Chapter 401 The History of Chaos
"The Wheel-Turning King...is from the same generation as me?"
Although this was the divination conclusion of the fortune teller, my first thought was still that I couldn't believe it.
"Is this divination accurate?" I asked.
“I know why you have doubts.” The divination master seemed to have anticipated my reaction. “As the ancient Great Impermanence King, even if he is a successor of the Two Elements, he should be separated from you by many generations.”
"Furthermore, my divinations for other Great Impermanence beings aren't always accurate. Even if I can vaguely see some things, it doesn't mean I'll always see the truth. I might even encounter anti-divination methods at the level of Great Impermanence beings, leading to misleading and incorrect divination conclusions... Is that what you're thinking?"
"I guess so," I said.
The fortune teller nodded: "Then I can tell you directly that although I cannot guarantee that my divination conclusion is 100% accurate, it is at least 80-90% accurate. Even if the truth is slightly off, it will not be too far off. You can believe this divination for now."
“But… how could such a thing be?” I wondered. “Indeed, if King Yama and I are from the same generation of Yin-Yang successors, it would explain why there was no absence of the White Tiger or Azure Dragon among the Yin-Yang successors in previous generations. However…”
"This matter is related to the mechanism by which the two elements of the mountain spread the seeds of power," said the divination master. "What follows is merely my analysis based on my observations of the successors of the two elements in the past generations. It cannot be guaranteed to be absolutely correct, and you can only use it as a reference."
"First of all, if you have carefully investigated the previous generations of Yin-Yang inheritors, you will find a strange phenomenon. Even among the Yin-Yang inheritors of the same generation, their ages are not necessarily similar. Some may only be teenagers or in their fifties, while others may be over a thousand years old. Of course, the time when they became Yin-Yang inheritors is basically the beginning of their own power."
Given the limited time, I haven't yet gathered enough information about the successors of the Yin-Yang lineage, so I'll just have to listen to what they have to say for now.
"However, the interval between different generations of the Yin-Yang lineage can sometimes be only two or three hundred years, and there are no redundant Yin-Yang lineages in each generation..." the divination master continued, "What do you think is the reason for this?"
"Isn't it because the previous generation's Yin-Yang successor lived to the next generation and occupied the corresponding Four Symbols positions in advance? Just like Xuanwu," I said. "Or is it that even if there were power seeds in the previous generation that were not collected, the next generation will still have Yin-Yang successors with the same attributes? This seems to be different from the information I have collected."
If it is the latter, then there are two "Black Tortoises" in my generation, and the naval Black Tortoise that I killed was only one of them.
"Each era can have a maximum of four Yin-Yang inheritors, and only one person for each attribute. This is a rule that has never been overturned," the Divination Master said. "And your previous speculation was correct—if a certain power seed was not recovered in the previous generation, the next generation will not produce a Yin-Yang inheritor of the corresponding attribute. Instead, the surviving Yin-Yang inheritor from the previous generation will fill the vacancy. Therefore, there will only be one 'Xuanwu' in this era, the one you killed. So you don't need to have any further thoughts."
"However... well, let me correct what I just said. Rather than saying 'there are at most four Yin-Yang inheritors in each era,' it would be more accurate to say that there are at most four Yin-Yang inheritors that can be observed in each era."
I was completely baffled: "What does this mean?"
"Please continue," the Divination Master said. "The power seed of Shan Liangyi possesses the same nature as him, allowing him to freely reincarnate in the past and future upon his rebirth. Therefore, when Shan Liangyi is reborn into a certain era, the power seed may descend upon a different era." He continued, "This is your situation. If nothing unexpected happens, Shan Liangyi has already reincarnated into this era, while his power seed has reincarnated into the ancient era, making King Yama the successor of Liangyi."
This statement is still contradictory.
The old Fist God was also a living successor of the Two Elements, but his existence will not cause a lack of successors in the next generation of the Two Elements, because he has already returned his power seed to the Mountain Two Elements.
The Wheel King is different. He is the successor of the Two Elements who has survived since ancient times with the seed of power. His existence will definitely cause the absence of successors in the next generation, and the topic has returned to the starting point.
No, that's not right... I've gone astray. The fortune teller's implication is...
"...If the power seeds of the Mountain Yin-Yang have the property of time travel, then even if the Mountain Yin-Yang can only release a maximum of four power seeds each time it reincarnates, there may be a greater number of power seeds in certain eras..." I realized the chaos involved.
If someone possessed the power to freely travel through time and space, then he at twenty, thirty, and forty years old could all appear in the same era simultaneously, meaning that there could be multiple versions of the same person in the same era.
