NOVEL NEXT Chapter 767: Shan Liangyi's Reincarnation 1
Shan Liangyi seemed as if he were blocked by an invisible wall ahead, unable to move forward an inch. His entire body trembled uncontrollably, and the Yin Yang Black and White Magic Power vortex gathering in his palm was on the verge of exploding out of control.
What on earth happened here? The historical scenes are too blurry for me to make out the detailed specifics of the situation. What exactly is Old Fist God's special ability? Shan Liangyi appeared petrified. Could it be that this ability's truth forces the opponent into immobility, like an immobilization spell?
"What's wrong, Shan Liangyi?"
Old Fist God placed one hand behind his back, standing casually and calmly in place, as if feigning ignorance, "I'm right here... why don't you come and attack me?"
Shan Liangyi's trembling grew more severe, and abruptly he let out a thunderous shout. The cosmic space lacked air and couldn't transfer sound through vibrations, so his shout spread out using mana fluctuations as its medium. The mana fluctuations erupting from his body were extremely violent, ravaging the spacetime like a cosmic storm.
As an onlooker peering through the blurry historical scene, I couldn't discern what changes occurred to Shan Liangyi's body, but Shan Liangyi, being the party involved, probably had a good understanding. Most of the time, mana is the power of the spirit or soul, and excessive external pressure combined with intense emotional stimuli can sometimes cause the mana of the person involved to burn more vigorously.
Shame, fury, hatred... all these extreme emotions exploded within Shan Liangyi, and his mana fluctuations became unprecedentedly powerful, as if reflecting the changes in his inner state.
"Ahhhhh!! Old Fist God! You, you dare do this to me!!!" Shan Liangyi let out an extremely angry roar, "You shameless degenerate! I will kill you... I will kill you!!!"
—Could it be that Old Fist God's special ability is an Illusion Technique that makes people see unbearable memories, or something similar that can stir emotions in others within the spirit realm?
I couldn't help but speculate this way but felt it wasn't quite reasonable. For someone like the Old Fist God, who calls himself a straightforward martial artist, how could he awaken such an elusive and illusionary ability? It's as incongruous as someone learning martial arts only to finally master the secret of spiritual control. It just feels very awkward.
A self-awakened superpower often closely relates to the person's mental form, just like how the Power of Return only reveals itself in someone like Mazao, who wants to amend past mistakes. The true nature of Old Fist God's special ability should also be deduced from his personality traits. For instance, since he so dislikes the presence of mana in himself, it's possible he would awaken a special ability to "suppress and erase all mana."
However, looking at Shan Liangyi's current state, to say his mana has been suppressed or erased is absolutely a misguided judgment.
He seems to be struggling against the Old Fist God's power entangled with him, frantically writhing in place, trying to rid himself of this leech-like force. I couldn't see any visible damage to his body, nor did his soul seem to undergo any terrible change, yet he acted as though encountering an unbearably terrifying influence, unable even for a moment to endure the torment he was experiencing.
In other words, the power at work may not be acting on the body and soul, but directly on the True Spirit layer. Since Shan Liangyi now has the Innate Manifestation Talent, power that directly affects the True Spirit is evidently the most harmful to him. This could also explain why I can't discern the true nature of this power. If someone like Gua Tianshi, who could witness the battle firsthand, couldn't tell, then it's genuinely impossible to determine what Old Fist God did to Shan Liangyi on the True Spirit layer through such fuzzy historical images.
Then, something even more baffling occurred.
Though he kept uttering curses, saying he would never forgive Old Fist God and would slice him into a thousand pieces, Shan Liangyi's body seemed to betray his will, turned away, and ran off.
Such a proud Shan Liangyi, who just a moment ago could advance bravely towards victory using the Method of Seeking Life in Death, suddenly turned his back on a long-standing, irreconcilable enemy—and fled!?
Even though it wasn't his first time choosing to retreat from the battlefield, in the Post-mortem World he stood right before me and opted to leave because he was in a malfunctioning state. Now, however, I honestly can't think of what reason he might have for his cowardly conduct.
Just not in the mood? Suddenly remembered another urgent matter? It's hard to imagine someone with Shan Liangyi's strong pride finding such an unconvincing excuse. Is Old Fist God's special ability truly so terrifying that even Shan Liangyi, when encountered, can't help but break his lines, forsake his dignity, and flee like a terrified dog with its tail between its legs?
