Chapter 339 No Distance

The headquarters of Luoshan is located in a primeval forest in China, nearly 2,000 kilometers away from Xianshui City. It has been designated as a national park by the authorities and ordinary people are not allowed to enter.

Meanwhile, even if ordinary people tried to sneak in, they would never get to see the Luoshan headquarters. Mr. Zhu told me that in the past, the Luoshan headquarters was located in an alternate dimension, with only the entrance and some external facilities located inside the national park. Due to Xuanming's betrayal six months ago, the clash between Xuanming and Mingzhuo and Fu Hongchen shattered the alternate dimension, thus exposing the Luoshan headquarters to the real world.

After that, the Luoshan headquarters temporarily used the Grand Barrier of the Divination Master to surround itself. This was also a kind of barrier equivalent to another dimension. Although the Luoshan headquarters was still in the real world, one had to go through the proper channels to enter the interior of the barrier. Otherwise, even if one conducted a carpet search of the entire national park, one would not find the slightest evidence of the existence of the Luoshan headquarters.

The so-called official channels are actually several special stations built throughout the country. These special stations are not open to the general public and are exclusively for the use of Witcher.

There are no such special stations near Saltwater City, so we need to move to another location first. This movement was completed in an instant, just like when I took my people to Moonshadow Mountain before. After Mr. Zhu pointed out the location on the map, I led them to the city where one of the special stations was located in one go.

The special station looks much like a regular subway station. Passengers need to show their identification to the staff dressed as detectives at the security checkpoint before they can get a ticket and pass through the turnstile. However, there is no check for whether they are carrying controlled items or flammable and explosive materials.

At Mr. Zhu's suggestion, I showed the staff the tokens of Fa Zheng. Upon seeing them, the staff immediately showed the startled reaction of a grassroots staff member suddenly coming into contact with a national-level important cadre, and then respectfully gave us tickets for the luxury carriage.

We waited for the train on the platform, surrounded by hundreds of people dressed as demon hunters. So many demon hunters were heading to the Luo Shan headquarters; it was probably related to the Great Impermanence gathering there to discuss issues related to the Void Realm forces. The thought of being a member of that so-called "Void Realm force," and being valued to this extent, filled me with a complex mix of emotions—both complex and burning with excitement.

I turned to look at Zhu Shi and Ma Zao. Since we weren't indoors, Zhu Shi had put on a dark brown long-sleeved jacket over her white women's blouse and changed her black midi skirt into a long skirt.

Following Zhu Shi's advice, Ma Zao changed her clothes to autumn/winter attire, adding a black sweatshirt with a white cat paw pattern. She swapped her shorts for black mid-length shorts with white fleece trim, her slender calves covered by thick black thermal tights. It was the first time I'd ever heard of mid-length shorts being available with fleece lining for autumn/winter.

Although Zhu Shi had changed his questioning of me to one that was less stressful, he had not forgotten the most stressful question from the beginning.

If Asaha were to unexpectedly lose her jinx status, then my affection for her would fade, and that's something I must admit. At the same time, I will still love her, and that's something I can guarantee.

However, if the decision of whether Asahi would lose her jinx constitution were in my hands, if I were given the opportunity to eliminate the jinx constitution from Asahi... would my final decision lean towards Asahi's safety, or towards my own desires?

It's a choice between two options. Choosing one means giving up the other. And I can't even imagine myself choosing the former.

Ma Zao probably didn't hear my conversation with Zhu Shi. Although she was on the second floor, the conversation in the living room on the first floor was practically right next to her ear. It's just that now, as long as I don't want to, my conversations with others won't be overheard by a third party; this is part of the natural privilege of the Great Impermanence.

Similarly, even if our conversation involves other impermanent beings, or even if we discuss in depth how to deal with them, they will not sense it from afar.

The train arrived shortly after, and we entered the most luxurious carriage at the front. From the outside, the arriving train looked much like a regular subway train, but the interior of the luxury carriage was remarkably solid, and even the space seemed to have been expanded by supernatural forces, making it feel like a luxury hotel suite.

The other carriages didn't seem too bad either; through the open doors, it was clear that most were well-decorated single or double rooms. It's likely that because not many witchers would regularly use this train, efficiency wasn't a primary consideration.

There was also a rather large television in the luxurious carriage, but none of us turned it on. Ma Zao curiously looked around the room before returning to Zhu Shi's place to help her with her cultivation during her free time.

We've already discussed this before. In order to help Zhu Shi master the power of the Great Impermanence Sword as soon as possible, Ma Zao will use the power of return to reset Zhu Shi's talent whenever he has free time, so that he can communicate with the Yama Sword in the state of having the correct Dharma of Heaven and Earth. Although it will only be fifteen minutes a day at most, little by little, it will add up. As long as he accumulates power for nine to ten months, Zhu Shi will be able to obtain earth-shattering and awe-inspiring power.

