Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 444 Strategy
Zhou You didn't respond, but instead frowned and looked up at the dark sky above the road.

Shi Dakai, or rather, the one who called himself Shi Dakai, understood perfectly and said with a smile.

"You need not worry. This place is not the real underworld. It is just the ruins of the temple in my heart after it collapsed. Like you, time has stopped here, so it will not affect anyone."

Zhou You's expression suddenly froze.

One point is to calm down, and the other point is...
Was he also brought in by the Black Book?

Modern people?

However, this time the other party seemed to have expected it, and shook their head with a smile.

"No, unlike you, I am a complete native, a Hakka from Guixian County. I was born on this land and will die on this land. I am not some chosen special existence—or rather, I am just an inevitable part of history."

After saying that, he turned to the side and laughed.

"We still have plenty of time, why don't we take a walk first?"

What do you mean?
Zhou You was somewhat puzzled, but he still followed behind and took a step.

The dark road stretched straight ahead, seemingly endless.

Just as Shi Dakai said, although this place resembles a dark and mysterious place, it is fundamentally different. The surrounding area is also full of broken walls and ruins, but it does not have the eerie and cold feeling of a dark and mysterious place. Instead, it only gives people a desolate and dilapidated feeling.

The two walked one after the other. Suddenly, Zhou You stopped talking, and Shi Dakai, who was floating, also remained silent.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhou You spoke softly.

"I said, Brother Shi..."

"I was a bit older than you before I died, so just call me Brother Shi."

"Alright then, Brother Shi."

However, halfway through his sentence, he didn't know how to begin.

Shi Dakai took over the conversation.

“I know you have a lot of questions to ask, but I have to tell you first that there are some things I can’t answer. If I go into too much detail, it will attract the attention of ‘that’ and all our efforts will be in vain.”

However, after saying that, he laughed again.

"However, apart from these, I can answer any other questions you may have, so feel free to ask."

Zhou You remained silent for a while, then spoke.

"Then let's start by telling you, Brother Shi, how you became the chosen one."

"Asking this as your first question? Oh well, that's just your personality."

Shi Dakai—or perhaps a phantom of Shi Dakai—strolled through this shattered world, his voice surprisingly relaxed.

"That was when I was sixteen or seventeen. As you know, my family was relatively well-off, so even though the Qing Dynasty was corrupt, I never went hungry. But as a young man, there were things I couldn't stand. Since I couldn't stand them, I decided to rise up in rebellion. And at that time, I happened to meet Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King, so I decided to rise up with him."

"But just a few years later, I discovered his problems, some that were hard to define but impossible to ignore. And just when I was feeling lost, I suddenly found an old bamboo slip at a street stall."

At this point, Zhou You paused for a moment, then asked.

"Bamboo slips? Aren't they black books?"

Shi Dakai shook his head.

"I can't go into the details, but this thing has taken on different forms in each dynasty. As far as I know, it was a bone fragment during the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and it transformed into a celestial book called the Taiping Yaoshu at the end of the Han Dynasty. But in any case, it has only one purpose."

"That is to correct the distortions in history."

"Then what is distortion?"

"Those things that should not exist in history are themselves distortions."

"Then I am."

However, after saying this, Shi Dakai shut his mouth, his meaning clear—what follows is taboo, and I cannot say more to you.

So Zhou You had to change the subject.

"Then tell me how you and that old lady ended up like this, and what does 'obsession' mean?"

Shi Dakai gave a wry smile—or rather, displayed an expression similar to a wry smile—and then said.

"Brother Zhou, how about I tell you a secret?"

"Ok?"

Shi Dakai straightened his expression and spoke.

"That old lady was actually already dead."

".What?"

Shi Dakai continued with a smile.

"I don't know what the history is like where you are, but here, the bloodshed of the Xinyou Coup was extremely brutal. Although all eight regents were executed, their close associates also stormed into the palace, killing Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Ci'an, Prince Gong, and even taking advantage of the chaos to storm the Imperial Clan Court and slaughter the entire imperial family."

"At that time, the Heavenly Kingdom was also in dire straits due to various factors, and I was almost captured. Fortunately, I finally persuaded the leader of the Suppression Bureau to tell him that the Qing Dynasty was the real evil. Then, with their help, we took advantage of the chaos to launch a final attack on Beijing."

