From the end of the world

Chapter 694 The Great Demon God Guiling Pill
The five avatars of Meng Zhang that appeared simultaneously all exhibited the same magical energy fluctuations as the previous batch of Meng Zhang avatars that I had destroyed, and their appearances were indistinguishable from each other. I don't know if the previous batch of Meng Zhang avatars had collectively resurrected, or if a new batch had arrived. Considering that these giant hands of azure light were all temporary creations made of magical energy, perhaps worrying about these questions is pointless.

I turned to look at the Water Master Xuanwu. At that moment, he was still completely focused on the "alchemy furnace" he had condensed with water-based magic, seemingly unaware of the appearance of Meng Zhang's avatars. Since this required such intense concentration, he must be unable to withstand external attacks. It seemed that only I could deal with those Meng Zhang avatars now.

First I had to protect Xiaowan, now I have to protect the naval commander Xuanwu; it seems I'm just playing bodyguard this time. This kind of battle isn't really my cup of tea, but I have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it again.

Five powerful bolts of azure lightning shot out from different angles almost simultaneously. At first glance, they looked like a huge wound that had been torn open in space and time, with glowing azure blood flowing rapidly toward me.

I took out the slag weapon and released its extremely compressed orange-red flames, transforming them into five fiery shields that kept all the lightning strikes at bay. All of Meng Zhang's avatars followed suit, about to unleash a second wave of devastating lightning strikes, but I seized the extremely brief opening when these enemies had exhausted their old strength and had not yet generated new strength, transforming all five fiery shields into a giant fireball that instantly crossed the middle distance and accurately hit all the targets.

All of Meng Zhang's incarnations vanished in the explosion. To prevent the shockwave and dust cloud from interfering with the naval Xuanwu, I specially unleashed flames and formed a force field, transforming myself and the area around me into a pure land undisturbed by the outside world.

The experience points from the Dog were a huge help. If things had gone according to the pattern of the last battle, I would have had to go through a lot of trouble to deal with these Meng Zhang avatars.

The reason these enemies were able to find me and Xiaowan every time in the past, and to achieve such high hit and evasion rates, was partly due to the home-field advantage created by the illusory chaotic spacetime. Now, I can use the experience fragments to analyze and guide the illusory chaotic spacetime, and to some extent, break through the home-field advantage of these Meng Zhang avatars.

If they are like fish naturally living in water, then Xu Gou and I are like people who dive into the water. Although we can't use the water's currents as nimbly as fish to attack and dodge, we can make correct judgments based on our understanding of the water and anticipate the opponent's advantages based on the direction of the current. To put it another way, we are like hunters who can accurately hit the agile fish in the water with a single spear.

If it weren't for the illusory and chaotic effects of spacetime that target outsiders, I might even be able to do the same thing underwater with the help of the Little Bowl's blessing.

That should have been the end of it... That's what I thought, but things aren't over yet.

The five giant blue hands radiating light disintegrated and scattered in the explosion. However, after a breath, the scattered blue magical power gathered together as if time had reversed, returning to their original positions and forming the five giant blue hands radiating light once again.

It actually came back to life... no, it was reorganized?
I was well aware that the other side was likely to reassemble. In fact, those that appeared just now were very likely reassembled from the magical power of the batch of Meng Zhang incarnations who died in my conflict with Xu Gou; I had anticipated this. But could they reassemble so quickly? They didn't demonstrate this speed last time.

Perhaps the Dog realized that Xiaowan and I really had a way to communicate with Aiye, so it used its authority in this area to temporarily stop the automatic reorganization of Mengzhang's avatars? As I was speculating, the Mengzhang avatars around me launched another attack.

I transformed into a giant solid sphere of flame, enveloping myself and the naval Xuanwu, instantly evading the barrage of azure lightning bolts from the enemies. Simultaneously, I locked onto their coordinates and launched five more large fireballs, blasting them all to pieces. And sure enough, in the blink of an eye, they had already reformed themselves.

It's clear they possess a certain level of intelligence. Realizing they couldn't dodge or defend against my attacks, they simply stopped trying and instead fully utilized their self-reconstruction capabilities to withstand them. Perhaps because they concentrated their excess energy on what was useful, their self-reconstruction speed also increased significantly.

Killing them is unrealistic; they don't even have the concept of death, they're just automated machines. To prevent them from regenerating, you have to eliminate the source first, just like turning off a tap to stop the water from flowing—the correct way isn't to forcefully disperse the stream, but to turn it off. Unfortunately, their source is a "paradise," and I don't have the ability to eliminate it.

