Chapter 341: Hiss, did you guys see what I found? A stupid lone fish!
Translator: Stardu5t Editor: Kurisu
The inborn talent to become a monk? What a disgusting thought! I shouldn't mind the words of a child, but better knock on wood just in case! Anyway, it is only a few strands of hair, a couple of days later, I can grow them again!
After puking in his imagination, Song Shuhang used all his strength to flick the small monk's head.
The small monk covered his forehead, his eyes tearing up. His stern little face looked as though he felt wronged—he was clearly speaking from his heart, so why did his head get flicked? Senior Brother Shuhang was being unreasonable!
"Whoosh, whoosh~" Another gush of sea breeze blew over, and Song Shuhang felt his head become clear and refreshed—it was a rather odd fresh feeling that made it hard for him to adapt.
Song Shuhang touched his bald head and sighed before asking Venerable White, "Senior White, did you use the 'real illusion' earlier? Since this skill can change reality into illusion, why did my head get shaved in the middle?"
Even the pit on the ground had disappeared… so why did the hair that was shaved off did not reappear on his head?
"Hehe, actually, it's a small technique-related problem." Venerable White smiled slightly and explained, "I haven't fully grasped the 'real illusion' skill. Hence, in order to prevent myself from being unable to distinguish 'reality' from 'illusion' when using the skill, I needed to decide on a crucial object… which would not be affected by the real illusion. It can also serve as a reminder for me… so I wouldn't get sucked in too deep into the whole real illusion and become unable to get out of it. And the crucial objected I chose was hair. Since even if one's entire hair disappeared, it wouldn't damage or affect a person's body too much. It was something that was obvious to the eye, too."
Song Shuhang touched his bald head—that was to say, he was out of luck... he was not hurt anywhere and only his hair suffered. Hence, as a 'key object' that was not protected within the real illusion, when it got shaved off, all that was left was an empty patch…
It was a tragic story.
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Within the tent, Doudou retrieved a crystal-like object from an unknown place and pointed it at Song Shuhang.
A ray of light flashed from the crystal within Doudou's paw.
The light shone on Song Shuhang's body, and the majority of it was gathered on his shiny bald head which reflected the light, turning into a dazzling disco ball.
Song Shuhang was speechless.
He turned his head around and stared speechlessly at Doudou before saying, "Doudou, what are you doing?"
"Taking a picture as a keepsake, woof." Doudou poked the crystal and explained, "This is a precious gem that takes pictures—in the past, it was a very valuable item. Before the invention of the camera, low-ranking cultivators used it to take pictures. My phone is still with Zhou Li, so I can only use this gadget to take pictures."
As he was speaking, Doudou tapped lightly on the crystal once again, and a true-to-scale picture of Song Shuhang appeared in midair.
In the picture, Song Shuhang had curiously turned his head around, and his bald head just happened to reflect the light from the crystal…as a consequence, Song Shuhang's entire head got engulfed by a mass of light, making it seem as though he was emanating holy light from his bald head.
Of course, he looked extremely silly!
Song Shuhang was speechless.
"I never thought that I had such a talent for taking pictures." Doudou put away the crystal, clearly feeling pleased with himself.
Song Shuhang clenched his teeth and said, "Doudou, you better delete the picture immediately, or else we are no longer friends!"
Doudou waved at Song Shuhang cheekily and said, "Let's not be friends then, woof~"
Song Shuhang rubbed his temples—he was emotionally drained.
He turned his head around and looked at Senior White; he was already bald, shouldn't Senior White's anger have diminished a little?
Next, he saw Senior White lifting his head and swallowing a medicinal pill. Eh, could it be that the earlier use of the real illusion consumed too much of Senior White's energy? He had to even take a medicinal pill to recover his spiritual energy?
"Ok, my mental energy has recovered to its peak state. This time, it's definitely going to work!" Senior White said softly before gesturing to Song Shuhang and saying, "Shuhang, get ready. I'm going to use the real illusion again!"
"Wait a moment, Senior. I already lost my hair, you must leave my eyebrows alone!" Song Shuhang cried out—he remembered Senior White saying that the key object in the real illusion was 'hair'. Therefore, it was not limited to the scalp, but also included eyebrows, eyelashes, mustache, and anything that had to do with the word 'hair'. Since he did not have hair on his head anymore, if he lost his eyebrows as well, he would look like an idiot.
His voice had yet to fade when everything before his eyes turned into a blur~
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The picture of what resembled a stream of water falling in a straight line for a thousand meters appeared before his eyes!
The booming sound of water echoed in Song Shuhang's ears.
He struggled to lift his head up and saw an enormous waterfall above his head—no words could describe how majestic it was. It felt as though the water was falling down directly from the Milky Way…
"What a spectacular sight!" exclaimed Song Shuhang... but when he opened his mouth, he felt something was amiss. Because water entered his mouth, and… came out from both his cheeks.
And during that entire process, he experienced a feeling akin to breathing, as though he got oxygen from the water.
What's happening? Song Shuhang thought to himself doubtfully; he was about to reach out with his hand and touch his own face to see what other strange changes occurred.
