Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 311 - 290 Ying Shen Yinyue 1

Chapter 311: 290 Ying Shen Yinyue 1

The words of the Ancient Moon God were like a huge rock thrown into the lake of my heart, stirring up tremendous waves.

"Gua Tianshi has arrived at Moon Concealing Mountain?" I asked.

"Yes," the Ancient Moon God nodded.

"How did you know?" I inquired.

"It’s a perception. Although Gua Tianshi came in a low-profile manner, he did not put much effort into hiding his presence," she explained, "Furthermore, having existed around Moon Concealing Mountain for a century, this mountain is imbued with my Mana, so as soon as Impermanence, such a ’colossal entity,’ approaches, I can sense it immediately.

"And what I can sense, Yinyue can undoubtedly sense as well. Moon Concealing Mountain is her place of origin, this location is special not just for me, but for her too."

I had heard in the past that Moon Concealing Mountain was the birthplace of the Ancient Moon God a long, long time ago. It turns out that not only was it the birthplace of the Ancient Moon God created by Yinyue a century ago, but also of Yinyue herself, even longer ago.

"Do you know Gua Tianshi’s purpose?" I asked.

Deep in thought, the situation seemed somewhat fishy.

Assuming Gua Tianshi’s purpose in coming to the vicinity of Moon Concealing Mountain was to save Dong Che, why hasn’t he made a move yet, letting Dong Che remain in this unpredictable land? To say it’s too late for him doesn’t hold, for he is the Impermanence known for his prescience and seizing the initiative, it doesn’t make sense for him to simply concede that it’s too late.

And if he is here to eliminate the terrifying Great Evil, Yinyue, his current stance of watching from the sidelines is even less understandable. With the power of an Impermanence, not to mention annihilating Yinyue hiding in Moon Concealing Mountain, even erasing the entire Moon Concealing Mountain from the map should not be too difficult.

Although I had previously harbored a fleeting suspicion that Gua Tianshi might have come to Moon Concealing Mountain, now that the Ancient Moon God pointed it out directly, I started to doubt whether Gua Tianshi had come to Moon Concealing Mountain at all.

On the other hand, this approach of not actively intervening in any situation, merely observing from the sidelines and maintaining an inscrutable stance, actually matches the Gua Tianshi image I have heard about thus far.

"I don’t know. But..." the Ancient Moon God hesitated, "although it’s just my intuition... Gua Tianshi might not harbor hostility towards Yinyue, but instead seems to be allowing the situation to evolve, letting Yinyue return to her prime."

Yinyue is a Great Evil highly adept at Spirit Illusion Techniques, and the Ancient Moon God presumably belongs to the same category; their intuitive insights are not to be underestimated.

Suddenly, I developed a terrible premonition.

"Do you mean, Gua Tianshi might be on Yinyue’s side?" I asked.

"It’s a possibility that cannot be ruled out. I also wondered if Gua Tianshi just wants to use Yinyue, who is restored to full strength, for some other purpose... but if that was the case, he could totally subdue Yinyue first, then using his powers and resources as an Impermanence to forcibly restore Yinyue’s strength, and then pursue his subsequent objectives," the Ancient Moon God said carefully, "And now this stance of merely observing even makes me feel like he is showing goodwill towards Yinyue."

The situation is really awful. This means, in the worst-case scenario, I might even have to confront Gua Tianshi, this unfathomable Impermanence, in a decisive battle at Moon Concealing Mountain. As for who the loser would be, it’s hard to imagine it being Gua Tianshi.

Gua Tianshi’s true intentions and actual power are almost unknown to me, and idle speculation is pointless, so I had to return to the original topic: "Tell me more about Dong Che... Was he also like those villagers, one of the dead from the past?"

The Ancient Moon God slowly shook her head, then said, "No, contrary to those villagers. He was originally alive."

"Originally?" I asked.

"Yinyue’s power to modify history cannot resurrect the dead, but it can kill the living. Although this power does not work on an Impermanence, nor on Transcenders who can naturally warp the temporal order, it’s still easy for her to kill an achieved realm Evil," she said, "Assuming she wants to kill a current target, she can modify history to make the target dead three days ago.

"In other words, this is an ’attack from the present on the past’; and similarly, since she from the present can kill past targets, so naturally, she from the future can also kill present targets.

