Chapter 2278: Painting the Phoenix

"You... what did you just say?"

Inside a tavern in the capital city of Yi Ning, Li Country, two drinkers who were just enthusiastically discussing the world situation had their conversation abruptly ended by a pair of strangely patterned, fierce hands.

The change happened suddenly.

Their twisted, red faces, smeared with vegetables, braised pork, wine, and shattered porcelain, were pressed firmly onto the wine table.

These bony hands belonged to a man wearing a bamboo hat.

Before the incident, he had been drinking alone in a corner, completely unnoticed.

And in the moment of his sudden attack, he froze the entire tavern's lively atmosphere.

Everyone now had no idea who he was, but everyone felt the danger!

The pressing force was so great that it had already cracked the surface of the wine table. You could see dense cracks, but the table body was taut and stretched, refusing to collapse, firmly supporting the faces of the two pitiable drinkers.

This showed that, at least in terms of strength, the man in the bamboo hat still maintained fine control.

The bamboo hat man slightly raised his head, a corner of his truly unsightly face exposed, and he ferociously repeated: "Say it again!"

"Say... say what, big brother?" One of the drinkers pressed onto the table, his face already bearing many wounds from the pressed porcelain, pleaded unclearly: "Spare our lives! We didn't say anything bad, did we?"

The other drinker was completely scared speechless, unable to utter a single word.

"Let them go quickly! We've already reported you to the officials!" someone bravely shouted.

The bamboo hat man twisted his head fiercely, glancing over, and the person who spoke was directly sent flying! He flew high up, fell heavily, and his life and death were unknown.

The entire tavern became silent like a cicada in winter.

The bamboo hat man seemed to be harboring immense hatred, grinding his teeth as he said: "What did you just say about Huang Wei Zhen... Huang Wei Zhen?"

"Grandfather! We highly respect Huang Wei Zhen, I support his return—" the drinker who could still speak cried out.

"Not that!"

"Huang... the key to Huang Wei Zhen's return, that person named Ge Fei is missing?" The speaking drinker seemed to remember something, his whole face twisting into a knot: "Dear grandfather, we only said this, we didn't say anything else—"

"Yes," the veins on the back of the bamboo hat man's hand bulged, as if he wanted to immediately crush the two heads under his palm: "You said... Ge Fei is the key to Huang Wei Zhen's return?"

"Did we say it wrong? Great-grandfather, I also heard it from others," the drinker's legs trembled: "If we said something wrong somewhere, please, sir, don't remember the faults of small people, give this child a chance to correct himself..."

At this moment, a clear shout suddenly rang out from outside the tavern, the solemn killing atmosphere filling the tavern breaking a few points: "Brother Ge!"

That person walked into the tavern with a smile: "Why did you come to Li Country and not even greet your little brother, thus allowing these blind people to collide with you?"

The tavern instantly surged.

"Lord Fan is here!"

"So he's Ge Fei..."

"Let Lord Fan teach him a good lesson!"

"Shh—don't want to live?"

The newcomer was precisely Li Country's Son of the Yellow River, the current Northern Regional Manager, Fan Wu Shu!

He still carried his folding fan regardless of the season, but he was much steadier now, not like the frivolity he displayed when he roamed the Mountains and Seas Realm with Zhong Li Yan that year. Time matures many people, and he was one of them—from this perspective, Zhong Li Yan instead "kept his original nature."

Today's True Person Ge Fei, to the weak Li Country, was a terrifying monster capable of sweeping away the state.

His sudden attack inside a tavern in Li Country's capital meant that no one in Li Country could stand steadily in front of him. It wasn't that they lacked courage, it was that there was no need.

Even a large army would be like paper paste against him.

The former top expert, Shen Lin Realm's Duan Si Gu, couldn't even withstand Ge Fei's breath.

Quarrels and even fights happening inside a tavern were ordinary things. But for today's Li Country, a slight misstep could very likely be a disaster of national extinction!

The common people didn't know the depth, and still thought their world-beating "Lord Fan" could teach Ge Fei a lesson. Li Country's high-level officials, however, had a clear understanding of themselves.

Fan Wu Shu had come forward voluntarily, and he even stopped the court from sending a message to Book Mountain for help.

He now knew that the body shell of Ge Fei contained a monster from the Mountains and Seas, and he didn't want to provoke a wild beast with danger.

