From the end of the world

Chapter 761 Drifting and Return

"Who was having a friendly conversation with you?" Tai Sui said coldly. "It was my fault for teaching such a wicked disciple as you. One day, this world will return to its original state, and I will receive my due punishment. You will also suffer divine retribution and never be reincarnated."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuying simply smiled, seemingly unconcerned, and then said, "You want to save the world with your own hands... You can't do it, teacher."

"You clearly understand this very well. To save this world, we must use the complete Divine Seal. We must combine the present-day Divine Seal that the Old Fist God currently possesses with the Doomsday Divine Seal, which is still in a broken state."

"However, the most you can do is 'repair the Doomsday Divine Seal.' Because you only have the authority over the Doomsday Divine Seal, while the authority over the Present World Divine Seal is in my hands."

"Even if you kill me, you will not be able to obtain the authority of the Divine Seal of the Present World; but if I kill you, I can inherit the authority of the Divine Seal of the Apocalypse. Do you know why? Because in the end, the one who truly uses the complete Divine Seal to make a wish is me. You just happened to touch the Divine Seal when I made my wish, and that's how you accidentally obtained a part of the authority."

"Only I, the one who made the wish... the 'true master of the divine seal,' have the qualification to merge and repair the divine seal."

"Only I can bring 'tomorrow' to this world."

Tai Sui remained silent, his gaze fixed coldly on the shadows of the willow tree.

After he finished speaking, he stopped and turned away, as if he was about to leave.

At that moment, I recalled something from the past and asked a question: "Willow Shadow, five years ago... was it you who asked me if I wanted power?"

Liu Shuying looked at me with a puzzled expression, then thought about it seriously for a moment and said, "Although I don't know what you're talking about... it might just be me."

Five years ago, on the eve of awakening my superpowers, I had a dream. In the dream, a strange person asked me if I wanted power—power commensurate with the adventures I envisioned.

The figure, seemingly from a fantasy, gradually merged with the silhouette of the willow tree.

Perhaps, at the same moment I was sound asleep in my youth, Tai Sui and Liu Shuying, who had found the ancient ruins aboard an Arctic research vessel, were engaged in a fierce battle over the divine seal.

The moment Liu Shuying successfully made his wish to the divine seal, his spirit swept across the world, reshaping it, and the aftershocks may have even entered my dreams.

When I woke up the next day, I didn't even realize that the world order had changed.

Willow Shadow's wish is based on the premise that the surface history of the modern world remains unchanged, while implanting another contradictory magical history, transforming the old world into a new world with a dark side filled with magical elements. Perhaps some people in the new world who also belong to the realm of common sense, because their original interpersonal relationships do not include anyone from the magical history of the new world, will have their memories transferred intact to the new world without changing along with the world's transformation.

I might be one of them.

People like Zhu Shi and Chang An, who were born into a magical history in the new world, may have come from ordinary families in the old world. After the world changed, their consciousness was also updated in a sweeping way.

For these people, the new world is their true home, while their old selves are complete strangers. And those I know are precisely the ones I know now. Although it may sound unfair, I would not sacrifice my friends in the new world to resurrect strangers from the old world.

After speaking, Liu Shuying's avatar disintegrated, turning into countless gray mists that vanished into nothingness.

Tai Sui continued to gaze at the spot where the willow's shadow had disappeared, his cold and stern face gradually relaxing, and his demeanor becoming listless and dejected.

Then, he took a deep breath, looked at me again, and said, "Zhuang Cheng, I know you still want to save 'the world as it is now,' and I truly understand how you feel..."

"So I won't rush you anymore. Now you should go back to the real world, have a good talk with the Number Two you're hoping for, and see the world for yourself again."

"Think and try repeatedly, and you will eventually come to the same conclusion as me—this world is beyond saving. If you continue to stubbornly cling to the past, all the people you care about will vanish in the future."

Words of this magnitude could not sway my heart. Just as I was about to speak again, to ask the new question that had just surfaced in my mind, the gray mist surrounding me rapidly thinned, and even Tai Sui's distraught figure, like the willow shadow from before, vanished into countless wisps of gray mist. All the gray mist disappeared, and the illusory realm vanished along with it, leaving only a dark "scene" around me. I returned to nothingness once more.

It seems I'll have to ask later, but even if I do ask, Tai Sui probably won't answer me.

The problem I'm facing is simple. Based on Liu Shuying's statement, since Tai Sui only has the authority to control the Doomsday Divine Seal, even if he transfers it entirely to me, I can only do the same thing as him—at most, completely repair the Doomsday Divine Seal. If I can't merge and repair the Doomsday Divine Seal and the Reality Divine Seal, I can't use the complete divine seal to save the world.

