From the end of the world

Chapter 781 Beyond the Paradox
Xiaowan and I were making our final preparations for the battle very seriously.

Although she's become more affectionate and clingy, Xiaowan transforms into a serious and composed person when it comes to operations. We sat down at the table in the room, and she sat upright opposite me, rationally discussing the pros and cons of the plan, even taking out paper and pen to draw diagrams to aid our understanding. Seeing her suddenly become so calm, I felt a little anxious.

She looked at me, suddenly put down her pen, and then came over to me, hugging me face to face.

"Let's discuss it this way," she said with a smile.

I felt as if she could see right through me, and at the same time, I felt her soft, delicate, and fragrant body as we continued to exchange the remaining opinions.

Since my unconscious desires might be indirectly fulfilled during the planned phase where Ma uses the power of resurrection to save the world, this deviation must be taken into account. Rather than letting it manifest randomly, it's better to plan in advance what form it should take.

Furthermore, the power of the third gate can even distort the most basic logic, which actually exceeds the limits of human wisdom in predicting and planning. Therefore, Xiaowan cannot say which of his opinions are reliable regarding the upcoming battles with Shan Liangyi and the Old Fist God.

However, the formidable enemies I will face later still retain some human consciousness, and with me, the actual third gatekeeper, present, there is still some room for discussion. In fact, I had already demonstrated abilities beyond Xiaowan's predictions, and that incident seemed to have served as a wake-up call for her.

"Brother Zhuang Cheng, I know that with the power of the Third Gate, we can do things that are beyond reason... But if you use it to the maximum extent, how much 'irrationality' can you create in one go?" Xiao Wan asked curiously.

"Well... I don't know how to express it. Ultimately, there are differences in strength and direction between my power and that of Shan Liangyi and the Old Fist God, so I can't say for sure..." After thinking for a while, I said, "I'll just demonstrate what I can do right now."

"The scene?" Xiao Wan blinked. "Right here?"

"Don't worry, it won't cause any damage, probably," I said. "It's not a large scale either; it can be displayed in this room."

I first put the small bowl down, then stood up, took two steps back, and then stretched out my palm, palm facing up.

Then, a stone appeared above my palm. Gravity caught it, and it fell downwards—

What happened next is difficult for me to describe in human language.

Existing human language and logic cannot convey the scene here to those who haven't seen it firsthand. Of course, it's possible to state the conclusion, but there's no way to describe it in a vivid, visual way.

Simply put, I created a stone that I couldn't lift, then lifted it up, and it was still a stone that I couldn't lift.

It seems a philosopher once said that the boundaries of language are the boundaries of thought. Since I can't find any possibility in language to describe what I've actively done, then I shouldn't be able to actively bring about this outcome through my own will. Perhaps it's because, although I'm still following human thought, I've essentially touched upon some transcendent realm; there are some things I can do simply through feeling and instinct.

On the other hand, because this was indeed beyond my current level of thinking, I could only maintain this state for a short while before I had to exit it, and the stone disappeared.

The next moment, the surrounding scene began to blur like a mosaic—

The world cannot withstand what just happened; the collapse of mathematical logic has occurred in reality, and "doomsday" is about to unfold.

The universe has a self-healing capacity; it certainly won't be destroyed so easily. Even if a world-ending event is brought about by a flawed human history, it would only annihilate the entire area where this planet is located. What I just did will only bring about a "miniature world-ending event," ultimately resulting in nothing more than the annihilation of this area.

I didn't really intend to cause any major destruction. After all, it was my own doing, and I could clean up the mess myself. As the power of return swept through, the blurred scene around me instantly returned to normal. In the end, nothing had happened.

"That's pretty much it," I said.

Xiao Wan stared blankly for a long while before saying, "...What did I just see? Brother Zhuang Cheng lifted up the stone that hadn't been lifted...No, that's not quite right...I clearly observed it, but I can't remember it clearly..."

To see such an expression on her face, a childish sense of accomplishment welled up inside me.

“It’s normal not to remember. Because it’s an event beyond the boundaries of language and thought, it’s impossible to accurately imagine or recall it,” I said. “If my omnipotence were further enhanced, I could probably do even better. For example, I could create a stone that I couldn’t lift, yet also lift it, and make it describable in human language without violating mathematical logic or invoking apocalyptic phenomena…”

"However, that's beyond what the power of the third gate can achieve; it's likely the domain of the divine seal."

"Divine Seal..." Xiao Wan was stunned for two seconds before she reacted, "Brother Zhuang Cheng, you just mentioned Divine Seal? Divine Seal can actually grant contradictory wishes without causing the end of the world, right?"

