Yefutidaolu

Chapter 154: Reject Fantasy... Reject... Rusty Knife? (Update)

Shu Jian and Gao Jian stood on the bridge, overlooking the group of pleasure boats below and the entire ecological chain dependent on the pleasure boats.

There are servants on the shore, and these servants may be famous figures in the outer city.

A local tycoon from the outer city like Li Jun would not have a much higher status than a servant here. He was just a tool for the big shots in the inner city to make money.

Gao Jian looked at these and said softly, "To change the blood sacrifice into a law is like replacing a bloody knife with a bloodless one."

"It's just like the official documents in the inner city of Cangzhou. You see, whether it's the Shui family, the Wang family, or the Zuo family, they all say they love the people. Everyone is rushing to love the people, but it seems that the people don't have a good life either."

Gao Jian pointed down and said, "Look at the nail sheds in the outer city, and look at these pleasure boats, the same principle applies."

He lamented, "They have to portray brothels as places of joy and happiness, and put a filter on these places, so that they can feel at ease and satisfy their fantasies of having a beautiful woman."

"What does filter mean?" Shu Jian asked.

"Uh... probably, 叆叇, you know, some things originally look like this, but when you wear 叆叇, they become another look, just like a black 叆叇, after wearing it you can look directly at the sun." Gao Jian explained.

"I see. You know quite a lot." Shu Jian praised. "So, why do humans want to use this filter? Is it just for peace of mind? I don't think they have any psychological pressure."

Gao Jianze smiled and said, "That's what people are like. Order, order, you know. Besides, these things in bed can easily extend to other things."

"I don't understand you humans. There aren't so many weird things in Rat Mountain. We just need to live the way we like. There haven't been so many weird things happening." Shu Jian lay down, with his round belly pressed against Gao Jian's head.

"That's because Rat Mountain is dependent on the human race." Gao Jian said.

"Shushan is dependent on the human race?" Shu Jian was unhappy and grabbed Gao Jian's hair: "Don't say that! You have to explain it clearly to me!"

Gao Jian's hair was pulled up, and he grimaced in pain. He quickly said, "Shushan doesn't have to worry about the dead silence of heaven and earth. You just need to lie down. Of course, you don't have to think about these things."

"The Human Divine Dynasty must maintain the operation of heaven and earth. To maintain the operation of heaven and earth, order is necessary. To maintain order, we need to maintain 'illusion', because order is maintained by 'illusion'."

He stroked his pulled hair and said, "Why should we obey the law? The law obviously has no practical significance, and there will be no consequences for not obeying it."

Shu Jian said, "But you will be punished. This is not a fantasy."

Gao Jian stroked the fur on Shu Jian's back and said, "Punishment doesn't come immediately. After all, laws aren't the laws of physics. What's the big deal if they break them?"

"Laws of physics? Another word I don't understand." Shu Jian's little eyes showed suspicion.

"Oh, the great way of heaven and earth." Gao Jian changed his wording.

"Is that so? That is indeed inferior to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."

"So, breaking the law isn't a big deal, and punishment isn't guaranteed to come. The reason everyone obeys the law is because they 'imagine' the consequences of breaking the law, and then they don't dare to break it."

"Imagination has consequences..." Shu Jian thought thoughtfully.

This point of view is quite interesting.

"It's the same with these things. They want to leave illusions for themselves so that order can exist." Gao Jian pointed to the pleasure boats.

"It's just that the Outer City is not human to them, so there's no need to leave any illusions about the Outer City."

Gao Jian continued, "Of course, there's no psychological pressure on people you don't know well. If someone dies thousands of miles away, no one would think it's a big deal. But if someone dies right in front of you, that's when it really hits you."

"So, they want to pretend that this place is a paradise where women and customers are equal, everyone makes money happily, and the internal relationships are harmonious and there are no conflicts. It is a holy place where the body is the most vulgar and the spirit is the most elegant. The customers who come here are extremely noble."

"You see, the owners of those pleasure boats also create it this way. Every woman is so beautiful, as if she is spotless, even more ladylike than the ladies of a noble family. Those prostitutes are the representatives of imagination. Each of them has been trained to be talented and eloquent. They are proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and can write poems and songs. They are far better than many real young ladies."

