Chapter 931: The Poem |
"Why is there nothing inside here?" Dogo Aige said in surprise. "I thought there was something hiding in this thatched hut, so my attack was nullified by it."
Liu Xing stepped forward and looked inside the hut, finding that there was indeed nothing inside.
"It seems that this thatched hut is not the key to breaking this illusion. But Dogo Aige, next time you want to take action, please discuss it with me first. Don't just act on your own," Liu Xing said with a hint of annoyance as he looked at Dogo Aige. "If there was something wrong with this hut, like those spears earlier that released black smoke, wouldn't we be in trouble?"
Dogo Aige touched his head awkwardly and said, "It's my fault. I thought for sure there would be someone or a mythical creature inside, so I wanted to catch them off guard."
Liu Xing shook his head and pointed to the stone bridge and the river, saying, "You've eliminated one wrong option, so the key to breaking this illusion is still this stone bridge and the river. Now we have two choices: the first is to charge forward and cross the bridge, and the second is to charge forward and dive into the river to see what's underneath."
"Aren't both options the same?" Dogo Aige asked in confusion. "But the river water is so clear, do we really need to go down there?"
Liu Xing nodded and said seriously, "Since we are in an illusion, the riverbed might also be an optical illusion. We may need to dive in personally to see what's going on. However, diving into the river might be more dangerous than crossing the bridge, because from the current situation, crossing the bridge will likely just teleport us to the other side of the illusion."
Dogo Aige walked to the riverbank and said, "Then let's dive into the river. After all, I'm a Deep One, and I get an ability boost in the water."
As Dogo Aige was about to jump into the water, Liu Xing quickly stepped forward and held him back. "Don't be so impulsive. Let's try something else first."
This was exactly the same as what had just happened.
"Indeed, there's something wrong with the riverbed," Liu Xing said, stroking his chin. "If nothing unexpected happens, the riverbed should be connected to another space, either the real space we were in before or another Illusion Space."
Liu Xing glanced at the stone bridge and continued, "In other words, we are currently on an XY axis, and there are three other spaces in addition to the one we are in now, with the X and Y axes being the river and the stone bridge, respectively."
Dogo Aige looked at Liu Xing with a blank expression, not knowing what to say.
Liu Xing shook his head and said, "In simple terms, we must explore the remaining three spaces to determine how to break this illusion world. So, Dogo Aige, you can go ahead and cross the stone bridge first."
"No problem, I'll do as you say," Dogo Aige replied.
Dogo Aige immediately stepped onto the stone bridge and disappeared without a trace after crossing it.
Liu Xing was a bit surprised, not expecting Dogo Aige to trust him so much, or rather, to trust "Liu Xing" so easily. He wondered if Ithaqua had helped Dogo Aige a lot when he was in England, which would explain Dogo Aige's trust.
Just as Liu Xing stepped onto the stone bridge, a large face suddenly appeared on it, scaring him so much that he took several steps back.
Upon closer inspection, Liu Xing realized that the face belonged to Dogo Aige.
"Liu Xing, come over quickly. The space on this side is indeed different," Dogo Aige said, then retracted his head.
Liu Xing quickly walked across the stone bridge and found that the scenery in front of him had changed from a cave to a field.
Dogo Aige pointed to the harvested field and said, "This space is really big. We can't even see the end of it. So, do you think we should try walking along this path to see if we can reach that village in the distance?"
Liu Xing looked in the direction Dogo Aige was pointing, and indeed, there was a small village two or three kilometers away, with smoke rising from it, indicating the presence of people.
At that moment, Liu Xing heard a "caw caw caw" sound coming from behind him.
He turned around and saw a towering tree with thick vines hanging from it, but the vines were all withered.
On the tree, Liu Xing also saw several crows staring at him.
What chilled Liu Xing's spine was that these crows had eight thin, long eyes, and their eyes were blood-red.
What kind of ghostly thing was this?
"Liu Xing, don't worry. These crows may look a bit ugly, but they have no aggression at all. I just tried to hit them with a stone, and they just flew away," Dogo Aige said with a smile. "But they do resemble an extinct mythical creature—the Eight-Eyed Crow, which was a companion beast to another mythical creature. However, with the extinction of the other mythical creature, the Eight-Eyed Crow also perished. Now, we can only find records of its existence in the literature of some mythical creature tribes, but the specific abilities of the Eight-Eyed Crow and the other mythical creature it was associated with are unknown. After all, there have been many mythical creatures that have gone extinct since ancient times."
Liu Xing nodded and said seriously, "I see. However, this illusion seems quite interesting, as it seems to have recreated an ancient Chinese poem."
"What poem?" Dogo Aige asked in confusion.
Liu Xing cleared his throat and recited, "Withered vines, old trees, and crows; a small bridge, flowing water, and a thatched hut; an ancient path, the western wind, and a skinny horse; the setting sun, and a heartbroken person in a faraway land."
Fortunately, the poem "Tianjingsha Qiu Si" is composed entirely of nouns, so it was relatively easy to translate into Island Nation Language, and the meaning didn't deviate much, allowing Dogo Aige to understand it effortlessly.
"Yes, there are indeed withered vines, old trees, and crows here, and in the previous space, there was a small bridge, flowing water, and a thatched hut. So, if we had jumped into the river just now, we would have either encountered a skinny horse on the road or seen a person in the setting sun, right?" Dogo Aige said, stroking his chin.
"That's how it should be," Liu Xing replied.
Liu Xing glanced at the distant village and shook his head, saying, "But I don't think this illusion is that simple, so let's try going to that village first."
