Chapter 325 Nostalgia

Asaho's ability to reset her own soul state is naturally not without limitations.

Taking a virtual game as an example, if there exists a game character with 10,000 health points and a passive skill that automatically restores 100% of their health upon taking damage, then as long as the damage they take in a single instance does not exceed 10,000 points, they will absolutely not die. Conversely, regardless of how much health they can restore after taking damage, if the character dies, then that's the end of the game.

Once Asaho's soul bears an excessive burden, the power of blessing will cease to function, and the self-purification mechanism that clears the burden will also shut down.

However, to consider this a weakness of Asahi's power is somewhat nitpicking. It's like saying that no matter how powerful a weapon is, it's useless if the user dies first. As long as she constantly pays attention to the limit of her soul's single-use capacity, she can use any skill without any burden.

Other losses, such as damage she sustained in battle, can also be reset using this logic. Even more impressively, considering what she did to the people of Moonshadow Mountain City, this advantage can be applied not only to herself but also to all her allies on the same battlefield. Furthermore, considering her spatial teleportation ability, the condition of "being on the same battlefield" can be somewhat eliminated.

Because of her jinxed nature, Masaru mostly operated as a lone wolf during the apocalyptic era, a situation that likely buried her talents to a great extent. While it's impossible to expect her power to be effective against allies and enemies at the Great Impermanence level, her value is immeasurably high at the Great Completion level and below.

So, is there a way to elevate Asahi to the level of Great Impermanence as well? Although this idea could be considered greedy, and others might see it as wishful thinking, I am seriously considering this matter.

Asaha continued speaking.

She picked up the stone necklace and reported her findings.

“Your reasoning about this stone collar is correct. It is indeed a sealing tool that Silver Moon used to bind the Ancient Moon God within her own Dharma Heaven and Earth, and it was specifically made for the Ancient Moon God,” she said. “In other words… this thing is also extremely effective even when it is used against Silver Moon herself.”

I immediately shifted my attention back to the topic: "Why is that?"

"Because the Ancient Moon God was designed and formed by the Silver Moon in order to create another version of itself."

Although she had never seen Silver Moon and Ancient Moon God in person, after a detailed investigation of the stone collar, Asaho might know more about them than I do. She continued, "Although Silver Moon ultimately deemed it a failing work and couldn't consider it her own incarnation, from a design concept perspective, it was indeed 'another Silver Moon.' The reason Silver Moon was able to create such a sealing tool specifically for Ancient Moon God was because she possessed Ancient Moon God's 'blueprints.'"

"On the other hand, the current Silver Moon is not actually the Silver Moon of the past, but rather the manifestation of the Silver Moon, a product created with the same core design concept of 'another Silver Moon'. Although they are very different in the specific implementation stage, the two can be said to have the same effect. This stone collar can perfectly restrain the Ancient Moon God, and naturally it can also perfectly restrain the current Silver Moon."

"In other words..." I looked at the stone collar, "did Silvermoon create a magical artifact specifically to seal herself away?"

At the same time, inspiration struck me.

I may have been mistaken before. To save Chang'an, there was no need to separate Chang'an and Yinyue.

Just as Yin Yue herself said, without her, Chang An's personality would become a castle in the air, unable to sustain itself. Therefore, all that's needed is to reseal Yin Yue into Chang An's unconscious realm.

This isn't the first time Yin Yue has replaced Chang'an in the real world. She herself said that Chang'an's childhood loss of control wasn't due to a demonic bloodline rampage, but rather the result of her sudden awakening of her own self. Therefore, by repeating what was done in the past, Yin Yue's consciousness can be reshaped into the underlying foundation for Chang'an's personality. Although this approach has huge potential consequences, it's at least a million times better than having no solution at all.

Now, even the "strategy tools" that can do this have been delivered to my hands!

Wait... Could this be the condition the Diviner's prophecy hinted at, the necessary condition for me to save Chang'an at Moon Shadow Mountain? Because I didn't realize the value of this stone necklace beforehand, I missed the opportunity to save Chang'an?

When I brought this up, Ma shook her head.

“No, this stone collar was not originally intended to be used against Silver Moon…” she said. “After Silver Moon created this sealing item, she was not unaware that it might be used against her by others. Therefore, during the design phase, she set up a mechanism that would prevent it from working on her.”

