There's something wrong with me

Chapter 238: Enlightenment! The Manifestation of Karma!

"It's not that I'm overthinking."

The Grand Thief's eyes held a speculative smile, and he wasn't dismissed by Zhang Feng's words today.

"Old man, you always talk about a fifty-year reunion, but there must be a deadline for that.

Whether it's one day, or three hundred days, or some other month..."

He looked at Zhang Feng, having mustered the courage to ask what he hadn't dared to for days.

"Since it's an invitation, your close friend shouldn't make you wait here for a year.

That's not proper etiquette.

And as far as I know, the disciples of Xuan Yun Sect are not only righteous but also very polite.

Old man... your reasoning doesn't make sense, does it?"

"What?" Zhang Feng leaned on the nearby wall and stood up, "You don't believe this old man?"

"How dare I." The Grand Thief heard Zhang Feng sounding a bit angry, a look of annoyance after being doubted, yet he felt a bit more convinced in his heart.

But then, he remembered that Zhang Feng was a very good actor.

Thinking that the words had already been spoken, he pressed on again:

"Daring to ask you about this today, old man, is simply out of my curiosity, young one.

With no specific month or day, are we two truly going to wait here indefinitely?

Isn't there a pre-arranged time or a specific place in town to meet?"

"A place?" Zhang Feng scanned the courtyard, "If there were any such place, after fifty years, it would have long since changed beyond recognition."

Zhang Feng said, and without waiting for the Grand Thief to say anything more, he continued:

"Just rest assured, since this old man needs your help, he won't treat you unfairly.

And you also know that this old man doesn't have much time left and is waiting for a close friend to extend his life.

How could this old man joke with his own life, a matter of his very existence, just to amuse you?"

Zhang Feng threw out his last bait, which was his own life.

A normal person would not joke with their own life for an outsider.

At least within basic logic, the Grand Thief believed him after hearing these words.

'So if your friend is coming to find you, even if there's no specific place, there must be a direction...'

However, the Grand Thief also wanted to get to the bottom of it, to understand the matter thoroughly.

But when faced with Zhang Feng's frank gaze,

The Grand Thief hesitated again.

As a smart person with high emotional and intellectual intelligence, he knew that asking such a question would basically strain their relationship.

And in his opinion, it was far from the point of completely tearing off the facade.

Especially since Zhang Feng was still using rhetoric and painting a picture.

It also gave him a sense of psychological comfort.

Some smart people fall for this.

They clearly feel it's impossible, but still hold onto hope.

This is also because all other methods have failed, and now they can only rely on the fantasy given by others.

Then, coupled with a bit of their own expectation, they can continue to endure.

Such smart people are indeed smart, but precisely because they are too smart, they overthink things.

Of course, if a better solution were to appear now, such people would decisively leave.

Things like brotherhood or romantic love hold no sway over them.

Through a few days of interaction, Zhang Feng had also thoroughly understood the Grand Thief's basic thought process.

It was all about stalling, setting traps, and continuously giving him hope before he found a better option.

It was a very basic human psychological trick.

And in such 'picture-painting'.

The Grand Thief returned to his room to sleep, not secretly watching Zhang Feng, but rather falling asleep with a complex mix of anticipation and nervousness.

This is how most people feel when they are trapped.

But it's more a method of using karma.

Zhang Feng was now using him, testing him, and secretly learning his cultivation method.

And when necessary, a Grand Thief with nearly 90 Physique, serving as his guard, could prevent certain things in the early stages.

It was a multi-pronged approach.

However, the Grand Thief still didn't know that he was now completely confused by the deception.

Especially this kind of confusion, which was even more profound than that caused by online course sellers.

Course instructors merely scratch the surface, catching many small fish, but finding it difficult to catch big ones; at most, they cast a wide net with their rhetoric, seeking out those who don't understand, to 'fit the description'.

Like teaching how to make money, teaching life philosophy, about horoscopes, how to judge people and things and girlfriends, or starting a business, etc.

It all fits the description.

Because if they really had that ability, they would have already conquered an entire industry; why would they resort to selling courses online?

This is very basic logic.

But Zhang Feng's approach to the Grand Thief was not about fitting the description.

