With the slow passage of time, Austin's skills and cultivation of the law of reincarnation improved
tremendously.
Densely-packed white law chains were floating around his body and were gradually increasing in
number as his skills increased.
Unbeknownst to Austin, several hundred years had passed outside and now,
his body was completely submerged by the law chains.
From afar, he was an amusing sight to behold, looking much like a cocoon.
Finally, after a long while.
Whoosh...
A strong suction force suddenly erupted from Austin's mouth and pulled the white law chains into his
body
Once all the law chains were gone, Austin finally opened his eyes. A mysterious and powerful aura of
reincarnation was emanating from his body now.
He looked more unfathomable and ethereal than ever before.
"My cultivation of the law of reincarnation has improved by at least a thousand times."
A satisfied smile found its way to Austin's face. He was delighted with his progress.
"Looks like the leader of the Reincarnation Palace had a good harvest as well."
Austin looked at the woman sitting nearby and saw a contented smile on her delicate and beautiful
face.
It was obvious that she had gained a lot through cultivation in this tower.
The chaotic sky-devouring beast was also sitting cross legged nearby. He was still in a state of deep
meditation.
'This Enlightenment Tower is indeed of great help in comprehension and cultivation.
Since I have time in my hand, I think I should cultivate another secret skill while I am here.
The only question is, which one?'
Austin thought to himself.
'Mind power!
I can try and cultivate mind power!'
The idea dawned on him and therefore,
Austin began to cultivate his mind power.
With time, he immersed himself into cultivation once more.
The initial setup was easy but suddenly he found himself surrounded by hundreds of illusions.
Ordinary illusions shouldn't have had any effect upon him. This was different.
These illusions were terrifyingly powerful.
'I can't see the real things, even they are right in front of me!'
Austin was still conscious, but he couldn't see through those illusions no matter how hard he tried.
For a moment, he panicked. But then, he clicked his fingers.
"Aha! This must be the mental barrier cultivators face while trying to cultivate mind power beyond a
certain level."
He was reminded of a legend he had come across in the past.
It was said that after one cultivated mind power to a certain extent, further cultivation was sure to lead
to mental barriers.
If a person was unable to get rid of these mental barriers, it would mean that their mind power could not
be improved any further.
Worse still was the long term effect of these illusions. If not defeated soon enough, they could cause
the cultivator's original mind power to plummet.
Mental barriers were horrible obstacles and once one encountered them, it was either through or back
to square one. There was no in-between.
"That must be it.
I have encountered a mental barrier and must remove it."
Austin composed himself once he figured out what was going on.
Boom! Boom!
The illusions came at him one after another and they became increasingly difficult to handle with each
one more horrible than the previous one.
'These illusions are so terrifying.
No wonder mind power is one of the most difficult forces to master in the world,'
Austin murmured in his heart.
With each illusion, handling the mental barrier became increasingly difficult.
'I must keep the last traces of my consciousness deep in my heart, and at the same time, try and fight
against these illusions. Otherwise, these illusions will start controlling and once that happens, I will
never have a chance to break free,'
Austin thought to himself.
As he struggled to counter these illusions, time began slowing down for him. The illusory worlds he
faced were much faster and he was going through dozens of them in just a minute.
His consciousness began to blur.
Buzz...
The strongest of them arrived and
Austin found his reality shifting once more.
Suddenly, he found himself in a strange world.
The scenery around him was beautiful, and everything here seemed quiet and serene.
He was standing in a small village.
Somehow he knew that all the villagers here lived a simple life. They would come out to work when the
sun rose and went back to rest when it set.
Even more surprising was the knowledge he had of himself.
He just knew that he was one of these villagers:
an ordinary young man, and hard worker who never missed a day's calling.
He could feel that his main source of income was through chopping wood.
"Is this an illusion?"
Austin looked at himself and wondered. It was hard for him to accept the fact that he suddenly became
a simple villager, clad in patched sackcloth and carrying a sharp axe on his shoulder.
A large bundle of firewood was laid beside him.
Evidently, he had just cut the firewood and was about to return home.
'That is my home.
My mother is waiting for me.'
This thought came to Austin's mind.
"Otto, Otto!"
A woman's voice came from far away, beckoning him into the village.
'That's my mother. She is asking me to come home. I think dinner is ready and she wants me to eat."
Another thought invaded Austin's mind. The next moment, he shook himself strongly.
"Oh my goodness, that was such a powerful illusion.
I almost lost myself in there."
He was shocked at the power of the illusion he was facing.
Luckily, he had still kept a piece of his consciousness in his heart and therefore, was able to recover
enough to remember what was going on in real-life.
"Everything in this world seems so real. The sky, the earth, the trees, the air... even this axe feels so
real."
Austin waved the axe in his hand and smiled bitterly.
If his consciousness had faded just a little bit further, then he would start believing that this small world
was for real. He would get trapped in the village, forced to chop firewood and believe that his name
was Otto.
"Break it!"
Austin activated his mind power and began to attack the surrounding illusion. It had almost fooled him
and he didn't want to stay here any longer.
Boom! Boom!
As Austin unleashed a large amount of mind power, the world around him began to make terrible twists
and the physics of it all just vanished.
"It really is fake!"
His consciousness became clearer.
"Break them all!"
Austin roared in his heart and felt his mind power increase.
Boom! Boom!
He applied every ounce of will he had to attack the remnants of the small world.
Crack! Crack!
Finally, the scenery began to shatter like glass. The earth, sky, trees and birds and everything was
falling down like dust.
Boom! Boom! Boom...
Eventually, the entire world was broken into pieces. It disintegrated and disappeared in the blink of an
eye.
Austin found himself back in the real world, sitting cross legged on the first floor of the Enlightenment
Tower.
"My mind power seems to have become stronger!"
he exclaimed joyfully.
After all, it had been a long time since he had made any progress in his mind power.
Cultivating mind power was different from the cultivation of other powers. It was more difficult.
Sometimes, even if someone spent hundreds of years cultivating, they might not make any
breakthrough at all.
The most important factor while cultivating the mind power was one's comprehension ability.
'This tower really is an amazing place to cultivate secret skills that need comprehension.
This is an invaluable opportunity and I think I'll continue cultivating while I am here,'
Austin decided.
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