With the Blade

Wu Zhao finally decided to leave.

Perhaps from the very beginning, Wu Zhao had already made up his mind. As a man from Yin, he neither belonged to the Southern Chen nor to this current world. And after learning the truth about the so-called "dissolution of the army," he couldn’t even be sure if he was indeed a Yin person—but at least he was still a warrior, a warrior battling heaven and earth. As long as there was a fight, he could continue to survive.

And now, after experiencing the shuttling between worlds, Wu Zhao saw the best opportunity.

By using this opportunity to traverse different worlds, he could encounter various opponents. Although the people in this current world were pathetically weak, it precisely illustrated that there might indeed be a wonderful world where everyone was as strong as a dragon, where formidable foes were everywhere.

If not, he could just change to another one, after all, he already had experience with this mechanism.

If there’s anything regrettable, it’s that Du Chengfeng wouldn’t come along. This opponent, whom Wu Zhao deemed most worth confronting, ultimately chose to return with a lack of ambition—but there’s no way around such matters; everyone has their aspirations, and some people simply can’t see the joy in fighting, so what could he say?

He could only offer his blessing, offering what, in his eyes, was the most sincere blessing he could give.

For a warrior, always being able to face danger is undoubtedly the happiest thing.

But this blessing, in Du Chengfeng’s view...

"Are you cursing me?"

An angry Du Chengfeng pinned Wu Zhao to the ground and beat him fiercely.

Wu Zhao tried to fight back, but in the end, he was still overpowered by the tall and strong Du Chengfeng. It turned out that having a body as robust as Du Chengfeng’s was no cure-all—however, it wasn’t about winning or losing at this point, since this might very well be their last fight.

After all, once Wu Zhao left, it’s unlikely he’d ever return.

Fortunately, before leaving, Wu Zhao managed to do what needed to be done. After gathering the imagination of all the slaves and Du Chengfeng’s recent, almost impossible feat of parting the sea, the boundary between will and reality finally began to blur—and now, by following the path under the sea, they could reach that realm of dreams and embark on the road home.

So, Du Chengfeng walked forward without hesitation.

The further he walked along the path under the sea, the more Wu Zhao’s figure faded. Clearly, this warrior was destined to take the spoils he had long sought, a replica of Du Chengfeng’s strength, heading towards his desired journey.

As for Du Chengfeng, when the seawater began to blur around him, he finally caught the scent of that once unforgettable, sweet aroma.

It was the milk and honey flowing on the ground, in the eyes of those slaves, the most beautiful abundance.

The sweetest decay.

"So this is what you think..."

Du Chengfeng, opening his eyes and looking at the familiar surroundings, suddenly realized something.

He had previously failed to understand why people would describe a place abundant with flowing milk and honey, but when he recalled this phrase, having just come from Wu Zhao’s mouth, he suddenly realized this might be something Wu Zhao was deliberately expressing.

"Did you think I’d rot away in a comfortable environment?"

Du Chengfeng, sensing Wu Zhao’s subtle inspiration, began to scratch his head.

For an ordinary person, a comfortable hometown might be the best harbor, but for a warrior, a comfortable environment is the most ruthless poison—clearly, in Wu Zhao’s eyes, the promised land in those slaves’ visions, the land granted by the gods, flowing with milk and honey, was a wasteland, a land of curses.

Perhaps that’s why Du Chengfeng smelled a certain scent of decay upon first arriving here.

Yes, this was indeed a place he had visited before, Peach Spring, or possibly a master version related to Peach Spring.

Opening a path to Peach Spring was already the limit of what Wu Zhao could do; the rest had to be completed by Du Chengfeng himself.

"I should be fine too, right..."

Thinking this, Du Chengfeng took out his sling and cudgel.

Looking at these two items, Du Chengfeng suddenly felt a pang of sentiment. If not for obtaining these two troublesome things, he wouldn’t have been delayed in another world for so long—although, strictly speaking, the responsibility lay with Wu Zhao, if not for these two items, Wu Zhao wouldn’t have found the opportunity to make use of them.

Upon this realization, Du Chengfeng suddenly became a bit interested in these two weapons.

If he remembered correctly, he hadn’t sharpened these weapons yet?

He really hadn’t sharpened them. Although they had been in his possession for some time, he never got around to honing them. The reason was ultimately due to his schedule being too full; there was always something to do every day, plus he had to find a way back, making it seem unnecessary to sharpen these two weapons.

"Is it really unnecessary?"

Du Chengfeng suddenly realized something seemed off.

If he had sharpened these weapons earlier, he could have, at least, had a reference while taking action. Indeed, he had always done so along the way—opponents were indeed excellent teachers, but the experience recorded on weapons was also an excellent guide.

Why had he forgotten such an important thing?

"Is it because I’ve become stronger and wanted to solve things using my strength?"

Du Chengfeng started scratching his head again.

Though this thought wasn’t wrong, something still felt off to him. While he did solve problems like a warrior, unlike Wu Zhao’s pure fundamentalism, he never refused any auxiliary means that could help him—but during this period, he entirely forgot about these two critical weapons.

Earlier, he hadn’t noticed anything wrong, but now, as he was about to return and finally had some downtime, he realized something strange about it all.

"Anyway, I should sharpen them first to see."

With this thought, Du Chengfeng decided to start working right away.

He had a premonition that as long as he sharpened these two weapons, he would know the answers to everything.

"Let me see what kind of people your original masters were..."

Thinking this, Du Chengfeng retrieved a piece of deerskin from his bag and began to wipe the two weapons.

The ancient dust couldn’t hide the past glory, and once the dust was wiped away, the weapons regained their old appearances.

And after a moment of blurriness in his vision, Du Chengfeng finally perceived the sealed memory.

Except for one thing, Du Chengfeng hadn’t expected.

That is, it turns out the person in the image was still Wu Zhao’s big face.