NOVEL NEXT Chapter 770: Liu Shuying's Awakening
Does the Old Fist God want to achieve a "Great Renunciation" through the external pressure created by strong enemies?
Achieving self-breakthrough in battle can be considered the king's way. I often feel reckless emotions during fights, willing to use any means for victory. In this mental state, one can indeed abandon many important things. So, I can understand the logic behind it.
But can such conditions alone truly achieve the Great Renunciation? I find it hard to see this optimistically. It's precisely because I've tried and approached the Great Renunciation that I know how challenging this task is. If the Great Renunciation were so easy to achieve, I wouldn't have been so troubled in the past. Frankly, I still think the Great Renunciation is an impossible achievement.
Perhaps the Old Fist God has his own thoughts. "Strong enemy" might not be the only reliance for him to open the Fourth Door, and he might have made other preparations in secret, with the strong enemy as just the last link of external pressure.
Having reached this point in the conversation, I finally asked Gua Tianshi about the Divine Seal Fragment.
"To defeat Shan Liangyi and the Old Fist God, and the Master of Divine Seal hidden behind the scenes, I want to get more Divine Seal Fragments from you," I said straightforwardly, "I know you're worried I'll develop thoughts detrimental to the world like the Old Fist God. Honestly, I've indeed had such thoughts in the past, but now I've changed my mind. I hope you can trust me."
Gua Tianshi looked at me deeply, then nodded and said, "I will trust you, and I must trust you now. But I must apologize, as I cannot give you the Divine Seal Fragments. I've already handed over all the Divine Seal Fragments I collected to the living Shen Zhao last year."
"Is that so?" I was a bit surprised.
This means Shen Zhao indeed had some secret collaboration with Gua Tianshi in the past. They could predict early on that "the Master of Divine Seal was a mortal before obtaining the divine seal," a result once considered incorrect, because of their partnership in private. Apparently, they have many stories unknown to an outsider like me.
Meanwhile, Gua Tianshi might even have certain consensus and communication with Evangelist Master Yan Mo.
"Yan Mo has a premonition of the Old Fist God's unknown ambitions," which Gua Tianshi mentioned not for the first time, though last time he added "perhaps". This time, he stated it with certainty without any pretenses.
Logically, Gua Tianshi cannot possibly know what specific judgments Yan Mo made about the Old Fist God. One resides in the Living World and one in the Post-mortem World, where the latter's region is the most severe and chaotic in the Doomsday process; the prophetic ability cannot obtain solid feedback there.
I am inclined to believe that after a restless relationship was determined between Luo Mountain and the Evangelical Institute, Gua Tianshi and Yan Mo held at least one secret meeting, unknown to Fa Zheng and me.
These two have a common great enemy, the Old Fist God. They have likely reached some consensus on this issue and considered ways to eliminate the Old Fist God. The specific method most likely falls upon Shan Liangyi.
Of course, despite any consensus, Gua Tianshi would not permit Yan Mo to implement a human sacrifice plan, which is why he struck secretly when Shan Liangyi returned to the Post-mortem World.
As for now, with Shan Liangyi proven inadequate to be an enemy of the Old Fist God, Gua Tianshi could only rely on me.
Gua Tianshi seems unconcerned about letting me figure these things out. Given his shrewdness, he could easily have hidden it. He is showing his sincerity now.
I once again replicated the Power of Return, spreading this power over the severely injured and weakened Gua Tianshi.
Since the damage was caused by Shan Liangyi himself, the speed of recovery with the Power of Return was slower than that of restoring a city or resurrecting hundreds of thousands of people. Fortunately, the target of treatment, compared to myself, was not vast. Before long, Gua Tianshi's face regained a healthy glow, looking nothing like he was on the brink of death before.
Gua Tianshi exhaled a long sigh of relief, appearing to enjoy his healthy state, then said, "Sure enough, this is true Power of Manifestation... Thank you very much, Zhuang Cheng."
"You're welcome. It's merely a token of my gratitude," I replied, "See you later. I'll go meet others first."
After leaving Gua Tianshi's room, I found Little Bowl nearby, who then led me to see Mr. Zhu, Lu Chan, Changan, and others in other places in the residence.
