Ordinary people can't capture the images I'm perceiving now with the naked eye. This orange flame rushing toward Little Bowl has spread from an unimaginably distant space and can descend into our 15th-floor room in a fraction of a second.

Unable to issue any warning, I grabbed Little Bowl's shoulder without hesitation and left the 15th-floor room in one breath. The scene in my vision changed instantaneously as I brought Little Bowl to the stratosphere at an extremely high altitude.

The clouds people usually see from the ground can range from hundreds of meters to several thousand meters high, even up to tens of thousands of meters. Ancient people imagined that the Heavenly Court was situated in the world above the clouds. We have now arrived in the airspace over forty thousand meters above ground, leaving the clouds far beneath our feet.

Yet, even at such a high altitude, the orange flame continued inexorably, and my Space Transfer efforts did not create much distance. Realizing I couldn't evade it, I had to assume my strongest form.

Without wasting a moment, the Ash Weapon wasn't summoned to my hands but manifested directly within my body. In an instant, I entered the Third Crown Form. Since Little Bowl had long confirmed the elimination of the Great Demon Xuanwu, my enemy, she naturally did not allow her blessings on me to remain inclined toward an erroneous evolutionary path. On the way to the 15th-floor basement, she switched my blessings back to normal mode. My state was now optimal.

Two highly dense orange-red flames erupted simultaneously, one wrapping around me and Little Bowl like a cocoon, while the other collided with the incoming orange flame.

Both my flame and the enemy's flame were explosively destructive forces. It was as if two massive nuclear weapons were colliding with each other, and when the flames collided, there was an explosively cataclysmic explosion. The shockwave spread like a tsunami, shattering the clouds far below and exposing the scenery on the ground.

Standing in such high altitude, the cities and countryside below shrank to look like a satellite photo. This massive shockwave might have repercussions for the distant urban areas, potentially causing some casualties and damage to public property, though it may not be very severe. It can be felt that the owner of the orange flame was somewhat restrained, and I, too, had the intention to neutralize the opponent's attack with defensive counteraction.

This so-called "restraint" was limited to the scope, not the density. If the disparity between our levels was too great, it would be impossible to counteract it.

The enemy likely harbored thoughts of avoiding unnecessary casualties and, more importantly, seemed not to want to kill Little Bowl. The purpose of the orange flame targeting Little Bowl was to capture her alive. As for the enemy's true identity, it could be discerned from the mana fluctuations alone.

Cradled in my arms, Little Bowl also realized, the overwhelming mana fluctuations pressing down like a collapsing mountain made her face pale, and she murmured with difficulty, "No. 4, Xuanming...?"

The orange flame appeared once more, not attacking Little Bowl this time, but instead congregating into a human silhouette opposite me.

The humanoid flame spoke.

"... So, you are beside No. 2, Zhuang Cheng." The humanoid flame said, "And... I didn't expect you to make such significant progress.

"Last time, at the moment of the Void Realm's destruction, you were almost unable to resist my flames, yet now you can stand on par with me..."

His voice was very solemn. I sensed that he genuinely regarded me as a formidable opponent.

The true identity of the attacker was Xuanming.

What a lamentable realization.

In the past, to defeat Ming Zhuo, I had borrowed the power of Xuanming Fire. If it hadn't been for Xuanming leaving that foreshadowing within Ming Zhuo's body, the outcome would have been vastly different. Ming Zhuo wanting to kill me wouldn't have been any more difficult than my killing the Great Demon Xuanwu and Huang Quan. The gap between an immature new Impermanence and an elder seasoned Impermanence is just that vast.

And now, I can actually contend with Xuanming's flames directly controlled by him, earning a "comparable" evaluation from his mouth. This contrast deeply made me appreciate the substantial progress I've made in strength.

Of course, I haven't forgotten that Little Bowl is part of my strength. It's not just my power alone. While feeling a great sense of accomplishment, I also maintained a calm state of mind, coolly analyzing the timing of Xuanming's surprise attack.

His actions almost seemed as if he was lying in ambush at the exit of the 15th-floor basement, specifically waiting for the moment we appeared to launch his attack. Such coincidence was truly puzzling. But I quickly realized what had happened.

Once, Wei Chi You told me that he could trace Little Bowl and No. 7 in the "Doomsday Era" through the connections between Divine Seal Fragments. However, because they were in different dimensions, he couldn't accurately lock onto them, merely confirm their existence. He also had reminded—while attempting to track Little Bowl and No. 7, he sensed another signal trying to lock onto Little Bowl's position.

