Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 309: Retribution Body Yinyue 1

Chapter 309: Retribution Body Yinyue 1

The "Yinyue" that appeared before me called out my name.

However, she didn’t seem to be certain about it. This could be because I’m currently assuming the form of a twelve or thirteen-year-old, but since Yinyue and I had clashed before, the tone she used should have been more confident. I suspected that this "Yinyue" wasn’t the one I knew.

On that basis, I still consciously used a confrontational tone: "Yinyue, aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you on the spot for showing up so conspicuously?"

"You’ve already seen through it, haven’t you? I am not the Yinyue you know," she said with a smile, "Moreover, I know that you are not one to attack me directly."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"You’re not the type to use your power to attack others at will. You only act against someone when they show malicious intent or openly become your enemy. As long as I don’t adopt a hostile attitude, even if I look exactly like the other Yinyue, you’d be more inclined to talk than to fight," she said, showing an understanding of my psyche.

She wasn’t entirely right. In the past, there were times when I took the initiative against targets who hadn’t shown hostility towards me, like the Undying Monster and others. I’ve never set a rigid rule for myself, so sometimes I would follow the mood and use my power to attack others.

If I didn’t consider it a "code of conduct" but more like a "tendency of action," then it’s about right. When she appeared, she fostered a "this is not the time for a fight" atmosphere, and I went along with it. In some sense, I actually seem to be quite perceptive to the mood.

Even though she claimed to be different from the Yinyue I knew, I wasn’t naive enough to take her word for it. These could all just be acts. Even if my intuition told me that she was not Yinyue herself, considering Yinyue could use the power of illusions to affect my spirit, this intuition could very well be a product controlled by the other party. It’s best to maintain a basic level of caution.

Moreover, even if she is not Yinyue, the old people of Ancient Moon Village had shared with me the outrageous deeds of the Ancient Moon God of the past. I can’t regard her as a harmless and kind figure simply because she is showing a friendly face now.

I decided to proceed with the conversation under the assumption that "she is not Yinyue herself." Additionally, to differentiate her from the real Yinyue, I temporarily named this "Yinyue," "Ancient Moon God."

"What exactly are you?" I asked, "Since you are not Yinyue, this should be our first meeting, but you know not only my name but also my way of doing things."

"I have a latent connection with the real Yinyue. I can synchronize with her memories to a certain extent," the Ancient Moon God explained in a clear voice, "I could have synchronized with them fully, but I don’t know if she did something to interfere, or if some other accidents occurred. Now, I can only partly and sporadically synchronize with her memories.

"Among them, because she has a deep impression of you, and because her contact with you happened quite recently, I was able to synchronize quite a bit."

Is it like the relationship between the girl Lu Chan and Lu Youxun of the past? The past girl Lu Chan also synchronized her memories with Lu Youxun through their latent connection, recognizing me before we first met. Maybe this Ancient Moon God has a similar relationship with that Yinyue.

"So, are you an embodiment of Yinyue’s Dream?"

I asked this question, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. Could it be that I would soon, like how I cooperated with the girl Lu Chan, temporarily join forces with this Ancient Moon God to overcome the difficulties and dangers ahead? And in the end, would I have to repeat the act of killing an enemy in spirit as I had done before?

Once was enough for such events; I did not wish to repeat the ordeal of parting with the girl Lu Chan. However, there was no doubt that if I could really cooperate with an incarnation of Yinyue, it would bring many conveniences. She must know many secrets of Yinyue. Perhaps she could also help me understand what Yinyue intends to do in Moon Concealing Mountain.

Thinking positively, with the prophecy of the Master of Divine Seal on me and the strange luck of Mazao, perhaps the appearance of the Ancient Moon God was a clue provided by the mysterious forces. If I just accepted what was arranged, I could smoothly discover the whereabouts of Yinyue herself.

"An embodiment of a Dream..."

The Ancient Moon God contemplated the phrase and then shook her head, saying, "I am not an incarnation of Yinyue. Although it may be an existence of a similar nature, you would understand the truth is not so once you know how I came into being.

