Chapter 47 The Impermanence of Heretics 1
"Join Luoshan..."
Zhu Shi was stunned for a moment before sighing.
"Is it still not allowed?" I asked, still bothered.
“It’s not that it’s impossible. If you really have that much power, whether you want to join Luoshan or do something else, I have no reason or right to stop you.”
"So, you think I'm faking my abilities?" I think her reaction is completely understandable.
She shook her head: "I have no doubt about your account of the previous battle."
Why don't you have some doubts?
I was already planning to demonstrate it on the spot.
“Before, I thought you had serious flaws in combat, which is why I opposed you joining Luoshan; but now it’s completely the opposite. Strength also has its downsides.” Zhu Shi seemed to be considering something, and looked at the fragments of the body on the ground, revealing a sorrowful expression. “I will explain the detailed reasons to you later. For now, let’s deal with the legacy of the Fallen Demon Hunters.”
Detective Kong seems to be an acquaintance of Zhu Shi. Seeing an acquaintance turn into a villain and die, her emotions must have been very complicated.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to kill him,” I said.
“There’s no need to apologize to me. I know it wasn’t you who killed him, but for some other unknown reason. Even if you really did kill him, the fault lies with Agent Kong, not you.” As she finished speaking, a look of shame appeared on her face. “Besides… I’m the demon hunter in charge of this area, and this was originally the killing I should bear.”
I had initially felt a somewhat unreasonable sense of guilt for causing the death of someone Zhu Shi knew, but now it was she who felt guilty towards me. It then occurred to me that when Detective Kong was still pretending, he had told me that one of the reasons Zhu Shi didn't want me to join Luo Shan was because she didn't want me to kill anyone.
That statement was probably not something Detective Kong said casually; Zhu Shi does indeed have a very naive side.
I didn't kill Agent Kong directly, but his death must have been partly my fault. And unlike the fallen witcher from before, Agent Kong remained a human in my eyes. I should perhaps feel guilty for killing him, but I feel nothing at all.
I feel even more sorry that after Detective Kong's death, many truths that I didn't know were buried in darkness.
The Fallen Witcher incident clearly still has many mysteries. Where did Agent Kong get this power? Why did he suddenly self-destruct and die at the end? Why did the Fallen Witcher from last time recognize me? What's the deal with the ritual circle and cave in the fifteenth-floor room? I feel like I've speedrunned a game and found that there are still many collectibles I haven't collected. Reality can't be restarted, and it seems that I can only throw myself into the next adventure.
I also deeply regret that I can no longer enter the Shadow World through Agent Kong.
I cannot describe the interior of the Shadow World in human language, and I myself am not even clear about what it feels like to be there. If I had to put it into words, if I were to compare my existence to a software program, then entering the Shadow World would be like forcibly opening a video program with a text editor, almost turning me into a piece of incomprehensible gibberish.
So I had to force myself to endure it, just to maintain my presence and ability to think.
When Zhu Shi heard me say this, his gaze became even stranger, as if he completely failed to understand what I was saying. I didn't understand either; I was just following my instincts.
I originally planned to observe there a bit longer, but I was worried that Detective Kong might escape during this time, and that catching him would allow him to reopen the passage, so I rushed back. But I never expected…
After saying goodbye to Zhu Shi, I found other scattered remains of Detective Kong nearby. They weren't large pieces, just a finger that had been scattered in the explosion, charred beyond recognition. Out of a sense of loss, I picked it up and took it with me. Perhaps because it was burned to a crisp before his death, it still retained the appearance of a fallen witcher, making it quite a keepsake.
Calling it a "souvenir" might make me seem a bit twisted, and I might encounter many more strange events in the future. Compared to that, this charred finger certainly doesn't amount to much. But at least for me right now, it still holds some meaning.
-
One day later, which was this morning, I met Zhu Shi in a park near the university.
Perhaps she did something, because even though I did something as big as splitting up the unfinished building, no official personnel ever came to talk to me. Or perhaps she was the official personnel responsible for talking to me.
She was still wearing a white women's blouse and a black skirt, carrying a large black guitar case, dressed like a female band member.
Compared to yesterday, her expression was much calmer, as if she had already processed the emotions brought about by an acquaintance turning into a villain and dying, or perhaps she had simply buried them all deep inside.
There was no one else around, so we could talk freely. But now, as a demon hunter from Luoshan, she wanted to formally discuss my future with me.
