Chapter 511 Asaho's Situation

If the "firefly" that helped me escape the ocean of nothingness and land on land in the apocalypse is actually the Great Demon of Calamity, then an inexplicable contradiction arises.

The biggest question is: why could the Great Demon of Calamity contact me, who had fallen into the void? Or rather, considering that I couldn't even contact the countless "fireflies" I personally set up in the modern world in that state, why could the Great Demon of Calamity in the apocalyptic era do so?

Is it because the "signal strength" of the Great Demon of Calamity is far higher than that of those "fireflies" that can only be considered small flames? If so, why hasn't the signal strength between me and the other party increased further, even though I'm already in the apocalyptic era? Shouldn't connections within the same era be stronger than those between the world and the outside world?

Furthermore, based on the vague sensory feedback, I can deduce that the "firefly" acting as the signal source hasn't moved at all. At least, since I transmigrated to the apocalyptic era, it has remained at the same coordinates. If it were the Great Demon of Calamity actively hunting down Xiaowan, such immobility wouldn't make sense.

Unfortunately, this is the best I can analyze. Although I know the other party's coordinates haven't changed, I don't know their exact location. I can't even determine their direction, let alone how far away they are. Otherwise, I would have moved in that direction already.

After completing the preparations, we left the pedestrian street.

As we moved forward, the space and time around us shifted again without us even realizing it. Although the lantern and the fireball I summoned provided illumination, darkness still enveloped us in the distance like an overwhelming curtain. The scenery lurked in the darkness, constantly changing, and each time it reappeared, it would be a completely different sight from the previous moment.

The scene shifts between wasteland and town, making it impossible to determine how far away I am from the pedestrian street I was on before. This chaotic shift is not only spatial but also temporal. Perhaps the time I am currently in has become before I arrived in the apocalyptic era, or perhaps "another version of myself" is eating poisoned food in the cartographer's safe house.

As expected, we encountered more than one attack from strange creatures along the way. I won't go into the details, but I dealt with most of these attacks. Occasionally, one or two strange creatures would sneak up close with mysterious powers, intending to attack Sandalwood, the weakest member of the group, but they were intercepted by the wandering spirits and killed by me.

As a Blessed cultivator of the Abode level, the Wandering Soul possesses remarkable athleticism and reflexes. While not as powerful as other monsters of the same level, it is capable of performing super-fast movements reminiscent of cyborgs in science fiction movies.

In contrast, not only could Sandalwood not keep up with our movements, but he was also the only one of the three of us who actually needed to eat and drink. I don't need to elaborate; the Wandering Soul, relying on his immortality, seemed to be able to reset his status by committing suicide to revive after reaching a certain level of hunger and thirst, and abnormal states such as hunger and injury would not be inherited.

Tanxiang seemed increasingly anxious about this. Frankly speaking, he was utterly useless in this trio. In my heart, it wouldn't make much difference whether he was there or not; I wouldn't even be affected if he died in front of me. However, considering we'd be meeting Xiaowan later, and for the sake of impressions, it would be better to keep him by my side.

While it's possible to feign an inability to protect him and let the monster kill him, Xiaowan has the ability to see through lies and acting, so it's better not to try that kind of clever trick. Besides, I personally don't have a good impression of this kind of scheming and manipulative cleverness, and I don't really want to play such insidious tricks.

Sandalwood had collected only a small amount of food and water from the safe house ruins, and it would soon run out. I also checked my own belongings to see if I had any food or water.

Although I don't need to eat or drink, there is indeed some food and water inside my flames, which I use as sustenance when I'm bored and craving something sweet. Besides that, there are many other miscellaneous items, and sometimes I don't even know what's inside unless I check carefully.

There was even a fragment of an unclaimed divine seal among them.

This is one of the fragments of the divine seal that Shenzhao gave me before his death. Because I didn't know where to hide it, I've kept this fragment with me. Logically, upon contact with my magical power, the unclaimed divine seal fragment should bind to me. However, the wooden box that Shenzhao provided has the function of isolating internal and external connections, seemingly allowing it to be preserved within my consciousness without actually interacting with it—a truly absurd feat.

Or should we just leave this unclaimed divine seal fragment by the roadside in the apocalypse, so that the master of the divine seal will never be able to collect all the fragments? Although I had such a thought, as my understanding of the power of "fate" deepened, I felt more and more that "hiding the unclaimed divine seal fragment somewhere" was a wrong decision.

As long as the Void Realm Apostles are consciously active, the fragments of the Divine Seal are destined to be collected, even if they are thrown into the ocean. In the apocalyptic era, there is a Void Realm Apostle, Number Seven, who is suspected of siding with the Lord of the Divine Seal. Carelessly discarding unclaimed fragments of the Divine Seal will most likely result in them being picked up by luck. The safest place to store them is indeed within one's own grasp.

