The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

This is a thought experiment similar to the Ship of Theseus. If the brain and body were shattered and then reassembled to create a life form with identical memories, could this reassembled individual still be considered the original "person"?

The vast majority of people would answer "no," because the original person died the moment they were pulverized, and the life that appeared afterward is more like a copy that inherited the original's memories. Clones, replicas, degraded versions, doppelgangers—whatever you call them, they are all ultimately "other existences" different from the original.

"The essence of the elementalization spell is the same as that of a brain crusher, except that it replaces flesh and blood with flames, mist, or water. For a mere heretic like you to try to use it is suicide. Since you cannot 'understand' it, you certainly cannot 'construct' it."

Lu Wenjun lowered his eyes silently, as if he could see the eyes of the living sacrifice on the back of his hand casting a contemptuous glance.

Is that so?

The cheat software was already pretty powerful, it's just that I'm too bad at it to carry the team...!

"No, no, but senior, even the Forty Thieves can transform their entire bodies into elements! Surely I'm not inferior to the Forty Thieves!"

Mingxiao smiled enigmatically: "What level are those great thieves? What level are you?"

Lü Wenjun realized: "Is this the difference between strange tales and bizarre stories?"

“Look, Xiao Qing has already taught you this. The biggest difference between the Strange Tales Master and the Different Tales Master lies in the Self-Form Technique, which is ‘True Transformation’.” Ming Xiao adopted the demeanor of a teacher. “Why is this technique so important? Because it is unique and represents proof of ‘self’.”

"Who am I? What do I want to do? What are my life goals? What is the wish I want to fulfill? Or is it simply what I like most? Give precise answers to questions like these, express these answers in the form of a spell, and the final product is the True Transformation Spell."

"The self is a unique thing, therefore the true form is also unique. It cannot be replaced or discarded, hence it is the synonym for a mage. You can understand what kind of person a mage is just by looking at their true form. Now you should understand, right?"

The charlatans need not worry about the paradox of self-proof, because they have already achieved a true self-affirmation.

Just like the golden elixir or yang spirit of ancient cultivators, or the mysterious "mind" in philosophical speculation. At that stage, even using magic to transform the physical body will not cause a paradox, because the elements of the self such as memory, personality, and character have all been anchored by the spell, and no matter how the body and organs change, it will not cause the self to waver.

“That being said, under normal circumstances, if life-sustaining organs are destroyed, one will still die a normal death,” Mingxiao said.

"I thought I had reached the point where my heart would live on forever..."

"How could that be? It's not a big problem if you just mess with your own body. If you get hit by an enemy's malicious spell, you'll still die." Mingxiao waved his hand. "In fact, the most common stupid thing that upperclassmen do is use radical transformation spells that cause confusion in their self-awareness. Just because it's okay in theory doesn't mean there's no risk in practice. My personal advice is that unless your true transformation is an elemental spell like 'using my broken body to turn into raging fire,' you should avoid playing these kinds of tricks."

Lu Wenjun nodded: "I understand. In other words, elemental fruits are ultimately just a means to an end. True power still comes from domineering aura."

"I don't watch anime, so don't say things I don't understand."

"So, at what level do you need to achieve true immortality and eternal life?"

"Eternity..."

Upon hearing this, Mingxiao fell into deep thought, his gaze seemingly fixed on a distant place.

“I don’t think anything lasts forever in this world,” she said. “Theoretically, those who reach the legendary level have the possibility of immortality, and mythical beings basically don’t naturally perish. However, even such beings will fall in battle, just like the dead gods mourned in the epic poem.”

"At the end of the path of magic, there truly exist beings that are immortal and indestructible. They are not influenced by others, nor swayed by distracting thoughts, and they walk eternally and vibrantly on the path they have chosen. But if life reaches that point, doesn't it just seem like a phenomenon?"

For some reason, Lü Wenjun recalled the blood-red sun in the Obsidian Classics. That inexplicable thought compelled him to speak: "Like the sun?"

Mingxiao was stunned. Her gaze instantly shifted from the long past, revealing a sadness that was difficult for others to perceive.

“...Yes, just like the sun,” she whispered, “existing forever, in a place beyond the reach of others.”

"If you become that kind of being, even if you feel genuine joy, it will be nothing short of a tragedy in the eyes of others. So remember, pursuing immortality is not wrong, but never become an 'unchanging' being."

