Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 267 Rebirth
Are there any experts?

Zhou You raised his head and looked around.

However, the bustling crowd blocked all view, making it impossible to see who was casting the spell.

But the goal can be determined.

It's the fat guy on stage!
Zhou You initially wanted to intervene, but then he reconsidered.

I'm not exactly free, am I?

He had no prior acquaintance with this Thick Earth Goddess Cult, and what they were doing was the pyramid scheme he hated most—of course, the main reason was that there wasn't a trace of killing intent in this spell, and it didn't seem like they wanted to kill or rob, so why should he care?

Most likely, it stems from some grudge, or perhaps from a rival in the industry who wants to sabotage the business.
Wait a moment.

"Hmm, this size is kind of fun, isn't it?"

Zhou You, having found something to amuse himself, stopped to watch with great interest—however, the fat man on stage remained oblivious, still showing off his 'beheading method,' and as always, a follower brought a dog up, and as always, he forcefully pressed the dog onto the guillotine.

But just as he was about to take action...

The fat man suddenly noticed something unexpected.

Whether the guillotine was rusted or something else, he tried to budge it several times, but it wouldn't budge an inch. Seeing the doubts rising from the audience, the man, covered in sweat, leaned over to the end of the guillotine to see what was wrong.

It would have been better not to look at the results.

Upon seeing this, his old face instantly contorted in distress, and he even muttered to himself, "Oh no!"

In his eyes, the guillotine's axle was clearly jammed. While this wasn't a major problem—someone familiar with the technique could fix it—his magical power was weak; maintaining even this small area of ​​illusion was already a blessing from the goddess. If an outsider were to take over...
There's a 90% chance they'll be exposed.

Today is the first day of our altar opening. If our master finds out that we've made such a mess, he'll skin us alive!
However, those simple-minded men and women had no idea of ​​his difficulties. Seeing that there was still no progress, although no one dared to curse him because of the previous success, some impatient people began to urge him on.

"Master, what difficulties have you encountered? Do you need us to lend a hand?"

You're helping a ghost!
The fat man was sweating profusely with anxiety. After several more unsuccessful attempts, he could only say to the crowd with a worried look on his face.

"I'm sorry, everyone, there might be a problem with this thing—but please rest assured, all the spells in our sect are real and genuine, absolutely."

however.

The moment the word "correct" fell.

The fat man, who had just taken a step, suddenly slipped and fell forward.

And by sheer coincidence, he fell right onto the guillotine, and then, as his head tilted, it met the furry dog's head.

what happened?
The thought hadn't finished forming in his head.

He didn't know which mechanism he had triggered, but the guillotine that he had been unable to press down suddenly fell down with a piercing whistling sound, heading straight for his neck!

My life is over!

In despair, the fat man closed his eyes tightly, but after waiting for a long time, he still did not feel the excruciating pain.

It wasn't until quite a while later that a equally terrified "woof" woke him up.

I opened my eyes in fear and trepidation, only to find that at this critical moment, the guillotine had jammed again, the blade no more than half an inch away from me—but thankfully it didn't strike.

"Thank you, Goddess of the Earth, thank you, Three Pure Ones! I am a lucky person, and thankfully I wasn't beheaded."

However, before the fat man could finish crying his heart out, voices from the audience rose up again.

"Hey, wasn't that a cultist on the guillotine just now? How come the master is lying on it himself?"

"Yeah, it looks like he's standing shoulder to shoulder with a yellow dog. Could it be that he's planning to perform some other kind of act?"

"Hey bro, that dog looks familiar. Isn't that the one that went missing from Old Huang's house a few days ago?"

"No, look, there's a severed dog head on the ground. Could it be that the head that was just cut off wasn't a human at all, but a dog's?"

The doubts grew louder, and the crowd's expressions became increasingly suspicious; they were practically ready to call him a liar.

The fat man felt as if he had fallen into an abyss, but before he could think of any remedy, a cold voice suddenly rang in his ear.

