From the end of the world

Chapter 774 The Truth About Compatibility
“The problem raised by Brother Zhuang Cheng should be broken down into two issues,” Xiao Wan said thoughtfully. “The first step is to take the position of Lord of the Doomsday Divine Seal from Tai Sui; the second step is to figure out how to merge the Doomsday Divine Seal and the Real World Divine Seal.”

"Judging from your tone, it seems you already have an idea?" I asked.

“Yes,” Xiao Wan said. “Brother Zhuang Cheng, why do you think your compatibility with the fragment of the divine seal is so poor?”

"Is it because Tai Sui (the Grand Duke Jupiter) did something?" I asked.

“The issue of low compatibility between you and the fragments of the Divine Seal began to manifest when you first encountered them in the basement on the fifteenth floor. However, your encounter with the fragments and your becoming a Void Realm Apostle was an event beyond the Tai Sui's plan; he couldn't have made such an arrangement for you in advance,” Xiao Wan said. “Yet, the case that happened to you is indeed special, unique among all the Void Realm Apostles. Therefore, we must analyze it based on the characteristics you possess that other Void Realm Apostles do not have.”

“I used to wonder if it was because I wasn’t the Void Realm Apostle originally designated by Tai Sui,” I said. “But even after becoming a Void Realm Apostle again, the low-congruity problem still exists within me, so I don’t think that’s the reason…”

After nodding, Xiao Wan said, "I'll just state my conclusion directly. Didn't Tai Sui say before that he used his authority over the palm seal to set up all the fragments of the Doomsday Divine Seal to automatically stay away from the willow tree shadow as much as possible? I think your low phase problem is related to this."

"You mean, because I am too similar to Liu Shuying, I was affected? But there are two flaws in this speculation," I said. "First, Tai Sui knows that the one who holds the seal is Liu Shuying. Although I and Liu Shuying had similar spirits in the past, we were very different in terms of appearance, age, background, and so on. It is unlikely that the target would be Liu Shuying at the same time.

"Secondly, even if it really is a matter of mental similarity that caused the Divine Seal Fragment to mistake me and Liu Shuying together, now that my consciousness has gone down a different path, why would the Divine Seal Fragment still treat me as Liu Shuying?"

Xiao Wan, who was already prepared, said, "This is caused by the 'screening criteria'."

"Filter criteria?" I asked.

“While Tai Sui certainly knew that the one who held the seal was Liu Shuying, he didn’t know it from the beginning. At least when he first became the master of the divine seal, he was unable to pinpoint Liu Shuying. It wasn’t until later, through his almost omniscient ability, that he gradually narrowed down the suspects and finally identified Liu Shuying,” Xiao Wan said. “At the same time, his desire to prevent the other party from collecting the fragments of the Doomsday Divine Seal existed from the very beginning.”

"At that stage, he didn't know the name, appearance, age, background, or other attributes of the seal holder in this world. However, as the master of the divine seal, he had the authority to keep all the fragments of the Doomsday Divine Seal away from specific objects. Therefore, from his perspective, he would definitely input some fairly accurate settings for this 'specific object' based on his understanding of his student."

"For example, the one who holds the seal is originally a young person, unlikely to become middle-aged or elderly in the new world, but might revert to youth and become a teenager. Therefore, their age is most likely between adolescence and youth. Furthermore, they are male, their actual or potential power starts at the Great Impermanence level, and they have an extreme love for adventures on the edge of life and death and the thrill of the unknown..."

"Look, doesn't this narrow it down to a very, very narrow range? Although we don't know what conditions Tai Sui actually listed, with just these few simple conditions, besides Brother Zhuang Cheng and Liu Shuying, there are no other candidates who can meet the criteria, right?"

"I see." I understood. "So I just happen to match the tags for the Tai Sui search term 'Willow Shadow'... But I'm clearly very different from Willow Shadow now, aren't I?"

“That’s in Zhuang Cheng’s own eyes,” Xiao Wan said. “Actually, you still love adventure extremely, it just doesn’t have to be a magical adventure anymore. What difference does it make to an ‘outsider’ like Tai Sui?”

"Many older people still think that animation and comics are only for children. People who like to watch gay-themed content always insist on the roles of top and bottom, and they often argue about it. Within their own circles, these are completely different concepts, and they are ultimately just the preferences of a small group. Outsiders don't have such a clear understanding of the distinction."

"Isn't your example a bit off-topic?" I said.

"Ahem... that must be the pollution brought about by Zhu Shi's spirit." Xiao Wan said in a serious tone, "In short... this is the biggest reason why Tai Sui judged that you could not possess the divine seal."

"Perhaps the screening criteria you set with Tai Sui don't completely overlap in some minor details, but that's enough to cause the current low compatibility problem."

"It's likely that Tai Sui himself has realized that the source of this phenomenon is the selection criteria he set in the past, but he won't change them now. And if his soul cannot be erased from all the fragments of the divine seal, this selection criterion will likely continue to exist."

