Chapter 160 Dragon 2

Chenlong—that's how Lu Youxun referred to that enemy at the Great Completion level.

His attitude went far beyond simply knowing the other person; it was mixed with rather complex and extremely deep emotions.

"Chenlong?" Old Mr. Zhu murmured the name, his brows furrowing. "This name...it sounds familiar..."

"Wait, isn't Chenlong that one? He betrayed Luoshan two years ago, and also..."

On the contrary, Zhu Shi immediately recalled it.

But then she suddenly stopped, glancing at Lu Youxun with concern.

The latter shook his head and said calmly, "Just say it directly."

"Is the 'Chenlong' in the Chinese zodiac?" I asked.

The dragon is one of the twelve zodiac animals. The ancients paired it with "Chen" from the twelve earthly branches, thus creating the term "Chen dragon." The concepts of the rat, ox, tiger, etc., also arose from pairing earthly branches with zodiac animals.

“Yes, ‘Chenlong’ is the code name of that Great Completion level demon hunter. He was also Lu Chan’s former partner.” Zhu Shi looked at Lu Youxun again and then explained to me, “You should remember that I told you before that Lu Chan was attacked by the Humanitarian Division when he was at his weakest two years ago, which is why he was captured by them.”

"That's right." I nodded, then realized something was wrong. "—Hmm? At her weakest?"

It wasn't until she brought this up again that I realized something was wrong with that statement.

Why did Lu Youxun experience his "weakest moment"?

In the past, Lu Youxun was a level-one impermanent being who possessed the supernatural power of "possibility clones." He could summon countless versions of himself, each representing a different possibility, and form a network of consciousness at any time. Even if his main body accidentally became weak, it would not prevent him from manipulating countless clones to continue fighting.

At worst, he can combine multiple "possibility" clones with himself like a monster creator. Even if he is poisoned, severely injured, or killed on the spot, he can still make a comeback in full force.

Moreover, given his consciousness network, he shouldn't even have a physical body. All his "possible clones" are his true self; if one had to define him, the real him is that consciousness network itself. The Humanitarian Division simply taking one of his individuals to their base doesn't constitute true capture.

What kind of deity would have the ability to capture him alive?

“The reason Lu Chan was in a weak state was because Chen Long… his most trusted comrade-in-arms betrayed him,” Zhu Shi said. “I don’t know the specifics, but after that, Lu Chan was imprisoned and studied by the Humanitarian Affairs Department, while Chen Long disappeared. It wasn’t until Lu Chan escaped from the Humanitarian Affairs Department’s stronghold that Luo Shan learned that Chen Long had defected to the Humanitarian Affairs Department and labeled him a traitor.”

"He is indeed connected with the Humanitarian Affairs Department."

I accepted this fact, but there were still things I couldn't understand: "But why would a Demon Hunter at the Great Completion level stand on the side of the Humanity Division?"

“…First of all, Chenlong at that time was not yet at the Great Completion level, but at the Completion level, the same as me.” Lu Youxun finally spoke.

He took a deep breath, as if to gather his thoughts and words, and then told us the truth of the past.

Long ago, Lu Chan, Chen Long, and a Wu Chang named "Divine Spear" formed a well-known three-person team within Luoshan, and they fought against many strange creatures and evil demon hunters. Later, due to differences in ideals, Divine Spear parted ways with the two, and the three-person team became a two-person team.

The so-called ideological clash is a conflict between transcendence and social order. The Sharpshooter is a transcendentalist who believes that Witchers should completely overthrow the existing social order and rule over all living beings as gods.

Lu Chan and Chen Long in the past were proponents of social order. Like Zhu Shi, they believed that powerful demon hunters should integrate into the existing social order and gently guide the coexistence of secular society and the supernatural world.

Both of the latter sincerely hope that the world will become a better place, that witchers can walk openly into society, that ordinary people without power can be free from the threat of monsters, that the strong can treat the weak kindly, and that the weak can use their intelligence and wisdom to build a better civilization with the power of knowledge and technology.

They firmly believe that they are fighting for such a future.

However, on some unknown day, in a place unseen by Lu Chan... Chen Long was ambushed and imprisoned by the "Silver Mask," who hypnotized and brainwashed him, altering his self-awareness and common sense, and even forcibly modified his body.

It wasn't until the moment of betrayal that Lu Chan realized his former partner's spirit had crumbled beyond recognition.

Listening to Lu Youxun's abrupt and shocking statement, I tried to swallow my astonishment and compare it with the image of Chenlong in my mind.

"No... Huh? Surprise attack and imprisonment, hypnosis and brainwashing... modification of common sense, physical modification? And he was even ordered by the executives of an evil organization to assassinate his own people, turning his former comrades into new victims... What does all this have to do with anything?"

