Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 279 The Prince (Part Two)

The withered hand slowly clenched, and the child finally sensed the danger and tried to struggle—but the hand, which seemed as if it would break at the slightest touch, was now like an iron clamp, and no matter how hard he tried, he could only let the air be squeezed out of his lungs little by little.

Seeing his son's face gradually turn bluish-purple, the middle-aged man finally couldn't help but sit up.

"Wan'er!"

However, the old man merely glanced at him, thus stopping all attempts to resist.

As he watched the child's eyes gradually glaze over, the old man seemed to see something incredibly wonderful, and his whole body began to tremble—after a moment, his aged face broke into an extremely joyful smile, as if he were about to reach climax.

Soon, the child's struggles weakened, and his two slender hands could no longer hold onto the claw. Finally, accompanied by the stench of liquid dripping from his trouser leg, he was dragged down helplessly.

"Wan'er."

Only then did the middle-aged man get up from the ground—but even so, he dared not approach—until the old man threw the child's body over, at which point he dared to hold his already dead child and weep bitterly.

Even so, everything remained the same.

—Strangely normal.

The other children were still playing and laughing, seemingly oblivious to the fact that their playmates had just died tragically. The beautiful women were still holding various foods, their soft and fragrant bodies radiating charm and alluring smiles.

In this vast garden, only the suppressed sobs of the middle-aged man echoed continuously.

After admiring the middle-aged man's contorted expression for a while, the old man finally laughed.

"Xu Jin, right?"

The middle-aged man shuddered and hurriedly stood up.

"Your humble servant is here."

He was holding his child's body in his arms, unsure whether to hold on or put down.

The murderer, however, seemed to be enjoying himself, and his interest grew stronger.

"Boy, stop howling—I want to ask you, you know my preferences and you know what your child might be going through, so why did you still bring him along?"

—Murder. Murder. Murder is just a matter of a head falling to the ground!
The middle-aged man gritted his teeth, wanting to fight to the death, but when he thought of the old man's methods and his parents and wife, he could only swallow his tears and grit his teeth.

"This humble official...this humble official is aware of Your Highness's interests, therefore...that's why I brought my child to pay my respects."

Upon hearing this, the old man burst into laughter and then addressed those around him.

"See that? See that? Now that's what you call sensible. Like that last governor, who was he again? Anyway, he seemed quite quiet, but he dared to try and outsmart me, picking a random kid from the commoners and claiming it was his own—he probably really thought I was blind. But what happened to that guy in the end?"

At this moment, a beautiful woman spoke in a sweet, coquettish voice.

"My lord, you really have a bad memory. You captured the entire governor's family, and then used that knife to skin them alive, one by one, regardless of age or gender."

"Yes, yes, that's right, there is such a thing." The old man slapped his forehead, suddenly realizing—

But immediately, he picked up the knife from the silver plate and, without even the slightest hesitation, plunged it into the woman's eye!

"...But even so, I have to take one of your eyes to teach you a lesson. You keep saying I have a bad memory, and if uninformed people hear this, they'll think I'm old and frail and my memory is failing."

The beauty didn't even bother to pull the knife out of her eye; she immediately knelt down, her face changing drastically as she begged for mercy.

"This servant was too carried away with pride, please forgive me, sir!"

The old man ignored the beautiful woman's pale face and turned to speak to the middle-aged man instead.

"Since you are so sensible, then I should return the favor. Hmm, how about this, I will guarantee you a position among the Nine Ministers, and you will not have to pay tribute for the next thirty years. As for whether you can hold onto this position after that, that depends on your abilities."

This unexpected windfall left the middle-aged man stunned—his emotions were a bittersweet mix, leaving him speechless.

In the end, all he could do was lie prostrate on the ground, clutching his child's body, and mutter in a sobbing voice.

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Highness."

But before he could finish speaking, a servant suddenly rushed in from outside and whispered something in the old man's ear.

"What? The Earth Sect's side... These Demon Suppression Division members are really something, they're like mushrooms after rain, you can't kill them all. Alright, alright, I understand, let him in."

moment.

The beauties, officials, and children all withdrew, leaving only the old man in the spacious garden, drinking alone.

