Chapter 579 Yama, the Lord of the Gospel Hall
After three life-or-death battles, Huang Quan finally died at my hands.
If the Great Demon of Calamity was the first god-level monster I killed, then Huang Quan was the first human-god, the Great Impermanence, I killed. In this life-or-death battle, I even destroyed the Great Demon Xuanwu, a powerful enemy who could be considered my natural enemy. A tremendous sense of accomplishment rose and swelled in my heart, making me want to sing out loud.
Whether Huang Quan truly felt a master-disciple bond with Ma Zao—this may remain a mystery I can never unravel, prompting me to reflect and ponder it time and again. However, this question is not enough to dampen my current joyful state of mind.
I turned around, intending to leave this devastated battlefield. But just then, an unexpected change entered my mind.
This is a hallucination. It's a scene that suddenly appeared in my consciousness. It's as if a part of my consciousness started working automatically for some reason, inexplicably sketching out a scene in the distance with my imagination. Although I don't know the specifics, based on my intuition, it's very likely related to my killing of Huang Quan.
Through the vision, I saw a majestic mountain standing in the boundless night, with an enormous tree at its summit—it looked like a peach tree.
The peach tree's branches grew wildly and spread outwards, their length far exceeding that of the trunk itself, and their number seemed endless. As a result, the entire mountain was covered by this intricate and magical plant, making the whole mountain look like a giant beast wrapped in layers of fishing nets.
Another section of the branches formed an enormous archway where the peach tree stood, and beneath the archway stood a man dressed in black. His clothes were intricate and solemn, reflecting the style of ancient religious rituals.
As if noticing my gaze, the man's shoulder twitched slightly, and then he slowly turned around and looked in my direction.
He seemed to be able to see me directly.
"True Spirit Power... Fragments of the Divine Seal?"
At first, his tone was flat, as if he were looking down from above, with a cold, analytical and scrutinizing tone.
Immediately, as if he had figured something out, his tone changed drastically.
"—You killed Huang Quan?"
He revealed a clear and ruthless killing intent, and at the same time, he actually reached out and grabbed at me.
Even though this scene was just a thought in my mind, the man's actions gave me an incredibly strong sense of danger, as if his outstretched hand could actually grab me in reality and deliver a fatal blow.
This scene must correspond to a scenario in another real space. I immediately tried to cut off my observation of that scene, but found that I couldn't. It was clearly my consciousness "imagining" the scene, yet I couldn't stop it. It was as if my brain was a running computer, and this scene was formed by a virus, and I couldn't freely stop the virus's process.
I can roughly analyze why I automatically observed that scene; it might be related to the power of my true spirit. Perhaps there was a foreshadowing of Huang Quan resurrecting himself there, and my true spirit power, while killing Huang Quan, also traced and destroyed that foreshadowing, making my observation of that scene a side effect.
The reason I can't stop observing now isn't a problem with the power of the true spirit itself, but because that man is remotely hijacking my soul with some incomprehensible power.
Having reached the realm of the gods, time and space, form and abstraction, reality and illusion... these things are no longer absolute. Therefore, even if the attack originates from my imagination, that man can still effectively harm my physical body.
Unfortunately, because the Little Bowl's blessing hasn't yet switched back to the mode adapted to normal flame power, and I'm not currently in Eclipse form, I'm far too inexperienced and vulnerable in this kind of clash. I'm quite certain that this man's power is far greater than Huang Quan's, and just as I'm powerless to sever his soul hijacking, I have no hope of directly confronting him in this state.
Therefore, I simply cut off my observation in the most violent way.
What should you do if your computer is remotely hijacked by a hacker using a virus? The simplest way is to just unplug the network cable. I simply destroyed the part of my soul that was compromised and hijacked.
This kind of behavior is unimaginable for normal cultivators, or even normal gods and humans. Only someone like me, who doesn't care about the damage to my soul, could do it without batting an eye. And sure enough, after I completed my self-destruction, the images in my mind suddenly became blurry, distorted, and flickering. The man was also unable to solidify his illusion for a moment, and he showed a look of astonishment.
I was also somewhat surprised. I thought the image would disappear immediately, but it continued. It seems that, without my knowledge, more parts of my soul had been invaded by the other party's power, and perhaps the tentacles of that power had even completed the invasion of all parts without my noticing.
What a terrifying tactic! We are both beings of great impermanence, gods and men; if it weren't for a divine intervention, I could say I would have been defeated in a single encounter, merely by thinking of the other in my mind!
"Who are you?" I asked.
Although no sound was uttered, I was certain the other person could "hear" it.
"Gospel Lord, Yama."
The man replied with those words, then reached out to grab me again. At the same time, the previously fading, unreal image in my mind suddenly became vivid again. The smell of death assaulted my senses.
I directly self-destructed along with my body, destroying all my soul.
This time, the image in my mind finally vanished, and the man completely disappeared from my consciousness.
-
Since Huang Quan most likely sent a distress signal to the other gods and gods in the Gospel House during his battle before his death, in order to avoid being surrounded and attacked while I was still there, I quickly withdrew from this place after reassembling my body and soul.
However, I didn't go to meet up with Xiaowan first. Because Yama might track me down using mysterious means after our earlier confrontation, I deliberately moved to another place first, while organizing the information I had just gathered.
Lord of the Gospel, Yama...
That man was the one who killed the "Suspected Lord of the Divine Seal" according to intelligence, the ruler of the Gospel Institute, and one of the three founders of Luoshan.
