Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 492 - 462 Lock the Target

Chapter 492: 462 Lock the Target

I decided to push the topic further.

"There are still parts I can’t comprehend. I’m wondering if you could enlighten me," I said.

Liu Shuying replied, "Tell me about it. As long as it’s within my capacity, I’ll try my best to answer your questions."

"The Taoyuan Village Master’s goal is to achieve ’Paradise,’ creating the ultimate individual and becoming its mind; while Shan Liangyi’s purpose, according to what I’ve heard from others, is to attain the legendary state of ’Manifestation,’" I said. "They have completely different objectives, yet you suspect they are the same person. Isn’t that a bit contradictory?"

"It is indeed contradictory. The reason I can’t fully believe that the Taoyuan Village Master is Shan Liangyi is partly because of this," Liu Shuying admitted. "However, it’s not entirely inexplicable. What follows is just my speculation, so listen with a grain of salt.

"Firstly, Shan Liangyi himself has already achieved the legendary state of ’Reincarnation,’ yet he insists on attaining ’Manifestation.’ Have you ever pondered why?"

"I’ve thought about it, but my understanding of ’Reincarnation’ and ’Manifestation’ is superficial. I don’t really grasp the specific differences between them," I said.

Although some people refer to me as "Innate Manifestation," I know very well that I am not a "Manifestation" in the strictest sense.

If we go by the simple definition, ’Manifestation’ is the state where one can freely decompose and reassemble their body and soul into natural elements. Yet in the abnormal world, there are demons and Spiritual Bodies that naturally exist in elemental form, but they are not called ’Manifestations.’

There are two reasons for this.

First, those elemental beings still adhere to an inherent structure of existence. While they appear to deconstruct themselves at will, they still maintain their core construction on a spiritual, mysterious, and abstract level, unable to completely unlock the potential of their souls.

I’m not sure if this analogy is correct, but in terms of physics, hitting someone on the head with a brick can kill them, yet if the brick’s mass were entirely converted to energy, the unleashed power would be incomparable. I once read online that if a chair’s mass were fully converted to energy, it could blow up the Earth. I’m not sure if that’s true.

Second, demon hunters believe that ’Manifestation’ can only be achieved through profound understanding of both body and soul. While ’knowing that’ is important, ’knowing why’ is even more crucial. It’s like someone learning an advanced mathematical formula in university doesn’t make them a mathematician, but if they are the one who first proved it in history, they’re undoubtedly a genius worthy of the annals of history.

In other words, to achieve ’Manifestation,’ one logically needs the knowledge and wisdom to prove this ’mathematical formula’ before achieving it; yet I achieved ’Manifestation’ without understanding how I did it at all.

This is why Yinyue in the past often expressed the sentiment that ’Innate Manifestation shouldn’t exist.’

There’s a theory called "Shakespeare’s Theorem," which posits that if an infinite number of monkeys were to randomly strike the keys of an infinite number of typewriters, one would inevitably create the complete works of Shakespeare.

I am like that bewildered monkey who accidentally typed out the complete works of Shakespeare.

Therefore, I likely haven’t fully utilized the potential that the legendary state of ’Manifestation’ should have.

I have carefully investigated the knowledge related to ’Manifestation,’ and found no records of ’Innate Manifestation.’ The information about the legendary state of ’Manifestation’ itself is only known to all.

As for knowledge related to ’Reincarnation,’ there’s even less: from ancient to modern times, Shan Liangyi is the only one known to have discovered it. Without him, everyone wouldn’t even know such a legendary state existed.

"Even a superficial understanding is fine; the answer lies within it," Liu Shuying said. "The greatest feature of the ’Manifestation’ state is its enhancement of power, making it the most destructive of all legendary states. In contrast, the ’Reincarnation’ state is the least powerful state among all legendary states.

"This state essentially doesn’t add much strength to the individual who achieves it, but grants them infinite life and infinite freedom... No, that phrasing is odd. Many people seek power precisely for infinite life and infinite freedom.

"However, it’s likely that Shan Liangyi values power more, which is why he has been spreading the seeds of power through the ’Four Symbols Secret Ceremony’ across countless lifetimes. Perhaps he originally hoped to use ’Manifestation’ to open the third door, but who’d have thought he would forcefully open it with the ’Four Symbols Secret Ceremony’ alone and still not achieve ’Manifestation.’"