Then, just as he was drinking his third cup, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

At first glance, he was just an ordinary man, wearing the uniform blue robe of the Thick Earth Sect, with an unremarkable appearance—or perhaps...
One should be ordinary.

For some reason, even though I could clearly see the man's face, it would disappear from my mind the moment I turned my head away, never to be seen again.

At this moment, the man was bowing respectfully and speaking to the old man.

"Your Majesty."

The old man raised his cloudy eyes, glanced at the man, and then gave him a kind smile.

"It's Lord Sun! You've arrived?"

The man bowed slightly and quickly said.

"I am unworthy of this title before Your Highness. I have some urgent matters to attend to recently, which is why I have troubled Your Highness. I hope you will forgive me."

The old man was still smiling.

"It's not a matter of forgiveness or not, it's just that I heard a pill refiner died, what was his name again?"

"Your Highness, his name is Wang Chengen."

"Oh right, I remember now, it's that guy who always told me to offer some kind of elixir, I heard he was recently killed by the Evil Suppression Division?"

The man nodded.

"Yes, I'm very sorry. He was almost granted a surname by Your Highness, but due to our oversight..."

"Oh, that's not important," the old man interrupted nonchalantly, as if Wang Chengen were nothing more than a piece of trash in his eyes. "I just want to know one thing: will his death affect my refining of that elixir of immortality?"

The man remained silent for a few moments, seemingly surprised that the old man would be so heartless, but he still replied.

"Your Highness, it's not a big deal. Wang Chengen had already handed over the prescription before the incident. Besides, there are thirty-six such pill-making workshops in the prefecture. Losing one is not a big deal."

"That's good. As long as it doesn't delay the refining of the immortality pill, then everything is not a big problem."

The old man seemed to finally relax, and his body relaxed again. Only then did he seem to realize that the sitting position was not very comfortable, and he tried to lift his body up, but unfortunately, due to his old age and frailty, he was still unable to lean back on the felt cushion.

Seeing this, the man quickly went over and helped the emaciated body up.

Only when the back of his head touched that soft mound did the old man sigh contentedly. "Hey, little Sun, how many years have we been together?"

"Your Highness, it has been more than twenty years since we first met."

"That's quite a long time. Back when we first met, you were just a naive young man, shouting that you had received a divine decree to welcome the goddess and the ancestors. As a result, you got beaten up by that Taoist temple and thrown into the street covered in blood. I was the one who found you when I happened to pass by."

"Your Highness's kindness is something we will never forget."

But the old man just waved his hand and continued to laugh.

"Decades have passed in the blink of an eye. The kid who was once considered trash has now become the leader of a sect. Not to mention other places, at least in Songzhou, the sect has spread everywhere, and there are more than 10,000 followers. But now that you have become the leader, you may have forgotten some things in your busy schedule."

For some reason, the old man was smiling, but his voice sounded somewhat cold.

"—So, where is my elixir of immortality? I've spent a fortune on it, and pulled strings with the officials for you, but why haven't I seen a trace of it yet?"

The man was silent for a few seconds, then knelt down with a thud, pressing his head to the ground, and said.

"Please forgive me, Your Highness. All the alchemy workshops within the sect are now operating at full capacity, and Her Majesty's blessings are becoming increasingly abundant. Given enough time, I am confident that I can deliver the medicine to you within the next two months."

The old man simply looked up at the night sky and then casually said something.

But instead of an answer, it was another completely unrelated topic.

"It's getting boring to just look at the same scenery all the time. Why don't you push me to move around a bit?"

Upon hearing this, the man stood up, grabbed the back of the chair, fiddled with it for a bit, and two wheels popped out from underneath. He then started pushing the old man along.

The scenery, whether exquisite, simple, or luxurious, came into view one by one. The old man looked at the landscape, which was even more magnificent than a palace, and sighed.

"Before I turned twenty, I was all about doing whatever I wanted without any scruples. But after my brother ascended the throne, I started thinking about the country and the world, both internal and external troubles."