"What a fool you are! I was originally going to refuse you entry into the alchemy room because of your desperate pleas, and instead have you preach the Dao. I never expected you to make such a laughingstock of yourself."

And the instant he heard that sound.

All of the fat man's expressions—regret, anger, or panic—were frozen on his face.

Ultimately, all that can be seen is one emotion.

—That was deep terror.

All I heard was this person speaking in a trembling voice.

"Master, when did you arrive?"

However, the voice remained as cold as ever in response to these words full of pleading and fear.

"Just now, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see you in such a disgusting state."

The fat man trembled, still trying to beg for mercy, but his master wouldn't give him the chance. This man just glanced at him coldly, then stood up and cupped his hands in greeting to the crowd.

Only at this moment did this person's appearance become clear to Zhou You.

The man appeared to be around forty or fifty years old, dressed in a dark blue robe, with a mustache and a topknot, giving him a somewhat otherworldly air. However, his chin was rather long, making his face appear rather harsh.

"I am truly sorry, everyone. My name is Wang Shouen, and I hold the position of a senior disciple in the Buddhist order. My disciple is not skilled enough, and he forgot to bring the disciple who received the blessing from the Goddess to this Dharma assembly. Fearing my reprimand, he resorted to this desperate measure, which has tarnished the Goddess's reputation. I apologize to everyone here."

As Zhou You mingled in the crowd, his expression gradually shifted from nonchalant to serious.

—Let's not even talk about the fat guy, he's just an ordinary conman, but this master's level is...
And this guy's surname is also Wang? Could it be him?
At this point, the geomancer named Wang Shouen finished exchanging pleasantries with the surrounding crowd. Seeing the still doubtful or disbelieving looks in their eyes, he did not show any unusual expression, but simply said calmly.

"As the saying goes, if a disciple fails to teach, it is the master's fault. My disciple has deceived you all, so I, as the master, must bear some responsibility. So, since you all want to see true immortality, let my disciple give you a demonstration." Upon hearing this, the fat man still on the guillotine instantly showed a look of terror on his face. He struggled to get off the blade, trying to say something to beg for mercy.

But the geomancer Wang simply waved his hand casually, and all the commotion subsided.

However, the man walked up to the fat man but did not speak to him immediately. Instead, he looked around and then took out a small box from his sleeve.

The box was carved entirely from the finest sandalwood, and its fragrance could be smelled from afar. It was also exquisitely carved with various patterns and designs, most of which depicted the appearance of celestial palaces.

The moment the fat man saw the box, his eyes widened as if they were about to explode from their sockets. However, under the influence of an unknown spell, he could not move an inch no matter how much he struggled.

Wang the geomancer ignored him. He opened the box, took out a black, extremely plain pill, showed it to the people around him, and then said loudly.

"As you can see, this is a pill bestowed by the Goddess of the Earth. My disciple is not qualified to receive it, but to make up for my mistake, I can only let him receive this blessing first."

After saying this, Master Wang walked up to the fat man, bent down, and whispered a few words in his ear.

The sound was extremely faint; if Zhou You hadn't been using the song technique, even he would have had difficulty hearing it.

That's right.

"Disciple, you have to clean up your own mess. You can't avoid this medicine no matter what, so just accept it."

Then, he seemed to gently pry open his disciple's chin, and with a cheerful smile, stuffed the pill into his mouth amidst the despair in his eyes.

moment.

Just suddenly.

The fat man's hands and feet started twitching as he danced, as if he were enduring some intense pain. But this only lasted a few breaths, and before most people could understand what was happening, he fell silent again.

Everything was exactly the same as before.

Master Wang tugged at the fat man's eyelids, and after seeing something, he nodded in satisfaction. Then he walked to the guillotine, first pulled the skinny dog ​​down, then gripped the handle and pressed down hard!
This time, however, there was no illusion to conceal it; it was a real beheading!
in a blink.

