Chapter 460 Luo Shan's Power Map

"Willow Shadow wants to see me?"

I remembered the willow tree shadow I saw at the burial ceremony. It gave me a meaningful look, making me feel like it had something to say to me. Although it disappeared from the venue afterward, it seems it has finally found the time to come find me now.

As for the so-called "request" to meet, it's probably just social politeness; interactions between ordinary people rarely involve such elaborate procedures. From another perspective, it can also be seen as the other party not coming with malicious intent. While formalism is often criticized, those unwilling to even put on a show often lack genuine respect for others.

However, I probably don't have the right to make such a high-handed summary, since I never made any prior requests when I went to consult fortune tellers. There's a saying, "Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you." Although I don't mind frankly admitting that I have double standards in some aspects, perhaps I'll have to put more effort into these kinds of superficial practices in the future.

Lu Chan added, "He knows I work for you, so he contacted me first and asked me to tell you that he will arrive at the gate of this mansion around this evening."

"Evening... I understand." I nodded. "So, did he say why he wanted to see me?"

“Yes, he said he wanted to talk to you about the Lord of Peach Blossom Village…” Lu Chan’s voice turned low, “…and about the matter of the Two Elements of the Mountain.”

Because I needed Lu Chan, who was very capable, to help me investigate clues related to Shan Liangyi, I had already told him about my relationship with Shan Liangyi.

The old master Zhu once told me that this matter was not suitable for too many people to know. If it were to spread widely, it might shake the believers' opinion of me. Actually, I don't care if everyone knows about this. Firstly, I don't believe that as long as I keep a low profile, Shan Liangyi won't know about my relationship with him, this newly promoted Great Impermanence who can only manipulate fire; secondly, Shan Liangyi is someone I'm destined to defeat sooner or later.

In the end, either I'll be defeated by him, and that will be the end of it; or I'll defeat him, and then his existence will be irrelevant. To be secretive about such matters is the mindset of a weakling who never believed he was a match for Yama Ryougi from the start and wanted to at least have a moment of glory before he died.

The important question now is, why would Liu Shuying want to talk to me about the Yin-Yang theory? And the fact that I am a successor of the Yin-Yang theory shouldn't have spread yet.

And, although saying this might make me seem paranoid, I have also wondered if Willow Shadow might be Mountain Two Elements. His reputation as a "prophet" makes it impossible not to associate him with Mountain Two Elements' ability to freely reincarnate in the past and future. I've discussed this with the Divination Master, but the outcome remains elusive.

Based on the clues I've gathered so far, the only counter-evidence I can offer is that Willow Shadow's magic doesn't belong to the Four Symbols and Five Elements, while Mountain Two Elements' magic must fall within that system. However, considering the existence of the most powerful and unpredictable old fist god of Luoshan who once killed the latter in this era, it's not incomprehensible that he would want to conceal the unique characteristics of his magic. Furthermore, I don't doubt that Mountain Two Elements can do just that.

Since Liu Shuying has come to me of his own accord, whether he is or not, I have no reason or way to avoid him; I can only face him head-on.

"Also, Zhuang Cheng, this is my personal opinion. I suggest you don't let Liu Shuying see Ma Zao." Lu Chan said seriously, "Although it's just based on my experience and intuition, I feel that Liu Shuying and you are similar in some ways... He might have bad ideas after seeing Ma Zao."

“If even you say that, of course I’ll listen,” I said. “Besides, what you’re saying is strange, just like I could have bad thoughts about Asahi.”

Lu Chan changed the subject, saying, "Oh? 'Even I say so'? Has anyone else given you this advice before?"

I didn't pursue his interest further, but instead steered the conversation back to the information he had given me. While continuing to examine it, I asked, "Since you've already identified three branch bases within the Mingzhuo faction that were leaking intelligence to Taoyuan Township, shouldn't the Mingzhuo faction itself have found them as well?"

Lu Chan followed up smoothly, saying, "It's not that we found three places, but rather that we suspected three places... By the way, the investigation progress of the Mingzhuo forces themselves is obviously not as in-depth as mine."

"Why is that?" I wondered.

Lu Chan said calmly, "There's no particular reason. It's just that some things are much more difficult for our own people to investigate than for outsiders. That's all."

