Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 399 - 372 Gua Tianshi-ism

Chapter 399: 372 Gua Tianshi-ism

Was Xuanming attacking his colleagues and seizing the Divine Seal Fragment out of selfish desire?

I recalled my encounters with Xuanming in the Void Realm. Although it’s impossible to judge someone’s true nature based merely on a few interactions, it’s hard for me to imagine that Xuanming would betray his own people due to some personal desire. In the Void Realm, he seemed to possess a motivation to prevent Doomsday, similar to Gua Tianshi and Fa Zheng, despite having different methods.

Gua Tianshi said that the source of Doomsday is closely linked to human consciousness activities, while Xuanming clearly targeted the Master of Divine Seal.

Which direction is correct, or are both directions correct?

In my view, even if the source of Doomsday does lie in human consciousness, it doesn’t mean it has nothing to do with the divine seal. Throughout history, the divine seal has always played the role of a backstage manipulator of human consciousness.

If the integration of the abnormal world and the world of common sense is closely related to the progression of world apocalypse, and human awareness of the abnormal world further accelerates this integration, then in countless past years, the intervention of human consciousness by the divine seal kept those living in the world of common sense from recognizing the divine seal of the abnormal world, acting like a firewall preventing Doomsday.

The occurrence of the "Fantian incident" equates to this firewall’s disappearance, and Doomsday began to descend from the Fantian incident.

Yet Gua Tianshi said that Doomsday happened in the past... Although the Fantian incident also belongs to the past, what Gua Tianshi pointed to clearly predates it.

Can I interpret this as, the Doomsday, which should have already descended, was delayed until now due to the intervention of human consciousness by the divine seal?

I feel that my investigation into Doomsday has made progress, even if, strictly speaking, it’s merely sharing Impermanence’s progress, but at least I’ve understood that perhaps preventing Doomsday requires a complete divine seal, while allowing its arrival doesn’t require the divine seal’s propulsion—at least not afterward.

In other words, if one only wants Doomsday to descend, perhaps it’s enough to ensure the divine seal never returns to completeness. Practically, it isn’t much different from preventing the Master of Divine Seal from collecting all the Divine Seal Fragments. It’s just unclear what the Master of Divine Seal’s goal is; once Doomsday descends, he likely cannot escape unscathed. Is his goal to save the world as well?

And, regarding Gua Tianshi’s stance, I actually remain somewhat puzzled.

According to Gua Tianshi, Ming Zhuo, Divine Light, and King Zhuanlun... these three Extraordinary Fanatics have exhibited a detached attitude towards the destruction of Earth, whereas Gua Tianshi seems to have a will linked with the rise and fall of human civilization, aligning with Fa Zheng who adheres to the Governance Ideology route.

Even his disciple Dong Che chose to switch to the Governance Ideology faction.

"I don’t understand, if you and Fa Zheng both want to save this world, and when you were at Moon Concealing Mountain, you seemed to care deeply about the common people at its foot... why would you stand on the side of Extraordinaryism that wishes to turn humans into resource consumables?" I was puzzled.

"Hmm, about this matter, I originally planned to talk about it when enticing you, but it’s not too late to explain now," said Gua Tianshi. "Firstly, I don’t actually like Extraordinaryism. Though I don’t particularly support Fa Zheng’s Governance Ideology, if I have to choose, I lean more towards Governance Ideology."

"But you still chose Extraordinaryism’s side," I said.

"Because I feel Fa Zheng is too impatient," Gua Tianshi said. "Even the other three Extraordinary Impermanence do not underestimate the technological civilization constructed by ordinary people. Several thousand years ago, or even centuries ago, none of us would have thought human civilization could rely on knowledge and technology to reach this point today, and now we don’t even doubt that human civilization can eventually reach for the stars relying on its power.

"For us, the Impermanence, the Earth is too narrow. Just one of us can cleanse the planet’s surface, reaching any place on this planet in an instant. Although we can still conduct interstellar travel on our own, that is too lonely, so we also hope that human civilization can sail into the stars.

"But in the distant future, civilization is bound to develop to a level uncontrollable even by the Impermanence. Therefore, some wish to grasp the steering wheel of civilization development, restructuring it into an interstellar civilization concentrating all resources on the strong."

"They want a world where individuals prevail over everything, while Fa Zheng and I believe the Impermanence is just the helmsman of human civilization for a period."

After thinking, I said, "I heard that even Governance Ideology, in the end, gradually turns into Extraordinaryism in practice. Given the current trajectory, won’t a world where individuals prevail over everything arrive sooner than the level where civilization develops beyond the control of the Impermanence?"

