From the end of the world

Chapter 684 Unexpected Opportunity
I flew rapidly toward the Dog, who then assumed a killing stance.

He swung his armored arms in a crisscross motion, and two sharp, silver-white blades shot towards me at high speed. I didn't waste time assuming a defensive stance; I simply manipulated flames to form a shield wall in front of me, intercepting and blocking the two blades, which were far less dense than my own flames.

This was just the beginning. Xu Gou swung his armored arm again. This time, his swing speed doubled, releasing four silver-white blade energies in the same amount of time; then he swung his armored arm again, releasing eight more silver-white blade energies in the same amount of time; then he swung his armored arm again…

With each swing, his attack speed doubles. This is a miracle he achieves with the power of cutting, his greatest and strongest move. As he swings his armored arm to unleash silver-white blade energy, he also cuts the time required for his attack in half.

If the first round of attacks is twice per second, the second round is four times per second, the third round is eight times per second, and so on. If the attack rounds are repeated up to the tenth round, he will be able to attack 1,024 times per second.

In reality, he certainly doesn't need a full second to complete each round of attacks; it might not even take a ten-thousandth of a second. In other words, assuming his acceleration continues until the tenth round, with the endless energy support of the Divine Seal fragments, his attack speed would soar to over ten million times per second.

If his attack wasn't "cutting" but "explosion," it's hard to imagine the extent of destruction it would cause to the earth. Or perhaps, if the attack wasn't cutting, some mechanism I don't understand would prevent him from launching such a large-scale attack? In any case, I must hurry and stop the Dog.

To be honest, rather than unexpectedly destroying those five Meng Zhang avatars, I might have preferred to unexpectedly kill Xu Gou first… However, compared to Xu Gou, whose trump cards have been completely exposed, those Meng Zhang avatars hold more unknowns for me. On one side is a known, enormous threat, and on the other is an unknown danger; I tend to deal with the latter first.

At present, it's true that none of the silver-white blades of energy released by the Dog (戌狗) pose a significant threat to me. Even though my flames aren't primarily defensive, their density advantage is enough to easily block them, but that's only under conditions where the order of magnitude difference is small. To put it extremely, even if I were a rock and he were a raindrop, there's the saying "constant dripping wears away a stone."

"Quality" cannot always supersede "quantity," nor can density always supersede scale. Whatever it is, once accumulated to a certain degree, can produce incredible changes. The Dog (戌狗) can be considered the best practitioner of this theory.

Fortunately, his increase in power takes time, and I only need to nip it in the bud while it's still in its early stages. His silver-white blade aura, like a net of heaven and earth, bombarded my flame shield, slightly slowing my charge and giving him the opportunity to stack his attacks. On the other hand, he himself couldn't smoothly control such terrifying magical output, a weakness he had shown in the past.

It's not that he definitely didn't try to familiarize himself with his moves after that; training has its limits, and such a massive output of magical power cannot be mastered through training alone. Most of his silver-white blade energy flew in irrelevant directions, and I dodged more than half of the remaining blade energy.

With so many attacks, it was impossible for me to dodge them all; moreover, the closer I got to him, the more likely the countless blades of energy radiating outwards would converge on me.

I unleashed all my fiery magic power in one breath, which clashed with the countless silver-white blade energies of the Dog.

After an extremely brief stalemate, the power of fire magic overwhelmed countless silver-white blade auras.

I won.

Thanks to my immediate counterattack, Xu Gou's attacks ultimately couldn't accumulate enough times. The flames, in a spiraling, stabbing shape, pierced through the impenetrable array of blade energy like a drill, and then blasted through Xu Gou's black powered armor. Xu Gou was struck down to the ground like a meteor, creating a massive wave of mud, sand, and debris, as well as a huge crater.

I teleported to the ground instantly. In the distance, the dog crawled out of the huge pit and knelt down.

His power armor was shattered in large sections, from which large amounts of flesh and blood oozed out. Heavy breathing and the sound of vomiting blood could be heard coming from inside his sealed helmet.

Then came another sound of flesh writhing. Based on my experience, he was currently regenerating his damaged body at an alarming rate. Even the black power armor made of metal seemed to be multiplying and regenerating as if it had a life of its own, trying to return to its complete form.

