From the end of the world

Chapter 782 VS Mountain Ryougi 1
Looking up at the sky, it was still pitch black in the early hours of the morning.

Try to sense the situation at the small bowl. Because the small bowl, which is equivalent to a familiar, is a much stronger signal source than the "firefly" and the heat energy signal, this time I was able to clearly grasp the state of the small bowl, and even the divination master's hidden barrier could not conceal it.

Then I will face the formidable enemy, the Mountain of Two Elements, who has long occupied my heart. It feels like the end of a long journey, a sense of impending conclusion. Although the final battle is approaching, my mind is becoming increasingly calm.

After leaving the hiding place, I first went to places I had been to in the past. The grove where I first learned that Zhu Shi was a demon hunter, the unfinished building that I had split in two, the old outpost of the Humanitarian Division where I met the girl Lu Chan and killed Chen Long and the Divine Spear, the city I passed through when I was wandering with Ma Zao, and the Moon Hidden Mountain City where I finally became the Great Impermanence...

Countless nostalgic scenes kept flashing through my mind.

I savored the emotions within me, like a volcano gathering strength, and then turned and headed towards the location of the two elements of the mountain.

The voice of Tai Sui echoed in my mind.

"Zhuang Cheng, you and Number Two have conspired in some kind of scheme, haven't you?" he said calmly. "But you should already know from Number Two why you can't become the Lord of the Doomsday Seal without my permission..."

"At the same time, even if you do have some plans that I can't predict, in the end you can only reset the world to how it was before."

"..." I did not give any feedback.

No matter how much Tai Sui said in my ear afterward, I ignored it all.

Over a long timescale, Xiaowan's "end of the age of gods" plan is actually the same as Tai Sui's wish: to bring back the worldview of the past.

Therefore, Tai Sui's view is not wrong. No matter how much we struggle, the end-of-the-world problem can only be solved by changing the world.

The only difference is that Tai Sui aims to replace everything in one go, while Xiao Wan replaces it gradually. It's like the difference between butchering and surgery, both involving cutting flesh with a blade. If the world is a ship, Tai Sui wants to directly replace the rotten and broken ship with a brand new one, while Xiao Wan intends to build a Ship of Theseus.

Whether the Ship of Theseus before and after is a matter of opinion. I tend to think it isn't, so I can accept it. Especially in the future depicted by Little Bowl, the generation that inherits the devastating history of humanity doesn't need to have their memories and personalities erased or be forced to regress. Instead, they can carry their accumulated sense of self through life.

Future generations will not need to inherit the negative legacy of a devastating history of humankind, and can move forward unburdened to face tomorrow.

Although I always say that it is unacceptable to turn everything we have accumulated into "something that never happened," I must also admit that once a person dies, no matter how many precious things they have accumulated in their lifetime, they will eventually turn into nothingness.

That's why people pursue inheritance, but I'm not particularly attached to that concept. It's certainly wonderful to inherit things from the past, but if you can't, you can still walk your own path with your head held high.

The key point isn't whether one will die or whether one can pass on their legacy, but whether one can die without regrets. I despise giving up halfway, turning back, and going back on the wrong path, so I at least hope that the world I live in won't end up like that, and I hope that people can at least take with them everything they've accumulated to this day when they die.

No one has ever asked me to do this, which is obviously self-centered and self-satisfied. I've always been a self-satisfied person, and I probably won't reflect on it until the moment I die.

However, as Xiaowan also pointed out, I am not entirely satisfied with the "End of the Age of Gods" plan. Especially after wandering through the places I have been to in the past, the feeling of being out of sync with my true self becomes even more pronounced.

A thousand years from now, the world will return to the same trajectory as the previous world—although it won't be a complete reversal back to where it started, and we know that this may be the greatest common denominator between our bottom line and the obstacles of reality, there are still some things that are hard to let go of.

It's like a celebration that's about to end and can never be held again, carrying a sense of loneliness.

Then, some vague ideas gradually rose in my mind.

Perhaps I've found a way to fulfill my own expectations while achieving the Little Bowl Project. This isn't something outside or contrary to the plan; rather, it can complement it. Of course, I don't intend to act unilaterally. Although it's still just a vague idea, as long as Little Bowl and I work together to summarize and organize it, we can definitely make it feasible.

But it's too early to talk about those things now. What I need to do right now isn't to allocate my thinking resources to dreaming about the future, but to focus on the enemy right in front of me. If I can't achieve victory, then nothing can begin. I arrived at a lush, green mountain range; the coordinates given to me by Shan Liangyi were right here. The moment I entered, I felt a murderous gaze descend upon me like a heavy, icy waterfall.

