Chapter 537 The Lord of the Divine Seal, Tai Sui
Hearing the guide say that, Xiao Wan also showed a slightly speechless expression.
As long as nothing goes wrong along the way... if Zhu Shi were here, he would probably complain, "Don't just casually raise such a terrible flag."
Xiao Wan, who used to hang out with Ma Zao and suffer from the jinx of bad luck, probably has a deep understanding of this "jinx."
It's both amusing and frustrating that I, the invited guest, arrived at the woman's house even faster than the mysterious woman who extended the invitation. However, the mysterious woman isn't a divine being like Xiao Wan, possessing the power to govern the heavens and the earth. Even if she possesses blessings that can guide her smoothly back to this Tai Sui army stronghold, she couldn't possibly arrive as quickly as we did.
Even cartographers still need to use the blessed lantern, so when it comes to its "guiding" function, the little bowl is far more powerful than the cartographer.
After passing through several corridors, the guide led Xiaowan and me to a room and said politely, "This is the room we have arranged for you. Please rest here for now. We will bring you meals later."
I nodded, and Xiaowan obediently thanked me on my behalf. The guide turned and left, and I pushed open the door and went inside, with Xiaowan following closely behind.
This is a very clean single room, complete with a private bathroom. It's much tidier and more complete than the cartographer's safe house, and would be considered quite excellent in a post-apocalyptic setting. The only downside is that, probably not anticipating I'd be bringing a companion, there's only one bed in the room.
The guide seemed to have forgotten about it as well. The staff responsible for greeting guests were just temporary replacements from the gatekeeper, and many aspects seemed hasty. Rather than a lack of sincerity, it was more a lack of experience in receiving visitors.
Xiao Wan pressed down on the bed with both hands, then sat down on it, seemingly quite satisfied with the firmness of the mattress.
Then, she looked at me, straightened her expression slightly, and continued, "Brother Zhuang Cheng, what do you think of the leader of the Tai Sui Army... and Lady Seven?"
Although they haven't officially met yet, she's already tacitly agreed that the mysterious woman is Number Seven. Actually, I share a similar view.
This isn't to say that this judgment won't be overturned later. Even if it is wrong, I won't be particularly surprised. Thinking the other party is A, but actually being B or C—this level of unexpectedness isn't the first time, and it doesn't particularly move me now.
Before the dust settles, any judgment may be reversed.
"What do you mean by 'how you see it'?" I asked.
"Lady Seven's real identity is that she was a confidante who followed the God of Tai Sui in the past, and now she is the leader of the Tai Sui Army, but we all know that her identity is far more than that," Xiao Wan said. "She is also the seventh apostle of the Void Realm, and the most mysterious apostle of the Void Realm."
"When we were still in the stage of knowing nothing about the Void Realm and the Lord of the Divine Seal, she did not show the slightest panic or curiosity. It was as if she already had a certain understanding of the Void Realm and had a tacit and obedient attitude towards any words or actions of the Lord of the Divine Seal."
“We can suspect that she has some connection with the Void Realm and the Lord of the Divine Seal. And this connection may be reflected in her real-world background.”
It's not just a matter of "having a certain degree of connection"; I even suspect that Number Seven might be a subordinate of the Lord of the Divine Seal.
After a moment's thought, I said, "Are you trying to say... that the true identity of the Lord of the Divine Seal is the Tai Sui, who is believed to be dead by outsiders?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Wan hesitated greatly, and after a long time, she said, "...I think we should first define what the 'Lord of the Divine Seal' is."
“The way you’re talking right now is like a forum user getting bogged down in an online argument,” I said.
Xiao Wan's face showed a confused expression, as if she were asking "What is the internet?" and "Why do I know what the internet is?" Then she said helplessly, "I can't help it either, because 'the Lord of the Divine Seal' is indeed a poorly defined concept at this stage..."
I was just saying it casually, and then I quickly steered the conversation back on track. “I understand what you mean. The Lord of the Divine Seal that we have been in contact with all this time, in your perception, is not actually the ‘person who wields the Divine Seal,’ but the ‘Divine Seal itself.’”
“Yes, this is what I observed on the eve of the destruction of the Void Realm, at the same time that Mr. Six… the Great Impermanence Divine Illumination attacked the Lord of the Divine Seal,” Xiao Wan said. “That Lord of the Divine Seal is simply a character transformed from the Divine Seal itself. This is the biggest reason why the Great Impermanence Divine Illumination could not sever the connection between him and the Divine Seal… because the two are originally inseparable.”
"And in this situation, an unavoidable mystery arises: where did the 'true master of the divine seal'—the 'one who wields the divine seal'—go?" I continued, "This person must exist, because long ago, it was this 'one who wields the divine seal' who separated the world of common sense from the world of the supernatural... For the sake of convenience, let's call him the 'seal holder' from now on."
"Although we don't know whether the one who holds the seal is currently dead or hiding behind the scenes manipulating everything, what is certain is that he is currently in a state where he cannot use the power of the divine seal to affect our world."
While analyzing, I recalled a sentence I had seen in a Ming Dynasty text on fortune telling when I was a enthusiast of occultism and browsing through various ancient books.
—The Grand Duke Jupiter is the master of the year and the leader of all gods.
As the one who wields the divine seal, one doesn't need to resort to scheming to achieve any goal; a single thought can turn the tide and make the world operate in the way one desires.
Whether it's creation or destruction, summoning the end of the world or saving the world from the apocalypse, it's all easier than lifting a finger.
