From the end of the world

Chapter 369 Visiting the Heavenly Master

Ma Zao repeated the word "parents" as if he were speaking a foreign language, and then fell silent.

"Ma Zao, do you want to meet your parents?" Zhu Shi asked.

"I... I don't know." Ma Zao said confusedly, "You are talking about the parents of this body, right? But, I don't know if I am the original owner of this body, and I don't know if they are my real parents..."

She had obviously realized the most critical part of the problem. More importantly, because this was probably a problem she had never thought about before and involved unfamiliar concepts she had never come into contact with, it was even more difficult to make a decision.

Perhaps she was not in a state of confusion, but rather a state of mental blankness, where she could not find a foothold, a grip, or even a sense of direction. It was a complete vacuum with no gravity. It was really difficult to ask her where she wanted to go.

"Zhuang Cheng, what should I do?" Ma Zao looked at me for help.

"I think you should meet with them."

I didn't say "this matter should be entirely decided by you". Since she asked me, I gave my opinion directly: "Of course, I know that even if you meet with them, you don't know what to say or what position to talk to them from, so the specific question of 'when to meet' is still up to you.

“When you think you can, start, but don’t use thinking as an excuse to put things off or even give up.

"Don't worry about having to face all this alone. I will be by your side and go with you to meet them."

After hearing the last part, Ma Zao's tense expression gradually relaxed, and finally revealed a look of relief.

"...I see." She said, "Then...I want to meet them after I know who I am.

"Am I their real daughter, or am I an evil spirit that has taken over their daughter's body? I want to at least figure this out before I meet them."

There is nothing wrong with this request, and it can even be said to be a matter of course. If it were me, before talking to others, I would at least confirm whether I am the enemy or the partner of the other party, otherwise I would not know how to weave the words.

At this moment, Zhu Shi seemed to remember something, turned around and said to me: "By the way...Brother Zhuang, you can't stay out of this."

"I didn't intend to stay out of it in the first place," I said. "I just said that I would accompany Ma Zao to meet her parents."

Zhu Shi said with a constipated look on his face: "No, what I mean is... how are you going to tell Ma Zao's parents that you plan to confess your love to their daughter who was only ten years old when she became a vegetable?"

"…It's not a 'plan'. I've already confessed to Ma," I said.

"Ah!?" Zhu Shi was shocked. "Wait... Although I see that the way you two get along with each other seems to have become a little closer in the past three days, but... you actually listened to my advice and went for it!?"

She quickly looked at Ma Zao, "Is this true?!"

"Really." Ma Zao nodded.

“That Senior Brother Zhuang who is always dragging his feet and looking back on the past actually…” Zhu Shi seemed to have a brain overload.

"Come to think of it...if I hadn't confessed yet, wouldn't what you said just now have revealed my plan to the world?" I asked.

"Uh uh... this is indeed my fault! But Senior Brother Zhuang, how are you going to tell Ma Zao's parents?" Zhu Shi asked.

"..." I turned to Ma Zao and said, "Ma Zao, I think you should take your time to think about meeting your parents. You don't need to be so anxious..."

"Didn't you say that what you hate most is procrastination and hesitation?" Zhu Shi complained.

I picked up the plate on the bedside table, "By the way, Zhu Shi, I asked you at the beginning if you wanted to eat cake, do you want to eat it?"

"You must eat it! But don't think you can get away with it this way!"

Then Zhu Shi took a bite of the cake and praised it highly. He hugged Ma Zao and continued to praise him, and soon forgot about the previous topic.

What I said before was just a joke. Of course, I will tell Ma Zao's parents about my relationship. I am not sure whether they will agree, but I will not give up even if they oppose it.

It is not necessary for me to get the approval of the other party's parents. It would be best if they can give their blessing. If they cannot give their blessing, I can just continue the relationship without their blessing.

By the afternoon, I was feeling much better, at least I no longer felt the slight motion sickness. Although I was still a long way from fully recovering, there was nothing to worry about, and I could leave the sanatorium tomorrow.

It is time to visit Gua Tianshi and Shenzhao. Needless to say, the reason for visiting Shenzhao is that although I have no motivation to confront the Lord of Divine Seal at the moment, just in case, I may need to learn from other Void Realm Apostles - especially from other Great Impermanence-level Void Realm Apostles about their analysis of the Lord of Divine Seal.

If it wasn't for the chance encounter, I probably wouldn't have made a special trip to meet Shen Zhao, but now we are so close, and he even took the initiative to give me a token, so it is reasonable for me to go.