"However, I am indeed related to Yinyue’s dreams. Although if she were to evaluate me, she would probably call me a defective product that emerged on her way to fulfilling her dream."

"What is Yinyue’s dream?" I was curious.

"Her dream is the most basic desire of her as a living being, which is to survive or, in other words, the continuation of her self," she said. "I am an entity born in the process of her pursuing the art of self-continuation. She realized in the past that even though she could fulfill the wishes of the vast majority of sentient beings, she would die one day.

"Not from life running its course—although she was only of the Great Success Rank, she could live as long as the heavens and the earth with her superpower, just like Impermanence. However, she could still be killed. Even with an infinite lifespan, if killed by a powerful demon hunter, it would all be in vain."

"So... in order to resurrect herself even if she is killed in the future, did she leave a set-up for resurrection in the mortal world?" I ventured a guess. "Once she dies, the set-up would automatically work to bring her back to life... just like how she is using her children to resurrect herself now?"

The Ancient Moon God ambiguously said, "Maybe."

"What do you mean by ’maybe’?" I asked. "Isn’t she afraid of death and wishes to prolong herself? If she is certain that she will die, then isn’t studying the art of resurrection the only way to continue her existence?"

"First, listen to me explain slowly," the Ancient Moon God said. "First of all... as far as I know, she did not leave a set-up to resurrect herself before she died."

"This statement contradicts the facts I’ve encountered."

Although it did not match reality, this statement echoed some information I had come across in the past. After Yinyue was killed by Ying Lingyun, the Luo Mountain side conducted many investigations to ensure that Yinyue would not come back to life, finally concluding that "Yinyue did not leave any set-up for resurrection"—could this judgment be correct?

But if she did not intend to revive after death, what was her initial plan to continue her self?

Seeing my confusion, the Ancient Moon God continued: "Among your humans, there should be such an idea, right? Some say that if a person dies but his thoughts remain in this world, then he lives on in another form; or, although it’s regrettable not to leave behind one’s thoughts, having descendants is also a way to continue the existence of ancestors in some form. What do you think of this notion?"

"Once a person is dead, they are dead. The ideas that your thoughts can keep you alive in a different way or descendants mean continuation are nothing more than self-consolation for those who cannot escape death," I offered my view.

"That is also the view of most humans. Although this idea comes from humans, it’s humans who believe in it least," sighed the Ancient Moon God. "However, Yinyue doesn’t think so. Perhaps because she’s not human, her perspective on things is different from most humans—she genuinely believes in this idea. She doesn’t see it as self-consolation for the inevitability of death but regards it as a truth to be practiced.

"Buddhism talks of the Buddha having three bodies: the Dharma Body, the retribution body, and the response body. Even if a person dies in the mortal world, if their lifetime of thoughts are passed down through the ages, their retribution body remains in the mortal world.

"Yinyue believes that as long as her thoughts remain, she exists, even if her physical body vanishes. But distinct from the common people who can only continue through language and text, as a Great Evil capable of turning fantasy into reality, she naturally has more efficient means—creating another version of herself."

"Is this your origin then?" I asked.

Since Yinyue was not human to begin with, I could easily accept it if she showed transcendent values. Then, I noticed another problem: "But this method must have a fatal flaw, right?"

The primary question when having an avatar continue life for oneself is how to ensure that the avatar does not perish when the original body dies.

Lu Chan’s "possibility avatar" didn’t have this problem, but when facing an opponent on my level, he would still have to confront the risk of me burning all the "possibility avatars" at once, through their inter-individual connections.

Ying Lingyun’s consciousness network was destroyed by me in this very manner.

The Yinyue of the past was known to be unparalleled beneath Impermanence, so when she predicted her own death, she presumably also saw Impermanence as the hypothetical enemy. Even though she eventually died at the hands of Ying Lingyun whom she had nurtured, according to her original prediction, it’s unlikely she would have used an avatar as a means of self-continuation.

If I can manage to do it, Impermanence certainly wouldn’t fail to do so.

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