From the end of the world

Chapter 265 Night Talk about Winter Car 1
When I woke up, it was almost two o'clock in the morning, and it was probably still dark outside. I woke up in bed, and vaguely remembered that I was practicing the skills of using the fake moon in the water before entering the dream. Maybe Ma Zao saw me fall asleep and moved me to the bed.

Ma Zao was now lying on another bed in the room, sleeping in a lopsided position. I checked the historical records of the thermal energy signature left in her body, and it seemed that she had originally intended to keep watch, but she yawned in the second half of the night, and finally couldn't resist the sleepiness and accidentally fell asleep.

She was so sleepy after just staying up late for a while. I guess it was because of her soul trauma. She always acted normal in front of me, but there was a serious injury left by the big devil in her soul, which must have affected every aspect of her daily life. She was always pretending to be strong.

I walked over, put her arms and legs in the right position, and then put her head on the pillow. She seemed to wake up halfway, but she continued to sleep. I wanted her to rest in her dreams for a while longer, so I moved her as gently as possible, and finally covered her with a quilt.

After doing all this, I walked to the desk in the room again, sat down, took out my mobile phone and searched for the place name "Yueyin Mountain".

The Lord of the Divine Seal did not fool me. This is indeed a place that I can find easily. According to the search results, Yueyin Mountain is a mountain about 300 to 400 kilometers away from Fufeng Base, and there is an ancient town at the foot of the mountain.

Although it is called an ancient town, it is not particularly ancient. It was built about 80 years ago and is called "Wolyin Mountain City". Tourism is its mainstay, but its popularity is lukewarm. Some mountainous areas of Wolyin Mountain are also part of the tourist area, while most areas are not open to the public. Based on my previous experience investigating ghost stories all over the country, this phenomenon is actually very normal.

Deep mountains and old forests have always been places where accidents are prone to occur. Every year, there are enthusiasts who go missing in the mountains with a half-hearted mentality. Some of them can be found with their bodies, but more often, even their bodies cannot be found, and they end up becoming a topic of conversation among some people.

Even in modern society, the mountains still have a mysterious color in people's hearts. Perhaps this is also a collective unconsciousness inherited from the depths of genes. Therefore, victims who disappeared in the mountains are occasionally used as material for false and strange stories by people who have nothing to do with them.

I'll go say goodbye to Fufeng as soon as the sun rises, and then I should say goodbye to Dongche. Although I'm not completely sure what kind of arrangement Ma Zao has for attracting disasters, which would attract Dongche to the Fufeng base by coincidence, but considering that I will go to Yueyin Mountain to find Yinyue who is holding Chang'an's soul hostage, maybe Dongche's appearance is just to bring the senior researcher to Ma Zao and me, and provide us with clues related to Yinyue.

Of course, I wouldn't completely abandon my doubts just because of this thought. The heat energy mark left in Dongche's body is still there. I sensed it a little bit and found that Dongche's movements were a little strange.

He was not resting in his room, but moving in the corridor. Looking closely, he did not seem to be moving in a specific direction, but more like taking a walk.

Is he relaxing? Walking in the corridor at two o'clock in the morning? I was a little confused at first, but soon I thought it through. He is a 14-year-old boy who is essentially under house arrest in the base and is not allowed to go out. He is also suspected of being watched by Fu Feng, who has lived for hundreds of years. His mood must be very heavy and complicated. It would be fine if he could relax outside the base, but now he can only relax in the corridor.

He noticed my peeping again. He suddenly raised his head, and his gloomy and solemn expression turned into a sunny smile. He greeted me and said, "Senior Zhuang Cheng, are you not sleeping either?"

His location wasn't far from our room. Thinking that we would have to say goodbye soon, I didn't pretend I didn't hear his greeting this time. I put a bunch of extra "fireflies" in the room, then pushed the door open and went to the winter car.

The corridor was empty, and the lights were still on, which was not environmentally friendly. There were benches for people to rest, as well as public facilities such as vending machines. I bought two cans of Coke from the vending machine and threw one to him. He was flattered and took it, and then hurriedly thanked me. We sat down on the bench and chatted, and I took the opportunity to ask him why he didn't sleep so late.

His expression was gloomy again, and he answered without thinking, "My practice has been hindered."

