From the end of the world

Chapter 704 VS Meng Zhang 5
The naval commander Xuanwu is currently being relentlessly harassed by the cyan dragon claw incarnation on the other side of the battlefield. In order to rescue him, I must first help him deal with the cyan dragon claw incarnation.

The opponent is essentially just an aggregate of power; no matter how many times it's broken up, it will reassemble. It can't be killed by direct attack, so the only option is to stall it. I can't simultaneously disperse my power to do that while engaging Meng Zhang; I can only try a roundabout approach. For example, although I can't separate my own power, perhaps I can mobilize the power of the surrounding sea of ​​fire.

I currently have two directions to explore, one simple and one complex. I first tried the simple direction—that is, to burn the cyan dragon claw avatar through the dream network.

The source of that avatar's power is the dream network. Now that my sea of ​​fire has invaded the dream network, it can naturally follow the trail to burn the cyan dragon claw avatar.

However, I soon had to regretfully admit that this approach was unlikely to be effective. This kind of follow-the-leader attack was an indirect attack; while not entirely ineffective, it couldn't compare to a direct attack. The cyan dragon claw avatar quickly realized what I was doing, and the magic power of the dream network concentrated significantly, attempting to stop my flames from spreading in a specific direction.

It's not that I'm truly incapable of overcoming this obstacle; it's possible to destroy the azure dragon claw avatar from a distance, but that would require me to concentrate my main attention in that direction. I can't afford to be that distracted while facing Meng Zhang.

I had initially hoped that my own fire could restrain the dream network. Why? Because wood fuels fire. I think many people unfamiliar with the relationships of the Four Symbols and Five Elements, when asked what fire restrains among metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, would likely answer fire restrains wood. This aligns more closely with most people's intuition.

Even if the correct answer is fire overcomes metal, considering the relationship of wood generating fire, fire-elemental magic should burn even more fiercely when destroying wood-elemental magic—this is just my personal opinion, and the actual situation is quite different. Is it because in the generating and restraining relationships of the Four Symbols and Five Elements, the element that comes first in the sequence has a higher degree of initiative? Wood generates fire, and the burning of fire depends on wood, so it cannot be simply and crudely interpreted as fire overcoming wood? I can only make this conjecture.

Wood doesn't automatically burn. In nature, while forest fires are common, there seem to be fire-resistant tree species with low oil content and high water content. And compared to fallen, dry branches and yellow leaves, lush, moist branches are much harder to burn. Even firewood used in ordinary households requires careful drying; to improve combustion efficiency, the wood is often split and dehydrated beforehand.

"Splitting" and "dehydrating"... these seem to be the tasks that the Water God Xuanwu, possessing both metal and water elemental powers, should perform. Of course, in practice, it's impossible to actually have a large log in front of us to split and dehydrate; it's merely a matter of imagery and concept. Thinking about this, I became even more convinced that the Water God Xuanwu was indeed an indispensable ally in order to defeat Meng Zhang.

“A desperate struggle!” Meng Zhang saw through my little trick.

Perhaps because I completely enraged him, his attitude is now more aggressive than it was at the beginning.

“I thought Xuanming passed on his hopes to you because he found a hidden, selfless brilliance in you. Perhaps it was just hard to perceive in ordinary times, but a deeper conversation would reveal that you are also a person with a spirit of dedication…” Meng Zhang’s gaze was icy. “But now it seems that Xuanming simply doesn’t want me to have my way. Does he really hate my ideals to this extent…”

“Then there’s no need for me to say anything more to you. I’m going to kill you, and then those short-sighted fiends of Luoshan, as well as Shan Liangyi and Liu Shuying—”

His lightning form traced intricate trajectories across the sky, launching increasingly fierce and deadly attacks from unpredictable angles, inflicting repeated blows upon me.

From his tone, I sensed something suspicious. When mentioning the Mountain Two Elements, he specifically singled it out from the list of the Great Impermanence of Mount Luo. I can understand that; he might not know that the Wheel-Turning King is very likely the Mountain Two Elements. Even if he did, placing the Mountain Two Elements among all the Great Impermanence of Mount Luo would be incongruous. But why did he specifically single out the Willow Shadow as well, and even put its name together with the Mountain Two Elements?
"Who is Liu Shuying?" I asked.

"You've been hanging out with Liu Shuying all this time, yet you don't even know anything about that guy?" Meng Zhang sneered.

However, as if in retaliation for my previous words and actions, he then shut his mouth tightly and continued his attack with a resistant silence.