On the contrary, Zhang Feng mostly analyzed details, various psychological principles, and behavioral logic to pinpoint the other party's fundamental needs.

Under this operation.

It was no longer about affecting one's mood.

Instead, it played a role in disrupting causality, making things go awry and trapping him in a permanent maze of thought.

This was Zhang Feng's latest idea of the 'Karma Reversal Method'.

To put it more mystically, the Grand Thief was 'reversing cause and effect' by Zhang Feng.

Truly, such a person no longer knows what he is doing or what he is engaged in; he can only be passively influenced by those around him.

Even when influenced, he understands what he is doing and knows the ultimate outcome, and he strives for that desired outcome.

But if you dig deep, this person's heart is actually confused about the 'future', unclear, and blank.

Being confused about the future means not having one's own 'life's outcome'.

As long as there is no outcome, he remains trapped in Zhang Feng's cause-and-effect reversal thought maze, working towards Zhang Feng's outcome.

This is also what Zhang Feng considered 'not enlightened'.

Even if Zhang Feng directly said his pie was made up a few days later, he would still believe himself for the outcome he had drawn before.

But this is no longer about karma; it's about unavoidable sunk costs for ordinary people, it's human nature.

In layman's terms, it means being set up.

It's very common in companies, relationships, and business partnerships.

Such a trap is also very easy to break: first, have a strong character and clarify things by getting to the bottom of them, then the trap naturally breaks, and one's mind becomes clear.

Second, don't follow people or enter the trap from the beginning; as long as you feel there's no problem and no crime is involved, then set up your own trap.

What Zhang Feng is doing now is setting up his own trap.

And if this were a normal society, with the Grand Thief unable to kill himself, he could only be hard-deceived by paying money and putting in effort.

If it were a contract, saying it was a partnership business, it would be working for free.

Especially after the deception, given the sunk costs, if a few nice words are said, he will foolishly follow him.

Adding the tactic of delay can literally wear down a person's youthful spirit.

High-level thinking against low-level thinking is an absolute碾压.

And among strangers who don't know each other, if a high-level thinker seeks friendship with a low-level thinker, there must be some ulterior motive.

Either they are a good person who likes to be a teacher, showing off and asking the other party for emotional value, or they lust after the other party's body, or they want the money in the other party's pocket, or all three.

Zhang Feng doesn't claim to understand human emotions and desires perfectly now, but he has learned these things and realized that humans are essentially animals.

No matter what, humans are still animals.

Then, the high-level thinking is the lion in the forest, and the low-level thinking is the rabbit.

If a lion suddenly seeks friendship with a rabbit when they don't know each other, it's highly likely that nothing good will come of it.

The only good thing is if the lion is very famous and has the human nature of being a good teacher, giving guidance, and then the rabbit might learn something from the lion.

But it's not very useful; the rabbit will still fall into almost every pit it's meant to.

People learn from experience; grand theories are useless.

Just like now, the Grand Thief was initially the lion, seeking out this rabbit (me) to kill and seize treasures.

But now I have taken the initiative, becoming the lion, using his financial and human resources.

This involves the basic human game of chess, the reversal of positions between the two parties, and the insights gained yesterday supplemented by today's transformation.

After everything that has happened these past few days,

Zhang Feng gradually grasped human nature, saw through its essence, found the basic logic, and gained much experience.

Although he didn't want to engage in intellectual battles, they were too troublesome.

But fortunately, with this realization, his Spirit Transformation increased by another 3%.

Zhang Feng was quite happy.

It was also another completion of the seven emotions and six desires, an extra gain.

This gain included both intellectual battles and life itself.

Zhang Feng used to just rampage and charge, but now that he thought about it carefully, he realized that for hundreds of years, he truly hadn't experienced the most basic human-to-human scheming life.

Logically, scheming should be the first life experience.

The earliest trial world was the apocalypse, which was the best place for intellectual battles.

But he had developed stealthily for over a day until he was invincible before emerging, then overpowering all monsters.

In subsequent worlds, he also steadily reached invincibility before engaging in most interpersonal interactions.

Zhang Feng himself didn't care about these machinations, so he inadvertently overlooked them.

Making his entire life imperfect.

He was actually like the Grand Thief, seemingly having gotten the sequence wrong, trapped in a maze of thought, and doing things in reverse.