Lu Wenjun knew that it was sincere advice, but he didn't want her to dwell on such emotions, so he quickly changed the subject: "Senior, you're overthinking it. Why would I, a mere extraordinary student, be thinking about these things?"

"That's true, generally speaking there's absolutely no hope."

"It's better to focus on the present, which we can control, than on the elusive concept of eternity." Lü Wenjun stood up. "There's something I'd like to investigate; could I ask you for help, senior?"

He had a sudden inspiration and took out the original text of the urban legend.

A few minutes later, Mingxiao turned the page of the book, causing Spring-Heeled Jack to appear in Lu Wenjun's bedroom. The strange man stared at him listlessly: "Who are we going to fight this time?"

"Do you want to leave the original text?" Lü Wenjun asked.

Spring Legs stared at him, bewildered, then seemed to understand something and revealed his usual wicked smile.

"Do you want to go to Dou Shi?" Spring Legs asked back.

"What?"

"A renowned, ancient, complex realm, several times larger than your academy. Gods clash, demons dance, a modern metropolis of the magical world; London is but a small village compared to it." Spring-Leg pointed at him with his iron claw. "Want to go? Want to go?"

"Do not."

"why?"

Lu Wenjun shrugged: "I don't know anyone here, and I don't have any need for education, so why would I go to a place like that?"

“Oh, of course. What a strange question. So why are you asking me?” Spring Legs sneered. “Leaving the original text? Why—is there something I care about outside? What’s the motive? To encounter my thrilling romance in a place I know nothing about?”

Lu Wenjun hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "I understand. I guess I'm an idiot."

“You’re never stupid, you clever kid. This is arrogance.”

Spring-Legs hopped onto the small sofa, sat down with its legs crossed, and tapped the walnut handle with its paws.

“You wizards are always like this. Oh, he lives in that cramped book, he’s such a poor soul, I should find a way to get him out!” He mimicked a neurotic, feminine tone. “But why should I go to your so-called ‘Great World’? What need does a farmer who’s settled in Lugacheir have to risk going to London? What reason does an old Devonian weaver have to go to Europe for a job, just because it’s ‘bigger’?”

He suddenly jumped up, leaping back to the pages like a diver, leaving behind only a sarcastic remark: "You really should read more philosophy books from your hometown; how insightful the old man arguing on the bridge was!"

"Where exactly did you read Zhuangzi?" Lü Wenjun asked.

The "spring-like legs" refers to a famous passage from the "Autumn Floods" chapter of the Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling on a bridge over the Hao River. Zhuangzi remarked on how leisurely the whitebait swam in the water, expressing the fish's joy. Huizi, however, countered:

"Zifeiyu, know the joy of fish?"

Even a great philosopher like Zhuangzi could make the mistake of judging others by his own standards, and young people are naturally prone to repeating the same error. To interfere in others' lives without authorization simply because one thinks it's better is indeed a form of arrogance.

Mingxiao grinned mischievously: "The inevitable path for every novice magician~"

"Although we should still ask for opinions," Lü Wenjun said, urging his senior to continue flipping through the book. "Does Chupacabra want to go out?"

Chupacabra poked out its alien-like head, clutching a parachute pack in its hand: "?"

"There's absolutely no way to communicate here... By the way, what's with that parachute you have?"

Chupacabra hurriedly slung his parachute over his shoulder, his face full of vigilance: "Squeak! Squeak!!"

"Don't worry, I won't leave you behind this time... So, let's try another one, Miss Red Shoes."

The woman in red shoes reacted enthusiastically: "I'm going! I'm going to blow their hearts out with my dance!"

"Okay, I understand. In short, you're definitely grounded. Next."

"Why! It's unfair! It's a cover-up!"

After much trouble from her senior, who spent over two hours consulting with him, Lü Wenjun finally managed to gather information on all the phantom spirits in the book. Her findings are as follows:

Led by Chupacabra, they lack communication skills and have absolutely no concept of the relevant concepts—60%.

The woman in red shoes is the leader; she has communication skills but is purely a menace when released—25%.

Led by Spring-Heeled Jack, they had absolutely no intention of going out to send out a group—15%.

Conclusion: Not a single one left.

"Seriously, why?" Lu Wenjun asked, echoing the voice of the woman in red shoes.

