Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 326 City
Consciousness awakens from a state of confusion.

It felt as if a whole group of people were tap dancing inside my brain, bringing an extremely nauseating sensation. My eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and intense pain emanated from every part of my body.

"Fellow Daoist."

I don't know who was calling out.

"Young Master Zhou."

The voice sounded very familiar.

"Why can't I wake this person? Hmm... Let me think... Well, the situation is urgent, so this humble Taoist has no choice."

—There's a murderous aura about him!
Zhou You suddenly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a wrinkled old face.

"What a monster!"

The Demon Slayer was drawn, ready to strike at the opponent in the next moment.

The old man hurriedly took two steps back, then called out in a panic.

"Fellow Daoist, please don't harm me! It's me, it's me! It's Old He from Maoshan!"

Headmaster He?
Zhou You stared at the old face for a long time before his eyes finally managed to focus.

It was indeed Sect Leader He's greasy face, but his disciples were nowhere to be seen, and even Tao Le'an was nowhere to be found.

At this moment, under the glow of the blood moon in the sky, there were only the two of them.

Zhou You endured the excruciating pain in his brain and looked around.

It wasn't the magnificent palace from before, but a dilapidated city.

The entire city was deserted, with all sorts of fallen rocks and clods of earth everywhere. The surroundings were silent, and it seemed as if no one had lived there for a long time.

But the problem is
Zhou You gritted his teeth, struggled to move his body, and touched the building next to him.

—Smooth and brand new.

Even though the surroundings were in such a mess, there wasn't a speck of dust on the house. When you touched it, a bone-chilling cold seeped into your bones, as if you were touching not stone, but a block of ice that had been frozen for thousands of years.

Zhou You had encountered this material before.

The ghost village from before, and even the stone tablet in the Hidden King's mansion, were all made of this kind of thing.

And there's one more thing.

This doesn't look like a human-made structure.

Each house was four or five meters high, but there were no windows or even doors. For some reason, every gap was completely sealed off, leaving no room to hide.

In this bizarre scene, the dizziness intensified, but it didn't feel like he was injured. Rather, it was a direct mental effect. Zhou You frowned, took out the Wine Immortal Gourd, and drank a few mouthfuls before he could barely feel better.

Even so, the baby's cries continued unabated, driving people crazy with their annoyance.

Zhou You pressed his temples and said to Sect Leader He.

"Hey Lao He, where are we right now? What just happened?"

To everyone's surprise, the other person scratched their gray hair, looking completely bewildered.

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? I just remember the whole mountain collapsed. Just when I thought I was definitely going to die, suddenly I was here. Everyone else had disappeared. I wandered around like a headless fly for ages before finally finding you, Master."

Zhou You was about to say something when suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his mind.

Then, he couldn't help but utter three words.

"Netherworld City".

"Brother Zhou, what did you just say?"

"No, it's nothing."

Zhou You's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

Although he had heard the term "Netherworld City" from local mythology before, he definitely didn't say it himself just now. It was as if something was whispering in his ear, making him involuntarily utter the word.

However, he suddenly thought of another clue.

"Hey Lao He, I remember that Master Yu was sent down the mountain by Maoshan to carry out a mission, right? And your Maoshan Evil-Suppressing Pagoda also has those Abyss Stones, don't you have any clues at all?"

This time, Sect Leader He remained silent for a long time, and after hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke.

"Since we're already here, I won't hide it from you, Daoist Master—while Xuanzheng's descent from the mountain was indeed a trial for our Maoshan sect, he wasn't acting on anyone's orders. How should I explain this to you?"

After considering his words, Sect Leader He continued.

"That happened after he maintained the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. Normally, he wasn't very noticeable, but after that incident, he suddenly seemed to have gone mad and insisted on using the Maoshan Demon-Suppressing Talisman Plate to perform divination."

"Originally, I firmly refused this request, after all, we Maoshan don't do these things, but he was too stubborn, so I could only secretly use it on him once. Who would have thought that after that, instead of calming down, he became more and more insane, always saying that a great calamity was coming—but when asked, he would not say anything. In the end, he forcibly applied for a vacancy to go down the mountain for training and ran to Songzhou. As for what happened after that, you know, Daoist Master."

Zhou You replied in a low voice.

"He wanted to destroy that ghost village, and for this he even wanted to borrow the help of General Zuo's descendants. Who would have thought that he would die before he could achieve his goal, and would instead be harmed by General Zuo."

Seeing that Sect Leader He remained silent, Zhou You couldn't find any more clues from these matters, so he could only sigh in the end.

"Forget it, let's find the others first. We're in an unknown place now, so having more people will give us a better chance of success."

After that, the two continued on their way from the place where they had woken up.

As one delves deeper into the city, more and more strange things come to light.

First of all, the city is quite large—almost ridiculously large. Zhou You and Headmaster He are not slow walkers, but they have been walking for almost half an hour and the same scenery is still in front of them, with no end in sight.

Then comes the second point.

Everything here is exactly the same.

The buildings, roads, and even the street decorations all seemed to be cut from the same mold, and the distances were exactly the same. Not long ago, Headmaster He curiously measured them with his foot and was astonished to find that no matter how many times he measured them, the distances of everything were exactly the same, not a fraction more or less.

Even by modern standards, it would be extremely difficult to build a city with such precision, let alone in ancient times when there were no sophisticated instruments.

The consequence of this uniform scenery is that it is impossible for people to tell where they are.

If you look at it for even a little while, your gaze will create a sense of disorientation, your senses will gradually become blurred, and eventually your brain will be conveyed with a bizarre illusion.

