Chapter 151: Chapter 131: The Profound Within the Profound

Du Chengfeng put down the polished Brass Magic Sword and stared blankly into space.

He had more or less figured out the overall process, including the origin of the Brass Magic Sword and the so-called magic of the Taiyin Mountain God Temple. At least from Du Chengfeng’s perspective, it seemed there wasn’t any real magic involved. Whether in terms of quality or in the evil qi it carried, any random weapon from his saddlebag was far superior to this Brass Magic Sword.

Yet, holding this peculiar Magic Sword and following the texts put together by two shabby men in green robes, that graverobber surnamed Zhang actually did manage to cultivate something.

Rather than calling it magic, it was more like "I think this can work," and the most absurd part was that after the graverobber thought about it over and over, he actually succeeded in cultivating something.

Can such nonsensical things actually work?

Even science fiction writers wouldn’t use such an exaggerated plot, right?

"What’s wrong?"

Beside him, Liu Bolun spoke up.

"Just now you..."

"Ah, nothing."

Du Chengfeng waved his hand, indicating he was fine.

Looking at it this way, he roughly guessed the principle behind the so-called righteous spirit in literary works. It was nothing more than thoroughly believing in the things written in the books after reading them over and over. Assuming "I think this can work," they really did manage to cultivate something. This also explained why a strong person like Ruan Shantao could cultivate something yet someone as worthless as Wang Gaoceng from Jibei could also be considered talented and be sent to the northern border to oversee a region’s arsenal.

It turns out this has nothing to do with strength. As long as one believes something can be accomplished, then with unwavering will, it really can be.

Just like when he was grinding the halberd, as those Chu people said.

"Unwavering will can change anything."

Rather than encouragement, it was more of a summary.

Those Chu people really discovered something incredible.

And now, Du Chengfeng had realized it too.

And this was a way to grow stronger without killing.

And that was the will as strong as a rock itself.

"I’m fine here, I’ll start reading now."

Du Chengfeng said this to Liu Bolun.

"Work brings inspiration. I feel like I’m beginning to understand what this book is about."

Then, he prepared to give it a try himself.

As for the method of trying, it wasn’t complicated. As long as "I think this can work," there were plenty of ways to verify it—just like now, Du Chengfeng was intensely focusing on the book in front of him, trying hard to imagine it turning into a string of copper coins or a piece of wood.

The attempt lasted a full quarter of an hour.

The book didn’t change at all.

"That’s unreasonable, is my heart not sincere again?"

Du Chengfeng was quite puzzled. He had clearly tried very hard to think, so why didn’t it work?

So after thinking for a while, he decided to chat with Liu Bolun. After all, Liu seemed smarter than him.

What if something came out of the conversation?

"What? You’re saying you want to turn the book into something else?"

At this moment, Liu Bolun looked at Du Chengfeng as if he were seeing a madman.

"How could such nonsensical things work? Have you lost your mind too?"

"That can’t be, I’m perfectly normal now."

Du Chengfeng shook his head repeatedly.

"I also know that this can’t work, that’s why I wanted to try... Oh."

Just as he said this, Du Chengfeng suddenly realized the problem.

He himself knew this couldn’t work, so no matter how hard he tried later, it was just self-deception—because according to what the Chu people summarized, "Unwavering will can change anything," so the question is, can self-deception still be considered unwavering?

Obviously, it can’t.

If he himself knew it wouldn’t work, then it definitely wouldn’t work.

Thinking this way, the actual mechanism of this thing was even more complicated than what he just thought, "I think this can work." Clearly, simply thinking wasn’t enough to wish things into being—if we look at existing examples, it probably requires a very strong obsession, even to the point of being almost obsessed like a madman.

Take that graverobber who found the Brass Magic Sword in the mountains, the one surnamed Zhang, as a very typical example. After obtaining the Magic Sword and two scrolls of scripture, his obsession with "cultivating into an immortal" was so extreme that after a long period of practice, this former graverobber managed to change reality with his will and cultivated something.

As for another example, though it might seem a bit disrespectful to mention, his cheap mentor Ruan Shantao was in a similar situation. Elder Ruan was well-versed in the teachings of sages from childhood, utterly convinced by the principles of righteousness and justice in the books, and spent his entire life committed to his understanding of righteousness. And it was precisely because of this obsession that Elder Ruan gained his formidable strength.

However, the problem lay there too.

Can he achieve similar things?

"Impossible, absolutely impossible."

After just a moment of thought, Du Chengfeng began to shake his head.

If being obsessed was the only way to gain such power, then he probably couldn’t do it. He neither had the extreme desire to seek the Immortal Path nor the extreme commitment to any righteousness or justice—in short, he wasn’t obsessed, he was just a normal person.

As a normal person, he took an interest in various things and admired those righteous and just people, but to become obsessed... he himself couldn’t accept such a thing.

"I probably can’t learn this."

With a sigh, Du Chengfeng handed the book of sage teachings back to Liu Bolun.

Although it was unclear what Du Chengfeng was contemplating in that short period, Liu Bolun was not particularly surprised—after all, he had already said that the teachings of sages have to be learned from a young age to have a chance of cultivating the righteous spirit of literature. For Du Chengfeng, at his current age, it was a bit too late.

"So are there any other ways?"

Having concluded that this path was not viable, Du Chengfeng intended to continue asking.

"Just something simpler, something I could learn with my level of intelligence."

"Something simpler... there is."

To Du Chengfeng’s surprise, Liu Bolun actually nodded.

"There indeed is something simpler, because even reading sage teachings, ultimately you have to recite day and night until you reach that profound state to comprehend the righteous spirit of literature... In other words, as long as you can enter that profound state, you can do it in other ways too."

Saying this, Liu Bolun listed one by one.

"For example, I can enter this state while brewing wine. The old man used to enter it while writing inscriptions. Of course, there are some more unconventional methods too, like the currently popular Xuanshen or Xingsan... But I don’t think you need to pursue that anymore, since you already entered that state earlier."

Liu Bolun pointed to the Grinding Stone beside Du Chengfeng.

"When you were sharpening the sword just now."