Chapter 436 Subdued on the Spot

Using the power released by the "Zhuang Cheng" rune to attack me is essentially an attempt to make me attack myself. I could stand still and take the hit without any harm, and even my junior sister Xiao Qiao next to me wouldn't be hurt. And now, canceling it all out doesn't even require uttering words; a mere thought is enough.

If they did that, the other party might not be able to tell why the flame went out, so they simply made this simple and clear gesture.

Even so, the "Preacher" still wore an expression of incomprehension. As if trying to reaffirm his power, he swung the "Zhuangcheng Blade" once more, attempting to summon fiery sword energy and a sea of ​​fire again. This time, the special weapon did not display any miracle.

"What...did you do?!"

He asked in astonishment as he backed away. Faced with this incomprehensible situation, he seemed to be the first to back down. The ability to strike while the enemy is down and to retreat gracefully when at a disadvantage—this might be an essential quality for a witcher.

"I merely extinguished my own power." I held out my hand. "I'll confiscate the weapon in your hand for now."

Despite the distance between us exceeding fifteen meters, I disregarded the space and grabbed the large sword in his hand. He once told Xiao Qiao, "Just as the weak submit to the strong, weak souls unconsciously submit to powerful souls." There's truth in that. With just a grab, his muscles unconsciously gave up resistance, and his large, bony hand obediently released his most important weapon.

I looked at the greatsword engraved with my name. This weapon made me both a little shy and a little as if my existence had been affirmed in a different way. Perhaps in the long run, I will get used to my deeds and name being mentioned and used by countless people in various occasions, and I will get used to being exposed to the gaze of countless people. But for now, I still feel that this weapon has some commemorative significance, so I put it into my flames for now.

“As for you…” I looked at the “Preacher” again.

The latter was a beat too slow to realize that his weapon had been taken from him, and a look of horror immediately appeared on his face: "This is... spatial ability? But why is there no magical fluctuation...?"

"Wait, you just said you only extinguished your own power, could it be... no, that's impossible!"

He said it was impossible, but his body was very obedient. He immediately turned around and fled, just like the impermanent figure from before, trying to disappear into the nearest shadow. At the same time, the surrounding shadows surged violently, transforming into countless black javelins that resembled a torrential downpour, launching an attack on me and everyone present, seemingly to delay my possible next move.

"—Stop."

I spoke again. This time, it wasn't just to assert my presence; I truly unleashed the power of the Great Impermanence's Words. The "Preacher" instantly became paralyzed, as if all his joints had been locked, and the shadow portal that had been ready and waiting for him to enter swiftly reverted to a normal shadow on the ground, causing him to fall flat on his face. The countless black shadow javelins vanished as if they were illusions.

The battle with the "preachers" ended just like that—assuming it could be called a "battle."

The "preacher" lay motionless on the ground as if dead. After staring at him for a long time, Xiao Qiao muttered in disbelief, "He...he won?"

"That's right. It's over."

This wasn't my saying; it was said by Zhu Shi.

Her figure appeared on this floor of the unfinished building, without the black guitar case on her back. Just like when we first met, she wore a brown-black raincoat and a matching straw hat, and held a sheathed Yama sword in her hand, looking like a majestic swordsman who had stepped out of an ancient martial arts drama, walking step by step towards Xiao Qiao.

We haven't done anything together in a long time, and her outfit makes me nostalgic. I guess she dressed up like this in advance so she could better reveal her true self to her junior, Xiao Qiao.

At the same time, the scene itself gave me a sense of déjà vu. I used my superpowers to save Chang'an from the shadow clones of the monster before, and together with Zhu Shi, who was wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, I revealed my identity to Chang'an; and now something similar is happening again, and we have to reveal our identities to Xiao Qiao, who is Zhu Shi's friend, and even the enemy is a monster.

“Xiao Zhu…” Junior Qiao looked at her as if she were seeing Zhu Shi for the first time.

"I'm sorry, Xiao Qiao, I'll explain it to you properly."

Zhu Shi spoke in a soft voice, closed one of her eyes, and consciously made a cute expression.

