Chapter 335

Extrapolating from the current facts and results, the Heavenly Dao's preemptive intervention and prevention against me really was quite farsighted, just as the saying goes:

The Heavens see everything.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze turned toward the fish pond in front of him, and he asked:

"Can the fish pond be expanded further?"

The Original Body: "It seems you've made up your mind?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I did indeed harbor a sliver of wishful thinking in my heart before, but this wishful thinking was not a vain hope that the Heavenly Dao would be merciful and spare me if I behaved well."

The Original Body: "When you embarked on the path of pursuing emotions and attempting to be a normal 'person,' in my eyes, you were already degenerating."

Li Zhuiyuan: "If I hadn't insisted on treating my illness, decisively cut ties with you, and upheld the bottom line of the Dragon King Sect while walking the river, do you think... we would still be alive now?"

The Original Body: "Indeed."

This is also the reason why the Original Body has never officially launched a battle for control of the body against Li Zhuiyuan all this time.

The Original Body is very clear that if he were to occupy the identity of "Li Zhuiyuan" at this moment, what would await him is the rapid deterioration of the environment.

The Original Body is not yet prepared for this; to be precise, Li Zhuiyuan has not yet grown to that point.

Both "people" are very smart and very calm.

Neither of them would engage in a losing and meaningless emotional outburst.

This is what created this bizarre scene where the inner demon and the original body coexist harmoniously, and can even join forces to resist enemies.

The Pudu Zhenjun of the past lost precisely to this kind of inconceivable coordination.

Such a thing has been unheard of in the Jianghu since ancient times.

Because,

If an inner demon and an original body can both maintain absolute restraint and calmness, then how could such a thing as an inner demon even be born?

Li Zhuiyuan: "To what extent can this fish pond be expanded at most?"

The Original Body reached out, pointed to the surroundings, and replied:

"The small river here, the farmland here, including Li Sanjiang's house, can all be filled and submerged to become the fish pond.

On the ground, there is no area limit; above, there is no height limit either.

It only depends on the strength of your spiritual consciousness."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You arranged this place so sloppily and without care—is it because you knew long ago that this place would eventually be submerged by the fish pond, so you couldn't be bothered to tend to it or decorate it?"

The Original Body: "I've said it before, it was the method you came up with—to lead the fish in the pond up into the sky and take them out to use elsewhere.

That day, when you successfully reversed the secret art of the Black Leather Book, I was standing right here, looking up at a large group of fish flying in the sky.

It was then that I thought of this possibility, and thought of the future development prospects of this fish pond.

So I was only a little earlier than you.

Besides, it's not even that early; when you saw Wei Zhengdao's suppression method, didn't you immediately reverse-engineer this fish pond?

So, we actually knew at the same time.

It's just that I thought about it more clearly, while you—perhaps you were negligent, or perhaps you were resisting thinking in this direction, but subconsciously, the answer was already prepared."

Li Zhuiyuan did not deny it.

The Original Body: "It's still because the strength of your spiritual consciousness is not yet powerful enough for me to squander at will, and I cannot draw too much, as it would affect your state in reality, so everything has to be kept simple.

If I could be extravagant and wasteful, even if I knew this place would become a fish pond, I wouldn't mind making the place where I 'live' more exquisite.

Not only would the houses be built well, but I would also arrange villagers here; there would be pigs in the pigsties, frogs by the river, and cicadas in the trees.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that if I did that, you would have a nosebleed in reality, and if it lasted long, your eyes would go blind; I'm even more afraid that you, this inner demon, would run here immediately to stop me and settle scores with me."

Li Zhuiyuan: "It really has been hard on you."

The Original Body: "It's only right."

Li Zhuiyuan: "But if my spiritual consciousness were strong enough, and you could also be extravagant and wasteful to your heart's content, and the scene you just described were realized here... what do you think it would look like?"

This time, it was the Original Body's turn to be silent.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and pointed to the fish fry in the pond, saying: "I will find feed outside and raise these fish until they are big and fat again. You are responsible for improving the fish breeds and the next stage of the fish pond design."

The Original Body: "It seems my work is going to be heavier."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You are the Original Body; you should naturally do more work."

The Original Body: "Very well, Inner Demon."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Is there anything else that needs to be said?"

The Original Body: "There is some nonsense, but I'm sure you understand it even if I don't say it."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's say it anyway; necessary formalities must still be gone through."

The Original Body: "We are to use a public method to carry out concealment, right?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I don't yet have the ability to blind the eyes of the Heavenly Dao like the Great Emperor and the Bodhisattva, and for existences like them, it's hard to guarantee whether they truly succeeded in blinding it or if the Heavenly Dao is just turning a blind eye.

Therefore, since absolute secrecy cannot be achieved, it is better to simply do it openly.

