Watching the Catastrophe Demon charging towards this direction, I reached out a hand and grabbed a distant mountain peak.
When performing this action, I didn’t make my arm extremely long or my palm exceptionally large; I simply grabbed the mountain peak as ordinarily as possible. Describing this process using words might make it hard to understand, and witnessing it directly might also be difficult to portray accurately.
In a three-dimensional space-time, objects appear larger when close and smaller when far away. On the premise of constant volume, the farther an object is from oneself, the smaller it appears, and vice versa. Therefore, even an enormous mountain peak, if far enough away, seems diminutive, small enough to be pinched between one’s fingers.
Some photographers use this illusion technique to create images like someone holding the moon in their palm. In a two-dimensional world of length and width, size relations are easily overturned; but humans ultimately live in a three-dimensional world where big things are big and small things are small. Holding the moon in one’s palm is not something that can be achieved with gimmicky tricks.
However, for Impermanence, it’s different.
This phenomenon, which has now manifested, would typically only be possible for an experienced Impermanence who possesses profound understanding of space-time. Thanks to Little Bowl’s blessing, I can accomplish such divine feats, ignoring the need for extensive experience. In the eyes of the true God, time and space are mere illusions, and the difference between three-dimensional and two-dimensional spaces is even more imaginary.
Just as they can traverse thousands of mountains and rivers in one step, moving mountains and filling seas is a natural power of Impermanence. Covering a gigantic mountain peak with one’s small palm and then tossing it away like a stone throw is no challenge.
I threw the mountain peak decisively towards the Catastrophe Demon.
Predictably, since I could easily achieve this, it was never meant to cause significant harm to the Catastrophe Demon. It wasn’t an attack meant for destruction but a simple test. I wanted to observe the reaction of the Catastrophe Demon to this attack.
The Catastrophe Demon casually waved its hand, unleashing a flurry of black flames dancing through the sky. The black flames collided with the fast-moving mountain peak, making it explode in the air like a sandbag hit by a siege ballista. For a moment, it resembled a meteor shower striking the land, with dust shooting skyward covering the heavens.
And I saw what I wished to see.
Just as I predicted, the black flame of the Catastrophe Demon, rather than being called fire, is more aptly described as a "flame-like alien substance." When destroying the mountain peak, these black flames relied on "impact" rather than heat and explosion. The mountain peak I had hurled collided with another possessing greater kinetic energy and hardness.
While signs of unusually high temperature melting can be seen at the collision site, intense physical collisions inherently generate high temperatures. Although the black flames themselves possessed high temperatures, it still felt less like flames and more akin to the impression of lava.
The relentless black Solar Eclipse Fire rushed towards me, while I unleashed my Crown Fire with all my might.
As soon as they made direct contact, an alien sensation soared from within, and a deafening explosion simultaneously occurred. The Crown Fire dissipated like mist hit by rocks, while the counterpart’s Solar Eclipse Fire shattered like rocks struck by explosives. The impression within me grew increasingly concrete.
Solid and heavy, like the oppressive weight of a mountain, and the gravity born from massive mass and density...
I can only conclude that the mana of the Catastrophe Demon is not "flame," but "earth."
To be more specific, I manipulate fire-element mana, while the other party manipulates earth-element mana. If I symbolize the Southern Fire Element Vermilion Bird, then the Catastrophe Demon symbolizes the Central Earth Element Yellow Dragon.
Only this logic can explain why the Catastrophe Demon can naturally restrain the Great Demon Xuanwu. Because in the Four Symbols and Five Elements’ cycle, earth restrains water, and the Yellow Dragon can restrain Xuanwu.
This answer sounds truly ridiculous. Since I am the Vermilion Bird Inheritor, then how could the Catastrophe Demon derived from me be the Central Yellow Dragon? Moreover, the Liangyi Inheritor corresponding to the Central Yellow Dragon is Shan Liangyi himself, could it be that I am actually Shan Liangyi’s reincarnation, and after awakening the past life’s memories in the future, I naturally awakened the earth-element Yellow Dragon’s mana?
However, I might actually think of a direction that could explain this current contradiction.
In the Five Elements’ cycle, fire can give birth to earth. This theory was originally used to explain the idea that the Vermilion Bird Seed can strengthen the Yellow Dragon’s mana, and it’s one possible reason the Taoyuan Village Master holds a lethal intent towards me. But does this also mean there exists another simpler and more straightforward interpretation — could the Vermilion Bird Inheritor’s flames transform into the Yellow Dragon’s earth-element mana under certain conditions?
For example... when the power of the Vermilion Bird Inheritor is overly directly compressed to a certain degree, causing it to deviate from the definition of Vermilion Bird Fire?