Chapter 287 Supernatural Powers Cannot Overcome Fate
The counterfeit moon reflected in the water once again demonstrated its cheating capabilities.
This magical artifact is like a universal key; no matter what puzzle stands in its way, as long as it is used, the answer can be obtained directly from the questioner.
The old man in Guyue Village is likely hiding something. Normally, we might need to use some roundabout methods to get the truth out of him. But the fake moon reflected in the water is like a cheat code in a horror game, directly helping us skip countless troublesome steps and making the truth readily available.
However, the more often this kind of mental manipulation is used, the more likely it is to lead to contempt for others' minds and disregard for the importance of normal communication. I had a similar experience not long ago when I hypnotized the restaurant owner and regular customers at the foot of the mountain. Actually, I'm not that worried about becoming like that; I'm confident I can distinguish between friends and other people. I just don't want my friends—Zhu Shi and Chang'an—to think I'm the kind of arrogant person.
Whether it was last time or this time, Asahi seemed to have no psychological barriers to it, which is probably due to differences in values. While she is kind-hearted, she also possesses a naive innocence that makes her unaware of right and wrong. Even with the desire to save complete strangers, it doesn't stop her from manipulating others' minds with fabricated illusions.
Somewhere in my heart, I hope she can always maintain this extraordinary spirit.
“Zhuang Cheng, these people…” She turned to look at me.
“You noticed it too? Yes, they should be similar to the winter train,” I said.
“Similar to me, which means…” Dongche’s eyes changed, “They might also be dead?”
"It's also possible that it wasn't even human."
As I spoke, I glanced at Dongche again, a deeper question forming in my mind—could it be that the divination master couldn't predict the situation here at Dongche?
According to the information I heard from Fufeng, the Divination Master is a great impermanent being who can foresee all changes in the past, present, and future. I feel that this statement is likely an exaggeration, but at the very least, since the Divination Master is a great impermanent being who is proficient in divination, it should be easy for him to grasp the experiences of people with whom he has a deep connection.
Dong Che is a disciple of the Divination Master. Although he has turned away from the supernatural camp, judging from the Divination Master's attitude of always welcoming and believing that Dong Che will return to his school, Dong Che is still regarded as a personal disciple by the Divination Master.
So, is it really possible that Wintercar could die here so easily, or be killed and replaced by some strange creature?
Or perhaps the divination master had already foreseen the events unfolding here, and that what he truly welcomed was not the real Winter Chariot, but the strange creature that would kill and replace it in the near future?
Is it possible that the Divination Master also came to the Moon Hidden Mountain area?
The appearance of the Great Impermanence is always accompanied by the manifestation of the laws of heaven and earth. My manifestation of the laws of heaven and earth and that of the Water Master Xuanwu have appeared simultaneously in the Moon Hidden Mountain area, but no further signs of change seem to have appeared. However, before Elder Zhu told me about the arrival of the Water Master Xuanwu, I did not connect the torrential rain in Moon Hidden Mountain City with the arrival of the Water Master Xuanwu. I only thought that it was a weather change caused by the combination of the high temperature I brought and the local cold air.
Perhaps the divination master's method of observing the heavens and the earth has already appeared, but I was unable to distinguish it from the many changes.
I tried to ask Master Dongche what the Dharma of Heaven and Earth was, but Dongche shook his head in embarrassment.
“Master said that as long as I reach the Great Accomplishment stage, I will naturally understand his Dharma of Heaven and Earth,” Dongche said. “Because this is a test, I have never asked in depth or inquired about it from others in the past.”
He even kept it from his own apprentice. This fortune teller gave me the air of a prophet who loves to tell riddles, a common trope in classical fantasy stories. Although I can understand that mindset—if I could foresee the future, I would definitely say some unnecessary, cryptic things to confuse people—because I am not, I hate people who do that.
However, we can't deduce nothing from Dongche's answer. At least we can understand that the manifestations of the divination master's "laws of heaven and earth" should be very indirect. It wouldn't be a simple and crude way of causing the temperature to rise, causing torrential rain, or creating abnormal weather phenomena such as white fog.
Judging from the fact that "the Divination Master is a great impermanent being skilled at predicting the myriad phenomena of the past and future," could it be that his concept of "divination of heaven and earth" is related to concepts such as time, space, and cause and effect?
I calmed myself down and focused on the present, asking the old man from Guyue Village, "Can you tell us about the Guyue God now? Why were you so reluctant to tell me about the Guyue God before?"
