Although I didn't make any prior contact, Mazao, Zhu Shi, and Mr. Zhu were already waiting in front of the mansion's entrance.

Maybe it was due to the mana fluctuations I sent out not long ago. Because they anticipated my imminent return, they had prepared to welcome me. As I looked at their figures, I surprisingly felt a bit of "homesickness."

In terms of my own subjective sense of time, the time since separating from Mazao isn't very long, but how would it be for Mazao? More than four months is not exactly a long time, yet I can't help but worry if the feelings between Mazao and myself have cooled somewhat.

Little Bowl also showed a timid and guilty expression. Zhu Shi and Mr. Zhu are very familiar to her, but that familiarity is only at the informational level. The ones who truly have a close relationship with them are Zhu Jiu and Zhu Shi from childhood, not herself. In truth, if she reveals the truth, they might even consider her an evil spirit occupying someone else's nest. I am not completely unable to fathom her current state of mind.

From a distance, Mazao also saw me. Her eyes fell on my face, and her expression revealed the joy of reunion after a long absence.

In my memories, the frequency of her smiling is low. Although she no longer has the melancholic look from our first meeting, her expressions have overall not been very varied. But now, upon seeing me, she revealed a big, unexpectedly joyful smile, with tears of excitement even at the corners of her eyes. Seeing her react like this, strangely enough, my heart felt calm instead.

Naturally, she also saw Little Bowl beside me. Emotions such as surprise, confusion, and joy appeared one after another. After hesitating for a moment, she rushed over to me, and hugged me tightly.

"Zhuang Cheng!" she called out loudly with pleasure.

"I'm back, Mazao."

I held her tightly, feeling her soft body and warmth, breathing the fragrance from her hair. She also buried her face deep in my chest, rubbing and breathing greedily, as if trying to imprint her presence back onto me.

Then, Mazao reluctantly withdrew her face from my chest and looked at Little Bowl. Little Bowl immediately stepped forward and hugged Mazao, also loudly shouting, "Sister Mazao!"

"Little Bowl!" Mazao hugged Little Bowl tightly.

The petite girl and the even smaller girl embraced each other tightly. They shared a long period of time that is beyond my estimation, filled with many unknown hardships. Under the assault of the Doomsday Demon, they could only part ways, once believing they were separated by life and death, never to see each other again.

Yet now, through countless miracles, they finally reunited.

Mazao raised her face again, her gaze moving between me and Little Bowl, seeming deeply unsure about how to handle the double joy situation, as though she didn't know how to hug both me and Little Bowl at the same time. Little Bowl shifted Mazao's body, pushing her towards me. Eventually, it became a somewhat awkward position with Mazao hugging me and Little Bowl hugging Mazao from behind.

Mazao, sandwiched like a sandwich, stood for a moment, then as if giving up thinking, drunkenly hugged my body with a silly smile on her face.

This appearance is completely unlike the legendary "Evangelical Witch" of the "Doomsday Era."

Zhu Shi and Mr. Zhu also came forward.

Zhu Shi didn't lose his composure like Mazao but looked at me and Mazao with a very happy expression, and gave Little Bowl a curious look. Mr. Zhu also observed Little Bowl's appearance with an unsure and puzzled expression.

"Welcome back, Zhuang Cheng," Zhu Shi said sentimentally.

"This girl, could she be..." Mr. Zhu looked at Little Bowl.

Little Bowl buried her face in Mazao's back, as if afraid of meeting Mr. Zhu's gaze.

"She is Little Bowl," I said, "We'll explain about her later. Mr. Zhu, please also tell us what has happened during the time I've disappeared."

Mr. Zhu's expression became serious, and he said, "Alright, let's go inside first, and sit down to talk."

-

We sat down in the hall of the mansion. Mr. Zhu explained to me what had happened during this time, while Mazao continued to hold onto me and wouldn't let go, supplementing the explanation alongside Zhu Shi.

Initially, Liu Shuying and I teamed up to launch an attack on the headquarters of Taoyuan Village, as Huang Quan and Xu Gou appeared simultaneously to assist the Taoyuan Village Master, Meng Zhang. Because the Taoyuan Village Master and Huang Quan had anticipated our attack, they set up a wide-range barrier and other measures, causing the mana fluctuations to not be immediately detected by the Luoshan Headquarters. By the time the Great Impermanence levels at Luoshan Headquarters noticed the movements here, the battle was already over.

