Chapter 297 Bifang 1
The figure emerging from the forest did not look like a human, but rather a large bird.
This large bird has a rather peculiar appearance; it seems to have been born with only one leg, covered in blue and red-spotted feathers, and has a white beak. Rather than saying it walked out, it's more accurate to say it was moved by a force akin to telekinesis.
I've never seen or heard of a bird that looks like this in real life, yet I feel like I've seen similar written descriptions somewhere. Could it be from some urban legend or folktale? I should remember, but I can't quite put my finger on it. In any case, it must be the form of a strange creature.
That being said, I found it difficult to detect the scent that a strange being should have on it. No matter how much the Ancient Moon God and the Silver Moon looked like humans, I would still judge them as strange beings without hesitation; but this strange being in front of me didn't even resemble a normal animal, let alone a human, yet I felt that it was emitting a scent that was similar to my own.
It, or rather it, is mostly a monster image created by mimicking humans.
Based on this, I could feel that he exuded an aura of immense power.
The monster was about two meters tall when standing upright, which was certainly large for a bird or beast, but it was on a completely different level from the colossal aura it exuded. I even felt that if its essence could be converted into matter, its size would definitely be far greater than this Moonshadow Mountain.
I've experienced the same feeling from Xuanming, Shenzhao, and Mingzhuo. Unknowingly, I've already seen so many great impermanences, and this strange bird before me is undoubtedly the fourth great impermanence I've seen.
Dongche called him "Master", which means that he was the divination master.
The Divination Master really did appear at Moon Hidden Mountain!
"Good morning!" I shouted immediately.
Asaho could only activate the power of return as agreed and withdraw from my side, while I stayed behind to confront the Divination Master.
With the divination master's abilities, he could probably have stopped it, but he simply watched Ma Zao retreat to a distance, and then said unhurriedly, "That girl was Ming Zhuo's target, wasn't she? From what I see, she seems to be forced to bear an extraordinary fate. It's rather cruel for such a young girl."
I sensed the thermal energy markings on Mazao's body; she had already teleported herself to Moonshadow Mountain City. To be honest, I still hoped she could retreat to a more distant place, or even back to Saltwater City—that wouldn't be unreasonable. Right now, it's barely manageable. She probably wants to stay in a place where she can sense our magical energy fluctuations and act accordingly. Perhaps she's planning to risk her life to return to the battlefield and rescue me if I'm powerless to change the situation.
"Master Diviner, what can I do for you?" I asked directly.
“I know what you’re worried about, Zhuang Cheng.”
As expected, the divination master recognized me. He didn't comment on my current youthful form, but simply chuckled and said, "First of all, I am not Silver Moon's partner, nor do I intend to side with Fate Turbidity and kidnap your girl."
"Aren't you and Mingzhuo on the same side?" I asked.
"no."
The Divination Master didn't put on airs of a superior being, but patiently explained like a teacher imparting knowledge: "In the eyes of many grassroots demon hunters, Mingzhuo and I are both extraordinary, so we should be together. However, the so-called 'extraordinary,' 'worldly governance,' etc., are just rhetoric that started with Fazheng."
“My fundamental ideas are different from Mingzhuo’s; it’s just that Fazheng has simplistically and crudely categorized us as the same kind. In reality, there is no deep-seated bond of interests between us.”
I listened attentively for a while, and then asked, "So... what is your purpose?"
"I've come to Moonshadow Mountain for three things," he said calmly. "First, I've come to take away my adorably silly apprentice."
As he spoke, he spread one wing and gently flapped it as if waving. The winter chariot then disappeared from my side and appeared beside him.
I have not commented on this. Dongche is someone else's apprentice, and in terms of closeness of relationship, he is definitely closer to the Divination Master than to me. Now it's like the parents have come to pick someone up.
Although Dongche himself might not be so happy about it. In order to better establish himself in the political camp, he didn't seem to want others to always associate him with his master. On the other hand, he also seemed to have considerable respect for the Divination Master. Even after joining the political camp, he never spoke ill of the Divination Master to anyone.
Whether it's good or bad, he can't express any opinion now. He stood there blankly, his self-awareness seemed to become even weaker, as if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. The fuzzy glow around his body deepened, and his face gradually turned a corpse-like bluish-white.
“I want to thank you; you saved Dongche.” The fortune teller nodded to me first.
“I couldn’t save him. He’s dead now,” I said.
The fortune teller seemed to have heard a humorous remark, and uttered a sound tinged with amusement: "Death?"
"Master..."
