Chapter 361 Believers Continued
“The Great Impermanence is a super being that can leave its mark between heaven and earth, and is also an immortal totem in the mysterious realm. If you hold it in your heart and develop faith in it, you may be able to connect with this mysterious totem and obtain the corresponding power,” Lu Chan explained. “Of course, whether you can obtain it and how much you can obtain depends on your karmic connection with it… But generally speaking, as long as your faith is sincere enough, most people can benefit from it to some extent.”
"Even faith is acceptable to me?"
The thought that I am also a person subject to the Great Impermanence, and that others can gain power by believing in me, makes me feel both incredulous and somewhat lost.
"Of course. You see."
As he spoke, Lu Chan raised his right hand, held up his index finger, and a flame appeared above the fingertip.
Judging from the fluctuations in magical energy, this flame was formed by Lu Chan's spirit, yet for some reason it revealed my scent. If my magical energy is a sphere made of volcanic rock, and Lu Chan's usual magical energy is a cube made of cement, then he has now created a sphere out of cement.
It actually works... wait, I suddenly realized the problem.
"You believe in me?" I asked in surprise.
“No. I simply used the ‘possibility clone’ to simulate the possibility of myself believing in you, and then borrowed the corresponding power from that possibility,” Lu Chan said.
Although I hadn't expected Lu Chan to believe in me or be particularly loyal, hearing his denial suddenly gave me the urge to try and convince him. The human heart is truly wondrous.
"So... you can still use the power you had when you believed in other great impermanences?" I asked.
"Not entirely."
Lu Chan extinguished the flame and put his finger down. "The possibility of me believing in the Great Impermanence of the Extraordinary is now infinitely close to zero, so I cannot use the power of the Great Impermanence of the Extraordinary."
"The possibility of using the power of the Old Fist God, Willow Shadow, and Sword Immortal is very low, and it would be extremely difficult to use. The possibility of using Fazheng's power is relatively high, and it would be more convenient to use."
"And the most likely candidate is you... after all, I am now loyal to you."
Strange, for some reason I have this subtle feeling of being cheated on.
Is this what it feels like to see a god in a fantasy story whose followers are fickle? Although I don't really consider myself a god, and Lu Chan wasn't originally one of my followers... so should I say it's like knowing that your employees are earning extra money elsewhere after work? I've never been a boss, so I'm not very clear on this aspect.
Lu Chan complained, "Why do I feel like you're looking at me like I'm some kind of shameless person..."
"An illusion, an illusion..." I steered the conversation back on track. "So, this is the reason why the believers in Xuanming have such high cohesion?"
“That’s right. As long as you have a sincere faith in Xuanming, you can gain power. Xuanming was known as the Great Impermanence in Luoshan for his virtuous conduct and has a long history. He has a large number of followers.” Lu Chan nodded. “Although after Xuanming’s betrayal, his followers could convert to other Great Impermanence and still gain power, they cannot gain power if they do not have a truly sincere faith in the Great Impermanence. And those who have been devout to Xuanming from the beginning cannot simply convert.”
"Sometimes adversity can actually strengthen the devotion of faith, giving believers even greater strength. Even in the history of the surface world, there are many such examples, right? And among many impermanent beings, wanderers, and agents, there should be quite a few such believers who proclaim their faith."
"Can agents also draw strength from faith?" I wondered.
As far as I know, the agents are basically ordinary people who do not have the talent to hunt demons and should not be able to manipulate supernatural powers.
“Agents cannot manipulate the power derived from faith as freely as witchers, but they can manipulate it indirectly through certain external conditions,” Lu Chan explained. “For example, when setting up a ritual related to the Great Impermanence, an agent with devout faith can increase the success rate of the ritual, amplify its effects, or even add effects that the ritual did not originally have by reciting the name of the Great Impermanence in his heart.”
"Besides rituals, runes and magic circles are also elements that agents can utilize. Since you've had contact with Kong Da before, you should know that he specifically studied rituals and magic circles in Luoshan, right?"
"Unlike you, who actively and proactively engage with strange events and possess immense power, the vast majority of people... especially weak witchers and powerless agents, are terrified of strange events."
"Because they are bound to this world after their first encounter with strange events, they don't know when the deadly situation will come again, or whether they can escape next time. Even death is not surprising, and sometimes they are even caught up in a state of wishing for death but being unable to die. And what can give rise to faith is this kind of unknown terror."
