Legend Management Bureau Chapter 402

[ … words ]

Du Yu pointed at the nearby tree trunk and roared at the old man on the ground, “First it was ‘Du’, and now it’s ‘Yu’. Are you messing with me?! You knew who I was this whole time, didn’t you?!”

“Wh-what?!” The old man’s face was filled with panic. “What do you mean, Du and Yu? Why are you getting so mad at me? I don’t understand at all…”

“Still playing dumb, huh?!” Du Yu stood up, grabbed the old man by the collar, and hauled him right off the ground. “Come on, tell me!”

Du Yu dragged the old man over to the peach tree and pointed fiercely at the character ‘Yu’ carved into the trunk. “When I saw ‘Du’ earlier, I thought you had carved your own surname. Now tell me, what does this word mean?!”

The old man stared at it for a long time before muttering to himself, “Yeah, what does this word mean?”

“What did you just say?!” Du Yu furrowed his brows deeply. “You carved it yourself, and you don’t know what it means?”

“What do you mean!” The old man shoved Du Yu’s hand away, protesting with a deep sense of grievance. “I don’t even know how to read this word, so how could I have carved it? I only drew a ‘circle’ on every tree trunk. That ‘Du’ you mentioned earlier wasn’t carved by me either!”

“I-it wasn’t you?” Du Yu’s mind filled with even more questions.

The old man shook his head helplessly. “Why would I lie to you? Besides ‘one through ten’, ‘hundred, thousand, ten thousand’, and ‘year, month, day’, I know fewer than twenty words in total. I can’t even write any of them properly, so why would I go through the extra trouble of carving them into a tree? Drawing a circle is obviously much faster.”

He knew the old man had no reason to lie.

No matter how he looked at it, he had bumped into this old man completely by accident within the chaotic flow of space and time. This old man had foolishly accompanied him across different eras. Everything they had experienced together happened purely at random. It could not possibly be some long-premeditated conspiracy.

But then, what was the deal with the ‘Du’ and ‘Yu’ on the tree trunks?

Right then, the magistrate standing nearby spoke up, “You two outsiders, this official does not care what words are carved into this tree. This official only wants to know how much longer it will take to reach Peach Blossom Spring Village? Once we arrive, this official will reward you both with money. As for your personal grudges, settle them in private later.”

The old man was genuinely terrified by Du Yu’s reaction. He hurriedly leaned close to Du Yu and whispered, “Young man, you aren’t sent from above to publicly denounce me, are you? What exactly does that word mean? Is it ‘feudal superstition’ or ‘vulgar content’? I really didn’t write it. I barely know how to read a few words.”

“Sigh…” Du Yu let out a deep breath. The more he listened to the old man’s tone, the more convinced he became that the old man had not written those words.

Could it be He Suoyi?

But what would his purpose be?

Had he already escaped from Peach Blossom Spring Village?

Yet if such a rare opportunity presented itself, why wouldn’t He Suoyi just run away? Why go out of his way to leave behind a message?

“Wait a minute…” Du Yu paused, turning back to the old man. “Uncle, take a close look. Is this the exact same tree you carved your mark on?”

The old man also froze for a moment. After carefully inspecting the tree, he replied, “It’s the same tree, but I carved a circle.”

Du Yu pondered for a moment. “How do you know it’s the same tree?”

“Look, young man!” The old man pointed to a puddle of liquid at the base of the trunk. “I just took a piss right here… How could that be faked?”

Now Du Yu was completely at a loss.

Changing a carved ‘O’ into the word ‘Yu’ on the very same tree definitely did not seem like an ordinary trick. It looked much more like the work of a spell.

But who else around here was capable of casting spells?

The magistrate was growing impatient. “Well, are you two moving or not?”

Du Yu frowned. Logically speaking, he should not continue forward. Otherwise, these officials would reach Peach Blossom Spring Village, and the Legends would be thrown entirely off course.

But if he did not keep going, what words would come after ‘Du’ and ‘Yu’?

The old man had made eight marks in total. Could these eight marks link together to form a sentence?

Was someone trying to tell him something… using this method because normal communication was impossible?

Quickly, Du Yu made his decision.

“Uncle, I wrongly accused you just now. If you’re angry and want to hit me, I absolutely won’t fight back,” Du Yu told the old man with a serious expression. “The word carved on that tree just now was my name, which is why I got a little worked up.”

“What the heck?!” This time, it was the old man’s turn to be confused. “You’re saying that word looking like two little wings is your name?”

“Yeah.” Du Yu nodded.

“Bizarre… How bizarre…” the old man muttered to himself. “We really must be in the Great Immortal’s territory. The circle I drew actually turned into your name. Good thing you didn’t lose your senses, or I’d never be able to explain myself!”

“Yeah…” Du Yu agreed. “It is definitely a bit strange. That’s why I want to go and see if the remaining marks will turn into words as well. Let’s continue leading the way.”

The old man nodded, his expression growing much more cautious.

About ten minutes later, Du Yu and the old man found the third mark.

As soon as this mark appeared, the old man became even more certain that the two of them had crossed paths with a Great Immortal, because he actually recognized this word:

“You”!

Du Yu muttered under his breath, “Du, Yu, You? This really is a sentence. Someone is trying to tell me something!”

“How incredibly strange! I definitely drew a circle here, too!” The old man rubbed his head, completely unable to explain the phenomenon unfolding before his eyes.

Du Yu did not reply. Instead, he simply sprinted straight ahead.

Just who exactly was speaking to him?

Why would they contact him in this manner?

This time, it only took about three to five minutes before Du Yu reached the next tree.

The fourth word appeared on the trunk.

“See.”

“See?” Du Yu paused in confusion. “Could I have missed a word?”

Shouldn’t the correct expression be—Du, Yu, You, ?, See. Was this a declarative sentence?

He felt exceptionally anxious, practically jogging the whole way as he continuously searched for these strange words in the forest.

This might be a glimmer of hope amidst Du Yu’s despair. If someone really could contact him in this chaotic space and time, it would truly be a blessing in disguise!

To avoid messing up this important information, every time he encountered a word, he carefully recorded it using pieces of wood and stones.

Soon, all eight words were collected, and the crowd, panting heavily, followed him to the entrance of Peach Blossom Spring Village.

Du Yu ignored the stone at the entrance. Instead, he found an empty patch of ground at the base of the cliff wall and tossed the eight pieces of wood from his hands onto it.

A bizarre and baffling string of words appeared:

“Du”, “Yu”, “See”, “You”, “Nature”, “Through”, “Do”, “Human”.