Chapter 476 The History of Tailoring
Chang'an glanced around and said, "Holy crap, where have you taken me? This place is about 1,500 kilometers away from where I was sitting just now... Wait, how do I know it's that distance?"
He was making fun of himself when he looked at my face, then exclaimed in surprise, "Wait... who are you?"
It took me a beat to realize that I was still in disguise, so I raised my hand and rubbed my face to restore my original appearance.
"So, did you recognize me now?" I said.
"Oh, oh..." Chang'an nodded.
Even without doing that, he could probably recognize me with his senses. But he probably still relies on his vision. Seeing me return to my original form, he seemed relieved and looked around again, his gaze falling on the victims who had been tortured beyond recognition.
"They are..."
Chang'an hesitated for a moment, then looked at the Great Completion level Wuchang lying at my feet, covered in wounds, and asked, "Why did you bring me here?"
“I noticed you’ve been doing exercises with Mr. Zhu all the time, which is getting a bit monotonous. So I found you an opportunity to have a practical outdoor physical education class. Take this chance to get some fresh air and thank me properly,” I said.
"I see, thank you so much—did you think I would say that!" Chang'an retorted.
“Just kidding. The truth is, I need you to do me a favor.” I pointed to the Great Accomplishment level Impermanence lying on the ground. “I need you to interrogate this guy. Make him enter a state where he can neither remain silent nor lie—can you do that?”
The Great Completion level Impermanence stared in shock at my restored appearance, mumbling, "It's...it's you?"
I never intended to release this person alive after getting the information I needed, and I didn't mind him seeing my true appearance.
Upon hearing my request, Chang'an's expression immediately turned serious. He said, "You need my help... Okay, I will definitely help you. Let him answer your question, leave it to me."
"There's no need to be so tense. It's okay to fail once; you can always try again. Just treat it like you're having a PE class outside," I said gently.
Chang'an nodded seriously, and then together we began to mentally manipulate the Great Perfection level Impermanence on the ground. I was mainly responsible for suppressing the Seed of the Heart, which had anti-mental invasion capabilities, while Chang'an was responsible for using his illusionary powers to apply a hypnotic and brainwashing effect to the target.
"Who...are you?"
The other person looked at Chang'an, seemingly deducing Chang'an's identity from my appearance and behavior. "Could it be... that you are the legendary great demon who was resurrected and returned, bringing the strange world to the forefront of secular society's awareness for the first time, thus ushering in a period of chaos..."
"--who I am?"
Chang'an's gaze, however, became unusually calm. He glanced indifferently at the man who had become a fish on the chopping block, and said, "All phenomena are illusory—"
As he spoke words that sounded like scripture, he reached out and pressed his hand against the other person's face, calmly continuing to recite: "If one seeks me by form or sound, that person walks a false path and cannot see the Tathagata."
A magical power, like a silver moon, surged from his palm, seemingly transforming into countless illusions, some terrifying, some beautiful, completely engulfing the other's brain and consciousness.
Chang'an completed the task with ease.
This Great Completion level Impermanence's soul had already been weakened by my power to the level below the Dwelling level. Although it was still at the Great Completion level in terms of spiritual rank, Chang'an also possessed the essence of the Great Completion level. Moreover, unlike this kind of hastily achieved Great Completion level, Silver Moon, like the Water Master Xuanwu, was a super Great Completion level, possibly only one step away from the Great Impermanence. Compared to this, the guy in front of me was completely insignificant.
This seemingly extremely rapid process may have been mixed with the unfamiliarity and redundancy that Chang'an experienced when he first hypnotized and brainwashed others; otherwise, it might have been even faster.
The gaze of Wu Chang, who was at the Great Completion level, suddenly lost focus, becoming empty and monotonous, like that of a puppet on strings.
"nailed it……?"
Chang'an seemed to snap out of his daze, his expression returning to normal. Looking at the results of his actions, he seemed to find it hard to believe how easily he had accomplished them.
I carefully checked whether Chang'an showed any signs of going berserk while using his power. His change in attitude just now seemed to be merely a side effect of deeply activating Silver Moon's magic. Even Silver Moon couldn't possibly recover so easily.
Chang'an probably went overboard in trying to fulfill my request for "help," when he was more than capable of doing more. If I had known this would happen, I probably wouldn't have brought him here so rashly. You can't do this kind of thing too often, or who knows what strange symptoms might appear later.
After confirming that Chang'an's mental state was not compromised, I earnestly instructed him to only use his magic within the limits he could skillfully control. Having received his affirmative reply, I thought I should also inform Elder Zhu later, and then, seizing the opportunity, formally began the interrogation.
The Great Accomplishment level Wuchang becomes utterly talkative, as if he has become an automatic response machine, spilling out all the information he knows like beans.
Before long, I understood why the Dog of the Dog had appeared at this branch base and was hostile to me.
Dog is not an ally of the extreme supernaturalists, but rather joined the organization Peach Blossom Village. Because this branch base was secretly infiltrated by Peach Blossom Village, Dog acted ruthlessly when I destroyed this place.
This branch base not only betrayed Luo Shan by selling intelligence to Taoyuan Township Lord, but also went further and became Taoyuan Township Lord's possession.
Because Mingzhuo suffered a humiliating defeat at my hands last year, although he was labeled as Naraku's representative in the Luoshan sphere of influence and his number of followers did not decrease significantly, Luoshan was ultimately dominated by the ideology of admiring the strong, and the faith of some followers was still fractured, which led to Taoyuanxiang taking advantage of the situation.