They have been hiding at this location during this period. Although according to Gua Tianshi, the possibility of Shan Liangyi kidnapping those close to me as hostages is low, even if it did happen, it would only be to buy time to adjust his condition, not turning them into material to force my surrender. Yet, correspondingly, Shan Liangyi would not care about the hostages' value, easily turning into a scenario where hostages are killed to provoke me. To prevent this, Gua Tianshi sheltered them all.
Zhu Shi's grandmother and others were also arranged to the residence, and Zhu Jiu's body was moved over as well; everything was covered.
After confirming everyone's status, I privately communicated with Little Bowl in an empty room within the residence. To rely on Little Bowl's wisdom, I told her everything about my conversation with Gua Tianshi, hoping it could serve as material for her to devise strategies for me later.
While sharing this information, I specifically used the Power of Divine Seal Fragments, like Shen Zhao in life, to establish a barrier that prevents the Master of Divine Seal Tai Sui from eavesdropping.
Once out of others' sight, Little Bowl's movements became a bit bold. I sat on the edge of the bed, and Little Bowl sat on my lap, holding me tightly face to face like a sloth embracing a tree. She listened to the information I conveyed, intermittently asking for additional details with a voice tinged with laughter, and asked me to stroke her back like soothing a kitten.
I am now a firm partner of Mazao, willing to fight to save the world—Little Bowl still rejoiced over this, becoming as coquettish as a real child.
Seeing her so happy, I also felt quite joyful.
However, the important matters still required a serious push forward.
"...Now, I probably understand why the Old Fist God refused to fight Liu Shuying again," I said.
Little Bowl also slowly resumed her serious demeanor, then curiously asked, "Why is that?"
I recalled the Old Fist God's words about not wanting to "compete against an opponent who doesn't use their full strength," remembered Liu Shuying's mysterious attitude when mentioning the Old Fist God's wish, and pondered over the desire the Old Fist God might want to fulfill...
"Gua Tianshi mentioned that the Old Fist God's goal might be a 'Doomsday World' far more malicious in nature than ours... Hearing this, I was deeply intrigued. What kind of world is that?" I wondered, "If possible, I'd like to witness it... Undoubtedly, if I have this thought, Liu Shuying surely would too.
"Whether he deduced this matter like Gua Tianshi and Yan Mo or learned about it during his encounters with the Old Fist God... from the moment he knew, he likely couldn't focus solely on the purpose of killing the Old Fist God.
"Even if it wouldn't necessarily prevent him from using a full hundred percent of his power in battle, when one side is single-mindedly pursuing victory and the other is contemplating something else, it already creates a significant gap. I don't know if Liu Shuying truly has the power to defeat the Old Fist God, but at that time, he was certainly not the opponent the Old Fist God expected."
Little Bowl understood and said, "So the Old Fist God merely banished Liu Shuying to the Void, hoping for a future battle with Liu Shuying when he can give his all; meanwhile, to prevent Liu Shuying, the Current World Divine Seal's Master, from disturbing him, he needed to temporarily block Liu Shuying's return…
"And the reason Liu Shuying couldn't give his all is because he secretly hopes the Old Fist God can realize his dream and achieve that extremely dangerous world…
"But doesn't Liu Shuying wish to reclaim the Current World Divine Seal and become the 'true Master of Divine Seal' again?"
Tai Sui mentioned that once the location of the Current World Divine Seal is confirmed, Liu Shuying can have it automatically return to him through his identity as the Master of the Current World Divine Seal.
Possibly, Liu Shuying attempted this during his fight with the Old Fist God, but due to the opponent's brute force suppression of the Current World Divine Seal, he failed. Presumably, the Old Fist God also confirmed Liu Shuying's real identity through this phenomenon.
For a regular person, they might panic from such a scenario. The "Golden Finger" that manipulates the world at will should be theirs, yet it is occupied and detained by others.
The power of the Third Door can forcibly mobilize the Current World Divine Seal without Seal Authority, manipulating part of its power, while the Fourth Door's power should completely control the Current World Divine Seal.
By that time, whether or not there is Seal Authority won't matter, as the power itself becomes the Old Fist God's qualification as the Master of Divine Seal, making him the new Master of the Current World Divine Seal.
From Liu Shuying's stance, this is an extremely terrible matter. Once a "true Master of Divine Seal," he couldn't even retrieve the Current World Divine Seal in the end, which is a huge loss no matter how you see it.
However, Liu Shuying might never have truly cared about this matter from the start. Why is that…
"...'Success need not be in me'." I recited the phrase.