"More importantly, they had suffered a tragic fate, falling into prostitution, yet they cared deeply about their country and their people. They presented themselves as detached from the world yet caring about the human world, a person of low status yet noble spirit. For these guests, under this imaginary image, their actions went from oppression to elegance."

"What they did was not oppression, but something elegant, so they flocked to it like they are now."

"However, no matter how the boat owners and these women portray selling their bodies as fashionable, elegant, beautiful, or even as something that brings some kind of spiritual gain, it is still just a fantasy. The bed will always be their job, and oppression and bloodshed will always be the themes of this industry."

"It's just that they are all hidden." Gao Jian said indifferently.

"That's weird. You talk as if you've been here before. How do you know all this?" Shu Jian asked.

"I've seen it before." Gao Jian scratched his head with a subtle expression.

However, at this time Shu Jian suddenly said: "No wonder, you are a little wrong. Although you are very smart, it is difficult to see the truth when you only hear things from others."

"Ah? What did I say wrong?" Gao Jian was a little surprised.

This was the first time Shu Jian corrected him. Does this chinchilla bear actually have a brain?

As if he noticed Gao Jian's surprised look, Shu Jian began to pull Gao Jian's hair angrily.

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! Why don't you just tell me what's wrong?! Stop pulling my hair!" Gao Jian quickly took him down from his head and held him in his arms.

Shu Jian threw the hair he had grabbed aside and said proudly, "Although you are smart, you come from a low-income family after all. You are still young and don't understand these things very well. Let me tell you, what do you mean by pretending to be a lady from a wealthy family..."

"But, the people in these pleasure boats down there are all real ladies from wealthy families."

"They committed a crime, or offended someone, or were abandoned by the aristocratic families. There are all kinds of reasons. These women are not just 'pretending to be ladies from noble families'. They are all female relatives from various families who were recruited into the Jiaofang Bureau after their property was confiscated by the Divine Dynasty court."

"A few years ago, they were all real young ladies."

"Also, haven't you seen the law? The Legalists can indeed compile the law into the laws of heaven and earth... although there is a price to pay. It is rare in Cangzhou, but in the states controlled by the Legalists, breaking the law will be punished by heaven." Shu Jian said casually.

This is just an insignificant little mistake and it doesn't matter at all. Shu Jian pointed it out specifically just to prove that he is not that stupid.

Humph, Gao Jian, you are not as well-planned as you imagined. There are always some things that you neglected because you are too young.

But I think these wise men also know that they are just wrong.

However, Gao Jian suddenly opened his mouth and was suddenly speechless for a moment.

He stood there in a daze, as if struck by lightning.

Yes...that's right.

This world is completely different.

Gao Jian has tried his best to get used to this world, to the fact that its basic structure is not the so-called "atoms" but "qi", to the various spells and martial arts, to the social system and various situations here, and to the world itself.

But...it seems like there's still one thing he's not used to.

For Gao Jian, stable order, a peaceful life, and enough food and clothing are as readily available as clean air and water. If these cannot be achieved, then it is wrong.

Even in this world, he has never lacked these. He met Bai Ping at the very beginning and solved the first big crisis. After that, he quickly broke through a realm and became a "superior man" in a sense.

Therefore, he actually has no sense of reality for many things in this world.

For example...the prostitutes nowadays may actually be in a completely different situation.

This made Gao Jian realize another possibility.

The laws and order here are not necessarily based on the 'group fantasy' to a large extent, because in this place, fantasy itself can come true!
Gao Jian had personally experienced this: being sucked into a dream, and then discovering that the dream was a kind of real world with real laws. (See Chapter 134 for details)
In other words, although Gao Jian’s opinion is partly correct, the other part may not be true at all!

The people in this world may not care whether the order and group come from fantasy or not, because... the law here is very likely to be the same as the law of nature!
The order of this world is also different!
The gentle order he was used to was fundamentally different in this world.

This world... is different.

It was different from everything he had ever experienced.

They are completely different and cannot be combined fundamentally. The underlying logic is completely different. It is a form of existence that is difficult to understand.

At this moment, a strange feeling swept through Gao Jian's body.

