Chapter 326 Zhu Shi and Xiao Wan (Continued)
Ma and I had lunch outside early in the morning. During that time, Mr. Zhu sent me some brief updates on his current situation, which I quickly reviewed.
First, there's the aftermath of the Moonlit Mountain City incident. As expected, it caused a huge uproar across the country. You don't even need this intelligence report; just looking at the trending news online on your phone is enough to understand how big the incident has become.
The Moonlit Mountain City was once shrouded in mist, making it inaccessible—a fact witnessed by everyone involved and those with a keen interest. Even while the mist was still shrouded, the event had already become a major topic online. After the mist dissipated, numerous eyewitnesses flooded the internet and news media with their firsthand accounts, providing a wealth of sensational information for the subsequent spread of the story.
The sudden, massive earthquake, the crowd calmed down by a mysterious force amidst the chaos, the buildings that automatically recovered as if time had reversed, and the injured... all sorts of incredible sights and sounds spread to the outside world through the accounts of those who experienced them. But the most eye-catching sight was undoubtedly the half-destroyed Moon Hidden Mountain.
After the incident, the devastation of Moonshadow Mountain was exposed to the world. It wasn't just a matter of large-scale explosion marks or a super meteorite crater; half the mountain had been blasted away. This geological change forced the local maps to be redrawn. Despite the best efforts of experts, they couldn't explain purely by science what had blasted half the mountain away, or how the hole formed by the intense heat in the remaining half was created.
Unlike bizarre events that cannot be explained simply because they are strange or unusual, these are bizarre events that are too outrageous to be explained by common sense.
This is the turmoil happening in the public sphere, and what follows is information that may be more important to me.
Although I unleashed the power of a Great Impermanence in the Moon Hidden Mountain area, it seems that the Luo Mountain side is not yet aware of the birth of a new Great Impermanence.
When I was at the Great Completion stage, the magical energy fluctuations I released during my all-out battle with Chenlong were enough for demon hunters in other cities surrounding Xianshui City to sense, let alone the magical energy fluctuations released by me after becoming the Great Impermanence. The reason Luo Shan didn't confirm this was because the mist of the Silver Moon's Heaven and Earth Manifestation obscured all internal changes. Of course, that mist couldn't block the Great Impermanence's magical power, but if it was just its fluctuations, it could basically seal them off completely.
The Divination Master certainly knew I had become a Great Impermanence, but he didn't seem inclined to publicize it, and perhaps he hadn't even told Mingzhuo, who was also on the same side of the transcendentalists. As for whether Mingzhuo himself was aware of it, it's hard to say. All Great Impermanence possess almost divine intuition; if another Great Impermanence suddenly appeared among their mortal enemies, they would most likely sense it.
Speaking of perception, I can now perceive things that are right in front of me but that I couldn't perceive in the past because I wasn't perceptive enough.
The most noteworthy point is my connection with the fragments of the Divine Seal.
Now, I can vaguely grasp the connection between myself and the fragment of the divine seal that is bound to me. It's a kind of inexplicable feeling, like the sense of connection I feel when I manipulate the arrow pointer on the screen with a Bluetooth mouse. It seems that I have a similar connection with the fragment of the divine seal.
When I place the Divine Seal Fragment at a distance and try to draw it back using this sense of connection, the fragment automatically returns to my hand. While the fragments had previously exhibited this automatic return, it was passively triggered. Now, I can actively trigger it, proving that this sense of connection is not just my imagination.
Simply being able to summon back the fragments of the Divine Seal isn't particularly remarkable, but I'm certain this is just the beginning. With enough exploration, I should be able to make the Divine Seal fragments exhibit even more variations.
For example... like other chosen ones, using the power of the Divine Seal Fragments.
I don't know what effect the power of the Divine Seal Fragment will have on me, nor do I know how long it will take to achieve this, but at least the power of the Divine Seal Fragment is no longer something that is out of my reach.
However, if the other chosen ones achieved this through their own destiny with the fragments of the divine seal, then I can only say that I achieved it through brute force.
According to Fufeng, while the fragments of the Divine Seal cannot be moved by those who are not destined to possess them under normal circumstances, the power of the Great Impermanence can force it to happen. Perhaps when one's power reaches a certain level, treasures that were originally out of one's reach will become one's own.
