"King Zhuanlun... and from the same generation as me?"
Although this was the conclusion from Divination, my first thought was still disbelief.
"Is this divination accurate?" I asked.
"I know why you’re skeptical." Gua Tianshi seemed to have foreseen my reaction. "As a Great Impermanence from ancient times, King Zhuanlun should be separated from you by many generations, even if he and you are both Liangyi Inheritors.
"Moreover, my divination regarding other Great Impermanences might not always be accurate. Even if I can vaguely see some truths, it doesn’t guarantee that I’ll see the truth every time. There might be counter-divination methods at the Great Impermanence level that mislead me to a wrong conclusion... Is that what you’re thinking?"
"Something like that," I said.
Gua Tianshi nodded, "Then I can directly tell you that, although I cannot guarantee my divination is 100% accurate, I am at least 80-90% certain. Even if the truth deviates slightly, it won’t stray too far. You can tentatively believe in this divination."
"But... How is such a thing possible?" I wondered. "Indeed, if King Zhuanlun and I are of the same generation of Liangyi Inheritors, it could explain why there have been no White Tiger or Azure Dragon vacancies in previous generations of Liangyi Inheritors. However..."
"This matter relates to Shan Liangyi’s mechanism for spreading Power Seeds," Gua Tianshi said. "What I’m about to say is purely my analysis based on observations of past generations of Liangyi Inheritors, and I can’t guarantee it’s absolutely correct. You may use it as a reference.
"Firstly, if you’ve carefully investigated past generations of Liangyi Inheritors, you’ll notice an odd phenomenon. Even Liangyi Inheritors from the same generation aren’t necessarily of similar age. Some might be only a few decades or centuries old, while others could be over a thousand years old. Of course, they all became Liangyi Inheritors in their youth."
Due to limited time, I hadn’t gathered enough information about many Liangyi Inheritors, so I could only listen further for now.
"But the interval between different generations of Liangyi Inheritors can sometimes be as short as two or three hundred years, and no additional Liangyi Inheritors appear for each generation," Gua Tianshi continued. "Why do you think this is?"
"Isn’t it because the previous generation’s Liangyi Inheritor lived into the next generation, occupying the corresponding Four Symbols positions ahead of time? Like Xuanwu," I said. "Or is it that even if a Power Seed hasn’t been recovered by the previous generation, the same attribute Liangyi Inheritor will still appear in the next generation? It seems that doesn’t align with the information I’ve gathered."
If it were the latter, then this generation’s "Xuanwu" would have two, and the Water Navy Xuanwu I killed was just one of them.
"Each era has at most four Liangyi Inheritors, and each attribute has only one person. This rule has never been overturned," Gua Tianshi said. "And your guess was right—without recovering a specific Power Seed in the previous generation, the same attribute Liangyi Inheritor won’t appear in the next. Instead, the vacancy is occupied by the surviving Liangyi Inheritor from the previous generation. Hence, this era’s ’Xuanwu’ is only the one you killed. So, you needn’t worry.
"But... hmm, let me amend what I said earlier. Instead of saying ’each era has at most four Liangyi Inheritors,’ it’s more accurate to say that in each era, at most four Liangyi Inheritors can be observed."
I was thoroughly confused: "What does this mean?"
"Let’s continue. Shan Liangyi’s Power Seeds, like himself, have the property of traveling through time and space freely and might reincarnate into different eras simultaneously. Thus, when Shan Liangyi reincarnates into one era, his Power Seed might descend into another," Gua Tianshi said. "Your situation is just that. If nothing unexpected happens, Shan Liangyi has already reincarnated to this era, but one of his Power Seeds has reincarnated to the Ancient Era, making King Zhuanlun a Liangyi Inheritor."
This statement was still contradictory.
The Old Fist God was also a Liangyi Inheritor who survived till now, but he didn’t cause vacancies in subsequent generations, as he had already returned his Power Seed to Shan Liangyi.
But King Zhuanlun is different. He’s a Liangyi Inheritor from the Ancient Era who has survived with a Power Seed to this day, surely causing vacancies in subsequent generations, bringing us back to the original point.
No, that’s not right... I went down the wrong path. Gua Tianshi’s implication is that...
"...if Shan Liangyi’s Power Seed has time-traveling properties, then even if Shan Liangyi can release up to four Power Seeds per reincarnation, more Power Seeds could appear in some eras..." I realized the inherent chaos.
