From the end of the world

Chapter 743 The Power of True Manifestation 2
As a move that Yama Ryougi deliberately charged up before unleashing, the attack just now wasn't simply about increased power. It turned out that it wasn't an attack intended to inflict damage, but rather a move designed to restrict my movements.

Behind Shan Liangyi, the Four Symbols and Five Elements Wheel emitted a silvery-white light from the White Tiger Seed and a deep, dark light from the Black Tortoise Seed. Following the wheel's transformation, the surrounding deep yellow turbid energy rapidly transformed into the silvery-white White Tiger Metal elemental power, and then into the deep, dark Black Tortoise Water elemental power.

Earth generates metal, metal generates water… a power specifically designed to counter fire elemental magic locked me in place, rendering me immobile. At the same time, the Mountain Yin-Yang raised its palm, and extremely powerful Xuanwu water elemental magic gathered in its palm, its intensity equal to the sum of the previous three attacks.

He probably didn't anticipate that I would defeat his third attack head-on, but he was still prepared for his attack to be ineffective. He probably had been secretly accumulating extra mana for this attack.

The immense power of the Xuanwu Water Element transformed into a destructive black wave that surged towards me. The surrounding Xuanwu Water Element forces also converged to attack me, their combined power enough to annihilate me, body and soul. There was no way to dodge, no way to defend; its terrifying destructive power could reach even the true spirit. Based on the understanding of Shan Liangyi regarding the destruction of things at the true spirit level, being hit would inevitably result in either death or severe maiming. Even now, I could not bear such a price.

The two principles of the mountain must have been observed. Although I no longer possess the Vermilion Bird Seed, I still habitually imitate the Vermilion Bird's fire magic, so naturally I am easily restrained by the relationship between the four symbols and the five elements.

However, I must admit that this is, after all, my first time breaking free from the constraints of the Four Symbols and Five Elements system. Suddenly being asked to completely abandon this system and do something solely based on my own independent understanding inevitably feels somewhat unfamiliar. This is extremely detrimental in the battle against the duality of the mountain.

This problem is not entirely insurmountable, and I have many more ways to deal with this one blow.

One method is to transform my fire attribute into earth. The Great Demon of Calamity was originally recognized by the planet's natural will as "one of my future possibilities." Now, even without the blessing of the small bowl, I can perfectly simulate the Great Demon of Calamity's earth-elemental gravity fire, and I no longer need to consider issues like "whether the essence of fire magic will be distorted." Earth can restrain water, so dealing with this situation is effortless.

However, this approach might be a hidden trap. Regardless of the fact that the fire of the solar eclipse is still within the framework of the Four Symbols and Five Elements, taking the Mountain Yin-Yang as the source as an opponent is merely showing off one's limited skills before an expert. Furthermore, the Earth element is the domain of the Yellow Dragon Mountain Yin-Yang, making it even more susceptible to tangible and intangible suppression.

So I decided to use another method.

Since I can now merge into all things, becoming any matter, any energy, any existence, any phenomenon, then I should also be able to try to become something that can merge into the power of others.

Just as the flames of the mortal world cannot harm me, who is made of flames, no force in this world should be able to harm me now.

This is the first time I've tried this method, but my intuition tells me I can do it.

All the force struck my location, and the massive explosion and shockwave completely destroyed the area, even tearing space apart and revealing countless twisted cracks.

But I emerged unscathed. All the destructive phenomena passed through my body like phantoms, or perhaps it should be said the other way around. The Mountain Ryougi's killing move yielded no results whatsoever.

Witnessing this scene, Yama Ryougi's expression became even more distorted, but he didn't seem to be very surprised.

“Okay… I lost my temper just now. I admit, you pushed open the third door, and you even inexplicably attained enlightenment and manifested a divine power…” he said through gritted teeth, “But… how did you achieve that? Did you accomplish the ‘Great Abandonment’… and actually use me to complete a cultivation process comparable in difficulty to the legendary realm of enlightenment!?”

The fact that I, whom he had so far considered nothing more than a weak prey, had achieved the great accomplishment he had long dreamed of seemed to have caused him an extremely strong emotional impact.

But to say whether he has truly achieved a "great renunciation," and whether his actions truly align with the direction the old boxing legend once described...

Even now, I can still say that "giving up the most important thing for a certain goal" is a logically flawed challenge. If one can give up the latter for the former, then the former must be the most important thing. Is this truly the right path? I reserve my opinion. I myself certainly gave up all my strength and old obsessions at one point, even arguably giving up my life, but whether this constitutes a "great abandonment" remains questionable.

