From the end of the world

Chapter 699 Facing the Lord of Peach Blossom Village
Now that we've preliminarily identified the most likely suspect as Shan Liangyi, we, the inheritors of Liangyi, should put aside all disputes and concentrate all our efforts on killing King Zhuanlun. It's not that we're without the potential to cooperate with Meng Zhang, the lord of Taoyuan Township, but I'm well aware that this direction is difficult to put into practice, and the naval commander Xuanwu probably understands this as well.

Because Meng Zhang has no need to join forces with us. He was unable to complete "Shangri-La" before because Xuan Ming was there; but now that Xuan Ming is dead, he only needs to finish the last part of the project to become the core of "Shangri-La" and become an ultimate being that even Da Wuchang cannot match.

Even if Shan Liangyi completes the recycling of all the power seeds and returns to its peak, it may not be able to defeat Meng Zhang in a single blow. Moreover, Shan Liangyi has not yet recycled any power seeds, and Meng Zhang has every opportunity to stop it by eliminating us. He will definitely not let this opportunity pass.

We cannot stand idly by and watch the creation of a "Shangri-La". I don't know what the naval commander Xuanwu thinks of a "Shangri-La", but since he also wants to kill Meng Zhang, he cannot just watch the other party rise to a level that he cannot reach.

We moved steadily towards the very center of this illusory, chaotic spacetime. Sometimes, a few avatars of Meng Zhang would appear to intercept us. There's no need to describe this process in detail now. Both the Water Master Xuanwu and I agreed – there was no need to get entangled with such an opponent, whom we gained nothing from even killing. With my spatial manipulation, we could quickly shake them off. Even if we encountered them again later, it would simply be a matter of repeating the process of shaking them off.

Slowly, we approached the very center. I could even intuitively sense Meng Zhang's immense presence ahead.

The decisive battle is approaching.

Before the battle, I felt it necessary to gather intelligence on the enemy through the naval commander Xuanwu.

The clashes between Shui Shi Xuanwu and Meng Zhang were not as numerous as mine, but in terms of knowledge related to the successors of the Two Elements, he far surpasses me. Most importantly, he has experience fighting alongside the Azure Dragon successors of past generations, and should be very familiar with the various properties of the Azure Dragon's Wood Element magic.

Coincidentally, I had never been able to understand the "power of wood and cultivation" of the Azure Dragon's descendants, so I asked the Water Master Xuanwu about it.

"The power of wood and cultivation... no wonder you don't understand this power. Among all the successors of Yin and Yang, the Azure Dragon's ability is the least intuitive." After thinking, the Water Master Xuanwu said, "Literally speaking, cultivation, 'cultivation' means turning over the soil to make it suitable for crops to grow and to make the environment better; 'cultivation' means removing weeds and eliminating harmful elements in the environment."

"Since ancient times, the Azure Dragon has been regarded as a divine beast that brings rain, bestows blessings, eliminates disasters, and saves all living beings. The power of cultivation, in short, is the power to adjust feng shui."

"The places where the descendants of the Azure Dragon reside will become vibrant and blessed with outstanding people. They will be closely connected with nature, relying on the great power of heaven and earth to obtain inexhaustible strength. To oppose them is to oppose heaven and earth. Generally speaking, the great impermanence of the laws of heaven and earth can be regarded as an invasion and aggression against heaven and earth, but the descendants of the Azure Dragon can live in harmony with all things in nature."

"Does that sound a bit like a child of divinity?" I thought.

If the Azure Dragon's descendant possesses properties similar to those of the Child of God, perhaps it could also be used to fulfill Xuanming's original intentions regarding the small bowl.

Perhaps Xuanming himself had similar thoughts. However, unlike the divine child who is guaranteed to work, the Azure Dragon's descendant might still have many unknowns in this regard. Therefore, while attempting to capture Xiaowan, he is also trying to kill Mengzhang, advancing in two directions simultaneously; or perhaps Xuanming believes that the Azure Dragon's descendant does not meet the conditions for the sacrificial ceremony, and is only fighting Mengzhang to the death to prevent the "Shangri-La" from opening…

Xuanming is dead, and I can only speculate about his true thoughts during his lifetime.

"To be precise, the Azure Dragon's descendants possess abilities that combine the strengths of both the Great Impermanence and the Child of Divinity, allowing them to complement each other. The Great Impermanence is overly domineering towards nature, while the Child of Divinity is too passive, whereas the Azure Dragon's greatest strength lies in its balance of strength and gentleness," said the Water Master Xuanwu. "In the absence of the Central Yellow Dragon, the Azure Dragon is generally considered the head of the Four Symbols in mysticism, its power capable of reshaping feng shui and recreating the universe. Perhaps this is partly why the Lord of Peach Blossom Village was able to create a 'Shangri-La'."

