NOVEL NEXT Chapter 773: The Truth of Compatibility
"The question raised by Brother Zhuang Cheng should be split into two separate issues to address," Little Bowl mused. "Step one requires us to first snatch the position of Master of the Doomsday Divine Seal away from Tai Sui; step two involves figuring out how to merge the Doomsday Divine Seal with the Current World Divine Seal."
"From the way you speak, it seems like you already have some ideas?" I asked.
"I do," Little Bowl replied. "Brother Zhuang Cheng, why do you think your compatibility with the divine seal fragments is so poor?"
"Is it because Tai Sui manipulated something?" I asked.
"Your low compatibility issue with the divine seal fragments began to surface when you first encountered the divine seal fragments in the basement of the fifteenth floor," Little Bowl said. "But your contact with the divine seal fragments and becoming a Void Envoy were events beyond Tai Sui's arrangement, so he couldn't have planned for this in advance. However, the case that occurred to you is indeed unique, unmatched among all Void Envoys, so we must analyze the distinctive features you possess that other Void Envoys do not."
"I used to wonder if it was because I was not initially designated by Tai Sui as a Void Envoy," I said. "But after re-becoming a Void Envoy, the low compatibility issue still persists, so I think that shouldn't be the reason..."
Little Bowl nodded and said, "I'll just give my conclusion. Didn't Tai Sui say before that he used his Seal Authority to set all the Doomsday Divine Seal Fragments to automatically steer away from Liu Shuying? I think your low compatibility issue might be related to this."
"Are you suggesting that because I am too similar to Liu Shuying, I was affected? But this hypothesis has two flaws," I said. "Firstly, Tai Sui knew that the Seal Master was Liu Shuying, and although I used to share similar spirits with Liu Shuying, there were many differences in specific appearances, ages, backgrounds, etc., so it shouldn't be possible for him to accurately target Liu Shuying while also targeting me.
"Secondly, even if it indeed was a spirit similarity issue that caused the divine seal fragments to mistakenly group me with Liu Shuying, my consciousness has now embarked on a different path, so why am I still treated as Liu Shuying by the divine seal fragments?"
Little Bowl was prepared and said, "This is caused by the 'selector conditions.'"
"Selector conditions?" I asked.
"Tai Sui certainly knew that the Seal Master was Liu Shuying, but he didn't know from the very start. At least, when he had just become the Master of the Divine Seal, he was still unable to pinpoint Liu Shuying. It was only later that he narrowed down the suspects through his almost omniscient capabilities to identify Liu Shuying," Little Bowl said. "Meanwhile, his desire for others not to collect the Doomsday Divine Seal Fragments existed from the outset.
"During that phase, he didn't know the Seal Master's name, appearance, age, background, and so on in this world, but as Master of the Divine Seal, he had the authority to keep all Doomsday Divine Seal Fragments away from specific targets. If I were him, I would certainly use my understanding of my student to input some general settings for this 'specific target.'
"Firstly, the Seal Master is inherently a young person, unlikely to transform into a middle-aged or elderly person in the New World, but possibly reverting to a youthful state, thus the age is most likely between adolescence to youth. Then the gender is male, with actual power or potential power starting at Impermanence, extremely passionate about thrilling adventures and the unknown at the edge of life and death...
"See, doesn't this narrow down the range significantly? Although it's unclear what other conditions Tai Sui may have listed, just with these simple criteria, apart from Brother Zhuang Cheng and Liu Shuying, there's probably no one else who fits the bill, right?"
"I see," I understood. "So I just happened to match the search tag entries that Tai Sui used for Liu Shuying... But aren't I quite different from Liu Shuying now?"
"That's in the eyes of Brother Zhuang Cheng himself," Little Bowl said. "In reality, you still have a strong passion for adventure, just no longer insisting it be 'magical adventures.' What difference is there from an 'outsider' view like Tai Sui's?
"Many older people still believe that animations and comics are things only for children. People who enjoy same-sex themed works are always meticulous about roles like the top and bottom, often arguing about it incessantly. Internally, they see it as entirely different concepts, but that ultimately is just niche community peculiarities. Outsiders won't distinguish it that clearly."
"Aren't your examples a bit off topic?" I said.
"Ahem... That must be the pollution brought on by Zhu Shi's spirit," Little Bowl said earnestly. "In conclusion... This is the main reason Tai Sui determined you were unlikely to possess the divine seal.
"Perhaps there are minor discrepancies between you and the selector conditions set by Tai Sui, but enough to account for the current low compatibility issue.
"Tai Sui himself is probably aware that the source of this phenomenon is his past selector conditions, but he won't modify them now. And unless his soul is erased from all the divine seal fragments, this selector condition is likely to persist."