I didn't choose to abandon the adventure over my companions. For me, facing this choice, moving forward or retreating would have yielded the same result, and since I had companions on one side, the scales inevitably tipped in that direction. It was precisely because the most important decision-making criterion was caught in a dilemma that other factors became involved in the decision-making process. Ultimately, this was a result of external pressure, and to forcibly define it as my own "great abandonment" would seem rather cunning.

On the other hand, I didn't truly give up my adventures. I merely abandoned the "narrow adventure focused solely on fantasy worlds." I've always known how narrow-minded I was in the past, just as Tai Sui said, I actually know how to let go of my obsessions. I just naively and unintentionally misjudged them. The existence of my companions didn't make me give up the adventure itself, but rather gave me an opportunity to confront myself.

The very conviction that is fundamental to my soul contains the potential for change. Once I achieve this, I naturally break through the old structure.

If I were to say this in my own words, rather than in the words of the old boxing god, it's not some unique achievement, much less a groundbreaking feat. It's something anyone might experience on their path to growth. It's a transformation of the soul that anyone can achieve as long as they are determined and move forward step by step. I've simply finally grown up a bit and ended my long childhood.

Then, I shared my thoughts with Yama Ryougi, the enemy who had propelled me to grow.

"You're just making things complicated!" Shan Liangyi seemed completely unable to understand what I was saying.

He seemed to have reached his limit and struck again.

All the attacks passed through my body again, unable to truly harm me. At the same time, I retaliated, unleashing a torrent of flames towards the mountain's two forms, intending to burn them to death.

The flames gradually detached themselves from the attributes of the Vermilion Bird Fire. Seemingly unchanged, they were actually transforming into a power that did not belong to the Four Symbols and Five Elements system.

Although I am not yet able to independently and skillfully manipulate powers other than the Vermilion Bird's Flame based on my own experience, it doesn't mean I'm truly without a solution. Since my own limited experience is unreliable, I will rely on Xuanming's experience. As a Great Impermanence who also manipulates flames, Xuanming's flames do not follow the Four Symbols and Five Elements system of the Mountain and Yin-Yang principle, which is perfect for my current situation.

If you digest too much of the consciousness of others at once, it will pollute your own personality. The experience of enlightenment is not written knowledge, but direct, abstract insights. In the past, I was wary of its potential pitfalls, which is why I didn't fully digest it in a short time. But now I don't need to care about such "trivial matters." As a manifest being capable of merging with anything and freely changing the structure of my soul, absorbing the experiences of others is merely a piece of cake.

I absorbed all of Xuanming's experience in one go, and the vast amount of insights from the ancient Great Impermanence became my nourishment, allowing me to skip the incredibly long accumulation process as if I were cheating. In just an instant, I transformed from a still-green newcomer to a master like Xuanming, incredibly skilled and experienced in manipulating power.

The brand-new flames struck the two elements of the mountain directly.

However, just like my unscathed state, my flames also passed through Shan Liangyi's body without causing him any harm.

I remember now, this is a skill that Shan Liangyi once displayed. In the past, when I joined forces with Shui Shi Xuanwu and Meng Zhang to attack Shan Liangyi, we were unable to truly harm him. This is the spacetime power he possesses as the Central Yellow Dragon; he appears to be standing in front of me, but in reality, we are on completely different spacetime levels.

In other words, the trump card that Mei-cho obtained from Naraku's Gospel can be reproduced by Yama Ryougi himself. Furthermore, based on my observation, the spacetime barrier between Yama Ryougi and me is far stronger than the barrier that Mei-cho achieved by manipulating the spacetime storm.

Even if a hundred Great Impermanences bombarded the Mountain and Yin-Yang without ceasing day and night, until the Earth was destroyed, they still wouldn't be able to touch even a corner of the Mountain and Yin-Yang's garment.

A large amount of fire magic and the five elements magic clashed fiercely back and forth, but neither I nor Shan Liangyi could actually touch each other's bodies, even though the battle seemed to be going on and on.

Soon, I found an angle to break through the spacetime barrier of the mountain's duality.

Upon closer reflection, such obstacles are actually no match for my current attack.

My flame is myself. Since I can merge with all things, then my power can certainly do the same. Even this seemingly insurmountable barrier of space and time can surely be merged into and penetrated.

I unleashed a flame that resembled a long dragon, while the Mountain Yin and Yang simultaneously unleashed a barrage of magical energy of varying attributes.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth… different elemental powers surged forth, as if he were testing which attribute was more effective against me, and trying to counter my counterattacks with a continuous barrage. But this time, the fiery dragon was just like me, ignoring and penetrating all his magical attacks.

Even the barrier of time and space was pierced through without being noticed, and the fiery dragon headed straight for its target, causing Shan Liangyi's expression to change drastically.

(End of this chapter)