This person, who was originally only at the level of a "Complete" (a low-level, unqualified) cultivator, was one of the Mingzhuo believers who defected to Taoyuan Township at that time.
Because I killed all the Great Completion level subordinates under Mingzhuo, the Completion level is the highest level among Mingzhuo's subordinates. At the same time, this person is even more valued due to the disappearance of his superior, and his status in Mingzhuo's believer group is particularly prominent.
Unlike Luoshan, which is teeming with talent, Taoyuan Township lacks proper Grand Completion level officials. They rely entirely on the high-grade Heart Seeds of the Taoyuan Township Lord to barely promote a small number of high-ranking officials with Grand Completion level capabilities. Therefore, after obtaining a high-grade Heart Seed and achieving Grand Completion level, this traitor also gained a considerable position in Taoyuan Township.
Why could a traitor like him so easily gain the favor of the side he joined? There are several reasons, one of which is that his current position in the Mingzhuo forces is very important—he can help the Peach Blossom Village Lord's plan to research the power of the Divine Seal fragments.
In the past, the Lord of Peach Blossom Village had indeed been researching the fragments of the Divine Seal. However, just as Ming Zhuo had to outsource the project to Shen Zhao due to his own lack of technical expertise, the Lord of Peach Blossom Village also outsourced his research on the fragments of the Divine Seal to Ying Lingyun. In fact, Fa Zheng had done something similar; the technology he used to utilize the power of the fragments of the Divine Seal was something he had exchanged with Ying Lingyun when he was secretly supporting the Humanitarian Department.
Now that Shenzhao is dead, Mingzhuo has to find his own way; Ying Lingyun is also dead, so Taoyuan Township Lord has to find another way out.
One of the solutions found by the Lord of Peach Blossom Village was to "borrow a chicken to lay an egg." Since Mingzhuo was conducting independent research, the Lord of Peach Blossom Village planned to take advantage of the fact that there was a traitor on Mingzhuo's side and secretly seize Mingzhuo's research data and equipment. This approach seemed rather uncouth, but it was probably the only option left, as Peach Blossom Village's research conditions and resources were far inferior to those of Luoshan.
This branch base was originally intended to become a research base for the Divine Seal fragments, but the equipment and personnel are not yet in place. Meanwhile, the Peach Blossom Village Lord has already used the traitors here to lay the groundwork. The Dog Demon is here, also intending to join the research force from Peach Blossom Village; it's just unclear whether the Dog Demon intends to be a researcher or a research subject.
But I destroyed all of that first.
At the same time, Chang'an learned from the Great Completion level Wuchang in front of him the ins and outs of the inhuman victims in the distance, and immediately became extremely angry, looking as if he wanted to tear the other party to pieces.
"You...you actually!" He clenched his fists angrily.
Looking at this Great Perfection level Impermanence, I asked in confusion, "Dog Dog didn't react at all when it saw you doing this?"
Upon hearing this, even the Great Completion level Wuchang showed a hint of doubt, muttering to himself, "I...I don't know?"
I was even more confused.
"I don't know what that means?" I asked.
"He didn't react after seeing what we did...? No, he did react, and then he..."
As he spoke, he became incoherent, as if he had gone mad, his emotions spiraling out of control. "He...killed us. Yes, he killed us all! Those mortals begged him to kill them, so he slaughtered them all too..."
"Huh... That's strange. If we're all dead, why... why are we still alive?"
Am I dead... or alive?
As he spoke, his entire body seemed to become a phantom reflected on the water's surface, distorted by ripples. He was rapidly becoming transparent, and his form began to sway erratically.
"What...what's going on?!" Chang'an exclaimed in shock. "How did he suddenly become like a real substance that I created with my illusion magic?"
The real matter created by Chang'an using illusionary magic cannot become permanent like the Silver Moon; it will be automatically corrected and destroyed by the real world after a period of time. The way this Great Completion level Impermanence is disappearing is similar to the way an illusory creation disappears due to correction by the real world.
"--stop."
I used the power of words.
The disappearance of the Great Accomplishment level was halted as if a pause button had been pressed, yet the same changes occurred in different people. The victims in the distance also showed signs of disappearing, as if they were illusory creations modified by the real world. I had no choice but to repeat "Stop" again, pausing their disappearance process.
After careful observation, I finally figured out what was going on, and by combining the clues at hand, I deduced the possible truth.
The Dog (戌狗) probably really did massacre all the extreme metaphysicians at this branch base in the past and gave all the victims a "relief".
However, he had joined Peach Blossom Village with a mission. Regardless of his motives for joining, he had killed all his "own people" in a moment of gratification, and he certainly wouldn't be able to explain himself to the village chief later. Therefore, after killing everyone, he did something to remedy the situation.
He used his cutting skills to cut out a segment of the past and paste it into the present world.
In this clipped period of time, both the extreme superhumans and the victims were still alive, but those pasted into the "present" can only live their lives in a repetitive cycle according to the settings of this period of time.
Because "them now" are all dead, the real world will judge these seemingly alive people as "illusions that shouldn't exist." When the Dog was still present, they could be protected from correction under the protection of its power; but now that the Dog has run away, they can only face the world's reckoning.
(End of this chapter)
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