Chapter 441 VS The Incarnation of the Peach Blossom Village Lord 2
The avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord did not answer my question directly, but his words seemed to reveal a flavor reminiscent of the position of the Mountain Two Elements.
However, if the desire is merely to harvest my power seed, it still doesn't prove that the Lord of Peach Blossom Spring is the Mountain Two Elements. The former naval master Xuanwu also wanted to harvest my power seed in order to increase his own power and thus contend with the Mountain Two Elements in the future.
Furthermore, the way the Peach Blossom Village Lord avatar responded also bothered me. He didn't seem like a living person to me... Of course, in his current giant hand form, he doesn't even resemble a human being, let alone a living one, but I'm referring to his reaction. This impression of an invalid dialogue made me feel like I was talking to a bizarre wall.
He's like a machine sculpture that reacts to changes in the external world, but because he lacks true intelligence, his reactions are merely the output of a pre-programmed sequence. The reason he gives irrelevant answers is that his program isn't flexible enough to engage in serious human conversation.
Given my understanding of the level of the Lord of Peach Blossom Village, creating an avatar with intelligent consciousness shouldn't be difficult for him. The current stiff posture is perhaps simply because this avatar wasn't created for dialogue.
If that's the case, then this avatar shouldn't even possess the most basic function of conversation. However, this avatar is essentially a condensation of the Peach Blossom Village Lord's magical power; in other words, it's a manifestation of the Peach Blossom Village Lord's spirit and thoughts. Therefore, unless specifically prohibited, it will respond to external sounds like an echoing valley.
And this is just my feeling; the true form of the Peach Blossom Village Lord should also be watching this battle from behind the scenes.
I could vaguely sense a gaze from the unseen world, a gaze fixed on me and on the weapon in my hand. From this elusive intuition, I sensed a hint of apprehension; the true form of the Peach Blossom Village Lord seemed to harbor wariness towards this unfamiliar weapon.
"Why did you establish 'Shangri-La'?" I tried to glean information from the avatar of the Shangri-La Lord. "Is it really, as your subordinates say, to create the ultimate existence and to have yourself as the mind of that existence?"
The avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord continued to attack me, and as if in response to my words, he once again said something completely irrelevant: "Fengdu Luoshan... is extremely superficial."
"What?" I asked, puzzled.
“Transcendentalism, geopolitics, and all sorts of other doctrines… remain confined to low-dimensional discussions, and Luo Shan is unable to establish an ideal order,” he said.
"Your goal is not to become the ultimate being, but to create a new social order?"
Like the Diviner and Fazheng? I thought to myself as I asked, "By incorporating everyone into the dream network?"
"The old order is a manifestation of justice." The avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord continued to answer irrelevantly, "Only order can allow people's hearts to find harmony. And whenever harmony is broken, people will feel hatred and want to eliminate the factors that destroy harmony. Thus, harmony will be regained, and order will be formed again."
"But love is different from hate; love can even be born from harmony. Once love arises, there will be a desire to pursue it. When various pursuits clash, harmony is disrupted. Since ancient times, whenever order has collapsed due to an internal cause, that internal cause has always been love."
"Therefore, hatred is the force of justice, and love is the force of evil."
"And in the future, the order of a new era will arrive..."
What was he suddenly saying? I was a little lost in the conversation of this avatar of the Peach Blossom Spring Lord. And if we're talking about the breakdown of social order, shouldn't it be due to economic problems or war? Or is he also thinking of what I'm thinking, and deconstructing and explaining it according to his own worldview?
I don't really want to discuss worldviews with this entity that seems like a phenomenon. Since we can't successfully gather information, let's push this battle to its final stage.
The avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord seemed to sense my will and gathered its power.
"—The ultimate life form, free from love and hate and possessing a tranquil heart, will be born."
It was still incomprehensible, the avatar seemed to be muttering in a dream, and a large amount of blue lightning gathered in the palm of this blue radiant giant hand.
At the same time, I raised the slag straight sword, and the flames sealed inside began to become active. The reddish-brown patches that appeared on the blade gradually expanded and connected with each other, eventually occupying the entire blade.
The slag straight sword transformed into an orange-red sword of light, reminiscent of the shimmering flames of a solar prominence leaping from its surface. Intense heat permeated my surroundings, distorting space on a large scale. A magical surge far surpassing the "eclipse" itself raged and spread, blowing away and vaporizing the endless falling rubble within a ten-mile radius, the destructive heatwave pushing even further.
