Chapter 26: Reflection

The tall, thin man Wang San and another passerby stood frozen.

Wasn’t this the pedantic scholar who couldn’t even subdue a chicken? How did he knock out Old Hua with a jar! Seeing blood gushing from Old Hua’s head wound, both men trembled. But their fear soon turned to rage.

How dare he!

A mere scholar.

“You dare attack us? I’ll end you!”

Wang San grabbed a nearby cage to smash down while the other man lunged to choke Zuo Meng. Neither were martial artists – they could bully untrained commoners but stood no chance here. Zuo Meng stepped back half a pace and kicked Wang San’s chest, sending him flying.

His descending foot then crushed the second man’s stomach, leaving the thug curled like a shrimp and wailing.

“Lacking inner strength is troublesome.”

After two simple moves, Zuo Meng was already panting. His current body remained too weak, even with combat experience.

“Xue! This isn’t over!”

“Prepare for court!”

Wang San abandoned his companion, scrambling away from the shop.

Zuo Meng righted the toppled furniture and kicked the whimpering thug’s backside.

“Take your friend and disappear.”

The thug initially feared being silenced. Realizing he’d been spared, he hoisted Old Hua and fled without another sound.

“Trouble handled.”

Zuo Meng produced a white paper marked “IOU” from his sleeve – Xue Chuan’s original debt note. As a self-made Jianghu operator, pocketing valuables during fights came naturally.

He burned the note over a candle flame.

After dusting his hands, Zuo Meng left the shop.

“Lay low outside until things calm down.”

Locking up, he rode his new donkey from the city.

The wilderness beyond appeared desolate.

A nearby forest housed beasts and mountain bandits – forbidden to ordinary people but ideal for Zuo Meng’s Closed Door Meditation. Wildlife and thieves posed little threat when one carried poisons and hidden weapons. Having defeated the Poison King in the real world, he knew enough about venoms.

“Good spot.”

Zuo Meng found a clearing with a pond, grassy banks, and boulders. The air felt fresher here, saturated with ancient and totemic energies stronger than elsewhere.

Huang and Xuan Gui had always existed here, profoundly influencing this world. Without Zuo Meng’s interference, these primordial deities might have transcended the Three Realms entirely.

Their presence guaranteed transformation.

“Eight years at most before the change comes.”

The totemic and ancient eras Zuo Meng had shaped as creator would ripple through future civilizations. Like immortal influences on mortals across epochs, this impact would endure.

“Such world-altering phenomena don’t occur in the real world. But by mastering these transition points, I might simulate the process externally – leveraging reality’s pressure points to forge Transcendent power.”

Zuo Meng had entered the Dream World not as creator, but to experience an ordinary person’s path to Transcendence.

“Earlier when I took action, I tested some real-world techniques and found no major issues. This means techniques work the same whether in the real world or the Dream World.”

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As for inner strength, Zuo Meng focused on his dantian. After days of practice, he’d generated a faint flicker of internal energy there – barely enough to notice, let alone use. He abandoned thoughts of altering natural laws for now. While in the Dream World experiencing life as an ordinary person, he realized his past approach had been too crude. Directly modifying laws wasn’t effective – even low-level inner strength had nearly ruptured him. Higher energies would’ve made his body explode.

These flaws only became visible through an ordinary person’s perspective.

Discovering this danger settled Zuo Meng’s mind. He began reviewing every detail of his martial arts training.

Two days passed swiftly.

When he opened his eyes, he stopped meditating.

“Practicing real-world inner strength just repeats old lessons. It doesn’t transform my core essence.”

His two-day effort confirmed it – while external-world inner strength could be cultivated, it only rehashed existing knowledge without creating qualitative change.

“This era’s martial arts are too primitive. Without internal skills as reference, my solo research progresses too slowly. I need to spread inner strength cultivation – harness a whole world’s wisdom to find solutions.” His past approach had been simplistic. Beyond manipulating laws and fortune, people themselves were resources.

If one researcher moves slowly, what about ten? A hundred? Thousands? Even an entire world?

“I’ll return to the city by dusk. Ancient societies lack surveillance anyway. Without signed IOUs, those three lenders can’t win a case against me.” Facing stalled progress, Zuo Meng abandoned further effort and headed back to seek other power-boosting methods.

By afternoon, he reentered the city.

His shop reopened smoothly. Perhaps realizing the IOU was lost, Wang San’s group never filed complaints. The debt matter faded quietly. Untroubled, Zuo Meng resumed his lazy fish lifestyle.

“Ugh, this dump’s still open?”

A green-robed girl entered – Zhi Hua, the merchant’s daughter who’d tried buying kingfisher paintings days earlier before being dismissed.

Serves you right for having no customers!

She glanced around the empty shop. Of course it’s deserted – the owner’s permanent scowl violated every business norm.

“Wait… this painting…”

Turning to leave, her eyes caught a piece in the corner –

A mountain-water landscape.