Apart from him, only the Master of Divine Seal and Xuanming could achieve such a feat.

It's clear now, Xuanming was the source of that signal. Previously, he couldn't lock onto Little Bowl due to being in different dimensions, but when I brought Little Bowl into the real world, he managed to accomplish the lock-on in an instant and immediately released his flame power, intending to capture Little Bowl on the spot.

"Xuanming, what is your purpose?" I asked, "Why do you want to take Little Bowl?"

"This isn't the first time I've targeted this child. Since our last meeting, you've probably thought about it a lot." Xuanming said, "I'll just admit it directly — yes, I value this child's identity as a Divine Son. I need to initiate the sacrificial ceremony, and she is an indispensable living sacrifice."

"For what?" I pressed further.

"To use the power of the ceremony to locate the Master of Divine Seal in reality." Xuanming answered very candidly, "Doomsday is the disaster brought by the Master of Divine Seal. I want to eliminate this culprit and stamp out the root of everything."

"You're saying that the Master of Divine Seal is a living person who, after bringing doomsday calamities upon this world, is now at large, operating somewhere." I said.

"Exactly." Xuanming nodded.

"Then I can tell you directly, the Master of Divine Seal we encountered in the past is merely the consciousness of the divine seal itself. The real Master of Divine Seal — the 'Seal Master' is most likely the Human God Tai Sui of the Evangelical Institute, who has long since died. The current Master of Divine Seal is either a consciousness created by the Seal Master, or a ghost clinging to the divine seal posthumously." I said, "In either case, the Master of Divine Seal cannot exist as an entity operating in the real world."

"—Oh?"

Xuanming's gaze, projected from the flames, was filled with an attitude of serious scrutiny.

"Besides, even if you really found the Master of Divine Seal and indeed had a way to eliminate it, what difference would it make?" I said, "The root of doomsday lies in erroneous human history. Even if the culprit disappears, erroneous human history won't automatically restore itself. It's just like even if the murderer of a homicide case is sentenced to death, the victim won't resurrect themselves...

"If your goal is to save the world, aren't you currently striving in a direction that is of no benefit?"

Xuanming said thoughtfully, "...You seem to be aware of many truths."

"These truths don't actually need me to tell you, you should be very clear about them yourself." I said, "You must have had some contact with the Evangelical Institute in the post-mortem world, they've probably revealed the truth of doomsday to you in order to win you over. You were also the one who commissioned the Evangelical Institute Master Yama to search for Little Bowl in the post-mortem world, have you joined the Evangelical Institute?"

"Join the Evangelical Institute... me? To advance that worthless human slaughter plan?" Xuanming sneered.

It seems he isn't a proponent of the human slaughter plan, yet he tacitly acknowledges that he was fanning the flames behind the Evangelical Institute's hunt for Little Bowl.

"Zhuang Cheng, perhaps you do indeed know some information that even I don't know, but correspondingly, I also know some truths that you're unaware of." Xuanming said, "Firstly, you've misunderstood something very important, Tai Sui is indeed a figure deeply intertwined with the divine seal, your mistake in perceiving him as the master of the divine seal is understandable... but he is not the true 'Seal Master.'

"The true culprits who found the divine seal in the land of life prohibition and brought about doomsday, there is another person."

"—What?" I was surprised.

"Secondly, 'finding this culprit' is intimately connected with 'saving the world.'" Xuanming said, "The current divine seal exists in a paradoxical state, both fragmented and intact. Although we can now only access the fragmented divine seal — that is, the Divine Seal Fragments, there is also a complete divine seal alongside that Seal Master.

"Because of its paradoxical state, even that Seal Master might find it impossible to drive the power of the divine seal at will. However, if we want to restore the divine seal to its true complete state, we must obtain that complete divine seal from the hands of the Seal Master.

"Only the divine seal can mend this flawed world.

"That despicable Yama dares not use the divine seal to save the world, but I do."

Xuanming seemed to possess some secrets unfamiliar to me. Where did he come to know them from? Was it from Yama of the Evangelical Institute, or through some other unknown channel?

"From the flames, I can feel an immensely strong will to protect. Even if I asked you for No. 2, you'd never relent and hand it over. It seems I have no way to seize it for now." Xuanming said, "For now, I'll let it go temporarily, but in the near future, once I resolve matters with Meng Zhang, I will come back to officially settle things with you."

After speaking, the flames shaped like a person burst apart violently. Xuanming disappeared before us.

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