"Old Fist God... I admit defeat in this battle. Next time... I will make you regret it from your soul and pay the most excruciating price for your actions!"
Even as he retreated, Shan Liangyi did not forget to utter his fierce words.
"—Hmm?"
Upon witnessing this change, the Old Fist God seemed very surprised as well. For the first time, the excited and ferocious smile disappeared from his face. His gaze became one of disappointment and anger as mana fluctuations encircled his fists, seemingly ready to strike out and directly crush Shan Liangyi, who had fled into the distance.
But after raising his fist, he paused slightly. After a moment of thought, he seemed no longer disappointed, just sighed discontentedly, watching as Shan Liangyi's figure disappeared from his shooting range.
The battle between the two ended anticlimactically here.
My gaze withdrew from the historical scene, and Gua Tianshi also spontaneously stopped his narrative.
"Why didn't the Old Fist God pursue Shan Liangyi, who fled in panic?" I asked Gua Tianshi, the person who had personally observed the battlefield.
"The Old Fist God's strikes are always lethal, because martial arts is the way of slaughter, and its techniques naturally focus on killing. However, he doesn't have an obsession with the result of 'killing the enemy.' If the enemy, after being defeated, can luckily escape with their life, he won't specifically go for the final blow," said Gua Tianshi. "In fact, if the enemy becomes stronger after narrowly escaping death and comes back for revenge, he would be very pleased. During his rise, such events happened more than once.
"But... as you felt, this time is different. Even though Shan Liangyi admitted defeat and temporarily lost the will to fight, he still had ample combat capability. Against such an evasive enemy, the Old Fist God wouldn't let it slide, usually forcing the opponent with the threat of death to use every last ounce of their strength to fight to the end.
"I also cannot determine why the Old Fist God gave up his pursuit. Furthermore, you might want to ask if I can discern the Old Fist God's special ability—here's the direct answer: I don't know. The conflicts between the third path of Impermanence are beyond the limits of my observation in many aspects.
"As a piece of reference information for analyzing Shan Liangyi's escape behavior, I can tell you that the preparations and accumulation Shan Liangyi made before this revenge battle against the Old Fist God likely far exceeded your estimation."
"Why do you say that?" I asked curiously.
"The event when the Old Fist God killed Shan Liangyi wasn't that long ago, it happened in the 20th century. But in the eyes of some who heard of Shan Liangyi, this event occurred in Shan Liangyi's previous life, and then he reincarnated in the 21st century, which is the present, intending to take revenge on the Old Fist God," said Gua Tianshi.
I nodded. Water Navy Xuanwu also mentioned that the event of the Old Fist God killing Shan Liangyi happened among his following generations. So it wasn't very long ago.
Suddenly, I realized something was off. If the Xuanwu Inheritor of the previous generation is still alive, then no new Xuanwu Inheritor would appear in the next generation. But I heard that when the Old Fist God fought against Shan Liangyi in the past, Shan Liangyi had completed the recovery of all the Power Seeds. Isn't this somewhat contradictory?
However, Gua Tianshi continued, but what he mentioned wasn't the contradiction of the Xuanwu Inheritor but another issue: "Have you noticed? From Shan Liangyi's defeat to his revenge, wasn't the time interval too short?"
"Short..." I pondered.
"Shan Liangyi's method of becoming stronger was to condense most of his power into the Four Symbols Seeds and distribute them, then reclaim them, stacking the power and talents of contemporary Liangyi Inheritors upon himself," said Gua Tianshi. "But you must know that Shan Liangyi is a super strong person who opened the third path. Even if all four Liangyi Inheritors in a generation miraculously became Impermanence and added their power entirely onto his, could it truly provide him with a significant boost?
"Just like the combined power of four Great Success Ranks cannot be compared to Impermanence, the power and talents of four Impermanence added together for Shan Liangyi are also a drop in the ocean. The only thing with significant enhancement, perhaps, is your Innate Manifestation. But Shan Liangyi couldn't predict the emergence of you in this generation. Since he chose to reincarnate in the era of the Old Fist God, it indicates he considers this life the right moment for revenge.
"You must understand that his goal is not only to become strong enough to match the Old Fist God but to surpass him, securely overpowering and defeating him. The accumulation required for this is more than just one generation, isn't it?"
With that, I realized, "Even more importantly... not every generation's Liangyi Inheritors can become Impermanence. In the era of Water Master Xuanwu, only Zhu Yi reached Impermanence..."