This difference...

Do you need to get used to it?

If you get used to it, you should be able to integrate better and make better decisions. You need to recognize the true appearance of this world and understand the possibility that "fantasy" itself is "reality".

but……

but--

but! !! !!

If he got used to this, Gao Jian wouldn't be able to say things like "I want to end the blood sacrifice."

Because, if fantasies can come true, then the things that Gao Jian said he wanted to change would actually seem meaningless.

With this strange feeling, a fork in the road seemed to appear under Gao Jian's feet.

Is he an 'outsider' or an 'integrator'?
"Gao Jian? Gao Jian?" Shu Jian suddenly found that Gao Jian, who was talking so confidently before, was stunned. He stretched out his little paw and poked him, wondering what he was doing.

Gao Jian shook his head, suddenly smiled, and then asked out of the blue: "Elder Shu, you think when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right?"

This question startled Shu Jian. The chinchilla scratched its butt with its paw and said thoughtfully, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do? How do you do that?"

"I don't know, this question just popped up suddenly." Gao Jian looked at the river in the distance.

The river surface was calm, with only some tiny white waves, no more than a few dozen inches high. Above the waves, there were ships rowing their oars, making creaking sounds. There were large ropes on the bridge, which were completely rust-free and looked as bright as new, with tiny rune-like dust flashing on them.

Shu Jian said nonchalantly, "Well... if I were to answer, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' means respecting other people's customs, not changing your own, right? Look, when I came to your human world, didn't I also start drinking tea? I don't do that kind of stuff in Rat Mountain."

However, this answer made Gao Jian's eyes light up.

He grabbed Shu Jian, held him in his palms, and then stretched out his hands: "I understand, thank you, Elder Shu."

"No, what do you understand?" Shu Jian frowned.

But Gao Jian didn't care about those things, he just made his own choice.

He is a foreigner, not from the Divine Dynasty.

The Divine Dynasty is not his home, he is not a subject of the Divine Dynasty Emperor, and he does not need to pay too much attention to the order of the Divine Dynasty!

Even if he became an official, even if he was caught up in a political struggle with the aristocratic families, it would still be the same.

Gao Jian, you never belonged here!
Only for outsiders there is the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". For the locals of the Divine Dynasty, it is a very natural thing for them.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This does not mean that one should completely become a person of the Divine Dynasty. In fact, he cannot become one of the Divine Dynasty. Many things from childhood are engraved in Gao Jian. For example, he has a natural pursuit of "stable order" and "clean water and air", and he thinks this is natural.

For the locals of the Divine Dynasty, they have never had such a pursuit.

For the locals of the Divine Dynasty, they had no reason to be angry or to object to many things that angered Gao Jian. This was their "custom", because even the aristocratic families themselves had no order at all!

Look at those prostitutes below. They are all real young ladies, but they don’t seem to be that resentful after falling to this point.

Because they are used to it.

This is the Divine Dynasty.

In this place, talking about 'stable order' is a joke.

Gao Jian recalled the past.

Why did he oppose the Zuo family?
Because... he doesn't fit in with this world.

This is the reason why Gao Jian was angry, and it is also the reason why he chose to go against the Zuo family in the first place.

There is no hatred, it’s just because... I can’t stand it, I can’t bear it, I can’t tolerate it.

Gao Jian couldn't bear to live in such a world!

This world is different from him!
So, either change yourself, or... change the world.

This is actually the choice I faced just now.

How to choose?

There is no choice at all.

Choose your bright ideas and change the world.

In other words, the understanding that Gao Jian received since childhood is that "people should change the world."

This thought came up...

At the same time, Gao Jian's rusty knife suddenly trembled at this moment.

This is what Gao Jian just said, but he overlooked it.

This world...fantasy can come true.

Gao Jian himself actually knew that in the Divine Dynasty, fantasy was very likely to have the power of reality.

Dreams may be real, and even the world in dreams is real and can affect the real world itself. This gave rise to the witchcraft system of dream interpretation, which uses the manipulation of dreams as its main method.

And 'willpower' is also undeniable.

The warrior's "martial arts divine will" is evidence that the warrior's understanding of the world, their obsessions, and even their will and opinions can really form divine will, and divine will can influence the world.

