From the end of the world

Chapter 685 Ying Lingyun's Brain
"..." The dog seemed to agree with what I said.

He had no intention of going easy on me, and he fought with all his might for most of the battle. However, when my fire magic clashed fiercely with his sword aura at extremely close range, I sensed that he hesitated.

I vaguely understand what he was hesitating about at the time—he didn't want to involve Xiaowan, or this little girl who looked only ten years old.

His finishing move is so vicious that even though I am far stronger than him, I must exert all my strength immediately to have any chance of overpowering him. And in the process, if I relax my strength even slightly, the little bowl I'm protecting will be in mortal danger.

I am confident that I can do my best to protect Xiaowan in the conflict, but from the perspective of Xu Gou, regardless of whether they know the gap between us, since they are going to stand against me, they must show the determination to destroy me and Xiaowan at all costs.

It was precisely because he couldn't muster that ruthless resolve at the crucial moment that he was defeated more easily than I had anticipated. And it was precisely because of this that an option appeared before me: "Even if we adjust the objective to capturing Xu Gou, we can still ensure Xiao Wan's safety."

Xiaowan is so eager to contribute, so if it's possible, I'd naturally want to go along with her wishes. Previously, I felt I lacked complete certainty, which is why I rejected her suggestion without further explanation; now that the situation has changed, I naturally won't be stubborn.

I briefly explained my reasons, then looked at Xu Gou and said, "I didn't expect you to be so naive on the battlefield, but that naivety saved your life."

"Were you... the type who used to be so considerate of the feelings of those around you?" Dog asked in a strange tone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’ve always been very considerate of my own people,” I said. “But I don’t have that much patience for people who aren’t on my side.”

“…I understand.” Dog slowly sat up.

The heavy armor, over three meters tall, sat on the ground like a small metal mountain, exuding immense visual pressure. Even I, standing before it, looked like a weak and powerless child, let alone Xiao Wan, who was already small. However, perhaps due to being incapacitated and at the mercy of others, Xu Gou had lost its former ferocity. Blood was constantly flowing from the cracks in the armor, quickly forming a pool beneath it.

He took a deep breath, and the sound of bleeding ceased inside the armor. Perhaps to avoid any misunderstanding, he appeared not to be healing his severe soul injury, intentionally maintaining a state where he could no longer exert his combat abilities.

“My life is now entirely in your hands, yet you haven’t killed me immediately, but instead you’re talking to me like this…” Xu Gou looked at me calmly, “So, you really intend to turn me against you? The thing about being able to communicate with Ai Ye’s soul… wasn’t just a lie you made up to lower my morale?”

“Yes, Mr. Xu Gou, we are serious,” Xiao Wan said sincerely. “Afterwards, please hand over your body to us, and I will use it as a medium to summon the soul of that female researcher.”

The dog still looked incredulous and asked in a skeptical tone, "But... how can one summon the soul of someone whose soul has already been scattered?"

“Leave it to us,” I said. “It won’t hurt you to try, and besides… even if we really were to take your flesh now, what could you do to resist us?”

The dog nodded, seemingly reluctant to accept it, yet still appearing anxious and uncertain, muttering, "But... Artemisia shouldn't be able to reappear, unless..."

“Unless it’s in a dream?” I thought for a moment and said, “No, you probably don’t truly believe in ‘Shangri-La,’ do you… If you were really fighting for something like that, you wouldn’t have held back just now. This involves whether you can reunite with the most important person in your life, and I don’t think you would waver so easily on that issue… So, why did you join the Lord of Shangri-La’s camp?”

After hesitating for a while, Xu Gou seemed to have made a decision before saying, "...it's for Ying Lingyun's technology."

"It's actually related to Ying Lingyun?" I was surprised.

Dog nodded and then explained his motivation for joining Peach Blossom Village.

After destroying the Fufeng base, he obtained a fragment of the unclaimed Divine Seal that could be exchanged with the Lord of the Divine Seal for a method of resurrection. However, before he could make the offer, the Void Realm was destroyed. He lost his platform to meet and communicate with the Lord of the Divine Seal and could only wait for the Void Realm to be repaired, hoping for the opportunity to trade with the Lord of the Divine Seal.

However, the experience of missing out on the method he wanted made him more anxious than ever before. He didn't know exactly when the illusory realm would be repaired, or if it would never be repaired, or if things would change further in the future, hindering his wish to resurrect his lover. A multitude of anxious thoughts swirled and entangled in his mind, prompting him to make a decision.

He couldn't put all his eggs in one basket; he wanted to use this time of waiting for the Void Realm to repair itself to explore ways to fulfill his wishes beyond trading Divine Seal Fragments.