"The world described by Extraordinaryism where individuals prevail over everything will not become ’the end of history,’" said Gua Tianshi. "Frankly, apart from the descent of Doomsday, I don’t know where the history of human civilization will meet its development endpoint. But I’ve lived for countless millennia and have witnessed the inception of civilization. Even before humans learned to use fire, I existed and witnessed civilization developing to the present day.

"So, I can categorically state here, the creativity exploding amid the worries and conflicts of innumerable flawed beings is far superior to the closed and self-contained world of Extraordinaryism, where a few individuals suppress everything. Perhaps Extraordinaryism can dominate for an extremely long time, but eventually, it will be overthrown to usher in truly advanced civilization.

"And my conflict with Fa Zheng lies here. He wishes to skip over the potentially upcoming Extraordinaryism historical phase for humanity, diving directly into the next stage of civilization development. In contrast, I hope civilization could first be governed by Extraordinaryism for three to four centuries."

"Why is that?" I wondered.

"... What I’ll say next is my personal experiential theory. I don’t know if it will gain your approval," Gua Tianshi mused. "Though saying this might sound patronizing, Fa Zheng, as an Impermanence, is still too young, having lived for only a few centuries. My experience tells me that a civilization making too few mistakes during development stages isn’t beneficial.

"The lessons not learned in the past will only return painfully in the future. This phenomenon can be observed in certain nations and civilizations lacking historical depth. While people like to say humanity is always warring over the same reasons, it’s akin to children fighting over snacks and toys, while adults clash over interests and face... the essence of the two is the same, yet adults are more aware of consequences and boundaries than children.

"While Impermanence still has the strength to act as a safety net for civilization, I hope civilization can make more mistakes, engrave more memories of ’what shouldn’t be done’ into its cultural gene... But Fa Zheng is too soft-hearted to adopt a steely resolve."

"Do you think I can become like that?" I asked.

Gua Tianshi countered: "Don’t you want to play a role like ’appearing cruel and cold-blooded but being foresighted and undertaking the guise of a demon in the eyes of the world for the sake of civilization’s development’?"

Is it too late for me to switch to Gua Tianshi’s side now?

Although I really wanted to say that, I had already promised Fa Zheng first, so I regrettably swallowed the words back down.

This is the Impermanence which excels in divination, knowing the past and future, huh. Gua Tianshi seemed to have read my true nature despite our few encounters.

"That concludes what I wish to tell you. If you cannot stay with Fa Zheng in the future, consider standing by my side."

Gua Tianshi first smiled, then said: "So, do you have anything else you want to ask me?"

I indeed have a very important question.

"Since you can see fate more clearly than other Impermanences... then you should also see the fate of my companion beside me, right?" I said.

Mazao realized I was talking about her, and her movements became tense.

I continued speaking to Gua Tianshi: "For some reasons, we currently cannot ascertain whether she is the original owner of this body... can you judge that?"

"She is the girl rumored to have awakened from soul loss syndrome, returning from the world after death," Gua Tianshi gave her a glance, "Although I don’t know why you would have such doubts, at least from my perspective, there’s no visible conflict between her and this body, in both compatibility and fate, so it would not be an overstatement to say she is this body’s original owner."

Mazao first showed a relaxed expression, then slightly frowned.

In our previous discussions, there’s been a hypothesis that Mazao’s soul is from a parallel world’s Doomsday Era, made to explain why Mazao in the Doomsday Era and this body in the modern world look exactly alike. If it’s the same person from parallel worlds, then switching bodies without conflict is plausible.

However, the "parallel world theory" is merely a sci-fi-oriented scientific hypothesis, inadequate as a solid inference basis, at least incomparable to Gua Tianshi’s testimony. Thus, preliminarily confirming that Mazao is indeed the original owner of this body should not be overstated.

So, can this become evidence for the conjecture that "Mazao originally belonged to this era, but her soul traveled to the Doomsday Era and returned"? When it comes to discussing time travel, relying solely on Gua Tianshi’s testimony seems inadequate, leading to the preliminary conclusion that "Mazao is the original owner of this body" also needing reconsideration.

To quickly make a judgment, using only Gua Tianshi’s testimony is not impossible, but there’s no immediate time constraint necessitating a rushed conclusion. Given the importance, if circumstances allow, obtaining more and stronger evidence would be desirable.

At least, now Mazao can be reasonably hopeful that she isn’t a malevolent spirit occupying a foreign nest.

Gua Tianshi continued speaking.

"Additionally, if I’m not mistaken... her fate seems to be entangled with aberrant entities," he said.

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