Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 214 Blocking the Resurrection Point and Killing Two Thousand Years
"More than two thousand years..."

After hearing Lu Mingfei's answer, the old man was silent for a moment, sighed softly, opened the cupboard, and took out a ceramic jar.

The six people sat in a row on small wooden stools, their postures as upright as students in class... If it were a real class, they probably wouldn't be so serious, but the old man's aura was just too powerful.

The layout of the house was quite simple. Apart from the cabinets, cupboards, beds and other living items, there were no other superfluous items. To anyone else, it would probably just be the home of an ordinary old farmer.

But how could an ordinary old farmer in the countryside be able to recognize the Overlord Spear at a glance and even feel a fighting spirit in him?

Not to mention this is Nibelungen.

Time seemed to have left many marks on the old man, but to say that the time was two thousand years would be too few marks. The old man's every move was not slow, but rather steady, powerful, and incredibly smooth.

"Your tone suggests you're not surprised?"

Lu Mingfei carefully considered the wording.

He originally planned to translate it for Ye Sheng and Chu Zihang, and then decide how to respond after discussion. However, Ye Sheng, as the team leader, chose to hand over all communication rights to him directly, letting him do as he pleased.

This approach was certainly not based on trust in Lu Mingfei's communication skills.

In this respect, he can often steer the conversation from its original direction to a completely unexpected angle in just a few words... This is a gifted talent that others cannot imitate even if they try.

But there was nothing that could be done; it was clear the old man was only interested in Lu Mingfei. Perhaps it was because of that first glance when they met—only Lu Mingfei stood there, unmoved?

"Surprised? Why should I be surprised?"

The old man countered with a question, then casually pointed in a direction.

"Go in that direction, and you'll find the village's water clock. There are people who specialize in using it to record the time. Every day that passes, they carve it into a stone... After a year, each stone is replaced with the next one."

To this day, not a single piece has been lost; they're all still there. Things carved in stone are very difficult to damage. It's just that this godforsaken place has no sun; otherwise, a sundial would suffice, and we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.”

He rambled on, looking exactly like a lonely old man who hadn't seen a guest in a long time, sharing everything worth telling.

The old man brought over some firewood, piled it in the brazier, and looked at Lu Mingfei with a rare hint of expectation in his eyes.

"Is there a fire?"

"Yes!" Lu Mingfei nodded repeatedly and took out a lighter from his waist.

Before carrying out the mission, he changed into a series of equipment provided by the Foreign Cooperation Division. Because he had not received specialized training, he was not equipped with any special lethal weapons. All he carried were some survival equipment, including this waterproof and windproof lighter with a self-destruct function. That's right, the key point is that it can start a fire and is waterproof and windproof, so it is not a "special" lethal weapon but a survival device!

Lu Mingfei felt that the External Cooperation Division was more or less influenced by the group of lunatics in the Equipment Department of Kassel College. When he was looking at the data, he learned about those guys who liked to add self-destruct functions to any equipment they made.

Of course, it could also be due to a fear of insufficient firepower per capita, which is unique to Chinese people.
He pressed the lighter.

Unlike those icy blue flames, a bright flame, gradually changing from blue to orange-yellow from bottom to top, shoots out from the lighter's nozzle, constantly flickering, and a faint warmth emanates from it.

The old man first glanced curiously at the lighter in Lu Mingfei's hand, then extended the thin piece of dry firewood for starting the fire, lit it, took it back, stared at it blankly for two seconds, and then started to make a fire.

“It takes a while to brew tea, so let’s chat. I have a lot of questions, and you probably have a lot of questions too… Let’s take it one at a time. I’ll ask one, and then you can ask one,” the old man said slowly.

"You ask first."

"How should I address you?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Guan Ying, Guan as in watering, Ying as in baby, you can just call me Lao Guan."

The old man wasn't particular; you could tell he had a rather easygoing personality. "And you?"

“My name is Lu Mingfei, Lu as in road, Ming as in tomorrow, and Fei as in right and wrong.” Lu Mingfei pressed on, “Then Lao Guan, you can just call me Xiao Lu.”

"The path?"

