Chapter 149: All Are Liars

Fang Jie was proud that he didn’t faint.

The pressure at the bottom of the waterfall was much stronger than anticipated. When Fang Jie raised his head and recited the poem like a fool, a ton of water got into his nose and mouth. The suffocation was unreal! It felt worse than having his throat clenched by someone.

In fact, he didn’t last long. After reciting the poem, he had to admit defeat since he couldn’t breathe properly. When he lowered his head to breathe, the muscles relaxed for a bit, and the powerful current pressed him onto the boulder underneath.

Just when Fang Jie thought he was about to get washed into the deep pond, Qiu Yu dashed over like a dragonfly and pulled him away.

After throwing Fang Jie onto the grass casually, this female professor who hid her alluring figure in the wide robe walked away with her hands behind her back.

“You have a treasure, but you don’t know to use it.” What Qiu Yu said to him made Fang Jie sigh and reflect.

He knew what Qiu Yu meant. His body was unique; it was stronger than that of cultivators.

No one knew the explosive strength that his body was capable of more than him.

Just like Qiu Yu said, his body was a treasure, but his understanding of this treasure was too limited. It felt like this treasure was still buried underground and yet to be explored.

If he was able to get used to his body effectively, this waterfall would be nothing in his eyes.

But now, Fang Jie had to express his admiration for Li Xiao who was said to have strolled under the waterfall and recited poems. It was known that Li Xiao wasn’t famous for his cultivation strength. He was more like a knowledgeable scholar. The Emperor had made comments about all the famous generals in the history of Great Sui, and he said that Li Xiao was elegant and vicious.

Theoretically, these two words shouldn’t go together.

Without question, Li Xiao was such a contradictory person. He was elegant and knowledgeable, and he wouldn’t get worked up when debating others. He always talked with elegance, but the people who debated with him all lost, even when they made references to classical literature.

On the battlefield, the elegant Li Xiao showed his vicious side. He conquered Yangtze-South and almost doubled the territory of Great Sui.

To quickly stabilize this new territory, Li Xiao’s cruelty shocked the world. Some people cursed him and said that he was a butcher from Hell. Of course, he had people who admired him, and those people said that he was decisive and courageous.

Li Xiao who once managed everything in Yangtze-South was extremely influential, and people called him the Emperor of Yangtze-South in secret. However, he never showed any sign of rebel, and the trust that the Second Emperor had in him was unique. No one and no incident could shake this trust.

The relationship that these two people had was made into an example of how rulers and subordinates should interact with each other.

When Li Xiao was stationed in Yangtze-South, he wasn’t a pacifist. He only did one thing to all rebellions, and that was execution!

When his subordinates rushed into his residence to report a rebellion, Li Xiao would ask someone to bring over a map. After figuring out where the rebellion was, he would draw a circle on the map with his finger and say that it wasn’t needed anymore.

Of course, it didn’t mean that he was going to ditch that land. It meant the people in that circle weren’t needed anymore.

The army would move into the circle that he drew and wipe out every living thing.

That was why the people of Yangtze-South would still get scared when Li Xiao was brought up today.

This man left too many stories.

Most people believed that his smartest move was declining most of the rewards that the Second Emperor wanted to give him when he was at his prime.

The Second Emperor even wanted to give Li Xiao a high noble title and make him the king of a state. This reward was unheard.

However, Li Xiao declined that reward. After Yangtze-South was stabilized, he even resigned from all his military duties and went home to cultivate flowers and raise birds.

The most confusing thing was that he even got rid of his noble title as the duke of a feudal state that could be inherited by his son.

He said that he did many things for Great Sui and was rewarded, but it didn’t mean his descendants could live with wealth because of it. If his descendants wanted to become dukes of feudal states, they should work for it. If his descendants became lazy and complacent because of everything he earned, he would be guilty of ruining the Li Family.

This was something that never happened in the last thousands of years.

For some reason, the Second Emperor permitted Li Xiao’s request, giving him the noble title as the duke of a feudal state that couldn’t be inherited. However, the descendants of the Li Family still got the noble title passed onto them in the end.

Many people didn’t understand Li Xiao, but Fang Jie had to admire Li Xiao’s wisdom and courage in making that decision. If Li Xiao became the king of a state, would his descendants still be living well today?

Although the Li Family became a first-tier family about 100 years later, what Li Xiao did have benefited his descendants in the long-run. Because he declined his proper rewards, no member of the Li Family got executed or imprisoned since the Second Emperor.

What if Li Xiao became the king of a state? Who knew what might have happened to the Li Family?

Fang Jie felt like Li Xiao was someone extremely wise like Yang Qi, Royal King Zhong. Someone who knew when to advance and step back is much smarter than someone who only knew about advancing.

Taking care of descendants wasn’t as simple as leaving them a ton of money.

Qian Jin lied on the grass and recovered after a long while. Then, he sat up and panted.

Afterward, he moved to the edge of the deep pond and washed his face. Then, he looked at his reflection on the surface of the pond and murmured, “Bro, you aren’t successful yet. You need to work harder.”

He was extremely hungry now.

He was climbing the mountain during lunchtime, and he was hungry now after using so much energy. However, what Fang Jie wanted to do the most right now was to lie on the grass and not get up.

After feeling like he could stand up again, the young man didn’t give in to his desire of lying down.

He drank some water and stretched his body before walking to the waterfall again.