Thinking about it this way, if the God-Deity Tai Sui is this seal-holder, it is inevitably puzzling that he would be killed by Yama, the Lord of the Gospel Court.
Even assuming, hypothetically, that this battle was rife with irregularities—for example, that Tai Sui didn't actually die but faked his death to achieve some nefarious scheme—it still makes no sense. The true master of the seal wouldn't need such convoluted methods or underhanded tactics; they could simply reveal their true purpose.
Just like someone who uses a game cheat engine doesn't need to painstakingly fight monsters to level up, they can simply modify their level to that point; nor do they need to painstakingly complete the main and side quests, they can simply modify the game's progress to a completed state.
This is "absolute power" in the true sense.
Under absolute power, all means and schemes are meaningless.
Of course, considering that the divine seal has been shattered at some point, it's understandable that the seal holder cannot manipulate omniscience and omnipotence at will. However, this raises another question—why would someone who possesses omniscience and omnipotence be unable to avoid losing it?
Furthermore, even in the state of the shattered divine seal, it is hard to imagine that the seal holder, who was once the "true master of the divine seal," would be killed by Yama, the "mere human god."
Ultimately, why would Yama, the Lord of the Gospel Court, want to kill Tai Sui?
"Regardless of why things have developed to this point, assuming that the one who holds the seal is Tai Sui, the mastermind behind everything, then Number Seven is probably not a subordinate of the Lord of the Seal, but rather a subordinate of the one who holds the seal. She and the Lord of the Seal may be on the same level..." I pondered.
“But isn’t this hypothetical Seal Bearer redundant?” Xiao Wan said. “From an outsider’s perspective, we Void Realm Apostles are merely pawns pushed to the forefront by the Lord of the Divine Seal, while the Lord of the Divine Seal is the mastermind hiding behind the scenes in the Void Realm. If the Seal Bearer were to hide behind the scenes as well, then he would become the mastermind behind the mastermind.”
"It's not that this behavior is necessarily without its benefits. If powerful Void Realm Apostles like Brother Zhuang Cheng and Xuan Ming were to join forces in a rebellion, the Divine Seal Master, who has been pushed to the forefront, could become a scapegoat. But if I were the one who held the seal, I would not allow the Divine Seal to develop its own consciousness in the first place."
"Even if its absolute loyalty can be theoretically guaranteed through a series of regulatory measures, that is only in theory. Allowing such an omnipotent artifact to develop its own mind is itself a taboo."
I tried to speculate: "Perhaps the divine seal did not truly develop its own consciousness, but was manipulated behind the scenes by the seal holder like a puppeteer, or perhaps there are some interests involved that we are unaware of."
After thinking for a moment, Xiao Wan said, "Is it possible that... there was never any Seal Holder from the very beginning, only a Divine Seal that somehow developed self-awareness? And in ancient times, the one who used omniscience and omnipotence to separate the world of common sense from the world of the strange was this 'Lord of the Divine Seal' that we have come into contact with?"
This assumption has a huge flaw, which I believe Xiaowan herself is aware of. She probably hoped to get another perspective from me to examine her own thoughts, so I played along and said, "This should be impossible. Shenzhao said that the Lord of the Divine Seal is quite unfamiliar with the use of his power, like a mortal who accidentally obtained a powerful magical artifact and is using its power as if it were his own..."
"Although this logic is somewhat far-fetched, we can still reluctantly explain it as follows: because the consciousness of the Divine Seal itself was born not long ago, there are too many flaws in its ability to manipulate its own power, just like a newborn baby is not yet good at using its own hands and feet."
"But if we say that this consciousness existed in a very ancient time, then it becomes impossible to explain the degree of unfamiliarity with the use of power."
Based on this theory, the Lord of the Divine Seal that was presented to us, the Apostles of the Void Realm, in the past was unlikely to be directly manipulated by the Seal Holder behind the scenes like a puppeteer. That would also make it inexplicable how unfamiliar he was with it.
It's not that there's no room for the person in charge to act, but we can't see their motives for doing so.
Xiao Wan, however, keenly noticed the discord in my words and asked, "'Although this logic is somewhat far-fetched'—why does Brother Zhuang Cheng think so? Is there some inexplicable element in this logic?"
I said cautiously, "Rather than saying it's hard to explain... I just think that with the eyes of a seasoned and unpredictable person like Shenzhao, he shouldn't be unable to distinguish between a 'mortal who accidentally obtains a powerful magical artifact' and a 'new consciousness that is not yet very good at using its own hands and feet'."
"But this is just my speculation. It's also possible that he simply didn't think in that direction and thus made the wrong judgment."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Wan showed a thoughtful expression.
“The one who holds the seal will most likely not allow the divine seal to develop its own consciousness, yet it is an undeniable fact that the divine seal possesses its own consciousness…” Xiao Wan pondered seriously, “At the same time, Lady Seven, as a confidante of Tai Sui, has shown a certain degree of obedience to it, coupled with the fact that Tai Sui appears to be dead to outsiders…”
"...Judging from all these factors, could it be that the Lord of the Divine Seal and the Seal Bearer are actually one and the same? After being killed by Yama, the Lord of the Gospel Court, the Tai Sui, who was the Seal Bearer, possessed the broken Divine Seal?"
"Doesn't this still fail to explain the Lord of the Divine Seal's unfamiliarity with power?" I said. "Tai Sui is a human-god, not an ordinary person who accidentally obtained a powerful magical artifact."
Xiao Wan glanced at me, then said something surprising: "What if Tai Sui was just an ordinary person who accidentally received a divine seal?"
(End of this chapter)
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