When You Die You Become A Star

With Ye Qing still retaining her spiritual powers she knew that it was just a matter of time before she could start cultivating again but, unfortunately, she couldn't sense any qi or mana in her surroundings. This shouldn't be a problem as long as she can find a different energy source to convert to qi or mana using her spiritual powers but she hasn't seen any mana or spirit stones so far. Ye Qing knew that the lights above her would require some sort of energy source to stay on but whatever they use likely couldn't provide her with enough energy to start cultivating. {For now I'll spread out my spiritual senses and see if I can find a suitable source of energy.}

Since spiritual senses could pierce through even physical objects it was very suitable for examining magic objects. It took Ye Qing a long time to realize just how useful it was back when she was in Zhonghua since not many people in the secular world practiced using spiritual powers. The old masters that had taught her how to sense spiritual energy didn't need to use objects infused with magic or qi and didn't teach anybody that wanted to stay in the secular world before Ye Qing. When Ye Qing first appeared before them she was turned down just like every cultivator before her. It was only after Ye Qing kneeled in front of their temple for thirty days and nights that the leader decided to take her as a disciple.

Before Ye Qing could spread out her spiritual senses she first needed to circulate it through her body to make sure she still had control over it. The capacity was almost unchanged but if she failed to control it properly then she would end up wasting too much. Since right now she was uncertain if she could recover her spiritual energy like she could in the past, Ye Qing decided to be as cautious as possible. {Although something seems off about my body's connection to my spirit I can still control it well enough to not waste any significant amount of spiritual energy. There's a slight difference in my control over it--the spiritual energy moves slightly less than half of a second after I try to control it. I haven't seen any spirit-devouring beasts and there's no way these giants would allow one to enter into this place that holds their young so there shouldn't be any danger. To be safe I'll make sure to use only a small amount in the beginning.}

With her mind made up, Ye Qing sent a tendril of spiritual energy to her surroundings. After making sure the spiritual energy released from her body was still under control she slowly released more of it and felt her surroundings. With countless long tendrils which couldn't be seen with the n.a.k.e.d eye she could see that there were a number of babies in similar "boxes" to the one she was in. Ye Qing felt uncomfortable after realizing that their size was almost exactly the same as hers but right now she couldn't dwell on this subject; she needed to gain power as quickly as possible.

After mapping out the interior of the room, Ye Qing could see that it was rectangular with a tall ceiling. Besides the boxes with the babies being held in them there was a long table that had some objects on it. These objects were similar to the thing that was put on her when she was distracted: diapers. On the other side of the room from where the table was there were a small number of unknown devices with a strange energy flowing through them. Ye Qing quickly found out that this strange energy was also in the lights above and even flowed through the walls. Although there were some devices which shared energy sources back in Zhonghua, Ye Qing had never seen anything on this scale. Almost every single object around her that used energy was connected together.

When using her spiritual senses to follow this energy source, Ye Qing quickly found out that it wasn't just the energy that was strange. The distance that this energy traveled seemed to be outside of her spiritual energy range so Ye Qing focused on spreading her spiritual energy out to its maximum distance all around her. Through her spiritual senses she could see many large objects that could harness the power of explosions to create movement, tubes underground which carried water and toxic gases to and from the surrounding buildings, and tall buildings that would have been impossible to miss when she explored Zhonghua. Ye Qing didn't want to admit it but after examining her surroundings there's only one conclusion she could come up with. {This isn't Zhonghua. I'm in a strange world.}

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At the end of the school day, Tatyana separated from her friends in order to go home. Aria, Julia, Abigail, and Vanessa would head over to Aria's house first and change into their clothes while waiting for Tatyana's call. After Tatyana got permission then Aria would drive the van that Aria's parents used for their restaurant to bring everybody over to the Sokolov estate. It was a simple white van with three rows of seats and it had their restaurant's name and logo on the side so that it could double as a mobile billboard.

Entering her home, Tatyana took off her shoes and put them on the shelf by the door. Although winter was officially over for an entire month now, the snow was still melting in some places and the grass had become completely muddy. Seeing that her socks had mud on them she decided to remove them as well before throwing them into the hamper in the entryway.

"Moooom, I'm hooome." Tatyana would always yell out to let her mother know when she arrived home even though half the time her mother wouldn't even be able to hear her. The reason why she wouldn't call out to her father is that even if she did he'd either be busy working in his study or out at his company. Today it seemed that her mother was too focused on work as she didn't reply back.

Tatyana sighed before going up the stairs to head to her room. The entryway would be called beautiful by anybody seeing it for the first time but Tatyana lived here her entire life so she was long used to it and even felt like it was a bit too gaudy. Cherry wood walls furnished with expensive paintings and golden candelabras. A tall ceiling with a large gold chandelier hanging down to illuminate the entire room. A dual staircase made from cherry wood with golden trim and white-carpeted steps. In the center between the stairs there was a large black and gold pattern on the white marble floor in the shape of their family's crest--a two-headed phoenix. At the top of the staircase in the very center--as if looking down on whoever came in--there was a large portrait of Tatyana's parents holding a small child in their arms.

In Tatyana's opinion it would be much nicer to have a simple home without all of the garish decorations and her room reflected this even though it was large enough to be used as an apartment. A simple--but large--bed made from a light-brown wood was in the center of the room. To one side you could see a desk with a computer on it beneath a large window; the desk itself having no decorations. Her computer was expensive but she had help picking out the parts and putting it together; she chose a computer case and fans with very few LEDs and no window on the side. Although the monitor used was large it didn't really stick out, unlike her large desk chair which had a black and red pattern on it--Tatyana didn't care much for the design but it was comfortable which was great for when she had to do her homework. Next to the desk was an old piano that Tatyana hadn't touched in months.

On the opposite side of the room as the desk there was a bookcase, a simple vanity set with a brush on it, and an antique wooden chair that had originally belonged to her grandmother. The floors had the same dark cherry wood used on the staircase but Tatyana wasn't going to force her parents to renovate her room just to match the floors with her cheap furniture. The walls were painted white; originally Tatyana had a pink wallpaper that featured a bunch of cartoon characters from when she was a kid but over time it got damaged and she didn't care to have her parents hire someone to put up new wallpaper. There was even a personal bathroom connected to this room but since it was designed before Tatyana was born it had a gaudy appearance similar to that of the rest of the house.

It is in this room that Tatyana grew up but she rarely spent her time here except to sleep or do her homework. Even with a great computer she didn't really have a d.e.s.i.r.e to play video games on it. There were no shows that she was currently following so even if she opened up one of the streaming websites she couldn't really find anything she wanted to watch. Looking at the time on her phone, Tatyana could see that there was still over thirty minutes until her mother was done with the designs she was working on. Setting a timer, Tatyana decided to work on her homework while thinking about how boring everything was and that she wished that things could change.