Continuing to fight like this is nothing but a waste of time and energy. Even if we hold out until the Water Master Xuanwu refines the elixir, they won't retreat on their own at that point. What's most troublesome for me is this kind of enemy with exceptionally high endurance and who is practically indestructible. If the opponent were a Life-Turbid being, at least I could kill them once and for all with True Spirit Power. But this is just endless. The flames from the slag weapon are insufficient to sustain the fire; no matter how much is stored, it will eventually run out.

The enemy probably didn't chase after me because they sensed the magical fluctuations emanating from the alchemy process; otherwise, they would have arrived immediately after my battle with Shui Shi Xuanwu. Perhaps Shui Shi Xuanwu made some arrangements in this area to avoid attracting enemies at that time. The reason he started alchemy without saying a word was probably because he was confident that he wouldn't be disturbed by external enemies. It was just that some unexpected event occurred, and the enemy happened to find this place.

Continuing to stay in this place and entangle with the enemy is not the best strategy. As Meng Zhang's avatars unleashed another volley of azure lightning, I grabbed the naval Xuanwu and once again used flames to teleport us both away. This time, the teleportation not only avoided the attack but also directly moved us out of this battlefield.

We arrived at a new street, which looked exactly the same as the street where I had fought with Shui Shi Xuanwu before. This pattern was extremely familiar to me; at this rate, we would definitely be caught up by those Meng Zhang avatars again. I didn't give up and activated the teleportation again. The surrounding scenery changed again and again, each time presenting remarkably familiar landscapes.

After repeating this dozens of times, the surrounding scenery finally changed, and we arrived at a rooftop. It was hard to tell what kind of building it was; the rooftop was large and spacious, with rows of white sheets neatly hung to dry on metal racks, countless fabrics rustling comfortably in the breeze. It was at this moment that the premonition of being overtaken finally subsided.

The experience of the Dog (戌狗) proved invaluable. Without it, there would have been no way to shake off those incredibly troublesome things.

I breathed a sigh of relief, while the naval commander Xuanwu kept his eyes fixed on the "alchemy furnace," working with astonishing concentration.

After some time, he finally finished refining the elixir.

"The Divine Elixir is complete," he said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the "alchemy furnace" formed by the black water disintegrated and dissipated, and a pill appeared suspended in the air.

In the past, the Divine Elixir was watery in color, but now it is a dark pill with a moist luster.

"Although you previously stated that the injury you sought to heal was not caused by the Xuanming Fire, I have observed and analyzed your so-called 'Eclipse Fire,' and considering that the Divine Gui Elixir of the past could heal the damage it caused to near complete recovery, this elixir will definitely be able to achieve a perfect cure," said Shui Shi Xuanwu with great certainty.

The new Divine Elixir slowly floated into my hand. With that, I could finally report back to Ma Zao.

From my first meeting with Asahi to today, her injuries are finally nearing a complete recovery. What a long journey that has been! Although those injuries weren't on my own body, I've never truly forgotten that question. As I touched this hard-won elixir, I felt a heavy burden on my shoulders finally lifted at this moment.

Out of a sense of感慨 (gǎn kǎi, mixed feelings), an idea suddenly came to me, and I said, "Since this new Divine Essence Pill is different from the previous ones, why not give it a new name? Since it's a pill made from the flesh and blood of the Great Demon Xuanwu, let's call it the 'Great Demon Divine Essence Pill,' what do you think?"

"What are you trying to do by adding the word 'demon' to a healing pill?" Shui Shi Xuanwu complained. "Anyway, this kind of pill probably won't appear again, so just give it to your little girlfriend and let her eat it."

As he spoke, he surveyed his surroundings and continued, "It seems something happened before... Were you attacked by the incarnations of the Peach Blossom Village Lord? You seem to have that scent on you too... Strange, I clearly set up a concealed barrier around here using metal element magic. Unless you're extremely unlucky, they should have intentionally or unintentionally ignored that area..."

Unless it was extremely bad luck... I think I can understand why I was attacked by those Meng Zhang incarnations by sheer coincidence.

However, didn't the Water Master Xuanwu just mention "metal element magic power"?
Just as he was about to continue speaking, waves of powerful magical energy, reminiscent of the Great Impermanence level, reappeared around him.

(End of this chapter)