Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 412: The Price of Becoming Stronger 2

Chapter 412: The Price of Becoming Stronger 2

I never used to worry about how to gain more power, but at this moment, it seems I’ve finally confronted the toughest challenge in the demon hunter’s training, and it starts right at the highest difficulty level.

In my situation, if I purely wanted to gain power and did not hesitate to kill myself with a grand forsaking heart to hatch a new self, the most efficient method would be to completely give up on adventure.

Reflexively, I felt repulsed by this thought. Simultaneously, out of curiosity, I still speculated on how exactly I might achieve this so-called abandonment of adventure.

Firstly, if I just tell those around me that I won’t continue the adventures anymore and lock myself up inside the house doing nothing, this wouldn’t count as completely giving up on adventure. It could only be called pausing the adventure because I might have a change of heart at some point and set off on an adventure again. In spirit, there’s still a significant fallback option.

The only way is to lose the hard conditions for adventure, for instance, by willingly giving up my superpowers, turning myself into an ordinary mortal.

It’s not that losing superpowers would make me lose the courage and desire for adventure. Rather, it’s just that I’m very aware of how perilous the abnormal world is, and how easily a powerless mortal can die. I’m not afraid of death, but I fear that I might die prematurely on the very first step of the adventure before experiencing any great waves.

Thus, for me, having superpowers is one of the fundamental bases for adventuring in the abnormal world. To actively give up superpowers means harboring the same mindset as actively giving up on adventure.

And clearly, this is a counterproductive act.

In order to push my superpowers to a higher realm, I would have to demonstrate the resolve to completely abandon them in action. How can this not sound self-contradictory?

More importantly, when discussing whether I could actively give up on adventure, I can’t even imagine myself actually doing so.

Of course, I have another path, which is to abandon Mazao and become a ruthless individual who cares for nothing but his long-desired adventure, even at the cost of sacrificing Mazao’s future safety and happiness. Treating her purely as a tool that carries the Broom Star Physique.

In the past, when I looked at those who regretted their choices, I felt indifferent. Now, I still won’t regret past or future choices I’ve made, but I have gained some understanding.

I’m pondering my choices more, but if the choice comes before me, I have a hunch I will still make a decision without hesitation and quickly rationalize my actions in my heart. I’m fully aware of my cold-blooded side, while on the other hand, I might be secretly despising my own cold-bloodedness.

I believe it’s not that I’ve grown weak, but that I’ve discovered a part of myself previously undiscovered. People are contradictions and suffer from contradictions. I am such a collection of contradictions. Perhaps, these contradictions could become an internal consumption, reducing the upper limit of Mana.

And by giving up my affections for Mazao, I could cut off my own contradictions and reshape a self that holds stronger power.

"If you want to attain insight correctly, do not let others influence you, kill anything external or internal that obstructs," I recited the words of the Old Fist God, "meeting Buddha, kill Buddha; meeting an ancestor, kill an ancestor; meeting an Arhat, kill an Arhat; meeting parents, kill parents; meeting family and relatives, kill them to attain liberation, and become boundless and free."

If I remember correctly, these words, filled with murderous intent, are quoted from the Tang Dynasty’s "Linji Lu" and have significantly influenced Zen in later generations. I wonder if the Old Fist God did the same in the past, killing anyone who obstructed his way?

And now, the target of his slaughter is finally his own quest.

I’m not sure what the Old Fist God’s motive is for attempting to open the fourth door. He seems to have little interest in Mana, even seeing Mana as an obstacle to martial arts. But now he wants to pursue a breakthrough in Mana? Does he finally think Mana is better than martial arts? But if that’s the case, what he should be abandoning isn’t martial arts; it should be Mana.

As for myself, although I desire more power, unlike Weichi, I’m not yet desperate enough to forsake either adventure or Mazao to make progress. What the Old Fist God shows me and Weichi might be the righteous path of training in some sense, but it’s also the demon path in normal moral views. I still have skills and "slags" to help me grow stronger, and it doesn’t seem necessary to involve myself with that kind of stuff.

I expressed my gratitude and bid farewell to Gua Tianshi, returning to where I live.

-

These days, I haven’t encountered Divine Light again, but I did run into Weichi once more.

He is currently assisting Divine Light, preparing for the assassination of the Master of Divine Seal. Divine Light seems to plan to enter the Void Realm through the array set by Weichi, using the array to extract the power of the ownerless Divine Seal fragments to support himself in the Void Realm.

It’s clear that Divine Light can’t control when to enter the Void Realm. He’s likely planning to stay within the array until he’s pulled into the Void Realm. However, I heard from Fa Zheng about his recent plans to join Fa Zheng’s action to attack the Human Bureau’s headquarters. Divine Light probably has an interest in Ying Lingyun’s technology for utilizing the Power of Divine Seal Fragments, wanting to absorb and digest it, supplementing his assassination plan of the Master of Divine Seal.

Due to Weichi frequently going in and out of Divine Light, there are rumors at the Luo Mountain Headquarters that Weichi might be defecting to Extraordinaryism. Weichi has grumbled about this in private conversations with me, yet he shows no sign of stopping. For his plan to grow strong enough to kill the Old Fist God, working with Divine Light at this stage seems necessary.

"The success of Divine Light’s plan to assassinate the Master of Divine Seal is based on the premise that ’the Master of Divine Seal is just an ordinary person and therefore cannot effectively control the power of the Seal,’" I said, "but I have a question... What if the Master of Divine Seal wished on the seal to perfectly control the power of the seal, or wished for his own body to have power far surpassing Impermanence and control it perfectly as well? Wouldn’t this cause Divine Light’s assassination plan’s main premise to collapse immediately?"

"Divine Light has considered such an unforeseen possibility, and he ultimately said it’s unlikely. The traits the Master of Divine Seal exhibits are ones of an ordinary person forcing themselves to control enormous power, which is enough to prove that he hasn’t made such a wish before," Weichi said. "Of course, since there’s no way to completely rule out the possibility of him making such a wish later on, making the first strike decisive is crucial."

"Why hasn’t the Master of Divine Seal made such a wish before?" I asked.

"If we don’t consider the possibility of the Master of Divine Seal being careless, the largest possibility is... when the Master of Divine Seal acquired the seal, it was already in a shattered state, so the wishing function became malfunctioned or is not so convenient," Weichi said. "Indeed, from his past performance, the possibility that he couldn’t properly use the seal is extremely high.

"And to repair the seal to a complete state, he would need our help as Void Envoys to collect seal fragments."

I agreed with his conjecture: "If he could fulfill all his wishes now, ultimately he wouldn’t need us Void Envoys at all... Seen this way, it’s almost impossible for him to wish for himself to perfectly control the Power of Divine Seal later. Even if the first strike doesn’t conclude everything, perhaps the opportunity won’t be lost."

"I think so too. However, though Divine Light openly belittles the Master of Divine Seal as a human, he doesn’t truly underestimate the Master and has in fact armed himself thoroughly," Weichi also sighed, "Sometimes he comes up with temporary ideas and asks me to help make them happen, meanwhile, he has also personally set up a lot."

"I fear even Xuanming, upon seeing all the preparations for murder Divine Light has set up in his own residence, would be utterly terrified of approaching."

Perhaps Divine Light has other reasons for his vigilance against the Master of Divine Seal.

Considering that without a related fate, one cannot even touch the Divine Seal fragments, how might it be with the complete divine seal? Simply viewing the Master of Divine Seal as "merely a lucky person who stumbled upon a divine artifact" is inaccurate. Even if he truly is a mortal, he carries a destiny that cannot be comprehended by common sense.

There’s also a possibility that "the need for a related fate to pick up the seal fragments" is a setup made by the Master of Divine Seal himself. Judging from how he claimed he could supplement new Void Envoys, while not entirely at his whim, he seemed to have some ability to influence seal fragments and their holders within certain limits.

By the way, of the three ownerless fragments of the Divine Seal given to me by Divine Light, I handed two to Mazao and Zhu Shi for safekeeping.

Without surprise, Mazao can touch the Divine Seal fragments. My connection to them likely originated due to her influence, as she was previously able to touch the fragments bound to me; Zhu Shi can normally touch the ownerless Divine Seal fragments, though it’s unclear if it’s because she’s a Divine Son, future Impermanence, or naturally carries fate related to the fragments, it’s not surprising that she can do this.

Unlike me, neither of them has experienced a binding reaction upon touching the fragments; they can merely touch them. This was anticipated. In the past, a fragment implanted in Dr. Silver Mask’s heart was also regarded by the fragments bound to me as an ownerless fragment.

To avoid being forcibly recruited by the Master of the Divine Seal as Void Envoys later, I suggested Mazao and Zhu Shi avoid keeping the seal fragments close, but they seem to have different views on this matter.

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