Bai Xingzhi's divine will of 'Withering and Flourishing' can reverse aging!
Even the simplest ones, such as ghosts, have no abilities when they are alive, but if they have suffered too much injustice and their resentment overflows, they will turn into resentful ghosts after death, and it is possible for them to have the strength of the second or third realm.

Even if the injustice really reaches a certain level, the resentment can affect the circulation of the energy of heaven and earth, causing snow in June and three years of drought. The resentment will cover the heaven and earth and even prayers for rain will be useless.

At that time, the solution is either to redress his grievances or to let a stronger existence forcibly eliminate his resentment. No matter whether you are wronged or not, just die honestly.

For the Divine Dynasty, they usually choose the latter.

It is a huge injustice. A person in the fifth or sixth realm is already a rare level in a thousand years. It is definitely a huge injustice that makes the questioner sad and the listener cry. However, it is not difficult for a cultivator in the fifth or sixth realm to send you away directly. Even if there are strange phenomena in the world, there is no real retribution or heavenly punishment. No matter how great the injustice a person has suffered, the world will not avenge him. From this perspective, the way of heaven is indeed cruel.

But it is different for the people themselves. Not only are they the ones who cause the injustice, they will also continue to suppress it.

In a sense, the way of heaven is cruel, but it is more benevolent and fair than the way of man.

In addition to these, there are similar ones. Some scholars who focus on studying, although they have not formally started to practice and break through the barriers, but when they read, they are likely to make breakthroughs. After they develop a righteous spirit, it is difficult for evil spirits to approach them. Some people can even suddenly open the divine barrier from the level of not entering the realm and directly enter the fourth realm.

These are all examples of will and fantasy influencing reality.

In this place, the laws of physics and the principles of heaven and earth are completely different, and will can come true.

The moment Gao Jian realized this and chose not to fit in...

The rusty knife began to tremble.

Gao Jian suddenly felt a palpitation!
This made him suddenly feel his legs go weak. He couldn't stand steadily and half-knelt on one knee on the ground, covering his heart.

Shu Jian, who was originally held in the palm of his hand, was suddenly suspended in the air. He fluttered a few times in the air, then turned over and stood steadily on the railing of the bridge. He then stuck his head out and looked at Gao Jian: "Hello? What's wrong with you?"

But there was no answer.

Gao Jian didn't hear these words at all.

The silence around his ears now was... shocking.

He seemed to hear nothing except his own heartbeat.

What...is this feeling?!

A quiet heartbeat, but accompanied by palpitations.

The feeling wasn't painful, just a little... empty.

How to describe this feeling?
It's probably like, you were penniless and about to die, but suddenly you got a job.

This job is very busy and requires no holidays all year round, but the salary is very high.

In order to escape from the previous poverty, you work hard. You start working as soon as you get up, and when you finish work it is already late at night. You are exhausted and fall asleep immediately.

Many years passed like this, until you became successful, old and famous, living on the upper floor of a large villa with a river view, and when you looked out, you realized that your life had already passed.

Then, I felt lost.

It seems like I have gained a lot, but it also seems like I have lost a lot.

The most important thing is that you don’t know what you have gained or what you have lost.

I just vaguely felt that my chest was... empty.

Leaning on a crutch, looking at the numbers on my bank card, I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what to do. It seemed as if I could no longer do anything.

That's it, emptiness.

This is the state Gao Jian is in at the moment.

He resisted this emptiness and pulled the rusty knife from the scabbard.

The blade of the rusty knife was now a full six inches long.

Then he thrust back in.

"Elder Shu..." Gao Jian rubbed his temples. "There should be a branch of Jinyouzhai in the inner city of Cangzhou. Can you wait for me at Jinyouzhai? I'll be there soon."

Shu Jian looked a little worried: "Are you okay? Do you need my help? After all, my family is a seventh-level demon. Although they may not be as smart as you, they should know more than you."

He frankly admitted that he did not have great insights or intelligence. After all, although intelligence and wisdom were related to one's cultivation, it was actually a screening process and there was no fundamental causal relationship.

Many wild beasts can reach the eighth and ninth realms, but they can't even speak.

