Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 469 - 439 VS Taoyuan Village Master transformed into 1

Chapter 469: 439 VS Taoyuan Village Master transformed into 1

Even though I previously determined that "Paradise" itself likely poses no danger to me, this is still the heart of Taoyuan Village, crucial to its future vision. I wouldn’t be so careless as to act as if entering my own home, expecting threats beyond it. The most obvious would be the powerful guardians stationed here.

I am fully aware that my rash incursion into this area is an impulsive choice, but I made this risky move with that understanding in mind.

The massive azure glowing hand before me is clearly an external incarnation set by the Taoyuan Village Master in the "Paradise" isolation area, meant to halt intruders like myself. I once encountered it during a battle at the Human Bureau headquarters, killed Ying Lingyun from its grasp, and was nearly struck by its attack. If not for Fa Zheng, Divine Light, and Ming Zhuo intervening simultaneously, I would have been quickly overwhelmed.

Now, I am forced to face this formidable foe alone. It seems this is the bitter fruit I must swallow for my impulsive decision. However, I might not be able to digest this lesson.

Facing a foe that once rendered me powerless, I feel both fear and excitement. Perhaps I was anticipating this—expecting to confront such a dangerous figure like the Taoyuan Village Master while invading "Paradise."

Incidentally, I also confirmed whether I still had a retreat. I didn’t know if it should be considered good news, but I am clearly locked down now, unable to escape the "Paradise" isolation zone via Flame Transmission. A battle is inevitable.

The great hand incarnate of the Taoyuan Village Master spread its five fingers, then suddenly clenched them. Instantly, an azure thunderstorm descended upon my area. I evaded immediately. Thousands of thunders fell like a torrential rain; the surrounding debris cascading like a waterfall evaporated instantly in the destructive glow.

Amidst the seemingly impenetrable thousands of thunders, there were gaps just barely wide enough to slip through. I navigated through them perilously, as if miraculously avoiding this assault.

Yet, whether these gaps could be found by others, or even if they objectively exist, are highly dubious questions. Although discussing objective existence within a spiritual Different Space like "Paradise" isolation zone seems contradictory, perhaps even the Taoyuan Village Master incarnation doesn’t know there are these gaps in its attack.

At the level of Impermanence, the ability to dodge an opponent’s attack no longer solely depends on speed, reaction, and attack frequency but has advanced into a more arcane domain. Luck, causality, logic... demon hunters at the Great Success Rank can already start to interfere with these elements to decide whether they hit their opponent or avoid being hit, and Impermanence delves even deeper into their utilization.

Zhu Shi’s "Buzhou Mountain" can forcibly "find" flaws in an enemy that might not originally exist, whether they be attribute flaws or skill flaws. This ability itself is a simplified version of the Power of Great Impermanence. I can now do something similar, forcefully "finding" gaps to hide in and evade among originally nonexistent saturating strikes.

Meanwhile, based on the previous encounter and this observation, I roughly judged the level of this Taoyuan Village Master incarnation.

The actual strength of the opponent should be comparable to Ming Zhuo’s. Even just the incarnation has this level, the main body is likely at least on par with Xuanming.

As to whether the opponent is the Green Dragon Inheritor, I still can’t grasp it. Perhaps because, among the Five Elements, fire and wood don’t have a directly countering relationship, I cannot easily determine the opponent’s identity as the Liangyi Inheritor as I did when battling the Water Navy Xuanwu.

Only as far as I know, despite fire and wood not having a countering relationship, they do have a generative relationship. Specifically, wood can generate fire. I don’t know how the power of a Liangyi Inheritor interacts with the generative relationship upon contact. Is it possible that a mere collision wouldn’t trigger a generative change?

Or was all past speculation just wishful thinking, and the Taoyuan Village Master isn’t the Green Dragon Inheritor? In fact, nothing in his attack methods indicates the "Wood and Cultivation Power" characteristic of a Green Dragon Inheritor, only demonstrating boundless destructive lightning.

Yet this alone isn’t enough to prove he isn’t the Green Dragon Inheritor; instead, it heightens suspicion. Within the traditional theory of the Four Symbols and Five Elements, lightning indeed belongs to the wood element.

