Zhu Shi paused for a moment, then chuckled. "You're only asking this now?"

  It was indeed a question I should have asked earlier, and it wasn't particurly difficult to notice.

  However, when a person is influenced by emotions, their perspective tends to narrow.

  Previously, my entire focus had been on Ma Zao, with my mind consumed by the thought that without her, I would be forever shut out from the world of the supernatural.

  But now that I had finally put my mind at ease, my vision broadened, allowing me to see other possibilities.

  If the Great Wuchang were truly unable to interact with the supernatural, just like I was in the past, they wouldn't be able to rule Mount Luo.

  In the past, I had encountered Mount Luo members like Zhu Shi, yet at the time, I couldn’t recognize her as a Demon Hunter, and she couldn’t recognize me as a superhuman ability user.

  Even though she had once suspected that I might have ties to the supernatural, if she had used Bu Zhou Mountain to observe me—just once, even out of curiosity—she would have immediately realized that I was an superhuman.

  But she never did, not even once.

  This proves that my inability to engage with the supernatural world in the past wasn’t merely because "I was too strong, and supernatural beings were afraid to come near me."

  The issue existed on a deeper, more fundamental level—fate itself.

  As a result, I couldn’t encounter supernatural events, even those that were simply phenomena.

  People who wield supernatural powers were clearly also affected by this influence, and Mount Luo was a pce where such people gathered.

  So how did the Great Wuchang manage to interact with them?

  It seemed Zhu Shi took a moment to organize her thoughts on the other end of the call.

  Several seconds ter, she finally answered, "Unfortunately, even the Great Wuchang don’t have a permanent solution to this mutual repulsion effect."

  "So they can't completely solve it… which means they at least have a temporary fix?" I pondered. "Did they use the same method as me—making connections with people who attract supernatural beings? Or do they possess artifacts that draw in the supernatural?"

  "I don’t know exactly how many methods the Great Wuchang have used," she said, "but there is one method they have definitely employed in the past, and they are still using it now."

  "What method?" I asked curiously.

  "It's 'forging connections,'" she answered.

  "Most of the Great Wuchang weren't born as Great Wuchang. They have one key difference from your past self—they all went through a journey of growth in the supernatural world, from weak to become strong. During this journey, they forged bonds with people in the supernatural world and left their own marks behind.

  'A ship wanting to anchor at the shore must secure itself. If the anchor isn't strong enough, the waves will carry the ship away. On the other hand, if there are enough anchors, the ship can stay where it wants to be.'

  After hearing this, I quickly understood.

  The repulsion effect severs the bonds between the Great Wuchang and the supernatural world.

  In that case, the solution is to forge so many bonds that they cannot be severed.

  What a simple and straightforward approach.

  Although it's not something that can be achieved overnight, I might need to put this method into practice.

  In the past, I only thought of Mount Luo as a ptform to engage with the supernatural, without any interest in participating in its internal activities.

  That mindset might have been fwed.

  If I want to anchor myself like the Great Wuchang, I need to forge enough bonds within Mount Luo.

  Could it be that the Great Wuchang established Mount Luo for this exact reason?

  Ancient emperors could issue decrees to mobilize countless people to carve mountain roads and dig canals, demonstrating the power of human civilization.

  The Great Wuchang, who are like gods themselves, possess such power individually, seemingly without the need to gather followers.

  However, if their goal was to prevent themselves from being rejected by the supernatural world, the necessity of gathering people suddenly makes sense.

  At that moment, a terrifying realization struck me—

  Nowadays, the power of the Divine Seal no longer interferes with the secur world and the supernatural world.

  The tter can now influence the former at will, and its influence is growing stronger.

  In other words, sooner or ter, the supernatural world and the secur world will become indistinguishable.

  However, the repulsion effect that excludes the Great Wuchang from the supernatural world hasn't disappeared.

  The proof is myself.

  The power of the Divine Seal vanished three years ago, yet I was still unable to engage with the supernatural until I encountered Ma Zao this month.

  In the past, when Great Wuchang lost their anchor to the world of supernatural, they at most returned to secur society—losing only half of their world.

  But if future Great Wuchang were to face the same fate, they might be completely rejected by both the human and supernatural worlds.

  Re-examining the issue of "Mount Luo wanting to dominate secur society" from this perspective seems to reveal more underlying implications.

  And if they were truly rejected entirely, how would the Great Wuchang continue to exist in this world?

  How would I continue to exist in this world?

  "Zhu Shi, have there been Great Wuchang in the past who lost their anchor?" I asked.

  "There have been a few. After all, not every Great Wuchang has an absolute reason to remain in this world, and not all of them enjoy forming bonds with others. Over time, those Great Wuchang simply vanished," Zhu Shi replied.

  "Does Mount Luo still have a way to find them?"

  "We can't find them, not even confirm whether they are alive or dead." She seemed to shake her head.

