Chapter 253 Rumination
Thanks to Asaho's intervention, we successfully logged out of the apocalyptic dream, and the Great Impermanence seemed to have vanished before our eyes. However, logically, the battle shouldn't have ended so easily, and Asaho must have known this well, yet for some reason, she relaxed.
Then, she examined my body very carefully and asked worriedly, "Zhuang Cheng, your injury..."
My soul was just severely damaged right before her eyes, with more than two-thirds of it destroyed. Although she knew I had the power to heal my soul and saw that I was now unharmed, such a thing happening right before her eyes still made her worry. I also had some doubts about my condition, stemming from the attack of the Great Impermanence; perhaps it possessed unimaginable special properties. So I observed myself for a moment.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no aftereffects, and my soul repaired itself to a completely intact state in the blink of an eye. Just like the monsters in some comics who achieve a kind of immortality through super regeneration, it seems that as long as there is even a little bit of my soul left, I can heal even the most serious injuries.
In a sense, the blow that the Great Impermanence delivered to me was utterly ineffective.
However, to the opponent, such a strike would hardly qualify as a normal attack. If he had the intention, annihilating my soul into complete nothingness in a single blow would have been effortless. So, you could say I was lucky to escape with my life.
That is the Great Impermanence...
I told Mazao that I had fully recovered, and she gave me an expression that said, "I understand every word you say, but I don't understand them when they're put together."
"More than that... what does 'safe' mean? Does that mean the Great Impermanence can no longer interfere within your soul?" I asked.
Ma nodded at first, and then explained to me.
Her act of using the power of return to escape from within her own mental world was like "a person attempting to escape from their own body"—a logically illogical act. But the soul, by its very nature, has no distinction between inside and outside, size and shape, and does not follow worldly norms. Even if it was her dream, it wouldn't prevent her from escaping from her own dream—except that this time, her escape wasn't for that reason.
“I initially gave up on continuing that dream, but the Great Impermanence chose to keep it going. From that moment on, it was no longer my dream, but his dream,” she said.
There are many ways to prolong a dream, but the Great Impermanence used the most brutal method: forcibly seizing the dream. Such a thing was originally impossible, but the Great Impermanence, with its immense power capable of distorting worldly logic, made it happen without regard for reason.
Perhaps this is similar to what I've done before. In the past, I could distort the settings of an independent reality space using my own understanding, and Da Wuchang could forcibly alter the settings of dreams using his spiritual power. It's just that he can even alter such a core setting; rather than being an uninvited guest who has hacked into the dream, he is more like a god of the dream.
Based on this, he locked onto Asahi with the idea of "not allowing the other party to escape," preventing her from logging out of the dream with the power of return. Asahi, the master of the dream, was in turn imprisoned inside her own dream.
All of this began to waver slightly the moment he discovered the specific details of the dream.
Although I don't know why, he seemed quite shocked by the apocalyptic dream scene, and was also caught off guard by my attack. His mental lock created a barely perceptible gap. Asaha seized this golden opportunity and escaped with me in the blink of an eye.
It can only be said that Asahi truly lives up to her reputation as a super survivor who successfully escaped from the clutches of the Great Demon and endured hellish hardship in the apocalypse. She actually managed to seize that brief moment of opening. Keep in mind that was the consciousness of the Great Impermanence; even if a gap appeared within it, not just anyone could grasp it.
At least I myself wasn't aware of the existence of that gap, and an ordinary Great Completion level cultivator probably couldn't have done it either. In my perception, even when he was shaken and shocked over there, his attention was always highly focused on us.
Since the apocalyptic dream was already his dream, it was no longer Asaho's mental world, so it didn't matter if Asaho escaped from there. It could be considered a blessing in disguise. In addition, since she, the "source provider," was now gone, the apocalyptic dream would either disappear completely or be repainted by the spirit of the Great Impermanence, becoming a completely different scene.
“Ma Zao, you probably can’t use your full strength right now, but you can already defeat enemies at the level of a master, and even escape from the clutches of the Great Impermanence… So how strong were you at your peak? Were you at the Great Master level?” I asked curiously.
