Chapter 251 VS. the Great Impermanence 1

I started by asking this question: "Morning, regarding the historical information about the Sharpshooter's Head... how much longer will it take to investigate in this direction before we can uncover the true identity of the mastermind behind it all?"

"...It's hard to say." Mazao answered honestly, "If we're lucky, we might be able to find out within this week, but if we're unlucky, even two more months won't guarantee it. The deeds left behind by those at the Great Completion level are also mysterious in nature, and the difficulty of investigating them is much higher than investigating Dr. Silver Mask."

“Then… what if I help too?” I asked.

"You'll help?" she asked, puzzled. "But Zhuang Cheng, you can't investigate historical information, so how can you possibly contribute to this matter?"

I looked at the courtyard constructed from Asahi's memories and said, "I have invaded your soul, and now we are both in this dream... In other words, the fake moon reflected in the water can make our spirits merge. So, can this magical artifact also synchronize our spirits?"

In the past, the young girl Lu Chan shared the "Firefly" sensory network distributed in an independent reality space with me through mental synchronization; conversely, I could also share the information from her exploration spells obtained during this time. It was through this cooperative relationship that we successfully discovered the secret of Chenlong's ability to unleash his full power in an independent reality space. And now, Ma Zao and I could certainly do the same thing.

Her efficiency in investigating historical information was limited by her own mental processing speed, while in my fire elemental form, my mental processing speed was almost excessive. Often, I simply used this supercomputing power as "bullet time," which was a huge waste of the advantage of this attribute.

If I could share this advantage with Asahi through mental synchronization, her efficiency in investigating historical information would increase many times over. Although I haven't formally compared them, based on my past experiences fighting other opponents, my mental processing speed is likely more than a thousand times faster than that of those level 1 and 2 demon hunters.

The key question is whether the illusionary power of the counterfeit moon reflected in the water truly integrates the function of mental synchronization—which is actually the easiest question to solve.

Even if I don't have one, I can ask Fufeng if I can borrow a magical item with similar functions. Fufeng's base is large and powerful; since Fufeng wants to win me over, he shouldn't be stingy with such a small favor.

Moreover, mental synchronization shouldn't be an unattainable effect. Lu Chan wasn't particularly skilled in mental magic as a demon hunter in the past, yet both the young Lu Chan and Lu Youxun possessed a remarkable ability to achieve mental synchronization.

I then explained my entire thought process to Ma Zao, and after listening, she seemed to think it had a chance.

“The fake moon reflected in the water should be able to synchronize mentally,” she said. “Although most of the functions of this magical artifact are malfunctioning, those are basically the advanced and complex parts; the basic parts are still working normally. If it’s just about creating a simple illusion for the target or affecting their mental state, that’s no problem at all, including the mental synchronization part.”

As she spoke, she thought for a moment, then added, "If I learn how to skillfully use illusionary powers and deepen my understanding of illusions, I can do even more. For example, control the five senses, hypnotize and brainwash, modify memories, and so on... In addition, it should also be able to simulate the effect of the Black Rope Heart-Locking Ring, forcing the other party to be unable to remain silent or lie. It might even be more powerful than the original Black Rope Heart-Locking Ring."

Are these just the basic functions of a counterfeit reflection in water? Then what kind of monsters and demons are those advanced and complex parts?

That's when I realized I'd stumbled upon something truly incredible.

“There are certain barriers to using the counterfeit Moon in the Water. You probably can’t use it for mental synchronization yet… but I can. I’ll help you with the operation from now on,” Ma Zao said.

"You can actually use illusion magic?" I was surprised.

Seeing my words, she seemed to smile smugly, but quickly composed herself and said in a nonchalant tone, "I don't know illusion magic, but some of my magical techniques are universal. These are the foundations I learned and trained at the Gospel Academy."

"I've forgotten most of my memories from the Gospel Institute, but have the results of my learning and training not disappeared...?" I pondered.

“Skill memory and event memory are different… I think someone told me that at the Gospel House,” she said.