Dongche seemed to react as well, asking blankly, "Am I... dead now?"
"You are a living person, absolutely true," the fortune teller replied calmly.
Upon hearing this, the downy glow on Dongche's body vanished instantly, and his previously deathly complexion became rosy and vibrant, as if life had returned to his body.
He appeared to have engaged in an extremely strenuous activity, his body limp, and he collapsed unconscious.
Although unconscious, it didn't seem to be due to being in danger; rather, it appeared as if he had relaxed too much after escaping a life-or-death situation. Perhaps a good night's sleep will make him fully recovered.
Without comparison, it would have been fine, but now that I've compared them, I feel like this is the first time I've ever seen Dongche alive. Even back at the Fufeng base, he's never been this vibrant.
I couldn't help but recall some of the strange creatures from rural tales. It's said that if an animal with sufficient cultivation wants to transform into human form, it must first walk on two legs, mimicking a human's appearance, and then ask a real human if it resembles a human. If the human verbally acknowledges it, it can transform into human form. This is what's known as "asking for a verbal seal."
Human acceptance can transform spirits into human form, while the acceptance of the Great Impermanence can even reverse time and space, alter reality, and bring the dead back to life.
Life and death are impermanent, yet in the face of great impermanence, it seems that even the illusory and impermanent life and death can be decided with a single word.
The divination master flapped his wings again, and Dongche's figure disappeared completely, seemingly teleported to a place outside the Moon Hidden Mountain area by his spatial teleportation ability.
How did you do that?
I asked the fortune teller a question, naturally asking what method he used to revive the winter chariot.
“You’ve already guessed it, haven’t you? Our language has power. Once you formally enter the realm of the Great Impermanence, you can do the same thing. You don’t even need any training or preparation. Just say those words to him, like I did just now,” the Diviner Master said. “In fact, you’ve already done something similar to him before.”
"Similar things, you mean..." I made a connection in my mind.
"You must have wondered why Dongche, who is supposed to be a death phantom that can only move inside the fog, can appear outside the fog and meet you at the Fufeng base."
The fortune teller seemed to be able to see my entire trajectory and made no attempt to conceal it, continuing, "The truth is simple. It's because back at the Fufeng base, he asked you if you looked like a dead person, and you gave a negative answer."
"Just because of such a simple sentence, he more or less returned to the realm of the living and gained the right to continue his activities in the world of the living."
"However, the same approach won't work for the others in that mist. They are all already dead, their souls nowhere to be found. If it were an era when the world of the living and the world of the dead were still connected, we, the Great Impermanence, could revive them with a single word, but that's not possible now."
"But because Dongche's death has not yet truly arrived, his soul is still temporarily intact, which is why he can be resurrected through the power of words."
I think that's pretty much it, but there are still some things I don't understand.
Since the fortune teller didn't seem to show any malice, I continued with my question: "His appearance in the outside world came first, and my denial of his death came later. If my denial of his death was a prerequisite for his appearance in the outside world, then he wouldn't have been able to move outside the fog in the first place, and it would have been even more impossible for him to have met me, right?"
"However, assuming he can move around in the outside world, he might be able to obtain your power of words. And even in hypothetical realms, possible realms, and other unreal realms, the power of the Great Impermanence can penetrate in."
The fortune teller was quite friendly, perhaps because he had a tendency to be a know-it-all, and he was even willing to answer questions about details: “It’s like you are not yet the Great Impermanence, but you may become one in the future. However, some of the powers that belong to the Great Impermanence have already manifested in you… You are not completely clueless about this, are you?”
He was probably referring to the mutual repulsion between me and the strange things, as well as the laws governing heaven and earth.
"The law of heaven and earth..." I murmured the phrase to myself. I hadn't forgotten that he had said something when he first appeared: the strange fog phenomenon that now permeated Moonshadow Mountain and the surrounding towns, like air pollution, was the law of heaven and earth of Silver Moon.
But how could the silver moon possibly represent the heavens and the earth?
"Is Silver Moon also a Great Impermanence?" I asked.
"She isn't. However, one doesn't necessarily need to have the qualifications of a Great Impermanence to become one," the Divination Master said. "Throughout history, there have occasionally been extremely rare special cases where someone without the qualifications of a Great Impermanence has become one. For example, Old Fist God, Willow Shadow, Wheel King, and Zhu Yi, the ancestor of the Zhu family... And I think Silver Moon may also become this special case."
"This is my second purpose for this trip: I intend to invite Silver Moon to join Luo Shan."
(End of this chapter)
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