Chapter 252 VS. the Great Impermanence 2

In some myths and beliefs, one can receive the protection of a deity simply by reciting their name. This can also be interpreted as the deity paying attention to and bestowing power upon those who recite their name.

Since the Great Impermanence is regarded as a being similar to a deity, it may also possess the same mysterious power—the power to sense when information related to itself is touched.

To rashly explore the secrets of the gods is a taboo act. Investigating the actions of the Great Impermanence behind the Divine Spear is undoubtedly a transgression. This also means that the Divine Spear's head truly contains information related to the Great Impermanence behind it; otherwise, the other party would not have revealed itself at this time. And now, we must pay the price.

We are about to face the power of great uncertainty.

A blurry face, appearing amidst a torrent of pixelated information, coldly observed us, then focused its gaze on my face and uttered a name: "—Xuanming?"

“No, you’re not Xuanming…” He continued, denying it to himself, then seemed to understand my identity. “So that’s it. You’re the brat who killed the sharpshooter not long ago, and the person next to you is the one who came back from the dead…”

"You must be the Great Impermanence who wields the divine spear," I said.

He seemed not to hear me and continued speaking as if he didn't care: "I don't need you. The girl stays, and you can die here."

The moment he handed down the death sentence, it wasn't him or me who struck first, but Asahi.

A violent surge of magical power erupted from Ma Zao—the power of return. The dream world we were in suddenly blurred, and a sense of detachment washed over us. I immediately realized what she was doing; she was using the power of return to dispel our dream state and log us out of this dream world.

Almost simultaneously, the dream became clear again, even more so than before. Asahi's power of return only had time to begin before vanishing completely. Clearly, a blurry face had done something to prevent Asahi from logging out. Asahi reacted with a chilling expression.

"I have taken control of this dream; you cannot escape it."

The blurry face's tone wasn't fast, but paradoxically, the information seemed to appear instantly and completely in our minds, like a transmission of intent. As Ma Zao made her movements and the blurry face spoke, I also made my own attack.

I should have attacked sooner, but if possible, I'd prefer to retreat first, as Asahi had suggested. To plan a retreat from an enemy I've been pursuing for so long is shameful; moreover, I had previously issued a challenge to the enemy, making this cowardly behavior even more disgraceful. I had clearly stated that I would take the initiative to seek them out, and now that the enemy had come to me, how could I turn and run? But this situation is truly terrible.

It wasn't just because Asa was already by my side, but also because this place was simply unsuitable as a battlefield. This was Asa's mental world, the interior of her soul. To fight the Great Impermanence in such a place would be tantamount to sending Asa to her death.

However, doing nothing would be suicidal. I would be killed, and Asahi would be taken away and die as well. I absolutely could not sit idly by and wait to die. Rather than that, I might as well take a gamble. With that thought in mind, I gritted my teeth and unleashed a massive amount of flames in one go, then concentrated them into a condensed flame beam and fired it at the blurry face.

This fire beam was far more powerful than the one that defeated Silver Moon. Even if it collided with the Divine Spear's "guaranteed hit, guaranteed kill" ultimate move, the latter wouldn't be able to penetrate it; the Divine Spear and its weapon would simply be reduced to ashes before they could even reach it. For Chenlong, wearing the "Teleportation Armor," it would be an instant death upon contact.

However, my flames won't harm my own people, and using them inside Asahi's soul shouldn't be a problem. If I can eliminate the blurred face before it can make a move with this attack, that would be the ideal outcome.

This shouldn't be entirely hopeless. The blurry face before me is clearly not the Great Impermanence himself, but merely a temporary image created using the information flooding the scene. What I need to eliminate isn't the Great Impermanence's true form, but only this temporary image. Even if I'm not yet strong enough to contend with the Great Impermanence, I surely can't be unable to eliminate something of this level.

As it turns out, my ideas were too idealistic.

The blurry face merely glanced in my direction. Before the flame cannon could even strike, an invisible force appeared out of nowhere, shattering the flame cannon head-on without hesitation, and simultaneously sweeping towards my body. In an instant, my body was reduced to dust, and my soul suffered unimaginable damage, like porcelain thrown into a shredder.

