Chapter 154 Chapter 154: Fu Xuan: So Where Is She???
Chapter 154: Fu Xuan: So Where Is She???
"......"
"Only effective against long-life species, but useless against short-life species?"
Although Kevin didn't believe that the Medicine King's Secret Transmission truly possessed much combat power that could threaten him, he was far from arrogant enough to neglect gathering intelligence.
Didn't this Master Diviner already explain it very clearly? This is an issue concerning long-life species versus short-life species, not a problem between Xianzhou natives and ordinary humans.
"Correct. Many people misunderstand Mara-Struck; it is actually not a curse that specifically targets humans."
Fu Xuan placed one hand on her hip and extended the other, slowly explaining to everyone: "Foxians are less prone to Mara-Struck because, although they are a long-life species, their lifespan is not infinite; while the Vidyadhara rely on 'molting' to shed their past lives. As far as Mara-Struck is concerned, all long-life species are equal..."
Isn't the meaning quite clear? Any long-life species whose lifespan exceeds a certain limit may fall into the state of Mara-Struck.
"Physicians believe that Mara-Struck is related to memory. Although long-life species have extremely long lifespans, the capacity of memory ultimately has its limits. After hundreds, thousands of years pass, the emotional threshold that long-life species can perceive continuously rises, and memories also become diluted and weary under the long-term erosion of time, leaving behind only the most extreme, vivid sediment. That must be the residue of painful and regretful memories..."
"Do you understand? The end for long-life species is no longer feeling joy or happiness, leaving only hatred and remorse engraved in their hearts like scars. Under these extreme emotions, the self that is human begins to collapse... This is the beginning of Mara-Struck."
This situation is also one of the five types of Mara-Struck that Bailu explained to everyone not long ago—"Resentment." Since most Xianzhou natives in their final stages of life essentially evolve into such a state of gradually going mad with regret, the commonly referred to Mara-Struck generally points directly to this scenario.
And if explained from this perspective, doesn't the question of why different people fall into Mara-Struck at different ages also become easily solved?
The environment one is in, life experiences... these are all factors that affect the onset of Mara-Struck. A Xianzhou native who generally lives a very fulfilling life will naturally experience Mara-Struck later than another Xianzhou native who encounters obstacles everywhere in life.
Kevin believes that a situation similar to this is ultimately most direct in Hua's case—due to the influence of the Honkai Beast Garuda's hyper-variant factor, she gained the ability to remember anything she saw perfectly. While this ability brought her extremely strong learning capabilities, it also completely became a burden for her.
If she hadn't later mastered the use of Fenghuang Down, allowing her to periodically clear away the miscellaneous memories in her mind... she probably wouldn't have lasted over fifty thousand years at all, having already gradually gone mad during the course of the new civilization, right?
Even so, Kevin could completely sense that his former comrade-in-arms had gradually matured over thousands of years of experience and had also gradually... lost most of her emotions.
....... Just like himself.
"In that case, then there is one thing I must tell you... Although it has nothing to do with the so-called 'Abundance,' the years I have experienced are far longer than you imagine."
As for why Kevin has never been troubled by the so-called Mara-Struck? He doesn't know either.
Perhaps because those physicians' speculations were ultimately mistaken, and the onset of Mara-Struck still has an inseparable relationship with 'Abundance'; or perhaps because he had already killed his former self long ago, treating himself merely as a tool for continuing civilization.
There's even a possibility that the clever Dr. Mobius had already considered this point; when creating MANTISes, she left them with 'shackles' that could ensure they remained human, until they themselves died or were capable of removing them.
And Aponia, did she later add another layer of insurance for everyone?
"What? So you mean... you are actually a long-life species too? But that's not right; there are indeed some individuals in the universe whose lifespans surpass many races from birth... but no matter how you look at it, you're clearly just an ordinary person, aren't you?!"
Hearing this, Master Diviner immediately became flustered. She scrutinized Kevin several times but couldn't see anything amiss. In the end, she could only silently glare into his eyes.
The meaning was quite obvious—if you don't want to go, you can just say so directly; lying is just too uninteresting.
Could it be that you think Fu Xuan just looks like a child and must be as easy to fool as one?
Faced with Fu Xuan's utterly distrustful gaze, Kevin didn't bother explaining further. He simply silently extended his right hand and placed it before her, then...
Whoosh—!
Kevin only displayed it for an instant before retracting his palm. But... putting everything else aside, that big blue claw was still quite cool, right?
"This... you... I..."
Fu Xuan's small eyes were almost completely wide open, yet she couldn't see anything amiss about what just happened... She indeed didn't sense any special power related to 'Abundance' or other Paths at all. But how did he manage to do it so smoothly?!
After remaining silent alone for a good while, Fu Xuan finally forced herself to maintain her composure and said: "Ahem, let me state beforehand... I wasn't shocked at all just now. Having been the Luofu's Master Diviner for so long, what kind of big or small scene haven't I seen?"
"With a great enemy currently at hand, I have no time to delve into your secrets. But since you are also a member of the long-life species, you might similarly be affected by Mara-Struck and thus cannot enter to shut down the furnace."
As she spoke, Fu Xuan glanced at little Elysia and Pardo beside her, immediately swallowing back what she was about to say and instead stating: "In that case, I can only wait a bit longer and hope the people from the Astral Express can come to help."
"No, I can still do it."
Kevin suddenly added: "My body is very special; even if I completely hold my breath or completely isolate myself from the external environment, there won't be any problem."
"While I'm gone... Master Diviner, you just need to take good care of these two little ones."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kevin didn't even give Fu Xuan a chance to rebut. He directly leaped down from the high platform and completely disappeared from everyone's sight within a few breaths.
"This... there really was no need to move so fast?"
Fu Xuan was slightly stunned. While shocked by Kevin's physical prowess, she didn't forget her task at all: "But isn't it just taking care of two children? For me, isn't that still a piece of cake... Huh?"
When Fu Xuan turned around, she found that only little Pardo remained standing there dazedly; the other girl who had been following was gone.
"She... where's the other one?!"
"I... I don't know either?"
No comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts!