That thought turned everything I knew upside down.
Yet everything I had experienced had felt so real, so incredibly real...
As I struggled with my emotions, the words Grandmaster had left me surfaced in my heart:
"Others are clear-minded; I alone am muddled. Others are shrewd and discerning; I alone am dull and simple."
The literal meaning had already been translated word by word hundreds of times: everyone else was clever while I seemed confused and ignorant; everyone else fussed over every detail while I alone appeared honest and unpretentious.
Those were the original words from the Dao De Jing. Even if translated a hundred times, that was still what they meant.
But in this situation, I seemed to have gained some insight from those words.
But to prove this was an illusion, I still needed confirmation.
I looked painfully at Hass, the Black Shaman before me, and rasped out, "If I die, Xiao Yu will kill you. She'll wipe out all of Tatar."
The moment I finished speaking, Hass tightened his grip around my hands.
"Aah..."
The pain pierced my bones, and cold sweat poured down my body.
"Ha ha ha! That Xiao Yu you mentioned is just like you—nothing more than a pawn in the hands of those important people!
Tonight, your life ends here for good."
"Heh heh heh..."
With that, he kicked me in the stomach.
"Pfft!" Blood spurted from my mouth as I collapsed weakly to the ground.
The pain intensified, sweeping through my entire body.
But I laughed.
"Ha ha ha! Fake... So all of this is fake."
"Fake? What's fake?"
Hass, the Black Shaman, asked.
But I ignored him completely, despite the endless agony tearing through me.
I recited the words Grandmaster had left me:
"Others are clear-minded; I alone am muddled. Others