After becoming an official, his dignity was very heavy, but now he restrained it all. He had his folding fan tucked at his waist, specifically taken off his official clothes and put on a Confucian robe. He had rushed here in an emergency but remained composed in his demeanor, meeting the sudden change with a smile. He intimately performed a rite to Ge Fei, then waved his hand, signaling everyone in the tavern to retreat.

The onlookers retreated like a tide.

Only the two remained, still pressed onto the table by Ge Fei.

Fan Wu Shu looked at Ge Fei, his smile kind. Ge Fei also looked at Fan Wu Shu, his eyes fierce.

After a moment of silence, Ge Fei loosened his hands, and the two innocent drinkers staggered away.

Fan Wu Shu maintained a relatively safe distance, pulled up a chair in the empty tavern, and sat down: "Long time no see, Brother Ge! You seem a bit nervous right now—I have no hostility towards Brother Ge, and Li Country really has nothing that could make you nervous... how about we sit down and chat?"

"Chat... hehe." Ge Fei didn't sit.

Humans invented "rites" and "laws."

In Ge Fei's understanding, the former were "paper shackles," and the latter were "iron cages."

The essence of "rites" was "safety," both sides using "rites" to indicate—"I am no threat to you," "I will not harm you."

Ge Fei didn't think he wouldn't harm Fan Wu Shu.

He needed to use the ways of a wild beast to seek back his sense of safety, because in this human world, he felt immense danger!

Supporting the wine table that was about to crack but didn't, he heard the blood surging in his throat.

He wanted to eat flesh, drink blood, and kill people.

"What do you want to chat with me about?" he asked.

Fan Wu Shu said in a warm voice: "Perhaps, chat about the reason for Brother Ge's nervousness?"

Ge Fei's pupils suddenly contracted, his killing intent almost impossible to suppress, as if he wanted to bare his fangs in the next moment: "You think I'm nervous?"

"I am nervous, Brother Ge!" Fan Wu Shu immediately raised both hands, indicating that he was very harmless: "I mean—I am no threat to Brother Ge, and Li Country is absolutely not a place targeting you. What is making you uncomfortable? If you don't mind, I can help you analyze it."

Ge Fei bared his teeth, saying hatefully: "I'm not uncomfortable."

He once thought the Mountains and Seas Realm was the most dangerous place. As long as you weren't careful, those strange beasts lurking in the darkness would swarm over, tear you to pieces, turn you into nourishment for ascending gods, and trample you into the mud of the Mountains and Seas Realm.

There was nothing you could trust. All mountain gods, sea gods, including the rules of the world, were unreliable.

Every strange beast that wanted to live longer was constantly adapting to new rules in the constantly evolving world.

Later, he became the ruler of the Mountains and Seas Realm, became the "jailer" of the Mountains and Seas Prison, thinking he could represent Huang Wei Zhen, and even after Huang Wei Zhen left and never returned, replaced Huang Wei Zhen, becoming the "prison director" from "jailer." Only then did he no longer feel danger.

Only Hun Dun could pose a bit of a threat, but only a bit.

Those humans who came to the Mountains and Seas Realm periodically for trials were all weak. If it weren't for the restrictions of the Mountains and Seas rules, he would swallow one as soon as they came. What tricks were there!

He stood at the extreme height of the Mountains and Seas Realm, touched the edge of the fantasy world, and began to yearn for the real world—

He thought that was only a bigger Mountains and Seas Realm, and he would eventually step by step reach the top in that world as well, ruling everything.

But after coming out of the Mountains and Seas Realm, he just discovered.

Even the creator of the Mountains and Seas Realm, the omnipotent Huang Wei Zhen in his heart, was unable to rule the present world, and couldn't even realize his life's ideal!

No matter how magnificent a fantasy world was, it could evolve into grandeur close to reality.

Could that thing called "ideal" be even more fantastical than fantasy?

"Ideal" was the second lesson he learned at Yin Xiang Peak.

Gao Zheng spent a very long time lecturing him on Huang Wei Zhen's ideal.

He also saw Gao Zheng's ideal in the process of getting along day and night.

This was also another kind of "teaching through words" and "teaching through example."

But he learned all human lessons very quickly, only regarding "ideal," he was always unable to understand.

Huang Wei Zhen had an ideal, Gao Zheng had an ideal, Wen Jing Xiu also had an ideal, Ge Fei did not. He initially wanted to dominate the present world, later he only wanted to live properly—it was best to live according to his heart, if it didn't work out, compromise was okay too.