With a splash of blood, the fat man's head rolled to the ground and finally came to rest next to the dog's head.

The geomancer surnamed Wang didn't mind the dirt. He took a few steps, picked up the blood-stained head, and displayed it openly to everyone before speaking.

"As you can see, this is not an illusion, nor is it a deception. If any of you do not believe it, you are welcome to come up on stage and touch it for yourselves."

After a long while, a few brave souls emerged from the crowd, but after touching it a couple of times, they all fled back in terror.

Those were real, unmistakable human heads!

Seeing that the surroundings had finally quieted down, the geomancer nodded in satisfaction. He then took the head and walked to his disciple's headless corpse, straightened it, and pressed the head up.

The skin and blood vessels seemed to grow rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they merged together. In just a few breaths, the fat man was back to normal.

Then, he knelt down before Master Wang with a 'plop' and kowtowed forcefully.

"Thank you so much, Master! Thank you so much, Master—not only are you forgiving my mistakes, but you have even bestowed upon me the elixir of immortality, allowing me to achieve this foundation of immortality!"

His voice, speech, and demeanor were all as ordinary as ever.

But Zhou You saw it clearly.

The fat man uttered heartfelt thanks, but his expression had become as wooden as the other believers around him.

The geomancer surnamed Wang ignored his apprentice and simply raised his head to address the silent crowd around him.

"As you can see, this is the true, flawless form. Anyone who is willing to join my sect may receive this blessing. Even if you don't, you will still receive various kinds of food, goods, and even gold and silver jewelry every month according to your rank. If you think you have some ability, you can come to me in person. I am currently recruiting talented people, especially my alchemy department, which is always short of people. Anyone who comes will be richly rewarded."

When Master Wang finished his speech and left with his disciples, it was already late afternoon.

The sun was already setting in the west, and the bustling crowd finally began to disperse.

However, Zhou You never moved.

He simply rested his chin on his hand, watching the stage with great interest.

The dog carcass had already been dragged away, leaving only some lingering bloodstains. Now it had dried and turned brown, attracting a swarm of buzzing flies.

Their Yunjing Sect does possess a spell to reconnect severed heads. Although he hadn't managed to obtain it, he had some understanding of it through Xuan Yuan Daoist—and also through his own personal experience.

Such secret techniques are actually just emergency survival methods similar to those of geckos—except that geckos sever their tails, while these techniques sever their heads. The moment the head is cut off, the secret technique is used to seal the soul and life force into the head. After that, a body with a matching birth date and time, and which has recently died, must be found in order to reconnect the severed head.

It's extremely troublesome.

However, maintaining a glimmer of hope is the most basic element. Once that hope is lost, it's a complete dead end, and even a celestial being couldn't save it.

But just now...
Zhou You closed his eyes and carefully recalled his feelings from not long ago.

"That person was dead, completely dead. Besides, with his meager magical power, he couldn't possibly have supported any tribulation-crossing secret technique. But the head and body, which were clearly dead, suddenly emitted a breath of life the instant they were reconnected. Wait, a breath of life?"

Zhou You suddenly realized something.

He finally understood where that inexplicable sense of familiarity came from—the resurrected fat man looked exactly like those zombies!
One of them had recently been resurrected and still retained a human body, while the others had rotted away completely.

"Holy crap, so this was what I was waiting for. This bizarre script is finally starting to make sense—but there are still two problems."

Who was the person who intervened and affected the fat man just now? Is this person friend or foe?

And how do we get in touch with this 'geomancer'?
The first question is unlikely to be answered as the crowd disperses, but the second...
That's not difficult.

Zhou You lowered his head and looked at a piece of red paper in his hand.

The text contained some information about the religion, but since literacy rates were quite low in this world, it was mostly just mentioned briefly. However, it thoughtfully provided the location of the main altar for this area at the end.

—A place called Changsheng Temple.

(End of this chapter)