Daomu Biji: Restart

After waiting for a while and confirming that we were still us, I said to them, "Let’s analyze it. Why did the heavenly gift bring us here and let us wake up? Over the past month, the three of us obviously did a lot of things and walked a lot. If there’s a sentient being—which we’ll call “it” for now—that wants us to go deep into this gap and reach the end of the dragon vein, then it could’ve kept us under control with the heavenly gift and done it all in one go. So why did the heavenly gift suddenly disappear when we got here? Moreover, the heavenly gift this time is different from Little Brother's since none of us have amnesia."

Fatty, who didn’t appear to be as shocked as I was, also sat down. He looked at my hands and then at Poker-Face again.

My hands were still shaking.

"To answer your question,” he said, “you need to answer a preliminary question: Is this a normal sentient being? That is to say, is this thing a person or something that’s similar to a person? If it’s the latter, then its purpose is understandable. At present, it seems that it wants to lead us to the bottom of the Kunlun Mountains." He stacked some small stones on the ground into a pile, "This is Shen Qianjue." Another pile of stones was stacked right next to it, "This is Black Glasses. If the two of them were being controlled when they were talking to us, then those conversations were actually fake. In other words, we were constantly being led to the black spot."

I remained silent as Fatty continued, "Let's go in and meet Black Glasses and Xiao Hua. But we need to be careful. They may not be them."

"They’ll have to be careful with us, too," I interrupted him.

"If it’s not a person, then I don't know,” Fatty continued. “I think its behavior is unpredictable. It may just be a coincidence that it led us here." He lit a cigarette, "First, let's start with the question of whether it’s a sentient being or not. If it is, then I think this thing is worth pondering over. You said that it’s a dragon vein—an ancient dragon god—that’s very cunning. But don’t you think the crafty plots, machinations, and step-by-step process in which the ancient god has entrenched itself are all a bit humble for an ancient god?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You’re the five fucking mountain dragon gods,” Fatty said. “One of the ancient gods of China. And yet you're doing things in a Jin Wantang-like manner? Why don't you just work some magic and come to us in a dream? But instead, you have to go through so many steps, which is a very humble approach. I think this conspirator can win a model worker medal."

"Maybe it’s a god of mischief?" I mocked him in my heart but didn't say it aloud. But after hearing what Fatty said, I suddenly felt a little better. He was right. We had come all this way, but that thing didn't show any overwhelming power at all.

Could it be that young man from before? Was he a dragon vein that had transformed into a human?

If it was that kid, then I would skin him alive. But if he had the ability to bestow a heavenly gift, then he would be like Professor X⁽¹⁾ and my whole worldview would collapse.

"We also suffered from a heavenly gift on the grassland, but eventually came back to our senses. And neither of these two heavenly gifts robbed us of our memories. We also haven’t gotten to our destination in one go. Either it doesn't want us to become disabled, or it can't do it." Fatty took a puff of his cigarette, "I think it’s probably the latter. It can only bestow the heavenly gift on us in a fixed area."

Fatty looked at our surroundings, which were full of those Zhang corpses. "This place…it's very special. But as for how special it is, we’ll have to ask Little Brother. Based on your expression, you should already have an answer. Isn’t that, Little Brother?"

Poker-Face was still looking at that shriveled head, but when I glanced at him, he turned to look at me, "They all committed suicide. They died here voluntarily."

Fatty and I exchanged a look as Poker-Face continued, "They sacrificed themselves and made a partition here. There should be a very crucial thing in this small shrine that can compete against the power here."

"But it's empty now. Where’s the thing?”

"It must be nearby. If that’s not the case, then the effectiveness of this place will disappear. This thing and these corpses must have interacted with each other, which enabled us to recover."

****

TN Notes:

(1) Professor X is a character from the super famous comics “The X-Men”. He’s a mutant who’s an exceptionally-powerful telepath. He can read and control the minds of others. More info here.

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Heads up, they said we can get overtime at work if we want and considering how I had to suffer a 10% cut to my salary last year cuz of covid, mama wants that $$$$$ (I've got student loans, a mortgage, and medical bills to pay. Adulting…ugh). I will try to keep up with my minimum 1 chapter a day, but if I'm exhausted after work, it's just not going to happen. Just know that I'm not dead in a ditch or anything if I go MIA for a few days.