Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 289 - 270 Afterlife World 1

Chapter 289: 270 Afterlife World 1

The hostile Impermanence is Ming Zhuo.

I silently recalled the information related to Ming Zhuo. Ming Zhuo is an Impermanence who advocates for Extraordinaryism, his power is of average level among the Impermanences. It is said that half a year ago when Xuanming defected from Luo Mountain, he killed an Impermanence and severely injured another, and Ming Zhuo is the one who was severely injured.

At the same time, according to the religious knowledge I learned haphazardly during my investigation of supernatural phenomena, "Ming Zhuo" is also a Buddhist term.

In Buddhism, there is the concept of the "Five Zhuo," which are Dharma Zhuo, View Zhuo, Trouble Zhuo, All Living Beings Zhuo, and Life Zhuo. The so-called "Five Zhuo Evil World" refers to the era in which the Five Zhuo gather together during the Doomsday.

Leaving other types of Zhuo aside, Life Zhuo is also referred to as "Life Zhuo." In the mythical world described in Buddhist scriptures, the lifespan of beings can be tens of thousands of years, but in reality, human life spans less than a century. Buddhism advocates that this drastic shortening of lifespan is the result of troubles and evil deeds, and the term Ming Zhuo is used to describe this phenomenon.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected that the enemy’s real identity would be Ming Zhuo; he has always been on my list of suspects. However, he was the least significant and the least noticeable one. Before hearing this name, my mind was oscillating between King Zhuanlun and Gua Tianshi, and I even briefly suspected Fa Zheng. Lu Chan suddenly reporting this name made my emotions hang in the balance, caught between unexpected and expected.

Since the enemy is Ming Zhuo, on what grounds would he target Mazao? I tried to analyze based on this premise. Upon deeper thought, it became apparent that there was not absolutely no connection between Ming Zhuo and Mazao.

It is said that after being severely wounded by Xuanming, Ming Zhuo has always been in a state of being scorched by the Xuanming Fire. He later appeared to have used numerous methods to treat his severe injuries, but he never fully recovered. Mazao was also in a similarly sympathetic condition, not only was her soul burned, but the Great Demon who severely injured Mazao was suspected to be Xuanming who turned into a demon in the Doomsday Era. Both of them could roughly be considered victims of Xuanming.

However, upon closer inspection, the situation seems a bit odd. Even the Xuanming Fire that even Impermanence Ming Zhuo couldn’t handle was forcibly suppressed by Mazao using her Power of Return. Not only did she not die explosively, but her condition gradually improved over time.

Although in this process, the soul healing medicine provided by Mr. Zhu seemed to have played a significant role, I don’t think Mazao’s condition would have gradually worsened without those medicines. In fact, when I first met Mazao, she was in a state where she could lose consciousness at any moment, and she couldn’t even walk normally, yet just by resting for a few days, she was able to move her limbs normally and even fight and win against strange beings outdoors. The soul healing medicine only played a role in speeding up the recovery later on.

Even though the extent of the injuries inflicted by Xuanming Fire on Mazao and Ming Zhuo was different, it was only a matter of "quantity," and the "quality" should be roughly the same. Now I can somewhat grasp how big of a gap there is between the Great Success Rank and Impermanence. I don’t think that after becoming an Impermanence, my power would be suppressed by the special abilities of an ordinary Great Success Rank.

Therefore, Mazao is likely special, not just because of her Broom Star Physique, but her Return Blessing Power is also extraordinary.

Perhaps Ming Zhuo also saw this uniqueness, hence he wanted to kidnap Mazao to utilize the Power of Return for some purpose... Is he planning to use Mazao’s Power of Return to heal his own injuries? If so, why did Lu Youxun in the past say that Ming Zhuo intended to kill Mazao?

Could it be that Ming Zhuo didn’t fully reveal his true intentions to his subordinates, and Lu Youxun just misunderstood? Even if that’s the case, how did Ming Zhuo come to know that Mazao’s Power of Return could suppress the powers of both Impermanence and Great Demon?

Unfortunately, I am currently unable to leave immediately to deal with Ming Zhuo, and it seems he is also unable to trouble me directly. The evidence is that even though Lu Chan has already revealed his information to me, he has not launched another remote power attack on either me or Lu Chan. It seems he is truly caught in some kind of predicament.

"What problem has Ming Zhuo encountered now?" I asked.

"He needs to fully suppress the Xuanming Fire that bursts inside him periodically, and today and tomorrow are those times," Lu Chan replied straightforwardly.

"Does this mean these two days are his period of weakness?" I asked, "Do you know where he is now? Is there any regular pattern to the dates he suppresses the Xuanming Fire?"

"He usually stays in the area around Luo Mountain Headquarters, but when he needs to suppress the Xuanming Fire, he usually notifies his confidants several days in advance and then goes to a secret location only he knows," he replied again, "I can’t judge whether there is a regular pattern to the dates. Even if there is, he wouldn’t easily expose it to others."

"I used to be a night patrol directly under Ming Zhuo, and while not highly ranked, I was considered quite trusted and even did some dirty work, and secretly investigated information that could help him heal. That’s why I know that today and tomorrow are his critical times, but obviously, I’m no longer trusted now, and probably won’t receive similar notifications in the future."