From the end of the world

Chapter 637 Not a Void Realm Apostle
It seems that Mazao is not just waiting for the opportunity for her soul to fully recover. In order to better familiarize herself with using her senses and power in the blessed state, she also plans to imitate Zhu Shi's seclusion and cultivation.

“Perhaps in the near future, I will be able to fight alongside you. We must be fully prepared for that moment,” she said confidently.

Throughout the long run, whenever it came to actual combat, I was basically the one charging ahead on the front lines alone, while Asaha would retreat to the rear.

She wasn't content to stay in the safe rear. Every now and then, she would express her dissatisfaction with herself and feel guilty for leaving me to fight alone on the front lines.

“I look forward to that day,” I said.

Mazao nodded expectantly, then left first.

"If only I could fight too," Xiao Wan exclaimed once again.

"Although you are not a direct combatant, you play an irreplaceable and vital role in our performance on the battlefield." I said sincerely, "Zhu Shi was able to master the power to forge the Yama Sword quickly because of you, and Ma Zao will be able to become a Great Impermanence-level combatant in the near future without you. The same is true for me. Without you, how could I possibly unleash power surpassing that of the veteran Great Impermanence?"

As I spoke, I remembered the method I had obtained from communicating with the fortune teller to save her, and I shared it with him.

Similar to the method used to help Asaho become a Great Impermanence-level fighter, this is also information that, due to the lack of practical conditions at this stage, wouldn't be of much use even if it were revealed. However, I know very well that Xiaowan always helps Asaho and Zhushi achieve happiness on the premise that she herself will inevitably disappear. Although I respect her resolve to die, I also hope that she can think more about her own future.

I hope she can also have a happy future, and I want her to have healthy expectations for it.

This is a truly contradictory thought. If the world ends, then no one will have a future, including Xiaowan. Since I am hoping for the end of the world, what right do I have to expect others to have a happy future? However, I still spoke my mind to Xiaowan with this thought in mind.

"So that's how it is... I also have my own independent components?" Xiao Wan said to herself.

The biggest difference between the soul of the living and the soul of the dead is whether or not they possess a true self. Xiaowan once described herself as "a phenomenon" because the incarnation of dreams, as a manifestation of obsession with dreams, is essentially the same as a ghost—lacking a true self, merely appearing as if it possesses one.

Of course, as the saying goes, "I think, therefore I am," and Xiaowan, as the person involved, certainly knows best whether she possesses a true self. However, she would most likely suspect that this is because she is not a pure embodiment of a dream, but rather a dream embodiment synthesized from the soul of Zhu Jiu, a living being, and the dream obsession of Zhu Shi from her childhood. Therefore, this self is very likely dependent on Zhu Jiu.

In reality, she is a new self that emerged and grew beyond the definition of a dream incarnation after experiencing a series of events, based on her status as the incarnation of this abnormal dream. So, to be precise, she should also be considered Zhu Jiu's daughter.

"So... I'm actually the child of Zhu Jiu and Zhu Shi? Zhu Shi clearly wants to call me 'Mom,' but I'm the daughter she had with her own mother?"

After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Wan suddenly made an incredible statement, "And since I will be reborn in the future using the body made by Brother Zhuang Cheng, then I am also Brother Zhuang Cheng's daughter."
"Because it's about using my independent self and Zhuang Cheng's flames to synthesize a new soul...so it can also be said that Zhuang Cheng and I gave birth to me?"

"Wait, wait..." I exclaimed, "Isn't your line of thinking a bit..."

Xiao Wan smiled and said, "I was just a little unsure how to react, so I was just joking."

I know it's a joke, but I feel like there's some logic to it, so I can't just take it as a joke.

"Can I continue to live... After Brother Zhuangcheng, Sister Mazao, and Zhu Shi find happiness together, can I continue to watch you all live happily?" Xiaowan asked absentmindedly.

“You can live happily not just by watching,” I said.

"Does Brother Zhuangcheng mean that marrying Sister Mazao and Zhu Shi isn't enough, and you also want to marry Xiaowan?" Xiaowan smiled.

"That was not what I meant……"

As I spoke, I thought for a moment and decided to face my own heart, saying the truth: "No, you can interpret it that way. It might be too early now, but as long as you don't change your mind in the future, I want to be with you forever, until the very end." Xiao Wan was slightly taken aback, then sighed, "That's the most cheeky thing about you, Brother Zhuang Cheng. If you always respond to me so honestly, it might be inconvenient for me to tease you anymore."