Fortunately, he gained the outcome: 3% progress in Spirit Transformation.

...

For the next two days, the Grand Thief didn't ask anything else.

More often, while Zhang Feng was decocting medicine, he would chat idly about small anecdotes from all over the world.

These anecdotes were nothing more than tales of immortals descending or ghosts appearing.

Most were folk legends, nothing particularly interesting.

Zhang Feng was more focused on the Grand Thief himself, feeling that he had managed to fool him again.

As long as he could be safe for a few days, he would be.

The longer he dragged it out, the stronger he would become.

Once his Physique reached 30, he could try to repair his brain, begin to properly condense his Spiritual Mind, and then quickly achieve Foundation Establishment Completion.

This was also the theoretical practice from a few days ago.

Zhang Feng estimated it would take about five more days.

After five days, his Physique would jump from the estimated 30 to at least around 60.

Then he would slowly cultivate it upwards.

The reason it was only 60, not as high as previous starts, was due to the limitations of his aging body.

In previous starts, reaching 60 was a matter of minutes.

But now, even with Foundation Establishment Completion, he had no telomeres, was riddled with illnesses, and had to rapidly increase his strength while his life force was rapidly draining away; this itself was a big problem.

It was completely going against the current, no less than defying the heavens by borrowing lifespan at the very beginning.

However, once Foundation Establishment Completion was achieved, even if his Physique wasn't high, his strength would increase by tens, even hundreds of times the normal Foundation Establishment combat power based on 60.

At that time, he would seemingly have a Physique of 60, not as high as the Grand Thief's nearly 90.

But Zhang Feng could defeat a whole group of Grand Thieves.

Even if a hundred came, he could clear them all with one slap.

That would be the day he could finally hold his head high.

Now, Zhang Feng silently decocted the medicine, listening to the Grand Thief's nonsense.

He just kept listening.

The Grand Thief was talking about a lonely ghost in a village, but then he suddenly changed the topic.

“Old man, today I went to the Thousand Forest Hall in town to buy medicine, and I saw a hundred-year-old ginseng there.”

He spoke with a smile in his eyes.

“Although the prescription you gave me doesn’t include this medicine, I think this medicine looks extraordinary, with plump roots and stems. It should be a Spiritual Medicine.”

“What do you mean?” Hearing this, Zhang Feng’s eyes moved from the earthenware pot to the smiling Grand Thief.

“Steal it, or buy it?”

“That shopkeeper knows his stuff.” The Grand Thief snorted with a laugh, “This ginseng is priced at a thousand taels.

One tael is enough for an ordinary family to live frugally for a year.

A thousand taels could buy a three-person family a thousand years’ worth of food.”

“If this ginseng is truly a Spiritual Medicine as you say, then the price isn’t expensive.” After hearing the Grand Thief’s explanation, Zhang Feng felt that this calculation was correct and didn’t think the price of the ginseng was exaggerated.

Because the Grand Thief mentioned living frugally.

And Zhang Feng also knew the pricing system of this world.

In terms of gold, silver, and copper conversion, it was similar to normal ancient times: one tael of gold was ten taels of silver.

One tael of silver was a thousand cash.

The normal wage for a small laborer was about five hundred cash a month.

One catty of pork was five cash.

It wasn't like the Ming Dynasty or the martial arts world he was in before, where a meal cost hundreds of cash or several taels.

In a spiritual world like the Ling Dynasty, which was relatively peaceful, the differences in prices and wages across regions were not too great.

And under the coordination of the Ministry of Revenue and various local financial departments, prices were relatively stable.

However, a thousand taels was still a large sum.

If converted, pork was five cash, which is about ten yuan in reality.

One tael of silver, a thousand cash, was two thousand yuan.

A thousand taels was two million.

When Zhang Feng calculated this, he was shocked. He hadn't realized how outrageous this ginseng was. How could it be so expensive?

A normal person's salary was only five hundred cash, or a thousand yuan.

But if he were to steal it?

Zhang Feng looked at the Grand Thief, seeing his eager expression. Was he trying to drag him ‘into the water’?

To strengthen their life-and-death friendship by committing a crime together?