Openly find opportunities to absorb feed, openly use that secret art I newly created, and openly let the Heavenly Dao see my progress.

Because of Wei Zhengdao, the Heavenly Dao should have experience.

The unknown is what is most terrifying.

Only by letting it see the progress can it be at ease.

It will set the time to break me, this blade, but before that time arrives, we are safe, we are composed, and we might even be treated with favor."

The Original Body: "Then my work will be even heavier."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the Original Body.

The Original Body: "Very well, I know, I am the Original Body."

The Original Body reached out and drew a small frame in front of him: "I will open a separate small pool in the current fish pond, use the population of the fish pond to raise the small pool, and conduct experiments on various methods such as cultivation, raising Gu, formations, and Feng Shui.

Next, after the fish in the fish pond are raised fat, you can use them as you please; do not touch the ones in the small pool."

Li Zhuiyuan: "I know."

The Original Body: "You are in the light, I am in the dark."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You are the key."

The Original Body: "You are time."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Mm."

The Original Body: "Whether you praise me or I praise you, it seems no different from praising oneself."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Wei Zhengdao in history, during the same period as me, had not yet realized his own illness, or rather, he had not yet wanted to seek treatment and be a normal person."

The Original Body: "He hadn't degenerated yet."

Li Zhuiyuan: "But I realized it earlier than him. At that time, he would teach the Black Leather Book secret art to Qing'an, but I would absolutely never teach this secret art to Tan Wenbin or Lin Shu You."

Moreover, when Wei Zhengdao tried every possible way to commit suicide in the future, he gave birth to many clones; I suspect he was conducting suicide experiments."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the Original Body again: "Look, on this point, I am much earlier than him."

The Original Body: "I've discovered that in this matter, your subjective initiative is even higher than I expected."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Mm?"

The Original Body: "I originally thought that because you had that tiny bit of emotion, you would care more about those trinkets and those people, whether they were related to you or not.

I even prepared for the worst, which was to come and persuade you.

You should know how disgusting that feeling would be."

"I don't need to hesitate or waver; I have no other choice, because everything was chosen by it in advance."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and pointed to the pitch-black night sky above that was sloppy to the extreme, and continued:

"When it suspects that the future you might have the ability to eat it, you had better truly have the ability to eat it."

On the steps of the Daoist altar, Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes.

His right palm opened, and his fingertips moved slightly.

The formation within the Daoist altar was pulled, and the ground split into dense grids, floating like waves.

The already deep sense of future crisis further intensified tonight.

The sliver of wishful thinking the boy originally had in his heart was that perhaps it might be possible in the future to form a relative balance with the Heavenly Dao, like the Great Emperor.

Under this balance, one would only need to live out one's life normally, forcing the Heavenly Dao to choose to acquiesce, waiting for one's departure.

Now it can be confirmed that there is no such possibility.

The Heavenly Dao can tolerate the existence of the Great Emperor, the existence of the Bodhisattva, and other old undying things, but it will uniquely not tolerate me.

The so-called Heavenly Dao will not allow me to reach adulthood; it is not a hurdle or a catastrophe that you need to overcome and cross—it is a wall.

The Heavenly Dao will inevitably, when it believes the value extraction is sufficient, spare no cost to strangle me.

Since there is no future, then killing the goose that lays the golden eggs and forcing the seedlings to grow would be equivalent to having no side effects.

Not only for myself, but also for my partners.

Tomorrow night,

The crash course will resume.

He went to bed late last night, but his biological clock still allowed Li Zhuiyuan to wake up on time.

Turning his head and opening his eyes, he saw A Li standing in front of the table doing handicrafts; she was making paintbrushes.

Li Zhuiyuan knew this was the birthday gift A Li was preparing to give to Cuicui.

He was awake, but Li Zhuiyuan did not intend to get up. After making eye contact with the girl, the boy closed his eyes again; he intended to get a full night's sleep and replenish his energy.

"Time for breakfast!"

For the first time, Liu Yi's shout did not call the boy downstairs.

A Li came down alone.

Liu Yi: "Where is Xiaoyuan?"

A Li glanced at the second floor, walked into the kitchen, took out a tray, silently placed the breakfast for the two of them on it, and then carried it upstairs.

Liu Yi: "A Li, let me carry it for you."

A Li shook her head slightly, her footsteps not stopping.

Liu Yi took the various plates of pickles in her hand to Liu Yumei and whispered: "Is there something wrong with Xiaoyuan's health?"

Liu Yumei: "It's fine; if there were something wrong, A Li wouldn't be so calm."

Liu Yi: "Then is he focused on doing something important?"

Liu Yumei: "Stop guessing, maybe he just hasn't gotten up yet."