"

"According to my observation, that youth named Dong Che was originally not dead in both the ’past’ and ’present’, but it is highly likely that he died in the near future. This outcome then retroactively affected his past and present, causing him to fall into a state of premature death.

"Eighty percent chance that the future Yinyue, in order to better restore her power, consumed that youth. However, this phenomenon of ’premature death’ might not be intentional on her part, but rather an inherent effect of this fog. This fog possesses the quality of blurring the lines between time and space, and those who die within the fog are automatically transformed into phantom forms."

With that, the mystery seemed to be unraveled.

Dong Che spoke nothing but the truth; he was not replaced by some strange entity. The reason he felt like a non-human entity to me was because he was no longer alive and also because his existence now relied on the power of Yinyue—hence I even got the impression that "Dong Che, as a strange entity, resembled Yinyue".

He was clearly dead, yet unaware that he had died, because he had never actually experienced death. His death occurred in the future. Perhaps with his perceptiveness, he might have been aware of the truth, but being a phantom formed by the power of Yinyue, he might inherently have a ’setting’ that prevents him from realizing his own death.

Is there still a chance to save him?

"So..." I continued to ask, "If Dong Che leaves this fog, will he disappear?"

"Theoretically yes, but since he has achieved realm, he won’t disappear that quickly. Just like a sugar cube dissolves quickly in hot water, if the cube is large enough, it takes longer to completely dissolve. There might be a leeway of around one hour. If we can find Gua Tianshi before time runs out, perhaps he can think of a way to solve this problem," suggested the Ancient Moon God eagerly.

However, she might not be aware of some information. Dong Che was not transformed into a deathly phantom after stepping into the fog. From the moment we first met, Dong Che had already been in that state.

It’s a truly cruel ordeal. His death was not even determined the moment he stepped into the fog; much earlier, due to his future self entering the fog, his death had already been decided prematurely. Yet from another perspective, despite not being in the fog at that time, he could still exist normally in the outside world in a phantom form.

If Yinyue, as the summoner, died, then Dong Che would surely die as well. Conversely, does that mean as long as Yinyue is alive, there is no limit to Dong Che’s active time in the outside world?

This unique attribute probably doesn’t apply to the Ancient Moon Villagers. What exactly makes Dong Che so special? I contemplated whether I should directly inquire from the Ancient Moon God. However, at this stage, I’m not quite ready to reveal too much information that she is unaware of.

And, does she genuinely not know these things?

She said that the villagers’ knowledge of the Ancient Moon God’s malevolent history was distorted by Yinyue, but where is the proof? She also claimed she could only vaguely sense the outside world, and that may not even be the truth.

Of course, even if she is lying, she would likely mix a great deal of true information with the lies. Specifically, she could be mixing small lies into a large amount of true information because she might not know how much accurate information I possess. If she slips up at any point, her efforts would be wasted.

After obtaining so much preliminary information, I finally asked the question I was most concerned about: "Do you know where Changan’s spirit is now, and what state it is in?"

"Changan...do you mean Zhu Changan?"

The Ancient Moon God thought for a moment, then shook her head and replied, "I cannot tell you what state he is in now, but there is one thing I can confirm: his spirit is not hidden by Yinyue anywhere, but is always inseparable from her form. As long as you find Yinyue, you should be able to locate his spirit as well."

Inseparable? This statement is rather lukewarm.

Yinyue believes that as long as someone fully inherits her thoughts, it is equivalent to her surviving. According to what the senior researcher detained at Fufeng Base said, Ying Lingyun, despite knowing Yinyue had left behind a ’resurrection’ ploy, insists on pursuing his own method of resurrection. One speculation I had at the time was that "the current Yinyue" would likely be something Ying Lingyun absolutely couldn’t accept.

Perhaps Ying Lingyun knew how Yinyue planned to resurrect and, combining all the information previously obtained, it’s possible that Yinyue did not truly resurrect but used Changan as a base to create another individual largely similar in thought to herself.

As for the specific method, I could even imagine it to some extent. Zhu Shi once told me that demon blood inherently carries the inheritance of knowledge and memory. Therefore, when a demon transforms into a human form, they instantly know how to walk on two legs and speak human languages, easily blending into society. This is the innate wisdom of demons.

With Yinyue’s superpower, it was entirely possible for her to also incorporate her thoughts and memories into this innate wisdom.

Thus, the moment Changan’s demon lineage had its seal completely removed, Yinyue was revived from within him.