"Specifically, this stone collar can only function properly within the range of Silver Moon's Dharma Heaven and Earth, and it can only operate using her own magical power as an energy source. No matter how much the stone collar can restrain her, if the source of power is herself, she can turn off the stone collar's effect at any time."

"Even if someone can simulate her magic, it's useless. As long as it's input into this stone collar, the control of magic with similar properties to hers will automatically transfer to her hands—this is one of the potential functions of the stone collar."

In other words, the stone collar is like an electrical appliance; it can't function without a power source. Silvermoon, on the other hand, is essentially a "superpowered individual who can freely manipulate electricity." Regardless of the appliance's specific function, as long as it uses electricity, there's no reason for it to act arrogantly in her presence.

However, I noticed that Ma Zao used a strange word at the beginning.

“You mean… ‘originally’?” I asked.

She nodded first, then said, "Because this stone collar has worked before, I can use the power of reversion to make it work again—even if there is no magical energy inside."

"You mean, it's like a phone that has no remaining battery power inside and isn't connected to an external power source, but somehow it can still turn on and work?" I asked.

She thought for a moment, then said definitively, "That's it."

That's practically a haunted machine.

However, this would prevent Silvermoon from using the backdoor she designed inside the stone collar to retaliate.

I still had doubts about using Silvermoon's items to seal Silvermoon, so I asked another question: "If you were to do it yourself, would you be able to reset Silvermoon to its 'sealed state'?"

“I’m probably no match for Silver Moon. The power of return will likely be countered by her ability to alter reality,” Ma Zao replied. “Although I could probably overpower her if I weakened her to an extremely weak state, the seal that the Zhu family placed on Silver Moon in the past is probably not strong enough to truly suppress her soul and will be broken by her soon.”

"Unless my power can reset her consciousness and memories to their past state, but..."

She looked at the stone collar and said, "...Silver Moon's mental state seems to be at a depth I can't comprehend. Even if she becomes very weak, I probably won't be able to interfere with her consciousness and memories."

"Yeah……"

I thought of what Yin Yue mentioned: in the past, she challenged the path of self-proving the true spirit and comprehended the meaning of formlessness and formlessness... Perhaps what Asaho said about "spiritual depth" is also related to this.

"...If all else fails, I can give it a try."

Asaho looked at my expression, then mustered her courage and said, "You paid a price that you couldn't save your friends in order to get me back to where I am now... I will try my best not to let you down."

“No, it’s okay… You’ve already brought me enough good news.” I said sincerely, “Without you, I really don’t know what I would have done… Please help me adjust this stone collar to a usable state.”

"I understand." She nodded vigorously.

The next morning, Ma and I returned to Saltwater City.

Moonlit Mountain City is extremely far from Saltwater City, but that distance is nothing to us. I've already informed the Zhu family that we'll be exchanging intelligence. Since there are many matters involved, including Xiaowan and Zhu Shi, as well as my plans after becoming the Great Impermanence, it's best to bring Mazao along for the meeting.

This matter wasn't very urgent, so I told them to take care of what they were doing first, while I took a walk with Mazao on the streets of Saltwater City for a while.

We passed by the vicinity of Saltwater University, where the food trucks parked near the school were still operating, selling hand-pulled pancakes, soy milk, and other dishes as usual. We also stopped by to look at the restaurants and clothing stores that Ma Zao, Zhu Shi, and I had visited before. Apart from some minor changes to the signs, everything else remained the same. However, this unchanging nature did not bring a sense of warmth and friendliness; instead, it transformed into an indescribable sense of distance, standing between me and the city.

We even took Ma Zao back to our own home for a few days. Sitting on the sofa looking at the quiet, empty living room, I felt a sense of detachment, as if I shouldn't be there. After a simple breakfast at home, we went out again.

Even though I'm in Saltwater City, the place I grew up in, I don't know why I feel a kind of homesickness, as if I'm wandering in a foreign land. I can come back here anytime, and I'm walking on these streets right now, but I have this feeling that I can never go back.

I shared these feelings with Asao, but she couldn't quite empathize. Although she also felt nostalgic about these scenes, it wasn't the same as my homesickness. For her, every place in this era was a foreign land, and although there wasn't the same sense of dread as in a post-apocalyptic world, a loneliness completely different from mine clung to her.

From different perspectives, even when people are in the same place, the scenery they see will be different. Now, I can no longer see my hometown.

(End of this chapter)