Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo

The abilities of the Divine Son do not significantly enhance me at this point, and the superpower of "All-round Enhancement" is similar to "Buzhou Mountain," ceasing to be special from the Impermanence stage onward, and certainly not after pushing open the Third Gate. While it can provide a substantial boost when used on Mazao, I cannot expect to gain the same level of benefit when applied to myself.

At this moment, simulating the Divine Son isn't specifically to bestow a powerful blessing state upon Mazao; that's just a byproduct. The real purpose lies in the next step.

I then simulate a new power once again, an invisible distortion emerges in my hand, which is precisely the Power of Return of Mazao.

Then, I observed the vortex of world destiny centered around Mazao.

To have both the power of the Divine Son and the Power of Return theoretically means anything Mazao can accomplish, I can completely accomplish as well. Since the planetary natural will values Mazao due to the presence of the Power of Return, I might also receive the same attention if I can do the same things. Once I gain the boost from the vortex of world destiny, I can immediately simulate the operational principles of the Human Dao Divine Weapon, transforming the boundless force of the planetary natural will, as vast as a sea, into my power.

Mazao has to consider his endurance and blessing strength when receiving power, but I far surpass these aspects. With the strength of the Third Gate, and as the ultimate superior version of the Divine Son, I might even withhold the entire force of the planetary natural will.

If that's the case, perhaps I don't even need to obtain the Complete Divine Seal; I, myself, am the humanoid divine seal. Neither Shan Liangyi nor the Old Fist God are qualified to stand before me, and the Master of Divine Seal and the hidden Seal Master are no concern.

However, a second passed, two seconds passed... I waited for quite a while, and the vortex of world destiny did not draw towards me.

What did I not do right? I tried to carefully sense my state, and once again simulated the properties of the Power of Return and the Divine Son, attempting to deceive the planetary natural will's force over to me.

The vortex of world destiny remained unwavering.

A moment later, I still did not make progress along this path; rather, I tested results in other aspects, which was the safety margin in utilizing the Power of Manifestation.

What I wanted to test from the beginning was this, but what I'm doing now came as a spontaneous idea, which unexpectedly turned out to be right.

Let's start with the Divine Son power first. Though I naturally gave Mazao a blessing just now, strictly speaking, this blessing cannot be given to anyone as a matter of course. Just like Little Bowl, I do not have the mindset to save the masses. This blessing can only be given to a very limited selection of people: Mazao, Zhu Shi... In the real world, Changan is likely among them. Only those whom I can wholeheartedly offer prayers to can become the subjects of blessings.

And the issue with the Power of Return is even more pronounced. It is a sort of power like a remedy of regret, which can retract choices made, turning past events as if they never happened. Just describing it this way reveals its contradictions. Indeed, this ability fundamentally lacks compatibility with my nature—it is alter my soul structure to be fit for using such power, causing me to feel deeply distorted from within.

Most of the powers I can use can combine with the Manifestation Realm, which has the characteristic of infinite energy, to output endlessly, but the Power of Return is not among them.

If it's just to continue outputting for several days, weeks, or even two to three months, it's not a big problem... But continuously outputting for several months, or even more than a year, I'm not sure what would happen.

It can be done forcibly. Including the power of the Divine Son, it is feasible if I insist on blessing others, it merely requires a deeper alteration of my soul structure. However, there must be a limit; just as the abuse of the Third Gate's power would create many bugs, leading to Doomsday, abusing the Power of Manifestation to transform my soul could also produce unknown adverse effects.

The lack of response from the planetary natural will might also be related to this.

According to Huang Quan's speculation, the reason the planetary natural will—the Naraku Gospel—hopes for a weak girl like Mazao to save the world is merely akin to a drowning victim desperately grasping for anything, not letting go of even the tiniest thread.

But perhaps this is just a misunderstanding. As a product formed by the accumulation of death over billions of years in the Earth Ecological Circle, the Naraku Gospel may not possess such an urgent "will to live" like vibrant life. The action of "choosing Mazao" might have some profound intent that I cannot yet fathom.

Unable to currently find a direction to decipher it, I have to shift my focus back to the issue of the Power of Manifestation, then figure out the precise safe margin.

The reason why I can transform into anything in the Manifestation Realm is that as long as it aligns with the principle of "adventure," I can become anyone. Continuing magical adventures is possible, but saying goodbye to this path to become an explorer or scientist is also entirely permissible. Thus, to conform to the essence no matter the change, fundamentally, it's just me pursuing thrilling excitement.

The safe range of change is closely related to the scope of explanation of the purpose as the guiding principle. The more possibilities a purpose has, the more it can accommodate numerous changes, and the upper limit of power will undoubtedly increase. In this light, perhaps the power obtained by different people reaching the Manifestation Realm varies, and even the specific forms of manifestation are different.