It wasn't easy to escape the Mountains and Seas Realm. From fantasy to reality, he worked very hard. He wanted to live properly.

Yue Country could no longer make him feel safe. All sorts of messy people were playing chess there. Wen Jing Xiu wasn't worth his trust either—that night in Fu Ji City, his heart even gave birth to a death omen! His wild beast intuition frequently warned him that the danger didn't only come from Jiang Wang. So after bursting out of Fu Ji City, he directly escaped Yue Country. Homeland feelings, great cause of new policy, master teacher brother, he didn't look back.

Even the Mountains and Seas Realm he escaped, what other prison could lock him?

He absolutely wouldn't admit his unease.

In the world of wild beasts, expressing unease was demonstrating weakness, and the end of weakness was death.

"Of course, of course, Brother Ge!" Fan Wu Shu's attitude was extremely humble: "What I said just now wasn't 'uncomfortable'. I was asking, what did your excellency hear that was displeasing?"

This Northern Regional Manager of Li Country releasing both hands, exposing his chest and abdomen's vitals, was a posture of giving up resistance in the wild beast world.

Ge Fei's nowhere-to-stay killing intent barely stopped a few points.

He stared at Fan Wu Shu's eyes, judging the sincerity of this submission with a bloodthirsty gaze, but perhaps he himself didn't realize that his voice was a bit shaky: "What do you think about that sentence they said?"

Fan Wu Shu tentatively asked: "Which sentence?"

Ge Fei bared his sharp teeth: "Don't play dumb with me!"

"Little brother is absolutely not playing dumb! Just confirming with Brother Ge once, to avoid hurting Brother Ge's intention due to little brother's clumsiness!" Fan Wu Shu's speech speed was extremely fast: "Now this message is spread everywhere in the Southern Domain, saying Brother Ge is the key to Huang Wei Zhen's return—I cannot judge the truth of this sentence. But I can tell Brother Ge, this message was spread by people within Yue Country. As for who fueled the flames, making it spread so fast, I can only say there are many pushers behind it, not just one family."

"Why?" Ge Fei couldn't think clearly for a moment. When he couldn't think clearly, he wanted to kill people even more: "Who are these pushers behind the scenes? Why do they all want to deal with me?"

Fan Wu Shu looked at his complexion and cautiously said: "Brother Ge, let little brother try to say his own view, see if it makes sense—I guess someone wants to test your quality. See if Huang Wei Zhen can truly return, and through what means. Now everyone's eyes are black, not knowing what the scene ahead is like, so it's unavoidable that someone would throw a stone to ask the way. Brother Ge, you are that stone thrown out."

Ge Fei suddenly raised his head, his bamboo hat shattered, his long hair dancing wildly: "Why use me to throw a stone and ask the way? I am me, Huang Wei Zhen is Huang Wei Zhen, his return or not has nothing to do with me—"

The wine table he pressed on instantly turned into nothing: "I am Ge Fei! I am a human race's Son of Heaven, a contemporary True Person! Not his creation!"

"I agree! I completely agree with what you said, Brother Ge!" Fan Wu Shu quickly soothed: "Huang Wei Zhen's return or not is his own business, what does it have to do with Brother Ge? Those people who spread the words have bad intentions!"

He directly patted his chest and guaranteed: "Those two people who were spreading it vigorously just now, I will immediately arrange for them to be exiled!"

Before the word "send" even landed, Fan Wu Shu's Dao body already fell to the ground with a boom!

Ge Fei was like a four-legged wild beast, his whole body pouncing on Fan Wu Shu, pressing him onto the ground, pressing out continuously expanding cracks on the ground bricks.

That ugly face was full of intense emotions. His eyes, full of blood threads, were filled with violent killing intent. Baring his teeth, his voice was like a collision: "I remember, you and Zhong Li Yan are friends, you want to harm me, you want to stand up for him!"

"Brother Ge! Brother Ge! Calm down!" Fan Wu Shu's Shen Lin golden body was instantly crushed, but he desperately controlled his instinct, firmly not resisting, to avoid provoking the mountains and seas monster's fiercer killing intent: "I can't harm you. I just reached Shen Lin this March. I can't even break your defense. Zhong Li Yan is a very careful person. If I really tried to stand up for him, he would instead blame me for stealing his thunder, and later who knows how many small shoes he'd make me wear! Calm down a bit, Brother Ge!"