“Aren’t you afraid my dear friend will find out?” Zhang Feng looked at him, “Not only will he despise this old man, but he will also hold me accountable for this matter.”

“No, no.” The Grand Thief, however, laughed heartily, “Old man, when night falls, you and I will go to Thousand Forest Hall, take the item, and kill the person.

Then you won’t speak, and I won’t say a word. Who could possibly know?”

He said this, then habitually lowered his voice, “I’ve bought medicine for you these past few days and have seen that ‘Shopkeeper Li’ a few times.

He has no spiritual talismans on him, so he probably doesn’t know any high-ranking masters.

And even if he did, without a spiritual talisman, even if we kill him, as long as you and I are clean, no one else will be able to investigate.”

He spoke, and to gain Zhang Feng’s agreement and to pull Zhang Feng onto the same side as him, he finally spoke with a show of loyalty:

“Old man, I’ve been staking out and investigating these past few days, all for your sake!

This junior saw that the old man’s body was getting weaker by the day, so I resorted to this tactic, hoping to get something to prolong your life.”

The Grand Thief’s face was full of 'I'm doing this for your own good,' truly showing 'loyalty and righteousness.'

Zhang Feng was speechless, realizing that this scoundrel wasn't testing him anymore, but rather trying to drag him into trouble.

This was a good thing, though, as it proved that he still trusted him, which was why he wanted to win him over.

However, people are indeed variables, and their nature cannot be changed.

It had only been a few days, and the Grand Thief was already revealing his wicked nature, ready to commit his past evil deeds.

“It’s not that we can’t buy it.” Zhang Feng didn’t want to do that, but he truly coveted the ginseng, as it could speed up his cultivation process.

“In these past few days here, I’ve also heard you speak of Shopkeeper Li; he is a great master with both medical ethics and skill.

Such a highly respected person is the…”

Zhang Feng wanted to say ‘he is the good fruit of this town,’ but fearing that his unintentional words might inadvertently awaken the Grand Thief, he immediately changed it to,

“Good person.”

Zhang Feng said this, then slowly stood up, “And I have known some medical skills since childhood, so I can take advantage of my dear friend’s visit to set up shop in Thousand Forest Hall and earn some money.”

There were many rich families in this town.

Zhang Feng knew this because the Grand Thief talked about them every day.

So, besides the Grand Thief wanting to kill them, he could also treat a few rich people and then have money.

If he could follow the righteous path, he would follow the righteous path.

Zhang Feng was very distressed about this; why was it that the person who possessed the ginseng happened to be a good person?

If it were some heinous villain, then killing and seizing treasure would be straightforward and immensely satisfying.

“Set up shop?” The Grand Thief glanced at Zhang Feng a few times, but said nothing, merely cupping his hands slightly and saying, “Since that’s the case, I’ll listen to the old man’s instructions.”

After speaking, the Grand Thief felt a bit self-defeating, like he had offered warmth only to be met with coldness, so he left the kitchen and went back to his room to sleep.

‘You old geezer, I kindly saved you, fearing you’d die too soon and leave me empty-handed.

But you, setting up shop? Go to hell!’

The Grand Thief was seething with anger, pulling the covers over him and not wanting to say another word to Zhang Feng.

…

The next day.

Morning.

Zhang Feng woke up early, feeling that his body was still alright.

After several days of recuperation, aside from some major illnesses that were difficult to eradicate and a lifespan of only ‘one month,’ his body was actually similar to that of a young person now.

The Grand Thief followed, still nursing his anger.

Upon reaching the main street.

It was Zhang Feng's first time going out and seeing the townscape of this world with his own eyes.

Overall, it was like the bustling ancient times seen on television: traffic flowed like water, people came and went, hawkers shouted on both sides, and it was lively and boisterous.

“Sweet osmanthus cakes!”

From time to time, hawkers with shoulder poles would weave through the crowds on the main street.

Zhang Feng glanced at them a few times, not feeling hungry, and continued walking.

Just then.

“Mom, I want to eat that!”

A seven- or eight-year-old girl, upon seeing the sweet osmanthus cakes, ran towards them excitedly.

At this moment, a knight was riding a tall horse, chatting with a friend also on horseback, and wasn't paying attention.

