Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 543 - 509 New Luo Mountain

Chapter 543: 509 New Luo Mountain

Who could have thought that I would hear King Zhuanlun’s name here.

King Zhuanlun is Luoshan’s Great Impermanence and also one of the Liangyi Inheritors. If the Taoyuan Village Master truly is the Green Dragon Inheritor, then King Zhuanlun can almost certainly be identified as the White Tiger Inheritor. From the first time I saw his name, I paid particular attention to his existence, but I have never been able to see his true face. Unexpectedly, upon arriving here, he became the human god of the Evangelical Institute.

I also have another question. In the past, I asked Mazao about intelligence on the human gods of the Evangelical Institute. Although Mazao could not provide precise information, he did mention that the number of human gods in the Evangelical Institute was only two or three at most. Yet here, according to Echo, there are four. If we include the deceased Tai Sui, that makes five.

I asked Echo in detail about King Zhuanlun.

"Sorry, I know very little about the human god King Zhuanlun," Echo shook his head, "And I can assure you, this isn’t due to my excessive amnesia. Based on my impressions, no monk from the Evangelical Institute has ever seen the human god King Zhuanlun, nor have they heard of him leaving any legacy; only his name is circulated.

"If it weren’t for the clear indications from the Evangelical Institute Master Yama and Huangquan that King Zhuanlun indeed exists, most monks in the Evangelical Institute would probably consider him a fictional legend. Even so, many monks and outside survivors are currently skeptical whether King Zhuanlun actually exists as a human god."

This situation is similar to King Zhuanlun’s status in Luoshan, where everyone knows of this character but universally doubts his actual existence.

I’ve distinctly heard about King Zhuanlun from Gua Tianshi, so I’m not inclined to doubt this. What is crucial is why King Zhuanlun would side with the Evangelical Institute.

Could it be that King Zhuanlun lived through to the Doomsday Era and joined this organization? Or is this King Zhuanlun the same one from the modern world’s Luoshan, akin to how Huangquan can traverse from the Doomsday Era to the modern world, so can King Zhuanlun traverse from the modern world to the Doomsday World?

Since the Evangelical Institute provides support to Taoyuan Village, it is undoubtedly an enemy of Luoshan, and were my speculation correct, King Zhuanlun’s actions would be considered betrayal.

However, it might sound absurd to say this, even if King Zhuanlun "betrayed" to the rival organization, he seems to remain absent from his "post," as if he were an invisible man.

Besides, the name of the Evangelical Institute Master also attracts my attention.

When mentioning "Yama," my first thought is the "Yama Sword," but if you ask other Luoshan demon hunters to reply, they would likely first think of the name of a god.

Great Impermanence is often regarded as King Yanluo, the god governing the post-mortem world, and tracing back to its origins, it traces back to the foreign deity concept of "Yama."

Legend has it that Yama was the first deceased, becoming the deity who governed the power of death. Although it is unclear why the quickest to die became so formidable, anyway, that’s how books record it. In ancient times, following Buddhism’s introduction to China, Yama became the deity responsible for hell’s punishments, referred to as Yama, or Yanluo, or King Yanluo.

In the history of Luoshan, Luoshan was initially founded by three ancient Great Impermanences. Among them, two included one I engaged with multiple times, Gua Tianshi, who can be considered a symbolic figure representing Taoist culture in Luoshan; and the other whose name is Yama, essentially considered a symbolic figure representing Buddhist culture in Luoshan.

Zhu Shi’s ancestor Zhu Yi named his sword "Yama Sword," likely carrying a notion of reverence for this founding pioneer. When searching for the information I needed at Luoshan Headquarters in the past, I saw the name "Yama" more than once.

Since Luoshan today no longer bears Yama’s presence, this implies he either died or has faded away. Judging from the death and disappearance ratio among successive generations of Luoshan Great Impermanences, Yama most likely met disappearance as the eventual outcome.

Could the Yama who is one of the three founders of Luoshan be the same person as the Yama who is the Evangelical Institute Master?

If so, does it imply that the Doomsday Era can indeed allow the disappeared Great Impermanence to return, thus explaining Yama’s resurgence in the world?

Both being Yama, the founder of Luoshan, and King Zhuanlun, the Great Impermanence of Luoshan... the Evangelical Institute has consecutively featured two human gods with significant connections to Luoshan; this clue compels me to ponder more.

