Chapter 303 Mountain Yin and Yang 1

The naval force of Xuanwu truly intends to be my enemy!

His words resonated deeply within me. I began to observe him closely.

Although I do not possess spiritual abilities, since my powers awakened and my perception became more acute, I have been able to vaguely sense many intangible things, including the emotions of others, especially those directed at me, such as malice, hostility, and murderous intent.

The current naval commander, Xuanwu, is unleashing a very clear killing intent towards me, and I can clearly discern that this killing intent contains neither anger nor hatred. He has chosen to be my enemy solely out of necessity, and is calmly trying to kill me.

I once suspected that he tried to kill every fire-wielding user he encountered because he harbored some deep-seated hatred towards them, but now it seems that possibility can be ruled out.

He spoke with such nonchalance when he made the declaration of murder that it was as if he were mentioning one of the tasks on his to-do list.

"Regardless of whether you have the ability to take my life..." I said, "Can you first tell me why you want to kill a fire-elemental user?"

“I’m looking for a specific fire-wielding individual, and for some reason, I have to kill him,” he actually explained to me. “However, I don’t know the fire-wielding individual’s name or what he looks like, but I do know that he must have the ability to manipulate fire.”

"He is very likely a super genius in the art of fire, capable of sweeping away everything from the moment he is born. However, I cannot rule out the possibility that he is unable to unleash his talents for some reason, or that he may have learned of the origin of his power through some channel and therefore wants to hide his talents to avoid some disaster."

"Therefore, whenever I encounter someone with that potential, I kill them to verify my ideas. And in my opinion, you are very likely the person I am looking for."

"A flame that burns and refines everything, an unfathomable talent like a mythical rebirth, an experience of rapid growth without any teacher or mentor..."

"Although I had considered that Xuanming might be the target I was looking for, I wasn't particularly suspicious. I just went to probe him with a 'let's give it a try' attitude. But compared to Xuanming, you are a hundred times more suspicious. In fact, if you are not the target I am looking for, many things don't make sense."

Listening to what he was saying, and combining it with what he had said before, I slowly realized that what he was talking about might be related to the origin of my superpowers.

“You still haven’t explained why you wanted to kill that particular fire-wielding user,” I said.

"This is my secret, and there seems to be no need to say so much to the targets I'm going to kill later," he said coldly. "If I had to explain it to every fire ability user I'm going to kill from the beginning, it would probably take more than a day."

"Since you already consider me a dead man, what harm is there in telling me? Besides, according to you, even among all the fire-elemental users you've encountered, I should be a particularly special one," I said.

"You say it's none of your business, but do you think I can't kill you?"

He first gave me a cold look, then actually thought about it seriously for a while, and finally nodded: "However... it's not without reason."

"Are you willing to talk?" I asked.

“Although it’s a secret, the reason I’m keeping it hidden is simply to avoid gossip. Since you’re most likely not an outsider, there’s no harm in telling you.” He thought for a moment and then said, “…Have you ever heard of the name ‘Mountain Ryougi’?”

Mountain and Yin/Yang...

I immediately felt a sense of familiarity. I was absolutely certain I'd heard that name somewhere before, and it had happened recently.

Mountain Two Elements, Mountain Two Elements… I quickly retrieved the scene from my memory when I first heard that name. It was during the battle between me and Silver Moon at the old Humanitarian Division stronghold. She saw me emerge unscathed from the nuclear explosion and mentioned that name with a sigh.

—Does "innate spiritual manifestation" really exist in this world?

"If Shan Liangyi knew that such a genius could actually exist in the world, he would probably be so jealous that he couldn't sleep."

Silver Moon also seemed to know something about the person named Shan Liangyi.

Because many other things happened afterward that distracted me, I quickly forgot about that name. I never expected that name, which had only flashed by during the battle, would reappear here. And it even seems to have an unknown connection to the origin of my superpowers.

"Who exactly is Shan Liangyi?" I asked.

The naval commander Xuanwu stopped hiding his intentions and told me about the background of the Mountain and Yin-Yang theory.

Shan Liangyi is a powerful and unpredictable being who has been active since ancient times, dating back to a period so long that even the naval commander Xuanwu cannot determine its exact origin. All that is known is that it is a figure with written records in the history of the strange world dating back at least three thousand years. If I remember correctly, the script at that time was oracle bone script.