Even so, I couldn't help but admire his investigative abilities once again, and then asked again, "I have another question... why are these three bases located like this on the map?"

I pointed to the locations of two of the branch bases, "One of them is outside the border, and the other is almost at the Arctic Circle..."

Lu Chan answered matter-of-factly, "Because both of these places are within Luo Shan's sphere of influence."

“I thought Luoshan was an organization of this country,” I said.

"It's not entirely wrong to think this way; most demon hunters in Luoshan think this way too," Lu Chan said after some thought. "...You might think of it this way: our country has a long history, and its territory has changed with each dynastic change. These changes are related to wars and political situations in secular countries, and there have been humiliating instances of ceding territory in history. But do you think these situations would affect the supernatural world and Luoshan?"

"Unlike nations, Luoshan has always been the number one power in the supernatural world. It expands along with the territory of secular nations, but it will not give back the land it has already taken."

"If it weren't for the separation between the strange world and the common sense world in the past, this stability should have protected this country as well... But let's not talk about that for now. Do you know how big this country was at its largest in history?"

I vaguely recall seeing a map of the Tang Dynasty's territory online before. At its peak, its territory was far larger than the current borders of any country, enough to astonish and confuse anyone seeing it for the first time. Some countries that are now foreign nations were part of its territory then. It seems that the concept of "fate corruption" originated during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

And it's said that this wasn't even the largest period among all dynasties, not even the second largest. Speaking of which, I saw some Luoshan demon hunters who looked like foreigners participating in the god burial ceremony. I initially wondered if they were from ethnic minorities, like the Russian ethnic group, descendants of Russians who immigrated here. Now I think it's very likely that some of them really were Luoshan demon hunters from parts of Russia, and from other countries.

This explains the existence of the Luoshan branch base located near the Arctic Circle. Indeed, in some dynasties, there were periods when their sphere of influence extended to the Arctic Circle.

“Aside from expanding along with the country’s territory, Luoshan has also had times of spontaneous expansion… Now, Asia is basically Luoshan’s sphere of influence, with some deployments in Europe, Africa, North America, and Oceania. However, due to factors such as cultural identity, its core territory is still in this country,” Lu Chan said. “It is probably because of this that even some Asian countries tend to see Luoshan’s influence as a tentacle of invasion from their own countries, and want to cultivate their own organizations to deal with strange events.”

"I won't go into too much detail about this, since it's all pretty much a foregone conclusion."

"Speaking of which, you really do lack a lot of basic common sense. Haven't you ever thought of looking it up even once? No, it's probably because you have preconceived notions that there's no need to look it up, which prevents you from developing any curiosity about it..."

While I'd felt something was off when researching certain things before, I never imagined Luo Shan's influence was this vast. Perhaps this is common knowledge within Luo Shan, so it's not something they emphasize. Zhu Shi probably didn't intend to bring this up with me for the same reason.

As Lu Chan drew the approximate total area of ​​Luoshan's sphere of influence on the map for me, I sighed. No wonder those Great Impermanences always talked about how great this world is; it would indeed be difficult to say those things if their territory didn't have this much area under their control.

"What are you talking about, detached from the situation... You are also one of the supreme rulers in this power structure." Lu Chan casually said something that made me feel even more unreal.

He said earnestly, "Luoshan has not yet officially become the ruling force in secular society, but anyone with a little intelligence can see that the situation is already settled. I only hope that you gods will be lenient in the future and let less blood be shed in this world."

Before parting ways with Lu Chan, I took out a batch of Slag Impermanence Swords that I had promised to give to meritorious believers in the future. It consumed about one ten-thousandth of my total slag. If a believer can indeed summon my flames through faith and use the Slag Impermanence Swords as weapons, it will be enough to reach a certain level.

As evening approached, around six o'clock, when the sun was almost setting, I sensed the shadow of a willow tree appearing in the distance.

He strolled over as if he were an ordinary person, moved to the front of the mansion, and then gently knocked on the door with his knuckles.

I used fire teleportation to get behind him. He slowly turned around as if he had eyes in the back of his head and smiled slightly.

“Hello, Zhuang Cheng. This is our first official meeting, isn’t it? I’m Liu Shuying,” he said.

(End of this chapter)