“Whoa~”

At the same time, the little girl ran past the horse, her quickly passing figure and the scent of her mother's rouge startling the steed.

Clatter-clatter—

The steed’s front hooves lifted, and it reared back abruptly, about to lose control and trample the surrounding pedestrians.

“Look out!” Seeing this, the Grand Thief suddenly stepped forward a few paces and acted, grabbing the rope with one hand to pull the steed down, pushing two pedestrians aside with the other, and then gently embracing the terrified little girl.

In just a few seconds, a situation that was clearly about to spiral out of control was stopped.

The Grand Thief saw that everyone around him was looking at him in surprise, including old man Zhang Feng who was also looking at him in astonishment. He put the little girl down and looked at the two knights on horseback, saying:

“Be more careful when moving around inside the town from now on.”

“Yes…”

“Thank you, senior…”

The two knights quickly dismounted and cupped their fists, surprised by the Grand Thief’s strength and skill, thinking he was a great master!

If they had the chance, they wanted to befriend this chivalrous hero.

“Good!” The surrounding pedestrians also suddenly applauded, their eyes filled with admiration and worship.

“Thank you, benefactor…” The mother, seeing her child was fine, also thanked him with the little girl, who had a look of having done something wrong.

The Grand Thief merely grunted lightly in acknowledgment, then looked at Zhang Feng, who was approaching.

As Zhang Feng approached the Grand Thief, he listened to the surrounding applause and whispered, “You actually do good deeds?”

“What?”

Upon hearing this, the Grand Thief felt that this old man was truly sick! And not just a little!

But seeing the crowd around him,

As much as he was annoyed, he ultimately chose to lower his voice and grumble, “Who stipulated that good people must do good deeds? And who stipulated that bad people cannot do good deeds?

Besides, good and bad, good and evil, aren't they all defined by the laws of the Ling Dynasty? What do they have to do with you and me?”

The Grand Thief finished speaking, shook his head, and continued walking towards Thousand Forest Hall.

Zhang Feng, meanwhile, looked at the knights and the mother and child who had turned to thank the Grand Thief, as well as the pedestrians around them who gazed admiringly at the Grand Thief’s retreating figure.

The rigidity of human thought had made Zhang Feng ask a very foolish question just now.

This was also because Zhang Feng had been manipulating the ‘great villain’ Grand Thief, playing with human nature and getting lost in a maze, without realizing it at the time.

But at this moment, Zhang Feng was ‘enlightened’ by the Grand Thief’s words.

Had he, perhaps, misjudged him?

Was the Grand Thief actually a good person?

But the way he initially wanted to kill him didn't seem fake.

Or perhaps, there is no such thing as good people and bad people in the world?

Even if you use some of the things they have done to prove it, it only proves that the ‘past’ him was a certain kind of person?

But people live in the ‘present,’ not the past.

Are they variables in the future?

Zhang Feng pondered, his mind falling into the greatest chaotic labyrinth among the ‘past, present, and future’.

But in this chaotic variability, his Incarnation suddenly increased by 7%.

The Grand Thief fell into a mental dilemma due to Zhang Feng’s schemes, and Zhang Feng, in turn, broke through his own mental maze due to the Grand Thief’s actions; it was a bidirectional causal variable.

Or rather, it was a complete variable causality.

Interspersed with the chaos of good and evil and the reversal of cause and effect, it formed an indescribable coincidence, much like Great Yama’s fourteen-hundred-year scheme.

In this very peculiar state.

Zhang Feng felt as if his eyes were ‘blind,’ unable to see ‘black and white,’ yet he saw ‘green qi’ and ‘blood qi’ appearing above many people’s heads.

Zhang Feng vaguely felt that green was the good deeds done in the past, and also a person’s current life’s fortune.

Blood was the evil committed in the past, and also the future calamities.

Zhang Feng suddenly achieved enlightenment, comprehending the variables within good and evil, and combining them with all past causes and effects, finally materializing the ‘Karma’ rune.

It didn’t require a certain realm to activate, but rather ‘enlightenment.’

In a more fantastical sense, this rune for observing good and evil is also a partial manifestation of the rules of the ‘Eye of Heavenly Dao.’

This time, Zhang Feng didn’t just comprehend, he attained the Dao.