Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo

What Liu Shuying desires is the "next world," a world more vibrant than the present. As for who creates that world, he probably doesn't care much. Creating it himself would be ideal, but having the Old Fist God create it wouldn't be unacceptable either.

From another perspective, a magic world created by someone else might be even more unknown and exciting. The world won't advance according to his will, and Liu Shuying can't continue being a "Prophet" in the next world. From a standpoint of interest and safety, that's not beneficial, but from an adventure standpoint, it's an improvement.

Whether Liu Shuying truly thinks this way doesn't need confirmation from him. In a sense, he is just another version of me in this world. Only regarding his true thoughts can I make a very certain judgment.

If his existence as a Third Door Impermanence obstructs the completion of the next world, Liu Shuying might even be willing to retreat into the void or cosmic deep space, waiting until the Old Fist God completes the worldview revision before returning.

Tai Sui is incredibly wary of Doomsday, but I, who can integrate into all worlds as a Manifestation and Enlightenment, aside, he certainly won't allow the Third Door Impermanence, capable of spreading errors and distortions, to appear again after the world reboot. However, Liu Shuying and the Old Fist God likely don't have this obsession. Even if the existence of the Third Door Impermanence itself affects the new world's completeness, Liu Shuying isn't that much of a perfectionist, and the Old Fist God likely cares not about the new world itself but rather finding specific people, events, or things in it.

However, Liu Shuying and the Old Fist God might have another view regarding Shan Liangyi.

It's not that the presence of the Third Door Impermanence in a world would cause its worldview to be completely distorted. In fact, this world now has three Third Door Impermanences: me, Shan Liangyi, and the Old Fist God. If we count Liu Shuying, who is temporarily wandering in the void, there are four in total. Even with the shadow of the "Doomsday Process," it shows that the existence of the Third Door Impermanence doesn't easily pose a particularly big problem for the continuity of a world.

But within this, Shan Liangyi has an overly special nature. I only gradually realized this now—while all Third Door Impermanences affect the native worldview, Shan Liangyi, with his frequent reincarnations in the past and future, secretly lurking in the same era with countless identities, has an extremely destructive effect on the history of his current world.

Even if Shan Liangyi doesn't intentionally create a new doomsday, he easily causes the new worldview to be skewed. Although I don't know how others feel, in my adventures so far, there have been too many parts where Shan Liangyi's massive shadow lurks behind the scenes. The ancestor of the Zhu family, Water Navy Xuanwu, Ying Lingyun, Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang, Evangelical Institute Master Yan Mo… it seems anyone can be connected to him. Over time, an unavoidable monotony sets in.

Liu Shuying has spent several times longer than me venturing in an abnormal world, he probably has encountered similar phenomena more than once. In every adventure's midway and end, he always seems to uniformly glimpse that figure leaving its footprints and scent throughout history. He likely wants to settle things with Shan Liangyi before the new world is born, driven somewhat by a motive of annoyance.

"Is it not necessary to succeed in everything?" Little Bowl muttered, "Liu Shuying actually has thoughts similar to those of Master of Divine Seal Tai Sui… it's because they're master-student that they have such similar views?"

"Little Bowl, I have an issue I can't overcome purely with my wisdom," I said. "Tai Sui told me this world is terminally ill and must be overhauled to solve the doomsday progress.

"I want to resolve Doomsday without resetting this world to the 'previous world,' because that would mean everything Mazao and the others amassed in this world would become 'unhappened events'.

"I can't ignore such changes... but neither can I deny Tai Sui's theory. Little Bowl, tell me, what should I do?"

I put all my hope in Little Bowl.

After listening, she climbed off me, paced the floor, and fell into a long contemplation.

A moment later, she asked earnestly: "Brother Zhuang Cheng, I need to first confirm something. The 'everything accumulated' you mentioned, does it refer to all human history in this world, or the accumulation of outcomes from Fantian onward?"

I replied: "If I must say, the latter. If possible, I'd also like to preserve the former. Although the former was initially summoned due to Liu Shuying's wish, it stands as true history for those of us living in this world."

"However, you've tried to repair the errors in human history with the Power of Return, right? Isn't such settling treating them as 'unhappened events'?" Little Bowl asked solemnly.

I replied earnestly: "I'm not naïve enough to think one can end battles without shedding a drop of blood, nor am I such a perfectionist that I can't accept any loss. Sometimes, treating severe diseases requires excising rotten flesh even if it's necessary. Of course, certain actions do somewhat contradict my nature, so I can't use the Power of Return for particularly long periods."

"For us living in the present, clearing some faulty history is acceptable, but how about for those who have already become ancient in distant past history, where that may represent their entirety?" Little Bowl asked.

"As you've said, they've already become ancient." I said, "I would prioritize protecting the present."

Talking seriously, my judgment of what "should be protected" stems not greatly from ideas and logic, but from emotion and stance.

In essence, Tai Sui and I are the same.

Tai Sui wishes to reboot the "previous world" because he truly cares about "everything accumulated in the previous world." Whether it's his own accumulated life or others', they are seen as infinitely important to him, to the point he'd risk his life.

No matter how vibrant this world is now, it is unfamiliar to him; he can't develop a sense of belonging here.

To me, even with the knowledge that there's precious accumulation in the "previous world," the chance to redeem it all, even knowing my identity and life might exist there, as well as unlearned relationships and emotions, I don't wish to retrieve it. Because I hold no emotion towards there.

The same goes for distant history. I'm okay with clearing historical faults for the present because I have emotions for the present, not for those who lived in history and have become ancient. This can certainly be called a double standard, and I've never tried to hide this about myself. I am one who makes distinctions between near and far, kin and stranger.

"So, Brother Zhuang Cheng, what you need to do is simple." Little Bowl said, "Use the Power of Return to save this world."

"Power of Return?" I wondered, "I've tried that, but with my effort, I can't undertake this task."

"Of course, not directly using Power of Return forcefully but using the power of the divine seal." Little Bowl said, "The divine seal has the power to grant any wish; using this power to enhance the effects of the Power of Return is feasible. Since you don't want to use the divine seal to summon the old world or create a new world, it can save the current world with the Power of Return."

"But we already have the divine seal, why use the Power of Return instead of directly wishing for the divine seal to repair our world's history to a healthy state?" I asked.

"Because we don't know what health form of history looks like." Little Bowl said, "There's a high risk of submitting incorrect answers to the divine seal, leading to another erroneous history. This chance is near one hundred percent, given the complexity of tens of thousands of years' human history.

"Even the Gua Tianshi, who nearly fully experienced human history, can't submit such an answer, as he experienced only erroneous human history, and wasn't constantly monitoring and recording global changes.

"Just crudely excising demon hunters, abnormal creatures, and other mysterious elements from human history may not be the best plan. Even in the 'previous world,' ancient civilizations, post-mortem worlds, souls, etc., existed. Perhaps Tai Sui was unaware, but roles akin to demon hunters and objects akin to abnormal creatures may have existed in the dark side of that world. A world containing only common sense may not support truly healthy human history.

"We also can't delegate filling in the 'correct human history' exam paper to the divine seal automatically, more accurately, we can't allow the divine seal any freedom in execution. Remember, the current erroneous world was created by Divine Seal Power beyond Liu Shuying's expectations; even with abundant limiting conditions in our wish, we can't guarantee there won't be oversights, leading to consequences graver than the current Doomsday.

A simple question led to Little Bowl already anticipating numerous possibilities. Subsequently, I noticed a new issue.

"But directly using the Power of Return to save the world… won't that just revert the world back to the 'previous world'?" I asked.