She ultimately didn't give me a direct answer.

Although saying this might make me seem presumptuous, or even fall under the category of the so-called "three great illusions of life," I believe that Xiaowan may very well genuinely like me.

As long as she remains the embodiment of a dreamer pursuing romance, and I remain someone she trusts completely and without reservation, then her liking me will be a natural progression. For the same reason, once she reciprocates my feelings, she will be in a state of fulfilling her mission before Zhu Shi. I don't want her to disappear prematurely either, so thinking about it this way, my previous act of revealing my feelings might indeed have been rash.

Three more days passed.

Not only are Zhu Shi and Ma Zao wholeheartedly engaged in their cultivation, but I am also honing my understanding of magical power.

Thanks to the powerful blessing provided by the small bowl, my speed in absorbing the experience of the Great Demonic Calamity can only be described as rapid. In just a short time, I have completely digested this experience. Now, even without the blessing and without the aid of the slag weapon, I can still unleash the full combat power expected of a veteran Great Impermanence.

As for slag weapons, I have seriously considered how to further develop them, but I still haven't been able to find an opportunity to improve them in such a short time.

In the past, when power density was insufficient, slag weapons were my tool for crudely compressing flames; now that my density problem has been solved, slag weapons can still serve as containers for the power of flames, and even help me to further compress them. Because the operation is so simple, there is no room for further optimization. I often feel that slag weapons have never had much room for improvement from the beginning; this simple and crude usage is already its most perfect form.

While studying how to become stronger, I also often ponder the origins of the ancient civilization and the afterlife as described by the divination master.

An ancient civilization that arose in the distant past and ultimately perished at the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago—though we only know fragments of information about it, that alone is enough to pique my boundless imagination and interest. Unfortunately, the fortune teller may be right—for us living in the present, it may truly be just a background story that doesn't require further exploration.

No matter how much one wants to explore its details, everything about the ancient civilization has been destroyed. Aside from imagination, there's no way to touch that primordial darkness. Occasionally, I even wonder if this ancient civilization was a fabrication by the fortune teller himself, or if the fortune teller himself had some misunderstanding, and that such a civilization never actually existed.

Rather than focusing on that distant concept, I probably need to concentrate on the present and seriously consider how to fight Xuanming in the near future.

In terms of pure strength, I believe I am no less powerful than Xuanming, but battlefield experience is a different story. I already have a solution for this; the problem is that I only calculated Xuanming's physical strength and haven't yet taken into account the power of the divine seal fragments he possesses.

But when I tried to gain wisdom from the small bowl, I heard her give a negative opinion.

“I think Xuanming probably won’t use the power of the Divine Seal fragments,” she said.

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

“Xuanming is probably no longer a Void Realm Apostle,” Xiaowan said. “There are currently only two ways to use the power of the Divine Seal Fragment directly in his own body: one is to bind the Divine Seal Fragment as a Void Realm Apostle, and the other is to implant the Divine Seal Fragment into his body through Ying Lingyun’s technology.”

“Xuanming does not possess the latter’s technology, so if he is no longer a Void Realm Apostle, he will no longer be able to apply the power of the Divine Seal Fragment to fast-paced combat.”

“I don’t quite understand the premise of this judgment. Why do you think Xuanming has lost his status as a Void Realm Apostle?” I said. “Do you believe that the Lord of the Divine Seal has stripped Xuanming of his qualifications?”

“From the perspective of the Lord of the Divine Seal, there is naturally no reason for Xuanming to continue maintaining his status as a Void Realm Apostle. However, this is only a secondary reasoning,” Xiaowan said. “Most importantly, the Divine Seal Fragments are both our weapons as Void Realm Apostles and the tentacles through which the Lord of the Divine Seal directly influences us. In a sense, the Divine Seal Fragments are like the power seeds of the Yin-Yang Successors. Just possessing this power will become the basis for a great enemy to restrain us.”

"As long as one remains a Void Realm Apostle, one cannot fight on equal footing with the Lord of the Divine Seal. Since Xuanming's goal is to find the true Lord of the Divine Seal in the real world and defeat him, the first step is to completely discard all the power of the fragments of the Divine Seal."

(End of this chapter)