in the edge

Chapter 518 The difference between life and death
Some people are alive but they are already dead, and some people are dead but they are still alive.

Du Chengfeng had learned this sentence before, but it was obvious that in this idealistic world, the meaning of this sentence was completely different. The first half of the sentence was not so bad. Without a firm will, living in a muddleheaded way was really no different from being dead. But the second half of the sentence...

As long as the will is strong enough, even the dead can be reborn again.

This can be seen by just looking at his previous opponents. No matter whether it is the Gray-Black Fire Phoenix or Wu Zhao, they all have unique ways of avoiding death. Even if their bodies collapse, their wills can still survive with new carriers - even Du Chengfeng himself now actually has a similar way of living. After all, he does not have a physical body in the usual sense.

So the problem lies here.

When the boundary of death becomes blurred, what is the basis for the judgment between life and death?
"It was then that I realized the true difference between life and death."

Coyote looked at the corpse with its eyes closed in the scene before him, his face full of bitterness.

"The difference between life and death is whether you want to die or not."

"……what?"

Du Chengfeng was stunned. He had never expected such an answer.

What does it mean that the difference between life and death depends on whether you want to die or not? Does it mean that as long as you don't want to die, you can live forever?

What kind of explanation is this? How can such a bullshit excuse work?
"Oh, by the way, there is another prerequisite, which is not to get killed."

Seeing that Du Chengfeng was a little confused, Coyote quickly added another sentence.

"Whether they were poisoned, hacked to death, stabbed to death, drowned, or just because they were too unlucky to be hit by rocks falling from the mountain... these kinds of deaths from injuries cannot be counted. We are only talking about normal deaths, which means dying of old age."

"No, I still don't quite understand."

Even though Coyote had explained it again, Du Chengfeng was even more confused.

"The problem is, as long as you don't want to die, you won't die. Doesn't this mean that everyone can live a long time? Just like your master... that Lao Deng, if the path you mentioned is really feasible, then what about Lao Deng? Didn't he still die of old age?"

"Don't worry, just finish reading the rest first."

With this said, the coyote pawed once more.

And the scene in front of them began to move again.

The young general once again lifted the corpse up, and the corpse's eyelids began to twitch once again - but just as the young general called out his best friend's name once again, the corpse immediately turned cold again.

This made the young general even more agitated. He lifted the corpse out of the coffin again and again, but this not only failed to improve the situation, but made the corpse even colder.

Until the body was completely dead and could no longer lift its eyelids.

Obviously, the emperor was dead.

The young general walked out of the hall in a daze and disappeared.

"So you didn't try any more?"

After watching all this, Du Chengfeng scratched his head.

"What if we set up a memorial tablet? Just in case it works..."

“It won’t work.”

The coyote shook his head and sighed.

"It's not a question of what method I use, but he himself doesn't want to live anymore."

At this point, the bitterness on Coyote's face became even more intense.

"It was then that I realized that he had always felt guilty towards me, so he didn't want to see me again until he died... It was because I was the one who saved him that he was even more unwilling to come back to life, just because he didn't know how to face me."

"you……"

Du Chengfeng patted the coyote on the shoulder, not knowing what to say for a moment.

This was Coyote's own pain, and as an outsider he didn't know how to comfort him, not to mention that it had been so long since the incident, so there was nothing much to say - but he did understand why Coyote had brought him here specifically to see these things.

Just because this scene really answered his question.

When the boundary of death has become blurred, what is the difference between life and death?
In the past, he could never grasp this vague concept, but now...

Just like Coyote said, it really depends on whether you want to die or not.

Just like the Emperor Dajing in the picture, he wanted to die. Although this Emperor Dajing had tried to assassinate Coyote many times, the guilt in his heart towards his best friend became more and more intense. After this Emperor Dajing died of old age but was rescued by Coyote, the guilt reached its peak.

This is also why Emperor Dajing was unwilling to wake up no matter what.

If you don't want to wake up, you will die naturally.

When Emperor Dajing was overwhelmed by the guilt and depression in his heart, there was no possibility of survival.

"If that's the case, then the old man fishing might also be..."

Du Chengfeng continued to think.

In fact, compared with Emperor Dajing, Coyote's master, the old fisherman, is a more representative example - Emperor Dajing wanted to die, but the old fisherman did not have the slightest intention of dying. Even at the last moment of his life, the old man was still setting up a death trap to fish for various powerful people, trying to prolong his life. It does not seem that he wanted to seek death.

"This is what I am about to tell you. Master's words are of a different nature."

After listening to Du Chengfeng's doubts, Coyote continued to speak.

"Since you have understood from what happened just now that you can survive as long as you don't want to die, then you can see the same thing when you look at my master's situation again."

At this point, the coyote sighed.

"He can indeed continue to live, but the prerequisite is that he can overcome the death in his heart. If he fails to do so, he will end up like what we see now... The death piled up in his past thoughts has devoured everything he has and completely wiped out his vitality."

"Ah this..."

Du Chengfeng probably understood.

To put it simply, when a person is alive, he or she will constantly accumulate a progress bar called "the intention to die". When this progress bar is full, it is time for death. Powerful and capable people often have firm wills and abundant "reasons to live". With this firm will, they have the ability to fight against the intention to die, and can continue to live in various ways.

But this is where the problem lies. Once their will is not so firm, or the reason for living is overwhelmed by the desire to die, they will lose the desire to survive and will die on the spot.

