Chapter 395: Alas, You Still Haven't Comprehended It

The climax also marked the end.

As Xu Xiaoshou's orchid-like fingers, holding the Ling Zhen, came to a stop, the Ling Zhen had already transformed shimmering light waves into threads, weaving them into an object in mid-air.

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the item in his hand, feeling a bit embarrassed to present it.

The sense of anticipation Fu Zhi had shown earlier, with his Crane Ascending technique, was truly immense.

Would something as simple as this be enough to impress him?

Fu Zhi furrowed his brow, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

But this disappointment was directed at himself, not at Xu Xiaoshou.

As expected...

His own comprehension was still lacking!

In the end, he had failed, unable to grasp anything from this mysterious technique!

What a pity.

Fu Zhi sighed, but then...

As he looked at the delicate artwork in Xu Xiaoshou's hand—gently swaying in the wind, radiating a sense of intricate craftsmanship—Fu Zhi felt something was off.

"What is this?"

Xu Xiaoshou swallowed nervously, suppressing his unease, and said mysteriously, "Zhongguo Jie."

Yes, it was just a Zhongguo Jie.

To others, this might seem complicated, but for Xu Xiaoshou, with the half-step master-level knowledge of "Textile Mastery" in his mind, it was no exaggeration.

A mere Zhongguo Jie was child's play for him!

A look of reverence appeared in Fu Zhi's eyes.

He examined the object called "Zhongguo Jie" closely—the exquisite, interwoven lines, the intricate and unfathomable structure...

Was this a Ling Zhen array?

Could someone really construct such a refined Ling Zhen array in such a short time, on such a small scale, without any tools, using only spiritual energy?

Fu Zhi was deeply shocked; Xu Xiaoshou's skill had truly astonished him.

At the very least, these things were entirely new to him.

"Zhongguo Jie?" he asked, raising his head with a mixture of surprise and doubt.

"Yes."

"What does it do?"

Xu Xiaoshou fell silent for a moment, ultimately deciding not to say the word "beautiful."

He lifted his gaze solemnly and asked, "Do you understand it?"

Fu Zhi was taken aback, his thoughts suddenly derailed.

"Understand what?"

"The process just now," Xu Xiaoshou replied.

"Hmm?"

Fu Zhi frowned, racking his brain, but still couldn't figure it out.

He said sheepishly, "Please enlighten me, Brother Xu. What was the process just now?"

"Ah."

Xu Xiaoshou sighed.

"I thought that since you could answer the first two questions, you'd be a promising talent, but..."

He paused, not finishing his sentence. Instead, he looked at the glistening Zhongguo Jie in his hand and said thoughtfully, "I don't know what the mechanism of Tianji Shu is."

"But what I just demonstrated was the process of 'Fangzhi Shu'!"

A flash of realization crossed Fu Zhi's eyes, but it was quickly followed by confusion.

"Fangzhi Shu..."

What exactly did he mean by "Fangzhi Shu"?

Fu Zhi asked humbly, "Brother Xu, does the Fangzhi Shu you mentioned have some special meaning?"

"No."

Fu Zhi was stunned.

He stared at Xu Xiaoshou's face for a good while, confirming that he wasn't joking.

Then, the middle-aged man's eyes began to widen.

His lips twitched, and he said incredulously, "So, that 'Fangzhi Shu' you just used is just ordinary Fangzhi Shu?"

"Suspicion detected, passive value +1."

Xu Xiaoshou maintained his indifferent expression as he looked at Fu Zhi's thunderstruck face. "You can think of it that way."

Fu Zhi nearly exploded on the spot!

What the hell?

He had scrutinized, observed, and pondered it so carefully, assuming it was some advanced Ling Zhen technique.

But in the end, it was just an utterly mundane Fangzhi Shu?

And from the start, when you said "Fangzhi Shu," it had no special, lofty meaning—it was just that plain, humble Fangzhi Shu?

"Suspicion detected, passive value +1."

"Questioning detected, passive value +1."

"Cursing detected, passive value +1."

"Resentment detected, passive value +1."

"Obsession detected, passive value +1."

The rapid notifications startled Xu Xiaoshou.

Was this the full process of someone going from doubting life, to despair, to hating the world, to wanting to destroy it?

Seeing Fu Zhi's deceived expression, as if he might erupt at any second, Xu Xiaoshou had anticipated this.

He didn't back down or shout explanations. Instead, he sighed again.

"Ah, you still haven't grasped it."

Fu Zhi: ???

His eyes widened in fury, and he nearly slapped this misleading young man to death on the spot.

Grasp what, grasp your...

But reason held him back.

"There's more to grasp?"

Fu Zhi chuckled coldly. "How?"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly felt the long-absent sense of mortal danger closing in again. He knew that if he didn't answer carefully this time, he might really die.

This guy wasn't so easily fooled.

So...

Xu Xiaoshou shook his head, his eyes filled with disappointment. He pointed to the sky.

"What is this?"

Fu Zhi looked up. It was the bright, full moon.

"The moon?"

Without realizing it, he had grown accustomed to Xu Xiaoshou's way of speaking.

"Do you only see the moon?" Xu Xiaoshou asked noncommittally.

Fu Zhi frowned.

"The sky?"

"This is the world!" Xu Xiaoshou replied affirmatively, without further questioning.

He then pointed to the ground.

"What about this?"

Fu Zhi: ...

He was completely baffled, unsure what Xu Xiaoshou was getting at or if he should keep following along.

This guy always made it seem like he was saying something profound, but when you thought about it, it was all nonsense!

What a load of crap!

"Don't zone out."

Xu Xiaoshou flicked Fu Zhi on the forehead and said directly, "This is also the world!"

In that moment, Fu Zhi's mind buzzed, nearly shattering.

Suppressing his anger, he was shocked.

Was this guy for real?

That flick... Did he really have that kind of power?

Realizing how strange the person before him was, Fu Zhi decided to give Xu Xiaoshou one last chance.

He said seriously, "Both are the world, but there's only one world. What are you trying to say?"

Xu Xiaoshou smiled, knowing Fu Zhi had fallen into the trap again.

He chuckled. "You're wrong."

"This world isn't just one world."

"What you see is merely the tip of the iceberg."

In Xu Xiaoshou's mind, the face of Elder Sang appeared.

He wanted to spin another tale about the "prison theory," but looking at Fu Zhi's eager, thirst-for-knowledge expression...

Xu Xiaoshou hesitated.

He had never encountered someone so dense. Here was a Wangzuo-level grandmaster who also knew Tianji Shu, yet he kept getting tricked.

In this regard, Zhang Taiying was far superior—at least that guy knew to get angry when deceived.

This one was just stubbornly single-minded!

But if he weren't like that, would he have been trapped by his own Ling Zhen arrays for so many years?

Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes, feeling an unusual urge to teach properly, rather than just brushing it off.

Gazing at the moon and then the earth, he suddenly drew a circle in the void.

"This is a world."

He drew another circle.

"This is also a world."

Then, he unraveled the Zhongguo Jie in his hand, turning the complex spiritual threads into spiritual patterns that instantly merged into the second circle.

"What's the difference between the two circles?"