From the end of the world

Chapter 668 Back to the top
The crowd on the periphery continued to murmur, while the leading believer, standing in one corner of the ceremony area, whispered, "Silence."

His voice wasn't loud, yet it miraculously carried throughout the surrounding space. It seemed to possess an incredible magic, causing everyone to unconsciously fall silent. Then, people noticed that I was moving towards the center of the ceremony area. All eyes were fixed on me like spotlights.

The winter chariot was moved to one of the locations in the ceremony area, and once I was in the center, the séance officially began.

Led by Dongche, a dozen or so believers bowed their heads and shook hands in prayer at different locations on the ritual site, tacitly infusing their magical power into the array on the ground. Starting from their different points, the lines that formed the array ignited like a fuse lit by a lighter.

Lines of fire advanced from the outer perimeter towards the inner circle, passing countless candles placed throughout the formation. The candles rose one after another, their orange flames creating a primal and sacred atmosphere.

With each passing batch of candles, the flames on the fire line grew stronger. What began as tiny flames the size of a fingertip gradually grew larger than a person's body. When the fire lines advanced from all directions to my central position, the flames transformed into imposing walls of fire, closing in on me.

I did not make any move to dodge or defend myself, but instead completely opened my mind to receive the flames.

All the flames struck me at the same time, igniting my body. I felt as if I had become a burning log, my vision completely filled with the crimson light of the flames, and my ears filled with the incessant sound of burning.

At first, I was able to observe the surrounding scene with my spiritual perception. I could see the believers who were still praying devoutly, the demon hunters who were maintaining order outside the ritual site, and the hundreds of survivors who had watched the ritual unable to contain themselves and letting out sounds of shock and panic.

What did this scene resemble in their eyes? A group of adults wielding mysterious powers solemnly surrounded a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, setting him on fire in the atmosphere of a religious ritual—it looked like an evil and barbaric human sacrifice. Such a sight would inevitably elicit a reaction of terror.

I recalled an investigation I conducted long ago into a local superstitious group. Their leader, exposed for his lies, was bound and burned alive by his angry and desperate followers. When I witnessed that scene, I never imagined I would one day play a similar, visually dramatic role. However, while both were surrounded and set on fire by their followers, that leader died in agony, while I would be using a séance to reclaim all my power as the Great Impermanence.

Gradually, just as I became unable to perceive the changes in my surroundings using my five senses, my mental perception was also enveloped. It wasn't covered by darkness, but rather occupied by the burning light. Firelight from all directions entered my mental realm. Extreme light and extreme darkness are indistinguishable; the current phenomenon seemed to be proclaiming this truth.

I closed my eyes.

Amidst the endless flames, I felt the resistance binding me receding. It wasn't receding spontaneously, but rather being destroyed. The resistance, once as unbreakable as steel chains, now seemed like spider silk being scorched by a flamethrower, fragilely disintegrating and disappearing.

Suddenly, I realized that the endless flames weren't the flames surrounding my body, but rather the full power I hadn't been able to unleash within the city's barrier. The instant I realized this, all the flames surged and concentrated into my body.

I am becoming enormous. The physical changes may not be immediately apparent, but my size is rapidly increasing, soon reaching the limit allowed by the ubiquitous resistance. I am like a young beast trapped in a small box; I could easily fit in when I was first born, but I cannot remain so as I grow.

However, my rapid growth could not be contained by this small box. Under this momentum of rapid progress, the resistance could only be pushed back step by step. My strength surged wildly, and my perception was also rapidly recovering, allowing me to sense the surrounding environment again. Not only that, I could also clearly perceive countless streets outside the shelter, as well as the urban districts further away.

As a result, I gained a more comprehensive understanding of the obstacle itself that was hindering me. This environment, which prevented me from exerting my power, reminded me of a void filled with gray fog.

The gray mist that seals away magic is likely a manifestation of divine power, or in other words, a true spiritual force; while the source of the city's barrier resistance is "Shangri-La," which, by definition, is almost an ultimate existence of true spirit. The two share some similarities.

