Chapter 564: Only Resorting to Sophistry
How does one prove to a victim of persecutory delusion that they would not harm her?
It is very simple. All one needs to prove… is that they have the sufficient strength to harm her and in any way that they fancied.
As a simple example, a chick might be adamant that you are an obsessed pervert and that you would turn into a sexual deviant the moment you have an opportunity, no matter how much of a gentleman you swear to be. Even if you are capable of controlling yourself while sharing the same bed, not even having any thoughts of doing anything nasty, the chick would definitely not believe you because her reason is clouded by her perception of you. She might even ask who was ‘anything nasty’ and how you would ‘do’ her.
What should one do under such circumstances?
Very simple. Take the risk of kidnapping the chick and lock her in a tiny room, completely isolated from civilization. Share the room with her and say to her with a licentious smile, “Go on and shout. Keep shouting. No one will save you even if you shout yourself hoarse!” …then, watch ‘Sesame Street’ with the chick the entire night.
The next morning, the chick might give you a slap in the face and even curse you amid tears, “Am I less attractive than Kermit the Frog?” Perhaps, the girl might place you on a blacklist but her impression of you would change completely. She would completely believe one fact—you are no fucking deviant but worse than one!
Shi Xiaobai had encountered a similar dilemma and had used a similar solution that gave the same effect.
The red-haired girl and the young girl insisted that he was a baddie that committed heinous crimes, a hateful human that would sell away pixies after he kidnapped them.
Verbal explanations and guarantees were insufficient at resolving their prejudice against him. Therefore, Shi Xiaobai did not waste any effort explaining, allowing Cherryblossoms to attack him without even moving.
He had easily dodged with Crab Steps in the beginning until he later used his powerful body to defend against the Wind Illumination Cross Slash. He orchestrated a situation that would slowly pull them into his ‘spiderweb,’ allowing Cherryblossoms to fully understand the absolute gap in their strength.
—This King is stronger than you. This King can do anything he wants. This King can harm you in any way he wants!
Shi Xiaobai expressed this fully on the surface but in fact, he had never hurt them from the very beginning. Instead, the young girl had charged forward bravely. He was worried that he would hurt her baby teeth and took the initiative to remove the defense that This Turtle Is Hardest gave him.
Despite being able to harm her as he wished, he did not commit any atrocious acts from the beginning. There was nothing more convincing than something that created that contrast.
“So… I have always been the one scaring myself?”
It took a while for Cherryblossoms to finally realize that she had been scaring herself silly from the beginning. She had presumptuously believed that the youth was kidnapping them and this preconceived notion had blinded her reason. The youth had already said that he meant no harm from the beginning and had implemented his promise of ‘not harming anyone,’ but she had failed to notice any of that.
Ah, she had painted a demon for herself, scaring herself silly!
Upon realizing this, Cherryblossoms’s face turned red with embarrassment. She could no longer feel angry because the youth had clearly expressed his lack of ill intentions. She still had to act properly to prevent aggravating him since he could really do anything he wished.
“But…”
The moment Cherryblossoms recalled the stirring scene of her kneeling down to plead and how comical it was for her to scare herself silly, she immediately felt like burrowing into a hole. She drooped her head down and mumbled, “But Granny said that humans are baddies…”
Shi Xiaobai fell silent for a moment and did not attempt to correct the girl’s prejudice. Instead, he returned with a question, “Let This King ask you. Are all pixies good?”
“Obviously…”
Cherryblossoms was just about to give an affirmative answer when she seemed to recall something. Her expression changed slightly as the head she had raised halfway drooped down in defeat once again. She said indignantly, “Of course there are pixies that have desecrated the virtues of pixies. They abandon their good natures and the protection of the Holy Tree, choosing to be corrupted. They… they have already become fallen pixies! Yes! Those bad pixies are fallen pixies! They have nothing to do with us pixies. Yes, that’s right! Pixies are all good! The bad ones are fallen pixies!”
The girl’s eyes gradually lit up as she spoke. Once again, she raised her head with a glimmer in her eyes.
Shi Xiaobai suddenly recalled the sixth level of the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower when he heard ‘fallen pixies.’ Kali, in her disguise as Ka Xiaozi, had chosen to borrow the powers of Pixie Raging to rescue him despite the outcome of being a fallen pixie.
From the girl’s tone, he once again realized how much disdain and abhorrence pixies had towards fallen pixies. Shi Xiaobai gained a greater understanding of what Kali had sacrificed for him.
Upon coming to this conclusion, Shi Xiaobai subconsciously looked at the young girl that resembled Kali.
The girl was currently hiding behind Cherryblossoms. Half her head was peeking out to look at Shi Xiaobai carefully. When she saw Shi Xiaobai look at her, she immediately retracted her head in fear.
Even though she had also realized that the youth meant no harm, she remained afraid. The humans in the stories that her grandmother had told her were just too terrifying.
After half a second, the girl peeked her head out again. She mustered her courage to look at the youth’s eyes and pointed at his bloody right arm. She said apologetically, “Is it… still painful?”
Shi Xiaobai came round and shook his head with a smile. “There is no such thing as pain in This King’s dictionary.”
His endurance technique, Unleaking Turtle Aura, could repress the feeling of pain. Furthermore, he could convert pain to a sore pleasure. It might not be believable but Shi Xiaobai not only did not feel pain from the girl’s bites, he even found it quite enjoyable.
The girl did not know any of that. In her recollection, bleeding meant extreme pain. She had grazed her knee when she fell from a tree at a young age. It had hurt for a very long time.
“Liar.”
The girl grumbled inwardly and retracted her tiny head again. For some reason, she suddenly felt that humans were not that terrifying.
“Fallen pixies are also pixies.”
Shi Xiaobai quickly returned to the topic at hand. He looked at Cherryblossoms and said solemnly, “Even if you pixies disdain and exile fallen pixies, they still have pixie blood flowing in them. Just as you know and as your grandmother said, a number of humans are indeed evil and have committed heinous acts. This King would not deny that they are evil. And just like you, This King also thinks of them as beasts and deviants. However, This King cannot change the fact that they are human, people with human blood flowing in them. What This King wishes to tell you is that the impression of humans you have are not really humans but unfortunately, that is just resorting to sophistry. Just like how you say fallen pixies are not pixies, you know deep down that it’s not true.”
“I…”
Cherryblossoms widened her mouth, momentarily unsure how to retort.