Meanwhile, from another, very distant place, there seemed to be a gaze full of eager anticipation, hoping that a victor would emerge from between us.

I walked step by step upwards, each step covering a great distance. Fluctuations of magical energy emanated from my body, rising in sync with my movements. When I reached the highest point of the mountain range, I saw a figure with its back to me.

The figure slowly turned around, and the fluctuations of magical power also rose to an extremely high level.

The conflicting magical energy fluctuations caused the mountain beneath our feet to tremble violently as if gripped by deep fear, the earth shaking and shuddering, and the distant sounds of landslides echoing. Sounds of shattering and collapsing emanated from within the mountain itself; it should have crumbled and crumbled to pieces, yet inexplicably maintained its original shape, because we hadn't allowed this place to collapse first. A mere, unintentional thought had subjugated the laws of physics.

“Zhuque… no, Zhuangcheng.” Shan Liangyi pronounced my name for the first time. “I must admit, you have completely shattered my expectations.”

"Even Meng Zhang never caused me such a huge upheaval, and perhaps even the Old Fist God never surprised me so much. I never expected that among my successors, not only could someone push open the third door like me, but someone else could also prove the Dao and manifest their power, achieving my long-cherished goal ahead of everyone else..."

"However, this also confirms one thing for me. Since the 'manifestation' appears in the seeds I have sown, it proves that the path I have been walking is indeed correct. At the same time, I must defeat you completely here."

“I am no longer the successor of the Vermilion Bird,” I said. “Even if you kill me, the power of manifestation will not transfer to you.”

"I never expected to prove my Dao and manifest my power by killing you, but if I can't even kill you, my former successor, how can I, the source, have the face to claim that I can prove my Dao and manifest my power?" Shan Liangyi said proudly. "After you, I will become the Old Fist God. I will erase all your stains and continue to accumulate my own power."

"Twisting the world, distorting the laws, distorting everything... I now possess incomplete manifestation, having taken the most crucial step from 'zero to one'. From now on, I only need to continue accumulating power, and even though I am not destined for complete manifestation, I can prove it with my own strength."

The power of the third gate possesses omnipotence, capable of even distorting the laws of the world; the concept of the duality of mountains may not be entirely a pipe dream.

To this, I have only one response.

“You can’t do it,” I said, “because you’ll die by my hand.”

"A fool's dream!" Shan Liangyi grinned maliciously.

The Yin-Yang and Black-White magical power erupted directly from his body, instantly shattering the mountain beneath his feet. This power hurtled towards me, but instead of taking it head-on, I moved upwards to dodge the attack.

Fighting on Earth is not a wise choice. I want to move the battlefield to outer space, just like the second half of the battle between Yama Ryougi and the Old Fist God. But whether it was a prediction of my thoughts or a terrible coincidence, Yama Ryougi moved to a place higher than me first—his body first decomposed into a large number of black and white particles, and then emerged in the space above me and gathered into a human shape.

This is a movement method based on the same principle as my Flame Teleportation, a unique skill achieved through innate spiritual talent. However, since it's done using the power of Yin and Yang, should it be called "Yin-Yang Teleportation"?
A vortex of yin-yang and black-and-white magic appeared in his hand, seemingly an attack that had been prepared since the first strike. Then, this strike came crashing down like a falling comet.

For both his first and second strikes, he directly summoned Yin-Yang and Black-White magic without going through the process of synthesizing the Five Elements magic. The Four Symbols and Five Elements Wheels that had always appeared behind him did not reappear this time.

The disappearance of the Four Symbols and Five Elements Wheel does not signify a weakening of the Mountain Yin-Yang principle. On the contrary, it proves that the Mountain Yin-Yang principle is in perfect condition. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the wheel's primary function was to recycle and digest the power seeds. Therefore, once the digestion process was complete, the wheel lost its purpose. The power of the Four Symbols and Five Elements can now be directly manifested in the form of Yin-Yang, Black-and-White power.

When fighting the old Fist God, the elemental transformation of the Mountain Yin-Yang would first decompose into the power of the five elements, and now it can also be directly decomposed into Yin-Yang and black-and-white magic power, which seems to indicate that the Mountain Yin-Yang has completely adapted to all the properties of the innate spiritual talent.

His strength seems to have increased slightly since his fight with the old boxing god.

Flames surged from my hand, transforming into a massive, incredibly dense flaming sword. I met his yin-yang, black-and-white magical power head-on with a single strike.

(End of this chapter)