She first asked me to demonstrate her ability to transform her body into flames. After I did, she walked around me observing me, giving me a look as if she had seen a ghost.
"...Although I never doubted what you said and I was mentally prepared, but...are my eyes okay? Am I really not dreaming?"
"Is this skill really that powerful?" I asked curiously.
"It's not a question of whether it's powerful or not, it's a divine skill." She gave her assessment. "Freely transforming one's body into natural elements is considered a 'manifestation' power in the world of witchers, or simply 'elementalization'. This skill is regarded by witchers as a characteristic of gods or immortals. Although there are other ways to forcibly imitate this divine skill, they all basically have certain conditions, costs, or limitations, and it's impossible to use it as naturally as you do."
With a feeling of utter disbelief, I replied, "So, you mean I'm a god or an immortal?"
"...That depends on how well you master elementalization." She seemed to think that was a bit far-fetched as well.
Upon hearing this, I recalled my past experiences and then explained it to her.
The process of me learning to be elementalized—or rather, “second form”—was not complicated.
Zhu Shi and Agent Kong both seem to think that fire-wielding individuals are more like "ordinary people wielding powerful weapons" than "superhumans." In fact, I do have that feeling in my normal form.
In the past, I always felt there was an invisible barrier between myself and fire. When I manipulated fire, it was as if I was giving orders to subordinates; there was always a gap between "I give the command" and "the fire receives the command." No matter how much I practiced, it felt like I was cultivating a tacit understanding with the fire, rather than truly controlling it as if it were an extension of my own limb.
Logically, my flame is my spirit, and there shouldn't be this inexplicable delay. Therefore, I have to make this assumption: there is a difference between "my own spirit" and "the spirit that has been transformed into flame".
Then, I had this thought: I can't control the flames as I please because I am still human, not the flames themselves. So why don't I become the flames?
To put this idea into practice, I chose a very simple and direct approach.
I set myself on fire.
Unless I intend to, the flames will not harm my body. I can directly fill every crevice inside my body with flames, experiencing the sensation of becoming one with the flames.
Until one day, I found myself becoming one with the flames.
I myself turned into flames.
Even I was completely confused about this process.
After hearing my explanation, Zhu Shi was dumbfounded.
“Your approach…” she said with difficulty after a long pause, “I can only say that true gods and immortals, though unable to explain to others the process of achieving elementalization, are certainly very clear about it themselves. For the former, it is an innate state; while for the latter, it is the result of enlightenment.”
"As for your situation where you just grab any random, nonsensical idea and suddenly master it by practicing... in my experience, there are no other examples of your approach."
"I see……"
It seems I really have no connection with gods or immortals. However, as a superhuman, I am clearly very special.
I don't know if I should be happy about being "different". This uniqueness seems to mean that I can hardly find other examples to refer to, which makes it more difficult for me to figure out the reason for my awakening of superpowers.
“I think I understand now why you never encountered anything strange in the past,” she said with relief. “Strange things attract each other, but things always turn out the opposite when they reach their extreme. Your power is too great, and strange things will actively avoid you. Not only strange things with instincts and intelligence will avoid you, but even strange things that exist as phenomena will inexplicably be unable to have a relationship with you.”
"This is a special phenomenon that would normally occur in the vast majority of Great Impermanence and a very small number of Witchers with excessively powerful abilities."
I heard a new term and couldn't help but wonder: "What is 'Great Impermanence'?"
"The so-called Great Impermanence are the strongest demon hunters who reign supreme at the summit of Mount Luo," she explained. "They are powerful but few in number; there are currently fewer than ten Great Impermanence who reside at Mount Luo."
"You said they are powerful... just how powerful exactly?"
As I asked the question, I also began to speculate in my mind. Considering that organizations like Luoshan did not become the rulers of this country and did not leave their own records in history, the power of the Great Impermanence should not exceed the level of ancient armies, and at most, it would not exceed that of modern armies.
But... even I am confident that I can defeat the ancient army, can't the strongest demon hunters really do the same?
Or perhaps I underestimated the military. Throughout history, armies have always had trump cards to suppress superpowered individuals like myself.
Then, Zhu Shi said something utterly absurd:
"Excluding any possible exceptional cases in history, as far as I know, the Great Impermanence generally possess the power to destroy an entire country single-handedly."
(End of this chapter)
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