"After I turned fifty and my elder brother passed away, I became even more wary of the power in my hands. At that time, eighty percent of the officials in the court below the Three Dukes were my protégés and former subordinates. My little nephew didn't like me and wanted to bring me down, but the imperial decree couldn't even leave the palace. I even had him and his favorite concubine skinned alive in front of him. It was truly a case of turning one's hand to make clouds and rain."

"However, after I turned one hundred, I gave up most of my power and became obsessed with seeking immortality and the Dao. I visited all the famous mountains and Taoist temples in the Han region, and even went to the snowy mountains and dense forests of the southern border several times. Unfortunately, it all came to nothing in the end."

"As for now, I've seen through it all. Power, beauty, money, cultivation—everything is like fleeting clouds. My brother was once a peerless hero, but now he's nothing but a handful of yellow earth. Zhang Daoling of Longhu Mountain was also known as a god among men, but now all that's left is that lonely grave."

"My lord."

The man tried to interject, but was immediately stopped by the old man waving his hand.

"You want to say these things are good? Of course they are, so good that one can't help but become addicted to them, but no matter how good they are, one has to be alive to enjoy them. I have tried all the methods of prolonging life that I could find over the years, but now they have all reached their limits, and you are my last hope. I'll just ask you one question: before my birthday this year, can you present me with the elixir of immortality?"

The man hesitated for several dozen breaths before answering.

"Your Highness, I will try my best."

"I don't want to know if you're trying or not, I just want to know if you can."

The man gritted his teeth and replied.

".Can."

"very good."

The old man finally nodded in satisfaction. He first raised his hand to signal the man to stop, then picked a grape for himself, put it directly into his mouth without peeling it, crushed it with his toothless mouth, squinted his eyes to savor the full and sweet juice for a while, and then slowly spoke.

"--In that case, you can continue to take money and grain as you please. Anyway, I have accumulated quite a bit of wealth over the past two hundred years. As for conscripting laborers, you can just inform the government, and they won't dare to disobey."

The man nodded in agreement—but the old man suddenly laughed at the end of his sentence.

"I'm telling you, you don't need to act so respectful. I know all about the shady things you've been doing. You're using my money to line your own pockets, digging for who knows what, and spending most of your energy on your so-called 'Lady of the Earth'."

The man's expression froze, and he was about to kneel down again.

But the old man simply stopped him casually.

"No need. I only care about the result; the process doesn't matter at all. You just need to bring the elixir at the end—is there anything else? If not, I'll go and rest. I'm getting old, and I always feel a bit tired."

The man hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"To be honest, there is something. It's about that chosen one I mentioned to Your Highness before."

"That guy who supposedly 'fixes everything'?"

"That's right, this person might have appeared here."

But the old man shook his head.

"That's all nonsense. If that chosen one were really as you say, then based on what I've done over the years, I would have been killed tens of thousands of times over by now. How could I have waited until now?"

The man opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more, but the old man waved his hand, indicating that the topic was over.

"I'm tired, let's call it a day."

Seeing this, the man could only reluctantly retreat.

As the moonlight waned, only the old man remained on this desolate lakeside.

After a long while, a person who seemed to be a close attendant came over.

"Your Highness, you were looking for me?"

The old man, who was dozing, raised his eyes, yawned, and then said.

"Yes, that's right. That guy surnamed Sun just came over and said their elixir is almost finished. Keep a close eye on them and make sure nothing goes wrong. If things get really bad, have General Zuo, who's currently suppressing a rebellion, come back first. And after they present the elixir, remember to wipe out the Thick Earth Sect completely."

The attendant looked up, somewhat puzzled.

"Your Highness, the Houtu Sect treats you with considerable respect, why is that?"

The old man looked at the moon's reflection in the lake, picked up a grape seed, and casually flicked it away.

With a whooshing sound, the fruit pit easily shattered several stubborn rocks. When it fell into the lake, it became silent, only creating a ripple.

"—It's very simple, their schemes are too big, too big for this old man to bear."

Seeing that his subordinates had accepted the order, the old man suddenly remembered something and said one more thing.

"This guy mentioned a chosen one earlier. You should keep an eye on him if you have the chance; after all, I'm quite curious about this so-called 'one who will correct everything'."

"What exactly is it?"

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(End of this chapter)