Chapter 517 Mysterious Woman
We moved to the courtyard of the abandoned evangelistic church. Half of it was flooded, and the other half was riddled with potholes, as if it had been through a hail of bullets. Looking up, we couldn't see the ceiling, only the pitch-black sky.
Because the area ahead was flooded and collapsed, essentially a dead end, Youhun and Tanxiang decided to take a detour. I, however, stopped in my tracks. The two looked at me with puzzled expressions. I turned around and looked to my side and behind me.
Now I am certain that the person who has been following and observing us is hiding behind those ruins.
“How about it’s time to show your face?” I said. “You’ve been following us for twenty minutes now. I don’t know what you’re looking at, but if you have any opinions about us, you can come out and say something.”
"If someone needs our help with something, we can consider it, depending on the specifics."
The reason I didn't launch an attack immediately, but instead started with communication, was because there was no aggressive intent in the other person's eyes. To be precise, I could vaguely detect hostility and aversion, but it hadn't escalated to a hostile attitude.
If I had to describe it, it would be like encountering a stranger with unclear motives on your own turf. Although you want to use force to drive them out, you don't really intend to cause any harm with malicious intent—that's roughly the feeling.
The wandering spirit and sandalwood both reacted warily, looking in that direction with me. The other party, hidden in the shadows, still did not give any response, as if wondering if I was bluffing and trying to trick them into revealing myself.
“You’re not the only one who can’t understand the other party’s background. We also won’t ignore unknown individuals and let them follow us in the shadows for a long time,” I said. “If you don’t plan to respond, then we’ll have to treat you as an enemy.”
Two seconds later, the other side finally responded.
"Who are you?"
That was the voice of a young woman, probably around the same age as Zhu Shi, or perhaps two or three years older, reminiscent of a young, inexperienced woman just starting out in her career.
This isn't to say her voice sounded immature or naive; it's simply that her voice sounded very young. In reality, her tone was quite calm and composed. Although her stealth had been discovered by the target, there was no trace of panic or surprise. Instead, it gave the impression that she had countless contingency plans and escape routes, making her seem like a seasoned veteran.
The wandering spirit's ears twitched slightly, its eyes darting around. It was impossible to pinpoint her exact location by sound alone; the sound seemed to emanate from all directions. But I had already pinpointed the mysterious woman's hiding place, rendering this little trick utterly useless.
The mysterious woman then asked, "What is your purpose in invading this place?"
“We came here in search of the Three Lives Stone Powder,” I said.
“There’s no such thing here. You should go back,” the mysterious woman said curtly.
"Do you know about the Three Lives Stone Powder?" the wandering spirit asked.
According to his recent statement, there should be very few survivors in the apocalypse who know about the Three Lives Stone Powder, so few that even he sometimes doubts whether it is a real item or whether he has mistakenly taken a concept he unconsciously fabricated in his mind as real and credible knowledge.
The mysterious woman coldly replied, "I've never heard of such a thing."
“We are absolutely certain that the Three-Life Stone Powder is located here. We will not return until we achieve our goal,” I said. “But you, why are you so certain that the Three-Life Stone Powder is not here? Are you very familiar with this abandoned Gospel Monastery?”
"Don't make me repeat myself." The mysterious woman's voice seemed to carry a murderous glint. "Go back, and don't come back. Otherwise, you will all lose your lives."
She sounded like she was threatening us, but contrary to her chilling tone, I couldn't sense any genuine killing intent in her words. However, I didn't think she was bluffing. Leaving aside whether she could truly endanger me, the Great Impermanence, if we stayed here, we might indeed face some unknown risks.
Therefore, the mysterious woman is not the source of danger, but rather is trying to subtly remind us to stay away from danger.
But if there is such danger in the abandoned Gospel Monastery, why is she lingering here? She gives me the impression of a hermit silently guarding a dangerous forbidden land, intending to drive away travelers who dare to trespass.
“I used to be a member of the Tai Sui Gospel Institute, and this is where I used to live, so I’m not exactly an outsider.”
The wandering spirit seemed to have grasped something and continued, "Although I don't know if you are a survivor who uses this place as your home, or someone else, if there are any dangerous or strange creatures lurking here, then you might as well explain it to us properly, and perhaps we can offer some help."