“I cannot kill Tai Sui at the moment,” I said bluntly. “Tai Sui’s soul is currently distributed across all the fragments of the Divine Seal. To completely kill it, I must first find all the fragments. To do that, I must first possess a Divine Seal, transform into a form similar to Tai Sui, and then use more than half of the fragments to summon the remaining fragments. But the problem is that I cannot achieve the first step…”

“I can take the first step,” Xiao Wan said. “I will use the power of the Son of God to possess the fragments of the Divine Seal, summon all the fragments of the Divine Seal, suppress Tai Sui, and forcibly become the new Lord of the Doomsday Divine Seal.”

I asked in return, "You?" "Yes," Xiao Wan said seriously, "For this, Brother Zhuang Cheng needs to entrust all his divine seal fragments to me so that I can obtain more than half of the seal authority and grasp the prerequisite for suppressing Tai Sui."

"But that's far from enough, because Tai Sui must have a huge first-mover advantage. All the fragments of the divine seal contain his soul components, but currently they are just too scattered to form the density and integration they should have."

She summoned the divine seal fragment bound to her, looked at it deeply, and continued, "That's why we can currently prevent him from eavesdropping through the barrier formed by the power of the divine seal fragment, but this weakened state will also be lifted as the divine seal fragment gathers... No matter how much it conflicts with the current worldview, no matter how bad he is at using magic, Tai Sui once had the identity of the Great Impermanence of the Gospel Academy, so we can't be careless."

"In contrast, I not only lack the strength of my soul, but I am also inherently unsuitable for conflict and combat. At that time, I will need Brother Zhuang Cheng to integrate his power into the gathered fragments of the divine seal to strengthen my soul and help me overcome the Tai Sui."

After thinking for a moment, I said, "Although I really want to grant your request... my power cannot be integrated into creations related to the power of the true spirit."

“You can do it, Brother Zhuang Cheng,” Xiao Wan said. “Others may not be able to, but the Divine Seal Fragments are different. The process of us Void Realm Apostles entering the Void Realm is itself a process of entering the network constructed by the power of the Divine Seal Fragments with our own spirit. Since your power is your spirit, there is no reason why you should be rejected by the true spirit power of the Divine Seal Fragments.”

"Even with the 'screening criteria' of Tai Sui, it is impossible to completely prevent you, who also has the authority to hold the seal, from independently accessing the divine seal fragments, using the power of the divine seal fragments, and integrating your own power into the divine seal fragments."

"—At the same time, this is also the biggest reason why Tai Sui believes you can merge the Doomsday Divine Seal and the Present World Divine Seal."

Upon hearing this, I took out the divine seal fragment bound to me and gave it a try. Sure enough, Xiao Wan was right; my power could indeed enter it. Although I couldn't land and possess the divine seal fragment, I could move freely inside.

I can also sense the invisible connection between my own divine seal fragment and other divine seal fragments around me. By fully utilizing my manifest power, I can use this connection to transmit the flames to the other divine seal fragments.

Incidentally, within these fragments of divine seals, there is a faint sense of something foreign... that might be the soul components of Tai Sui in standby mode.

However, this soul component is so tightly bound to the fragment of the divine seal that it can essentially be considered an integral part of the fragment. Without the power to truly destroy the fragment of the divine seal, it is impossible to erase its soul component.

Fortunately, if the goal is not to destroy this soul component, but to strengthen Xiaowan's soul and help her further push Tai Sui out of its position, then it should still be feasible.

I thought about what Xiaowan had said at the end, and then asked, "Why do you also think I can merge the Doomsday God Seal and the Present World God Seal?"

“First, I hope Brother Zhuang Cheng will do a test…” Xiao Wan said, “Can you transform the fragments of the Divine Seal into your own flame?”

"—What?" I was quite surprised.

Can the fragments of the divine seal be transformed into one's own flame?

I wouldn't even dare to think about something like this, let alone do it... Why does Xiaowan think I can do it?
However, this test is just a simple step. Since she said so, I gave it a try.

Unexpectedly... right before my eyes, the fragment of the divine seal bound to me disintegrated on the spot, turning into a small flame.

I tried slapping it onto myself, and the flame entered it without any problem. Then I summoned it again, and it reformed into the shape of a black jade stone.

Suddenly, I recalled some past events. It seemed that this wasn't the first time I'd done something so bizarre.

Before the first Void Realm Conference convened by Tai Sui, the Lord of the Divine Seal, the Divine Seal Fragments, though bound to each Void Realm Apostle, were not hidden within our consciousness. They simply appeared silently beside us after a period of time whenever we moved to a distant location. And whenever I used the "Flame Teleportation" skill, the Divine Seal Fragments would also transform into flames and move with me to a distant location.

(End of this chapter)