It may sound self-satisfied to say this, but the concept of "adventure" as the guiding principle of my manifestation should allow for a very large range of change, and it's also easy to interpret it in the direction of "power"—because to overcome dangerous situations, one must have sufficient power.

Conversely, if there is a Manifestation and Enlightenment individual who has little interest in adventure and combat and does not seek stronger power, but simply wants to live a quiet life with their family?

To say it more extremely, if they just want to be a recluse at home seeking a peaceful life like a plant? Although I believe wishes have no hierarchy, at least compared to outdoor activities, the diversity of development for hermit-like life seems relatively less.

Additionally, the concepts and wishes are not conjured from thin air; they are built on the accumulation of one's life experience, which forms the base color of everyone's soul. Mazao is the type who dislikes adventure; further, she is essentially very averse to danger, the unknown, and uncertainty, which is far from my base color. If the Power of Return is born from such a base color, it's only natural that it wouldn't suit me.

This base color—the potential fixation of one's soul—is the ever-present "I-obsession" for a Manifestation and Enlightenment individual. No matter how many types of abilities and talents can emerge, they are inevitably limited by it, and the upper limit of power is thereby determined.

I am not the first Manifestation and Enlightenment individual in history, but in the past not every Manifestation and Enlightenment individual pushed open the third door like I did, and this reason is probably why.

It is possible to break through the upper limit, and it doesn't even require choosing to merge with All Things. As long as one more deeply abandons the "I-obsession," at the cost of killing oneself, to reassemble into another "stronger soul" not oneself... Although I don't know whether this new soul spawned on my "corpse" will inherit the nature of manifestation, it can be assured to be stronger than my current self.

Perhaps this is the most in line with what the Old Fist God called the "Great Renunciation" approach.

Furthermore, compared to the true "Great Renunciation," this approach only requires the mere determination to abandon one's life and can be achieved, with the only limitation being that only Manifestation and Enlightenment individuals can do it, making it quite lenient.

Although I have no interest in suicide, I can tentatively include it in the "usable methods."

Are there other ways to become stronger? I tried using the Divine Seal Fragments bound to me.

After pushing open the third door, the power can be used to forcibly interfere with the Divine Seal Fragments. Based on the depth of my connection and compatibility with the Divine Seal Fragments, I originally could only output a small amount of Power of Divine Seal Fragments, but now as long as I forcefully urge the Divine Seal Fragments with the mindset of "give me more power!" I can forcibly make it output far more power than before.

The output power of one Divine Seal Fragment is roughly equivalent to one Impermanence, though it's unclear whether it's the limit. With so much True Spirit Power, not only "True Death" but also the other attributes of True Spirit Power can be restored.

However, as for how useful it will be in the upcoming battle with Shan Liangyi, it can't be expected much. Because Shan Liangyi also has at least two Divine Seal Fragments, they can do the same as I can, and the damage caused by True Spirit Power cannot be absolute. Moreover, forcibly urging the Divine Seal Fragments also requires a substantial portion of my power, and the costs and benefits cannot even out. The yin yang black and white magic power that is equivalent to True Spirit Power in output efficiency far surpasses on this side, and it's uncertain whether it can resist the other effects of True Spirit Power.

However, most of those resistances can only be made when Shan Liangyi is alive; if dead, it's hard to say. Thus, the "True Death" aspect remains a strong and powerful trump card.

I also tried to make the Power of Divine Seal Fragments exhibit other changes—the True Spirit Power is merely the basic manifestation form of the Power of Divine Seal Fragments, and there should be other forms, like Xu Gou's Power of Cutting Reality, Little Bowl's Healing True Spirit Power, etc., and Divine Light seems able to use the Power of Divine Seal Fragments to directly enhance his own power.

But I cannot achieve any of those. As the saying goes, a forced melon is not sweet; the forced method not achieving the desired effect is expected, so I can only change my mindset. Because I have to guard against the Master of Divine Seal, I did not try to strengthen the connection with the Divine Seal Fragments, but instead altered my soul structure to see if I could improve my compatibility with the Divine Seal Fragments.

But no matter how I change, the compatibility remains very poor. Upon careful reflection, in the past even with the connection with the Divine Seal Fragments becoming deeper, the compatibility was consistently severely unfavorable. Given the current situation, even using the reason "I was not originally chosen by the Master of Divine Seal" seems somewhat unreasonable.

In the past, when I obtained the qualification as a Void Envoy in the fifteenth-floor basement and entered the Void Realm, it might have been an "illegal incursion," and shortly before I regained the qualification as a Void Envoy, I should have received the permission of the Master of Divine Seal.

This "very poor compatibility" phenomenon, is there an unknown explanation?

As I pondered halfway, Fa Zheng's side seemed to have reached a conclusion.