Chapter 480 The Great Battle of the Five Impermanent Ones (Part 2)
I am no match for the Lord of Peach Blossom Village, but in the current situation, it is best for me to withstand the Lord of Peach Blossom Village's offensive first.
Based on my judgment, the power level of Huang Quan, the Great Impermanence of Doomsday, is roughly equivalent to that of Ming Zhuo, meaning it's similar to my own when I wield the Slag Straight Sword.
Taoyuan Village Lord and Liu Shuying are roughly at the same level. Although Liu Shuying claimed before the operation that he would need a secret weapon to rival Taoyuan Village Lord, it now seems that was just empty talk. Despite being a relatively new figure in the martial arts world according to intelligence, he may already possess formidable strength comparable to Taoyuan Village Lord and Xuanming.
Or has he already used a secret weapon that I just haven't seen? Considering that he's using magic that looks like gray mist, perhaps he, like Ying Lingyun and Dr. Silver Mask, has hidden fragments of the Divine Seal inside his body and is currently using the power of those fragments.
Regardless of where the power originates, power is power, and that is undeniable. Therefore, the correct approach should be for me, who is relatively more "resistant to death," to entangle the Peach Blossom Village Lord, while Willow Shadow quickly deals with Yellow Springs during this time, and then we can deal with the Peach Blossom Village Lord simultaneously.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just me and Liu Shuying who were calculating the situation; Taoyuan Village Lord and Huangquan were no pushovers either.
Just as if he had immediately made the same analysis of the situation as me and deliberately exerted force in the opposite direction, the Peach Blossom Village Lord transformed into a streak of cyan lightning and rushed towards us at high speed. His target was not me, but Willow Shadow.
How fast exactly does lightning travel? Some might answer the speed of light, but that's the speed of the light emitted by the lightning bolt. While lightning itself is extremely fast, it's still far slower than the speed of light. Similarly, the transmission speed of neural signals in the human body is much slower than many people believe. Even an electric shock couldn't travel as fast as our consciousness and actions to reach our dimension.
However, what the Lord of Peach Blossom Village embodied wasn't the physical speed of lightning, but rather the abstract concept of "lightning's incredible speed." By the time he realized what was happening, his emerald-green lightning had already struck the willow tree shadow, pushing it all the way to the horizon.
The speed of the Peach Blossom Village Lord rendered our optimal solution in the current situation meaningless, making the operation impossible from the very beginning.
Following closely behind was Huang Quan's attack. His yellow-black magic transformed into a gigantic maw large enough to swallow entire skyscrapers, and it attacked me once again. I had no choice but to face Huang Quan directly, unleashing a torrent of flames from my slag-straight sword to fight him with all my might.
It's really not what I wanted. One of the purposes of my mission was to observe the true identity of the Peach Blossom Village Master and the background of Willow Shadow. Now those two have moved their battlefields, and Huang Quan has taken their place.
Although it might be an unexpected bonus from another perspective, the Yellow Springs, this doomsday realm, holds many secrets I want to uncover, but the other party may not necessarily leak the information I want to know.
Our battle was extremely commotional; even outside the border, it should have attracted the attention of the distant Luoshan headquarters. However, since Huangquan and Taoyuan Township Lord seemed to have foreseen our attack, they have likely also made corresponding preparations, such as using some means to prevent the Luoshan headquarters from learning of our battle immediately. It's best not to expect any other Luoshan Great Impermanence to come to our aid.
Judging from the previous intelligence regarding the Great Perfection level being unpredictable, since the Peach Blossom Village Lord can operate in this area, it indicates that this is indeed a key network node of "Shangri-La." The damage we have caused may have also had a significant negative impact on the progress of the "Shangri-La" plan. Perhaps the Peach Blossom Village Lord is launching this counterattack on the premise of accepting this price.
I don't know when, but the Seed of Heart that I captured earlier has disappeared. It was probably taken back by the Peach Blossom Village Lord when I wasn't paying attention. After all, I was so close to the Peach Blossom Village Lord, I didn't expect to be able to control it forever.
What I'm more concerned about is why the Peach Blossom Village Lord and Huang Quan were able to detect my and Liu Shuying's surprise attack in advance.
"After that person who calls himself the 'Third Apostle of the Void Realm' attacked the Luoshan branch base, you appeared at the Taoyuan Township headquarters so quickly... Is that Void Realm Apostle one of your collaborators?"
While they were exchanging blows at high speed, Huang Quan's eyes seemed to be flashing with calculation. "In order to prevent Taoyuan Township Lord from predicting that you would attack this place, you found a strong person other than Luoshan Dawuchang to attack and interrogate that quack Dacheng level who was left in the Luoshan branch base."
