From the end of the world

Chapter 728 Re-entering the Afterlife
What Yuchi gave me should be a fragment of a divine seal that Shenzhao had given him in the past.

At this stage, having one more or one less Divine Seal Fragment makes little difference to me, but with the mindset that every little bit helps, I still put it away and casually asked, "Aren't you bound to this Divine Seal Fragment?"

“Binding just one more fragment of the Divine Seal won’t help me defeat the Old Fist God. Moreover, it’s necessary to guard against the possibility that the Lord of the Divine Seals might take away all the fragments I’ve accumulated by using the binding connection. So I didn’t do it rashly,” Yu Chi said.

Taking this opportunity, I also asked Tai Sui, the master of the Divine Seal, what exactly was the method he had given me to defeat the Old Fist God, hoping it might help me in dealing with the Mountain Yin-Yang. He readily told me—because the method was too complicated, he could only explain it in a way I could understand.

Just as Tai Sui said, this method doesn't work for me. For Yu Chi to have a chance against the Old Fist God, he must use a super formation primarily based on the power of divine seal fragments, and he must use more than twenty-one divine seal fragments simultaneously. Even if I lent all my divine seal fragments to Yu Chi, I still wouldn't reach the minimum number. In principle, only Yu Chi himself can use this formation, and it must be based on the premise that Yu Chi still possesses the insane willpower to do anything for revenge.

Only with such powerful "willpower" could Yuchi, with his mere Void Realm Apostle status, squeeze out enough power from the fragments of the Divine Seal. Perhaps this is similar to how, when the Seal Bearer and Tai Sui simultaneously came into contact with the complete Divine Seal, the former was able to defeat the latter through sheer willpower. Divine Seals react more strongly to intense desires.

Unfortunately, after his conversation with the Qilin, Yuchi has lost that extreme willpower. Even if we find other ways to gather the required number of Divine Seal fragments, we can't expect Yuchi to deal with Shan Liangyi. It seems I'll have to do it myself.

What a terrible thought! I actually considered sending someone other than myself to deal with Yama Ryougi. But even as the thought crossed my mind, I briefly considered running away and going into hiding. While turning my back on the approaching danger goes against my adventurous spirit, if I were stripped of all my power, I could never adventure like before again. I couldn't let anyone notice such a pathetic thought.

Incidentally, the wooden box Yuchi gave me doesn't have the function of shielding it from external perception and detection; it's just an ordinary wooden box for now. He seems to have disassembled and studied it himself, and its function was damaged during the research. This makes it inconvenient for me to directly store the wooden box, along with the divine seal fragments, into the flames.

I had no choice but to store the Divine Seal fragments inside the tiny nascent illusory realm—only when performing this operation, the contact between my fire magic and the Divine Seal fragments would not produce a forced binding effect, and the Divine Seal fragments would be prioritized for storage by the tiny nascent illusory realm.

Yu Chi opened the portal, and the massive, twenty-meter-high stone door was filled with an incredibly dazzling white light, reminiscent of the light at the exit of a dark tunnel.

Behind the door lies the afterlife.

Asaha showed a determined expression, indicating that she had made up her mind.

I walked in front, with Mazao close beside me, and Number Seven following behind. The three of us passed through the portal at the same time, our vision filled with a white light that made us want to close our eyes.

Soon, the surrounding white light gradually receded, and a new scene slowly emerged. What appeared before us was no longer the blue sky and white clouds of the real world, but the suffocating dark sky of the afterlife.

All around were the chaotic ruins of a small town, with a cold wind blowing emptily, carrying a light drizzle. Looking back, there was also a huge stone gate, twenty meters high, behind him, but the white light was no longer there.

Not only that, but the door also exuded a strong sense of rejection. Even when it wasn't officially operating, it gave me the impression of a machine in standby mode, but now it was as if it were completely broken down, no longer capable of any function. It seemed that Yuchi had immediately closed the portal completely as instructed by the Divination Master after bringing us here.

The Divination Master also mentioned that we could restart the portal from our side, but he didn't explain how. He only told me about the intricate and complex formations, which I certainly wouldn't understand. Presumably, Fazheng and the others knew about them.

Even reaching this level doesn't guarantee that Shan Liangyi can't re-enter the afterlife. The Great Impermanence, pushing open the third gate, cannot be judged by ordinary standards. All we can do is prepare everything we can.

I recalled the attitude of the divination master when he talked to me about Shan Liangyi. Although he very much hoped that Fazheng and I would destroy the Gospel House in the afterlife, having Shan Liangyi kill me after that might be the best outcome in his mind.