Opposite me, an extremely dense beam of azure lightning transformed into a divine spear, rapidly striking towards me. I made no attempt to dodge or counter it with my own attack. Instead, I swung my slag-straight sword directly at the avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord, unleashing a massive fiery sword aura.
Unlike the black flames of the "Eclipse" that absorb light, this flame released a blazing light that burned everything like stellar matter, even burning through space itself. It ignored the distance in between, bypassed the lightning beams, and reached its target location in one breath.
This action prevented me from dealing with the lightning beam in time, and I was struck by it on the spot, my body and soul completely shattered. Needless to say, this attack, which did not target the true spirit, posed no threat to my life whatsoever.
Considering the possibility of another battle with the Lord of Peach Blossom Village in the future, it might be best to save this trump card for the next time. However, if it is not used now, the battle time will be prolonged, and it may be seen through by the enemy without any value, just like when fighting Mingzhuo. It is better to use it at a valuable opportunity as soon as possible.
The avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord clearly hadn't expected me to suddenly resort to such a "mutual destruction" tactic. Of course, if this were truly a case of mutual destruction, exchanging one of his avatars for my true form would certainly be a very worthwhile trade. Right now, he seemed unable to deal with my fiery sword energy in time and was instantly cleaved in two. The two pieces burst into flames at the break, engulfed in fire and completely destroyed.
With just one strike, the avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord was defeated.
The flying flames exploded in the far distance, and the entire space of the "Shangri-La" isolation zone seemed to be severely damaged, shaking and teetering like an independent real space on the verge of destruction.
This alternate dimension is about to collapse.
However, I didn't have a feeling that I could continue to explore this "Shangri-La". Instead, it felt like I was being called back to the real world and could be logged out at any time.
I regained my body and soul, and at the same time, the gaze that fell upon me, probably belonging to the true form of the Peach Blossom Village Lord, seemed to convey an unexpected emotion.
“Although I don’t know if you are the Mountain Ryougi, since you really intend to ‘harvest’ me, then next time, bring your true form before me.” I said, meeting that gaze.
His gaze remained unresponsive, simply watching me silently.
The collapsed alternate dimension vanished from my sight like a candle flame blown out by the wind.
-
When my vision returned, the surroundings had reverted to the scene of an unfinished high-rise building. I was still standing before the "Preacher," with Zhu Shi and Xiao Qiao standing beside me. It was as if I had merely taken a nap, having a dream related to the incarnation of the Peach Blossom Spring Lord.
"How much time has passed?" I asked.
“What do you mean ‘how long’…”
Zhu Shi was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Wait, you really invaded 'Shangri-La'?"
"Was it only a moment ago?" I could tell from Zhu Shi's reaction.
Putting everything else aside, the discrepancy between the flow of time inside and outside the "paradise" seems to be real, even within the quarantine zone. Ultimately, in the worldview of some Witcher, especially those who use illusion magic, the flow of time itself is merely an illusion. As long as one can inject several years' worth of information into someone in an instant, one can create the illusion that several years have actually passed in that instant.
"You really startled me! Why did you do something so impulsive? That's the stronghold of the Peach Blossom Village Lord!" Zhu Shi said.
"It's not like it's completely inside, or rather, it's only gone in a little bit..." I habitually tried to change the subject, "Anyway, let's talk about it later, shall we... um?"
At that moment, I noticed something else amiss. Zhu Shi noticed it at the same time; she frowned and looked at the "preacher" on the ground.
"Dead?" she said.
The "preacher" had his eyes wide open, but he was no longer breathing. I sensed it briefly and realized that the seed of his heart had disappeared, and the connection between him and "Shangri-La" was gone.
I was originally planning to try infiltrating "Shangri-La" again through the "Preacher." Obviously, the Shangri-La lord wasn't naive enough to leave me such a backdoor. I had to abandon that route for now.
Furthermore, killing the avatar of the Peach Blossom Village Lord wasn't entirely without reward. I could sense a large, unconventional piece of "slag" appearing within my flames.
For me now, "slag" is no longer just a puzzling loot, but a very important enhancement material.
Just as the "Eclipse" attack, while incredibly powerful, requires time to build up, the Slag Straight Sword also needs significantly more charging time to unleash its power, far surpassing that of the "Eclipse." Furthermore, if one wants to unleash a series of powerful attacks with the Slag Straight Sword in battle, the required charging time will be even longer.
While this time is undoubtedly agonizing in combat, it's negligible outside of combat. The increase in "Slag" means that the Slag Straight Sword has a higher charge limit, allowing for a further extension of the burst damage duration once in combat.
(End of this chapter)
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