Li Sanjiang went downstairs for breakfast, as usual walking to the edge of the dam first, looking up, clearing his throat, spitting out a mouthful of phlegm, and then immediately lighting the first cigarette of the morning.

"Eh, where are Xiaoyuan Hou and the girl?"

Liu Yi: "A Li carried breakfast up."

"Oh." Li Sanjiang sat down on his stool, picked up his porridge bowl and shoveled two big mouthfuls, then put the bowl down, sucked on his chopsticks, turned his head and said to Tan Wenbin, who had just crawled out of the coffin, "Zhuangzhuang, do you have anything to do today?"

"Grandpa, please instruct me."

"I was thinking you could drive and take me to Rugao."

"To attend a funeral?"

"No, to an old friend's house; the person is sick, came home from the hospital to lie down, preparing to go."

"Alright, no problem. Grandpa Li, please accept my condolences; after all, your old friend is also at such an advanced age."

"It's not my old friend; my old friend left twenty years ago. This time, it's his son who is going."

"So that's how it is."

After breakfast, Li Sanjiang sat into Tan Wenbin's small pickup truck.

Touching the seat and knocking on the window, Li Sanjiang said with some doubt:

"Zhuangzhuang, why do I feel like this car has become new?"

"I just washed the car and did maintenance, so of course it's like a new car."

"That must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"The internship unit will reimburse it, hehe."

"That's good, the unit is quite decent."

"Grandpa Li, what is your relationship with that old friend? Why haven't I heard you mention it before?"

Li Sanjiang and that old friend had a life-and-death friendship.

When fighting in the war back then, Li Sanjiang was press-ganged several times and escaped several times, accumulating rich experience as a deserter.

When he escaped back from Huaihai, a fellow villager was following him, so he helped the other person walk back to Nantong together.

In the other person's eyes, Li Sanjiang was his savior. When the person was still alive, he would often come to visit Li Sanjiang. Later, when the person passed away, his son followed his instructions and would also bring some things to visit every year.

It's just that since two years ago, his son's health hasn't been very good, and he could barely leave the house, so he could only entrust his grandson to make a trip every year to send some gifts.

After arriving in Rugao, Tan Wenbin bought some gifts and went to the person's house with Li Sanjiang.

It was an ordinary self-built house, and the family conditions were also very average. The grandson was at home, and he was the one who called Auntie Zhang's small shop to notify Li Sanjiang.

"Grandpa Li."

"How is your dad?"

"The doctor said it's just these few days. My dad wants to pass away at home, so he requested to be discharged."

"Sigh."

Li Sanjiang entered the inner room.

The person lying on the bed was as thin as skin and bones, but there was no strange odor in the room, and the bed was also very clean and tidy.

After seeing Li Sanjiang, the old man, whose eyes were originally cloudy, immediately became clear, and he muttered vaguely:

"Uncle Li... Uncle Li."

Li Sanjiang sat down by the bed, held his hand, and said with a smile:

"It's quite good, set your mind at ease, it's decent."

"The children... serve me... serve me well..."

"Yes, I can tell."

"It's good that I'm going... so I don't drag down... the children..."

"It's all a good thing."

Tan Wenbin and the young man were smoking outside. The young man's surname was Liang, his name was Liang Jun, and he worked at the Longxing Tool Factory in Xingren Town.

"Then do you know Pan Hou and Lei Hou? They are cousins and joined the factory together."

"I know them, they are in my group, I am their group leader; what a coincidence, haha."

"Yes, quite a coincidence."

"Are you their...?"

"Consider me a relative."

"These two brothers work quite fiercely and aren't afraid of hardship. We are in the sand casting workshop, you know, it's the most bitter and dirtiest work. Since these two joined the group, they haven't complained of tiredness once."

"Then you go to work, commuting between home and the factory every day?"

"My father-in-law's house is in Xingren, I usually live at his place and only come back on holidays. After my dad was discharged, I asked for a long leave from the factory to accompany him."

At this time, a couple returned from the fields.

Liang Jun shouted: "Sister, Brother-in-law."

Seeing that guests had arrived, the woman went to cook, while the man rode a bicycle to town to buy cooked food.

"My dad is mostly taken care of by my sister and brother-in-law; my brother-in-law married into the family."

"And you?"

"I didn't marry into the family. My son carries my surname. It's just that it wasn't easy to get a spot when I first joined the factory, and plus the partner I found was in Xingren Town, so I definitely spent more time living at her house.

It was already agreed upon before that I don't want these things in the house. My dad has been bedridden for almost two years, so my sister and brother-in-law deserve it."

Li Sanjiang originally didn't want to stay for a meal, but since they had already bought and cooked the food, he had no choice but to stay.

The bedridden old man's spirits were getting better and better; he could originally only drink some sugar water, but today he actually wanted to eat some vegetables and even wanted to drink alcohol.