With the Blade

Witnessing the old acquaintance fall into such a state, Du Chengfeng felt a mix of laughter and tears.

"Get up first, maybe go have a meal..."

"He’s coming back! He’s coming back!"

The old eunuch still looked utterly terrified.

"He’s about to return! We should still..."

"Things like this don’t matter, the heavens and earth can’t surpass the importance of eating."

Du Chengfeng maintained his calm and relaxed demeanor.

"Let’s find a place first, I’ll cook..."

"Well, preparing for battle might be slightly more important?"

Shan Bing couldn’t help but interject.

"I’ve seen the prowess of this monster with my own eyes, it’s like the power of an Immortal, not something humans can deal with. Since he said he’s coming back, he’s surely coming back. Shouldn’t we brainstorm and come up with a plan..."

"Brainstorm, come up with a plan?"

Du Chengfeng was directly amused.

If it were in the past, perhaps he would have indeed felt that brainstorming and planning were what should be done at the moment, especially after securing a bit of free time, this needed to be adequately arranged to defeat a strong enemy.

But now, after mastering a power truly called violence, he felt some changes.

"Well, guess what effect results from me training to this scale?"

"What effect?"

Shan Bing and the old eunuch were baffled by the question.

Things like this don’t really require consideration, or perhaps they had never considered it—becoming strong is becoming strong, what else could it be used for?

"Of course it’s useful, incredibly useful."

Du Chengfeng laughed.

"As you become stronger and stronger, your life becomes increasingly carefree."

While saying this, Du Chengfeng pointed to his massive fist, nearly the size of an adult’s head.

"When you’re strong enough, brainstorming and planning become someone else’s task."

"This..."

Shan Bing and the old eunuch were speechless for a long time.

Although they always felt that there was something off about this statement, it was completely different from what they had learned and understood all along—like a red-hot iron rod piercing into their minds, this kind of thinking completely contradicted their understanding of common sense.

But when they saw the corpse of the one who used to be like an emperor, they had to admit, this phrase had some truth in it.

And the things that followed also made them realize that this statement was indeed very sensible—for example, after Du Chengfeng killed someone, he went to find food, while cleaning the corpse, such tiring work was simply left to the Commanders. And when Du Chengfeng reached the imperial kitchen, trivial tasks like cutting meat and preparing vegetables were all taken over by the Imperial Chefs.

Of course, the final cooking was done by Du Chengfeng himself; this was his bottom line as a culinary enthusiast.

But that was just his bottom line. Aside from that, all the matters that required effort were completely sorted out by others for him.

"Actually, I wasn’t referring to this aspect."

After making a meal, seeing Shan Bing and the old eunuch’s eyes becoming odd, Du Chengfeng thought for a moment and decided to correct them.

"Just imagine you come to fight me, would I need to think about how to defeat you?"

Apparently not.

Shan Bing and the old eunuch were quite aware of their own strength.

Does an elephant need to consider its posture when crushing an ant? Surely not, it simply needs to step down—ant versus elephant requires exhausting every trick, even a grand performance just to have a one in a million chance of surviving a disaster that seems to be destroying the heavens and earth.

"Then? Any changes?"

After listening to Shan Bing’s amusing analogy of elephants and ants, Du Chengfeng took a bite of braised lion’s head.

"I used to be weak, chased everywhere, and at that time it was truly frightening; the opponent was excessively strong like a monster... Of course, I was lucky later and survived, but then?"

Speaking of this, Du Chengfeng sighed.

Sometimes, human fate truly hinges on a thread of thought, had he feared He Xiqing’s might and chose to flee back then, he truly wouldn’t face the terror between life and death, but he’d always be an ant for life.

An ant will inevitably encounter its elephant.

Moreover, it’s not only elephants that can kill ants.

Wolves, tigers, leopards, pigs, dogs, cows, sheep, all animals can easily kill ants, even rabbits and rats can casually crush ants, and considering their logic is completely different from elephants, even if ants can handle elephants, would they still cope with these creatures?

"So from my perspective, there’s only one solution."

Du Chengfeng raised his chopsticks.

"Find a way to become an elephant, and all issues cease to be issues."

"..."

Shan Bing and the old eunuch looked silently at Du Chengfeng.

Merely by looking at that mountain-like physique, it seemed Du Chengfeng was indeed seriously practicing this point, standing amidst the crowd looked truly like an elephant.

"But, wouldn’t it be foolish?"

Shan Bing couldn’t help but speak up again.

"I mean, being a dimwit..."

"Your words lack reason, truly lack reason, what’s wrong with being tall?"

Du Chengfeng immediately disagreed.

"Human energy is limited, and intelligence is practically limited too. If you exert eighty percent in one area, only twenty percent remains for others. I don’t disregard intelligence; I’ve just dedicated more vigor and intellect into becoming strong, rather than clever scheming."

Du Chengfeng again pointed at his fist.

And it has proven to be exceedingly effective. When he inputs all efforts into becoming strong, he just keeps getting stronger. Meanwhile, as he gets stronger, brainstorming drifts further—he simply needs to perfect his might, while strategy in battle isn’t a mind-exhausting task.

"When you need to brainstorm to deal with an opponent, it already indicates you’re much weaker, and the best thing to do is to solidify your foundational skills instead of thinking how to fight only at the moment of battle, which consumes your intelligence to pay off the debt accumulated from insufficient strength over time."

At this point, Du Chengfeng sighed.

Seeing these two as acquaintances, he went on further. If it were anyone else, he definitely wouldn’t babble so much.

"In simple terms, as long as you’re strong enough, weaklings need to think, strong ones don’t, understand?"

"... Sort of got it."

Shan Bing and the old eunuch nodded in bewilderment.

The front part was definitely incomprehensible, talking vague complexities, what was this about—of course, they wouldn’t put it that way, being wiser they realized they hadn’t grasped that level yet.

Thankfully, at least the last sentence they understood, the summary was quite direct.

"The strong don’t need to think; the weak do."

At least in such an environment, this statement was realistic.

As weaklings, Shan Bing and the old eunuch maintained a clear self-positioning.

Moreover, once again it was proven, the strong truly don’t need to think, just as in the current setting of the Jian Kang imperial city, the mess left by the emperor had nothing to do with the likes of Du Chengfeng—the real cleanup falls to the old eunuch, Shan Bing, Jiang Wenyuan, and all those Commanders.

While Du Chengfeng merely had to focus entirely on becoming stronger.

Fortunately, he acquired new techniques, implying his battle prowess could elevate further.