At the same time, seemingly trying to distract herself from her anxiety, Tanxiang took the initiative to communicate with the wandering spirit: "Since you used to worship that god called 'Tai Sui,' why didn't you stay with the remnants of Tai Sui?"

"The remnants of the Tai Sui faction split multiple times during the extermination efforts of the Gospel Institute. I probably escaped during one of those exterminations," the wandering spirit said indifferently. "Moreover, it is said that the remnants of the Tai Sui faction also provoked the Great Demon Xuanwu and are now being hunted down by the Great Demon Xuanwu. Perhaps they have already been completely wiped out by now."

"You mean Xuanwu?" My attention was piqued. "Why would they provoke Xuanwu?"

"Maybe it was just bad luck," the wandering spirit said. "I don't know much more about it."

The flesh and blood of the Great Demon Xuanwu is the only way to completely heal Asaho's soul. If I were to return to the modern world in the future, it would be necessary to hunt it down before my return, or at least obtain a part of its body.

Although we don't know where the Great Demon Xuanwu is, it sounds like as long as we find this so-called "remnant of Tai Sui," we can just wait for the Great Demon Xuanwu to come to us.

However, I am not sure if I am a match for the Great Demon Xuanwu.

At the same level, the advantage of the Xuanwu successor over the Zhuque successor is irreversible. Even I, at the Great Completion stage, was no match for the Water Master Xuanwu. It was only after becoming the Great Impermanence that I defeated him by overwhelming his power.

The Great Demon, at the very least, is an ultimate monster on par with gods and humans.

The wandering spirit stared at me without saying a word.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked curiously.

"You are incredibly powerful. You eliminated all the strange creatures that appeared along the way. Even within the Gospel Institute, it's rare to encounter a Blessed monk as powerful as you," the wandering spirit said calmly.

"Thank you for the compliment. So?" I asked.

The ghost seemed to be organizing its words before saying, "You told me before that your goal was to find the little bowl and then provide her with shelter... were you serious?"

“Of course I’m serious,” I said.

"But... can you really protect her instead of framing her?" the wandering spirit asked rhetorically.

I asked unexpectedly, "Did I do something wrong that made you suspect I had any ill intentions towards Xiaowan?"

“This has nothing to do with your subjective will,” the ghost said. “I’ve already seen it; what you say is true. As long as we act with you, strange things will keep emerging and attacking us. This kind of misfortune is completely the opposite of when we act with that girl.”

"Although it's not nice to talk to your benefactor like this, you're practically a jinx. Once you get together with her, her 'luck' will likely be diminished by your 'misfortune,' or even completely overshadowed."

"So, if you really are her friend, then please stay away from her and stop thinking about being with her."

Upon hearing this, I took a closer look at the wandering spirit.

He looked suspicious and asked, "Excuse me, did I say something wrong?"

"No, how should I put it... I'm just feeling a bit sentimental," I said.

The wandering spirit just called me a jinx, but I felt no anger. For me, being favored by the power of a jinx is a blessing, not a curse. However, I couldn't help but think of what Asa had described about her past experiences.

Although the meaning of the "witch of the gospel" described in the cartographer's diary is still unclear, for a long time, Asahi seemed to be regarded by many survivors as a jinx spreading misfortune, and was subjected to all kinds of disgust and fear. Even a wandering spirit who disregards his own life would probably do his best to persuade her to stay away from the few beautiful things that are available to her.

The reason she exiled herself and lived a life far removed from other survivors was probably because she heard similar words time and time again.

What I'm facing now is mostly the same situation that Ma Zao was in before.

"Besides... even if you really reunite with Xiaowan, what can you possibly accomplish?" the wandering spirit continued. "Not only me, but even a powerful demigod is nothing to the Great Demon of Calamity. If you go to her side, you will only end up like me, forcing her to share some of her luck with you, making things even worse."

Tanxiang directly voiced her opposition: "So what? No matter how powerful that guy called the Great Demon of Calamity is, can he be more powerful than Zhuang Cheng?"

The wandering spirit frowned and said, "You don't understand the power of the Great Demon. It was a monstrous creature that was once a god, and only humans and gods could contend with it..."

“But isn’t Zhuang Cheng also a god?” Tanxiang retorted.

"What did you say?" The wandering soul was stunned for a moment.

It was at this moment that a strange noise suddenly came from the darkness in the distance.

It was a nervous sound of footsteps, as if walking on muddy ground.

I couldn't help but feel surprised. Sandalwood's eyes widened in astonishment, while the wandering soul's expression changed drastically as he looked in that direction.

(End of this chapter)