Chapter 312 The Power of Great Impermanence 2
Silver Moon floated amidst a shower of light and dust. She was still the same as when I fought her last time: long white hair, golden beast eyes, and dressed in moon-white clothes, like a young girl still in school.
In my memory, Yin Yue was always alluring and mysterious, cunning and radiating an air of calm confidence. But now, she had lost that composure. It was as if she had woken up from a long nap at home and suddenly discovered that her house had been demolished and was lying in pieces. Her face was filled with confusion and astonishment, as if she was wondering if she hadn't woken up yet.
When I fought Gu Yue last time, Yin Yue should still have been awake. I could vaguely sense her lurking gaze through the mist. Perhaps she felt threatened after discovering I had come to the Moonshadow Mountain area and wanted to accelerate her recovery by temporarily hibernating.
Sleep helps heal wounds to the soul, and Asahi had used the same method before. It seems this principle also applies to Gingetsu, this youkai. Her method of sleeping is quite unique; she even made a cocoon of light to put herself inside.
If she hadn't fallen asleep earlier, she might have been able to secretly observe my battle with the Water Master Xuanwu. And once she discovered I had become the Great Impermanence, she could have escaped immediately. That being said, she couldn't escape even if she wanted to. The distance from the mountainside to the summit was practically nothing to me. Just as I was certain the Water Master Xuanwu couldn't easily escape from me, I was also confident I could prevent Silver Moon from escaping from my grasp.
Without answering Silvermoon's question, I made my move without hesitation.
My right arm suddenly lengthened and extended, my hand becoming large enough to grasp her entire body. After entering the Great Impermanence Realm, I didn't develop any new techniques; I simply enhanced all the skills I had used before. Faster speed, greater strength, nothing more.
Such a simple movement, which would have been impossible to catch Silver Moon in the past, was now as if she didn't know how to dodge; I easily captured her. There was no particular reason, it was simply because I was too fast, and grabbing Silver Moon was as easy as taking candy from a baby. She belatedly realized she had been caught, and then her whole body erupted with a blazing white light, trying to use her magic to destroy the giant fiery hand that imprisoned her.
The magical energy fluctuations unleashed from that struggle alone surpassed the final, powerful attack she unleashed after a long period of preparation during the battle at the old Humanitarian Division stronghold. It seems she can truly unleash her full power now. I thought that with Moonshadow Mountain destroyed like this, she might lose her advantage of terrain. It doesn't seem that simple.
Under my current control, Silver Moon seemed to be in the same state, whether weakened or fully recovered; the giant fiery hand remained completely still. Her expression became even more incredulous.
"You! You now, could it be—" She looked at me as if I were a monster.
Tell me, where is the soul of Chang'an?
Of course I knew that the Silver Moon before me was the manifestation of Chang'an, but this information had only been speculation and hearsay before. Until the other party admitted it to me personally, I might still have some wishful thinking.
Yin Yue seemed to be able to see through my heart. She seemed to calm down quickly, and then smiled and said, "Didn't you already know from Gu Yue that your friend, my son... has completely become me?"
“Then change back to normal right now, or else—” I said.
“Otherwise, you’ll burn me to death? But if I turn back into the Chang’an you know, what difference would that make from death for me now?” she said. “I can use illusion magic to recreate your friend’s appearance and simulate his personality in dealing with people… but I won’t deceive you here, because with your current eyesight, such illusion magic cannot guarantee that it will fool you.”
"It's impossible to truly bring Chang'an back. His memories have been diluted and dissolved during our union."
"Just as you suspect in your heart, in a sense, I am also my son... or rather, I can say that I am Chang'an who has obtained the memories of the Silver Moon. However, the less than twenty years that my son has lived are insignificant compared to my long memories of thousands of years."
“The moment I was revived from his soul, the personality of ‘Zhu Chang’an’ had already died in fact.”
What Yin Yue said was pretty much what I had worried about in the past, but I still didn't give up hope.