But in the next moment...
Eh? My hands… why can't I move my arms?
It was not only his hands, it seemed as though his legs were gone too.
Song Shuhang hurriedly looked down to see what kind of changes were made to his body…but realized he could not lower his head—to put it more accurately, whatever he was now did not seem to have a neck; his head and body were connected together. He had no way of lowering his head to look at his own body.
Senior White, what exactly are you doing?
"How is it, have you adapted to your new body?" At this time, he heard Venerable White's familiar voice. It came from somewhere above of him.
Song Shuhang lifted his head and saw the familiar and extremely handsome Venerable White. At this moment, Venerable White was squatting next to Shuhang, being all smiles…
Enormous, from Song Shuhang's point of view, Venerable White practically looked like a giant from ancient folklore at that moment. Song Shuhang estimated that his own body was as big as Venerable White's palm.
The small monk Guoguo was also quietly standing next to him. Similarly, the small monk was also giant-like.
"Bubble, bubble, bubble." Song Shuhang was about to say something, but when he opened his mouth, a huge amount of water surged into his mouth and flowed out of his cheeks. Through the process, his oxygen supply was replenished… it felt very invigorating.
"You haven't gotten used to your new body? Time is rather limited, try your best to get used to it." Venerable White lowered his head and smiled at Song Shuhang.
New body? Song Shuhang looked at Venerable White's pupils… Finally, Venerable White's pupils acted as a makeshift mirror, showing him the reflection of his current body—a small golden fish that was floating in the water, swaying back and forth.
I… became a fish?
In the real illusion, even one's species could be changed?
After finding out that he became a fish, Song Shuhang tried moving his body and found out it was quite easy. Swimming in water was an instinct to him now...
"From the looks of it, you've already gotten used to your body." Venerable White laughed, and pointed at the enormous waterfall. "See that waterfall? Go up!"
"Go up?" Song Shuhang lifted his head and looked at the huge waterfall that seemed to have descended from the Milky Way itself. The level of difficulty seemed rather high.
Senior White seemed to have read his mind by looking at Song Shuhang's eyes.
"Such a level of difficulty scares you? According to legends, the difficulty the carp had to face to jump through the dragon gate and transform into a dragon was much higher than going up this waterfall. Also… the difficulty of getting past the bottleneck of the First Stage Realm is not lower than going up this waterfall either." Venerable White smiled. "Don't be afraid, just do it. Right now, don't think of anything else. The main purpose of this is to experience the feeling of 'jumping through the dragon gate'.
"Senior Brother Shuhang, you can do it!" The small monk Guoguo put his palms together and said to Song Shuhang who had transformed into a golden fish, "Senior Brother Shuhang, I believe in your strength. You can definitely go up that waterfall!"
Song Shuhang secretly clenched his teeth… I'm going to risk it then. It's just swimming against the waterfall, right? Besides, I'm not going to die in the real illusion, what's there to be afraid of?
Hence, Song Shuhang shook his head and tail, swimming towards the waterfall. As he was swimming, he was also trying to get used to his new body… but he did have some doubts—if Venerable White wanted him to swim against the waterfall, he could have just gotten him to do it normally... why did he have to transform him into a fish?
Could it be that there was a deeper significance to it?
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Just as Song Shuhang was deep in thought, a huge figure appeared before him.
It belonged to a pekingese—it was Doudou.
"Eh? Where is this place?" Doudou lightly shook his head. From the looks of it, Venerable White's real illusion spanned a bigger area this time—even Doudou who was hiding in the tent got pulled into it.
But Doudou, the small monk Guoguo, and Shuhang weren't pulled in at the exact the same time. Right now, Doudou seemed a little dazed.
A moment later, he became clear-headed and said, "Woof… from the looks of it, this is the real illusion that Venerable White talked about right? Incredible."
He turned his head and looked around, and saw Venerable White and the small monk not far away from him.
Thereafter, he looked at his surroundings, the waterfall and underwater.
Hiss, did you guys see what I found? A stupid lone fish!
It is a small golden fish, which looks very stupid. The way it swims is so ugly. Doudou felt that all he had to do was pounce and he would be able to grab hold of the fish.
If he wanted to do it, he would just do it. Doudou cheerfully called out and ferociously pounced into the water and used his paw to hit the water, causing the stupid fish to fly out of the water.
Thereafter, his claws hooked onto the fish.
And then, Doudou opened his mouth wide and skillfully tossed the stupid golden fish into his mouth. After chewing twice, he swallowed the fish.
Don't be surprised, Doudou was an expert at catching fishes!
When he first left home, he had not reached the realm where he could survive without eating. Hence, he trained himself to be a good hunter. Doudou could fight tigers in the mountains, and hunt for sharks in the sea. A small fish like that was an easy feat for him—he could easily catch it using his dog claw!
Not bad, very delicious—tender and chewy.
"Senior Doudou, don't! That is Senior Brother Shuhang!" The small monk's panicky voice was late by a second.
The nearby Venerable White blinked several times—the sudden change took him off guard!