I’ve long felt something off; for an organization like Luoshan, it couldn’t just vanish silently after Doomsday descends. Perhaps, the Evangelical Institute is what Luoshan is shaped like in the Doomsday Era. If this were true, then it might not be termed as King Zhuanlun betraying.

The recklessness of human life displayed by the Evangelical Institute aligns with my stereotypical impression of Extraordinaryism. In fact, the Evangelical Institute indeed adopts Extraordinaryism styles, referring to those with "Extraordinary Power" as "monks" rather than demon hunters.

It’s just unknown why the human god Huangquan of the Evangelical Institute stands by the Taoyuan Village Master in the modern world.

Next, I again tried asking, "As far as I know, there should only be two or three human gods in the Evangelical Institute, so why are there four now? Or did I misremember?"

Echo responded, "It might not be entirely wrong; maybe you didn’t count King Zhuanlun, while Shentu has only recently joined as a human god... I also don’t know if Shentu should be classified as a human god; there’s word that Shentu is actually not a human god but a Great Demon."

"The Great Demon would join the organization?" I couldn’t understand.

"It’s just a rumor lacking concrete evidence." The wandering soul shook his head again, "I don’t know more than that."

In other words, the only recognized human gods in the Evangelical Institute now are just the Evangelical Institute Master Yama and Huang Quan.

Considering that Huang Quan has been killed by me, doesn’t it mean that the true leader the monks of the Evangelical Institute follow is only Yama?

However, there’s still something very suspicious about Huang Quan’s death. I still can’t figure out why Huang Quan would sacrifice his life to banish me into the void. Even if I have the chance to grow in the future, he had no reason to give up his life for that.

Is he really dead? I lack enough substantial feeling about it.

While I was pondering, the wandering soul had almost finished checking the cartographer’s map, and then said to me: "Thank you, this map is very useful. Judging from the map on my arm, the location of the Three-Life Stone Powder should be not far from here."

"Not far from here" is a contradictory statement in the chaotic temporal and spatial context; maybe he’s just expressing that the time needed to get there won’t be long.

"Then, let’s get ready to set off."

Saying this, I looked at Tan Xiang and asked, "What are your plans afterward? Although I said I won’t abandon you for now, I also don’t recommend you stay with us for too long.

"If anything strange appears on the road ahead, I will deal with it all; and correspondingly, as long as you walk with me, it’s destined that numerous strange creatures will attack us. The wandering soul has an undying body, and can withstand some accidents; overall, the benefits will far outweigh the damages; but if something happens to you, it would truly be hopeless."

Upon hearing this, the wandering soul looked at me in surprise.

Unlike Tan Xiang’s situation, even if the wandering soul refused to accompany me, I would find ways to force him to go with me to find the Three-Life Stone Powder. Fortunately, perhaps because I am his benefactor, the wandering soul did not show any sign of resistance.

Tan Xiang hesitated: "This..."

On the way to the safehouse, Tan Xiang also witnessed many scenes of strange attacks. Just compared to being with me, he might still be more afraid of being alone, and the hue of hesitation gradually faded.

"I... I want to go home," he said, "I want to survive to go home... this must be a nightmare. Even if it’s not a nightmare, I still want to go back... I can’t believe this place is my future."

He looked around at the desolate scenery, then looked at me and continued, "I want to stick with you for now. If anything happens during this period, just tell me, and I’ll do my utmost to help.

"And if we encounter other survivor teams, I will try to join them and won’t bother you anymore... will that be okay?"

"That’s fine," I nodded.

Before setting off, we did a simple collection of the pedestrian street ruins.

The main thing was to take the blessing from the safehouse. This mass of white light can’t be touched, like an illusion, but it reacts to blessing power, so the wandering soul can carry it with his hands. The wandering soul put the large blessing into an empty lantern found in the safehouse ruins and proactively exchanged it with the blessing lantern in my hand.

Tan Xiang gathered the remaining small amount of food and water from beneath the safehouse ruins. It wasn’t necessary to check the entire pedestrian street, as the cartographer had certainly already concentrated all the found food and water in the safehouse.

In this brief time, I once again tried to sense the "Firefly" located in a place unknown how far away that saved me from the void.

Even though it’s called "Firefly," I can’t determine if it’s really just a spark. It could just as likely be a small bit of heat that doesn’t even amount to a spark, or conversely, it could be a mighty blaze — it might even be the Catastrophe Demon.

Yes, since the Catastrophe Demon is very likely my future self, its flame can certainly be seen as my flame, and it would be logical for me to be able to sense it like the "Firefly."

Was it what drew me to the Doomsday Era?