Chapter 477 The God of Life and Death
When we first observed this branch base, Liu Shuying and I both felt that the spacetime here was very strange, as if it had been patched up. This intuition was correct, because Xu Gou had indeed patched up a segment of edited spacetime.
As for why the Dog (戌狗) wanted to join Peach Blossom Paradise, even the Great Perfection stage expert Wuchang (无常) didn't know. However, the first possibility that comes to mind is that the Dog wanted to merge its consciousness into "Peach Blossom Paradise" and reunite with its lover in its dreams.
However, upon closer examination, this motive seems rather untenable. Given the Dog's own strength and external conditions, would he so easily give up the possibility of reviving his lover in the real world?
Putting that question aside for now, I explained the reasons for those changes to Chang'an, and then continued to interrogate the Great Perfection level Wuchang about information related to the Lord of Peach Blossom Village.
The Lord of Peach Blossom Village seems to be in a state where he cannot move around freely at present.
Building a "Shangri-La" is probably a particularly arduous and lengthy task that is difficult to leave halfway through. The Lord of Shangri-La needs to maintain the existence of the "Shangri-La" with his real body at all times. Therefore, when I invaded the "Shangri-La" and was transferred to the isolation zone, he only used his avatar to fight the enemy.
It's not that his physical body can only stay in one place and cannot move; it's just that even if his physical body wants to move, it must move between the key nodes covered by the dream network of "Shangri-La". In other words, he can only appear in some important strongholds scattered throughout Shangri-La, and unless there is a need to move, he will only be in the main stronghold.
Although the location of the main stronghold in Peach Blossom Village was an important secret, Wu Chang, who was at the Great Completion level, also knew it.
Logically, traitors who betray their original organization's secrets would find it difficult to gain the trust of another organization. However, Peach Blossom Village is a very special organization, with over 80% of its members being traitors scattered across various organizations of all sizes. As an organization where connecting the consciousness of its members is commonplace, Peach Blossom Village can easily determine the loyalty of its members.
Of course, there are loopholes in such loyalty tests, but for this Great Perfection level Impermanence, who was bestowed with a high-grade Heart Seed by the Lord of Peach Blossom Village, there wasn't a single loophole he could exploit. Not to mention that the Great Impermanence himself had the ability to see through the target's emotional changes, after being bestowed with a high-grade Heart Seed, the Lord of Peach Blossom Village could also grasp all of his memories and psychological activities through contact, as if reading his mind.
This Great Accomplishment level Impermanence's pursuit of the "Shangri-La" otherworld is genuine, and perhaps out of the fervor of a convert, he is even more fervent than other Shangri-La believers, and is therefore allowed to participate in a fairly high level of organizational operations.
Having obtained all the information I wanted, I ended the interrogation process.
"That's about it," I said. "Thank you for your hard work, Chang'an. Let me take you back to rest."
“It’s alright, Cheng. Compared to me…” Chang’an looked at the victims again, “What do you plan to do with them?”
“They don’t seem to want to live anymore, so I’m going to end their lives,” I said. “You don’t need to worry, it’s just a matter of a moment, and I can guarantee they won’t have time to feel any pain.”
"Acheng...can you save them?" Chang'an asked.
“They’re beyond saving. I can heal their bodies, but I can’t heal their hearts.” I asked, “Or are you planning to use illusion magic to reshape their shattered personalities? Won’t it be difficult for you to do such delicate work now?”
"Although it's not theoretically impossible, the person who would end up like that wouldn't be the same person as they are now, would they?"
"More importantly..."
Without me needing to elaborate, Chang'an clearly knew that it was asking the impossible, yet he seemed to still be considering whether there were other ways to save those victims.
Looking at his expression, I said, "...Okay, I'll give it a try first."
Then, I recited the power of words to those victims.
"—Recover."
As this voice rang out, all the victims who had been tortured to the point of being mangled and broken but had not yet died were restored to their original, healthy forms. Not only were their bodies restored, but even their damaged souls were restored to their original state.
However, they all lay on the ground like dolls, their eyes vacant; apart from their open eyes, they were clearly in a vegetative state. If one didn't know better, one might mistake them for a group of people suffering from amnesia. The hellish memories had robbed them of even the basic instinct to cling to life.
The changes didn't stop there. Perhaps the power of the previous incantation had overridden the power of the "stop" incantation, and their bodies were gradually becoming transparent and disappearing. At this point in time, they should all be dead. Even the world denied their right to live, wanting to change their "life" to "death."
Even the Great Perfection level Impermanence at my feet is gradually becoming transparent and disappearing. Because I have exhausted his usefulness, in my consciousness, he has been judged as an unnecessary existence, and the power of words that was originally preventing him from disappearing has automatically dissipated.
"really……"
Seeing this scene, even Chang'an couldn't help but show a helpless expression.
This is the most difficult part of saving those victims: how can we save those who have already died in reality?
However... if it's just about saving a life, I'm not entirely without a solution.
In the past, diviners used their power of words to revive Dongche, who had fallen into a state of premature death but had not yet reached his actual time of death. Now, these victims are in a time and space where they have already died, but they have also been cut and pasted from the time and space where Xugou did not die. They are in a superimposed state of being both alive and dead.
Since the world tends to let them die, then I tend to let them resurrect. Lu Chan also said that it's perfectly feasible for the Great Impermanence to resurrect ordinary people and demon hunters who have accomplished nothing, using the power to alter history. Although he said at the time that "a few or a dozen wouldn't be too difficult"...
Thinking about this, I quickly counted the number of victims. There are over a hundred... Am I really okay?
Furthermore, the current situation is completely different from that of Dongche back then. Dongche, as a genius of the level of Impermanence, was so easily resurrected because he was dead but his death was not yet imminent, so it did not involve changing history; while these victims are the opposite, death has become their predetermined event, and it is only temporarily reproduced by the "time-space bug" created by Xugou's cutting power. They really cannot be compared.
Well, we've already made our promises to Chang'an, so let's just try our luck and see what happens.
Besides, I'm also very curious about how far I can go.
Facing those lifeless victims, sinking into a sea of despair, I recited the next incantation:
"—Live on."
As soon as the words were spoken, all the victims who were disappearing into nothingness underwent a change. What had seemed like mist that would vanish with a gust of wind just moments before instantly returned to a physical state, with flesh and blood. I could clearly feel that they were no longer phantom ghosts pasted from history into the present, but had become real lives, truly existing in the present.
It actually worked on the first try!
And it seems pretty easy.
"They've all come back to life!" Chang'an exclaimed, his eyes wide.
As I savored the feeling from my hand, I analyzed, "After all, they are just ordinary people who have accomplished nothing... If some of them were capable of making a huge difference to the world, they probably wouldn't all be able to be resurrected."
"Even if ordinary people disappear and don't affect the world, for them, it's a disaster equivalent to the end of the world," Chang'an said.
Seeing those who had suffered under his control return to the shores of the living, the Great Completion-level Impermanence, almost vanishing into nothingness, seemed to experience a final burst of energy, waking from the hypnosis and brainwashing. He struggled to move his lips, gasping for breath, and murmured, "I don't want to die either..."
"Just go die," I said.
Upon hearing this cruel and oppressive verdict, he seemed utterly devastated, his body vanishing completely into thin air.
(End of this chapter)
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