you felt emotionally unstable, often inexplicably irritable?"

"How long has it been since you've had a normal, relaxed sleep?"

"..."

Lin Guang opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word, a slight flicker in his gaze.

To Kaiwen, this naturally indicated acquiescence.

She lowered her head, sighed almost inaudibly, then spoke comfortingly.

"You don't need to worry too much about this matter."

"This is only a precursor, and reversing and calming it isn't difficult. Moreover, all the various encounters and inheritances you've had have indeed become the best support, lightening the impact of all this."

Lin Guang, whose heart had been suspended for so long, let out a breath, finally relaxing: "I thought——"

Yet before he could finish, Kaiwen suddenly said quietly again: "It's not over yet."

"The blood test report from upstairs just showed that the density of Source Stone Crystals in your blood is 2.3u/L."

"..."

"The fusion rate of somatic cells with Source Stone is 5%, which indeed isn't very high, but the number of Source Stone Crystals in your blood is over ten times that of a typical Ore Disease infectee—this is with you taking blocking medication daily, and me using a special solution in the Meditation Pod to help exchange your body fluids daily, achieving an effect similar to dialysis."

"I know you used another Secret Technique to forcibly slow your somatic cell's Source Stone Transformation speed, resulting in the Source Stones not being able to condense into large crystals to assimilate your body tissue, which is why they can only exist in your blood, thus the concentration is so high."

"Looking at it this way, it might seem that, even if your constitution is special, and the Source Stones proliferate extremely fast, as long as you can maintain this status, this [Otherworldly Catastrophe] of Ore Disease doesn't seem very urgent."

"But..."

Kaiwen gathered her green locks by her ear, looking down at Lin Guang resting on her lap, speaking softly: "Having said so much, you should know, your physical condition has always been walking a tightrope."

"Right now it appears stable, but only due to a fragile equilibrium of interconnected chain reactions."

"But if someday you are overwhelmed, one link collapses, causing you to temporarily lose the ability to handle other issues, this current seemingly okay situation will instantly crumble, with all problems swarming in, and by then it would be truly too late."

"..."

Kaiwen lowered her head, stretched out her right hand, her slender forefinger gently pressing on his brow, her tone like a sigh, yet also like a worry: "I don't wish to see that happen."

She whispered: "To many, you are a beacon of hope, and today you've successfully blocked the Demon King's descent, which will elevate your reputation further."

"But… this doesn't mean you have to respond to such expectations and carry excessive pressure."

Lin Guang felt the gentle touch of his brow, wanting to speak yet hesitating: "Teacher, I actually didn't…"

Kaiwen paused her movements, her eyes slightly lowered.

"I know."

Her voice was so light, it almost blended into the night.

And so, the two in the night suddenly fell silent.

But after a moment, Kaiwen suddenly spoke again.

"Fortunately, recently I've had some breakthrough in my research on the Heart of Terra, able to do something for you."

"Perhaps while stabilizing your talent… I can also aid in your evolving talent."

Lin Guang slightly widened his eyes.

What?

Assisting talent evolution?

Doesn't this mean… Kaiwen is planning to help inscribe Dao Marks in his talent...?

What cost will this come at?!

"Relax your mind, don't be tense."

The next moment, two soft and slender hands cupped his head, and the gentle softness below moved slightly, seemingly to let him lie more comfortably.

Lin Guang suddenly felt that in his sea of spirit, a trickling stream flowed in.

It was an inexhaustible, familiar emerald glow.

After the glow's appearance, it evidently didn't notice the system crystal inside his sea of spirit, directly rising in Lin Guang's somewhat parched sea of spirit, directly touching the apex, where dark golden light scattered—the crack-filled [Heart of Terra].

Then, it merged in.

Accompanied by an indescribable sense of relaxation and comfort in his spirit, Lin Guang suddenly felt... his already weary mind inexplicably reawakened.

But it wasn't clarity, rather a potent haziness and dizziness akin to drunkenness in a past life, his consciousness becoming scattered and erratic amidst the activity, uncontrollably recalling many things.

In that moment, Lin Guang's pupils slightly dilated, focus no longer fixed on the nearby ridges, nor on Kaiwen's flawless face.

Then, he looked at the drawn, illusory night sky.

As Kaiwen painted the Heart of Terra's simulated Spirit Pattern in his sea of spirit, she diverted a bit of energy to observe his expression, asking:

"How are you feeling now?"

It took Lin Guang several seconds to respond, seemingly already somewhat unclear.

"I am… watching the stars…"

"What do you think of when watching the stars?"

Kaiwen continued to ask.

There was no specific purpose to the question, only to assess Lin Guang's consciousness and status through verbal inquiries.

With many high-difficulty surgeries involving the sea of spirit and brain, the practitioner would engage in such interactions with the patient.

But for some reason, upon hearing this question, Lin Guang suddenly felt all sorts of emotions fleeting in his mind, a mixture of sentiments vast and varied.

He instinctively shifted his head to gaze directly at the night sky.

He softly asked: "Teacher… what are the stars in the sky?"

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