Zhu Shi was dumbfounded, heaven knows what she had been thinking, and then she continued, "And who is that 'silver mask'? Uh... is it my father?"

Lu Youxun nodded and said, "I only recently learned that the true identity of the Silver Mask... the creator of the monster is Ying Lingyun."

"Physical modification is one thing, that's the specialty of the Humanity Department. I can understand that my father was able to ambush and defeat a level-one Wuchang, he even defeated a Great Completion level demon in the past... But he can also brainwash people?" Zhu Shi asked.

“That’s not impossible,” said Old Master Zhu. “The ‘Moon in the Water’ that the Great Demon Silver Moon gave him was a magical artifact that could replicate supernatural powers. Perhaps he copied the brainwashing ability from somewhere. In fact, even if he didn’t copy other people’s powers, the ‘Moon in the Water’ itself was a powerful illusion artifact that defied common sense.”

"The reason why that magical artifact can replicate any supernatural power is because it contains the supernatural power possessed by the great demon Silver Moon herself, namely the ultimate illusion power of 'turning illusion into reality'."

"If Ying Lingyun can truly understand 'Moon in the Water' in his human form, brainwashing a mere level-one Wuchang would be a piece of cake."

"Turning illusions into reality... wouldn't that make you invincible?" Zhu Shi asked in astonishment. "What are the conditions or costs for this ability?"

"As far as I know, Silvermoon always uses this ability at will," said Mr. Zhu.

"Then how exactly did my father kill Yinyue?" Zhu Shi asked.

That's what I thought too. "Turning illusions into reality"—despite being such a simple description, it's arguably the most outrageous superpower I've ever heard of, bar none. Ma Zao's "Return" and Zhu Shi's "Mount Buzhou" pale in comparison, not to mention my simple and unadorned "Flame Manipulation."

This is practically a walking divine seal, isn't it?

I previously thought Chenlong's teleportation armor was already overpowered enough, but I never expected there to be something even stronger. And this is only at the Great Completion level; what will the Great Impermanence level be like?

I decided to steer the conversation back on track and looked at Lu Youxun.

"But I still don't understand, with your past abilities, how could you have actually been captured alive? What about your 'possible clones' and consciousness network?"

"I was forcibly paralyzed by Chenlong's superpowers," he replied.

"If I remember correctly, Chenlong's special ability should be 'comprehensive enhancement', right? The specific effect seems to be..." Zhu Shi seemed to be recalling.

Lu Youxun then picked up where she left off: "The effect is that it can enhance any ability. Perception, speed, and strength go without saying, but it can also enhance the effects of other spells and special abilities, and even enhance the power of your companions."

“My ‘possibility clone’ can also be amplified by his ‘comprehensive enhancement’, thus enabling me to summon self possibilities that I cannot normally summon, such as ‘becoming the Great Accomplishment Level Impermanence’ or ‘becoming a Great Scientist’. If I put in more effort, I can even try to summon the possibility of ‘becoming a national leader who launches the Third World War’.”

"...No wonder you used to team up with him so often." Zhu Shi seemed to have almost run out of energy to even complain. "But what does that have to do with his ability to paralyze your powers?"

“Although his superpower is very powerful, there is a problem: if the enhancement is not controlled properly, it will overload the enhanced object, and in the worst case, it will cause the object to explode on the spot,” Lu Youxun said expressionlessly. “At that time, he overused his superpower on my consciousness network, causing all my clones to be destroyed on the spot, and I myself was seriously injured and temporarily unable to use special abilities. Then I had to fight against the assassins of the Humanitarian Division in that state, and finally I was defeated.”

"I see……"

Upon hearing this, I made other connections and asked, "Could this ability also be used to enhance one's sixth sense, or to enhance abilities such as 'shadow manipulation'?"

“Yes, it’s possible,” Lu Youxun said. “The ‘teleportation armor’ you mentioned earlier is probably the result of combining his ‘comprehensive enhancement’ and ‘shadow manipulation’. It would be impossible for an ordinary monster to achieve that kind of skill with the power of shadow manipulation. It’s a qualitative change that can only be produced by combining the two.”

In other words, Chenlong's portal armor is probably just like the shadow portals of ordinary monsters. It still has the weakness of being destroyed by external offensive magic. However, his "comprehensive enhancement" has made this weakness, along with the other weaknesses, extremely strong, giving it practical combat significance.

"Comprehensive Enhancement" sounds simple, but it is actually an extremely powerful superpower.

Perhaps it's not just Lu Youxun's "possibility clones" and the strange man's "shadow manipulation" that Chenlong's "comprehensive enhancement" can turn many seemingly worthless superpowers into dazzling divine skills.

"So, in your opinion, could Chenlong be the original source of all the monsters mentioned in the information you gave me before?" I asked.

(End of this chapter)