From the end of the world

Chapter 723 Showdown
I waited for Tai Sui's explanation, and he continued: "Most people in the original world and the new world are interconnected. Just like how I was a scientist in the original world and became the god Tai Sui in the new world. Even if you return to the worldview of the past, you will only change your identity and background, and you will not disappear after the reorganization of history."

“Of course I could have thought of that, but unless it’s you and the one who holds the seal, everyone will forget everything from the past after the worldview changes, and only remember their new life,” I said. “Although in your eyes, we may have ‘reverted to our original state,’ in our current view, it’s like being reincarnated.”

"Not everyone can see their past and future selves as another version of themselves. Even if they can, whether they actively choose to be reincarnated is another matter. Isn't that why Yama broke ties with you?"

"You've misunderstood, Zhuang Cheng," Tai Sui said seriously. "First of all, as long as I use the power of the Divine Seal, I can also allow a very small number of people to retain their past life memories after the world restarts. Although this approach could easily bring the poison of 'erroneous human history' to the primitive world, poison is something that depends on the dosage, in addition to its toxicity. As long as the quantity is small enough, and you don't spread related knowledge and technology, it's just a harmless flaw."

"Secondly, you may find it hard to believe that I will keep this promise, but as the Great Impermanence, you can at least rely on your own power to forcibly preserve your life memories."

"I can?" This was something I hadn't expected.

“The power of the Great Impermanence is so great that it can influence the world in turn, so it is not so easy to be swallowed up by the worldview reboot,” Tai Sui said. “Ordinary people and demon hunters certainly cannot resist the world reboot, but if they are at the Great Completion level, they can retain a few vague impressions and transform their talents into a form that adapts to the original world; while if they are the Great Impermanence, they can retain all their memories, and even retain that transcendent soul quality.”

"Of course, since the concept of magic power didn't exist in the primitive world, even powerful souls couldn't directly interfere with reality. The Great Impermanence didn't possess the power it has now in the primitive world… This is one of the reasons why Yama couldn't accept it. Although I only learned this after becoming the Lord of the Divine Seals, he had already foreseen this possibility when he attacked me, and explicitly told me that such a future could not be allowed to occur…"

"But at least, this is the most effective way to save the world while causing the least damage."

His words resonated with my experience, but following this trend, after the world restarts, the existing personalities of the people I know will disappear. Although Zhu Shi and Ma Zao have both become strong enough to use the power of the Great Impermanence, their soul strength hasn't reached the Great Impermanence realm, making it impossible for them to retain their memories. The same goes for the others. They might not even recognize me in the original world; we will become strangers.

We can't expect Tai Sui to kindly fulfill its promises. From Tai Sui's perspective, humans who have returned to the primitive world with distorted memories of human history might be seen as sources of the apocalypse. While the knowledge and technology here probably can't be directly transferred to the primitive world, the core ideas of knowledge and technology born from distorted human history can certainly be reproduced in ways that the primitive world could also express. This is just the form of transmission I can immediately conceive of; the actual number of potential threats is unknown.

Having gained full power, Tai Sui wouldn't need to care about his credibility with me. I even suspect he could forcibly alter my memories, making me believe the agreement didn't exist or had already been fulfilled. Or he could simply kill me and all the other Great Impermanence, thus eliminating any threat of apocalypse in the primordial world.

I can't figure out why he wouldn't do it.

Besides, I never intended to help anyone save the world in the first place.

Suddenly, I noticed something.

“According to you, from the Great Completion stage to the Great Impermanence stage, the degree of preservation of memories and abilities gradually increases after the world restarts… So what about the Mountain Yin-Yang that opens the third door?” I asked.

“If it’s the Mountain Yin-Yang… he can, to a certain extent, continue to use the power accumulated in the past in different worldviews, and even forcibly preserve the memories of a few people other than himself before the world restarts.” Tai Sui’s tone revealed seriousness. “Yes, he can even use magic in a primitive world where the concept of magic does not exist…”

"Won't that have any impact?" I asked.

"Of course it has an impact, and it's very serious. The mere existence of people like Shan Liangyi and Lao Quanshen will affect the completion of the world restart. If the Great Impermanence's Dharma of Heaven and Earth can distort the natural climate of its own land, then the being that pushes open the third gate can even distort the worldview of its own spacetime. Therefore, before the world restarts, it is necessary to completely eliminate it, or thoroughly expel it from this world," Tai Sui said.