However, judging from what Tai Sui said before Liu Shuying appeared, it seemed that as long as I obtained the Doomsday Divine Seal, I could naturally merge it with the Current World Divine Seal. He also didn't seem unaware of the flaws in his Doomsday Divine Seal's authority; there seemed to be some crucial unknown information involved.

If things have come to the point where they have to transfer all their authority over the seal, is there any information that Tai Sui still needs to hide?
I suspect that he intended to make a final explanation when transferring the power of seal, but I firmly rejected him first, so he had no reason to explain to me for the time being, and it was even possible that revealing it too early would be detrimental to his purpose.

As I pondered, I moved back toward the real world.

Old Fist God will likely become my enemy. Aside from Willow Shadow, Tai Sui, and Mountain Two Elements, I must now keep him in mind as a potential foe. Perhaps the moment my magical energy fluctuations appear in the real world, he will come after me just as he did when he hunted down Willow Shadow.

Information related to him flashed through my mind one after another, one of which was noteworthy: "Old Fist God's special ability".

This is information that Yuchi once shared with me. To be precise, even Yuchi himself didn't receive firsthand information; he heard it from his deceased wife, Qilin, a long time ago. It is said that the Old Fist God's special abilities only manifested after he became the most powerful Wuchang in Luoshan, because at that time he was already invincible, and no challenger was strong enough to force out his special abilities.

That being said, the reason why the Old Fist God's special ability is so mysterious is not simply because the challengers are not strong enough, but because he consciously conceals it. Even Qilin, his disciple and adopted daughter, only knows that "the Old Fist God possesses some kind of special ability," but has not been able to find out what that power is.

In my memory, the Old Fist God has always been open and honest. Even if he possessed a "special ability that would be detrimental to him if others knew its details," he wouldn't deliberately hide it. That kind of "first-meet kill ability" that relies on information asymmetry to unleash its full power is nothing more than a trick that will die once exposed. Hiding it in secret only reveals the person's fear of defeat, and it's hard to imagine that someone like the Old Fist God, who seeks to be undefeated, would do such a thing.

Furthermore, let alone at the level of the Third Gate, even at the level of Great Impermanence, "special abilities" don't have much strategic value, unless they are transcendent powers brought about by legendary realms, like my "manifestation" or the "reincarnation" of the Mountain Yin-Yang. But I've never heard of the Old Fist God ever attaining any legendary realm.

I could only keep this strange event in mind for now and investigate it later. With that thought, I recreated "time" in the void, and then used this free time to gradually increase the strength of my soul.

Time slips away second by second. Although I claim to have created time, in the void there is no sunrise or sunset, nor are there any timekeeping devices like watches or clocks. Being solely immersed in optimizing my soul's structure makes it even harder to perceive the precise passage of time. Therefore, I don't know exactly how much time has passed.

It just feels like a long time has passed—maybe days, maybe weeks… perhaps even months? No, months is too long. In short, this vague period of time has passed, and the optimization and iteration of the soul structure has become extremely difficult, reaching a bottleneck. After that, even spending ten or a hundred times more time wouldn't yield any significant progress.

For an ordinary person, spending so much time in such an empty space would be unimaginable; I wonder what their mental state would become. I haven't reached my limit yet, but a feeling of utter boredom has already filled me. I'm someone who craves excitement, and this kind of truly empty place is probably the least suitable for me. I can't wait to return to the real world.

The distance between the real world and myself seems to have never shrunk by an inch, but discussing the concept of "distance" in the void is meaningless. I've experienced a similar situation before when I entered the "apocalyptic era" through the void. I was able to overcome the difficulties last time, so I shouldn't be unable to bear it this time.

I don't know how much time passed, but at some point, I felt a strange gravitational force pull my body in.

The darkness from all sides seemed to transform into a whirlpool, engulfing me. This was a sign of escaping the realm of nothingness, and my spirits immediately soared.

The current grew stronger and stronger, and soon I was thrown out of the "water." Then, I felt my body being thrown onto some uneven, hard ground.

Finally, I returned to the normal world.

I first lay on the ground with my eyes closed for a few seconds, pressing my cheek against the cold, rough ground, savoring the gravity of the real world that I hadn't felt in so long, before slowly getting up.

The surroundings were completely dark, but unlike the absolute darkness of nothingness, moonlight shone down from above. Thanks to my superhuman night vision and perception, I could clearly see the scene around me.

(End of this chapter)