Darkness.
Endless, silent darkness.
Lin Tian could not feel his body.
There was no pain, no breath, no heartbeat. The violent explosion that had swallowed him on the cosmic battlefield was gone, replaced by a strange and empty silence.
For a moment, it felt as if he no longer existed.
Yet… something remained.
A faint light flickered within the darkness.
It was small, no bigger than a spark drifting in the void, but it pulsed with a quiet rhythm. That light was Lin Tian's soul.
Although his body had been destroyed by the emperor's final attack, the immense cultivation he had reached in his previous life had protected his spirit from complete annihilation.
The spark drifted slowly through the universe.
At first, Lin Tian had no awareness. His consciousness was buried deep within the light, like someone sleeping in a dreamless sleep.
But gradually, something began to change.
A faint awareness returned.
Where… am I?
The thought was weak and distant, like an echo across an empty canyon.
Lin Tian tried to move, but he realized something strange.
He had no body.
No arms.
No legs.
Only the tiny floating spark of light that carried his consciousness.
The realization slowly formed in his mind.
I died…
Fragments of memory rushed back.
The cosmic battlefield.
The endless alien fleet.
The emperor's cold voice.
And finally—the planet-destroying cannon that had swallowed him whole.
Lin Tian remembered the blinding light, the unimaginable pressure, and the moment when his body had shattered like glass.
Yet somehow…
He was still here.
His soul flickered slightly, drifting through the cold emptiness of space.
All around him stretched the silent universe.
Distant stars burned quietly like candles scattered across an endless black ocean. Massive nebulae glowed faintly with colors of red, purple, and blue.
The universe was beautiful.
But also incredibly lonely.
Lin Tian had spent many years traveling through space during his previous life, but never had he experienced it like this—without a body, without power, without control.
He was like a leaf floating in a vast cosmic river.
Time slowly passed.
Days.
Months.
Maybe years.
Lin Tian could no longer measure it.
Sometimes he drifted past enormous stars that shone with blinding brilliance. Their powerful gravity tried to pull his fragile soul closer, but some mysterious force continued guiding him forward.
At other times, he passed through silent fields of floating asteroids or the glowing dust of ancient galaxies.
The universe seemed endless.
Yet the small spark of his soul kept traveling.
At first, Lin Tian tried to resist.
He attempted to gather energy, to control his movement, to return to life using the powerful techniques he had mastered in his past.
But nothing worked.
Without a body or cultivation foundation, he was too weak.
Even thinking for long periods made his consciousness feel heavy and tired.
Eventually, he stopped struggling.
Instead, he quietly observed the vast universe around him.
Strangely, during this endless drifting, Lin Tian's mind became calmer than it had ever been before.
In his previous life, he had always been fighting.
Battles against alien armies.
Battles against powerful cultivators.
Battles for survival.
But now there was only silence.
The universe moved slowly around him.
Stars were born.
Stars died.
Entire galaxies rotated in majestic spirals.
Watching these changes, Lin Tian began to feel something new.
A deep understanding of the cosmos.
He realized how small even the strongest cultivators truly were.
Even the emperor who had killed him… even the massive fleets and armies…
Compared to the infinite universe, they were like tiny grains of sand.
The thought brought him unexpected peace.
But then, something suddenly changed.
The small spark of his soul trembled.
A powerful force had appeared somewhere ahead.
At first it felt like a distant pull, gentle and almost unnoticeable.
But as time passed, the pull grew stronger.
Lin Tian felt as if the universe itself was calling him.
The stars around him seemed to shift.
Invisible currents of energy began guiding his drifting soul in a specific direction.
What is happening?
Lin Tian focused his remaining consciousness.
Far ahead in the darkness, he saw something.
A small blue sphere floating in space.
As he moved closer, the sphere slowly grew larger.
Clouds swirled across its surface.
Massive oceans reflected sunlight.
Green continents stretched across the land.
Lin Tian's consciousness trembled.
That planet was familiar.
Very familiar.
"Earth…"
The name echoed inside his mind.
It was his home.
The place where he had been born in his previous life.
The place he had fought so desperately to protect.
Yet something was strange.
The Earth before him looked peaceful.
There were no giant alien fleets.
No cosmic war.
No massive battle stations orbiting the planet.
It looked like a normal world.
As Lin Tian drifted closer, the mysterious pulling force grew stronger.
His soul began accelerating toward the blue planet.
He tried to slow down, but it was impossible.
The invisible force surrounding him felt ancient and unstoppable, like the natural law of the universe itself.
The planet grew larger and larger.
Soon Lin Tian could see details.
Cities glowing with lights.
Mountains covered with forests.
Rivers flowing across the land.
The sight stirred old emotions in his heart.
Memories of childhood.
Memories of ordinary life before the cosmic war had begun.
For the first time since his death, Lin Tian felt nervous.
What will happen to me?
Before he could think further, his soul entered the planet's atmosphere.
Clouds rushed past him like white oceans.
The sky turned bright blue.
He descended rapidly toward the surface.
Below him lay a modern city filled with tall buildings and glowing streets.
Cars moved like tiny lights along the roads.
People walked through the night, unaware that a soul from the cosmic battlefield was falling toward them.
Lin Tian's spark of light grew weaker as it descended.
The long journey through space had nearly exhausted the remaining strength of his spirit.
He felt his consciousness fading again.
Just before losing awareness, he sensed something below.
A faint connection.
A body.
In a small apartment room, a young man lay unconscious on a bed.
The boy's breathing was weak, as if he had fainted from exhaustion.
Lin Tian's drifting soul moved toward him.
The mysterious force guiding him suddenly surged with power.
Then—
The spark of light entered the young man's body.
A violent wave of memories exploded inside Lin Tian's mind.
Two lifetimes collided.
One filled with cosmic battles and cultivation.
The other filled with ordinary modern life.
Pain shot through his consciousness.
For a moment, everything went dark again.
Then suddenly—
The young man on the bed gasped.
His eyes snapped open.
Lin Tian sat upright, breathing heavily.
Cold sweat covered his forehead.
His heart pounded rapidly in his chest.
He looked around the unfamiliar room in confusion.
A small desk.
A laptop.
Books scattered across the table.
A window showing the quiet city outside.
Everything looked… normal.
Too normal.
Slowly, Lin Tian stood up and walked toward the window.
He pushed it open.
Cool night air flowed into the room.
Above the city, countless stars shimmered in the dark sky.
Lin Tian stared at them silently.
Memories of the cosmic battlefield still burned in his mind.
But now he was here.
Back on Earth.
Back at the beginning.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"I… was reborn."
The realization slowly settled in his heart.
He clenched his fists.
This time, everything would be different.
If the cosmic empire returned again…
If the war of the universe began once more…
He would be ready.
Lin Tian looked up at the stars, a determined light appearing in his eyes.
His cultivation journey… had begun again.