The Yin-Yang successors, born from the seeds of power, may also have more than four individuals existing simultaneously in the same era.
This phenomenon has never been actually observed in history, because at most only four successors of the Two Elements could be observed in the same era—that's what the Divination Master just said.
Based on the previous hints, I naturally came to a rather mysterious conclusion: "The successors of Yin and Yang can only be observed by others when they enter the era corresponding to their own generation... Is that so?"
"Yes," the fortune teller nodded.
I found this reasoning too strange, but I still forced myself to continue: "Is the reason why the Wheel King has been so obscure from ancient times to the present also because of this unreasonable nature?"
"No, that's just a matter of King Yama's own style," the divination master said. "Although King Yama was an unobservable successor of the Two Elements before this, this 'unobservable' does not mean that he can only become a transparent person or a person without presence."
"At most, he is simply unaware of his identity as a successor of the Two Elements, and the outside world cannot associate him with this identity. It seems that the Two Elements Mountain will not actively seek out such unobserved successors of the Two Elements."
"Even I only realized in recent decades that he might be a successor of the Yin-Yang lineage... However, because my memories of him have become quite faint, I can't even determine what attribute he is as a successor of the Yin-Yang lineage."
"Perhaps... he realized long ago that he was the successor of the Two Elements, which is why he hid himself away early on, and at the same time wanted to do something in secret with the Two Elements of the Mountain as his target."
The naval master Xuanwu once said that the reason King Yama was so secretive was because of the existence of the Yin-Yang of Mount Fear, which made him live in constant fear. But now it seems that King Yama is not so superficial.
Perhaps even the naval commander Xuanwu himself, who said this, vaguely sensed a conspiracy and aggression from the hidden presence of King Yama, and therefore suspected that King Yama had a plan to take the head of the two mountain spirits.
At the same time, as my understanding of the seeds of the duality of mountain power deepened, I couldn't help but think of something else.
That is a fragment of the divine seal.
Yes, the power seed of the mountain's duality seems to be somewhat similar to the fragment of the divine seal.
Divine seals possess a unique property, existing only once in the past and once in the future. Even if a divine seal from the future is brought to the present, it will not increase the number of divine seals from one to two. Fragments of divine seals also possess the same property. Meanwhile, the power seeds of the Mountain Yin-Yang principle can traverse time and space, and by placing power seeds that do not belong to their own era into an unobservable state, they avoid the contradiction of actually increasing the number of divine seals.
Coincidentally, Number One had previously inquired about the total number of scattered fragments of the Divine Seal, and the Lord of the Divine Seal replied that the total number of fragments was uncertain and would vary depending on the observation time and method.
Moreover, those who are not from the same generation as the times will simultaneously fall into the situation of "not being able to realize that they are a successor of the Two Elements" and "not being able to be recognized as a successor of the Two Elements by those around them." This reminds me of the abnormal phenomenon before the Fantian incident, where the Demon Hunter community was unable to develop any awareness of the common sense world and could not even perceive their own abnormality, as if they had been subjected to deep hypnotic suggestion.
This association even made me wonder if there was some kind of relationship between the Lord of the Divine Seal and the Two Elements of the Mountain.
I gradually sorted out the cause and effect and began to accept the conclusion that the Wheel-Turning King and I were the same generation of Yin-Yang successors.
However, a strange feeling still lingered, clinging to my chest.
If the current generation's Yin-Yang inheritors were born in ancient times, they wouldn't clash with the Yin-Yang inheritors who appeared in between, nor would their true identities be discovered by those around them or even themselves... This logic, while defying common sense, isn't entirely unreasonable. Besides, since this is a strange world, anything is possible... It's just that... there's a feeling...
I thought about it for a long time before I finally came up with an explanation that I don't know if it's appropriate—this explanation is too coincidental and convenient.
There's a quality to it, like shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target, a tendency to act conveniently in order to justify one's actions.
Upon closer reflection, even the history of the Witcher community is the same.
Why, even with so many powerful witchers and strange creatures, did history—especially the modern history of this country—develop in the way it did? The explanation that everyone was hypnotized and therefore powerless is not entirely unreasonable, but it certainly sounds like utter nonsense.
To put it more bluntly, witchers and strange creatures are like things that shouldn't exist in this world at all; they are external objects forcibly stitched in, which is why there is such a strong sense of separation between them and the world of common sense. The current conflict between the Luoshan forces and secular regimes, viewed from another perspective, can perhaps be seen as a concrete manifestation of this separation.
Thinking about this, I can't help but ask myself: "Isn't our history... a little strange?"
(End of this chapter)
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