Ge Fei stared deadly at Fan Wu Shu. His five fingers had already grown sharp claws, his heart full of killing thoughts. He actually couldn't hear what Fan Wu Shu was saying at all, only "calm," "calm," "calm" in his ears!

He was very smart, but after coming to the present world, he often lost control and couldn't think. Master Gao said this was because he encountered ignorance in the process of walking from fantasy to reality. His heart had "dust," hence his ignorant heart.

So he often needed to clean it.

Sweep the courtyard outside, sweep the heart mirror inside.

By Master Gao's side, the times he went mad and lost control obviously decreased.

After killing Wu Ling in Yun Xian Forest, he completely hid himself in seclusion.

These years of surging winds and clouds in the world, he had always been imprisoned in the deep mountains, hidden in ignorance, following Gao Zheng to read books, imprisoning himself, and quietly sweeping his heart.

The chessboard on the back mountain of Yin Xiang Peak was the only window for him to observe the world.

Everything he knew was taught to him by Gao Zheng.

After Gao Zheng died, Wen Jing Xiu became his only source of information.

So it wasn't until today, after escaping Yue Country for a thousand miles, that he learned this so-called "truth" from the mouths of passers-by—

"Ge Fei... is the key to Huang Wei Zhen's return!"

A very strange feeling made his hands and feet cold and out of control. That trembling feeling was the... fear he thought he had long forgotten!

He had plotted for several hundred years, exhausted every possibility, and finally escaped the Mountains and Seas Realm, coming to the real world. He suppressed his savage nature, strangled his free desire, seriously followed Gao Zheng to learn, gnawing through those boring books one by one. He worked very hard to be a human, to live a free life for himself.

But it wasn't until today that he discovered, he never escaped Huang Wei Zhen!

Could it be that all his previous efforts were false, and he never truly escaped?

Could it be that everything he encountered was false, the so-called escape was just a fantasy, and the present world was another Mountains and Seas Realm?

What did all those books he read on the mountain count for?

What did the future Gao Zheng lectured on count for?

Perhaps Gao Zheng was also false!

Gao Zheng never truly took him as a disciple, never treated him with a true heart!

Why was Gao Zheng willing to teach him, only because he was the "key to Huang Wei Zhen's return"!

Otherwise, how could senior brother Wen Jing Xiu treat him as a fool, as a chess piece?

In this world, there were no good people, no "true" people, everyone wanted to use him, harm him, everyone wanted to use him to achieve some purpose.

Including Huang Wei Zhen!

What a dog shit key!

Go die go die go die go die!

Ge Fei's heart was like a madman at this moment. He felt his blood flowing backward. He wanted to tear open his own skin, tear off his own flesh, pull out his own bones. He wanted to crawl out of this ridiculous skin. He wanted to destroy everything, kill everyone he saw!

He wanted to destroy the whole world, or be destroyed by the whole world!

He once wanted to live so much, for this he could be a dog, could be tied up, could ba-ba ba-ba pretend to be crazy and foolish.

But if he lived, it was still just a dream, he was still in a cage.

If all his efforts were just arranged, he never truly had autonomy over it.

He could choose not to seek life!

He could kill anyone, could be killed by anyone, as long as the crazy, seeking destruction him could stop Huang Wei Zhen from appearing. He had already gained the dignity of being a human, thus he could no longer endure prison life! He was unwilling to live forever in the Mountains and Seas Realm!

Kill! Kill everything!

But...

There was always a voice in his heart telling him—

"Ge Fei, you need to learn to endure."

This voice was very soft and slow, but very profound.

He couldn't think, but reason still appeared.

He knew that if he killed Fan Wu Shu like this today, he would completely deviate from Gao Zheng's teachings, become a beast without rites or laws, and could no longer be called a "human."

His efforts to cultivate a human would then only be an empty illusion!

Endure. Endure.

Ge Fei pressed Fan Wu Shu's head with one hand, supporting himself to stand up slowly.

Finally, he gasped for breath and restrained his claws.

The life-and-death crisis finally ended, and Fan Wu Shu also breathed a sigh of relief, lying flat on the ground, not moving. He felt his neck was wet, not knowing if it was blood or sweat.

The two remained silent like this for a while.

"You say—" Ge Fei suddenly asked again, his eyes strange: "If I am the key to Huang Wei Zhen's return, if I just die like this. Wouldn't he just be unable to return?"