“Chang’an’s personality may indeed be shattered, but it’s not impossible to save him. You’re just misleading me,” I said.
“Oh, misleading?” she laughed.
“If you are another powerful soul different from Chang’an, and you want to compete with Chang’an for dominance, and kill Chang’an, this weak soul, in the process, then I can believe it…” I searched for a theory to support my point of view like a defense lawyer. “But if there is only one soul from beginning to end, and there are only two completely different memories, then things are different.”
"Your memories are indeed much longer than Chang'an's, and you have experienced many thrilling adventures that Chang'an could not even imagine. You have also mastered countless pieces of knowledge and experience that Chang'an could only dream of. But that does not mean that your memories can erase Chang'an's memories. Memories cannot be compared in this way."
"It's not that long memories are necessarily more dazzling than short memories, nor that mature memories can always overshadow childish memories. Many people, after growing up and starting their own families, look back at their childhood selves. Even if they can completely negate their childhood values with adult values, the many emotional imprints from their childhood can still influence their entire adult life."
"Memories from the first ten or so years can influence the next few decades of one's life. This is not only not a rare phenomenon, but it is also very common among humans."
Upon hearing this, Silver Moon revealed a strange smile.
“You’ve misunderstood three things. First, I’m not human; my spirituality is different from yours. Even my son isn’t entirely human; he’s half-human, half-demon,” she said. “Second, it’s true that a person’s childhood experiences influence their personality as an adult, but that’s because the former is the foundation of the latter.”
"My memories and Chang'an's memories are not that closely related, and his memories are really not that important to me."
I countered, "If that's the case, then... why did you have to kill me?"
When Silvermoon had just "resurrected," for some reason, she insisted on killing me.
A senior researcher captured at the Fufeng base once proposed the following hypothesis: because Yin Yue is an evil spirit possessing Chang'an, in order to completely take over Chang'an's body, she needs to make Chang'an's soul despair. The specific way to do this is to use his body to kill my good friend.
Although Silver Moon is not actually an evil spirit, but rather Silver Moon memories resurrected within Chang'an's soul, this principle may still hold true.
Perhaps Yin Yue wanted to completely sever her attachment to "Chang'an" and achieve a state of true mental harmony, which is why she had to kill me.
Conversely, this proves that Chang'an is still struggling within the Silver Moon.
"You see things very clearly... You should have never really come into contact with knowledge of the spiritual realm, yet you can hit the bullseye with your own inspiration. You truly deserve to be called a god on earth, just like the re-emergence of the mythological age, relying solely on your talent."
Silver Moon looked at me thoughtfully; she had clearly realized the level I was at now.
"So you're admitting it?" I asked.
“Yes, I admit it. The reason I wanted to kill you was to make my son give up. But, have you forgotten… about your ‘third misunderstanding’ that I haven’t mentioned yet?” She revealed a malicious smile. “If I had the means, I would certainly want to achieve my spiritual fulfillment by killing you, but there’s more than one way to achieve fulfillment. If I can’t do it that way, I’m not without alternative methods.”
"I am a demon who has mastered the manipulation of minds. Manipulating the minds of others goes without saying, and manipulating my own mind is equally effortless. Therefore..."
"Why do you think... I can't directly erase Chang'an's memories from my own soul?"
These words undoubtedly shook my emotions.
Just then, Silver Moon suddenly changed. Her body blurred as I grasped her in the giant hand of fire, and then the giant hand of fire grasped nothing, as if Silver Moon was just an illusion.
This is an illusion; what I grasped from the very beginning was a fake Silver Moon—I reflexively came to this conclusion.
But I understand that things aren't that simple. Silver Moon must have seized the moment when my attention wavered and used her powers to alter the history of her capture, changing the established facts to the result that "the captured version of herself was just an illusion, while the real her had already escaped."
What a cunning fox.
"—You can't escape."
I stood still, facing the void, and stretched out my hand once more.
(End of this chapter)
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