"However, based on my observation of the battle between the Lord of Peach Blossom Village and Xuanming, the Lord of Peach Blossom Village is not making much of a difference in his cultivation power during the battle. Instead, he is relying more on the 'Peach Blossom Village' to unleash overwhelming magic power... This may be related to the fact that he has stripped himself of his Azure Dragon Seed."

In the Five Elements theory of mutual generation, wood can generate fire. According to the theory of the Water Master Xuanwu, this can be interpreted as the Azure Dragon descendant helping the Vermilion Bird descendant in the unseen world.

I did not observe similar traces in my own destiny, which is probably because Meng Zhang stripped himself of his own seed.

While both are in a state of seed detachment, Ying Lingyun seems to still be under my control. I believe this is because a destiny altered by the power seed cannot revert on its own. Ying Lingyun is not the Great Impermanence; he cannot directly access the flow of destiny at the abstract conceptual level. The Lord of Peach Blossom Village, as the Great Impermanence, can directly manipulate cause and effect and destiny. However, just as Ying Lingyun couldn't completely sever his relationship with the White Tiger Seed before the Water Master Xuanwu had digested it, Meng Zhang probably hasn't truly broken free from his relationship with the Azure Dragon Seed either.

The evidence is that he did not lose his magic power—a Yin-Yang successor who completely loses the Seed of Power would lose all the power and talent he gained through transformation.

The Heart Seeds scattered across various locations automatically return to Meng Zhang, the original host, after the death of the monsters who hosted them. This is clear evidence that the relationship still exists. The dream network "Shangri-La," constructed by the Heart Seeds, can be used as a "mana warehouse set up outside the body" by Meng Zhang, probably because of this relationship.

“With such enormous magical resources behind him, he can even make his avatars possess power almost identical to his original body. According to the intelligence I’ve gathered, you previously collaborated with Liu Shuying to infiltrate the main stronghold of Peach Blossom Village, intending to kill his original body, right?” Shui Shi Xuanwu said. “At that time, it was most likely not his original body that was there, but rather an avatar.”

I recalled that battle. In the final moments before being sent into nothingness by the Yellow Springs, I clearly sensed the simultaneous disappearance of Liu Shuying's and Meng Zhang's magical energy fluctuations. Perhaps Meng Zhang was truly dead then, but only his avatar had perished.

"Then it's possible that the Peach Blossom Village Master currently active in this city isn't the real person?" I asked.

“No, that must be the main body.” Shui Shi Xuanwu calmly judged, “In order to become the brain of ‘Shangri-La’ as soon as it is created, he must be personally in the very center of the scene. Only by doing so can he ensure that he can concentrate all his energy on this most important task.”

"Moreover, you can see from those Meng Zhang avatars that he now has to concentrate enough magical resources on the creation of 'Shangri-La' and has no time to create high-quality avatars."

During the conversation, we had already gotten very close to the location of the Peach Blossom Village Master.

An overwhelming beam of light shone from the front.

Several kilometers away, I saw a "sun".

It was a gigantic cyan sphere of light, as large as a mountain peak, suspended high in the sky. Due to its enormous size, it appeared to be very close to the ground at first glance, giving people a breathtaking sense of oppression.

The natural, bluish light, reminiscent of vegetation, illuminated the surrounding cityscape, obscuring its original colors; the world seemed to consist only of varying shades of bluish-green. Upon closer inspection, the extreme brightness rendered the bluish-green almost white. The glaring light was indistinguishable from darkness; normal vision was practically useless, forcing observers to rely primarily on their sensory perception to perceive the scene.

Even relying on spiritual perception, demon hunters below the Great Impermanence level would likely find it impossible to observe the scene normally here, and might even struggle to maintain vital functions. This is because the azure sun constantly erupts with earth-shattering magical fluctuations; ordinary spiritual perception here would only be uniformly and blindingly blued, while the soul might be crushed by the overwhelming waves. Even for myself and the Water Master Xuanwu, this place is hardly comfortable.

This azure sun is clearly an extremely vast aggregate of magical power. If nothing unexpected happens, this is probably the manifestation of the "Shangri-La".

Or rather, it's more like a "Shangri-La" projected onto this world—I can make a clear judgment on this: even attempting to destroy this azure sun is futile. Just as I cannot kill Meng Zhang's avatar, even if I were to disintegrate it here, the azure sun could regenerate and revive in an extremely short time.

To make it irreparable, something akin to a core must be destroyed. This thing became the "centripetal force" that the azure sun condensed into—calling it a "thing" might be inappropriate, because it was actually a human being, a powerful will praying for the successful creation of "Shangri-La".

Shui Shi Xuanwu and I entered a plaza, and in the center of the plaza, directly beneath the blue sun, stood a solitary figure.

Meng Zhang, the lord of Taoyuan Township, gazed up at the blue sun without saying a word, then lowered his head and looked at us with an expressionless gaze.

(End of this chapter)