“I don’t need any help from you, and you are of no use to me,” the mysterious woman said. “However, it seems you really don’t intend to leave. That’s fine too. Since you don’t plan to, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the distant ruins exploded as if they had been filled with explosives. A surge of magical energy far exceeding that of an ordinary demon hunter spread out, and a black shadow shot out from there at more than ten times the speed of sound like a high-speed cannonball, reaching the sky.
This was at least a fluctuation of mana at the Great Completion level. The wandering soul immediately showed an expression of utter astonishment. Although, in his view, the era when Great Completion level cultivators could be his enemies was long gone, whether in the modern world or the apocalyptic era, Great Completion level cultivators were figures worthy of being called demigods. The wandering soul certainly couldn't imagine that such a powerful being would appear so easily.
I had anticipated this. If a character can follow at the back of the group and make it difficult for me to pinpoint their exact location, then I can only look for them among those outside the realm of ordinary beings.
The explosion that shattered the ruins wasn't an attack from the mysterious woman; it was merely the impact of her high-speed movement. Before she even made a move, the fluctuations of her magical power descended from above. The wandering spirit, as if under immense pressure, involuntarily knelt on the ground, while I, as the Great Impermanence, and Tanxiang, as an ordinary person, were completely unaffected.
Immediately, like a bolt of lightning striking from the sky, the mysterious woman descended from the heavens with a speed that a wandering ghost could not possibly react to.
I only focused my attention slightly, and in my subjective time, her lightning-fast movements quickly slowed to the level of a snail crawling.
Thanks to this, I was able to clearly see the features and attire of this mysterious woman in that long moment.
She had long, wine-red hair and wore a tight-fitting black tactical outfit like that of a special forces soldier, her face covered by a rough black mask. Her left hand held a scabbard, while her right hand gripped a sharp recurve knife.
I recognize the design of this recurve sword; the phantom recurve sword that Asaho uses is the same type of weapon as the one the opponent wields. Asaho mentioned it to me in a casual conversation before; it seems to be one of the standard-issue weapons of the Fukuin Institution.
The blade was about to touch the wandering spirit's body. I stretched out my palm, and the air exploded like gas. The sudden burst of flames illuminated the courtyard of the abandoned Gospel Monastery as if it were daytime, and transformed into a gigantic hand, grabbing at the mysterious woman as if to seize a rag doll.
Suddenly, in the seemingly frozen subjective time, the mysterious woman's head seemed to "restore" its normal movement speed and abruptly looked at me.
It's simply unbelievable that she could make such a turning-back gesture, which means that in objective reality, she unleashed a speed at least a hundred times greater than before.
In the past, the fastest person I'd ever seen was a time-manipulation user under Ming Zhuo's command. Even without using time stop, that Grand Completion level Wu Chang could easily unleash speeds of several hundred Mach. But compared to the way this mysterious woman turned her head, that Grand Completion level Wu Chang seemed insignificant. I can conclude that this isn't normal speed, but rather the result of some special ability.
Even more bizarrely, just as my fiery hand was about to grasp her body, she vanished from my sight.
Spatial teleportation? Or something else? This seems to be some kind of skill that allows one to adapt to the chaotic flow of spacetime. Perhaps it's not just the post-apocalyptic anomalies that know how to adapt to and utilize their environment; the blessed monks of the post-apocalyptic era are also learning how to adapt to this chaotic environment—though I really want to say that, to be honest, I don't think this is something humans can do.
Even I, the Great Impermanence, can only utilize the residual order within chaotic spacetime for spatial movement. Spatial movement utilizing chaos is confined to the realm of apocalyptic oddities. Perhaps within that chaos lies an order indistinguishable to the human mind; for this reason, a mysterious human woman should not be able to achieve it.
Could it be that she is not actually human, but a demon like the Silver Moon?
I lowered my hand and looked elsewhere. The mysterious woman reappeared at the edge of the courtyard, her body tense as she stared in my direction. After our eyes met, she examined my face closely and suddenly froze.
After looking at her for a while, she said, "I give up."
“Your attitude has changed so quickly. Didn’t you just say you were going to expel us?” I asked.
She was silent for a moment, as if she was thinking intensely, and then said, "...I have no intention of fighting you. Can you let me go, Zhuang Cheng?"
(End of this chapter)
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