When I was banished to the void, I sensed the simultaneous disappearance of the mana fluctuations from Liu Shuying and Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang, but the latter was not dead. The disappearance of the mana fluctuations might have been due to severe injury, or a method used to revive him afterward, or perhaps the one fighting us was essentially an incarnation, among other possibilities. In any case, Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang reappeared in Luoshan Headquarters' observations a month later.

As for Liu Shuying, he vanished from the mortal world, and Luoshan Headquarters could only confirm that he was not dead but couldn't pinpoint his specific movements. Xu Gou entered a latent state again and disappeared without a trace.

As for me, Fa Zheng also mentioned that everyone knew I wasn't dead, just unaccounted for. Weichi located me in the "Doomsday Era" through Divine Seal Fragment technology a month later, and passed this information to Mazao and the others.

Mazao spent that month tirelessly searching for traces of me and even tried using the Return marks left on me to transport directly to my side. However, having undergone the baptism of the void, although the扫帚 star power on me didn't disappear, all the Return marks were washed away. This is why, upon learning that I returned to the real world, Mazao didn't immediately use the Power of Return to transport to my side.

After receiving intelligence from Weichi, Mazao calmed down. She knew she couldn't transport to the "Doomsday Era," and since I was in the "Doomsday Era," it meant Little Bowl, isolated and helpless, had a chance to receive my help, which surprisingly was good news that could allow her to find solace in hardship.

At the same time, she had a thought—since she could come from the "Doomsday Era" to the modern world, and I could go from the modern world to the "Doomsday Era," it indicated that there was a method for traveling between the two "eras." So she changed directions, delving deeply into investigating ways to move between different eras, hoping I could find a method to bring Little Bowl to the peaceful modern world.

Although she felt uneasy and lonely, the existence of hope and a direction for effort allowed her to decide to be strong, enduring those negative emotions while continuing her exploration.

However, good times didn't last long. Four months after my disappearance, Ming Zhuo began to act.

With at most nine years of life left, every second was incredibly precious in Ming Zhuo's eyes. During those four months, he repeatedly investigated my whereabouts and possibly attempted to exorcise the Xuanming Fire and my flame within himself, finally confirming that I had genuinely disappeared from the reality timeline, at least not returning anytime soon. So, he completely tore up the oath he swore to me and brazenly attacked Mazao where she was.

Here's my honest thought: I think he's really cautious to an extreme degree. If it were me, I might not have been able to resist acting after a maximum of one or two weeks, but he actually waited for nearly half a year. Perhaps this also reveals, indirectly, his apprehension towards me.

Subsequently, he encountered two significant obstacles.

The first obstacle came from Fa Zheng.

In the past, I never took the cooperative relationship with Fa Zheng to heart, but Fa Zheng valued this alliance more than I anticipated. The oath Ming Zhuo swore to me was made right in front of him, and for someone who valued rules like him, the seriousness of such behavior couldn't be underestimated. So, upon sensing Ming Zhuo's malicious mana fluctuations headed towards those beside me, he unhesitatingly struck out.

But if it were just to this extent, it might still have been within Ming Zhuo's expectations. Ming Zhuo, as a representative figure for Extraordinaryism, and Fa Zheng, as the leader of the Governance Ideology, surely knew each other's temperaments. His thoughts at that time were probably to act quickly, snatch the people, and run, ensuring Fa Zheng couldn't catch him in the act.

Fa Zheng placed great emphasis on evidence, so Ming Zhuo mostly thought that as long as he left no direct evidence, the rule-bound Fa Zheng couldn't do anything to him.

What ultimately led to Ming Zhuo's failure was the second obstacle he never anticipated.

That was Zhu Shi.

Since Zhu Shi began communicating with the Yama Sword with Mazao's help, it had been over seven months.

Although there was still a distance from fully communicating with it, in this state, Zhu Shi had roughly reached eighty percent communication progress with the Yama Sword, able to manifest its true divine might. In the anticipated scenario, a fully communicated Yama Sword could allow the wielder to exhibit Great Impermanence level combat power. In contrast, the current Zhu Shi can unleash Great Impermanence-level White Tiger Killing Power in two to three instances as if using a Killing Move.

If it were some other attribute's Power of Great Impermanence, it would be impossible to achieve substantial results against a seasoned Great Impermanence like Ming Zhuo in actual combat. However, the ferociously intense White Tiger Killing Power forcefully intercepted Ming Zhuo.

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