From the end of the world

Chapter 321: Divine Elixir
Soon, I sensed the thermal energy signs inside Yin Yue's body.

But that was all I could do. I could only sense the existence of this heat energy mark, and then grasp Yin Yue's physical state, but I couldn't lock onto Yin Yue's specific spatial coordinates at this moment. When I wanted to observe the scene where Yin Yue was, I felt as if a gray fog had appeared in my perception field, and I couldn't see the specific situation over there.

It's the grey mist that's obstructing my perception.

To be honest, I was a little surprised. It wasn't because the gray mist could block my perception, but because the gray mist couldn't completely block my perception. This is the power of the fragment of the divine seal. According to past experience, it would not be more difficult to cut off the connection between me and the thermal energy mark than to cut the spider silk with an iron knife.

Previously, I used my own flames to hinder the gray mist, and the gray mist was really affected by me. Although it was only affected for a second or two, and was quickly suppressed, my power could actually have an effect on the power of the divine seal that changed the world.

This is also irrefutable proof that I have become stronger.

Unfortunately, I can only do this now. If I want to suppress the gray mist, I don’t know how long it will take. And...

I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to become stronger in the future.

My potential has been fully realized. I can feel that the power that has been accumulated in the depths of my soul has been transformed into firepower that I can control. From now on, no matter how powerful the enemy is, or how terrible the danger is, I can no longer become stronger in the crisis like before. Now I am a complete body.

In the past, I was a person with unlimited potential and qualifications for Great Impermanence, and now I am Great Impermanence.

If you want to continue to grow, you have to work hard in other directions to see if you can apply what you have learned to other situations, or delve into the techniques of using strength and so on.

I'm afraid I can't count on the former, because I don't have any talent other than controlling the power of fire due to the Suzaku seed of Shan Liangyi. I can explore the direction of "refining weapons", but considering my strange performance in this area, I always feel that it won't be so smooth.

As for the latter... let's take it one step at a time.

It's not like I haven't thought about studying the techniques of using mana before, but when my strength is still growing by leaps and bounds, it's better to focus on releasing my strength than to spend time and energy studying techniques. Maybe the techniques I just learned yesterday won't match my stronger strength tomorrow. Now that my strength can't continue to improve, I can only rely on the chemical reaction that techniques bring to me.

For now, let's focus on Yin Yue. In fact, I more or less understand where Yin Yue has been taken now. This feeling of being blocked by the gray fog is somewhat similar to an experience I had in the past - that is, when I was in an independent real space.

At that time, I also had difficulty communicating with the "fireflies" I set up in the real world. Now the shielding strength has been strengthened by who knows how many times, but it has not yet reached the point where I can't recognize it. As an aside, I don't know if I'm overthinking or what, but the shielding strength between the other space has been strengthened to this extent, and for some reason it reminds me of the isolation experience in the basement on the 15th floor.

The current Yin Yue has probably been transferred to an independent real space set up somewhere else by Ying Lingyun.

In the last independent reality space, I was able to ignore the firewall and forcibly invade by relying on my identity as a holder of the divine seal fragment and flame teleportation, but the current independent reality space may have changed the firewall mechanism, or simply and crudely added a blacklist mechanism of "Zhuang Cheng is not allowed to enter", making it impossible for me to do the same thing.

For Yin Yue, falling into Ying Lingyun's hands is a more unacceptable situation than falling into my hands. At least for now, I have not found a way to eliminate her alone and leave Chang'an, but Ying Lingyun may have a way to revive the real Yin Yue with her as a living sacrifice. From this point of view, except for Gua Tianshi who wants to invite her to join his camp, this Yin Yue is really an enemy of the world.

Ying Lingyun's goal conflicts with mine. I cannot allow Ying Lingyun to consume Yin Yue as a living sacrifice, because that is equivalent to consuming Chang An as a living sacrifice. Fortunately, I don't need to worry too much about Ying Lingyun putting it into practice at such an early stage. With Yin Yue now in a state of being burned to pieces, it is very likely that she will not be able to serve as a living sacrifice to revive the real Yin Yue.

Ying Lingyun should try to cure Yin Yue first, which must be a very difficult task. After all, it was a burn left by me, the Great Impermanence. Although it may not be as severe as Xuan Ming's, it is far from being comparable to normal burns. Of course, if he wants to use the power of the God Seal fragment in this matter, the matter will be different.

Since I couldn't successfully invade where Silver Moon was, I could only withdraw my attention. At this moment, I sensed something else. Nearby, there was the flame and heat I left behind.

The area around Yueyin Mountain is now full of my embers, but the reaction coming from somewhere is different. Although its presence is so weak that I almost ignored it, it is undoubtedly the reaction coming from "the person I killed."

The source was not far from the top of the mountain. I followed this reaction and moved towards it, going deep into the dilapidated forest, and soon found the target.

It was the navy master Xuanwu. He used the rock protruding from the ground in the forest as a stool and sat on it with a gloomy look on his face. When he saw me approaching, he raised his eyes and glanced at me, and his consciousness seemed to be unclear.

He was already a corpse.

It's not a cheap description. He looks like he's still conscious, but he's actually no different from being dead. I don't know how to define his current state. Maybe I can use some aquatic animals as an example.

