After saying this sentence, an astonishing change appeared on Xuanming's body.

He was in an injured state at the moment, which logically should make him weaker, but reality sped toward the opposite path. The mana fluctuations on his body actually began to strengthen, like a fire pile into which a large amount of flammable material had been thrown, the flames growing larger, bursting out with rolling heat waves.

Orange flames surged again from his palm, their brightness higher than before, gradually tending toward a blinding white. Even observing with Spiritual Perception made one feel as though their consciousness was stung, like eyes meeting strong light. Meanwhile, he no longer kept a careful distance from me but actively shortened it, launching the flames in his hand like firing a cannon.

Both the speed of attack and the striking ability had notably risen. Although still within my handling range, it became rather strenuous. I desperately avoided his attack, then tried to counterattack by rapidly launching large Fireballs. Surprisingly, he didn't dodge at all, but instead punched directly at my large Fireball.

In the next moment of the violent explosion, he passed through it and struck my chest with a palm. I didn't expect him to abandon covert tactics for such a violent style so abruptly; I couldn't react in time. His palm didn't directly touch my star-like body, but at point-blank range, immense flames erupted from his palm, blasting my body apart, scattering me far away.

I only felt darkness before my eyes, unable to distinguish up from down or left from right. It was like being slammed on the skull with a brick, causing significant damage to my True Spirit. But Xuanming, surely, would not halt his offensive due to my weakness, and to prevent the True Spirit from being directly attacked in an undefended state, I restored my Corona form body immediately, and opening my eyes, saw his next strike coming at me.

Should I dodge or parry? I chose neither, instead charging forward like a massive Fireball. Xuanming's attack struck me again, but this time he failed to maintain the proper distance from me and was also blasted away.

However, he still had some defenses. I felt that this blow was defended by his organized Flame Power, though it wouldn't allow a perfect retreat; it couldn't decide victory in a single hit. I quickly restored my Corona form body again, feeling somewhat mentally scattered, while Xuanming, on the other hand, was covered in burn wounds with blood continuously flowing out, yet the mana fluctuations showed no sign of decreasing, instead growing stronger.

I slowly understood the reason for his growing strength.

For others, the loss of physical strength and Spirit due to injury is merely a loss, but not for Xuanming. The outflow of blood imbued with the Power of Great Impermanence becomes fuel for his flames, and accelerated breathing due to pain and fatigue acts like a bellows making the flames grow more vigorous—all lost things return to him in the form of strength, enhancing his power.

Thus, the more injured he becomes, the stronger he grows.

He launched another offensive at me, with his speed and attack power both increasing rapidly. I counterattacked in opposition, yet inevitably was pushed slightly to the back foot.

"Is this what you call the true essence of flames?" I asked.

"The essence of burning is sacrifice," Xuanming said, "One must sacrifice something to obtain the warmth needed for survival. To manipulate the Flame Power is to burn oneself, bringing hope. This sacrifice will become the kindling fire lighting the world, passed down through generations—this is our civilization."

"Does your term 'sacrifice' also include sacrificing others besides yourself?" I asked.

"Do you find me detestable, stubborn?" Xuanming said indifferently, "If you think that there is always a perfect solution to any problem, that's merely a naive wish. History tells you that no matter how desperate the plight, there is always hope for continuation if you do not give up, but this is only because the stories of those who didn't manage to continue do not surface to present their tales of success before you.

"Sometimes, we are destined to face a crossroads; choosing the left, you'll lose something important, and choosing the right, you'll lose something important, but if you choose nothing, you'll lose everything. Any competent question setter will provide a key to breaking the puzzle along with the challenging question, but the world we live in is a complex problem without a question setter.

"Is there a third path, one that you can find if you just keep searching? I don't know, but the countdown is closing in every minute, every second. If there already exists a concrete path before us, even if it requires sacrificing our conscience, we must seize the time to take that step."

While speaking, he was launching wave after wave of deadly attacks at me, and while countering, I asked in return: "Then why do you not support the Evangelical Institute's human slaughter plan? Although it would destroy civilization, in terms of saving the world and the human race, that path seems tangible enough."

"Rescue through civilization destruction is merely turning things upside down; I want to use the divine seal to save humanity," Xuanming said, "Do you know why the Evangelical Institute did not choose the path of the divine seal?"