After dinner, Ma Zao and I went to the city center and met Mr. Zhu and Zhu Shi in a villa in an upscale residential area.
In his message, Mr. Zhu said he had important intelligence on his side, and since they were going to meet, he would save that intelligence for when they met.
The meeting maintained its clandestine nature. Ma Zao and I used teleportation to get there, as we couldn't let the Mingzhuo forces know about the connection between the Zhu family and me. According to Elder Zhu, at this stage, the necessity of such secrecy had diminished. Now that I had become the Great Impermanence, many things could be done openly. I also planned to challenge Mingzhuo afterward, to fulfill the challenge I had previously issued.
For now, I'll briefly tell them about my results.
"What... Senior Brother Zhuang has become the Great Impermanence, and Ma Zao has already reached the Great Completion stage?" Zhu Shi was shocked.
Seeing such a respectful reaction from Junior Sister Zhu, my true feelings were self-evident; outwardly, I remained composed, yet for some reason, I felt a more real connection to becoming a Great Impermanence. As for Old Master Zhu, although he already knew about it from me before our meeting, he still had a dreamlike lingering glow on his face. Perhaps this was a similar feeling for ancient scholars returning home in glory after passing the imperial examinations.
"Wouldn't that make me a character who gets abandoned after the power level increases?" Zhu Shi sighed strangely.
Ma Zao looked at Zhu Shi with a complicated expression, then tried calling out, "Little..."
She stopped halfway through calling out to him, looking conflicted.
"...Xiao?" Zhu Shi looked puzzled. "What's wrong, Ma Zao? Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Hmm..." Asahi hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
“This matter is related to the small bowl,” I said.
Zhu Shi was even more confused, while the old Mr. Zhu asked with a strange look, "—'Small bowl' is?"
"I will explain about the small bowl later."
I recounted my experiences in the Moon Hidden Mountain area in detail, and also told you about the relationship between Xiaowan and Mazao, as well as how I discovered that Zhu Shi and Xiaowan looked exactly alike when they were young.
To help Mr. Zhu gain a more comprehensive understanding of this, I also explained that Asahi came from the apocalyptic era.
This secret wasn't really a secret to begin with; Mazao had intended to make it public from the start. The reason they became secretive halfway through was because they learned from the Humanitarian Affairs Department that a person claiming to be a Blessed Cultivator was secretly providing Ying Lingyun with future technology. This led them to wonder if the hostile Great Impermanence's hostility towards Mazao was related to this. Now that it's been proven that the reason is different, they can somewhat lower their guard in that regard.
However, since "other people from the apocalypse" should actually exist, considering all the possible risks, it might not be advisable to announce it widely. After discussing it, Ma and I agreed that we should at least let Mr. Zhu know first.
From a moral standpoint, even during our time as enemies of the Great Impermanence of Luoshan, Mr. Zhu consistently provided us with intelligence support at great personal risk, so concealing this from us would be unreasonable. From a practical standpoint, the future apocalyptic investigation requires individuals with connections and intelligence networks within Luoshan to gather clues, and Mr. Zhu, being both trustworthy and meeting the relevant criteria, is the most suitable candidate at present.
Even so, I still withheld the information related to the Void Realm and the fragments of the Divine Seal. I originally intended to reveal it, but Zhu Shi kept giving me meaningful glances from the other side, so I had to give up for the time being.
As Mr. Zhu listened to my explanation, his eyebrows twitched and furrowed frequently, his expression shifting between doubt and belief, and occasionally a thoughtful look would appear on his face.
"I...I am Xiaowan?" Zhu Shi's expression was quite interesting. "In the post-apocalyptic era, I somehow shrank into a young girl and even called Mazao 'sister.' The two of us explored and survived in the ruins together...Wait, this doesn't make sense. Since that was the future, shouldn't Xiaowan be my daughter or something?"
"Hmm? If that's a daughter, then who is the father...?" Mr. Zhu glanced at me.
"...While it's not entirely impossible, I don't think even a mother and daughter should look that alike," I said. "Also, I have another question...Do you have a white box in your house?"
(End of this chapter)
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