From the end of the world

Chapter 386 The Price of Becoming Stronger 2
I have never worried about how to gain more power in the past, but at this moment, I seem to have finally faced the difficulties of practicing as a demon hunter, and I started with the most difficult level.

In my own case, if I simply want to gain power and am willing to kill myself with a heart of giving up and hatch a new self, the most efficient way is to completely give up taking risks.

I reflexively rejected this idea, but at the same time, out of an exploratory mentality, I tried to imagine what specific actions I could take to give up the risk.

First of all, if I just tell people around me that I won't continue to take risks, and lock myself in the house, it doesn't mean I'm completely giving up on taking risks, it just means I'm pausing on taking risks. Because it's entirely possible that I'll change my mind at some point and go on an adventure again. I still have a huge mental fallback.

You must lose the hard conditions for taking risks, such as voluntarily giving up your superpowers and turning yourself into an ordinary person.

It's not that if I lose my superpowers, I will lose the courage and desire to take risks. It's just that I know very well how dangerous the strange world is, and how easy it is for mortals without power to die. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of dying early before I take the first step of the adventure and experience many storms.

Therefore, for me, possessing superpowers is a major foundation for adventures in the weird world. To give up superpowers by one's own will, one must have the same idea as giving up adventures.

Obviously, this is putting the cart before the horse.

In order to push one's superpowers to a higher level, one must demonstrate through actions the determination to completely abandon superpowers. This sounds contradictory.

More importantly, before talking about whether I could voluntarily give up taking risks, I couldn’t even imagine myself giving up taking risks.

Of course, I have a second option, which is to give up on Mazao and become a cold-blooded person who cares about nothing except the adventures he dreams of. I am not afraid to sacrifice Mazao's future safety and happiness, and use him purely as a tool to carry the jinx's physique.

In the past, I looked at those who regretted the choices they made, and I felt indifferent. But now, I still don’t regret the choices I made in the past or may make in the future, but I have more understanding.

I began to think too much about the choice, but if the choice really came to me, I had a hunch that I would still make a decision without hesitation and quickly rationalize my behavior in my mind. I have a full understanding of my cold-blooded side, and on the other hand, I may also secretly spit on my cold-bloodedness.

I think it's not because I've become weak, but because I've discovered something about myself that I haven't discovered before. People are all contradictory and suffer from contradictions. I am also such a collection of contradictions. Perhaps this contradiction will become internal friction and reduce the upper limit of mana.

By giving up my love for Ma Zao, I can cut off my own contradictions and reshape myself into a more powerful self.

“If you want to gain the correct understanding of the Dharma, don’t be influenced by others. Look inward and outward, and kill whatever you meet…” I recited the words of the old fist god, “When you meet a Buddha, kill the Buddha; when you meet an ancestor, kill the ancestor; when you meet an Arhat, kill the Arhat; when you meet your parents, kill your parents; when you meet your relatives, kill your relatives. Only then can you be liberated, not bound by things, and be free and at ease.”

If I remember correctly, this murderous-sounding passage is a quote from the Linji Records of the Tang Dynasty, which had a significant influence on the Zen Buddhism of later generations. I wonder if the old boxing god has done the same thing in the past, killing anyone who hinders his pursuit of the truth?

And now, the person he had killed without mercy finally became the one he had sought.

I don't quite understand the old fist god's motive for opening the fourth door. He is obviously not very interested in mana, and even regards it as an obstacle to martial arts practice. Why is he now pursuing a breakthrough in mana? Did he finally feel that mana is better than martial arts? But if that's the case, the object he should give up should not be martial arts, but mana.

As for myself, although I really want to be more powerful, unlike Yuchi, I am not so eager for quick success that I would give up taking risks or being incompetent to improve myself. What the old boxing god showed me and Yuchi may be the right way to practice in a sense, but it is also the evil way under normal moral concepts. Now I still have skills and "slag" to help me become stronger, so it seems unnecessary to get involved in that kind of thing.

I thanked and said goodbye to Gua Tianshi and returned to where I lived.
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I haven't met Shenzhao these days, but I did meet Yuchi once again. He is now helping Shenzhao and preparing for the assassination of the Lord of the Divine Seal. Shenzhao seems to be planning to enter the virtual realm in the formation set up by Yuchi, and use the formation to extract the power of the ownerless Divine Seal fragments to support himself after entering the virtual realm.

Shenzhao definitely has no way of grasping the timing of entering the virtual realm. He probably wants to stay inside the formation until he is pulled into the virtual realm. However, I also heard from Fazheng about his recent plan, saying that he also intends to join Fazheng in attacking the headquarters of the Humanitarian Department. It is estimated that Shenzhao is interested in Ying Lingyun's technology of using the power of the divine seal fragments, and wants to absorb and digest it to supplement his plan to assassinate the master of the divine seal.