"Why?" I continued to ask.

"The current us, is built upon the mistaken human history," Xuanming said. "If we use the divine seal to correct the mistaken human history, the current us will also be corrected. If we're unlucky, we might disappear completely, and if we're lucky, we might live on in another history with different personalities. That equates to killing our current selves spiritually.

"If it's for the continuation of civilization, Gua Tianshi might be ready to accept this realization, but Yama absolutely wouldn't. To him, the continuation of his own life is the highest priority, surpassing even the priority of civilization and the race. If anyone attempts to use the power of the divine seal to save the world, he would undoubtedly do everything he can to stop it in order to ensure his own survival.

"I don't intend to criticize his thoughts, he may even think that Gua Tianshi and I are the crazy ones, but I won't give up on the path of using the divine seal just because of his opinions.

"Since he doesn't want to sacrifice, I'll help him sacrifice."

The Evangelist Master Yan Mo will destroy anyone trying to use the power of the divine seal to save the world...

I recalled the Human God Tai Sui, said to have been killed by the Evangelist Master Yan Mo, who was suspected of being the current Master of Divine Seal. Could this be the true reason he killed Tai Sui?

And regarding the answer Xuanming provided, I've thought of it in the past, and had it refuted by No. 7. I voiced out the argument I had heard before: "But... the divine seal is an omniscient and omnipotent power. Even if it corrects the mistaken human history, without correcting all those who exist because of it... Such a contradictory wish, the divine seal should be able to achieve it."

"That's right, the divine seal indeed possesses such incredible power. Even if it were asked to create a rock it couldn't lift, and then lift it, it would surely achieve it," Xuanming said. "Just like it created this contradictory world we now inhabit."

I immediately understood the implication behind his words.

To clear the erroneous human history yet not clear our existence born from it means creating another paradoxical history. While the divine seal could achieve this, the real world we live in cannot withstand such an unreasonable outcome, and doomsday would still arrive as scheduled.

Perhaps if only a very few are exempt from being cleared, it's still possible, but in that case, there's actually no need to use the divine seal; with the power of Great Impermanence, a small group can simply leave Earth.

Then, naturally, I thought of this approach: "Then, as long as we wish for the world to tolerate a contradictory history, and for doomsday to never come..."

"Zhuang Cheng, don't you understand yet? The power of the divine seal is not limitless, nor does absolute omniscience and omnipotence exist," Xuanming said. "We, the Impermanence, may look like omnipotent beings to mortals, but we both know better. The Great Demon Silver Moon you've encountered in the past might also be considered omnipotent, but if she were truly omnipotent, how could she have been defeated by you?

"The power of the divine seal can change the world, but this 'world' refers to the planet we inhabit, not the entire universe. No matter how much it's overestimated, it only pertains to the range of the solar system at most. It still has its limits.

"The original Seal Master who used the divine seal to create the current world probably never truly hoped for doomsday to come. Or to put it another way—even if he was a madman longing for doomsday, he likely didn't design it that way intentionally from the start. This event clearly wasn't part of his original script; all chaos began from this part.

"The Master of Divine Seal's inability to answer questions related to doomsday also somewhat proves this theory—the doomsday event is an ultimate destruction scenario beyond the power of the divine seal.

"And when he promised to fulfill the wish of the most contributing Void Envoy with the power of the divine seal, he declared upfront that he wouldn't grant contradictory wishes... Regardless of whether he intended to honor his promise, the fact that he holds the power to grant any wish yet still preemptively excludes certain wishes shows he understands the terrifying consequences of fulfilling contradictory wishes, which he would avoid at all costs even after becoming the Master of the divine seal.

"We can avoid doomsday by redirecting human history onto the right path, but it's impossible to directly erase doomsday using the divine seal's power."

Xuanming's theory could even corroborate with the past words and deeds of the Master of Divine Seal. Could it be that when Xuanming was inquiring about topics related to soul loss with the Master of Divine Seal, he was already probing at this level?

His relentless pursuit persists. Perhaps disseminating this information to me was also a tactic to distract me. For victory, he would go to any lengths. Yet, I'm not so easily swayed by words. On the contrary, I'll try to constrain him.

"Then... what about Gua Tianshi?" I found an entry point, "Since even you admit Gua Tianshi would sacrifice himself for civilization… why not cooperate with him?"