Dogo Aige nodded and took the lead, walking ahead.
To take a shortcut, Dogo Aige and Liu Xing walked through the harvested field towards the village.
In Liu Xing's mind, the village might be like a mirage, where the closer he got, the farther it would move away, always maintaining a certain distance, which would be a qualified Illusion Space.
Unfortunately, the village was getting closer and closer to Liu Xing and Dogo Aige, and Liu Xing could vaguely hear many people talking in the village, as if some kind of event was being held.
Liu Xing and Dogo Aige both quickened their pace.
As they approached, Liu Xing became even more certain that the small village was holding some kind of event, as he could now hear the sound of gongs and drums.
Since it was confirmed that there were "people" in the village, Liu Xing and Dogo Aige naturally couldn't walk through someone else's field to take a shortcut, so they returned to the road.
After walking for a few more minutes, Liu Xing and Dogo Aige arrived outside the small village.
Looking at the villagers dressed in ancient costumes, Liu Xing and Dogo Aige felt a bit out of place, especially since Liu Xing was still wearing a diving suit... or so he thought.
Liu Xing suddenly realized that his diving suit had somehow changed into a white robe, while Dogo Aige was now wearing a short-sleeved outfit.
"When did we change into these clothes?" Liu Xing asked Dogo Aige in confusion.
Dogo Aige shook his head, equally puzzled, and said, "It must have been just now, because I remember we didn't change clothes when we entered here. But since this is an Illusion Space, anything is possible."
As Liu Xing and Dogo Aige were talking outside the village, an old man approached Liu Xing and asked, "Sir, may I ask why you are here?"
Sir?
Liu Xing noticed that the old man was speaking in Chinese, and in ancient times, "sir" was a respectful term often used to address scholars.
Liu Xing looked at his new outfit and realized that he indeed looked like a scholar.
So, Liu Xing pretended to be a scholar and clasped his hands in greeting, saying with a smile, "Old sir, my friend and I happened to pass by here, and we wanted to ask for a bowl of water to drink. But when we got closer, we saw that you were celebrating something, so we weren't sure if we should come in or not."
To be honest, Liu Xing felt a bit embarrassed by the ancient Chinese phrases he had just used, as they sounded neither modern nor classical.
However, the old man didn't seem to mind. He pulled Liu Xing into the village and said, "Sir, please come in. We are celebrating a bountiful harvest this year, so we are having a feast after the busy farming season. If you don't mind, please sit down and have a meal before you leave."
Unable to refuse such hospitality, Liu Xing could only nod in agreement, while the ignored Dogo Aige followed behind him into the village.
Once inside the village, Liu Xing realized that it was quite large, with thirty to forty houses, and since ancient families were often large, there must have been several hundred people in the village.
The villagers were very enthusiastic about Liu Xing and Dogo Aige's arrival, and as soon as they sat down, the villagers came to offer them drinks.
But as Liu Xing had experienced before, the ancient alcohol was not very palatable, and the villagers' homemade alcohol was even worse, as it was unfiltered and had many floating particles.
Feeling cautious, Liu Xing took a closer look and confirmed that the floating particles were just food remnants used in the brewing process, not the gu worms he had feared. So, Liu Xing finished the cup of cloudy alcohol in one gulp.
However, despite the villagers' enthusiasm, Liu Xing still felt worried, as they were in an Illusion Space.
So, after drinking two cups of alcohol, Liu Xing started making excuses that he needed to be on his way and began to focus on eating the food.
Although the table was filled with various meats like chicken, duck, and fish, all of which were truly organic and pollution-free, the taste was still not great, as the dishes lacked seasoning.
As a person from Shudu, Liu Xing preferred spicy food.
After eating and drinking for a while, Liu Xing couldn't help but ask the old man, "Old sir, what is the name of this village?"
The old man shook his head and smiled, saying, "Our village doesn't have an official name yet, as it was only established last year, and we villagers were originally refugees from various places."
Refugees?
Liu Xing looked around at the villagers in surprise, not expecting that they were refugees just last year.
Due to the underdeveloped agricultural technology and the oppression of landlords and powerful families, many farmers would lose their land during a bad harvest year. They would either become tenant farmers for the landlords or become refugees, begging for survival.
Even if they became refugees, there were only two possible outcomes: death on the road away from home, or being taken in as tenant farmers by landlords in other places.
In short, life as a refugee was not easy.
Just as Liu Xing didn't know what to say, the old man continued, "We are fortunate to have Old Master Lu, a great philanthropist. Otherwise, we refugees might have died on the side of the road somewhere."
Liu Xing nodded and smiled, saying, "Yes, it seems that Old Master Lu has been good to you, even building such nice houses for you... Wait, Old Master Lu?"
Liu Xing carefully examined the clothing of the nearby villagers and used his half-baked historical knowledge from movies and novels to determine that they were from the Tang or Song Dynasty.
So, Liu Xing suddenly remembered another poem.
"Oh, do you know Old Master Lu? If I remember correctly, his name is Lu You Lu Fangguan," the old man said seriously.
Indeed.
Liu Xing frowned, realizing that he and Dogo Aige had entered another poem.
Lu You, "Visiting a Village in the Western Hills"
Don't laugh at the farmer's cloudy wine,
In a year of plenty, guests are treated to chicken and pork.
Mountains and rivers block the way, leaving no path,
But beyond the willows and flowers, another village appears.
Flutes and drums follow the spring festival,
Simple clothes preserve the ancient style.
From now on, if allowed to ride the moon,
I'll knock on your door with my cane at any time.
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