Take crabs for example. I used to hear people say that dead crabs should not be eaten, and I was puzzled. No matter what animal you eat, people basically kill it first and then cook it. Some livestock can be cooked if they have just died, but for some reason, this is not allowed for crabs.

Later, I looked up information and found out that arthropods, such as crabs, can continue to live even if most of their body parts are dead and decayed. On the other hand, if they are already dead, even if they have just died, their bodies may have been decaying for an unknown period of time.

Humans die first and then become corpses, but many crabs become corpses first and then choose a time to die.

The navy Xuanwu actually also showed similar properties.

My flames had undoubtedly killed him, but who could have expected that he could continue to move for a while after being killed.

At the same time, I also understood how Yin Yue was taken away. The person who took Yin Yue away should be the water master Xuanwu. While I was invading Yin Yue's spiritual world, he used the pre-prepared means of transmission to teleport the immobile Yin Yue to an independent reality space somewhere unknown. In his original plan, this means should be the trump card to capture Yin Yue alive. The independent reality space is Ying Lingyun's world. Once teleported there, even Yin Yue can only become a turtle in a jar.

The reason why the gray mist suddenly appeared in the dream before was probably because Yin Yue had been teleported to an independent reality space by the Water Master Xuanwu, and the firewall mechanism wanted to force me to log out. It was not that Ying Lingyun could manipulate the gray mist at will, it was just a passive manifestation of the mechanism.

The reason why I couldn't sense the activities of the Water Master Xuanwu was because he was essentially a dead man without any breath. This was a "great feat" that only a character like him, who was close to the Great Impermanence and had an innate attribute advantage over me, could accomplish when on the verge of death.

He looked at me for a long while before he sighed, "...I never thought there would be someone who could open the second door naturally."

"The second door?" I asked.

"Demon hunters have two major limits, which are also described as two gates. Those who break through the first gate reach the great success stage; and those who break through the second gate reach the great impermanence," he said.

"I see. Thank you for your advice."

I thought of other things, but here, I still focused on talking to him: "You are the one who took Yin Yue away, and you are almost dead. It's a miracle that you can talk to me now... Why do you have to go to this extent?"

"What did you say?" he asked back.

"If you had not spent your time trying to take Yin Yue away, but had focused on escaping, combined with your ability to make elixirs, you might have had a chance to save your life from me—just like when you escaped from Xuan Ming." I said, "Do you have such a good relationship with Ying Lingyun that you would have to do this for him?"

"No, Ying Lingyun and I are not friends. We are just casual acquaintances, and our relationship is mutually beneficial." He said, "However, I owe him a favor, so I made a promise to him that I would definitely bring Yin Yue to him.

"I have lived for hundreds of years. During this long time, I have changed my appearance, my name, and my personality... but I have never broken a promise. I will do my best to fulfill any promise I make. This is what I am most proud of, and it is also the last thing that makes me feel that 'I am who I am'.

“If a person does not work for himself, heaven and earth will punish him… If a person does not insist on being himself, heaven and earth will not allow him to exist.

"So even if I die, I will stick to what I said to the end."

There was no trace of regret in his eyes, and I couldn't help but admire him in my heart, and then asked: "Then... why didn't you teleport yourself and Yin Yue away together?
"Based on my own experience, Ying Lingyun should be able to restart time infinitely in his independent reality space. Although this restart cannot repair the soul you lost in the outside world, it may be able to barely keep you alive.

"And in the future, maybe he will be kind enough to revive you. Of course, that would make you owe him a huge favor again, but at least you might not have to die."

"Because I also have a promise to you." He said calmly, "The future, maybe, certainty and possibility... I don't care about those things. I won't base what I have to do on such uncertainty.

"Have you forgotten? I told you that even if you kill me, I will find a way to deliver the elixir to you...

"Now is the time for me to fulfill my promise to you."

After saying this, he raised his palm, and his whole body lost all color, like a human shape made of water. Water-colored magic light dripped out from his body and quickly gathered towards his palm. His body became more and more transparent in the light.

"My soul is needed to make the Shenkui Elixir. Since my soul is about to fly away anyway, I will refine it for you here and there," he said.

"...Do you have any last words?" I asked. "If it's not too much trouble, I can help you do it."

"I appreciate your kindness, but I don't want to owe anyone a favor before I die. Now that I can disappear so cleanly, I feel quite happy." He said, "But... I do have something to say to you.

"This is my final warning, Zhuang Cheng, you must be careful -

"Although it may be different from the spiritual manifestation I know, what you have is undoubtedly the spiritual manifestation talent, which is also the talent that Shan Liangyi wants the most. He has been plundering the power of others and turning it into his own, and you are his most ideal prey... He will never let you go.

"So... become stronger, Zhuang Cheng.

"Become so strong that even Shan Liangyi will find it unbelievable, and then use that power to defeat him."

After hearing these words, I nodded and said, "Of course."

The water master Xuanwu slowly closed his eyes, his whole body collapsed, and turned into a pool of water that scattered on the ground.

There was only a water-colored elixir suspended in the air, emitting a faint fluorescence in the deep night.

(End of this chapter)