I didn't expose him, but after hearing his excuse, I became curious about another thing, so I asked, "Aren't you at the level now? I heard that this level means the pinnacle of a demon hunter. At this point, do you still need to practice to improve yourself?"

I know that above the Success level is the Great Success level, and from this perspective, Dong Che must still have room for improvement. But if that's the case, why is the Success level called the limit of a demon hunter?

After all, what determines the level of success and the level of great success?

When I asked Ma Zao whether she was at the Great Perfection level in her prime, she said "I don't know either", and then she said that she should be able to fight enemies of the level of Shen Qiang and Chen Long in her prime. She clearly has the power of the Great Perfection level, but she said she doesn't know whether she is at the Great Perfection level. This seems to imply that there are judging factors other than "power" between the level of the Perfection and the Great Perfection. This is the case between the level of the Perfection and the Great Perfection, so in the criteria for judging the Great Perfection level and the Great Impermanence, are there also unknown factors that I have never thought of in the past?

"…I'm sorry, I didn't express myself accurately just now."

Dong Che didn't seem to expect me to ask in depth. He thought for a while and then explained: "At my current level, normal practice can no longer help me make further progress, so my current practice is just to maintain my current level of strength. After all, practice is like learning, both are against the current, if you don't move forward, you will fall behind. And this kind of kung fu that goes around in circles does not have any obstacles.

"What's blocking me now is the path to the Great Perfection Stage, which is the first step towards the leap from a carp into a dragon."

"Yue Longmen...what does it mean exactly? You may also know that I am a demon hunter who changed careers halfway through my career, and I don't know a lot of common sense. Although you call me senior, but on this road, you are my senior. I would like to ask you for advice and let you solve my doubts." I said.

Hearing this, he seemed very happy, showing an extremely pleased mood, and then said: "Senior Zhuang Cheng, do you know the concept of 'knowledge barrier'?"

The so-called "knowledge barrier", in my understanding, is the phenomenon that people cannot think without knowing something because they know something. For example, people who grew up with scientific education in modern society cannot imagine what perspective the ancients in the ignorant era had when facing the natural world with infinite unknown mysteries.

As for my own experience, before I came into contact with the strange world, I had unlimited imagination about it; now, I have come into contact with Luo Shan and the Humane Department, and in a series of adventures, I have come to know concepts such as demon hunters and the Great Impermanence. So now when I think of the strange world, my mind is full of a combination of these concepts.

The infinite possibilities of the strange world in my consciousness have been narrowed down to a single one, and I can no longer find the "other world" that was infinitely mysterious in my mind in the past.

This is the price I have to pay for being exposed to a truly weird world. To put it more broadly, perhaps it can also be said to be the price of growing up.

Everyone has endless curiosity about the world they live in during the early childhood stage, but gradually, most people no longer pay attention to the unknown of the world. Because most things in life have formed established experience in people's minds, people are unable to regain their innocent hearts.

Hearing my answer, Dong Che nodded in agreement.

"Many spiritual theories, including Taoist cultivation theories, believe that from the moment a person is born and breathes his first breath of air, his spirituality is gradually polluted. While the body evolves from a child to an adult, the spirituality is constantly degenerating," he said. "This is because we humans have an instinct to learn, and we instinctively receive and understand information from the surroundings from birth.

"Gradually, we will form experience, knowledge, and 'knowledge obstacles'. Because thinking becomes orderly and methodical, inertia and tracks will appear invisibly.

“The more we know about the outside world, the narrower our inner world becomes.”

I couldn't agree with his words immediately, and even felt that they were somewhat anti-intellectual. Thousands of years ago, the ancients believed that the sky was round and the earth was square. Some even thought that the world was supported by a turtle or surrounded by a huge python.

Today, people have realized the vastness of the universe, and that even the seemingly infinite Milky Way is just a drop in the ocean. This is a worldview that has been expanded based on countless advances in knowledge and technology. How can it be said to be narrow?

However, I did not refute him immediately. People with different cultures cannot understand each other. This is also the case between me who grew up in the secular society and him who grew up in the demon hunter world. This is also a kind of knowledge barrier. Maybe my thoughts are not enough to refute him in his heart, or maybe I misinterpreted the real message he was trying to express from my perspective. Since I am asking for advice now, I have the responsibility to listen to his words to the end.

(End of this chapter)