"But why didn't that Void Realm Apostle come with you to raid this place? Was it because he only agreed to help you attack that branch base?... No, if there were three Great Impermanences targeting Peach Blossom Village Lord at the same time, he would have already sensed it in advance through his intuition..."
"Could it be that the Void Realm Apostle is one of the two of you, and that you both have the ability to perfectly disguise your magical power fluctuations? Considering that you and he both possess the power characteristic of 'high temperature,' could you be the third Void Realm Apostle?"
"—That's right."
Since things had come to this point, there was no longer any need for pretense, and it was impossible to continue pretending anyway, so I simply admitted it frankly and said, "It seems that you didn't realize the location of this place had been exposed through the destruction of that branch base... So what intelligence did you use to prepare for this surprise attack?"
"Based on? We don't need that kind of thing."
Huang Quan was quite straightforward and gave a direct answer, "I knew you would definitely find this location in the near future and launch an attack, so I told Taoyuan Township Lord about it in advance."
"It wasn't easy to get him to believe me. Fortunately, despite his suspicious nature, he was also a man of great talent and ambition. He knew I wouldn't risk my reputation for such a thing, so he actually made time to cooperate with me."
"I suppose he was also preparing to guard against me stabbing him in the back and settling scores with me later. If you hadn't come, I would have been the one to suffer."
Despite this, he seemed to have no fear of the Peach Blossom Village Lord, his tone carrying a self-deprecating tone.
And I didn't expect this answer: "...You made this prediction out of thin air without any basis?"
Incredibly, I didn't think he was lying at all. A vague idea, perhaps the closest to the truth, began to surface in my mind.
"To say it's completely unfounded might be an exaggeration, but strictly speaking, there is a basis," Huang Quan said. "Because Ma was by your side, that's all."
I've figured it out. It seems all the efforts Liu Shuying and I made to cover it up were in vain.
Yes, as long as Asahi is by my side, I will definitely be able to track down the location of the Peach Blossom Village Master. In the past, I was able to hack into "Peach Blossom Village" in one go through the "Preacher", and before that, I could directly obtain the location of the Peach Blossom Village headquarters by raiding the Luoshan branch base. There were almost no obstacles along the way. I had helpers whenever I wanted and clues whenever I wanted. It was all thanks to Asahi's "jinx" power working in the dark.
All of this was "luck" that ensured I would be absolutely dragged into the center of a dangerous vortex.
That's why I've never doubted that I'd lose my way.
As a visitor from the apocalypse who knew Asahi well, Huang Quan must also know this.
Putting myself in Huang Quan's shoes, if I were someone active in the shadows, cooperating with Taoyuan Village, and facing "Zhuang Cheng with Ma Zao by his side," and hearing that the other party had recently briefly invaded "Shangyuan Village"... how would I predict the other party's next move?
Undoubtedly, the other party will follow the clues with incredible speed, miraculously pinpointing the location of the Peach Blossom Village Lord through a series of "lucky" events, and arrive at this place in one go. No matter how skilled the Peach Blossom Village Lord is at hiding, it will be useless. This is not a matter of reasoning or logic, but a result predetermined from the very beginning.
All along, I have relied on Asahi's "jinx" power to ride the waves and advance my adventure. Perhaps I have relied on it too much, unconsciously regarding it as something like my "golden finger," feeling that it is a power that helps me realize my dreams, but forgetting that it is a double-edged sword.
Asahi is indeed my closest partner, but this power is not anyone's partner.
I never imagined that I would be outmaneuvered by the enemy.
Then, something even worse happened.
Another familiar surge of magical energy rapidly advanced from afar towards the direction where I was fighting Huang Quan. Its source was neither Willow Shadow nor Peach Blossom Village Lord, but a tall, black suit of powered armor.
The Dog, imbued with an unstoppable force of shearing, joined the battle—
Willow Shadow previously stated that she trapped Dog in another location using the power of the Law of Heaven and Earth. While the specific nature of this Law of Heaven and Earth remains unknown—it could even trap Great Impermanence—all Laws of Heaven and Earth share a common characteristic: they inevitably spread from the user's center. Since Willow Shadow's true form has already attacked Peach Blossom Village Lord, the power that trapped Dog must have vanished.
I don't know if he sensed the fighting from afar, or if he was just here to report the destruction of the branch base, or if this was Huang Quan's foresight of my and Liu Shuying's attack and a pre-arranged plan... There is only one fact that is right in front of me.
From now on, I must face two great impermanences simultaneously.
(End of this chapter)
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