From the end of the world

Chapter 711 War is Imminent
The two forces of the mountain will surely strike again soon.

The exact amount of time remaining is still unknown. While it's unlikely he'll attack before I've fully healed, I'm also unsure how much preparation he'll make regarding absorbing the Vermilion Bird Seed. He might suddenly appear before me the next day; my time is running out.

Once the power seed is retrieved, an ordinary Yin-Yang inheritor will simply die. The power seed not only transforms the Yin-Yang inheritor's talents and attributes, but it can even distort and seize their destiny. It is because of this "takes everything" nature that Ying Lingyun was able to use the Xuanwu Seed and the White Tiger Seed to revive the deceased Great Completion stage Naval Master Xuanwu relatively easily.

After ascending to the Great Impermanence, merely having one's power seed taken away might not necessarily mean death; however, the loss of all power and talent is an undeniable future. Although the origin of my innate manifestation nature is unknown, the Mountain Yin-Yang Unity will take away all my talents when it reclaims the power seed, and my innate manifestation nature will likely be no exception. Or rather, if that weren't the case, the Mountain Yin-Yang Unity wouldn't have needed to choose to devour me at its peak.

At this stage, if I want to be an enemy of the two elements of the mountain, there are two paths before me: "seeking externally" and "seeking internally".

"Seeking external help" means seeking external forces and assistance, finding reliable allies to fight against the Mountain Two Elements for me. If I weren't a successor of the Two Elements, I wouldn't be subject to the unconditional suppression of the Mountain Two Elements. However, if I were to take this route, I would essentially have to seek out the Old Fist God. Even without the unconditional suppression, the power of the Mountain Two Elements' third gate would be overwhelming enough. Even if I could gather the combined strength of my three allies—the Divination Master, the Fazheng, and the Sword Immortal—it would still be no match for the Mountain Two Elements.

Even the divination master can't keep track of Old Fist God's current whereabouts. Although Old Fist God seemed to have said before that he would be very happy to challenge him if Shan Liangyi regained all his power and became stronger, he has no choice but to give up if he can't find anyone else.

More importantly, while Shan Liangyi may have recovered all his power, he may not have become stronger. By forcibly simulating the Five Elements cycle using the four attributes of metal, wood, water, and earth, he may only be able to recover to his previous level. To advance further, he may need to reclaim my Vermilion Bird Seed again.

Considering the old Fist God's past crazy behavior, he might kill me instead in order to fight the "more powerful Mountain Ryougi" so that the Vermilion Bird Seed can return to Mountain Ryougi's body as soon as possible.

"Inner cultivation" means making oneself stronger, so strong that one's Vermilion Bird Seed cannot be taken away by Yama Ryougi with a single thought, and even to the point of being able to contend with Yama Ryougi after she opens the third gate...

Can I do it? In such a short time? Push past my limits and open the third door?

Even ancient beings like the Diviner Master and Xuanming, who have lived for countless years, cannot reach this level. Even Fazheng, who possesses a divine weapon of humanity, can only reach this level when all of humanity has been slaughtered to the point of truly facing extinction. Do you think I can just reach it like that?

If this were the only possibility, I would certainly do everything in my power to challenge it. But at the same time, my reason tells me that it's impossible.

While pondering these things, I also told Xiaowan everything I had experienced.

"Has the Yin and Yang of the Mountain finally appeared...?" Xiao Wan also revealed a very troubled feeling.

Zhu Yi, the ancestor of the Zhu family, died at the hands of the other party. For Xiao Wan, who has intricate ties with the Zhu family, the name Shan Liangyi may also have extraordinary significance.

Even with her wisdom, she seemed unable to devise a good solution for the time being. Overwhelming power could suppress all scheming; the duality of mountains and water was truly despairing.

"By the way, Xiaowan, you mentioned Ma Zao before... how is she now?" I asked. "She should have taken the Great Demon God Guiling Pill I sent her before, right? Has she had any adverse reactions?"

Xiao Wan also shifted her attention away from the problem where there was no sign of hope, and replied, "Everything went smoothly. Thanks to Brother Zhuang Cheng, Sister Ma Zao has now fully digested the new Divine Essence Pill. The last trace of soul trauma has also been completely healed."

"Completely digested?" This good news exceeded my expectations. "So fast?"

As Shui Shi Xuanwu once said, with the physical condition of a Great Completion stage cultivator, it would take at least a few days to fully digest the Great Demon God Gui Ling Pill.