"Of course, there is another situation, that is, death in an accident."

Coyote added another explanation. "For example, if I don't want to die, but you kill me with a knife, then it doesn't matter whether I want to die or not, I was killed anyway... This is actually part of the will to die, it's the will to die that's at work. It's like if I have a stronger will to live now, and more reasons to live, then I can completely not fight with you, and give you no reason to kill me from the beginning."

"Is it... so complicated?"

After hearing such a long paragraph, Du Chengfeng was already confused. Although he had tried very hard to understand this mechanism, it was obvious that it was still too difficult for him to understand the boundary between life and death.

But it was not a big deal if he didn't understand it at the moment, so he simply memorized all the words, and would be able to understand them by reading them more often in the future.

"Anyway, thank you for today."

After taking note, Du Chengfeng patted Coyote on the shoulder.

"If you hadn't come, I would have had to sit there for half a year or more. After all, this kind of thing is really... By the way, did you say before that you had something to do? What was it?"

"Oh, I almost forgot."

The coyote finally came to his senses.

He was so busy communicating that he almost forgot about the main business.

"Now that you have my master's cave, do you still want the cave you opened before? If you don't want it, I can use it for something. After all, it's very close to where I live..."

"Oh?"

Du Chengfeng looked at the coyote in confusion.

"Didn't I carve out that place with all my heart and soul? Is it really okay for you to use it? You are not me, so how can you change what's over there..."

"So I came over to ask you."

The coyote looked nonchalant.

"As for the environment, your cave was copied from mine anyway, so there won't be any problem if I use it... Mainly because the cave is very close to where I am, so I might as well use it as a backup cave. It can be considered as a cunning rabbit having three burrows."

"That's easy to say."

Du Chengfeng didn't care about this little thing. After all, he already had a ready-made cave. Although this cave was built by the old man who went fishing, strictly speaking it might not be really suitable for him. But Du Chengfeng himself was a person who went with the flow and didn't care where he lived.

In other words, even if the cave is not suitable for him, he can adapt to any cave. As long as it is not too outrageous, such as there are flames everywhere when you enter, or it is full of water without any air, he will not care.

"If you need to change it, feel free to contact me. I happen to be very free recently and don't care much about this kind of thing... But why did you think of doing this? Does someone want to kill you?"

"……Correct."

The coyote nodded slowly.

"I didn't want to tell you, but since you've seen it, I'll... But this matter has nothing to do with you. He was my master's enemy, but after my master died, he planned to get rid of me as well."

"Ah this."

Du Chengfeng choked on the spot.

What do you mean it has nothing to do with him? You have to know that he was brought to the sky by this coyote. In the eyes of those powerful people outside, this coyote is his guide - to put it simply, it is exactly the same as the old man fishing who led the coyote to the sky.

And now, the old fisherman is dead, and Coyote is going to be liquidated. But if Coyote dies... will he be liquidated?

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Du Chengfeng's face already looked a little ugly. You know, this coyote was not the first time to do such a thing. It was the same when he was pulled into a group with the coyote before. Without explaining the interests clearly, he dug a pit and brought him in quietly. This behavior was somewhat bad.

But this time, the coyote looked a little embarrassed.

"I really didn't mean it. It was only after I ate my master that I realized that this old guy left an enemy for me... Mainly because he himself didn't feel that he had offended anyone, and he didn't dare to come to me before. But now that the old guy is dead, I..."

Having said this, the coyote clearly showed a look of toothache, and the way he gnashed his teeth was exactly the same as Du Chengfeng's current expression.

This also made Du Chengfeng feel very upset. It turned out that this behavior of digging holes to bury future generations was actually inherited from master to apprentice, and it had started since the generation of the fisherman Lao Deng.

The most outrageous thing was that Du Chengfeng tried hard to recall the deeds of those fishermen he saw when he was polishing the fishing rod.

The old man only had fishing in his mind and didn't even remember when he offended someone.

"Can this defeat the dark and defeat the light?"

Du Chengfeng was stunned.

"So, do you know the situation of your opponent? Who wants to kill you... Never mind, who wants to kill us? I want to see if I know them. It just so happens that some powerful people owe me a favor..."

"They won't get involved in anything like this."

The coyote couldn't help but shake his head.

"Favors are fine if they are just icing on the cake. For example, if you break into the cave of a powerful person and ask them to help you collect classics, they will definitely come in droves. But if you say that you have offended someone and want them to fight for you, then it will be a bit difficult for them... It's not like they are ready to die and give their lives to you. Are they crazy to come here and risk their lives for you?"

"Ah this."

Du Chengfeng slapped his head, it seemed to be true.

If he really went to look for those powerful people whom he had only met once at this critical moment, he would inevitably be laughed at. The most important thing was that he had nothing to offer that would make others continue to help him - so this matter was not feasible from the beginning, and he should have thought of this.

But just now, he didn't think of this, and even foolishly wanted to ask someone to help.

Compared to when he was the Monkey King in the pond, his current condition is far, far worse.

"The three turbidities in you are still too heavy."

Coyote couldn't help but sigh.

"So I said this matter has nothing to do with you. After all, you must first clear the influence of the three turbidities in your body before you can normally join the battle... Otherwise, if the opponent just randomly stirs up the turbid energy in your body, you will probably be completely confused or even turn against them on the spot."

"I'll pay attention to this."

Although he said this, Du Chengfeng continued to ask questions.

"So at least tell me, who wants to kill us?"

(End of this chapter)