  "But most of them are probably still alive. The massive typhoons that swept across the world in the past, or those inexplicable earthquakes... those natural disasters were believed to be caused by certain Great Wuchang who had lost their anchor."

  From Mount Luo's subjective perspective, it seems that the Great Wuchang who lost their anchor are less like humans and more like the unfathomable divine forces of nature.

  Just as the ancients would personify unpredictable natural disasters and worship them as deities, once these Great Wuchang lose their "anchor," they revert to being purely natural camities.

  Previously, when Zhu Shi said that the Great Wuchang were the prototypes for some deities in mythology, I didn't feel much of a connection.

  But now, from such an uncanny perspective, I can truly sense the divine nature of the Great Wuchang.

  With this inexplicable sense of awe, I shared all my previous specutions with Zhu Shi.

  After listening, she fell into a long silence before finally saying, "...It seems I had been thinking too superficially before."

  "What were you thinking before?" I asked in confusion.

  "I originally wanted to persuade you to stop interacting with Ma Zao after this incident. After all, unlike us, you have the ability to withdraw from the supernatural world completely. But I knew you probably wouldn't agree, so I kept hesitating on how to bring it up..." She sighed.

  "However, if the outcome could be you being rejected by both the supernatural and human worlds, maybe I should actually persuade Ma Zao to stay by your side and help you establish yourself within Mount Luo instead."

  "Persuade Ma Zao..." I suddenly felt like my mind had been opened to new possibilities.

  Just a moment ago, I saw being rejected by both the supernatural and human worlds as a tremendous crisis, but many times, crises also present opportunities.

  I had previously considered whether I should imitate No. 2 Xiao Wan and make Ma Zao feel that I wouldn't survive without her.

  However, I struggled with how to act convincingly in the peaceful modern world, given that I'm a fully capable man.

  But now, isn't this situation the perfect justification?

  I wouldn't even need to lie—just telling the truth would be enough!

  I could even frame it as my initial motivation for taking her in...

  No, that wouldn't work, since I didn't know about the supernatural world before meeting her.

  Besides, this approach would only work if she truly believes I'm not a bad person in the first pce.

  That issue still needs to be resolved before I can consider the next steps.

  Simply hugging her waist and saying, "Without you, how could I live?" seems like a waste.

  Should I ask Zhu Shi to say it on my behalf?

  Or would it be better to first provide Ma Zao with the necessary context and then subtly guide her to come to that conclusion on her own?

  There's no need to rush to py this card just yet.

  I should think it through more and figure out how to maximize the benefits of this opportunity.

  After a few more words with Zhu Shi, I ended the call and brought the freshly prepared dishes to the dining table in the living room.

  Ma Zao was sitting on the sofa, examining the severed finger of the Shadow Substitute she had obtained earlier.

  As soon as she saw me bringing out the fragrant food, she quickly put away the unsettling finger and eagerly ran over.

  She sat down skillfully across from me at the dining table, picked up the bowl and chopsticks, and started eating with me.

  It was truly amazing—just having one more person sitting across from me made the dining table feel completely different.

  Over the past three days, I couldn't even bring myself to cook, resorting to ordering takeout to get by.

  At least I was eating something.

  But now, I had an indescribable feeling, as if I hadn't truly had a proper meal in the past three days, and only now was I finally eating real food.

  After finishing the meal, Ma Zao looked completely satisfied.

  It seemed like just seeing that expression on her face gave me the motivation to cook again next time.

  "Was it good?" I asked.

  She nodded enthusiastically and said, "Delicious!"

  After washing the dishes, I returned to the living room.

  She was back on the sofa, once again examining the Shadow Substitute's severed finger.

  "The st time you took that charred finger from my house, was it also to track the Oddities using your ability?" I asked.

  "Hmm? Yeah... Come to think of it, that charred finger must be a part of the remains of the 'human who turned into a Oddities' you mentioned to me on the rooftop of the abandoned building, right?" She showed a puzzled expression as she spoke.

  "At first, I wanted to use the charred finger as a clue to investigate the Oddities, but after using the power of the blessing to track it, all I could see was the finger's original owner wandering aimlessly around the city. I couldn't find any useful leads at all."

  Agent Kong had most likely delegated all actions as a Oddities to his puppet, while he himself was only responsible for his duties as an agent.

  "When you first found the charred finger at my pce, you didn't know I was an ability user, right? Didn't you have any doubts about where it came from?" I asked.

  "Doubts... not really," Ma Zao seemed to be recalling her thoughts at the time.

  "Back then, I thought you were probably just influenced by my constitution. Even if you had somehow picked up something strange from outside, it wouldn't have been too surprising..."

  I didn't even know how to respond to that.

  Considering how she previously relied purely on her "jinx" constitution to investigate Oddities, could it be that she only seems extremely cautious about many things, but is actually the kind of person who believes everything will work out in the end?

  "Have you found anything from this new finger?" I asked.

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