Before I knew of the existence of Great Impermanence, I always believed I had the power to contend with the whole world on my own. Even if I couldn’t defeat the other side, I wouldn’t be defeated by them either. Although I had no ambition to oppose the whole world, there was a certain confidence—or perhaps arrogance—in my heart that I couldn’t quite define as confidence or recklessness.
However, Zhu Shi had told that the Great Impermanences of Luo Mountain could manipulate energy on a scale equivalent to hundreds to thousands of atomic bomb explosions—large-scale natural disasters. Compared to such inconceivably powerful beings, I was obviously inferior, so after that, I never again entertained the notion of comparing myself to the whole world. Assuming that the Great Demons of the Doomsday Era were fallen beings transford from Great Impermanence level entities, my guess would be that the Disaster Demon was myself in the Doomsday Era, which was clearly an overestimation of my abilities.
That kind of speculation is not sothing I could voice to others, as it sounds like a middle schooler fantasizing about becoming so impressive villain after "turning dark." I would definitely mock such thoughts privately. However, my guess wasn’t entirely baseless. Even though I am far from reaching the level of Great Impermanence now, my powers have not stopped growing. Who’s to say that the future won’t grow into a being of Great Impermanence level, and then fall to becoming a Great Demon?
Of course, it’s better not to fall if possible. Although I really like the plotline that "the future is a notorious supervillain character," but...
Upon reflection, there’s no significant "but" after all. Since I won’t tell anyone else, I might as well admit to myself. I really am naive, secretly harboring expectations for such a plotline.
As for my earlier question, Mazao gave a negative answer—she couldn’t rember if she had seen Zhu Shi during the Doomsday Era.
Affected by the madness of the Doomsday Era, besides her daily companion, the No. 2 small bowl, she couldn’t rember the faces of many people. There might be a chance of recognition if she saw them again. Or she might just feel a sense of familiarity—this is what she told .
Mazao was gradually becoming calr now, as if she had also noticed so problems that went undetected in the chaos of earlier monts.
"Zhuang Cheng, may I take another look at your Divine Seal Fragnt?" she asked.
I had no objections, and once again, I took out the Divine Seal Fragnt, offering it to her openly.
She only glanced at it a few tis before returning it to , with a very puzzled look on her face.
"Is there sothing unusual about this Divine Seal Fragnt?" I wondered.
"It’s not so much that there’s sothing unusual on this fragnt..." she said, utterly perplexed, "but rather the existence of the fragnt itself is an anomaly. The Divine Seal I’m looking for shouldn’t be like this..."
"This isn’t the Divine Seal Fragnt you’re looking for?" I asked in surprise.
"I did say that I wanted to find the Divine Seal, but I never specified that I’d start from its fragnts," she said, quite puzzled, "According to the Doomsday Era’s records of the Divine Seal, it broke after Doomsday arrived. In other words, the Divine Seal of this era should still be intact."
Intact? I imdiately caught on. That’s right, the Divine Seal’s relation to the advent of Doomsday is because of its world-altering power. Therefore, the Divine Seal of this era must be complete. Only a complete Divine Seal has the power to change fate.
So how should I explain this Divine Seal Fragnt in my hand? I acquired it from the basent of the room on the fifteenth floor; could it be that this room’s basent actually connects to the future after Doomsday?
That speculation was a bit of a leap. And if so, how then did No. 1 and No. 4 Xuanming co to possess their Divine Seal Fragnts?
After pondering, I ventured a guess, "Could it be that the Divine Seal of this era was broken from the start, and it was simply collected in its entirety later on? Then, upon the arrival of Doomsday, it fell into pieces once more?"
"...Based on the materials I’ve encountered, the Divine Seal should have only broken once, which was during Doomsday. There shouldn’t be an earlier instance of it breaking..." she responded.
Lost in confusion and thought, Mazao fell silent.
After a long while, we finally arrived back at our doorstep, and she seed to have surfaced, for the mont, from the mire of her contemplations.
I opened the door, welcod her into the entrance, and turned on the lights. Since she had only been gone for three days, everything in the living room remained virtually the sa.
She took off her cat whiskers mask and looked around at the familiar living room with a hint of nostalgia.
"Welco back," I said, trying to create the ambiance of ho, "Would you like to eat first, or take a bath?"
"There’s no need for a bath. Zhu Shi should have explained my abilities to you; I can use them to clean my own body and clothes," she replied, "As for food, I don’t need to eat. I can reset my own hunger with my abilities. However..."
As she spoke, she seed tempted. It was very likely she hadn’t eaten anything for the past three days. Seizing the mont before she could say "never mind," I imdiately offered, "I’ll cook sothing for you to eat."
"Um..." she nodded, a bit shyly.
I took the ingredients out of the fridge, put on an apron in the kitchen, and cooked for Mazao just as I had on those previous days. Engaging in these familiar steps, I couldn’t help but feel like a train that had lost control was finally back on track; the heavy stone in my heart seed to finally touch ground.
Mazao had finally co back...
I couldn’t help but relax my entire body; my always tense and rigid thoughts instantly beca lively.
Whether it was the potentially toppling Doomsday or the unfathomable Luo Mountain, neither was as important to as Mazao, who truly had changed my life.
Actually, I had thought about it—if Doomsday was destined to co, I just needed to sit at ho and wait to greet the grand adventure. But is the future really predetermined?
What if Doomsday never ca? What if, while I foolishly waited at ho, Mazao or soone else stopped it? After all, Doomsday is a matter of the future, uncertain by nature. To , it’s no different from a bad check.
Even though I now believed in the existence of Doomsday and could seriously ponder its details, I still couldn’t wait wholeheartedly. Nor could I compare it to the very real Mazao, whom I could touch with my own hands.
The sa went for Luo Mountain. In the past, Zhu Shi told that unless I could figure out the reason behind my repulsion to the supernatural, even becoming a mber of Luo Mountain wouldn’t enable to bond with the supernatural. Although the reason is now clear, I still haven’t found a solution. I would just be repeating the sa mistakes.
Truthfully, I am sowhat curious about such developnts. Now that I’ve connected with Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun and have beco an Outer Path Impermanence of Luo Mountain, how would the repelling effect manage to push out of this supernatural world? That should be impossible.
But I’m not impulsive enough to explore this mystery through practice. There’s that saying—I know the difference between being full for a al and full for every al. To unravel this not-so-thrilling mystery at the expense of returning to a normal future is unacceptable to . At most, I just think about it.
In my worst imagination, if I could never find Mazao again, perhaps the world around would return to normal. "Demon hunter Zhu Shi" would disappear, and in the future, only "female university student Zhu Shi" would be in front of . The Zhu family would no longer be a family of demon hunters but rely a wealthy but invisible local family. Characters like Lu Youxun and others would vanish and never appear before again.
I understand such changes defy common sense, yet if my inability to connect with the supernatural is itself a kind of supernatural trait, then expecting it to operate logically is undoubtedly wishful thinking.
Even if it’s not that bad, like when I worked with Agent Kong to investigate the deserted construction site—when even a soul-attracting charm was used to no avail, the evil spirits didn’t appear. Simply that is unacceptable to . This ans that wherever I go, I would only be a dead pond, ineffective even if I were with soone who could encounter the supernatural.
Speaking of which, when I was with Agent Kong back then, I should still have been under the influence of Mazao’s Broom Star Physique... does that an there really were no evil spirits in that place?
At this mont, my phone rang.
I was stewing at at the ti and was able to free my hands, so I took out my phone and looked down at it.
It was a call from Zhu Shi. I decided to step into the corridor before answering. Her voice ca through from the other side, saying she had already given the severed hand to Lu Youxun.
"How did Lu Youxun react?" I asked.
"He’s not having much luck," she sighed. "That strange person indeed has anti-divination abilities. Lu Chan and I analyzed it and think the problem might lie with that shape-shifting superpower.
"Unlike the last supernatural being who could only transfer harm elsewhere, this one can passively transfer all effects and causality directed at itself to another place. Our Divination Skill might be affected by this superpower’s properties, which might have caused our misjudgnt previously.
"In short, we can’t rely on Lu Chan this ti. Mazao ntioned before that she could also use her ability to track targets; could you ask her about it later?"
"Sure, I’ll ask," I said.
"And don’t forget to remind her to be careful not to be discovered by Extraordinaryism," she said seriously. "It’s best not to let Lu Chan know we have found her."
"I understand," I said. "Also, I have a very important question to ask you."
"What question?" she was curious.
"You said before that I can’t encounter the supernatural because my power is too strong, and that the Great Impermanences have the sa issue, right?" I asked.
"Yes, to be precise, besides the Great Impermanences, there are also a very small number of exceptionally powerful demon hunters who face the sa problem," she answered.
"So, how did they solve this problem?" I asked.
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