Chapter 508 Fake Name Undying Body
Not long ago, I met a girl who was a victim of the Great Demon of Calamity, and I confirmed this in the cartographer's diary. And now, I heard the name of the Great Demon of Calamity once again, this time it was chasing after Little Bowl.
Although I haven't had direct contact with it yet, seeing the clues about the Great Demon of Calamity being pushed towards me one after another, I can't help but feel that there is some kind of fate connecting me to it. I'm afraid that I will inevitably come into direct contact with the Great Demon of Calamity soon.
This wasn't just a premonition, but also a perfectly reasonable deduction. Since the Great Demon of Calamity was hunting down Xiaowan, and I wanted to protect her, then conflict between us was entirely to be expected.
But why is the Great Demon of Calamity chasing after Xiaowan?
The wandering spirit wasn't entirely clear on the matter either. In fact, he hadn't personally witnessed the Great Demon of Calamity chasing Little Bowl; otherwise, he might not be alive to appear before us. He told me that Little Bowl herself had told him this.
First and foremost, it's logical that the wandering spirit, just like me, had asked Xiaowan the same question, and Xiaowan replied, "Perhaps it's because I escaped from the clutches of the Great Demon of Calamity in the past."
"Escape?" the wandering spirit asked, puzzled.
“Yes. Unlike now, in the past, for some reason, I was in a state where I was very likely to encounter strange things. The Great Demon of Calamity at that time was probably attracted to me in the same way.” Xiaowan explained very patiently, “In that desperate situation, I used a certain method, although the result was that I was separated from Ma… from my sister who always protected me, but I managed to escape the desperate situation.”
"After that, I thought I was completely out of touch with the source of the crisis, but that's not the case."
"The Great Demon of Calamity is not one that forbids any living thing from escaping its grasp. Occasionally, there are eyewitnesses who have been attacked by the Great Demon of Calamity and have managed to survive. However, those who are 'lucky enough not to be burned to death' and those who 'escape from its grasp through mysterious power' may be different to it. My actions seem to have provoked it."
"Lately, I've been having a bad feeling. This feeling has been getting stronger and stronger, and it's even caused me to have visual and auditory hallucinations. I can vaguely see the figure of the Great Demon of Calamity chasing after me."
"I can say with certainty that this is not just my imagination, but that the Great Demon of Calamity is really about to catch up with me."
"It's difficult to escape from the clutches of the Great Demon of Calamity by relying solely on luck and prayer. Even with the random teleportation phenomenon of the chaotic spacetime in the apocalypse, my probability of escaping next time is infinitely close to zero."
"And then... Mr. Wanderer, perhaps this will hurt your pride, but I still have to say it... If you were by my side, it would hinder my escape."
"Because in that situation, I would have to share my good fortune with you, which would only reduce the chances of escaping. But if I don't share it with you, you'll only face certain death if you're with me."
Hearing this, the wandering soul felt a sense of helplessness. Before the Great Demon of Calamity, both blessed cultivators and ordinary survivors could only resign themselves to fate. In a situation where luck was the only factor, he would indeed only be a burden to Xiao Wan.
"You mean... you want me to abandon you, my benefactor, and run away with my tail between my legs?" he asked, unable to accept it.
Xiao Wan said very seriously, "That's right, I hope you can run away, run far away."
"However, if you think this is abandoning me to a point of certain death, then you need not worry. Because your subsequent actions may very well save me from this hopeless and perilous situation."
If someone else were to speak to the wandering spirit in this way, claiming to be being hunted by the Great Demon of Calamity and to have a plan to escape from a desperate situation, the wandering spirit would definitely think that the other person was just bragging.
However, Xiao Wan had performed incredible miracles before him more than once, so perhaps she really had the ability? With this uncertain thought in mind, he parted ways with Xiao Wan after arriving at a small settlement of survivors.
Leaving Xiaowan in a place where other survivors are present is certainly dangerous, as they might discover Xiaowan's identity, capture her alive, and hand her over to the Gospel House. However, Xiaowan cannot remain alone for long, so this is the only option available.
Nowadays, even wandering spirits can no longer return to that location. Even if they were to manage to return, they would most likely arrive at a time when the little bowl had stayed at that location.
After listening to the ghost's account, I had no choice but to focus my attention on the more pressing issues.
"You said... your future actions will affect that girl's life or death, what do you mean by that?" Tanxiang seemed unable to hold back her question. "You were imprisoned by the cartographer for so long, was that operation actually completed before? Is it too late to continue now?"