“What’s so strange about that? Most people prefer to live in their hometown. Who would want to suddenly go to a strange place?” Mingxiao said. “Besides, most of the phantom spirits in your original text are monsters or vengeful spirits. Even if you really want to go out, you can’t just let them wander around.”

"But most of the phantoms in the original texts aren't considered malevolent, are they?"

"If you look at all the original texts, the logic becomes even simpler. Think about it, are there more magicians or more phantom spirits?"

"Of course, there are more phantom spirits."

Trista Academy only admits about a hundred new students a year, and other educational institutions in various secret realms are said to enroll even fewer. And in Lu Wenjun's urban legend alone, there are over a hundred phantom spirits of varying sizes; if we look at the many famous works in cultural history, the number of phantom spirits is even more vast.

“There aren’t many mages to begin with, and if we let the Phantom Spirits run rampant, we simply couldn’t manage them. That’s why even a friendly force like our academy is quite cautious about the Phantom Spirits becoming independent.” Mingxiao counted on his fingers, “First of all, it’s an internship! Let the Phantom Spirits fight against the newbies!”

"Beating someone up and getting beaten up counts as learning?!"

“How can it not count? It’s just like how people outside nurture the AI ​​in a computer. You need to interact and communicate with it a lot for it to grow,” Mingxiao explained. “The more you interact with intelligent life, the smarter the Phantom Spirit becomes. Look at that Chupacabra just now, it knew to bring a parachute, didn’t it? That’s the growth you’ve brought to it…”

Lü Wenjun was speechless: "So I've become a good teacher and friend after all..."

"Once you've completed enough internships and become smart enough, the library will organize basic moral and magical education for you. After passing the assessment to confirm your ability to live independently, you'll need to take the college graduation exam. Only after passing all of these can you become a free person!"

Lu Wenjun exclaimed, "Wow... this is some kind of magical world's entrance exam for junior high, high school, and college..."

"The academy is, after all, an educational institution; it should teach all without discrimination," Mingxiao stretched. "You can ask your friends for details. I'm tired and need to rest today~"

"Thanks, senior. I'll make you carrots tomorrow."

Before leaving, Mingxiao turned back and said, "And you, you don't need to be so careful about my feelings. I was just feeling sad on my own."

Lu Wenjun tilted his head back in his chair, looking at Mingxiao's face from an upside-down perspective.

“I originally wanted to investigate the Phantom Spirit,” he said. “Besides, I don’t like the sad look on your face. You look better when you smile, so this isn’t being overly considerate, it’s just my selfishness.”

"Save your sweet talk for young girls, young man."

"Useless? What a pity."

In the inverted vision, her smile resembled a distant crescent moon.

Chapter 83 Chasing the Tornado on Horseback

With the student council's mission concluded and the senior providing numerous details, the topic of the phantom spirit should have come to an end. However, Lü Wenjun remained deeply interested in it.

This wasn't because he suddenly awakened a strong sense of mission as a phantom power and was preparing to launch a grand liberation of the storybook class, but because phantoms seemed to be closely related to the underlying logic of ultimate magic.

“Look,” he said to his friends after class on Tuesday morning, “the magic we learn comes from the scriptures. The scriptures tell stories about a person or thing. And the phantom is the protagonist of that story. So, could we say that the ultimate magic is essentially a product of studying phantoms?”

"Your logic is sound, but your conclusion is utter nonsense," Faris commented. "Although the magic we've learned so far is all secondary creations based on the original scriptures—"

“The vast majority of magicians live like this their entire lives,” Velsa interjected.

Faris raised his voice: "But eventually there will always be some 'originality' involved, right? At least I've heard that Self-Spells are the kind with a high degree of originality. You can't just copy Phantom Spirits, can you?"

"What you said makes sense..."

Lu Wenjun recalled Xiao Qing's "Awakening from Sin in the Red-Haired Street," which clearly didn't connect with the core message of the original play. It merely borrowed some of the atmosphere and imagery that Xiao Qing herself preferred. If the original "Awakening from Sin in the Red-Haired Street" was a tragic love story set in the red-light district, then Xiao Qing's magic was more like a B-movie scene of a samurai infiltrating the red-light district to slay demons...

"But I think my logic is sound," Lü Wenjun struggled in desperation. "So where did I go wrong?"