This was the first time I'd ever seen her make such a playful gesture, while Xiao Qiao breathed a sigh of relief, a relaxed smile spreading across her face, and said, "I understand... Don't worry about me, I'll wait for you."

Zhu Shi nodded, then looked at me and said, "I saw everything that just happened..."

As she spoke, she turned her head away, letting out a laugh that sounded like a sneeze. Then she turned back, her face tightening, and said seriously, "Thank you for protecting Xiao Qiao, and thank you for protecting those people around us... *sniff*..."

"You don't have to hold it in, just laugh if you want to," I said.

Upon receiving authorization, Zhu Shi burst into joyful laughter, clutching his stomach and squatting on the ground. While laughing, he muttered intermittently, "Zhuang Cheng... Zhuang Cheng's Blade... Senior Brother Zhuang's Blade... What a strange name!"

"Senior Brother Zhuang, are you really not planning to give yourself a code name? Didn't you say last time that the righteous and unpredictable man suggested the code name 'Dawn' for you? If you had accepted it then, this weapon might not be called 'Zhuang Cheng's Blade', but 'Dawn's Blade'... Although it's not very original, at least it wouldn't be so strange."

"Anyway, everyone already knows my real name. It feels weird to change it to a code name now and ask everyone to call me that." I chose to ignore her laughter. "Besides, let me confirm for now... is he the 'Wu Chang' you mentioned yesterday?"

I pointed to the unconscious Mingzhuo believer Wuchang lying in the distance, while Zhu Shi, who had watched the entire battle, nodded without hesitation, wiping away his teasing smile, and said, "Yes."

“Then—‘Restore’.” I used the power of words once again.

A mysterious surge of power swept across the entire area. The target of restoration wasn't just the impermanent figure, but also the ordinary people lying on the ground. Right now, it's still very difficult for me to directly use fire power to achieve a healing effect, but the power of words can do many things, helping to compensate for some of my weaknesses, and healing is one of those aspects.

As for how to use the power of fire to achieve a healing effect, in my opinion, burning away the cause and effect related to "injury" is one direction.

However, cause and effect cannot be arbitrarily destroyed. From a metaphysical perspective, all objects in the material world are aggregates of causal concepts. Deleting one section at will may trigger a chain reaction, just like removing one section from a tall stack of building blocks, causing the whole structure to collapse.

In layman's terms, cause and effect are like code; if you mess with them, the software might not run.

This approach might be usable as an offensive tactic, but it would require a very high level of skill to be effective as a treatment. Furthermore, because I'm not good at reading "code," I usually can't see through a person's past experiences and potential future events just by looking at them. That's the domain of divination masters; at most, I can only grasp some vague, overall characteristics.

Perhaps as long as I become more proficient in observing cause and effect, even if I can't predict the future long in the future like a fortune teller, I can naturally do things like Asahi, being able to investigate the "historical records" of the subject and analyze the past long ago.

As for the impermanence that has just happened to enter this place, I cannot yet discern what kind of revelation or destiny it holds for me; I can only tentatively assume that it exists.

Their injuries healed quickly. The one who was injured by the magic of the Life Impurity attribute was not easy to heal, but perhaps because I had the ability to restrain the Life Impurity magic and because of the special location, the injury of the one who was injured healed very quickly.

Some people woke up after being healed, but I used my power of words to put them back into a deep sleep. They were more inclined to side with the people of Peach Blossom Village, and this was to prevent them from causing trouble and distracting us.

Strictly speaking, they weren't actually brainwashed; they just wanted to enter the sweet dream world so much that they lost their reason.

The "preacher" didn't receive my treatment, but he wasn't seriously injured anyway. I went to his side, stretched out my foot, and turned him over as he lay on the ground. Zhu Shi also came to my side, while Xiao Qiao, the junior student, followed closely behind him, hiding behind Zhu Shi.

"You...are you really Zhuang Cheng? The Great Impermanence Zhuang Cheng?"

The “preacher” seems unable to accept his defeat, as if he would rather accept that it was all just an absurd nightmare.

"Why... how is this possible? How could you be in a place like this..." he muttered incoherently.

(End of this chapter)