Outer Path Wuchang 2

Great Wuchang could single-handedly destroy an entire country--

Forgive me for finding this unbelievable when I heard it. Coming from Zhu Shi's mouth, in terms of the worldview I used to have, it was like a country's officials publicly admitting that "the five permanent members of the Security Council are actually puppets controlled by the Rothschild family"—the kind of ridiculous roadside-literature setting.

Then I came back to my senses.

"By 'the entire country,' what size of country do you mean? A small African nation? Or an ancient country from before the development of industrial civilization?"

"The country we're in right now." Zhu Shi pointed at the ground.

"Are you serious?" I questioned her.

"I am." As she spoke, she thought for a moment before adding, "Actually, I've never personally seen Great Wuchang fight seriously. But at least according to what I've learned in the past, Great Wuchang can indeed do something like that.

"Throughout history, Great Wuchang have been able to summon tsunamis and floods, trigger earthquakes and droughts, and cause all kinds of other natural disasters, such as typhoons. Once they got serious, the scale of the disasters could even be vast enough to be recorded in the annals of history.

"Even concentrated nuclear bombardment couldn't kill Great Wuchang. Either they possessed defensive power beyond the laws of the world, or they had an immortality that allowed them to return even after both their bodies and souls had been completely destroyed.

"In the myths and legends passed down to the present day, some deities were actually based on Great Wuchang who had once brought disaster across the land or benefited an entire region."

Able to cause tsunamis and earthquakes, floods and droughts...

I didn't know whether what Zhu Shi had said was true. She certainly wouldn't lie to me, but were those records really reliable? I didn't know much about natural disasters, but I knew some basic facts. For example, the energy released by the major earthquakes recorded in history was at least equivalent to hundreds or thousands of Hiroshima atomic bombs.

The same applied to tsunamis and typhoons. Nuclear weapons were certainly hailed as the ultimate weapons of modern civilization and had become the cornerstone that allowed the great powers to restrain one another and maintain peace, but when compared to the total energy of an extremely large-scale natural disaster, they were still nowhere near enough.

It was perfectly normal that Great Wuchang capable of controlling such massive natural disasters wouldn't fear nuclear weapons.

But this was incredibly puzzling. If Great Wuchang could do something like that, why did they still nominally submit to the guidance of the state?

Or, to put it more bluntly—since these people already possessed such heavenly might, why did they bother establishing Luoshan? Why didn't they establish the Heavenly Court?

Why did they remain unknown in the world beneath the surface, facing danger and dealing with the anomalous, instead of stepping into the spotlight to rule the world?

When all was said and done, since our country had people capable of literally shaking the heavens and earth, why did history still contain so many twists and turns that were impossible to stomach?

I threw all my questions at Zhu Shi.

She, in turn, wore a helpless expression. "I can't answer you."

"Is this another secret of Luoshan?" I asked.

"No, it isn't... This isn't merely not a secret. Here, it's common knowledge." She seemed to be choosing her words. "The reason I won't answer you isn't because I don't want to, but because every Demon Hunter I know, myself included, doesn't know the answer."

I grew even more confused. "Are you saying that even Luoshan doesn't know why it does this?"

"That's right." She nodded. "Why we don't publicly reveal the existence of Demon Hunters and the anomalous to mundane society, and why we don't become the rulers of this country... We don't know the fundamental reason we haven't done so."

"Then, setting aside the organization's position, if you look at it from your own personal perspective, why do you think you chose to act as you do now?" I pressed.

"Because everyone around me was doing it, so I followed along." She answered directly. "Besides, I don't have much desire to rule over others, nor do I seek fame and glory. As long as I can protect innocent people, that's enough."

"This..." I felt as if I were shrouded in a cloud of suspicion. "At the very least, the core leadership of Luoshan knows why it does this, right? They—the Great Wuchang—have concealed their true intentions from all of you and forcibly demanded that you act this way. Over time, you simply got used to it... Is that it?"

This time, her words plunged me into even deeper fog. "It isn't like that. The Great Wuchang don't know the truth either."

I countered, "How can you determine whether the Great Wuchang know the truth?"

"Because the Great Wuchang have been in conflict over this matter for the past three years," she said. "Do you remember what I told you the night before last? Luoshan has fallen into chaos and conflict. Everyone is gradually realizing that what they've been doing isn't necessarily only natural, that they could reveal their existence to society, become the rulers of this country, and even try to accomplish more."

"The way you put it makes it sound as though every Demon Hunter in history had been hit by some inexplicable hypnotic spell, and now the hypnosis has finally been lifted for some unknown reason," I remarked.