It's been less than half a day since I delivered the pills. Even if Ma Zao has the potential to become a Great Impermanence, and might be considered an outstanding individual among those at the Great Completion level, this digestion speed is still excessively fast.

"It's not fast, it's normal speed," Xiao Wan said. "More than a week has passed since Brother Zhuang Cheng delivered the pills."

"More than a week..."

I was stunned for a moment, then it dawned on me. My battle with Meng Zhang had completely disrupted the spacetime in the southern city center, turning the already chaotic and illusory state of spacetime into a complete mess, making the flow of time extremely strange. Only a little over a week had passed; it was practically unremarkable. It was possible to be thrown into the past, or even further into the future, and miss the war with the Gospel House.

From another perspective, it's precisely because doing so might have caused them to miss subsequent events that they only skipped over this much time. It's quite possible that the power of the jinx inadvertently helped in this regard.

Xiao Wan seems to have a lot of information she wants to share with me.

"A lot must have happened during this time, right?" I asked.

“Yes.” The little bowl seemed to be thinking, “Where should I begin…”

I wanted to ask about Ma Zao and Zhu Shi first, but after thinking about it, I decided to ask about the more problematic parts first: "How is Xu Gou doing now? Has he been working for us honestly as agreed? Has he had any conflicts with Fa Zheng?"

“Mr. Xu Gou has already met with Da Wuchang Fazheng. I accompanied him on behalf of Brother Zhuang Cheng. Although the atmosphere between them wasn’t very good, they still managed to reach an agreement on cooperation. Mr. Xu Gou’s attitude has always been very restrained, and he is willing to continue to serve us. It’s just a pity…” Xiao Wan’s voice revealed a sense of regret, “Mr. Xu Gou’s injuries from betraying his contract with the Lord of Taoyuan Township have not yet been healed.”

She then gave me further explanation.

As she diagnosed last time, the contract injury suffered by the Dog (戌狗) originated from "Shangri-La" and was an injury similar to the power of true spirits.

If the power of my true spirit that I used in the past was too weak, and could only selectively manifest the property of "true death", then the direct damage caused by "Shangri-La" can even manifest the property of "damage caused by the power of true spirit cannot be repaired".

Of course, there are exceptions to this "unrepairable" situation. In principle, damage caused by the power of the True Spirit can also be repaired by the power of the True Spirit. The power of the Divine Seal Fragment is the power of the True Spirit, and the Dog is an artificial Great Impermanence sublimated with the Divine Seal Fragment as its core. Its regenerative ability is so special that it seems even the direct damage caused by "Shangri-La" can be repaired.

Moreover, the "Shangri-La" itself has not truly been born, and the "real harm" it caused may still be controversial in terms of its "authenticity"—I don't know how to explain "harm with controversial authenticity" well, I can only say that the situation of the Dog is not so irreparable.

In reality, his repair process is still very slow. After all, in the past, probably only I, the Dog, could manifest the power of the Divine Seal fragments in its original form as True Spirit Power. This process involves first transforming the power into silver-white metal elemental magic power. Perhaps only a portion of the true spirit power's inherent properties remain. Both sides are in a limbo, and it will take time to wear them down.

Fa Zheng also provided a lot of medical support, which may not be completely useless, but it is hard to expect it to be as helpful as a timely gift.

If Xiao Wan had provided treatment, the Dog (戌狗) should have recovered quickly. Therefore, Xiao Wan made many attempts, but unsurprisingly, they were unsuccessful.

The Little Bowl's blessing isn't a power that can be applied equally to everyone. Only those to whom she can offer her wholehearted and devout prayers can enter this realm of benefit. For a long time, she couldn't even bestow her blessing upon herself, let alone someone she wasn't particularly close to. Currently, the only others who can receive the Little Bowl's blessing are myself, Asahi, and Shushi—three people closely connected to her dreams and convictions.

Now I realize that the true spirit that constantly nourishes and heals me, the blessing that always seems to offer help as a matter of course, is not something that is taken for granted—I have come to this realization once again.

"Mr. Dog probably won't have time to participate in the next battle," Xiaowan said regretfully.

“Then let him receive treatment in the rear for now,” I said. “But you mentioned ‘the upcoming battle,’ could it be…”

“That’s right,” Xiao Wan said confidently. “Mr. Yuchi completed the ‘Dushuo Mountain’ teleportation array, and the gate to the afterlife has been fully opened to Luoshan.”

"The Great Impermanence Law, together with Jian Feixian, took the lead in entering the afterlife."

She paused slightly, then added, "Zhu Shi also joined the team."

(End of this chapter)