—I never moved an inch from beginning to end; I was trapped in this cage the whole time.

Most people would have succumbed to the pressure and gone mad long ago, but Zhou You and Sect Leader He forcibly suppressed all their emotions and continued their meticulous search forward at a constant pace. And so, they continued for an unknown amount of time.

Finally, after passing a familiar intersection, I suddenly heard a murmured voice.

The voice was so faint that it was difficult to discern what was being said, but Zhou You and his companion were still invigorated.

—After wandering around for so long, I've finally seen a living person!

And since there are living people here, it proves that there are definitely more than just the two of them who were thrown into this godforsaken place!

Even so, they did not make any rash moves. Sect Leader He first gave them a look, and after Zhou You nodded slightly in agreement, they slowed their pace and, using the shadows of the surrounding buildings, took the lead in slowly making their way forward.

The moment they saw that figure, both he and Zhou You breathed a sigh of relief.

It's an acquaintance.

Or rather, the kind of acquaintance who isn't very close to you.

They recognized this man—he was the foreign king who first presented the Black Soul Wood when the Hidden King was offered his gifts. He had disappeared after the fighting began, and they had assumed he, like everyone else, had been put into a box and refined into an elixir of immortality. Who would have thought that this guy had actually survived?

Even if he were alive, his condition wouldn't be very good.

All the former guards had vanished without a trace. Now, this man was all alone, shivering and huddled in a corner, as if he had suffered some great fright. Gone was his former arrogant and haughty demeanor. He simply buried his head in his brocade robe, muttering something to himself.

Sect Leader He was also cautious. Even though he had recognized the person, he still cast a few spells to test him. After seeing that everything was alright, he stepped out of the shadows and spoke to the person.

"Hey buddy, are you alright?"

The words were quite gentle, and even some calming spells were used, but the foreigner did not respond at all, and instead began to tremble even more violently.

"Is he... utterly terrified? What on earth did this person see to be so frightened?"

Sect Leader He scratched his head, and finally took out a Qingguang talisman from his pocket, intending to calm the man down first.

Everything seemed normal, but at that moment, Zhou You suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The person's aura vanished rapidly; not only was there no anger, but the entire being seemed to be rapidly annihilating, leaving only pure 'nothingness' sitting there in the end.

He sat there, but he never existed.

"Old He, watch out!"

But even if he immediately spoke up to stop it, it was still too late.

The 'foreigner' who had been huddled there had already raised his face.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with his face, except for a slightly bewildered expression. But upon closer inspection, one could sense that his features had begun to shift, and by the third glance, everything began to appear distorted.

He was still murmuring, but the words were no longer coming from his mouth; they were coming from his entire body!

But no matter what, Sect Leader He was still the leader of the Maoshan sect, and even when faced with such an unexpected attack, he was able to respond immediately.

The previous fierce aura had already enveloped his entire body. Although there was no time to release the spell, his two fists, as hard as refined gold, were already raised high and then swept towards the monster's face!
Otherwise.

It didn't hit anything.

The moment the fist made contact, the monster's entire body dissolved like wax. A few seconds later, only a viscous liquid could be seen covering the ground, and under its reflection, the figure of Master He began to disintegrate.

And, in the same way, the displacement began.

The murmurs grew louder and louder, and it seemed that Sect Leader He was about to meet his end, but at that moment, Zhou You's true words were spoken.

"Om!"

However, whether it was because its ears had melted or because it had developed a resistance to it, the thing only paused for a moment in the face of the invincible death curse chant.

But that's enough.

Even this brief gap was enough for Headmaster He to react.

He immediately drew his magic sword from his waist a short distance, then made a hand seal and shouted in a low voice.

"Qiongqi!"

The magic sword trembled, initially seeming quite unwilling, but under the forceful command of the magic method, it could only let out a reluctant roar.

A streak of blood-red light slashed down, instantly splitting the liquid on the ground in two. At first, it tried to merge back together, but it quickly discovered that, under the interference of the ferocious beast within the sword, no matter how hard it tried, it could not reconcile.

However, this thing seemed to still retain human intelligence. Seeing that the situation was not good, it immediately changed its tactics and twisted its body, trying to escape in another direction.

But there, someone's foot had already touched the ground.

With a flick of his wrist, the evil aura swept across the area like mist, erasing everything in the blink of an eye.

Only then did Headmaster He finally catch his breath.

"Damn, I, Lao He, have been cultivating for decades and have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of demons and monsters, but I've never seen anything so bizarre—what on earth is this?"

Zhou You didn't answer, but instead squatted down and wiped away the few drops of liquid left behind by the foreigner.

It was very sticky, like tar, and there was no strange smell, but when he touched it, a strange feeling came to his mind.

It was a faint wail, a sigh filled with utter helplessness, a desperate cry of sorrow, and the last thing he saw.

—A colossal tree of flesh and blood, stretching to the horizon and blocking out the sunlight.

The moment I saw the giant tree, an immense fear surged through me—and then, my body and soul began to twist together.

Zhou You couldn't help but murmur aloud.

"It's human."

".What?"

"They are people who have been contaminated."

Thinking of the things he had seen in the Houtu Sect, Zhou You frowned and stood up.

"I feel like things are getting increasingly wrong. How should I put it, it's like something's about to happen."

But as soon as he finished speaking, the magic sword at Master He's waist suddenly moved again.

At this moment, Sect Leader He was still struggling to straighten his crooked nose. When he saw the sword trembling, he initially just sighed helplessly.

"I'm telling you, Qiongqi, now's not the time to feed you. I'll make you some good wine and meat when we get back to the mountains. What? You sensed the location of those rascals?"

(End of this chapter)