Ma Zao had previously told Patrol Lu that the soul trauma she suffered couldn't be healed unless Great Wuchang personally intervened.

  And the concept of "Great Wuchang" was something I had casually mentioned st night when discussing the Humanitarian Division and the Creator of Oddities with her.

  "It’s true." Ma Zao nodded.

  "But as for whether it really has to be Great Wuchang to heal it, I'm not entirely sure. Because I don’t know if the Apocalypse Great Demon and the Great Wuchang of this era are on the same level."

  Zhu Shi asked us what a Great Demon was, so I expined it to her in detail.

  I also mentioned that one of the Apocalypse Great Demons, the 'Camity Demon,' was said to have been transformed from the traitorous Great Wuchang, Xuanming.

  After listening, she showed an emotion that was hard to call optimistic.

  Then, after getting Ma Zao's permission, she used "Buzhou Mountain" to conduct a detailed observation.

  After her observation, she gave her opinion:

  "If the fmes that burned Ma Zao’s soul in the past really belonged to Xuanming... then perhaps even Great Wuchang may not be able to heal it."

  I couldn't help but be concerned about this topic. "Why?"

  "Even among the Great Wuchang, there are differences in strength. Xuanming was renowned for his destructive power, even among them. Many believe he is the very God of fire who has survived since the age of myth and legend," she said.

  "I told you before that when Xuanming betrayed Mount Luo, he fought against two Great Wuchang in succession—one died, and the other was severely wounded.

  "The one who was severely wounded was named 'Mingzhuo.' It is said that his body is still being scorched by Xuanming’s fmes to this day, and no matter what methods have been used, he has never been able to recover from his injuries."

  The implication in her words was clear.

  I looked at Ma Zao, and she nodded.

  "The fmes of the Camity Demon do indeed have a cursed nature. The few who managed to escape death at his hands soon perished anyway—either from burns that deepened over time or from fmes that mysteriously reignited from their wounds. If my blessing power weren’t 'Return,' I would have met the same fate."

  "That sounds a bit like Senior Brother Zhuang’s fmes..." Zhu Shi muttered under her breath before adding, "The power of the Great Wuchang isn’t something that can be countered by clever abilities alone. Their overwhelming strength allows them to easily transcend the very rules that govern power, to the point where their abilities go beyond their original attributes."

  "If a Great Wuchang wields fire, it can even burn away cause and effect; and if they wield ice, it can even freeze time.

  "That’s why ‘time reversal’ is powerless against it. Normally, it wouldn’t just fail to cure the root cause—it wouldn’t even be able to provide temporary relief. But your ability seems exceptionally strong, so you can barely manage to suppress the symptoms."

  Ma Zao lowered her head.

  Seeing this, Zhu Shi couldn’t help but offer comfort.

  "Don’t be so pessimistic. The fmes Xuanming used to burn Mingzhuo and the fmes the Great Demon used to burn you might not be the same in intensity. Maybe there’s still a way to deal with the tter? Let’s keep searching together in the future."

  "That’s not what you were saying just now…" I couldn’t help but comment before turning to Ma Zao.

  "Do you have any ideas on how to heal this trauma yourself?"

  Ma Zao thought for a moment before replying in a discouraged tone, "It’s not that there’s no way, but the conditions for curing me are impossible to achieve unless it’s the Apocalypse era. And even if we really could return to the Apocalypse era, fulfilling those conditions would be as difficult as reaching the heavens."

  "What are the conditions?" I pressed.

  "Tell us first—maybe we can find a way to gather them even in this era?"

  "In the Apocalypse era, there was a Great Demon called 'Xuanwu,'" Ma Zao said.

  "It was said that using its body tissue could heal the wounds left by the Camity Demon's fmes… But this is just something I heard in passing. It might just be an unreliable rumor."

  Zhu Shi wore a thoughtful expression.

  "Xuanwu? There's no such person among the Great Wuchang... That kind of alias isn't exactly uncommon among demon hunters, though."

  No wonder Ma Zao said it was a condition that could only be fulfilled in the Apocalypse era.

  After all, in this era, not only was there no Great Demon named "Xuanwu," but even the very concept of Great Demons had yet to come into existence.

  However, based on Zhu Shi’s reaction… could it be that my past assumptions were wrong?

  Were the Great Demons of the Apocalypse era not necessarily all fallen Great Wuchang?

  Zhu Shi was still deep in thought, while Ma Zao had already finished resting and resumed investigating the head of the Shadow Swap Oddities.

  With no further clues to follow, I had no choice but to temporarily set aside my thoughts about Ma Zao's trauma and find something else to do.

  That said, I didn’t really have any pressing matters at hand, so I decided to experiment with my ability.

  Recalling the sensation I had felt when cshing with the Shadow Swap Oddities—the feeling of burning through "causality" itself—I wanted to see if I could perceive the various causal connections present in daily life.

  Unfortunately, this time, I couldn’t sense any causality around me.

  I didn’t think I had lost the ability to perceive causality.

  Though it was just my own intuition, I felt that the difference y in external conditions.

  It was simir to how, when the ambient temperature is close to human body temperature, it becomes difficult to perceive whether the air is hot or cold.