During his covert investigations, he discovered the organization called Peach Blossom Village. Then an idea came to him.

First, this idea wasn't about "reuniting with his lover in a dream"—he wasn't that desperate yet. Rather, during his investigation, he discovered undeniable similarities between the "cultivators" of Peach Blossom Spring and the eccentrics of the Humanitarian Bureau. Further investigation revealed that the Humanitarian Bureau, which had created him as a man-made Great Impermanence, had once had intricate cooperative and transactional relationships with Peach Blossom Spring.

To be precise, it wasn't the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau and Taoyuan Township that were cooperating in the past. Rather, it was Ying Lingyun and Meng Zhang, the head of Taoyuan Township, who were secretly colluding and sharing almost all the technology and knowledge.

Among these, there is likely the technology and knowledge that Ying Lingyun researched and developed in order to revive the real Silver Moon.

Xu Gou harbors deep hatred for Ying Lingyun, for it was Ying Lingyun who turned him into a living hell in the Humanitarian Department. On the other hand, he must also acknowledge Ying Lingyun's unimaginable dark scientific ingenuity. In a sense, Xu Gou is perhaps the person in the world who can most personally experience Ying Lingyun's technological prowess. Although he himself cannot figure out a way to resurrect his beloved, he believes that by relying on the technological legacy left by Ying Lingyun, even the impossible might be made possible.

Therefore, Xu Gou followed the clues and found Meng Zhang, the lord of Taoyuan Township, and asked to join him. The latter welcomed him, a powerful warrior who had fallen from the sky.

“I didn’t tell the Lord of Peach Blossom Village my true purpose. Instead, I pretended to want to reunite with my lover through a dream. Because if I revealed my true goal too early, I might be manipulated by him, turning what I wanted into a carrot that was always in front of me but could never be reached,” Xu Gou said. “But I don’t know if the Lord of Peach Blossom Village realized my true purpose. He never showed me the most crucial part of Ying Lingyun’s technological legacy…”

Xiao Wan raised a question: "Could it be that the Lord of Peach Blossom Village simply doesn't have the technology you want? The method of resurrection was Ying Lingyun's most important research goal before his death, but the Lord of Peach Blossom Village doesn't seem to have any need to resurrect anyone, so it's possible that this technology wasn't shared with Peach Blossom Village."

“I also had my doubts, but one thing dispelled my concerns,” Xu Gou said. “The Lord of Taoyuan Township has Ying Lingyun’s brain in his hands.”

"Brain?" I was surprised.

"According to him, it was recovered on the eve of the destruction of the Humanitarian Division's main base," Xu Gou said.

I recalled that experience.

At that time, Meng Zhang suddenly opened a spatial rift and intervened at the Humanitarian Division's main base, trying to rescue Ying Lingyun. However, due to my sudden attack, Ying Lingyun was blasted into pieces by my power, and all her remains fell behind the spatial rift.

This also included Ying Lingyun's severed head.

So Meng Zhang didn't throw it away, but wanted to make use of it?

How can it be used? Could it be that Meng Zhang can use the power of the "Shangri-La" to resurrect Ying Lingyun?

No, the power of reactivation can't do that... Although the power of reactivation can revive the dead, the prerequisite is that all the "parts" of the deceased must be within the reactivation site. This is the same as the reactivation ability that Ying Lingyun achieved through the power of the Divine Seal fragments.

As for Ying Lingyun's soul, I had already burned it all away, turning it into "ashes." Even if Meng Zhang restarted the process ten thousand times, all he would get in the end would be an empty shell.

Furthermore, although Ying Lingyun himself is an "ordinary person" without magical powers, the difficulty of resurrecting him is worlds apart from the difficulty of resurrecting ordinary people who have accomplished nothing. As a figure who is connected with the fragments of the divine seal, profoundly stirs up the world situation, and creates the artificial Great Impermanence, Ying Lingyun is involved in too many destinies and causes and effects.

With the ability of the Great Impermanence to modify history and resurrect the dead, I could easily resurrect a hundred or so ordinary people who have accomplished nothing. But to resurrect Ying Lingyun is out of the question. The historical correction power required to resurrect Ying Lingyun is simply too powerful.

Other forms of resurrection would also encounter strong resistance, and the fact that I killed Ying Lingyun with murderous intent completely blocked the path to resurrection.

“Within Ying Lingyun’s biological brain, which is in a state of death, are stored all his memories from his lifetime. By combining these memories with his technological legacy, it may be possible to extract the information contained within, including all the technological knowledge he possessed,” Xu Gou said.

(End of this chapter)