Sharpening the Blade

"Kid, so you had a knife all along. I thought I was done for. Don't worry, even though I don't like you, as long as you save me, I'll repay you handsomely someday."

"Hahahaha... My life isn't meant to end here!"

"Kid, you might not know how strong I am. Those Green-skinned Dwarves outside? I can take them down one slash at a time. If I hadn't let my guard down for a moment, I could've chopped that spider beast to death too!"

Hearing Feng Buzhi seemingly say that he had a knife, Pei Chao shouted excitedly. Yet after waiting for quite a while, he received no response from Feng Buzhi.

"Kid, why aren't you talking again? Right, what was that thing you recited just now? And why are you always saying one thing here and another thing there? You..."

As he spoke, Pei Chao seemed to realize something and carefully examined Feng Buzhi's body.

"No, no, there's no knife on him either?"

"His words don't connect from beginning to end. Could this kid have been affected by the Whispers of the Fog?"

Pei Chao recalled the people he had encountered after arriving in this world.

Some had lost their minds in the fog, as though they had gone mad. They had to leave the fog for a time before gradually recovering. Others remained mad even after leaving the fog.

"Damn it, I got happy for nothing. So he was affected by the fog."

Pei Chao cursed angrily for a while, only to suddenly discover that Feng Buzhi had begun moving.

Feng Buzhi extended his right hand from the spider silk. The silk around his right arm was relatively sparse, allowing him to stick out his wrist.

For Feng Buzhi, the most direct way to escape at this moment was to break free of his bodily restraints. If he used his right arm to tear apart the spider silk, he could free himself.

However, the spider silk was far too tough, and his body was already extremely weak. Although this method could restore his freedom, it would leave him even weaker and unable to protect himself. If the Giant Spider arrived then, he would have no power to fight back.

For that reason, Feng Buzhi chose the more reliable method: cutting open the spider silk with a blade.

An ordinary rope required enormous strength to tear apart, but with a blade, it could be easily cut. The same applied to this spider silk.

As for where to obtain a blade, the walls of this cave were very suitable for grinding tools.

Under the puzzled gazes of Pei Chao and the shadow, Feng Buzhi pressed his fingers together into a palm, then began rubbing the front of his palm against the wall.

He intended to grind the tips of his fingers into bone blades.

Bone blades could not only cut spider silk, but could also be used for an experiment, allowing him to test the [Repair] function of the stone stele in the town square.

In fact, even if he were not grinding down his hand bones right now, he would still inflict some appropriate self-harm while testing the [Repair] function. That would allow him to more thoroughly understand the principles behind [Repair].

It could be said that this was killing two birds with one stone.

Feng Buzhi continuously rubbed his fingers against the wall. At first, the bearded Pei Chao was merely puzzled, but he gradually became shocked. By the time the flesh at Feng Buzhi's fingertips had been worn away and the sound of bone scraping against stone echoed out, Pei Chao's teeth had already begun chattering uncontrollably.

Over these seven days, Pei Chao had seen at least dozens of people lose their minds in the fog, but he had never seen anyone like Feng Buzhi.

Pei Chao was not the only one who felt uncomfortable. The shadow floating in midair was also deeply disturbed.

Feng Buzhi carefully ground his fingertips, his expression serious and focused, as though he were diligently sharpening a dagger or shortsword.

Yet what he was grinding was not a shortsword at all!

It was a finger—his own finger!

There was no trace of pain on Feng Buzhi's face, but it was precisely that utter lack of pain that inspired the greatest fear.

This was simply not something a human could do!

Pei Chao finally could not bear it any longer and shouted, "What are you doing? Stop it, stop right now! You're crazy, you've gone crazy!"

"Stop! Stop it right now!"

"Madman, fuck! Ah!!!"

Amid Pei Chao's cries, Feng Buzhi maintained his previous rhythm, rubbing his fingertips against the wall again and again.

Once Pei Chao's shouting eased somewhat, Feng Buzhi said, "Don't worry. As long as I return to the Crystal Stele in the center of the square, I can spend 100 points to use [Repair] and restore my hand."

Feng Buzhi's explanation was not only for Pei Chao, but also for the shadow floating in the cave.

In fact, with Feng Buzhi's original personality, he would not have offered such explanations.

But now, he had awakened Damo's memories and been influenced by them somewhat.

It was not that he had become Damo.

Damo was him, but he was not Damo.

In the end, Damo was merely the memory of one of his reincarnations.

He was still Feng Buzhi. The only change was that the way he viewed things had been influenced somewhat by Damo.

In the past, he had been accustomed to looking down upon the mortals around him from the perspective of a cultivator. After awakening Damo's memories, he had become somewhat more grounded.

He should not abandon the mortal world, but seek insight and transcendence within it.

"Unfortunately, Damo still failed to walk the path of immortality to its end. Otherwise, I would not have been born in the Dharma-ending World. In other words, Damo's path was not the correct one either."

Feng Buzhi sighed, and at that moment, the bone blades on his fingers were finished.

A great deal of blood had flowed onto the wall and beneath him, creating a very bloody sight, though the actual amount of blood was not much.

Feng Buzhi revealed a sunny smile and quickly aimed the bone blades at the spider silk binding him. Just as he had guessed, although the spider silk was tough and elastic, it offered almost no resistance to a blade.

It was like certain plastic packaging bags: difficult to tear apart by hand, yet easily snipped through with scissors.

Though the bone blades he had ground were not particularly sharp, they still easily sliced through some of the spider silk.

A few minutes later, under the incredulous gazes of Pei Chao and the shadow, Feng Buzhi freed himself from the spider silk.

His body was still weak, but after drinking some Goblin blood earlier, he had already recovered considerably. As for his injured right hand, it had not actually lost much blood, so the effect on his body was not significant.

Feng Buzhi smiled at the shadow in midair and walked toward Pei Chao.

However, just as he was about to use the bone blades to cut the spider silk on Pei Chao's body, Feng Buzhi suddenly stopped. For a long while, he did not make the cut.

Pei Chao said, "You... are you going to save me or not? If you want to save me, hurry up. If you don't, then you... just leave."

After Feng Buzhi's bloody bout of self-mutilation, Pei Chao had restrained himself considerably. He no longer referred to himself as "I, your father," nor did he curse incessantly. There was even a hint of fear in the way he looked at Feng Buzhi.

At that moment, Pei Chao's expression was filled with both fear and expectation.

A miserable life was still better than a good death. If possible, he naturally still hoped Feng Buzhi would save him.

It was simply due to his nature that Pei Chao was like a dead duck with a hard beak, unwilling to admit defeat so easily.

Feng Buzhi did not pay much attention to Pei Chao's stubbornness. He revealed another sunny smile, shook his head, and said, "Sorry, I was thinking about something just now. Of course I'll save you. It's just that the bone blade made from my hand bone is rather fragile, and it has become somewhat dull. I'll sharpen it first, then come help you escape."

Very soon, the sound of Feng Buzhi grinding the bone blade echoed through the cave, and Pei Chao's teeth once again began chattering uncontrollably...