Because Yuchi frequently visited Shenzhao, there seemed to be rumors in Luoshan headquarters that Yuchi was planning to switch to the Transcendentalism. Yuchi also complained a little when chatting with me privately, but he had no intention of giving up. For his plan to become stronger in order to kill the old fist god, it seemed necessary to assist Shenzhao at this stage.

"The basis for Shenzhao's success in assassinating the Lord of the Divine Seal is that 'the Lord of the Divine Seal is just a mortal, so he can't skillfully control the power of the Divine Seal', but I have a question..." I said, "What if the Lord of the Divine Seal made a wish to the Divine Seal, allowing himself to perfectly and skillfully control the power of the Divine Seal, or made a wish that his own body also has a power far beyond the Great Impermanence and can perfectly and skillfully control it? Wouldn't the premise of Shenzhao's assassination plan collapse immediately in this way?"

"Shen Zhao also considered this kind of accident, and he finally said that it was impossible. The Lord of the Divine Seal showed the characteristics of a powerless mortal forcibly manipulating huge power, which is enough to prove that the Lord of the Divine Seal has never made a similar wish to himself before." Yuchi said, "Of course, because we can't completely rule out the possibility that he will make a wish later, so it is very important to decide the outcome with one strike."

"Why didn't the Lord of the Divine Seal make such a wish before?" I asked.

"Not counting the possibility that the Lord of the Divine Seal was careless, the biggest possibility is... when the Lord of the Divine Seal obtained the Divine Seal, it was already in a fragmented state, so the wishing function also became inoperative, or not so convenient." Yuchi said, "In fact, judging from the Lord of the Divine Seal's past performance, the possibility that he cannot use the Divine Seal normally is extremely high.

"And it is precisely in order to restore the Divine Seal to its complete state that he needs us, the Void Realm Apostles, to help him collect the fragments of the Divine Seal."

I also agree with his speculation: "If he can realize all his wishes now, then he doesn't need us, the Void Realm Apostles... From this point of view, the possibility of him wishing to perfectly control the power of the Divine Seal is almost zero. Even if he fails to win in one blow, he may not lose the chance of winning."

"I thought so too. However, although Shen Zhao always belittled the Lord of Divine Seal as a mortal, he actually did not underestimate the Lord of Divine Seal that much, but really armed himself to the teeth." Yuchi also sighed, "Sometimes he would think of some ideas temporarily, and then asked me to help him realize them, and he also made a lot of arrangements himself.

"I'm afraid even Xuan Ming would be afraid to approach Shen Zhao after seeing him, who usually doesn't get along with him, making so many murderous preparations in his own home."

Shen Zhao may be wary of the Lord of the Divine Seal for other reasons.

You have to know that the fragments of the divine seal are divine objects that people without related destiny cannot even touch, so what about the complete divine seal? It is incorrect to simply regard the owner of the divine seal as "a mortal who just got lucky and picked up a divine artifact." Even if he is really a mortal, he is a mortal with a huge destiny that cannot be guessed by common sense.

However, it is also possible that the Lord of the Divine Seal himself made the setting that "a fragment of the Divine Seal must have a related destiny before it can be picked up". Judging from his past claim that he could add new Void Realm Apostles, although he was not so arbitrary, he seemed to be able to influence other fragments of the Divine Seal and their holders within a certain limit.

By the way, of the three ownerless divine seal fragments given to me by Shen Zhao, I gave two of them to Ma Zao and Zhu Shi for safekeeping.

As expected, Ma was able to touch the fragments of the Divine Seal early on. The fate between me and the fragments of the Divine Seal was most likely formed under her influence. In the past, she could even touch the fragments of the Divine Seal that were bound to me; and Zhu Shi could also touch the ownerless fragments of the Divine Seal normally. Considering that Xiaowan, who is probably the same person as her, is an apostle of the Void Realm who has a huge fate with the fragments of the Divine Seal, it is not surprising that Zhu Shi himself can do this.

Unlike me, neither of them had a binding reaction when they came into contact with the fragment of the divine seal, they could only touch it. This was also included in the calculation. The fragment of the divine seal that was implanted in the heart of Dr. Silver Mask was also treated as an ownerless fragment by the fragment of the divine seal that was bound to me.

In order to avoid the risk of being forcibly recruited by the Lord of the Divine Seal as an Apostle of the Void Realm in the future, I suggested that Ma Zao and Zhu Shi should not keep the fragments of the Divine Seal close to them, but the two seemed to have different opinions on this.

(End of this chapter)