Chapter 613 A Promise Made in a Moment

I currently have no way of knowing which side the old master will ultimately choose, or whether he will maintain a neutral stance as in the past. I can only turn my attention back to the present.

"Speaking of which, Naraku's Will has already been severely damaged by Naraku's Gospel and is in a very weak state. Since your Humanity Divine Weapon uses Naraku's Will as its power source, won't it be affected?" I asked curiously.

"No problem. When I unsealed the Divine Weapon of Humanity, I thoroughly checked its operational status from the inside out. This morning was mainly spent on unsealing and checking. I can confirm that there won't be any problems with its power output," Fa Zheng replied. "As for the current situation of Naraku's Will, it may be different from what you understand. Naraku's Will may have indeed suffered severe damage, but its basic size should not have been reduced much."

"You can understand this by observing the current state of human civilization. If the collective unconscious of humanity had truly been severely damaged to the point of near extinction, it would inevitably be reflected in the humans who are still alive today. And the fact is, before you described the state of Naraku's will, we didn't even know that such a thing had ever happened."

"If nothing unexpected happens, Naraku's will is probably just extremely scattered now, temporarily unable to maintain its previous unity, and unable to express its own clear opinions. As a 'will,' it is certainly quite bad, but as a 'power,' it is still intact."

"The so-called 'unconscious,' especially the 'collective unconscious,' may actually be more natural in its lack of integration... But even if it becomes structurally disorganized, there is still a basic commonality, which is the desire not to perish."

In other words, Naraku's will will still transfer power to the human divine weapon.

Just as a person may faint and lose consciousness, their breathing and heartbeat will not stop, and blood will continue to flow in their veins. As long as the moment of true death has not arrived, instinct will not disappear.

“Let’s go,” Fa Zheng said. “Follow me.”

As he spoke, he stood up, leaning on his silver-white spear, then took a step to the east and disappeared from the reception room.

The traces of cause and effect unfolded naturally in my vision. My gaze pierced through time and space, tracing the clues to a scene thousands of miles away. Fa Zheng had already reached the outskirts of the target city, his body suspended in the air beneath the clouds. So I stood up as well and took a step in that direction. The surrounding time and space scene rapidly changed, and I arrived beside Fa Zheng.

Below was the intercity highway, where vehicles of all colors looked like tiny insects, densely packed along the gray lines. If a driver happened to look up at the sky, I wonder if they could see us flying through the air. If they happened to have binoculars, they could probably see us much more clearly.

In today's world, a significant number of people are probably no longer as naive as they were in peacetime, mistaking suspicious black dots that inexplicably appear in the sky for birds, animals, or drones. Instead, they might seriously suspect that they could be passing monsters or even alien UFOs.

Fa Zheng suddenly turned his head and asked, "There's one more thing I forgot to ask you. When we met last time, what you said shocked me so much that I accidentally overlooked it. What exactly is Xuan Ming's purpose in trying to capture the divine child beside you to launch the sacrificial ceremony?"

After thinking it over, I replied, "...Xuanming wants to find the Lord of the Divine Seal."

"So that's how it is..." Fa Zheng stared intently at me.

To be honest, I don't really want to answer this question directly.

Since Fazheng has rejected the plan to exterminate humanity, he will inevitably have to come up with his own plan in order to save the world, and he will likely reach a similar conclusion to Xuanming in the end.

Therefore, once they realized that "the true holder of the seal could be found by sacrificing Xiaowan," not only Xuanming, but even Fazheng and the Divination Master would be tempted. Furthermore, even if Xiaowan weren't someone important to me, I myself would consider whether I should capture this divine child to track down the true holder. Therefore, I have no right to condemn others for deliberately making things difficult for such a young girl.

However, deceiving and concealing information on this issue is undoubtedly a poor strategy. Not to mention that Fazheng and Gua Tianshi could easily deduce the truth with their wisdom, although Xuanming and the Luoshan Great Impermanence appear to be enemies, they share the same goal of saving the world. Therefore, it is possible that Xuanming could reach a consensus with Fazheng and Gua Tianshi regarding the "sacrifice of the small bowl."

I must make this matter clear beforehand and then clearly state my position.

“I will not allow anyone to sacrifice the small bowl,” I said bluntly. “Anyone who tries to do that is making an enemy of me.”