Guan Ying smiled, a smile that held a strange undertone, but it vanished in an instant. "Alright, you said it yourself."

Lu Mingfei found Guan Ying's last words a bit strange, but he didn't think much of it and continued to ask, "Old Guan, are you really... people from more than two thousand years ago?"

“I am, they are not.”

Guan Ying stared blankly at the already burning fire, then took a bronze pot and placed it on the fire.

If nothing unexpected had happened, this would have been a cultural relic worthy of being placed in a museum, but now it is left to be licked by flames and no one cares... There is already a "living antique" that is over two thousand years old, so who would care about those that are dead?

"I'm the only one here who has lived from that time until now... if this can be considered living. They are born, grow up, and grow old generation after generation. Now, I don't know how many generations it is, and there are far fewer people left."

Guan Ying's voice was noticeably low, as if he had remembered something. Lu Mingfei tried hard to decipher the various messages contained in his words. With the help of [Emotional Perception], he wasn't worried about being deceived; the sadness that had settled over time couldn't be faked.

"How many years did the Han Dynasty last?" Guan Ying asked again. "What dynasty is it now?"

“I’m not good at history…” Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a little guilty and quickly turned to ask.

Chu Zihang and Ye Sheng were truly patient. Although they couldn't understand the conversation between Lu Mingfei and Guan Ying, they sat quietly on their small stools without making a sound or wandering around, waiting patiently.

"From the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, excluding the fifteen-year interruption during the Xin Dynasty, it should be 407 years, with an overall historical span of 422 years."

Chu Zihang thought for a moment and then answered. Although he was a science student, the division between arts and sciences at Shilan Middle School was in the second year of high school. In the first year, he still had to study history, and there would be a high school graduation exam afterward.

As a top student, even if he didn't choose humanities, he didn't neglect his studies. He focused on being an all-rounder. In fact, the science and humanities teachers even secretly competed for him, since whoever won Chu Zihang would get a top scorer... Who wouldn't want that free money and achievement?

Lu Mingfei turned back to answer. "Four hundred and twenty-two years. As for the current dynasty... it's no longer the same system as before, so it's called China."

"Four hundred and twenty-two years? Hahaha, that's enough, more than enough! The Qin Dynasty only lasted two generations before it collapsed, while my Han Dynasty lasted for over four hundred years. We are far more powerful than the Qin!"

Guan Ying burst into laughter, "Go ahead and ask!"

"Old Guan, how do you live in Nibelungen... in this world? Why do you live in this place?"

Lu Mingfei asked curiously. Since the word Nibelungen was not in the ancient Chu language system, he pronounced it directly and cleverly asked two questions at once.

“Nibelungen? What a strange name. Is that what you call this place? We call it a blessed land… at least that’s what the sorcerer told me at first.”

Guan Ying, who was in high spirits, didn't seem to care about this. He waved his hand and explained.

"But this godforsaken place is nothing like the legendary paradise where immortals live. There's not even a ray of sunshine. How do you live here? Farming, eating, it's that simple. Why come here... that involves something from a long time ago. You know Xiang Yu, right?"

"I know." Lu Mingfei nodded honestly, thinking to himself, "How could I not know when his weapons are all in my hands?"
How is he described in history books?

"The Hegemon-King of Western Chu, whose bravery is unparalleled throughout history," Lu Mingfei said succinctly.

“Indeed.” Guan Ying nodded. “But you should also know what he actually is.”

"dragon?"

"That's right, dragons... are beings that don't die. We will grow old and die, but they will revive again and again. Perhaps our generation can handle it, but what if our descendants can't? What will happen then?"
"If our descendants die at the hands of the enemy, it's because they lack the ability; but if they die at the hands of the dragon we haven't completely eliminated, then it's because we haven't done our job well."

Guan Ying slowly said, "So His Majesty secretly summoned the alchemists, obtained a solution, and entrusted it to me to implement."

This happened a long time ago, quite a long time ago. To be precise, it starts with the Battle of Gaixia... Xiang Yu suddenly became weaker.