Perhaps many people might associate the violent heat of "thunder" more with the destructive "fire," yet in ancient times, thunder often appeared with rainwater and struck down upon trees, seen as a symbol of "stimulating and growth power," with "lightning-struck wood" considered sacred, having a divine expelling nature.

As I was pondering, the incarnation of the Taoyuan Village Master unleashed a second strike. This time, instead of manifesting a thunderstorm, he gathered the countless thunders into one point, transforming it into a massive downstrike, wide enough to cover a street.

Moreover, a force directly acted to bind my body. It was as if the surrounding space solidified so much that even moving my limbs became extremely difficult, let alone making evasive maneuvers.

This was the ability he used against me last time, and this time, there was no one by my side to assist me.

Fortunately, now I don’t need anyone else to intervene in this battle; I can bring out a trump card for a desperate counterattack myself.

A slag weapon in the shape of a straight sword appeared in my hand. Once it emerged, the solidified space around me retreated as if burnt by a branding iron. I aimed the slag straight sword upward, not even having to deliberately swing it; the falling thunderbolt, like a vast beam of light, split apart on the sword’s edge.

Seeing this scene, the Taoyuan Village Master incarnation paused slightly, seemingly in shock.

The surface of the slag straight sword displayed spots of burnt red, reminiscent of coal releasing heat into the outside world.

In recent times, I have sealed countless flames within the slag straight sword. Although its exterior appears black, it holds power within capable of obliterating the Luoshan Headquarters. I’ve applied presets to contain the internal flames as much as possible, yet control isn’t flawless. The red patches decorating the black blade are evidence of power uncontrollably leaking out.

It’s precisely due to such a vast amount of heat concentrated in one place that this sword becomes a terrifying weapon that eradicates everything upon mere contact. Even such an exaggerated thunderbolt is easily vanquished upon contact.

Unfortunately, this condensed form of mana, optimized for compaction, has significant flaws in truly harming the soul of an Impermanence. If I desire to imprint my killing intent within it, it disperses without a trace. In the end, I must rely on gradually releasing the internal flames to slay the enemy.

Even so, wielding the slag straight sword elevates me far beyond my former self without it.

The Taoyuan Village Master incarnation altered his attack method once more, shooting a large lightning beam from his palm, branching out in mid-air. Countless lightning appeared to have their own will, capable of encircling and attacking me from all directions.

I dodged the pursuit, swinging the slag straight sword to cleave and destroy the unavoidable lightning strikes, advancing toward the Taoyuan Village Master incarnation.

"Are you not going to deal with this personally?" I asked.

Even if I’m only battling a mere incarnation, the Taoyuan Village Master’s main body must already be aware of my intrusion, yet he doesn’t come in person. Categorizing this as negligence would underestimate him. During the Human Bureau headquarters battle, this could be explained by avoiding multiple Luoshan Great Impermanences at once, but if it remains the same now, does he have a reason preventing personal presence?

If it’s merely battling this incarnation, I dare not say victory is assured, but it’s not a hopeless situation. His main body not showing up is good news, yet it leaves me with a sense of unfulfilled expectation.

Additionally, I discerned another point, which is that the Taoyuan Village Master likely doesn’t know I am a so-called Innate Manifestation.

Upon reflection, though many know I can perform Elementalization, only those close to me or few who’ve battled me seem to be sure of my identity as a Manifestation. The Old Fist God seems to have heard about it from somewhere, yet the Taoyuan Village Master does not appear to have such channels.

For example, it would be challenging to directly slay an Impermanence with the slag straight sword’s main body. If an enemy doesn’t imbue their attack with the intent to "attack the opponent’s True Spirit," it’s difficult to truly affect me.

This seems exploitable. However, just like Ming Zhuo discovered my trait after "killing" me once, this intelligence gap likely cannot be exploited repeatedly. I must carefully time my move.

Yet the giant hand form of the Taoyuan Village Master incarnation did not respond to my question. I don’t believe it is incapable of speech, as it initially uttered my name.

Thus, I asked again: "Are you Shan Liangyi?"

This time, it spoke, but its content was off-topic,

"Zhuang Cheng... Vermilion Bird Inheritor." It murmured, "Although I don’t intend to harvest your Vermilion Bird Seed now, since you deliver yourself... don’t blame me for being impolite."