From the end of the world

Chapter 741-Awakening
After losing the Vermilion Bird Seed, I also lost the power to manipulate flames. The sea of ​​fire that filled the battlefield also weakened and extinguished, and the flames quickly receded around us.

My body automatically reverted to Corona Mode. An unprecedented weakness overwhelmed me from the inside out. Previously, I was a powerful being capable of destroying the world, but now I felt as weak as a mortal. This sense of loss even made me feel as if my very existence was about to disappear.

Strangely enough, I actually felt a sense of nostalgia in it. A long time ago... or maybe not that long ago, just five years ago. Back then, I wasn't a superpowered fire-manipulating individual, much less some kind of powerful being. I was just an ordinary middle school student.

I love unsolved mysteries in magazines and books, enjoy studying the occult, and yearn for the magic and superpowers in fantasy stories. I dream of incredible adventures that transcend my own life and am fascinated by the fantastical supernatural powers depicted in comics. So I imitate all sorts of haphazard methods of spiritual practice, carry various feng shui and metaphysical props with me every day, and often bring candles to school, staring at the wick from time to time, thinking I can light the candles with the power of willpower.

While I was engrossed in my fantasies, had I already realized that magic, superpowers, and bizarre, inexplicable events simply don't exist in this world? One cannot truly obtain supernatural powers through flimsy, metaphysical methods of cultivation. The grand adventures depicted in fantasy stories are merely fabrications created by people who find real life boring.

However, I don't need to be too disappointed by this. Even if the fantastical supernatural powers don't actually exist, and even if urban legends and ancient tales are all fictional creations, "incredible adventures" still exist in this world.

Forests and oceans teeming with countless unknown dangers, societies interwoven with countless interests and calculations, and scientific research fields that are gradually driving global civilizational change... I have always lived in a world full of variables, with countless adventures that have surpassed my superficial understanding.

To assume that the whole world is just as boring as my own life simply because I am bored is incredibly naive and narrow-minded. Back then, I was just a middle school student sitting in a classroom, passing my days in a dull and monotonous way, but in the future, I might very well be able to travel to those magnificent places through my own efforts.

So, it's time for me to grow up. Let go of those unrealistic fantasies, put my childhood away in a box and keep it in my heart, and move steadily towards the future.

This doesn't mean surrendering to reality, much less giving up on my dreams. The "incredible adventures" I so passionately pursue, those that transcend my own experience and life, are already everywhere in this world. Letting go of that fantastical, fairytale-like world makes me incredibly sad and heartbroken, but as long as I take that step, a far more expansive and wonderful world awaits me in the future than anything I've ever been obsessed with in my childhood.

I could strive to become a courageous war correspondent, a skilled explorer, or even a mercenary who lives on the edge of a knife, or a ruthless criminal—these would all be viable paths. And although I lack the talent for those things, perhaps I could try to become a scientist, or an elite figure seeking a place in the political and business spheres.

Although it may sound like a child's naive daydreams about an infinite future, I am still young. As long as I act with an indomitable will, anything is possible. Even if I fail along these paths, even if I fall and get badly bruised and battered, it is still my own choice. The important thing is that until the very last moment, I will not regret the life I have chosen.

I actually understood this principle when I was fourteen, however...

I had a dream.

Now, having made my own decision and stood before the Mountain of Two Elements by my own will, and watching helplessly as the power indispensable for embarking on the journey in the magical world vanished from me, I felt both immensely lost and yet also felt that I had finally been freed from something.

It's like having a very long dream, and now I've finally woken up.

Faced with Shan Liangyi's questioning, I simply responded according to my own feelings.

“I really…wasted a long time,” I said.

"Nonsense!" Shan Liangyi sneered. The deep yellow magical wall blocking my way suddenly expanded and exploded, sending me flying far away.

I made a decision that amounted to giving up all my power and past obsessions, and I actually paid the price, feeling that my mind had changed. Perhaps my actions met the criteria of the "great renunciation" that the old boxing master once spoke of, achieving the conditions for breaking through my limits.

But reality is cruel. Regardless of whether it meets the requirements or breaks through the limitations, if even the foundation of strength is lost, how can one go further?

I made this decision based on my understanding of all of this. Now I no longer have the power to manipulate fire, but my body and soul have not reverted to the flesh and blood of an ordinary mortal; they remain a body formed from fire elements.

It is obvious that with the Vermilion Bird Seed, which serves as the core, gone, the flames that make up my body will also lose their control. Not only will I be unable to control my limbs, but even maintaining my life will be an insurmountable challenge. For other Great Impermanence-level Yin-Yang inheritors, losing the power seed might just mean losing power, but for me, a "fire elemental life form," it is a death sentence.

I hadn't entirely been unaware of this development. And even if I were to revert to a normal flesh and blood body, the consequences would likely be similar. In any case, since I've reverted to a mortal form on the battlefield of the Great Impermanence, I can't expect to continue living.

Bearing the impact, the fire elemental's already precarious body shattered into pieces, exploding like fireworks as it flew backward. When I killed Mingzhuo before, I mentioned that it might be my turn in the future. I never imagined my words would come true so quickly.

I saw Ma Zao's desperate expression in the distance, and I also saw Zhu Shi trying to come here to help, but being held firmly in place by the gravity of the mountain's two forces.

Being able to break free from my narrow-minded delusions of adventure in the strange world at the very last moment of my life felt like my soul had swum from a small water tank into the ocean, experiencing an unprecedented sense of relief. Even the enlightenment I felt in the basement on the fifteenth floor couldn't compare to this moment. Saying "If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening" might be an overstatement of my feelings, but at least I have no regrets about my life.

Although I don't regret it, there are still some regrets.

I don't want Ma Zao... I don't want my beloved girl to fall into despair, and I especially don't want her and Zhu Shi to be killed by Shan Liangyi in the future.

I still want to fight to protect the people who are important to me. Even if I only have a tiny bit of strength left, I want to do something, to change something. It doesn't matter if I die right after that; this is my last wish.

I tried desperately to summon new flames, and then I noticed something very strange.

Logically speaking, I should have lost all my power, and even my innate ability to manifest should have been taken away by the Mountain Yin and Yang along with the transfer of the Vermilion Bird Seed. Now, both my body and soul are in a state of complete destruction. Due to the inertia of my thinking, I didn't realize anything was wrong at first, but only now have I belatedly become aware of the abnormality.

Why am I not dead yet?
A second anomaly followed.

As I cried out desperately, flames burst forth from the void.

(End of this chapter)