The Old Fist God might be secretly plotting something terrifying—the Divination Master once told me this. Although the details of that terrifying plot are still unknown, neither the Divination Master nor the Abbot Yama of the Gospel Institute seem able to ignore it. Judging from the Divination Master's tone at the time, it might even be something as threatening as a plan to exterminate humanity. And right now, the only one capable of defeating the Old Fist God is Mountain Ryougi, who has also opened the third gate. The Divination Master might hope that Mountain Ryougi, by absorbing my Vermilion Bird Seed, will rise to a level even stronger than when it was defeated by the Old Fist God, and then turn around and eliminate him.

As for the fact that Shan Liangyi is a supporter of the human extermination plan, that's actually the least important part. Unlike us, Shan Liangyi is a Great Impermanence who can freely travel to various parallel and other worlds through reincarnation. The apocalyptic process happening on this planet is not an obstacle he necessarily has to overcome, and the "post-disaster reconstruction" part is even more troublesome. If he were the only one left to carry out this plan, he would most likely choose to give up.

Asaha gazed at the sky of the afterlife, seemingly sensing the chaotic spacetime environment, before revealing an expression that was both nostalgic and deeply resentful.

“I’m back…” she murmured.

"Well, have you remembered anything?" Number Seven asked.

Mazao shook her head and said, "It's too early now, but... it should be soon. As long as we encounter a sufficiently powerful enemy..."

Number Seven earnestly cautioned, "The Gospel House is our enemy, that much is true. But for you, they are also long-lost allies. If you suddenly regain your memories during the battle, you must not hold back."

“I understand,” Asaho said without any confusion. “Didn’t I fight against Evangelismos many times after I betrayed it? If I really regained all my memories, I wouldn’t have reacted so naively.”

"Who knows? You've been naive for a long time," Number Seven said. "Fortunately, Huang Quan has already been killed by Zhuang Cheng. If you had encountered an elder who had mentored and educated you on the battlefield, even the you who was determined to be an enemy of the Gospel Institute in the past might have hesitated."

Hearing this, I became a little worried that Asahi, after regaining all her memories, might have some thoughts about my killing of Yomi. Although the past Asahi's betrayal of Fukuinin meant that she and Yomi were already irreconcilably opposed in their positions, I still couldn't help but have some extra thoughts.

The mystery of why Huang Quan never tried to recruit me into the Gospel Institute in the past has now been solved. It must be because of Shan Liangyi—Huang Quan knew from the beginning that the Wheel-Turning King was Shan Liangyi, and also knew that I, the successor of the Vermilion Bird, had an irreconcilable relationship with Shan Liangyi. Compared to recruiting me, the newly promoted Great Impermanence, continuing to cooperate with Shan Liangyi was obviously the best solution.

Moreover, killing me would strengthen the Vermilion Bird Seed's current power over the Mountain and Yin-Yang, which is a kind of "recruitment" in terms of combat strength. Because the Power Seed, like the Mountain and Yin-Yang, has the characteristic of being able to move freely in different times and spaces, it is probably not bound by the void outside the world. Therefore, Huang Quan could also try to eliminate me through the void without any hesitation.

Looking back, my adventure in the afterlife was truly dangerous, because Yomi could very well have summoned Yama Ryougi. If I had acted in the afterlife, Yama Ryougi wouldn't have needed to worry about attracting the attention of the Old Fist God. However, it wasn't just luck; my strategy at the time included preventing Yomi from calling for reinforcements—especially the part about calling for Enma, the Lord of the Gospel Intendant, which was a lucky accident.

At that moment, some rustling sounds came from the surroundings.

Number Seven's gaze reflexively turned serious, and Asahi also showed a wary expression. I've seen similar qualities in wandering spirits and cartographers before; it's a common reaction among post-apocalyptic survivors. Even after being away from the afterlife for so long, Asahi still seemed to retain a high degree of vigilance towards this chaotic and dangerous environment.

A multitude of bizarre and strange creatures have appeared near us. Some resemble grotesque and twisted monsters of flesh, others are eerie and terrifying ghosts, and still others are unknown entities that defy description… It seems these monsters have all been attracted by the power of the jinx. In the past, even a mere remnant of the jinx's power would cause me to encounter a series of apocalyptic anomalies on my journey here. Now that Asaho herself has arrived, this phenomenon has spiraled out of control.

Just as I was about to clear the area, a somewhat unfamiliar surge of Great Impermanence-level magical power descended upon this land.

(End of this chapter)