At this point, Shi Dakai let out a long sigh, seemingly filled with endless resentment, yet also appearing to be nothing more than an ordinary laugh.

"That was the closest I ever came to success. If I had just taken one more step, I could have completely stopped it from happening."

"Unfortunately, at the last moment, Empress Dowager Cixi, who should have died, suddenly summoned the corrupted gods and Buddhas to descend to earth. Under their overwhelming power, not only were we all wiped out, but the people in the Zhenxie Division were also slaughtered. This was indeed my fault."

"You mean the golden statue I saw before? What power did Empress Dowager Cixi have to bring that thing into the world?"

Shi Dakai shook his head.

"You're wrong. Empress Dowager Cixi certainly didn't have that ability; it was the Qing Dynasty that did."

"Or rather, the Qing Dynasty was able to exist precisely because of this thing."

Zhou You frowned, then asked.

"Can you explain it?"

Shi Dakai did not refuse, but he pointed to the wine gourd hanging from Zhou You's waist.

"After talking for so long, can I have a drink? I haven't had a drop of alcohol since I was buried in that godforsaken place."

Zhou You untied the gourd and shook it—he hadn't had time to replenish the wine in the past few days, and there was probably only a little left in the gourd—

"Brother Shi also likes to drink?"

"To be honest, young man, I used to be someone who couldn't live without wine."

"But you're already like this, do you still have a mouth?"

Shi Dakai laughed.

"There are too many things you might not be able to taste, but the wine is alright."

Since things had come to this point, Zhou You casually tossed the gourd over.

Shi Dakai took it with his cloud-like hands, uncorked it, and took a big gulp. Although the wine leaked out of his body, he still shook his head and said.

"Great! Where were we?"

"The Qing Dynasty rose to power thanks to this thing."

"Yes, that's it."

Shi Dakai let out a long sigh and then said, "You probably don't know that at the very beginning of the Qing Dynasty, he almost perished due to internal strife. At that time, Huang Taiji had only recently ascended the throne when the princes seized the opportunity to launch a rebellion. This emperor of the Qing Dynasty was almost killed in Shengjing. However, at the last moment, he somehow managed to win the favor of the Heavenly Demon. In exchange for his descendants becoming the Heavenly Demon's followers and allowing chaos to spread throughout the world, he obtained this divine Buddha body from the Heavenly Demon. In the end, he was able to annihilate the alliance of the three princes. Of course, the official explanation was that they gradually divided each other."

—No, I have to say, your history is a bit too explosive, isn't it?

Zhou You's mind was also a little muddled. He caught the wine gourd that was thrown at him and took a swig—but suddenly, he thought of something else.

"Alright, since this thing was already being worshipped at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it's not surprising that Empress Dowager Cixi took it down. But this should be an absolute secret, so how do you know so much about it, brother?"

Shi Dakai was silent for a few seconds, then spoke.

“Young man, let’s go back to the beginning—do you know why I said that I and Empress Dowager Cixi were just an inescapable obsession?”

".Why?"

"It's very simple, we've all been completely destroyed."

Zhou You wanted to say something more, but Shi Dakai gently stopped him.

"As I said above, everything in the Qing Dynasty had already been mortgaged and there was nothing left to borrow. In order to get the golden statue of the gods and Buddhas to act, that old hag had no choice but to destroy all the dragon veins of the Qing Dynasty as a sacrifice. But she herself was only a mortal and naturally could not withstand the impact of the destruction of the dragon veins. So in the end, her soul and spirit were destroyed together."

"That thing on the dragon throne."

"This is what I'm going to talk about—although the old witch was completely destroyed, her obsession with the survival of the Qing Dynasty was beyond imagination. She managed to connect the two dead, Emperor Xianfeng and Emperor Zaichun, and create such a thing—but similarly, because it was so thoroughly distorted, it had long lost all consciousness and was left with only the simple idea of ​​wanting the Qing Dynasty to survive. And all its subsequent actions were only to carry out this obsession."

Zhou You remained silent for a moment, then continued.

"So, according to this logic, you're doing the same thing, bro?"

Shi Dakai agreed.

“That’s right. When I was suppressed by this thing, I also happened to come into contact with the true nature of Empress Dowager Cixi, learned everything about the Qing Dynasty, and also learned the method of preserving oneself through obsession—otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to survive to this day in that boundless purgatory.”