"Perhaps it was in this boundless anxiety that Conda chose to become an eccentric in the past."
As he spoke, Lu Chan's face showed a hint of melancholy. Incidentally, Kong Da was Detective Kong, who, I heard, had been rescued by Lu Chan when he was an ordinary person caught up in strange events.
Zhu Shi also mentioned that Detective Kong's knowledge of magic arrays was actually more proficient than hers, a regular demon hunter.
"Were those people attracted by Mr. Zhu's recruitment advertisement also motivated by the same thing?" I asked.
“Yes,” Lu Chan said. “Although many demon hunters and agents have chosen their own gods, there are still some undecided veterans and newcomers who haven’t had time to choose a faith. When you, a newly appointed Great Impermanence, suddenly appear out of nowhere in Luoshan, their attention will naturally be drawn to you.”
"If it were just the emergence of another Great Impermanence, it wouldn't be a big deal. The most crucial point is that, upon your birth, you knocked down the old Great Impermanence, Mingzhuo, forcing him to publicly admit his defeat..."
"Most people's motivation for believing in the Great Impermanence is to escape fear. Therefore, in their view, the strength of the Great Impermanence is a very important factor, and the cohesion of the believers also stems from this. Since you have shown your strength, you will naturally attract a continuous stream of believers."
So there's a trick to it.
Although this was not something I couldn't have imagined, if Fazheng hadn't suddenly proposed that Mingzhuo publicly admit defeat to me, I really wouldn't have thought of using such methods to attract a large number of believers for myself.
I am often aware that I have divine power, but I have never valued my identity as a god, and therefore I have never actively thought of strengthening my anchor to the strange world by increasing the number of believers.
Mingzhuo was a man of his word. Although he hadn't made a vow that he had to publicly admit defeat, he still made a public admission without hesitation. He didn't try to make excuses for himself in the statement and frankly and directly stated the fact that he had lost.
“So, you should really be a little more mindful of your status, my divine lord,” Lu Chan said helplessly. “Now, your every word and action could change the world and affect the fate of countless people… Your name alone already has that kind of power.”
As he spoke, he took out a notepad and a pen from his pocket, tore off one of the notes, wrote "Zhuang Cheng" on it with the pen, and tossed it aside.
The note spontaneously combusted and turned to ashes.
“Look, even your name has acquired remarkable mystical power; it has become a kind of rune,” he said. “It doesn’t even require faith. Other witchers can write your name down and infuse it with a small amount of magic to achieve the same effect. While ordinary people writing your name on paper won’t produce such an immediate effect, it will increase the probability of fire-related events occurring in the surrounding area.”
Is this for real? I haven't even learned any occult runes myself, yet my name has already become an occult rune?
"Wait a minute... My name isn't exactly rare, is it? What if someone else has the same name as me?" I asked.
“This is where I go wrong. Generally speaking, people will avoid giving their descendants the same name as the Great Impermanence in order to avoid offending the elders. However, I can guess a little bit about it,” Lu Chan said. “Naming is also an important part of numerology. People with the same name as you will find it difficult to avoid events related to fire in their lives unless they have an overwhelming amount of water in their destiny.”
"However, on the other hand, although it's inconvenient to share the same name as the Great Impermanence, names that are related to it don't have as much of an impact, and there's even a possibility of gaining benefits from it. Of course, ordinary demon hunter families wouldn't dare to get so close to the Great Impermanence, even if they were just tangentially related, but it's different for the descendants of the Great Impermanence. The Zhu family is a case in point."
"From our ancestor Zhu Yi, to Zhu Er, Zhu San, Zhu Si... all the way to Zhu Shi today, the Zhu family probably hopes to pass on the talents of our ancestor Zhu Yi to future generations through this kind of naming tradition."
So that's how Zhu Shi's name came about.
However, Zhu Yi is in charge of "metal and the power of killing." Since clashing with my name makes it difficult to avoid events related to fire, being associated with Zhu Yi means that Zhu Shi is destined to walk the path of wielding a sword and killing.
She abandoned the name "Zhu Jiuxing" and chose to become "Zhu Shi," which seems to indicate her determination to step into the battlefield.
In my opinion, this is something I could only dream of, a wonderful destiny like that of the protagonist in a story; but for her, who is kind and gentle by nature, it may not necessarily be a kind of happiness.
(End of this chapter)
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