Moreover, it's not that Zhu Shi remained unchanged during this period. According to Zhu Shi's subjective, vague prediction, her power could be raised to the Great Completion level in just a few days through communication with the Yama Sword. The old man's expression when he heard about this was quite interesting, and in a sense, it seemed to reveal the insurmountable gap between the Great Completion level and the Great Impermanence level.

Since they're working so hard, I certainly can't sit idle. During my train journey to the headquarters in Luoshan, I'm also trying to familiarize myself with some of the new changes I've undergone.

I sat on the sofa in the luxury car, closed one eye, looked at the glass kettle on the coffee table five meters away, and reached out my hand.

Then, disregarding the distance, my hand gripped the handle of the glass kettle.

Humans perceive distance visually through the cross-positioning of both eyes, which is why one-eyed people often have difficulty judging distances. Although the brain's image processing ability can compensate for this—for example, by using the principle of objects appearing larger when closer and smaller when farther away, and by using the relationship between other reference objects to mentally fill in the distance—two-dimensional drawings can also use these techniques to represent the distance between objects. However, there are still some inherent disadvantages.

Therefore, by simply closing one eye, one can relatively easily imagine in their mind that "distant objects are within reach." That being said, imagination is ultimately just imagination; it doesn't mean that simply closing one eye will make things actually become tangible.

However, this common sense doesn't apply to me now.

I feel I'm gradually beginning to understand the world Silver Moon sees. The deeper I delve into metaphysical concepts, the more I perceive the illusory nature of the material world. In my current perception, even time and space seem like an illusion. And since it's an illusion, it can't affect my actual actions.

Without any magic, just by making this one gesture, I can do many things that are impossible for normal people. Rather, it's because time and space seem like illusions to me right now that they can't do the same things as me. Ordinary humans, trapped by time and space, are actually more like people in an abnormal state.

But what I can do doesn't stop there. Grabbing distant objects despite the barriers of space is just one part of it. I feel I can even disregard the boundaries between the material and the spiritual, directly touching things in the spiritual world with my own hands. It's just that I'm not quite proficient yet and need more practice.

This is why I said I could use the stone collar to seal Silver Moon's consciousness. Although the stone collar isn't specifically designed for sealing consciousness, my hands aren't inherently connected to the spiritual world. All I need to do is cross the boundary between matter and spirit and forcibly attach the stone collar to Silver Moon's consciousness.

The problem is the battle with Mingzhuo that follows...

What I can do, Mingzhuo can do as well. He can only do more. The so-called "entering the realm of great impermanence" is not about reaching the top of the mountain, but about jumping out of the well and entering a new world. In this new world, Mingzhuo has traveled an immeasurable distance, while I am merely still at the stage of standing around the well's edge, observing my surroundings.

Simply put, my strength is there, but my technique is seriously lacking.

This isn't the first time I've felt a significant lack of skill.

In the past, I only ever had one way to solve this problem: to continuously increase my strength. Even if I temporarily discovered during battle that my strength was insufficient, I could still unleash more power through the pressure and crisis brought by the enemy. So what if the enemy could use minimal force to overcome great strength? As long as I increased my strength to ten thousand jin (a unit of weight), that would be enough.

I have now reached my limit. All my potential has been realized as strength, and I can no longer continue to be willful.

Out of interest, I had previously sought instruction from Zhu Shi in some basic magical techniques, but I hadn't mastered a single one. I initially thought this was because I had focused too much on enhancing and unleashing my power, which was why I lacked progress in other areas.

However, even the method that Asahi taught me to use a fake moon reflected in water to achieve the skill of "talking" was something I learned with great difficulty. In the world of Witcher, "talking" should be a very basic and simple skill. Logically speaking, it should be easy to learn it right away, and it shouldn't be that difficult.

Now I understand the crux of the problem.

It's probably the Vermilion Bird Seed that's hindering me.

I'm currently unable to resolve the issue of the Vermilion Bird Seed, but in order to better fight against the Turbid Fate, I must make some progress, even if it's just a last-minute effort. Although I can't learn new spells and skills, the Vermilion Bird Seed doesn't seem to hinder my deeper mastery of my inherent power. Therefore, I asked Elder Zhu for guidance, wanting to start learning from scratch the basic techniques of mana usage for ordinary demon hunters.

Mr. Zhu had been quietly watching what I was doing the whole time. When I asked for his advice, he thought about it carefully and then shared his thoughts.

“Right now, you don’t need to learn any witcher spells, skills, or techniques for manipulating power,” he said.

(End of this chapter)