Legend Management Bureau Chapter 403

[ … words ]

Du Yu looked at the text, tried several combinations, and finally muttered in disbelief, “Du Yu, do you understand human nature?”

This was truly bizarre. He had expected a declarative statement, but it turned out to be a question.

But what did this question mean?

And why did he need to understand human nature?

He thought that gathering all the text would provide a sliver of a clue, but it only led to another mystery.

“Who… are you exactly?”

Du Yu’s mind overflowed with questions.

“Outsider… are we not at Peach Blossom Spring Village yet?” the prefect asked slowly, his expression turning somewhat icy.

Du Yu pondered for a moment, then looked up at the prefect and said, “My Lord, it seems we have lost our way.”

Du Yu stood up, cupped his hands in a respectful salute, and replied, “My Lord, you might not be aware, but the markers along the way have been altered. We even suspect that we took a wrong turn halfway through. It appears the residents of Peach Blossom Spring Village are highly vigilant…”

As soon as Du Yu’s voice fell, their surroundings abruptly changed.

The sound of shattering glass rang out in all directions, and jagged cracks continuously manifested in mid-air!

Startled, Du Yu quickly looked around. “Just as I thought! The moment I finished that sentence, the legend ended!”

“Oh my! What is happening?!” the old man cried out, looking around in a panic. “Is that water monkey back?! This must be the water monkey’s trickery!”

The prefect and the surrounding soldiers all fell into disarray, desperately dodging the ever-growing spatial rifts.

“There are monsters! Retreat! Retreat!”

The prefect and his large entourage abandoned their armor and weapons, immediately fleeing back the way they came.

Du Yu reacted swiftly, using the chaos to run to the stone wall behind him and began moving the heavy boulders.

“Young man! What are you doing?!” the old man urged anxiously. “Find a place to hide first! Leave those rocks alone!”

“I cannot!” Du Yu replied with a resolute expression. “Cracks have probably appeared inside as well. The water monkey will escape through them!”

Hearing that the water monkey might escape, the old man gritted his teeth, steeled his resolve, and bypassed the numerous spatial tears to help Du Yu move the stones. “I cannot let that water monkey go. That beast took my nephew’s life!”

Before long, the two of them cleared an opening.

“Uncle, quickly, follow me!”

Du Yu scrambled inside first, with the tense old man following closely behind.

They crawled through the hole for a long time but still could not see the end.

An ominous premonition gradually crept over Du Yu.

“Young man… what is going on? Did we crawl this long when we came out?”

Before Du Yu could answer, the space in front of them began to open up.

Du Yu slowly stood up and discovered a stone tunnel stretching out before him.

Entering through a hole in the cliff face had somehow led them straight into a stone tunnel.

It was as if Peach Blossom Spring Village had never existed, and the cave entrance had always led into the heart of the mountain.

“Why is this a cave?” the old man asked in confusion, looking around. “Did we really take the wrong path?”

The old man called out several times but noticed Du Yu did not react at all. “Young man, what is wrong?”

Du Yu’s eyes were wide open, staring intently at the end of the stone passage where a massive Stone Door stood.

“I… I have been here before…”

“What? You have been here?”

Du Yu turned around and found that the path they had taken was gone. Behind them was a massive, swirling Spatial Vortex. This cemented his suspicions, so he strode confidently toward the Stone Door.

He seemed to understand the truth of the matter. All of this was the handiwork of Time, and this place was exactly Time’s cave!

“Young man, wait for me!” The old man hurriedly jogged after him.

Yet, this stone corridor, which appeared to be no more than a few dozen paces long, harbored a strange peculiarity.

As the two strode forward, the Stone Door seemed to drift further and further away.

“Young man, are my eyes playing tricks on me? Why do I feel like we are moving backward?”

Du Yu had also noticed the anomaly. He glanced back and saw that they were indeed quite far from the Spatial Vortex.

Now, the two of them were standing as if in the middle of a tightrope, equidistant—a few dozen paces—from both ends.

What was going on?

Right at that moment, several words glowing with golden light slowly surfaced on the wall beside Du Yu:

Du Yu, do you understand human nature?

Both Du Yu and the old man froze simultaneously.

The old man gasped, “Young man, why is your name written here again?!”

Du Yu was about to answer but realized something was amiss. “Uncle, how do you know my name is up there?”

The old man shook his head helplessly and pointed at the character “Yu”. “This word that looks like two little wings, isn’t that your name?”

“Uh…” Du Yu scratched his head, resigned. “Uncle, even though you cannot read, your memory is truly impressive.”

“Isn’t it?” The old man nodded. “I just think this word looks quite pretty.”

Du Yu stopped paying attention to the old man and scrutinized the scene before him, deeply perplexed.

If Time wanted to see him… why go through all this trouble?

He and Time were both friends and foes. It was a good thing to meet him at this critical juncture, but why wouldn’t he show himself?

Du Yu had been to this stone tunnel many times, but this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre situation.

In the next split second, the writing on the stone wall vanished.

Immediately after, the surrounding stone walls began to undergo an Illusion Transformation, gradually becoming transparent. Du Yu and the old man found themselves standing as if in a clear glass corridor, completely able to see the scenery outside the mountain.

“Ah?!” the old man exclaimed. “This…”

Du Yu was equally bewildered. He realized that just a short distance ahead of them was Peach Blossom Spring Village!

This Peach Blossom Spring Village looked no different from the one Du Yu and the old man had seen earlier. There were no spatial tears in the entire area, and the villagers were minding their own business, working and chatting, completely oblivious to Du Yu and the old man nearby.

“We came through the same stone cave… yet we veered off course?” Du Yu voiced his confusion.

But just as they tried to take a step forward, they found themselves blocked by an invisible wall of air. They were still inside the tunnel; only their field of vision had become transparent.

While the two were still in a daze, they noticed a large group of men and horses slowly approaching from the distance.

“Young man, it looks like those Daoist Priests have returned!”

Du Yu followed the old man’s gaze, and sure enough, the prefect’s entourage was currently strolling over at a leisurely pace.

However, in addition to the prefect’s entourage, there was a villager dressed as a fisherman leading the way.

“Honorable Officials, you promised me!” the fisherman said with a sly expression. “If you manage to collect money and grain, you must save a portion for this lowly one… I have three children at home, and we haven’t eaten a single grain in almost two days.”

“Rest assured,” the prefect stated coldly. “If we truly reap the benefits, you won’t be left out.”

Du Yu seemed to grasp something, his eyes widening as he declared, “Wait! What is playing on this wall is not the world currently happening outside, but the world as written in ‘historical records’!”

As his voice faded, a massive amount of text instantly materialized on the stone wall, rapidly obscuring the entire image.

Upon closer inspection, the sky-filling text consisted of the same phrase over and over again:

“Du Yu, do you understand human nature?”