If a person can travel freely through time and space, then a twenty-year-old, thirty-year-old, and forty-year-old version could all appear simultaneously in one era, meaning multiple instances of the same person can exist in the same era.
Due to Power Seeds, there might also be over four Liangyi Inheritors coexisting in the same era at the same time.
But this phenomenon has never been empirically observed in history because, in any era, at most only four Liangyi Inheritors are observable—according to what Gua Tianshi just said.
Combining earlier hints, I reached a mysterious hypothesis: "Liangyi Inheritors can only be observed when they enter the era corresponding to their generation... Is this correct?"
"Yes." Gua Tianshi nodded.
This hypothesis felt bizarre, yet I persisted with my forced reasoning: "Is it because of this unreasonable nature that King Zhuanlun remains so unknown from the Ancient Era to now?"
"No, that’s merely due to King Zhuanlun’s personal conduct," Gua Tianshi said. "Even though King Zhuanlun was previously an unobservable Liangyi Inheritor, this doesn’t mean he was like an invisible man or someone without presence.
"It just means he couldn’t perceive his identity as a Liangyi Inheritor, nor could the outside world associate him with the Liangyi Inheritor identity. Shan Liangyi himself seemed not to actively seek out these unobservable Liangyi Inheritors.
"Even I only became aware in recent decades that he might be a Liangyi Inheritor... However, my memory of him has faded to the extent that I can’t even determine which attribute he possessed as a Liangyi Inheritor.
"Perhaps... he realized he was a Liangyi Inheritor ages ago, which is why he hid himself so early on, possibly aiming for Shan Liangyi in secret, doing some things in the shadows."
The Water Navy Xuanwu mentioned that King Zhuanlun hid because he feared Shan Liangyi to the extent of living in constant fear. However, it now seems King Zhuanlun wasn’t that superficial.
Perhaps even the Water Navy Xuanwu, who made such claims, vaguely picked up on the scheme and aggression in King Zhuanlun’s secrecy, suspecting that King Zhuanlun had plans to eliminate Shan Liangyi.
Simultaneously, as I deepened my understanding of Shan Liangyi’s Power Seeds, I couldn’t help but think of something else.
That being the Divine Seal Fragment.
Yes, Shan Liangyi’s Power Seeds seem somewhat similar to the Divine Seal Fragments.
The divine seal has a unique past and future presence, meaning even if a future divine seal is brought into now, it won’t increase the count. Its fragments have similar properties. Though Shan Liangyi’s Power Seeds can travel through time, the unobservable state avoids the contradiction of factually increasing their numbers.
Coincidentally, in the past, No.1 inquired about the total number of scattered Divine Seal Fragments. The Master’s response was that the number of Divine Seal Fragments is indefinite, varying with the time and manner of observation.
Moreover, Liangyi Inheritors who do not correspond generationally with their era fall into a situation where they cannot perceive their identity as Liangyi Inheritors, nor can their surroundings recognize them as such, reminiscent of the phenomenal inability within the demon hunter community to intervene in the mundane world prior to the Fantian incident. It was as if they were under deep hypnotic suggestion, unable to discern the oddity within themselves.
This comparison even led me to suspect a possible relation between the Master of Divine Seal and Shan Liangyi.
Gradually, I unraveled the cause and effect and began to accept the conclusion that King Zhuanlun and I are Liangyi Inheritors of the same generation.
Yet, there remained an inexplicable oddity clinging to my chest.
If the generation’s Liangyi Inheritors were birthed in the Ancient Era, conflicts with intervening Liangyi Inheritors wouldn’t occur, nor would their true identities be recognized by themselves or those around them... While this logic contradicts common sense, it’s not unreasonable. Given the abnormal world, anything is possible... However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that...
I thought long and hard before coming up with a phrase that may or may not be apt—this explanation feels too conveniently orchestrated.
Like drawing the target after shooting the arrow, crafting convenience to suit one’s narrative.
On further thought, even the historical community of demon hunters shared a similar history.
Why, despite having many powerful demon hunters and abnormal beings, did history—particularly the modern history of this country—develop in such a manner? The reason given was that everyone was hypnotized, leaving them helpless. While this explanation can’t be considered absolutely unabashed, it always leaves a trace of absurdity.
To be blunt, demon hunters and abnormal beings seem like entities that shouldn’t exist in this world, forcibly stitched into it, causing a stark disconnect with the logical world. Nowadays, the opposition between Luo Mountain forces and secular governments seems, from another angle, to be a concretization of such disconnects.
In light of this, I couldn’t help but question: "Is our history... a bit strange?"