Rabbit Must Die
Chapter 553 - 157 Mysterious Merchant - Rabbit_1

Chapter 553: Chapter 157 Mysterious Merchant - Rabbit_1

At first glance, the rune seemed to be a transparent crystal, but upon closer inspection, it gave off the impression of an oil painting. From a distance, it resembled a photograph, yet up close, it appeared incredibly chaotic, no longer as photorealistic.

Qin Shou leaned in to observe carefully. After a while, he slightly lifted his head and sighed, "Indeed, ’without stealing, one cannot truly read’."

That’s right, after looking at it for a long time, Qin Shou only felt dizzy and confused, with no clue at all!

At least from this rune, he couldn’t discern any path at all.

However, Qin Shou did understand something else, which was that the so-called Path of Water Mirror was indeed a method of creating illusions, just as he had guessed. It indeed involved the technique of reflections and moon in water!

Those who wielded this magic could create illusory copies of themselves to appear in one place while hiding their true bodies, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

Those with profound strength could even freely create these water mirrors. Often, the enemy that people thought was attacking them head-on was actually nothing but a reflection in the mirror. This shadow lacked attacking power, but possessed all the features of the original: The same face, smile, voice, and breath, making it impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion. The only downside was that such a shadow remained a shadow; it could only mimic the movements of the original, so if the original intended to launch a surprise attack, they had to plan the method of attack carefully.

This was the Path of Water Mirror. It seemed simple, but without understanding its mysteries, it was very easy to fall for the enemy’s tricks.

Meanwhile, although Qin Shou hadn’t fully grasped the Path of Water Mirror, he had seen many paths. Since ancient times, the great path of heaven and earth appeared to be singular, but in reality, it was always changing. Depending on the depth of one’s understanding of the path, it could undergo a myriad of changes. Qin Shou believed that the Path of Water Mirror must have variations; he just didn’t know whether Lan Sha had failed to grasp them or had intentionally kept them secret.

"I wasn’t good at studying in my past life, and this life is no different; truly consistent..." Qin Shou sighed, but he was not discouraged in the slightest.

The journey of cultivation was never measured in days, but in centuries, millennia, tens of millennia, or even an entire eon.

However, Qin Shou also understood that he was different from others. Others could take their time, but he didn’t have the luxury to do so.

Of course, he was even more aware that cultivation was a slow and steady process, and his foundation was exceedingly weak. Since he came into this world, he had truly lived for only a few years. In these years, although he had met many people and read quite a few books, he had barely scratched the surface of the vast sea of paths before him.

Especially when it came to the foundational knowledge of cultivation, he was utterly lacking.

It was like a person trying to read, but not recognizing even the most basic characters. How could they read? And even if they forcefully tried to, how could they comprehend the meaning? The Chinese characters are profound and complex; not to mention getting a character wrong, even a misplaced punctuation mark could alter the meaning completely, even to the contrary.

Magic was different from the cultivation method. A cultivation method involved step-by-step comprehension of the fixed laws of the great path of heaven and earth, akin to mathematical formulas. Once you learned addition and subtraction, understanding multiplication and division that followed wasn’t too difficult.

Magic, on the other hand, dove straight into the multiplication and division, and the complexity or simplicity of operations varied with the strength of the magic.

Therefore, facing unfamiliar formulas and unrecognized characters, Qin Shou was completely at a loss, thoroughly confused.

With no other option, Qin Shou could only heave a long sigh and said, "Forget it, forget it; it seems learning is not meant for me, let’s just eat instead."

After saying this, Qin Shou took a bite, only to be met with frustration as the rune instantly collapsed, dissolving into his sea of consciousness in the blink of an eye, leaving him no chance to salvage it!

However, Qin Shou smacked his lips and found that he seemed to have gained some insight. Although it wasn’t much, he indeed understood a bit of the principle behind it.

Qin Shou stroked his chin and said, "Indeed, it all comes down to eating!"

With that thought, Qin Shou laughed, withdrew from his cultivation state and looked outside. It was still pitch black, and he had no idea what time it was. Qin Shou counted on his fingers and guessed it must be noon...

He glanced at Hanyue. Hanyue was still holding the Token in both hands, wholly immersed in cultivation without waking up.

Seeing this, Qin Shou immediately took out a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone and wrote a big line of characters to stick on Hanyue’s forehead. The note read: "You’ll cultivate at home, I’ll go out to do business, and when I return, we’ll drink together."

After arranging all this, Qin Shou made over a hundred wine pots, filled each with fine wine, and then checked his inventory of dishes.

Qin Shou calculated that he still had eight thousand six hundred plates of various dishes!

The wine, split into the little pots, amounted to no less than eighteen thousand pots!

But Qin Shou still felt it was too little, so he turned the pots into small pots and finally switched them for wine cups.

Once everything was set, Qin Shou cheerfully transformed into a three-meter-tall super fat rabbit, carrying a big sack on his back, while a tall banner soared into the sky, reading: "Mysterious Merchant!"

With that, Qin Shou went out. He didn’t go far, just sat down on the roof of a small building opposite.

To call it a building was a stretch, as it had collapsed, with only one wall still standing. But with Qin Shou’s Stone-to-Gold skill, he could easily turn stones into a claystone wall and even conjured a ten-meter-high platform for himself.

What followed was simple. He planted his flag, sat down in a corner with his butt planted firmly, cleared away the Nether River water, laid out a black cloth and lined up cups of wine and a few plates of good meat. The rest was just closing his eyes and waiting for little fishes to take the bait.

The fragrance of the wine wafted away, and the aroma of the meat followed the water. In no time, someone came sniffing around.

"What a delicious smell! What is this? It seems to be drifting from above? Eh? Mysterious Merchant? What’s that? Could it be some trap someone has thought of? Hmph, I won’t fall for your trick!" a rough voice muttered, followed by the sound of footsteps walking away.

Qin Shou raised his eyebrow, unbothered. Based on last night’s events, he had realized that the Asura here simply couldn’t resist the temptation of fine liquor! So, he wasn’t worried that the other party would truly leave. He quietly started to count down, "Five, four..."

"Damn, it’s too tantalizing, I can’t take it anymore! I need to see what it is exactly!"

As he spoke, a stout man three meters tall jumped onto the platform. He twisted his head and didn’t even notice the rabbit, his eyes fixated on the half-meter-long roasted leg of an unknown creature in front of the rabbit!

The burly man’s eyes gleamed as he strode forward and reached out to grab it!

Seeing this, Qin Shou complained, "How ill-mannered. I truly wonder how you’ve managed to survive?"