Chapter 340: Chapter 289: Another Visit to Peach Blossom Land
The Wu Zhaos finally decided to go out and have a look with Du Chengfeng.
Strictly speaking, Du Chengfeng had always prohibited the Wu Zhaos from going outside. After all, he had experienced the destructive power of the Yin people firsthand. If he were to truly let the Wu Zhaos loose, who knows what chaos the outside would descend into—even though such chaos might not necessarily affect Forget Sorrow Village, Du Chengfeng, with good intentions, had always stayed stationed in Forget Sorrow Village, preventing the Wu Zhaos from running outside.
However, this time was an exception. The main reason was that it was too close; Taoyuan Township’s entrance was right at the doorstep of Forget Sorrow Village, and rounding it off didn’t even count as stepping out the main door.
"But this peach forest, I remember burning it once, didn’t I?"
As Du Chengfeng emerged from Forget Sorrow Village, he frowned slightly, looking at the vast and flourishing peach forest in front of him.
"Why has it appeared again?"
"This is manageable, look behind us."
Da Lang Wu Zhao pointed behind him.
In what should have been the location of Forget Sorrow Village’s underground river was now sealed off by a piece of rock. Swordsman Wu Zhao and Yellow Dog Wu Zhao were emerging from the thick rock wall; half of their bodies were still stuck inside, yet they seemed able to pass through with eerie ease.
"The boundary between imagination and reality, a part of Forget Sorrow Village has already been covered."
Swordsman Wu Zhao, standing, glanced at the rock wall he had just emerged from and even reached out to touch it.
A rock is a rock, and when touched, it feels like stone, the cold and hard sensation absolutely impassable by people.
"No wonder those villagers ended up in Taoyuan Township..."
At this moment, Du Chengfeng also understood why the returning people of Forget Sorrow Village seemed to take the wrong path—realizing it wasn’t that they went the wrong way, but rather the way back had been sealed from the start, leaving the bewildered villagers with no choice but to look for another path.
And then another entrance appeared right before their eyes.
It was the entrance to Taoyuan Township.
"Indeed, it does look quite similar."
Seeing the narrow entrance, both Wu Zhaos’ expressions darkened. It was apparent that the two humanoid Wu Zhaos disliked the narrow and cramped entrance, except for Yellow Dog Wu Zhao, who gleefully walked in without even needing to turn sideways.
"Come on in, there’s indeed something interesting here."
Yellow Dog Wu Zhao spoke as if it were human upon entering the crevice.
"Never in my life did I expect to encounter such a place."
Hearing Yellow Dog Wu Zhao’s words, Du Chengfeng and the other two Wu Zhaos also squeezed in. But once they got inside, it wasn’t Yellow Dog Wu Zhao they saw, but a person with a dog’s head.
"Not evil energy, but the power of imagination."
Yellow Dog Wu Zhao demonstrated roughly.
Without showing any evil energy fluctuations, Yellow Dog Wu Zhao easily switched back and forth between human form and dog form, one moment a dog, the next a dog-headed human, leaving people dazzled.
"It also has to do with the environment itself."
Swordsman Wu Zhao immediately made an assessment.
"This environment isn’t very real; it leans more towards fantasy, so the power of imagination becomes stronger here..."
As he spoke, Swordsman Wu Zhao swiped his hand, and a bronze halberd appeared in his hand, followed by another swipe, transforming the halberd into an axe with an extended handle.
But Swordsman Wu Zhao wasn’t satisfied; with another swipe of the hand, the imposing axe miraculously transformed into a mass of scalding bronze liquid.
"How intense is that?"
Du Chengfeng was stunned.
He knew that the things he conjured in Forget Sorrow Village required Ruan Shantao’s ashes as a medium of trust, yet here Swordsman Wu Zhao, without any medium, could conjure things out of thin air; it was simply...
"Wait, I have a question."
Thinking of this, Du Chengfeng suddenly turned to Yellow Dog Wu Zhao.
"So why haven’t you changed your dog head back? Do you not like it?"
"...If we hadn’t fought before, I would’ve slaughtered you and eaten your corpse raw today."
Yellow Dog Wu Zhao’s face immediately darkened.
"You love to ask questions, don’t you have a brain?"
"It’s not that it doesn’t want to, it’s that it can’t."
Amused by Yellow Dog Wu Zhao’s humor, Da Lang Wu Zhao explained.
"Although the power of imagination is strengthened here, it still follows rules similar to the heart demon. He’s using the body of a Yellow Dog, so naturally, he cannot firmly believe himself not to be a Yellow Dog; being able to transform into a human form is already his limit."
"Imagination..."
Understanding the situation explained by Da Lang Wu Zhao, Du Chengfeng couldn’t help but sigh.
Imagination is truly an intriguing thing, especially in this world where idealism is strong, where steadfast will can literally change reality—in theory, in such a world, desires coming true should be a given, but how to keep the will steadfast turns into a colossal challenge.
Like the famous example "don’t think about elephants," when will requires an active effort to be resolute, it already indicates that this will is not so steadfast.
Will is water, thought is wave, waves propel the water, creating ripples one after another.
Will is a thing so easily influenced.
"But wanting to be completely unaffected doesn’t really work."
Responding to Du Chengfeng’s sigh, Swordsman Wu Zhao shook his head.
"It’s actually simple to isolate from influence: don’t listen, don’t see, don’t hear, just disregard those fluctuations...indeed, there are many such examples, all maniacs do this, but tell me, which maniac lives long?"
"True."
Du Chengfeng nodded.
Indeed, having killed quite a few evil energy maniacs himself, he understood this clearly. Within their small realms, those maniacs might reign supreme, act arrogantly, but once confronted with external forces stronger than them, they’re often beaten back to their true selves, if not crushed with a single blow.
"As long as one is alive and rational, one must inevitably absorb external information and intelligence."
Da Lang Wu Zhao summarized.
"Perhaps these things may disturb the will, but they can also enhance the will itself..."
"Put it simply, being able to absorb is good, not being able to absorb is bad."
Du Chengfeng nodded.
"I see, so that’s how those Yi people lost, I thought..."
"Hold on a second?"
At this moment, all three Wu Zhaos turned their heads, looking at Du Chengfeng.
"Did you just say, Yi people?"
"What is that?"
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