Legend has it that Zhongshan Liangyi is a terrestrial immortal who has comprehended the true meaning of "reincarnation," reaching the ultimate realm equivalent to the realms that demon hunters dream of, such as true spirits, dreams, and manifestations. It is said that even in death, he can be reincarnated and retain his complete memories.

Although the Great Impermanence beings were gods and men who ruled the afterlife in the past, even they could not fathom the mysteries of reincarnation. Or rather, the so-called "reincarnation" is a superstition even in the realm of the supernatural.

Some spells might achieve effects similar to reincarnation, but that's a different concept from true rebirth; it's more akin to possessing a fetus. The afterlife doesn't have any function related to reincarnation. Whether human or animal, after death, the soul remains until it decomposes and is destroyed.

Some believe that the mechanism of reincarnation objectively exists, but no one can confirm it, not even the Great Impermanence—or even a diviner whose power lies in "knowing"—can observe it. Only those who understand "reincarnation" can come into contact with its existence. And the Mountain Two Elements seems to be able to do just that.

Therefore, no means can truly kill Shan Liangyi; even if his soul is completely annihilated, he can be resurrected and return unconditionally.

Even the immortality of the turbid life comes at a price, obtained by locking one's lifespan, while the immortality of the mountain's dual nature has no such restriction.

It sounds like if humanity becomes extinct, or even if all life on Earth becomes extinct, he will have nowhere to be reincarnated. However, according to some records, Shan Liangyi can not only reincarnate into the future, but also into the past, and can even freely reincarnate into different other worlds.

In other words, this person can not only be "reborn" infinitely, but also "travel" infinitely. If this world is destroyed, he can go to the next world.

However, even the naval commander Xuanwu couldn't give a completely definitive answer as to whether this was truly the case. He could only confirm that Shan Liangyi could achieve "historical rebirth," but couldn't verify the authenticity of "interdimensional travel." Perhaps only those on the same side as Shan Liangyi could verify this. In short, Shan Liangyi is an absurd character beyond imagination, a fact that has already reached my mind.

And that's where the problem lies.

Shan Liangyi seemed dissatisfied with the power he had gained. Although he had comprehended the true meaning of "reincarnation," his original goal was not "reincarnation," but another realm called "manifestation."

Reincarnation was merely a side path he explored on his pursuit of manifestation, a hobby. It wasn't that manifestation was superior to reincarnation; in fact, it was the other way around. In the history of the Witcher, only a handful of humans had grasped the essence of manifestation, while only Yama Ryougi had ever understood reincarnation. And for some reason, he possessed an extraordinary obsession with manifestation, willing to pay any price to achieve it.

To give a somewhat inappropriate analogy, his situation is like a long-distance running professional who, when he has nothing else to do, studies physics and unknowingly becomes a world-renowned academic luminary, yet still constantly thinks about his Olympic dream.

However, becoming a pioneer in physics does not guarantee becoming an Olympic gold medalist. It's not that the former is more difficult or prestigious, nor that achieving the former guarantees the latter; these are two unrelated fields. Although he possessed the talent for reincarnation, he lacked the talent for manifesting divine abilities, so no matter how hard he pursued it, he could not obtain it.

So he came up with an absurd method—since he couldn't attain the state of spiritual manifestation through wisdom, he would forcefully attain it through power.

Although he didn't know the specific principle behind it, he seemed to believe that as long as he accumulated enough strength on the path he was on, even if he lacked certain key talents, he would be able to overcome it with strength.

Then, during one of his reincarnations, he used a mysterious ritual to transform his power into several seeds, which he then distributed to the geniuses of his reincarnation era.

Each seed has different attributes. Instead of directly granting power to the target, the seed transforms the target's talents into a state that matches the seed's attributes and fully manifests them.

Imagine it is a seed of "flame". The genius invaded by the seed might have been a political giant who would have dominated the era, or a pioneer in the scientific community, or there might have been other paths to follow... However, from the moment he was infected, no matter how many kinds of talents the target originally had, he would eventually be transformed into only one talent.

That is the talent for manipulating fire.

(End of this chapter)