“The Great Completion level…” Ma Zao thought for a moment, “I don’t know if it counts… However, if it’s an opponent of the level of Divine Spear and Chenlong, I should be able to give it a try in the past.”
As she spoke, she glanced down at the head of the divine spear on her knee and said regretfully, "It seems we can't investigate this head any further. Otherwise, before we can gather any information, that Great Impermanence will come after us again."
She picked up the spearhead and tossed it aside. The spearhead vanished into thin air, presumably teleported somewhere using her power of return.
Even if we stop investigating the sharpshooter's head, there's no guarantee that the Great Impermanence won't come after us again. After our recent exchange (perhaps calling it an 'exchange' would be an exaggeration), our real-world coordinates might have been exposed to the other side.
So, should we escape from Fufeng Base immediately?
This Fufeng base must have made extensive preparations in secret to hide us, including numerous anti-divination and anti-detection barriers. While my "Firefly" can move freely inside, its signal weakens significantly outside. Conversely, if I stay outside, I'll likely have difficulty contacting the "Firefly" inside. If even this place is unsafe, going outside will only make things more dangerous. If the enemy is determined, they can lock onto us in the blink of an eye. Escape seems like a poor choice.
On the other hand, I don't believe that the Great Impermanence would be hindered by the counter-divination and counter-intelligence methods of a mere branch base. What truly prevents the enemy from attacking us is likely an external factor—namely, the influence of Fazheng operating outside. Only another Great Impermanence can stop the Great Impermanence. Therefore, whether we are inside the Fufeng base or not is actually of little consequence. Considering this is Fazheng's territory, it's better to stay here and wait for Fazheng's arrival.
For the Great Impermanence, spatial distance is not a reliable indicator of whether they can take action. Since the hostile Great Impermanence did not immediately launch a fierce attack, it means that they will not pose a threat to our side again in the short term.
I also relaxed my mind a little, while reflecting on my feelings about the confrontation with the Great Impermanence.
This encounter wasn't meaningless; at least it helped me assess the gap between myself and my enemy. It also taught me a lesson, refreshing my preconceived notions about combat.
In the past, my enemies mostly relied on the special nature of their strength to cause me trouble. But this time, I was actually overwhelmed by the enemy's pure strength. This is the first time such a thing has ever happened to me.
Those enemies who fled from me in the past using their special abilities probably feel the same way I do now.
I wonder if I'll be able to compete with that Great Impermanence once I've fully unleashed my power.
Although the Great Impermanence remotely projected its power into the apocalyptic dream from an unknown source, essentially a "descendance of an avatar," I had already directly clashed with its power. Therefore, even without directly contacting its physical form, I had a grasp of its "scale." Since I didn't immediately feel "unmatched" when delving into this issue, it means that after my complete liberation, I can still be compared to the enemy. In other words, we are on the same level.
If the battle had continued as it was just now, the pressure from the hostile Great Impermanence would have allowed me to fully unleash my power in ten seconds at most. But we only exchanged blows for less than half a second. While I can't say I'm without regret, Ma Zao was right there beside me. Moreover, given the difference in skill level, he would probably have killed me in the next second. No matter how great my potential, if I'm annihilated before I can unleash it, it's all for naught.
Perhaps I need to think of other ways to accelerate the unleashing of my potential. Right now, I can automatically become stronger just by sitting or lying down, but I can't wait any longer. Should I try asking Fufeng to spar with me? That doesn't seem like a good idea. Simply having someone willing to spar isn't enough. Or rather, as long as I know in my heart that it's just sparring, it's meaningless. It has to be a real battle where I risk my life.
With the head of the Sharpshooter no longer usable, I must find a new direction to investigate the true identity of the hostile Great Impermanence.
I recalled the Great Impermanence's wavering reaction to the apocalyptic dream. Clearly, he seemed to recognize the scenes depicted in the dream. In other words, although I don't know why, he seemed to have some understanding of the apocalyptic era.
The apocalyptic dream corresponds to the future after the apocalypse. Since he knows about the apocalyptic era, it means he knows about the future.
The Great Impermanence who can foresee the future—could he be a diviner?
(End of this chapter)
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