"Power... I see," I realized. "The common factor between achieving ’Manifestation’ and creating ’Paradise’ is that the individual can gain unprecedented power from it."

"Creating another ’Great True Spirit’ and mastering it... This result could be achieving the state of ’Dream’ or equivalently achieving the state of ’True Spirit’ with a human body," Liu Shuying said. "Perhaps Shan Liangyi thought that compared to persistently pursuing ’Manifestation,’ this path was more feasible."

I was almost convinced by his argument. Perhaps at times like these, one should be more vigilant.

"Then, do you think that if we team up, we have a chance to kill the Taoyuan Village Master?" I asked. "You’ve mentioned that the Taoyuan Village Master’s power rivals Xuanming’s and might even surpass it; while Xuanming had the record of defeating two Impermances in the past. With just the two of us Impermanences, what’s our chance of success?

"Besides, I only have the achievement of defeating Ming Zhuo, and in reality, I’m just a newly promoted Impermanence. Are you expecting too much of me?"

"Is that so?" Liu Shuying looked deeply at me. "Though I have lost the Prophet’s foresight, I was once a well-known Impermanence for my perceptive abilities, and many things become clear at a glance."

"The current sensation you give me is not so simple; you must be hiding some incredible card up your sleeve."

"Who knows?" I said.

Liu Shuying smiled and continued, "Our chances of success aren’t low. While Xuanming did defeat two Impermanences consecutively, it wasn’t a simultaneous two-against-one battle, and he had the advantage of taking the initiative. This time, we’ll take the initiative against the Taoyuan Village Master.

"Moreover, not only do you have cards up your sleeve, but which Impermanence doesn’t have a few hidden trump cards? Just like the Taoyuan Village Master has his ’Paradise,’ you have some methods, and I, Liu Shuying, have a unique secret weapon.

"With this secret weapon, I can unleash an explosive power comparable to the limits of Xuanming and the Taoyuan Village Master in a short period. While that might not be enough to seal the deal, if we add your strength, the scales will tip in our favor.

"I won’t claim we’ll win for sure, as that would underestimate the Taoyuan Village Master, or Shan Liangyi. Bad luck may lead us to defeat, and at worst, not only would we fail to escape, but one, or even both of us, might fall there.

"But to deal with the sworn enemy, Shan Liangyi, it’s reasonable to take some risks. Don’t you agree?"

What risks?

When he mentioned having a secret weapon, I didn’t think much, but as he spoke till the end, I felt invigorated.

Thinking it over, Liu Shuying’s words made a lot of sense. I was originally investigating Taoyuan, then digging out the Doomsday organization, Evangelical Institute, lurking behind the scenes, just missing the most crucial clues. Now there’s an Impermanence proactively seeking cooperation with me to confront the Taoyuan Village Master together. Isn’t this a chance worth seizing?

"Since you are proposing an alliance, you must have already collected some clues and found a direction to strike?" I asked. "Why don’t we start with information sharing?"

"Ah? Oh... sure," Liu Shuying hesitated for a moment. "Why did you suddenly become so proactive..."

"You’re mistaken; I was already actively considering collaborating with you," I said.

He murmured, "But you were just suspicious of me being Shan Liangyi..."

"That was merely a reminder that people might mistake you for Shan Liangyi easily. Didn’t you yourself say so? The hardest thing to see clearly is oneself, but as long as we collaborate sincerely, we won’t have that weakness anymore," I said. "More importantly, your information? Hand it over."

"Uh... here it is."

Liu Shuying seemed a bit overwhelmed, dutifully taking out a map and spreading it out on the table.

He pointed to five locations marked on the map and said, "I’ve recently noticed abnormal activities by Mingzhuo’s influence. After a little inquiry, I found out that there seems to be a traitor leaking information to Taoyuan Village from their side.

"I realized this was a chance to trace Taoyuan Village in reverse, so I investigated further and pinpointed these five subsidiary bases. One of them leaked information to Taoyuan Village. We just have to inspect them one by one next.

"To avoid alerting them, we should act covertly and refrain from big moves until we lock onto the target."

I glanced at the map and then said, "No need to check each one. I already know which specific subsidiary base leaked the information."

"What?" Liu Shuying was taken aback.

I also took a map from myself and spread it out on the table.