"I currently can't kill Tai Sui," I stated outright. "Tai Sui's soul is spread across all the divine seal fragments, and to completely kill him, I must first locate all the divine seal fragments. To achieve this, I have to first possess the divine seal, becoming similar to Tai Sui's existential form, and then use more than half of the divine seal fragments to summon the remaining ones. But the problem now is that I can't even accomplish the first step..."
"I can accomplish the first step," Little Bowl said. "I will possess the divine seal fragments with the power of the Divine Son and summon all the divine seal fragments, suppress Tai Sui, and forcibly become the new Master of the Doomsday Divine Seal."
I asked back, "You?"
"Yes." Little Bowl said seriously, "For this, Brother Zhuang Cheng needs to entrust all of his Divine Seal Fragments to me, so that I can obtain more than half of the Seal Authority and grasp the prerequisite for suppressing Tai Sui.
"And that alone is far from enough, because Tai Sui must have a huge initial advantage. All of the Divine Seal Fragments contain his soul components, currently only unable to form the original density and integration due to over-dispersion."
She summoned the Divine Seal Fragment bound to her, looked at it deeply, and continued, "So currently, we can only rely on the barriers formed by the power of the Divine Seal Fragments to prevent his eavesdropping, but this fragile state will also be lifted as the fragments gather... No matter how much it conflicts with the current worldview or how inexperienced he is in using mana, Tai Sui once had the identity of the Impermanence of the Evangelical Institute, and he cannot be underestimated.
"In contrast, not only do I lack soul strength, but my spirit is innately not good at conflict combat, so at that time, I will need Brother Zhuang Cheng to integrate his strength into the gathered Divine Seal Fragments, strengthen my soul, and help me surpass Tai Sui."
After thinking for a moment, I said, "Although I want to agree to your request... my power cannot be integrated into creations related to True Spirit Power."
"You can, Brother Zhuang Cheng," Little Bowl said, "Others might not be able to, but the Divine Seal Fragments are different. The process of us Void Envoys entering the Void Realm itself is a process of entering the network constructed by the power of the Divine Seal Fragments with our spirit. Since your strength is your spirit, there is no reason for it to be rejected by the nature of the True Spirit Power of the Divine Seal Fragments.
"Even with Tai Sui's 'selection criteria,' it cannot completely prohibit you, who also holds Seal Authority, from accessing the Divine Seal Fragments autonomously, using the power of the Divine Seal Fragments, and integrating your strength into the Divine Seal Fragments.
"—At the same time, this is also the main reason Tai Sui believes you can merge the Doomsday Divine Seal with the Current World Divine Seal."
Upon hearing this, I took out the Divine Seal Fragment bound to me and made an attempt. Sure enough, Little Bowl was right, my power could really enter it. Although I couldn't settle and attach within the Divine Seal Fragment, it was enough to move freely inside.
I could also sense the invisible connections between my Divine Seal Fragment and the surrounding fragments. By fully utilizing my Power of Manifestation, I could transmit flames to other Divine Seal Fragments along these connections.
Incidentally, within these Divine Seal Fragments, there was a faint sense of foreign matter... that might be the soul components of Tai Sui in standby mode.
However, these soul components were too tightly integrated with the Divine Seal Fragments, essentially considered as part of the fragments themselves. Without the power to truly destroy the Divine Seal Fragments, it would be impossible to eradicate their soul components.
Fortunately, if the goal is not to destroy these soul components but to use power to strengthen Little Bowl's soul, helping her further push Tai Sui from his position... then there should still be feasibility.
Thinking about what Little Bowl said just now, I asked, "Why do you also think I can merge the Doomsday Divine Seal and the Current World Divine Seal?"
"First, I hope Brother Zhuang Cheng will conduct a test..." Little Bowl said, "Can you convert the Divine Seal Fragment into your own flame?"
"—What?" I was very surprised.
Turning the Divine Seal Fragment into my own flame?
I dared not even imagine such a thing, much less doing it... Why would Little Bowl think I could accomplish it?
However, this test was just a simple step. Since she mentioned it, I casually gave it a try.
Unexpectedly... before my eyes, the Divine Seal Fragment bound to me really disintegrated on the spot and turned into a small flame.
I tried patting it onto myself, and the flame entered me seamlessly. Then I summoned it again and reassembled it into the form of a black jade.
Suddenly, I recalled some past events. This strange occurrence wasn't the first time I'd done something like this.
Before the Master of the Divine Seal, Tai Sui, held the first Virtual Realm Conference, although each Divine Seal Fragment was bound to every Void Envoy, they were not hidden in our consciousness. It was just that whenever we moved far away, the Divine Seal Fragments would silently and mysteriously appear by our side after a while. And whenever I used the "Flame Transmission" skill, the Divine Seal Fragments would also transform into flames and move to distant places with me.