Fan Wu Shu's heartstring tightened again. He knew this was a guy with unpredictable joy and anger, and a violent temperament.

He deliberately said: "This is just little brother's childish idea, Brother Ge just listen—I feel, if Huang Wei Zhen were so easy to stop, he would have been stopped long ago. He was once so glorious, he still had some enemies. They wouldn't wait for Brother Ge to find a way."

Ge Fei's eyes were suddenly black, suddenly white. The sky in this city also followed, suddenly day, suddenly night.

He painfully hugged his head, forcing himself to calm down and think. He told himself, he needed to find a way out for himself. He tried his best to ask calmly: "You say—how can I stop Huang Wei Zhen from returning? As long as I think he will exist in this world, I just can't confirm my own existence."

Fan Wu Shu originally wanted to say "don't even think about it," but the words reached his mouth and became: "We can slowly think of a way."

"Yes, there's always a way." Ge Fei tried to comfort himself, trying to find back the insight he once had in the Mountains and Seas Realm, the feeling of controlling everything from a high place. He gritted his teeth and said toughly: "Didn't they say I'm the key to Huang Wei Zhen's return? More or less, there are some clues of a key within me."

He thought, he could find Huang Wei Zhen's enemies. He could cooperate with those people who destroyed Huang Wei Zhen's ideal. Those people who were able to shatter Huang Wei Zhen's ideal could, of course, also let Huang Wei Zhen die once again.

"The car will find a way up the mountain!" Fan Wu Shu swore.

Ge Fei looked at Fan Wu Shu, the violence in his eyes retreated, replaced by a few points of genuine apology. He stretched out his hand to him: "Sorry, Brother Fan, I was rude today. You are right, everything was originally fine, I was just too nervous."

Fan Wu Shu also hurriedly stretched out his hand, letting Ge Fei pull him up.

"It's nothing, nothing," he said quickly: "A misunderstanding. We are all open-minded people, it's good to speak clearly."

"Li Country is not my enemy, neither are you." At this time, Ge Fei had regained his composure, cultured and polite. He didn't plan to give up, he wanted to strive to find possibilities.

"Brother Ge, those words are just for outsiders." This time Fan Wu Shu laughed very purely: "Fan has always considered you a friend!"

"Friend... good. Friend!" Ge Fei's expression was complex, as if he was thinking. After a long time, he bowed: "Brother Fan, I still have some things to do, I will go first. I hope the next time we meet, it won't be this awkward scene, we can drink and chat happily."

"Hahaha," Fan Wu Shu laughed a few times: "Today's matters, once we walk out this door, I'll forget them!"

He opened his folding fan, and couldn't help fanning himself twice, it was really too hot!

Ge Fei turned and walked out. As he reached the door, he suddenly turned back. He originally wanted to be polite to Fan Wu Shu again, but the words reached his mouth and he forgot. He looked at the opened fan face of Fan Wu Shu, dazed for a moment: "Brother Fan, your fan—"

Fan Wu Shu's fan was very beautiful, with various forms of phoenixes drawn on it, lifelike.

"Oh, the country's monarch gave it to me a few days ago when I was promoted. The pattern on the fan face was personally drawn by a master artist of our country five hundred years ago. He became famous for drawing phoenixes, unfortunately, he died young. There aren't many left now, so it's precious." Fan Wu Shu quickly passed the folding fan forward: "Brother Ge likes it? If you like it, just take it!"

Ge Fei didn't accept the folding fan, just said in a daze: "Brother Fan, I have a question, I'm not too sure of the answer. Your knowledge is deep, may you help me solve my doubt?"

"Dare not to solve doubts," Fan Wu Shu said: "Brother Ge, feel free to ask. We scholars can discuss together."

Ge Fei paused slightly, hesitatingly asked: "How many kinds of phoenixes... are there in the world?"

"Nine kinds!" This simple question, Fan Wu Shu blurted out: "Look, they are all drawn on the fan face! The red one is called Feng; the yellow one is called Yuan Chu; the blue one is called Luan; the purple one is called Yuan Jiao; the white one is called Hong Gu; the green one is called Fei Que; the black one is called Jia Xuan; the azure one is called Kong Yuan; the orange one is called Lian Hong!"

This chapter is 6k, including 2k for the silver grand alliance Phecda (2/3)

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