In Gao Jian's words, the essence of cultivation is to improve one's "energy level".

They are all mortals, but in terms of energy levels, what an ordinary illiterate person eats is similar to what a very knowledgeable and intelligent scholar eats. The scholar may even eat less. It can be said that their energy levels are similar, but their intelligence may be very different.

Similarly, it is the same for practitioners. Having a high energy level does not mean that you are smart.

This is because the intellectual structure is different. No matter how much energy you have, if the structure is not good, the result will be bad.

However, there is one thing that can be linked, that is, if your energy level is high, you have the opportunity and potential to become smarter. After a smart person practices, he will be smarter than his previous self. This is certain. Under the same intellectual structure, higher energy levels and improved cultivation will indeed increase thinking speed.

This is also the reason why the person at the helm of the Zuo family is usually around the sixth realm. The depth of cultivation cannot determine intelligence. For the one in charge of the family, intelligence is much more important than cultivation.

But you have no cultivation, and you simply cannot withstand that kind of intense thinking.

The situation of Gao Jian and Shu Jian is similar to the relationship between the strong men of the Zuo family and the helmsman. This is a very normal relationship in the Divine Dynasty. It is common for those in high positions to have a few smart staff members.

This is why the profession of "mentor" exists.

Therefore, Shu Jian did not think that admitting that he was dumber than Gao Jian was an insult. He faced this situation calmly and began to care about Gao Jian's situation.

Gao Jian rubbed his head again.

"It's okay. I just got some injuries when fighting with Zuo An. I'll be fine in a while." Gao Jian said reluctantly, but still stood up.

"Injury? Well... okay, then I'll go to Jinyouzhai to wait for you." Shu Jian stared at Gao Jian. He actually couldn't see any injuries.

But since Gao Jian said so, he chose to believe it, so he jumped off Gao Jian's body and then disappeared mysteriously.

Really... there is no trace of him at all.

According to Shu Jian, he had never hidden his aura, but even Zuo An couldn't find him. It could only be said that this was indeed some kind of mysterious incident.

But Gao Jian didn't care about those at the moment.

He looked around and then jumped off the bridge.

This place is several thousand meters away from the water surface. Normally, if you go down, you will be smashed to pieces. But it is nothing for Gao Jian now. He fell directly into the water and then put on the water-repellent beads.

The water-repellent beads diverted the water, allowing his body to quickly become dry again.

He reached the bottom of the water and found a cave.

This cave should have been the residence of the water tribe in the past, but now the Baishanjiang water tribe has been wiped out, so these caves are empty.

Gao Jian found a place to crawl into, and after making sure that his breath was completely blocked by the water vapor, he pulled out the rusty knife from the scabbard.

Then he looked at the knife carefully.

The shape is similar to that of a seedling, the blade is three feet five or six feet long, and the handle is about one foot long. It is a typical two-handed sword, very long and heavy.

Most of it was rusty, with only a six-inch blade.

It doesn't look like anything special, except that it's a bit rusty.

Ever since he and Bai Ping left the low mountain village, Gao Jian always kept the rusty knife in its sheath instead of on his chest so that it wouldn't look strange.

However, this actually worked. For example, Zuo An was tricked by this move and wanted to stab Gao Jian to death with a rusty knife, but in the end he found that the rusty knife could not hurt Gao Jian at all.

But... Gao Jian had actually thought about why the rusty knife wouldn't hurt him, although these thoughts were only fleeting and could not produce any results.

Gao Jian himself knew that the rusty knife seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

What is the origin of the rusty knife?
Gao Jian couldn't explain the true origin.

However, Gao Jian still had a very clear memory of how the rusty knife appeared.

At first, he was driven by a ritual instigated by the mountain god's temple priest, probably a rural witch, and was rescued by Bai Ping. Driven by fear, he fled...

Afterwards, he felt that he could not escape or be afraid, he had to go back to save Bai Ping. He was his savior, and it would be too cowardly to just run away.

After thinking this, when he turned back and ran, he felt a little anxious.

Just going back like this would be like delivering food.

He felt... he needed a weapon, urgently needed a weapon, even a pitchfork or even a stick would do.