Before walking under the waterfall, he sensed the force of the falling water and the tiny water droplets, feeling the impact that the external forces had on his body.

Then, he took a deep breath and inhaled the moist air before walking under the waterfall again.

Qiu Yu didn’t walk far. She was planning to return to her residence to read books and write papers.

For some reason, she felt like she should talk to Fang Jie again. When she returned, she saw a scene that made her feel awkward.

That persistent and shameless young man walked under the waterfall naked.

Qiu Yu’s eyes were bright, and she could see things much clearer than others. As a result, she saw everything, including the things that she should and shouldn’t see.

Qiu Yu thought she could ignore everything including sex, but she felt her cheeks burning a little. She gave up the idea of telling Fang Jie to sense the impact that external forces would have on his body, and she turned around and left.

She was angry and wanted to slap Fang Jie into the deep pond.

Fang Jie took off all his clothes not because he had a fetish. When he tried to sense water and air, he felt like his clothes were restricting his body from responding naturally. Therefore, he undressed without hesitation and allowed his skin to be directly impacted by external forces.

Fang Jie was already experienced when he walked under the waterfall for the second time, and he raised his head slightly, not allowing the water to directly hit the top and the back of his head.

At this angle, the water wouldn’t smash into his eyes and cause pain.

Fang Jie knew that compared to the forehead, the top and the back of the head were much weaker.

Fang Jie closed his eyes and sensed carefully as water smashed onto his body from a high place.

He sensed the pressure, the suffocating feeling, and the pain.

With the loud noises created by the waterfall in the background, Fang Jie suddenly entered a state of tranquility. He thought about when he fainted twice and when his eyes turned completely red.

He guessed that when he fainted due to excruciating pain, his body underwent some sort of transformation. He could only accept everything passively as he had no other options. When his mind couldn’t bear the intense pain, fainting was a reasonable coping mechanism.

Then, he thought about his eyes. After he saw Phoenix-Chirp Daoist, he became more interested in his eyes that could turn red sometimes.

He asked Mr. Zhuo, Wu Yidao, and the crippled old man what the vertical third eye on Phoenix-Chirp Daoist’s forehead’s use was. After learning that it could restrict people’s mobility and put them into illusions, Fang Jie wondered if he had this potential as well.

Zhou Buyi said that he was too naïve and thought too much.

Fang Jie didn’t think he thought too much. If a person’s thoughts couldn’t even be overboard, then the world would be too boring.

Fang Jie’s eyes turned red twice because of anger.

The scientific explanation should be that blood rushed into the blood vessels in Fang Jie’s eyes when he got angry.

“How come the potential of my body would be stimulated when my eyes turn red? Could it be that emotions are key to controlling my body? If this is the case, my strength would be too passive.”

Fang Jie didn’t like being passive.

If his red eyes would only appear when he was angry, this meant that the main cause of his strength increase would be inefficient. Not all battles in the world were caused by anger. There were pleasant battles, so would Fang Jie get his butt handed to him in these battles since he wouldn’t be angry?

While Fang Jie pondered, he forgot about external forces, and he even forgot that he was standing under a waterfall naked in order to sense the changes that external forces would bring to his body.

It felt like the waterfall wasn’t there anymore.

What was the biggest change when Fang Jie overlooked the waterfall?

Freedom.

Fang Jie forgot about the waterfall and the huge pressure that came with it.

When people plunged into deep thoughts, they would often stroll around. This was done subconsciously, and perhaps even people themselves wouldn’t notice.

Fang Jie started to stroll under the waterfall.

At this moment, Qiu Yu who had walked far away from the waterfall froze. Then, she turned toward the waterfall and concentrated. The distance instantly shortened in her eyes, and she clearly saw Fang Jie strolling under the waterfall. While being surprised, a smile appeared on her face.

“He is good.” Principal Zhou appeared beside Qiu Yu.

“Indeed,” Qiu Yu replied.

“Therefore, you shouldn’t have lied to him,” Principal Zhou said with a smile, “Since when did Li Xiao strolled under the waterfall freely and recited poems? He would give the excuse that his robe would be wet and escape before even getting close to this waterfall.”

“He benefits from this lie, right?” Qiu Yu said with a smile.

Then, she looked at Principal Zhou and said earnestly, “Didn’t you lie to him as well earlier? You told him that you need to research his body for His Majesty and Great Sui, and your goal is to create an invincible army. This lie is shameless.”

“He benefits from this lie, right?” Principal Zhou threw it back at her and added, “Lies are only methods. As long as the starting point isn’t malicious, you shouldn’t think it is dirty. Telling good lies is an art.”

Qiu Yu pouted; it seemed like she wasn’t that respectful toward Principal Zhou compared to when they were in public.

“I won’t agree with it if you use me to bait someone into making a mistake,” she said.

Principal Zhou knew what she meant. After all, he tried to hook Fang Jie up with her earlier today.

“Since your eyes and ears are too good, you lost out on a ton of fun,” Principal Zhou sighed and turned around to walk away. “Sometimes, it isn’t bad to pretend to be deaf, blind, and mute.”

“Just like how you acted like you didn’t see Wisdom coming to Chang’an?” Qiu Yu asked.

Principal Zhou froze for a second before replying calmly, “Sometimes it isn’t a bad thing to pretend that you can’t do anything to your enemy, especially when Great Sui is about to wage a war against Mongo-Yuan.”

“I got it.” Qiu Yu said after a moment of silence, “Wisdom could leave because you allowed him to.”