I immediately realized where this power came from. It was from the gaze—the blurry face had poured immense magical power into its gaze, and with just one glance, it had made me appear severely injured.

I can use the same skills, and I used to use them frequently. But in battles of the same level, these minor skills are completely useless. This is a skill I use to deal with weaker opponents; in a sense, it can be considered a "quality checker" for the enemy. If the enemy can't even withstand a skill of this level, it means they are not even on the same level as me.

How could I be so badly injured by such a skill?

I'm not entirely without confidence in my current level. I'm currently somewhere between the Great Completion stage and the Great Impermanence stage. I'm very aware that I'm likely to lose in a direct confrontation. Yet, before the true Great Impermanence, I was utterly vulnerable.

Fortunately, the counterattack that blurred the face didn't affect Asao beside him. This gaze attack, like my skill of igniting enemies with my gaze, is a "single-target skill," only damaging the locked target. Perhaps he didn't want to kill Asao here immediately either; otherwise, Lu Youxun and Shenqiang wouldn't have just kidnapped Asao, but would have tried to execute her on the spot.

However, the shattering and exploding of the fire elemental body still generated a violent blast, and the surrounding torrent of mosaic information seemed to be severely disturbed, scattering like large amounts of paper scraps blown away by a gale. At the same time, the blurry face continued to change, and the container formed by the mosaic information gradually transformed into a humanoid appearance with a torso and limbs. The area that had been completely sealed off by the torrent of mosaic information also became clear, revealing the scene of this dream.

The oppressive night sky, the decaying and withered courtyard, the shadowy buildings in the distance—all of this was exposed to our eyes, and of course, to the eyes of the blurry human figures.

He seemed to be about to raise his hand to do something to Asa, but after seeing this scene, he froze and looked up at the night sky in disbelief.

"This, this place is—"

His voice was filled with extreme unease, bewilderment, and shock.

I didn't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In an instant, I manipulated the scattered flames to rebuild my body and rapidly repaired my severely damaged soul. At the same time, I raised my arm towards the blurry humanoid figure and unleashed a full-force fireball, even more powerful than before.

It wasn't that I was still holding back; rather, facing this terrifying foe—far more powerful than any of my past enemies combined—my consciousness sensed an unprecedented life-or-death crisis. Driven by this danger, my automatically unleashed power rapidly intensified, radiating a desperate brilliance.

My battle strategy remains unchanged. No matter how powerful the true form of this Great Impermanence is, it is still using a fragile container formed by a torrent of mosaic information. Whether it was because it was distracted by the apocalyptic scene or simply couldn't react in time, it was completely engulfed by this fire beam before it could even parry or dodge.

However, I didn't feel any sense of damage to my target. He clearly took my full-force, desperate attack without any hesitation, yet it was as if he had been shoved while standing on the ground in a daze. I couldn't even tell if the sway in his body was caused by my strength or if his mind was pulled back by the sudden movement and he changed his posture.

Just then, Mazao made another move—she pressed down on my shoulder, and the power of return erupted from her body once again.

“Return!” she shouted.

--What?

My vision suddenly shifted.

The Great Impermanence, the apocalyptic dream, the torrent of mosaic information... all of this has disappeared, replaced by rooms in the Fufeng base.

Mazao sat on the edge of the bed, the head of the divine spear resting on her lap. I stood before her, holding the fake moon reflected in the water. Everything that had just happened seemed like a false dream, as if nothing had ever occurred.

That's impossible, of course. How could the invasion of the Great Impermanence be so easily shaken off? If the Great Impermanence had only invaded some external object of Mazao's, she could have simply abandoned it and fled. But its power had directly invaded her spiritual world. Now, being transferred back to the real world only makes the crisis invisible to the naked eye; the power of the Great Impermanence can still wreak havoc within her soul as usual.

Ma Zao only paused for two or three seconds before letting out a huge sigh of relief.

“It’s probably safe now,” she said.

(End of this chapter)