  If the surrounding causal retionships hadn’t been altered in some abnormal way, then I simply couldn't perceive causality itself.

  As the saying goes, "One who stays long in an orchid room ceases to notice its fragrance, and one who lingers in a fish market no longer smells its stench."

  Because these causal retionships existed in daily life, my instincts had simply grown accustomed to them.

  As for the subtle changes in my ability that appeared after taking a life, I took a moment to carefully sense them.

  Although I still couldn’t grasp the exact nature of the changes, I could at least determine one thing through intuition—it wasn’t shifting in a bad direction.

  By the time evening arrived, Ma Zao finally set down the head of the Shadow Swap Oddities and, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, said, “I’ve found the target location.”

  --------

  On the way to the target location, Zhu Shi conducted some checks on me, Ma Zao, and even herself.

  After the setback of having her intel spied on by Patrol Lu’s electronic telescope st time, Zhu Shi had clearly become much more vigint.

  She scanned the surroundings with her sharp eyes, ensuring that no one was tailing or watching us.

  Then, she performed some counter-surveilnce spells on us and checked whether any technological tracking devices had been pnted on us.

  "Lu Chan even used an electronic telescope st time. Who knows if he’ll try using some other tech gadget on us this time," Zhu Shi said, casting me a sidelong gnce.

  Feeling guilty, I averted my gaze.

  "But Patrol Lu is still one of us. He wouldn’t use those kinds of methods against his own people, would he?"

  Zhu Shi said in a quiet, knowing tone, "Who knows? Some people even install GPS trackers on those closest to them…"

  "Zhu Shi is right. In the era I used to live in, betrayal and being betrayed weren’t uncommon. Many people lost their lives simply because they let their guard down around those closest to them," Ma Zao said with a solemn tone.

  "Zhuang Cheng, I know you’re a good person who trusts his comrades, but once you step onto the battlefield, you can’t afford to be that naive all the time… Hm? Why are you two looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

  Although everything she said was true, Ma Zao, you're still wearing the GPS wristband I gave you.

  Zhu Shi sighed and rubbed her forehead.

  Back to the main point—considering Patrol Lu's deep-seated hatred for the Humanitarian Division and the Creator of Oddities, the possibility of him acting irrationally wasn’t zero.

  In fact, the very reason we were keeping this operation from him was to prevent him from recklessly charging onto the front lines.

  Following Zhu Shi’s suggestion, Ma Zao used her power of Return to reset our states.

  This way, any magical or technological tracking markers on us would be nullified—just like the thermal markers and GPS wristband I had used in the past.

  To prevent unforeseen incidents during our operation and to ensure timely support in case of emergencies, I took the initiative to pnt thermal markers on both of them.

  This time, my intentions were completely pure, and Zhu Shi readily agreed.

  As for Ma Zao, not only did she have no objections, but she even seemed to share a simir thought.

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out a red sticker with a cartoon design.

  After briefly showing it to me, she casually stuck it onto my shoulder.

  "What’s this?" I asked curiously.

  "This is my 'marker,'" Ma Zao expined seriously.

  "I can teleport myself to the location of this marker, allowing me to support you in critical moments."

  Well, talk about a turn of fate—this time, it was me getting marked by Ma Zao!

  "But I thought you could only teleport to pces you’ve been before?" I asked, puzzled.

  "That’s correct," she nodded.

  "Which is why I stepped on this sticker first. Ah, don’t worry, it’s not dirty. I was barefoot, and I also used my power to reset my feet to a freshly washed state before stepping on it. I even smelled them—no odor at all."

  So stepping on the sticker made its surface count as a "pce she had been before"?

  I had never even considered such an application. This was truly an eye-opener.

  Meanwhile, Zhu Shi seemed to have gone off on a different train of thought.

  "A sticker that was stepped on barefoot… Good thing Senior Brother Zhuang isn’t some freak like the Shadow Swap Oddities, or Ma Zao, you’d totally be disqualified for that…"

  "Why?" Ma Zao asked, blinking in confusion.

  "Nothing, nothing," Zhu Shi quickly shook her head, then eagerly asked, "What about me? Don’t I get a sticker too?"

  Ma Zao probably hadn't given Zhu Shi a sticker because she still didn’t fully consider her as one of us.

  Since she wasn’t exactly an ally, marking her with a personal symbol would naturally be impolite.

  But since Zhu Shi asked for it herself, Ma Zao pulled out another sticker—this one with a blue cartoon design—and casually spped it onto Zhu Shi’s chest.

  Zhu Shi turned around dramatically, like an adult being pyfully rewarded with a little red flower by a child.

  She proudly showed off the sticker and said, "Well? What do you think?"

  Was she expecting a specific reaction from me?

  I could only reply with a simple, "It suits you."

  With our preparations complete, we hailed a cab to the old district and finally arrived at our target location.

  Just as the Shadow Swap Oddities had described, it looked like a small clinic, nestled in a quiet and desote street.

  In the old district, streets with little to no foot traffic weren’t uncommon.

  We took our positions in hiding, patiently waiting for the Creator of Oddities to arrive.

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