“Starting from the very beginning, right?” Ling Gong added with a smile, “Wen Jun’s backward reasoning would lead to the conclusion that ‘the phantom is the source of the story,’ but more often than not, the story that is passed down comes first. The magician extracts the ambiguous story and forms the original text, and only then does the phantom come into being because of the original text. In this case, the phantom is a byproduct of the story.”

“I understand… In most cases, the original story comes first, then the phantoms; in a few cases, the deeds of humans or monsters are recorded as the original story. But in any case, the original story is the foundation for the existence of phantoms, so it is still based on the original story.” Lu Wenjun murmured to himself, “Then, magicians who have studied a large number of original stories will create their own stories. The birth of new original stories brings new phantoms, which in turn inspire later writers to write new stories…”

"This is what's called a virtuous cycle in the magical world," Ling Gong said. "In another 100 to 200 years, some of the new stories we read today will become original texts that have stood the test of time for centuries. Future wizards will look at today's stories with the same curiosity and retro perspective we have today when we look at Victorian-era eccentrics. The consciousness of the past and the future will thus converge through these original texts. Doesn't that sound romantic?"

“But I feel there’s more garbage literature these days,” Faris interjected. “Future magicians might discover that the literary world 200 years ago was devoid of heroes, to the point that all the original texts from that era were rubbish. That’s why people call it an era full of shit…”

"Farris, please be quiet. You've completely ruined the precious atmosphere."

“In this case, they can seek evidence from the phantom spirits,” Lu Wenjun joked. “Phantom spirits that existed 400-500 years ago should have interacted with magicians from 100-200 years ago. They can ask the phantom spirits if the older generation from that era were dung-making machines… However, I don’t have access to such an old phantom spirit for the time being.”

“There must be some at the school, right?” Faris said. “The library has so many original texts.”

Ling Gong said thoughtfully, "That's hard to say. None of the original texts I borrowed from the library contain any phantom spirits."

Lu Wenjun thought of the Phantom Spirit compulsory education in the library and came up with a conjecture: "Do you think those original texts might be the hometowns of Phantom Spirit graduates? Because they no longer need books, so they are left there for free borrowing."

Faris retorted, "According to your logic, wouldn't our school have a lot of Phantom graduates? There are so many books in the library; if we count one original book per person, there should be at least several thousand. But in reality, we haven't seen a single one."

Lu Wenjun thought for a while, his expression becoming increasingly interesting.

"You know what, among the people we know... it seems there really is one..."

He whispered a few words, and his guess won the approval of all his friends.

"Why don't we go ask them?" Faris suggested, eager to try.

·

Everyone was very interested in this, but unfortunately, Versa had classes in the afternoon. So after the first period in the afternoon, Lü Wenjun, Ling Gong, and Faris went to the small garden outside the teaching building to wait.

This place grows corn, carrots, and mandrake, all favorite foods of plant-type monsters. As expected, they discovered a fluffy rabbit that had evaded the gardener fairies' watchful eyes and was secretly pulling out a plump carrot.

It stole with great skill, cutting off the very top of the radish along with the stalk and burying it on top of the pit, making it look as if it hadn't been pulled out at all. Then it greeted the little fairies friendly, asking how the radish was growing and how much it cost. After some haggling, it claimed it had forgotten its magic coins, and then strode away amidst the little fairies' angry shouts and curses, happily munching on the stolen half-carrot.

At this moment, Lü Wenjun jumped out and said righteously, "Stop! You liar! I've seen through your true colors!"

Breeze Rabbit snapped the carrot in half with a crunch and sneered, "Oh, so you noticed? I underestimated you..."

Lu Wenjun pointed at the rabbit: "Your true form is a phantom from the original American folk tale!"

“That’s right, I am the familiar Breeze Rabbit to all the children—” Breeze Rabbit turned around and said, “What’s so surprising about something that anyone who has read Uncle Limes’ stories would know? Please, I didn’t even change my name.”

Br'er Rabbit is a cunning rabbit that appeared in American fairy tales during the 19th and 20th centuries. He is shrewd, eloquent, and often engages in petty theft, which occasionally leads him into traps, making children laugh.

Its most famous story is "The Tar Doll," which tells of how the wicked fox brothers used a doll made of tar and turpentine to lure Brear Rabbit, causing it to become stuck in the tar and unable to move. Although the rabbit eventually managed to escape, it made a fool of itself, showing that while it had some cleverness, it lacked true wisdom—just like the clever animals in every children's story.