"Because the Ancient Moon God is a bloodthirsty, man-eating evil god," the old man answered bluntly. "Anyone who comes into contact with the Ancient Moon God will not have a good end. Our village must strictly keep the secrets related to the Ancient Moon God. Once outsiders know of the Ancient Moon God's existence and have the foolish idea of using his divine power to seek personal gain, it will bring utter destruction to the outside world."
"So, where is this Ancient Moon God now?" I asked.
"It was sealed away by our ancestors in the village's ancestral hall," the old man said.
Silver Moon was sealed away a long time ago? How is that possible?
"You mean, a powerful evil god that could bring annihilation to the outside world... was sealed away by such a small village as yours?"
Dongche immediately pointed out the irrationality of it.
Because the other party was currently under mental manipulation, he didn't question whether the other party was lying, but he still seemed unable to resist asking, "Is the Ancient Moon God you mentioned really that amazing?"
“How could a child from out of town like you possibly know the power of the Ancient Moon God? If the Ancient Moon God had such intentions, he could conquer the world in just one week, and all of humanity would suffer under his terror.” The old man spoke without hesitation.
"you……"
Because the old man's words were so outrageous, Dongche seemed at a loss for words. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, and looked at me helplessly.
His expression was like that of an elderly man or woman walking down a village road who had stopped him and then preached a doomsday superstition he had never heard of before. They said that if he didn't follow the doctrine, the obscure deity whose followers numbered in the hundreds would go berserk and destroy the world.
In fact, the old man wasn't entirely bragging; he might even have been toned down a bit.
If we were to place a world devoid of any supernatural powers, and then introduce a monster like Silver Moon—capable of granting almost every human desire and possessing immense destructive power in both the spiritual and material worlds—it would likely take her hours to conquer this planet.
"How did your ancestors manage to seal such a powerful evil god away?" I asked.
"Our Guyue Village was originally founded by a group of refugees who strayed into Yueyin Mountain. Among these refugees was a deity with the great power to change the world. He was also present when the refugees encountered the Guyue God," the old man said. "At first, the Guyue God treated the refugees kindly, providing them with the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. Therefore, the deity remained inactive, silently lurking among the refugees. The Guyue God asked the refugees to believe in him, and the deity did not object, but simply observed quietly."
"Soon afterward, the ancient moon god revealed its evil true nature—it began to demand that the villagers offer human sacrifices for it. At first, it only asked for living animals, but later it asked the villagers to offer their children, parents, or wives and husbands."
"It feasts on the villagers who offer live sacrifices, taking pleasure in listening to their screams and watching their tears. It may even demand that lovers give one of them to another person while the other watches the whole thing, or it may demand that villagers have sex with their children or parents in public, or even send wild animals to the men and women of the village..."
"The moral decay that occurred at that time was too numerous to count. The gods could no longer stand idly by and, at the cost of their own lives, sealed away the brutal and evil Ancient Moon God."
"The vast majority of the surviving villagers fled Moonshadow Mountain, while a very small number voluntarily stayed in Ancient Moon Village—which is now Hu Family Village—in order to take on the responsibility of monitoring the seal."
The story seems to end here.
“There are still some things I don’t quite understand. You said that deity possessed the great power to change the world, but why did he end up living in seclusion with the refugees in the first place?” I asked. “The refugees fled into the mountains to escape the war, but why did that deity do that?”
"Because even the gods couldn't change the dark and hopeless world at that time, he was disheartened and chose to live in seclusion with the refugees," the old man replied.
"He clearly possesses such great supernatural powers, even able to change the seal of the Ancient Moon God who could bring annihilation to the outside world, yet he can't even change the world of mere mortals?" I asked intentionally.
"As the gods say: even supernatural powers cannot defy the will of Heaven," the old man said.
Dongche seemed lost in thought, muttering to himself, "Supernatural powers cannot overcome fate..."
These six words may be the best summary of why the great impermanent beings of the past could not intervene in the world of common sense.
Although the old man probably didn't know what a divine seal was, or what the power that split the world in two, turning it into two sides, was, his description roughly matched my knowledge.
The Great Impermanence and some at the Great Completion level can alter the natural order single-handedly; their power is so immense that it transcends mere "magic" and becomes "supernatural power." Yet, throughout history, so many Great Impermanence have been unable to resist the power of divine seals, forced to lie dormant in the shadows of human civilization. What is such power if not "fate"?
(End of this chapter)
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