At that time, Gao Jian's mind was in a mess. He was breathing heavily, his head was dizzy, and he was suffocating painfully. The impact of the previous ceremony, the fatigue brought by the fast running, and the fear and anger were consuming his remaining sanity.

In this situation, even Gao Jian himself couldn't remember what he was thinking at the time.

He just patted his breathless chest hard, hoping that he could recover as soon as possible.

After that, a knife appeared in his hand.

It was with this knife that he killed the temple keeper by a sneak attack and stabbed the opponent to death.

He didn't even feel nauseous as he continued to rush towards the terrifying mountain god and hit it with all his might, tipping the balance of victory towards Bai Ping.

Later, several minutes later, Gao Jian realized that he seemed to have pulled out a knife from his chest.

In Bai Ping's "strange man" analysis, he realized that this knife had the effect of "clearing the heart lake", and the clear heart lake itself seemed to have the effect of "reflecting" all charm.

In other words, Gao Jian's understanding was not given by Xiu Dao. He already had this level of understanding. He just needed to calm down.

It's just that Rusty Knife's 'calmness' is a little too calm, as if nothing can shake it.

Since then until now... this knife has always been with Gao Jian.

The characteristics of rusty knives are being discovered more and more.

First of all, in addition to being able to "clarify the heart", Gao Jian also discovered three other characteristics of this knife.

One is that it is very hard, so hard that it is unbelievable. Gao Jian saw that nothing could cause any damage to the rusty knife so far, and the rusty knife has never been "bent".

A normal knife must be both hard and flexible, and have a certain degree of bendability so that it will not break, but a rusty knife does not care about this at all.

The second is its sharpness. Once sharpened, its blade is just like a single-molecule knife. Although it looks nothing special, this thing can even cut through the flesh of the sixth realm.

Although it is still impossible to break solid objects, they are basically blocked by something like an energy shield condensed by the "qi" of incense and golden body, while solid objects can be cut with almost no obstacles.

The third is that the rusty knife does not belong to Qi.

In this world composed of Qi, the Rusty Knife surprisingly does not possess the nature of "Qi". In other words, methods that treat "Qi", such as the magical power of Qi Ban, are ineffective against the Rusty Knife, which often has miraculous effects.

These three properties, plus the Rusty Knife's ability to suppress the Heart Lake, constitute the Rusty Knife that Gao Jian understands.

This is how he usually uses it, and he is used to the rusty knife being able to produce these effects.

But now think about it…why?

Gao Jian suddenly realized this.

And when he realized that "fantasy" could become a reality here, he felt that he could not integrate into this world, otherwise he would not be able to do those things.

Then, something strange happened.

A strong feeling of emptiness filled his heart, making it almost impossible for Gao Jian to stand up.

This gave Gao Jian a...premonition.

Rusty knife, is it a fantasy?
Or to put it another way... is it some type of 'divine will'?
If you think about it carefully, it's entirely possible.

The ability of the Rusty Knife is related to the Heart Lake.

The rusty knife was pulled out from the chest.

A rusty knife...can be sharpened by willpower, and can only be sharpened by willpower.

The so-called arrogance actually means that Gao Jian thinks it is okay.

This thing is extremely vague. Gao Jian would gain two inches when he took a hot bath because it was too comfortable, but he didn't gain an inch when he slaughtered Baishanjiang Dragon Palace.

Maybe it was because he knew that the Zuo family was behind Baishanjiang Longgong and that things were far from over, so he didn't have any special feelings at all.

But all these things are hinting at one thing...

Gao Jian may have rejected this world and refused to admit that "fantasy may be true."

If I put it another way...

Did he reject the rusty knife itself?

After examining it, he inserted the rusty knife back into his chest with slightly trembling fingers.

He had a feeling that this might make him feel better.

then……

Sure enough, the emptiness in my heart was greatly relieved.

At the same time, Gao Jian's eyes involuntarily revealed his 'heart lake'.

(Thanks to the leader who keeps moving forward, I will add one more chapter)
(I’ve burned out from writing 8K chapters in a week, and now I’ve spent all my money on this chapter. I won’t be updating for a while… I’m dying)

(End of this chapter)