I took out the fragment of the divine seal that was bound to me, glanced at it, and said, "Theoretically, it should be possible. But in reality, it's not, so Tai Sui wasn't lying to us." Tai Sui had said this to all the Void Realm Apostles at the first Void Realm Conference: if the Void Realm Apostles helped him repair the complete divine seal, the one who made the greatest contribution could ask him to grant one wish, but not "to create a stone that one cannot lift and lift it at the same time."

Even I can fulfill that kind of wish now, so there's no reason why the Divine Seal couldn't.

Therefore, that limit does not belong to the Divine Seal, but to the Lord of the Divine Seal, Tai Sui.

The divine seal is a magical artifact that can listen to the wishes in the heart of the person making the wish and fulfill them completely. If even the person making the wish cannot understand it, then naturally they cannot ask the divine seal to fulfill it.

No matter how omnipotent, a divine seal is merely a tool, and can only ever be a tool. If it can subjectively interpret and complete wishes that even the wisher themselves are unaware of, it means it might distort the wisher's desire and grant it. That would be no different from the evil genies in certain fables.

“The Divine Seal is a genuine divine artifact, containing true ‘divine power,’ capable of granting any wish. Therefore, only a true ‘god’ can fully wield it,” I said. “For humanity, the Divine Seal is still too early to be considered.”

"It's like granting developer permissions to someone who doesn't understand phones. Not only will it fail to function properly, but it might also render the phone's system unusable..." Xiao Wan pondered. "Having absolute freedom might actually destroy oneself..."

Then she asked, "Even Brother Zhuang Cheng, Shan Liangyi, and the Old Fist God can't do it?"

"No, I'm still far from the realm of the Divine Seal," I said. "What I just did, Mountain Yin-Yang and Old Fist God should also be able to do. Even if they can't, it's just a difference in direction; they can do other things to a similar degree."

"However, I possess both the power of the Third Gate and the power of manifestation. Even within the realm of the Third Gate, I should be capable of the most. Excluding the aspects related to the power of true spirit, there are things that even I cannot do, and neither of them can do either."

Speaking of the power of the true spirit, I am reminded of the legendary Great True Spirit.

I can only observe a small part of the realm where the Divine Seal resides, but the Great True Spirit is something that completely surpasses the limits of my cognition.

If the divine seal possesses such high omnipotence, how high must the omnipotence of the Great True Spirit be?

I wonder how many more doors I'll have to push open before I can even catch a glimpse of the Great True Spirit?
"Just as you can be considered my servant now, we, the beings who came into existence because of the history brought about by the Divine Seal, can perhaps also be regarded as servants of the Divine Seal. I am increasingly feeling that our worldview is really absurd. The fact that multiple Third Gates of Impermanence can appear may also be due to the power of the Divine Seal," I said. "And Shan Liangyi is the only exception; he must be a character who traveled from another world."

“He is different from me, the Old Fist God, and Liu Shuying. He may be the only true expert who pushed open the third door with his own abilities.”

Xiao Wan said seriously, "Then, if he has a very outstanding understanding of the third gate..."

"Don't worry about that. The outcome of battles between the experts of the Third Gate is even less unpredictable than that of the Great Impermanence," I said.

At the level of the second gate, Great Impermanence, there are still factors such as attribute restraint, Naraku's immortality, and home-field advantage that can affect the outcome of the battle. However, at the third gate, the strength of pure power is even more important than at the second gate, and factors such as skills, talents, and special abilities have even less room to intervene.

When I first pushed open the third door, I was attacked by Yama Ryougi's elemental counter moves because of my bad habits from the second door. But I didn't actually suffer from the elemental counter at all. After getting used to the state of the third door, the negative effects disappeared.

My innate spiritual talent, which I greatly benefited from during the Great Impermanence period of the Second Gate, was completely useless in helping Shan Liangyi during his battle with the Old Fist God. Even if you added the Naraku Immortal Body, which was used as a signature weapon by Ming Zhuo, to Shan Liangyi's death, he would still die when the time came.

Both are highly capable and omnipotent, even capable of overcoming the so-called "omnipotence paradox." One side may be more omnipotent, but neither will gain any advantage from it.

So I'm very curious about what the old Fist God's special ability is that forced the Mountain Two Elements to flee in panic.

I looked beyond the thousands of mountains and rivers, towards the direction where the two polarities of the mountains reside.

“Well then, I’m off,” I said.

Xiao Wan walked up to me, pressed her forehead against my body, made a gesture of devout prayer, and said with heartfelt sincerity, "Brother Zhuang Cheng, I wish you a triumphant return."

I nodded vigorously, turned around, took a step into the distance, and left the hiding place of the fortune teller.

(End of this chapter)