"But you don't look like you've lost your mind, brother."

Shi Dakai laughed.

"That's just how you see it. Back then, the leader of the Demon Suppression Division, in order to protect me and preserve this glimmer of hope, gave up the chance to escape alone and merged himself with me. That's why I can move and think now. But as I said before, his heart is still there, but mine is gone. Now I am just a bundle of obsession, an obsession to save the world, nothing more."

Zhou You stared at the ethereal figure before him and fell silent once more—but Shi Dakai seemed unconcerned, even humming a song as he walked.

I don't know what the song was; it wasn't complicated and didn't have many lyrics, but it made me feel exceptionally comfortable.

After a long while, Zhou You finally spoke.

"Brother Shi."

"Brother Shi."

“Alright, Brother Shi,” Zhou You said slowly. “Then I’ll get straight to the point and ask you one last question. Now that giant Buddha statue is standing there, and it looks like the entire Han land is about to be swallowed up by it. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with it?”

Shi Dakai suddenly laughed.

"Brother Zhou, please don't make things difficult for me. This is all I have left. It's the remains of a deity or Buddha, how could I possibly deal with it?"

Hearing this, Zhou You didn't panic. Instead, he tossed the wine pot over again—Shi Dakai also caught it with a smile and drank it down.

This man is clearly someone who has accomplished great things, yet he has absolutely no airs and is as approachable as a long-lost friend.

After he finished drinking, Zhou You laughed again.

"But you went to all this trouble, you couldn't have just gone to the trouble of getting a drink from me, could you?"

"If I said yes—okay, okay, no more joking around."

Shi Dakai shook his head and continued.

"Actually, it still depends on you."

Zhou You seemed slightly puzzled.

"Me? I was just squeezed and flattened by that thing, almost turned into a meatball. How am I supposed to deal with it?"

"Young Brother Zhou, do you know the name of that Buddha?"

"Namo Shuitian Buddha?"

"Then do you know what the Buddha's duties are?"

Zhou You had previously studied some Buddhist scriptures, but they were mostly basic stuff, and he didn't really understand the details of the religion.

Seeing him shake his head, Shi Dakai also smiled.

"This Buddha's original form is also known as Varuna. He is the guardian deity of the West, the Buddha of water, the Buddha of forgiveness, and also the Buddha of the Dragon King."

Zhou You's expression froze for a moment.

"You mean-"

"That's how it is. From now on, we'll have to rely on your Heavenly Dragon bloodline to deceive him. And..."

Halfway through his sentence, Shi Dakai suddenly pointed to his lower body.

"Young man, do you even know what's down below us?"

I know about this Zhou You; I even heard about him not long ago.

"Wan Yuan?"

"That's right, below is the Abyss of Ten Thousand Falls deep in the underworld. This place is a place of no return, and it has been mixed with all the chaos from the beginning of time. Even gods and Buddhas who are trapped in it will never be able to escape."

"so."

Shi Dakai raised his head.

"What we need to do is very simple."

“Control the deity, connect the two realms, push its Dharma body into it, and then it will be complete.”

Zhou You looked at Shi Dakai with the eyes of someone looking at a madman.

You make it sound so easy, but that thing is as tall as a mountain, and it has created its own Dharma realm. How am I supposed to push it in?
Do you think I'm Gonggong? I'd probably be smashed into a meat patty before I even get close!

Zhou You just stared at the other person without saying a word, until finally Shi Dakai laughed.

“Young Master Zhou, you don’t need to stare at me like that. I know this is putting you in a difficult position, so I will offer some assistance.”

"What help?"

"Although those people from the Exorcism Bureau have been freed, they can still hold on for a while before their souls are scattered along with mine. They can help you."

"Those skeletons burning with karmic fire? They could be considered an aid, but not enough."

"Although my temple is broken, its power remains. I can temporarily use the empowerment method to restore you to your full strength, or even further."

"Still not enough."

This time, Shi Dakai sighed.

Then, he raised his misty head and said something that sounded quite familiar.

"Young man, I don't know."

"Are you willing to become a Buddha?"

　I made a mistake with the Buddha before; the Buddha of the Dragon King should be Namo Shui Tian Buddha, not Namo Saluna Buddha. It has been corrected. Sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)