Now, I can more or less intuitively understand that neither the illusory realm nor the "Shangri-La" actually targets magical power itself, or at least not entirely, in their suppression of magical power. At least, the Lord of the Divine Seal and Meng Zhang, the Lord of Shangri-La, are consciously achieving the result of suppressing magical power. However, the principle behind the Divine Seal and the "Shangri-La" achieving this effect is less about "suppressing magical power" and more about "rejecting a worldview outside of oneself." The illusory realm formed by the power of true spirit is also a "Shangri-La" of another structure. Although much smaller in scale than the "Shangri-La," it may also possess the characteristics of another universe, with a fundamental order different from both the common-sense world and the strange world we know. The power of our universe may find it difficult to function properly in another universe; only the power of true spirit is an exception.

It's also possible that with enough power, an exception could be made. Just like how I was able to unleash some of my power inside the city's barrier before, if I were reborn back to a time when the Void Realm still existed, perhaps I could also unleash some of my power in the Void Realm without Little Bowl's blessing.

By combining the blessing of the small bowl with the power of the divine seal fragments, I could unleash my full power in the illusory realm, but there was a problem here. Because the gray mist and the city's barrier resistance are ultimately of different natures, my utilization of the divine seal fragments' power was insufficient to allow me to smoothly blend into this place. The blessing of the small bowl alone couldn't help me completely ignore the city's barrier resistance; in other words, my ability to penetrate the outermost and most solid barrier was partly due to the blessing.

Perhaps the reason Xuanming was able to do what other Great Impermanences couldn't, successfully infiltrating the city's barrier, was because he had virtual experience that other Great Impermanences didn't possess.

On the other hand, perhaps because it hasn't truly been created yet, "Shangri-La," as an alternative worldview, still has some imperfections. Considering the information that both the Water God Xuanwu and the Dog can function normally here, it might recognize objects already inside its city's barrier as existing elements of its own worldview. From this perspective, it's not truly incompatible with us; it simply chooses not to be.

I can now invoke my power here through rituals, and Xuanming seems to be able to ignore the resistance here through other means. Perhaps these are all evidence that the "firewall" of this "Shangri-La" is not perfect. Or, assuming I really traveled to another universe, could I also unleash my full power through similar methods? I feel like I'm some kind of evil god projecting my power into another universe and attempting to invade it with my true form.

I slowly opened my eyes. The flames that had enveloped my entire body had been completely absorbed, and my body had returned from its weak boy form to the youth form I was most familiar with. My senses now covered the entire city; except for the city center area sealed off by the "Wall of the Outsiders," every corner was under my gaze.

The Taoyuan Township believers and Xuanming believers scattered throughout the city, as well as the survivors hiding in the corners and outskirts, all came into my view.

I exhaled, and instantly, an endless sea of ​​fire engulfed the entire city. The sky was a bright orange sea of ​​fire, while the ground was a crimson orange sea of ​​fire, which I had unleashed. Countless believers of Peach Blossom Spring, as well as hundreds of millions of monsters, didn't even have time to realize they were being attacked before they were all reduced to ashes in an instant.

The witchers and survivors inside the shelter were unaware of the dramatic shift in the power dynamics of the city. They were terrified as they witnessed themselves engulfed in flames, but they soon realized that the flames posed no threat to them.

Their emotions quickly calmed down, partly because they realized they were safe, and partly because I didn't want them to overreact. This was also a form of indirect influence; as the fully realized Great Impermanence, simply thinking that they had no reason to be afraid subtly influenced their mental state.

"Senior Zhuang Cheng...you succeeded!" Dong Che exclaimed joyfully.

I nodded.

At this moment, I have regained all my strength.

Then, I reached out and made a grabbing motion.

The ordinary survivors hiding throughout the city were also engulfed in flames. They weren't burned, but they were all in a state of extreme anxiety. My movement caused them all to be grabbed by the flames, which transformed into a giant hand. Pulled back, they were forced to cross space from different directions, converging on the open space of the exhibition hall. There weren't many of them, only a little over two hundred.

Then, I conducted another sweep, and the believers of Xuanming, who were scattered in different places, were all transferred to this place at once.

(End of this chapter)