Lu Mingfei understood. He thought that it was probably around that time that Yu Ji committed suicide, and Xiang Yu, in order to save her and stay with her, chose to pay a huge price to transform her into a dragon. And now, all of this was actually Liu Bang's doing?
He was quite interested and became increasingly focused. After all, listening to gossip is a natural human interest, and the "unofficial history" he was about to hear might be the true history buried beneath what the world knows, which gave him a great sense of "being the only one sober while everyone else is drunk."

I've finally tasted a "aged, fresh, and delicious melon"!

"But even the weakest overlord is still an overlord... Although it seems we paid a huge price to kill him, we didn't actually succeed. We know this perfectly well. The fact that his twenty-eight dragons didn't guard him but ran away is proof of that; otherwise, they would have fought to the death..."

"Wait, twenty-eight dragons?!" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but interrupt.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

What's going on? I thought it was just one first-generation species, but now twenty-eight dragons have suddenly appeared out of nowhere! So you guys weren't just fighting one boss, but were fighting a big boss with twenty-eight mini-bosses?

What kind of insanely difficult dungeon is this? The most insane thing is that you guys actually managed to complete it!
While Lu Mingfei had various complaints in his mind, he gradually came to understand this point. It did seem rather unreasonable that Xiang Yu, the first king of the earth and mountains, did not have many pure-blooded dragon subordinates.

Putting aside everything else, there have to be some second-generation and third-generation dragon servants, right?

Since Xiang Yu himself could be the king of the earth and mountains, it becomes more acceptable that the twenty-eight riders were dragon attendants.

"No, it's nothing, it's just a bit beyond our understanding, because there are many situations we don't actually know..." Lu Mingfei scratched his head and explained.

"That's normal. It would be strange if you knew everything. Apart from the dead, everyone else involved is here. Now I'm the only one left. At most, there are some records outside, but His Majesty specifically ordered that they not be disclosed..."

After rambling on for a while, Guan Ying steered the conversation back on track, "Where was I?"

"Speaking of those twenty-eight dragons running away," Lu Mingfei reminded him.

"Yes, they ran away. We knew something was wrong, so we had the sorcerer find their location... which is right here."

The light dancing in the fire pit was reflected in Guan Ying's eyes. In that instant, the atmosphere was so heavy that it felt as if the whole sky had collapsed. A history that had been passed down for more than two thousand years was about to be unveiled in front of Lu Mingfei in the voice of a person who had experienced it firsthand.

"A blessed land, that's what the alchemist said... It's a really good name, but the place doesn't quite look like one. If those dragons are immortals, then aren't we the ones who killed the immortals?"

Guan Ying slowly said, "That's why I've never been very interested in those mystical things. We can kill dragons, and the so-called methods of immortals are also used by sorcerers. There's nothing special about them; it just depends on whether we know them or not."

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, if you were to write a book and establish a biography, you would probably be a famous thinker by now. Of course, you might also be banned for having radical ideas... But thinking about it carefully, the old man has lived for so many years. Anyone could probably become a thinker after so many years of thinking, right?

“The twenty-eight dragons are in here, in that direction. They chose to encamp here to guard their king. We can’t get there, so we can only wait here.”

“Wait, huh?” Lu Mingfei said, emphasizing each word.

“That’s right, wait. The sorcerer said there’s no other way. Ordinary people can’t survive in this godforsaken place called the Blessed Land. You’ve seen the land, water, and fire there. But he made some things for us, like an altar or something… After that, we were able to eat the food and drink the water here, except that our bodies became a bit ugly.”

Guan Ying stretched out his hand, which was also bluish-gray, just like the others Lu Mingfei had seen before.

"Then we stayed here, waiting for those dragons to come out, and killing them every time they came out."

Guan Ying said calmly.

"What a formidable person," Lu Mingfei exclaimed.

At this moment, he didn't know what to say. In a game, this behavior would be equivalent to blocking someone's respawn point. He had been doing this for over two thousand years... Calling him a master is not an exaggeration.

"No, we got tired of fighting later on. They can't be killed, and we can't all die. If we keep fighting like this, wouldn't it be pointless?"

Guan Ying smiled and said, "Later we reached a consensus that as long as they don't go out, we'll be fine."

(End of this chapter)