As for visiting the Gua Tianshi, it was to ask about matters related to the doomsday prophecy.

From what Mingzhu said when I suppressed him, it can be seen that the Great Impermanence of Luoshan does not take the existence of the end of the world lightly, so this time I can ask Gua Tianshi about the specific attitude of the Great Impermanence towards the end of the world. I didn't think of this when I was talking to Fazheng just now, and I can ask Fazheng's opinion in person later.

Zhu Shi left the sanatorium first after eating the cake. When I was leaving, Ma Zao also planned to follow.

"I want to ask the hexagram master in person," she said. "Is that okay?"

I thought about it and said, "Okay."

Unlike Ming Zhuo, Gua Tianshi had no ill will towards Ma Zao. When I first met Gua Tianshi, although Ma Zao fled as soon as possible as agreed, if Gua Tianshi wanted to do something, Ma Zao would not be able to escape with his Cheng-level power at that time.

We moved together towards Gua Tianshi's residence.

The inner circle of Luoshan Headquarters is basically used for official business, and the private residences of the Great Wuchang are all built on the periphery of Luoshan Headquarters. Gua Tianshi's residence is an antique Chinese courtyard, somewhat like the tourist garden I entered when I first saw the Water Master Xuanwu in Yueyin Mountain City.

There were two guards at the entrance. Before I could show my token, they recognized my face, showed awe, and then respectfully invited me in. One of the guards acted as a guide and led us to where Gua Tianshi was.

There were some birds and animals in the grass and woods on both sides of the courtyard road, and there were monkeys and other animals playing in the woods. It seemed that herbivores and carnivores lived together, but there was no conflict between them, and they were not wary of humans. When we walked on the road, the animals looked at us with a calm attitude.

I recognize some of the animals, such as foxes, sheep, and the red-crowned crane, a national first-class protected animal; but I cannot recognize some of the animals, they might be monsters or the like, they still vaguely exude fluctuations of power, but they are lying lazily on the grass, without any threat to the outside world.

"Some of the creatures here are very dangerous," said the guard. "Although they look quite gentle, if you enter here without a token, you might be suddenly attacked by them. So they also have a guarding function."

"Really? Then..." I handed the token from Gua Tianshi to Ma Zao.

Ma Zao took the token from me out of habit, then blinked and said, "I don't need this..."

I just remembered that Ma Zao now has the power of the Great Perfection level. No, it's not that I forgot, but in many cases, I still habitually treat Ma Zao as someone who needs my protection.

No matter how dangerous the monsters here are, they are not enough to threaten a master who has reached the Great Perfection level. But it would be a bit awkward to take back something that I have given away, so I left the token with Ma Zao.

Ordinary people may worry about being attacked by animals here, but as long as you regard animals as part of the scenery, the natural scenery here is quite pleasant. The air is also very fresh, which has a completely different charm from the urban scenery. You may even find the urban scenery you are accustomed to look disgusting.

Compared with the long evolution of human genes, the modernization of human civilization is still too short, so there is probably still a lot of instinctive closeness to the natural world remaining in human genes.

By the way, the primeval forest that was destroyed on a large scale when I fought Mingzhu was said to have been restored by Gua Tianshi. I used "Firefly" to see it, and the primeval forest that seemed to have been baptized by countless nuclear bombs reappeared there as if nothing had happened.

There seem to be some spells in Luoshan that are used to "repair damaged objects", but those spells are either unable to actually restore the objects to their original form, or can only repair a few specific categories of objects, or can repair everything and can perfectly restore them to their original form, but they require a lot of mana and are also small in scale.

However, as long as we are under the boundless power of Great Impermanence, those problems are not a problem at all.

Maybe the Taoist priest only used ordinary spells similar to those of the witchers, but relying on his immense power, he easily accomplished miracles that the witchers could not accomplish in their entire lives.

The guard soon brought us to a pavilion, where Master Gua Tianshi was sitting, quietly sipping tea.

This time he did not transform into a mythical beast from the Classic of Mountains and Seas as he did when we first met, but sat under the pavilion in the form of an old man with a Taoist spirit. The guard saluted him, and after he nodded, he left silently.

"Master of Fortune Telling, here I come," I said.

"Welcome." Gua Tianshi smiled slightly, "I was worried that you wouldn't come."

I asked back, “Do you really need to worry about this?”

Now, I can already see what Gua Tianshi's Law of Heaven and Earth is.

"I didn't expect there was a law of heaven and earth that could control destiny," I said.

(End of this chapter)