It wasn't just flesh and armor; although the armor seemed to have anti-detection capabilities, preventing me from clearly sensing Xu Gou's condition, his soul seemed to be undergoing rapid regeneration. This was analyzed from his mana fluctuations. His mana, which had weakened after being severely injured and near death, was now rapidly rekindling, attempting to return to its vigorous state.

This is probably his ability to be immortal.

When a monster reaches the Great Completion stage, it displays regenerative abilities that allow it to enter the realm of immortality. After reaching the Great Impermanence stage, it appears to possess an immortal body capable of recovering even from severe injuries at the soul level. The Dog (戌狗) is not a monster in the strict sense; its source of power is not the Seed of the Heart, but fragments of the Divine Seal, yet it still shares many similarities with monsters.

Although it's impossible for them to be like me and Mingzhuo, who could be reborn even if their bodies and souls were completely destroyed, as long as a certain amount of their soul remains, they can make a comeback time and time again.

Naturally, this kind of immortality cannot defy the power of the true spirit; at the same time, since it is not a dedicated immortality, but merely "absurdly powerful regenerative ability," it may be negated by strong killing intent in a clash between Great Impermanences. Especially when encountering a Great Impermanence like myself, whose level is higher, it is even more likely to be negated. Most of the "special abilities" possessed before becoming a Great Impermanence lose their specialness after becoming a Great Impermanence. At most, they are just more proficient in certain aspects, not enough to become a "mechanism." For example, the death magic power possessed by Mingzhuo and Huangquan, and the ice magic power possessed by Fazheng, may have been some kind of powerful superpower related to death or cold before they became Great Impermanences, but after becoming Great Impermanences, they are just some special attributes.

"—Behave yourself."

I unleashed a giant fireball.

The flames pierced through Xu Gou's chest, sending him flying a distance before he collapsed backward. He coughed up blood again.

I carried the small bowl toward the dog's direction, while simultaneously glancing quickly around at my surroundings.

No new Meng Zhang avatars have appeared... It wouldn't be funny if we were ambushed when we thought everything was fine. However, there are still some noteworthy changes.

The five Meng Zhang avatars I killed earlier didn't even leave behind any remains... It wasn't because my flames were too powerful, rendering them completely unrecognizable. They were beings with immense magical power; they couldn't possibly vanish without a trace.

I quickly retrieved the observation records I had stored in the surrounding flames and discovered that the magical power that made up those Meng Zhang avatars seemed to have been absorbed by this illusory and chaotic spacetime after being destroyed and decomposed.

Considering that "Shangri-La" can automatically absorb the souls of humans killed by the cultivators and monsters of Peach Blossom Village, it's highly likely that a similar underlying mechanism exists within those Meng Zhang avatars. If they accidentally decompose, they can be recycled and reused by "Shangri-La" thanks to the convenience of this home ground.

As for whether the recovered resources will be reassembled into Meng Zhang's avatar and summoned again after a period of time... I think that's highly likely to happen.

Even using the power of true spirit to kill Meng Zhang's avatars could not prevent their return. This is because, unlike the doomsday demons summoned by Naraku's Gospel, these Meng Zhang avatars do not possess their own souls, nor do they have any concept of life or death. They are merely clumps of magical power, an automated device.

To try and stop him with the power of true spirit is tantamount to attempting to prevent Meng Zhang from using his magic power in the future... That would exceed the scope of the power of true spirit. Or is it possible for true spirit power to exercise that kind of authority? I don't know, at least my meager true spirit power cannot do that.

"Why..." the dog groaned.

I glanced at him.

He temporarily halted his regeneration, ceasing all attempts to restore his fighting strength. Instead, he focused on using his tenacious life force to sustain his shattered body and soul, seeking only to survive.

"Why...why didn't you kill me?" Xu Gou said, spitting out blood. "You should have been able to...Just now, when our magic clashed violently, you spared me at the crucial moment...Didn't you want to kill me? Did you really want to turn me into a prisoner...and then win me over?"

Xiao Wan also looked at me, her expression a mixture of happiness and confusion.

To be honest, I'm a little embarrassed. I just rejected Xiaowan's suggestion to win over Xu Gou, but I did the exact opposite. However, I have my own judgment. My actions weren't without reason.

"This is a chance to live that you earned yourself, Dog," I said.

The dog was silent for a moment, then asked, "...What did you say?"

"You didn't use your full strength just now, did you?" I said.

(End of this chapter)