“It’s not finished. We’re still halfway through,” the wandering spirit said. “I don’t know if I’ll make it in time, but we’re in a different time from her right now, so there’s no concept of ‘making it in time.’ The only option is to keep going.”
As he said, worrying about whether we could make it was useless. I suppressed my impulse and asked, "So, what exactly is Xiaowan's plan? What did she ask you for a favor?"
The wandering spirit paused slightly, then replied, "This matter... is related to my wish."
"Is it that so-called wish that 'even gods and men can't grant'?" I asked. "What do you want?"
"I wish I could die."
The ghost's voice was very calm, as if it were talking about something trivial.
Upon hearing this, the image of a cartographer immediately came to mind.
A perpetrator and a victim, yet they exhibited remarkably similar mental states.
I had glimpsed signs of this self-destructive tendency in Asaho as well.
Sandalwood was stunned on the spot. After a long while, he said in an incomprehensible voice, "You want to die? Putting aside the reason, if you just want this, why don't you just find a rope and strangle yourself?"
Halfway through his sentence, he realized the problem. "Wait, you're immortal... Could it be that you can't activate or deactivate your immortality?"
If that's all there is to it, then perhaps I can do it for him.
The wandering soul's immortality is likely due to his status as a Blessed cultivator, and his soul strength is only around the level of a cultivator. No matter how powerful his immortality is, there's no reason my flames shouldn't destroy him. As long as I burn him to death with genuine killing intent, even if he elevates himself to the Great Completion stage, he won't be able to make a comeback.
I don't think that doing this will help the little bowl that doesn't know where it is.
“There is no such thing as absolute immortality in this world. As long as the mechanism hidden behind it is cracked, the so-called immortality is a joke. Even I am no exception,” the wandering spirit said. “My immortality mechanism is very simple. As long as I use a false name and identity and no one else sees through it, then no one else can kill me.”
"This should be a very easy logic to understand—if my real identity is A, and I use a false identity B, and the other party can only recognize B but not A, then they can only kill B. In other words, even if the other party cuts off my head, they can only give me a false death."
After listening, Tanxiang had a look of sudden realization. "Oh... it's like in a video game, a player has to fight a boss with two phases and two health bars. No matter how much damage you deal in the first phase, you can't kill the boss before it enters the second phase and reveals its true form?"
Surprisingly, the ghost continued with remarkable ease: "That's right, and after I die in the first stage, I won't automatically enter the second stage, but will be resurrected in the first stage form."
"That's just a bug!" Tanxiang exclaimed, speechless. "Wait, you actually know about video games?"
“It’s just that such knowledge remains in my mind.” The wandering soul shook his head. “Let’s continue. The problem now is that not only do other people not know what my true identity is, but I myself don’t know what my true identity is.”
"In other words, even if you kill yourself now, your own immortality will judge it as a 'false death' and you will be resurrected..." I understood the reasoning behind it.
The wandering spirit nodded.
“I have experienced too much tragedy and misfortune, and endured an incredibly long period of despair… so long that I can no longer even recall why I was sad and desperate.” His face was as expressionless as a corpse. “Now I don’t want to live anymore… and if I want to die, I must first remember who I really am.”
"The problem is that memories washed away by madness cannot be retrieved. Even if one is lucky enough to retrieve a name that has been forgotten, the life memories it represents cannot be recovered. At most, one can only pick up some fragments of illusion and sorrow."
"Even gods and humans can only protect themselves; they cannot help us reclaim our past."
Asaho is in the same boat; although she still remembers her name, she cannot retain her memories. As for Kobo, although she retrieved her name with my help not long after losing it, she also lost some of her memories of surviving with Asaho in the apocalypse.
Even the powerful "Blessed Cultivators" who are hailed as demigods and the rightful owners of the Dharma Heaven and Earth are like this, not to mention the ordinary survivors and Blessed Cultivators.
Suddenly, I remembered an item.
Asahi once told me that in the apocalypse, there are ways to retrieve past memories. Things that even gods can't do, there are actually ways to do.
"Is your goal the 'Three Lives Stone Powder'?" I asked.
The Three Lives Stone Powder allows survivors in the apocalypse to retrieve the memories they desire, and it may also be the only known solution for survivors to regain their past memories.
Although it's only a portion of memories, most human memories are ultimately unimportant. Even without the influence of madness, many people might not be able to recall things like "what I ate for lunch three weeks ago." Only a portion of memories are truly important and useful.
Since you can lock onto the parts that meet your expectations, it's more than enough to reclaim your past self.
(End of this chapter)
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