"That's why you asked me to help you deal with the Mountain Two Elements through Number Seven..." I said.

"Leaving aside the Old Fist God, the Mountain and Yin are our common enemies. I know the predicament you are facing now. As long as you hand over all the fragments of the Divine Seal to me, I can solve this problem for you," Tai Sui said.

"Is it really enough to subdue the two forces of the mountain with just a dozen or so fragments of divine seals?" I questioned.

"With these fragments of the Divine Seal, I can completely repair the Doomsday Divine Seal," Tai Sui said. "To be precise, once the collection progress of the Doomsday Divine Seal fragments exceeds half, I can forcibly collect the other half. You currently possess eleven, Number Two has three, you gave two to your partner, and I previously recovered two through trade… a total of eighteen. Even if the number of Doomsday Divine Seal fragments reaches the maximum of thirty-five, it will still just be enough to guarantee more than half, which is the main reason I'm communicating with you now."

Just as Zhu Shi and I had previously speculated, the Lord of the Divine Seals did indeed have a method to forcibly collect all the fragments of the Divine Seals at a certain stage, and now he actually told me it directly.

He wanted to win my trust through honesty—and he certainly went to great lengths in that regard.

"Even if fragments of the divine seal fall into the hands of the seal holder, can you still retrieve them?" I asked.

"That won't happen. Just as I can designate seven Void Realm Apostles to strengthen their affinity with the Divine Seal Fragments, I've also set up all the Divine Seal Fragments to keep them as far away as possible from another Divine Seal Authority whose whereabouts are unknown. This is actually somewhat similar to a setting he added to your Great Impermanence," Tai Sui said.

"A certain setting?" I asked.

"The more powerful a Witcher is, the more likely they are to attract monsters. Logically, as the pinnacle of the monster world, the Great Impermanence should attract all the monsters in this world. But the reality is that you naturally repel all monsters. Based on my observation, this should be a deliberate arrangement on his part," Tai Sui said bluntly. "The motive is also easy to guess. If you, the Great Impermanence, were allowed to attract all the monsters in the world, the consequence would be the mass extinction of monsters."

"This can be described as a manual modification of the worldview with pure and overwhelming power. He probably realized this problem when he made the wish and turned it into one of the background settings of the new world."

Unexpectedly, I learned the truth about the phenomenon of the Great Impermanence's disappearance here.

I had always sensed a strange tension between the Great Impermanence and the bizarre world, and now I know why.

"So, what is your answer?" Tai Sui steered the conversation back to the area he cared about most. "As long as you hand over all the fragments of the Divine Seal to me, I can solve all your problems and use the power of the Doomsday Divine Seal to pinpoint the location of the seal holder."

"Since he most likely hasn't retrieved the Divine Seal of the Present World yet, as long as we can confirm his true identity, we can declare victory immediately. At the same time, with the power of the Divine Seal of Doomsday, even under the vast Arctic Ocean, locating the exact coordinates of the Divine Seal of the Present World should be effortless. We can save the world in one fell swoop."

I first took a deep breath, and then said, "Lord of the Divine Seal... no, Tai Sui, it's about time to end this riddle."

Tai Sui paused slightly, then asked, "...What do you mean?"

“Since you have the power to know most of what happens in this world, you should also be very clear about my experiences, what I have said so far, and my true character…” I said, “I must thank you for being willing to tell me so much, but I cannot understand why you do this.”

"Even if it was all to gain my trust, you've gone a bit too far. When you described your students' personalities and aspirations before, I even suspected you were implying something."

"As a way of repaying your honesty, I'll be frank with you here, Tai Sui. I can't believe you'll keep someone like me, a Great Impermanence, after restarting the world, nor can I believe you'll allow people I know to retain their past memories. More importantly, I don't want to save the world, nor am I interested in the primitive world you're pursuing. I don't need to explain the specific reasons further; you understand them better than anyone else."

"Therefore, I will not give you the fragments of the divine seal."

"..."

After hearing these words, Tai Sui fell into a long silence.

(End of this chapter)