Willow Shadow is a character unrelated to this life-or-death battle. Since I couldn't get more information from Meng Zhang, I could only temporarily set aside my doubts and begin to try a second approach to rescue the Navy's Xuanwu.

The second source of inspiration also comes from those Mengzhang incarnations. The nature of these Mengzhang incarnations is actually somewhat similar to that of the Doomsday Demon. As long as the source, the Paradise or the Gospel of Naraku, isn't destroyed, the Mengzhang incarnations or the Doomsday Demon will continuously reappear. The difference is that the Doomsday Demon possesses an independent soul and is significantly more complete, while the Mengzhang incarnations are merely aggregates of magical power. This unfinished state of the latter allows it to avoid the true death of the true spirit's power, which can be considered a twist of fate.

In terms of completion, compared to the Doomsday Demon and the Gospel of Naraku, the relationship between Meng Zhang's avatar and "Shangri-La" is perhaps closer to that of "Firefly" and me. As an automated device, Meng Zhang's avatar also appears to be operating according to some kind of program, which is not fundamentally different from the preset instructions I implanted in "Firefly".

This idea was like a bolt of lightning in the night sky, illuminating my way in the darkness.

In theory, I could also, like in a "Shangri-La," infuse my "fireflies" with a massive amount of flame, strengthening and transforming them into "Zhuang Cheng's Avatar" capable of automatic combat.

There's no need to draw flames from my own body; I can simply draw energy from the endless sea of ​​fire burning through time and space around me. All I need to focus on is a small portion of my attention, inputting pre-set commands. It doesn't need to be instantaneous; I can spend some time writing the commands in segments. To prevent Meng Zhang from finding a way to counter my attacks later, I must succeed on the very first strike.

This is the first time I've ever created such a complex set of preset instructions. It's not just about putting a few simple preset instructions together; it's a real program. Long ago, after realizing I had the ability to implant preset instructions into "fireflies," I wondered if I could give them flexible and adaptable intelligence. However, limited by my wisdom and inspiration, and lacking reference points, I was never able to get to the formal stage.

Now it's different. Stimulated by Xiao Wan's blessing, I feel my mind is more active than ever before. Endless inspiration flows out like a fountain, and I can even find related information in Xuan Ming's vast experience. I feel like a peerless genius who can play magnificent melodies as soon as he touches the piano. Every preset input command can be echoed, and soon a qualified program with simple construction but practical value is formed.

I entered the last preset command into the program, and immediately afterward, the surrounding sea of ​​fire changed.

Like pulling the plug from a bathtub, spectacular vortexes appeared in three locations within the sea of ​​fire. Countless flames rapidly converged in those three directions, while the overall size of the sea of ​​fire quickly decreased, leaving most areas empty. In the blink of an eye, the three flame vortexes transformed into three orange-red, humanoid monsters, each tens of meters tall.

The three fire monsters roared in unison, and the waning sea of ​​fire spread out once more, ready to return to its raging state.

Time, space, matter, energy... all things in the universe are transformed into fire magic within the sea of ​​fire, providing the three-headed fire monster with inexhaustible power support.

In this process, the already illusory and chaotic spacetime descended into even greater chaos under the burning. The order of spacetime became a complete mess, and many physical laws and causal laws disintegrated amidst the grand burning sounds, becoming an out-of-control zone that was difficult to describe normally in language.

Meng Zhang's expression changed.

These three newly born incarnations are modeled after the image of the Great Demon of Calamity from the past. Although they are a level below in density, they still possess the magical power of the Great Impermanence.

With a thought, the three "Great Demons of Calamity" flashed, traversing the fragmented spacetime, charging towards the Water Master Xuanwu and the azure dragon claw avatar. Meng Zhang, without hesitation, prepared to unleash azure lightning to shatter them. This time, it was my turn to intercept his attack. I anticipated his movement and fired a fire beam cannon. The two attacks collided and exploded in mid-air, and he lost his chance to intercept.

In the blink of an eye, the three "Great Demons of Calamity" arrived at the side of the Water Master Xuanwu, attacking the azure dragon claw avatar under the control of the preset command program. At the same time, a small part of the sea of ​​fire also changed according to the preset command I had entered, transforming into a giant orange-red flame hand, attempting to move the Water Master Xuanwu to my side. The Water Master Xuanwu seemed to understand my intention immediately, offering no resistance.

The azure dragon claw avatar didn't just stand by and watch; it immediately unleashed boundless lightning and moved at a speed far exceeding that of the three "Great Demons of Calamity," rapidly grabbing at the Water Master Xuanwu.

(End of this chapter)