I could sense a presence from the other person that was even stronger than Xuanming's.
Although I just said I wasn't at my strongest, even if Xiao Wan immediately switched my blessing back, and I re-entered Corona Mode, I'd most likely still be no match for him. He's a super-strong individual befitting the title of "Master of the Gospel House."
As for the mountain where the other party stands, judging from the characteristics of "having a huge peach tree" and "a portal formed by its branches," it is exactly the same as Mount Dushuo in mythology. However, considering that Mount Dushuo in mythology is not located in the afterlife, but at the junction of Yin and Yang, that mountain is probably the location used to set up the "Mount Dushuo formation as a teleportation portal."
You can enter the world of the living by going through that tree branch archway.
The number of people that the Dushuo Mountain Formation can teleport is likely limited. In the past, the only Gospel Academy figure who could be observed active in the world of the living was Huang Quan, and the Chengjing cultivator who was a cadre of Huang Quan's Gospel Academy didn't even know about the existence of the Dushuo Mountain Formation. This shows that the Gospel Academy does not yet have the conditions to launch a large-scale invasion of the world of the living.
Could the collaboration between Huang Quan and Meng Zhang, the master of Taoyuan Township, also be an attempt to address the Gospel House's lack of influence in the world of the living?
Then I noticed another problem from a different angle—now I may know why Huang Quan sought cooperation with Meng Zhang, but what reason does Meng Zhang, the lord of Taoyuan Township, have to cooperate with Huang Quan?
How much does he know about the end of the world? And what is his specific attitude towards the Evangelical Fellowship?
Soon, I used my senses to determine that Yama would not pursue me, and then activated the Flame Teleportation to arrive at the location of the small bowl.
Number Seven arranged for her to wait quietly next to an abandoned gas station, leaning against a wrecked vehicle. When she saw me, she beamed with joy, ran up to me, and hugged my waist tightly.
"Brother Zhuangcheng, welcome back!" she said happily.
"I'm back."
As I responded, I glanced around. Number Seven didn't seem to have finished her work yet.
From the start of the battle until now, less than two minutes have actually passed. It sounds very short, but for people like me and Number Seven, it has been a very long time.
I previously set my combat time at three minutes, which also falls within this range. The Great Impermanence can operate its subjective thoughts at a near-time-stopping speed, and move at a speed tens of thousands of times faster than ordinary people. In other words, what a normal person perceives as a second can be stretched into more than ten hours by the Great Impermanence.
Of course, this is just an extreme theory. In reality, Huang Quan and I didn't actually follow this principle when we were fighting. After all, we can't possibly concentrate all our energy on high-speed thinking and increasing speed; it's not a race.
Moreover, our power itself influences the concept of time, and we may even clash on a level beyond time. A battle that could last for days and nights might be compressed into a single second, or, under certain special circumstances, the reverse might occur. Calculations cannot be based solely on a physical frame of reference.
However, this doesn't apply to Number Seven. Although she's far inferior to the Great Impermanence at the Great Completion level, she can still stretch those three minutes into a considerable amount of time. There were even times when she barely managed to keep up with my and the Great Demon Xuanwu's movements using the power of the Divine Seal fragments. Let's trust that she can complete the mission successfully.
"Brother Zhuangcheng, what happened to you before?" Xiaowan observed my expression.
I told her about my previous experiences with Yama.
“Gospel Master, Yama… is that the god who has put a warrant for my arrest?” Xiao Wan murmured.
In the afterlife, we have solved many mysteries, but quite a few remain unsolved. One of these is the reason Yama (the King of Hell) wanted Little Bowl.
No, the real mystery isn't the reason Yama wanted Xiaowan. Given the immense and rare value of a child of divinity, it's perfectly normal for anyone to covet her. Furthermore, Xiaowan is a child of divinity possessing a fragment of the divine seal; no one knows better than me how much of a boost she brings to me. The real mystery lies in—why did Yama know Xiaowan was a child of divinity?
Where did this intelligence leak from?
Xiao Wan seemed to have figured something out. Seeing this, I asked curiously, "Have you made any progress?"
“There is a little… but I’m not entirely sure. I’ll only know the specifics after I regain my memories,” Xiao Wan said thoughtfully.
In other words, is this related to the memories that Xiaowan lost due to the madness infection?
So it's true that we can only properly recount this after I regain my memories. I decided to be patient for now, and Xiao Wan aptly changed the subject, "Speaking of which... Brother Zhuang Cheng, you've already defeated the Great Demon Xuanwu, right?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Did you use the power of true spirit?" Xiao Wan asked seriously.
"It came in handy," I said.
"Oh, I see..." Xiao Wan looked regretful.
Although the Great Demon is immortal, its resurrection is neither instantaneous nor immediate; it will only return some time in the future. Whether or not the True Spirit Power was used against the Great Demon Xuanwu in the previous battle did not change the outcome of the battle itself. In Xiaowan's opinion, I may have acted impulsively out of a moment of passion without finding a way to preserve the Great Demon Xuanwu's flesh and blood, thus forever burying the opportunity to completely repair Mazao's soul.
However, if Xiaowan really thinks I'm a reckless fool who throws everything to the wind when he gets carried away, then I'm in for a headache. I definitely didn't kill the Great Demon Xuanwu without thinking at all.
"Little bowl, look, what is this?"
I raised my hand, revealing my palm.
The little bowl looked at my palm in surprise.
A large ball of black flame appeared, and within it, a ball of black water floated.
(End of this chapter)
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