She neither agreed nor disagreed. "'The hypnosis hypothesis' is also quite popular in Luoshan. It's just hard to imagine that every Great Wuchang throughout history and at present could have been hypnotized as well."

I'd only been talking nonsense off the cuff. I hadn't expected her not to firmly deny it.

So that's how it was. No wonder that when I'd previously asked her why Luoshan concealed the truth of the anomalous from society, she'd been so vague. It was because she genuinely didn't know how to explain it.

"Wait. You just said that this chaos has been going on for the past three years..." I carefully considered her words. "Why has this chaos lasted three years without ending? Aren't the Great Wuchang capable of conquering this country with ease?"

Not just this country. Assuming foreign countries didn't have supernatural organizations of equal scale, Great Wuchang capable of controlling massive natural disasters could conquer the world as easily as turning over their hands.

Perhaps I'd asked about something crucial, because Zhu Shi's gaze immediately became extremely serious.

"Before I answer that question, Zhuang Cheng, I'd like to ask you something first—"

Seeing this, I couldn't help but focus and take her question seriously.

She deliberately waited until I was mentally prepared before throwing out her question:

"How do you view the world as it is now?

"How do you view ability users like yourself, and ordinary people without abilities?

"Do you think ability users are a superior group compared to ordinary people? Do you think you should become the rulers of the world, make powerless people submit to you, and have them regard you as a lofty god?"

The instant I heard these words, I understood what kind of chaos was currently occurring within Luoshan.

What she had thrown at me was presumably a question of allegiance.

There were probably at least two opposing voices within Luoshan at present. One believed, as described earlier, that Demon Hunters should stand high above all others, become gods among men, and rule over all living beings. The other believed that Demon Hunters should rejoin the existing social order in some relatively peaceful manner.

Given Zhu Shi's personality, her beliefs were very likely aligned with the latter. And since I intended to join Luoshan through her, I should say what she wanted to hear. In other words, this was a matter of choosing a political side and had to be treated seriously.

I opened my mouth, about to tell a lie, but for no reason at all I suddenly felt incredibly sick of this politically charged exchange. So I threw caution to the wind and told the truth.

"Yes, I think ability users are superior to ordinary people." I said what I truly felt.

This wasn't something I'd said on impulse.

Ever since awakening my ability and gradually growing stronger, I'd repeatedly considered how I should approach my relationship with society if my ability never left me. More specifically, whether I could regard myself as superior to ordinary people.

The answer was yes. I was an ability user, and I possessed far more violent power than ordinary people. I was indeed superior to ordinary people.

In the past, people around me had criticized me and sometimes said unpleasant things. The reason I hadn't used my ability to cause them trouble—aside from simply not being in the mood—might have been because I could kill them at any time, anywhere. Precisely because I held the high ground in terms of power, I could view them with extraordinary tolerance.

For a time, I even wanted to imitate the powerful figures from fantasy novels who held life and death in their hands, adopting an aloof, transcendent air and speaking in a detached tone.

The problem was that I often forgot I'd established that persona for myself. Whenever someone joked around me or did something funny, I still couldn't help laughing out loud. Eventually, I came to think, Forget it, forget it. Even if I really possessed the power to throw my weight around over other people's heads, I wasn't particularly drawn to that kind of life.

At the same time, although I'd concluded that "ability users are superior," I couldn't help harboring some doubts.

Admittedly, if another ability user appeared before me and declared, solely on the strength of his own power, that he was superior to ordinary people, I would acknowledge it. Violence was important. Human history was the history of contests of violence. Since ancient times, whoever held the greatest violence had seized control of legitimacy. No matter how powerful the weapon of criticism was, it could never compare to the criticism of weapons.

But speaking honestly, I always felt that approach was somewhat lacking in class.

Or, in the popular parlance of today, it had "no aura." Violence could certainly force everyone to acknowledge one's superiority by pressing their heads down, and it could eliminate everyone who refused to acknowledge it, but that would only make people submit outwardly. I felt that someone nobler than ordinary people should possess a kind of persuasive power that made others submit wholeheartedly. Superiority shouldn't exist only on a physical level; ideally, one's thinking should have refinement as well.

I also told Zhu Shi about those latter thoughts.

The more she listened, the more speechless she became. In the end, she still voiced her impression. "...Overall, you still think ability users are superior to ordinary people... Is that right?"

"That's more or less it." I admitted.

"Then why did you become friends with my brother? Isn't my brother also, in your mind, 'a human of lower status than yourself'?" she asked.