Although I have never met patients who have experienced normal amnesia (the term "normal amnesiac" might sound a bit strange), I've heard that most amnesiacs, even if they forget their past memories and their identity, won't forget how to speak or write, or how to use chopsticks and other common sense things. Ma Zao's case seems to fall into this category as well.

I handed the fake Moon in the Water to Asahi. Perhaps because this was a dream, I didn't realize I was holding it until I made the gesture. Asahi took it normally and fiddled with it for a bit to figure out how to use it. The real Moon in the Water should still be in my hands, but that didn't seem to prevent her from using this magical item in the dream.

She seemed to quickly figure out how to use the fake moon in the water for mental synchronization, then placed it on her head and summoned the head of the divine spear with her left hand.

Then, like Lu Youxun and the young Lu Chan in the past, she extended her right hand to me. I understood and followed suit, extending my own right hand and gently grasping her small, fair palm.

An invisible object, like the thin string of a paper cup telephone, appeared in my consciousness. One end was connected to me, and the other end was connected to Mazao in front of me. Mental synchronization was successfully achieved.

“Well then, I’m going to begin.” She raised the head of the spear in her left hand.

After I nodded in acknowledgment, she used her power of reversion to investigate the historical information inside the skull. Perhaps because this was a dream, all mental changes unfolded in a form that resembled matter. As soon as Asaha began to act, the head of the Shinjutsu exploded from her left hand, transforming into countless torrents of information that filled my vision.

If this torrent of information were to be described visually, it would be like a mosaic. The iridescent mosaic overwhelmed me like the noise on a distorted television screen. Upon closer inspection, each mosaic tile resembled a tiny screen displaying dynamic images with extremely low resolution.

This is the historical information that Asaho sees as requiring careful sifting—of course, what I see may not be the same as Asaho's actual experience, but it's enough to show her difficulty. Finding specific information from so much fragmented and unpredictable data is like finding a specific grain of sand on a beach. It's not just that "it might take two months to find it if you're unlucky"; for an ordinary person, no matter how much time they're given, they won't find anything.

Perhaps the experienced Asahi has her own tricks. I don't need to think too much for now; I just need to contribute my computing resources. I entered my fire elemental form to observe the mosaic; and through our mental synchronization connection, Asahi seemed to have also gained my perspective and quickly filtered out the unnecessary parts. A large number of mosaics disappeared randomly from my field of vision extremely quickly.

I wonder how long it will take to process all the information at this rate... Just as this thought crossed my mind, Asahi's voice rang in my mind: "It will take an hour if you are fast, and an hour and a half at the latest."

"It can go even faster."

As I spoke, I strengthened my fire elemental body, and my mental processing speed increased dramatically. Asahi exclaimed in my mind in surprise. I felt a sense of pride at being able to do something beyond what my crush expected, but I carefully suppressed and concealed this emotion.

Based on past experiences with mental synchronization, what the person experiencing it with seems to directly hear is merely their surface-level thoughts, so a certain degree of concealment should be feasible. I wonder if Asaho sensed my smugness earlier? If she did, even I would be embarrassed. I still hope I can maintain my composed demeanor in front of her.

Asahi didn't seem to react to this; it seemed she hadn't noticed. I felt slightly relieved. But then, a mysterious change immediately caught my attention.

In that torrent of mosaic information, flowing like the Yellow River, I saw patterns that vaguely resembled human faces emerging. At first, I thought it was just an "overfitting" phenomenon, like how humans might mistake triangular stains on a wall for faces.

Soon, I realized that the pattern was becoming more and more like a blurry human face, and that the other person was looking at me with a dangerous gaze.

I felt a sense of familiarity from the blurry face, just like when I encountered Number Four and Number Six in the past. Behind this "face" seemed to lurk a colossal entity.

The "face" stared at me coldly with an attitude of clear will.

"We've been discovered?" Asaha was shocked.

What happened? — That's what I wanted to ask, but there's really no need to ask anymore. Because I've already guessed the truth of the matter.

This "face" undoubtedly corresponds to the Great Impermanence behind the Divine Shot.

The Great Impermanence has discovered us!

(End of this chapter)