“I also don’t want to push someone as powerful as you to the opposite side at this crucial time when we are about to go to war with the Gospel House. So we can promise you that we will not take action against that Son of God.” Fa Zheng also said righteously, “But since this matter involves saving the world, I must remind you that this promise has a time limit.”

"At the very least, we can't be so patient as to continue to consider your personal feelings even when the end times are getting urgent."

"You said 'we'?" I asked.

“These past two days, I’ve not only been investigating Mingzhuo’s whereabouts and evidence of his crimes, but I’ve also found the Divination Master and Jian Feixian, and we’ve reached an agreement to form a united front to stop the human massacre plan. At the same time, the Divination Master has also deduced the core of the conflict between Xuanming and you. I’m glad you didn’t try to deceive or hide anything from me just now,” Fazheng said.

"So, what is your view on the conflict between Xuanming and the Lord of Taoyuan?" I asked. "Those two are currently causing a huge commotion in the south. Don't you have any plans to intervene?"

“I also want to get involved. Their conflict has engulfed the entire city, and I’m afraid it has already caused the deaths of tens of millions of people. The entire population of the city has probably been wiped out in the chaos of the Great Impermanence. But I can’t find a way to break through that barrier in a short time.” Fa Zheng sighed. “According to Yu Chi’s analysis of that barrier, it is more of an obstacle formed by immense power. Because its structure tends to be simple, there is not much room for array techniques to intervene.”

"So even for Yuchi himself, it would probably take at least ten days to half a month to get inside. Moreover, the sea of ​​fire that Xuanming set up around the city also prevented him from getting closer and made it difficult to carry out further processing. In addition, he has to focus all his efforts on studying the technical data of 'Dushuo Mountain' recently, so we can only temporarily let Xuanming and Taoyuan Township Lord hold each other off while we deal with the Gospel House first."

If he hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have even thought of having Yuchi tackle that barrier. As for that sea of ​​fire, I could easily use my own power to infiltrate it and create a safe passage for Yuchi. However, if even Yuchi needs ten days or half a month, it's better for me to continue trying to conquer it myself.

Since the people there are already almost certainly dead, it's better to focus all our efforts on dealing with the Evangelion, which poses a greater threat in terms of both purpose and strength. Although Fazheng's judgment sounds cold-blooded, it is a helpless move. Only an omniscient and omnipotent person can have it all; otherwise, even gods must face the practical problem of making choices.

Afterwards, Fa Zheng and I entered the skies above the city.

Fa Zheng showed a serious expression, and I also focused all my attention.

Mingzhuo is a cunning and cautious fickle person. It's rather unnatural that someone like him would expose his whereabouts after only two days of hiding. Although it's possible he carelessly left clues, it's best to overestimate your opponent to avoid being outmaneuvered.

There's something even more unsettling about this: he hasn't left the city since entering it. Does he genuinely believe this place is the perfect refuge? Or is he here fully prepared to confront me, confident he can defeat me?

He might have even factored in the possibility that "Fazheng will also participate in the campaign," intending to ambush us here in alliance with other members of the Gospel House. However, this isn't the long-established Peach Blossom Spring stronghold that the enemy has cultivated for so long; it's impossible to conceal the magical fluctuations at the level of the Great Impermanence. Once a conflict of that scale occurs, it will inevitably escalate into the final battle between Luoshan and the Gospel House.

Would the Gospel House do something like this at this stage? I can't say for sure. At the same time, I can observe that Fazheng was aware of this problem from the beginning. The preparations he made beforehand for the campaign against Mingzhuo were probably far more extensive than he claimed.

"Zhuang Cheng, let's work together to find him," Fa Zheng said in a deep voice.

"Okay." I summoned a fireball.

The fireball exploded, transforming into tens of thousands of "fireflies," which flew in all directions like fireworks blooming in the sky.

We simultaneously radiated our own perception.

If we rashly perceive other Great Impermanences, they will perceive us in return, especially Great Impermanences like Life Turbidity, which prefer to conceal their true nature. However, we had no intention of hiding anything, so at this moment we directly and wholeheartedly used our senses to scan the entire city without restraint.

I used all the "fireflies" as relays of my perception, observing not only all outdoor areas on the ground and inside buildings, but also places thousands of meters underground, ensuring that I would not miss any gaps where someone could hide, leaving no place for them to escape.

(End of this chapter)