Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 547 Miscellaneous Thoughts
(Sorry, I really can't delay any longer and I'm going to be hospitalized, but I'll try my best not to stop updating. However, the extra chapters for the donations from Brother Ancient Demon Prison and everyone else may have to be postponed for a while. If I feel better, I'll make up for it during my hospital stay. If not, I'm afraid I'll have to wait until I'm discharged. I'm really sorry.)

Although it was winter, Pingyang City was still not very cold.

This is actually quite normal. After all, although this place is a bit remote, it's not some bitterly cold place where water freezes instantly and you might not see snow for decades. Many people have lived most of their lives without ever even seeing snowflakes.

Most of the farm work has now been completed. Although most of it was deducted for incense money to be paid to the temple, thanks to the blessing of the Taoist priest, the harvest is at least decent, and the remaining amount is still enough for ordinary people to live a better life.

The saying goes, "When people are well-fed and warm, they think of lustful desires." Well, for these rough men who can't read a single word, this saying has nothing to do with them—but they can still afford to find a simple tavern, buy two jugs of the worst wine, and have two dishes of fennel beans to go with it.

As for those with a little spare money, they wouldn't choose places like this. Pingyang City isn't big, but it has several decent restaurants, and it's said that there are even former imperial kitchen staff—whether this is true or not is unknown, but at least in terms of taste, it's definitely unbeatable.

Moreover, the weather had been quite nice these past few days, with clear skies and not a drop of rain. As a result, the heads of several prominent families booked an entire floor of the most expensive and famous Ziming Tower, and found a private seat by the window to gather together, catch up with each other, and discuss future plans.

Now, we've just finished one round of drinks.

The dishes were all served, and the table was laden with all sorts of delicacies, including Phoenix Fetus, Guomenxiang, Shengpingzhi, Zhutouchun, and even many rare seafood delicacies from the mainland. Not to mention, any one of these dishes could be worth at least several months' worth of food for an ordinary family.

However, despite the table full of fine wine and delicacies, very few people actually touched their chopsticks.

These 'gentlemen,' whose every stomp could send shivers down the spines of those within a hundred miles, simply sat there, their faces full of worry, as if a thousand anxieties were weighing on their minds, to the point that they had no appetite whatsoever.

And so it went on for a while.

Seeing that everyone was just drinking their wine in silence, Mr. Xu, the initiator of the gathering and the wealthiest and most distinguished among them, could only cough twice before speaking.

"Hey everyone, it's rare for us to get together, why are you all so bored? Do you feel I haven't treated you well, and that's why you're holding a grudge?"

Upon hearing him speak, someone at the table finally bowed and smiled wryly.

"Mr. Xu is joking. You've already chosen Ziminglou as the venue, what could we possibly complain about? It's just that we don't have much of an appetite."

Even without being explicitly stated, Master Xu knew why these people—including himself—were so worried.

In the end, it was all caused by the grand ceremony of the Five Aggregates Temple.

Things are different now. Since the collapse of the Heavenly Dao and the loss of favor by the imperial court, the twenty-four prefectures of Han land have been basically divided up by various sects. It can be said that each sect is a veritable emperor-in-chief. Whether the people under their rule live or die, prosper or are wiped out, depends entirely on the mood of those cultivators.

Although they were called masters, in this day and age, they were not much better off than ordinary people. As long as they didn't enter the family, they still didn't have much control over their own destiny.

And now.
This view of the Five Aggregates is truly not peaceful.

—No, or rather, the whole world is not very peaceful.

After a long silence, someone picked up a fish lip, put it in their mouth, chewed it a few times without tasting it, and then spoke.

"Hey you guys, do you know that another group of people died on Waishan Road today?"

This finally got the conversation going, and one of them raised an eyebrow and said.

"I heard that seven or eight, or maybe ten or so, have died. This is the seventh such case in the last two weeks, isn't it?"

"There are fifteen, and it's not the seventh, but the eleventh."

A man who looked like someone from a government office picked up the wine jug, and instead of pouring it into a cup, he gulped down several mouthfuls.

"And the deaths were all more gruesome than the last. Although I didn't go there myself, according to the coroner, all of these people were skinned alive—and their skin was peeled off bit by bit. The murderer never intended to kill them cleanly; he just planned to torture them for pleasure."

"Who did that?"

Upon hearing this question, everyone looked at the questioner as if they were an idiot.

Who did it?

Who else could have done it? It must have been those old men from the temple!
As the saying goes, when gods fight, mortals suffer. Everyone knows that the two leaders in the temple are now locked in a fierce battle for the position of sect leader, resulting in the deaths of many people not only in the Five Elements Temple itself but also in the area under its jurisdiction.

But everyone knew the unspoken meaning, so no one dared to say anything more.

So after a long while, someone finally spoke up again, trying to get the information out of the box.

"Old Xu, I remember you had two nephews or nieces who married into the family, right? Is there any news about them?"

Upon hearing this, the surroundings immediately fell silent.

Old Master Xu stroked his long beard proudly and continued.

"Chengwen and Chengwu have only been in the sect for a few years, so I can't find out any information. Besides, they finally got into the temple, and I don't want to bother them with this matter so as not to delay their future."

His words were laced with smugness and disdain, yet none of the people around him objected; they all nodded in agreement with expressions of immense envy.

However, that's what they say, the most important thing now is to survive in this chaos, so soon someone cautiously spoke up again.

"But this can't go on forever. The grand festival is just around the corner, and if things continue like this..."

But before he could finish speaking, suddenly, another series of footsteps sounded.

The group immediately shut their mouths and looked up nervously.

—They all breathed a sigh of relief immediately.

There was nothing unexpected about it; it was just that the waiter led a customer to the third floor for a meal.

Wait a minute, something's not right. We've booked the whole floor, so how come another guest has arrived?

One of them called the waiter over and asked him a few questions—but the waiter's answer was quite eloquent.

"The downstairs area is full, so we have no choice but to let them come up and wait for a while. Please bear with us."

Look at that, that's some serious confidence!
In any other place, these wealthy gentlemen would have had the waiter thrown out of the building long ago—unfortunately, this Ziming Tower is said to be the property of a powerful figure in the temple, and they wouldn't dare cause trouble here even if they had eight lives.

So they could only watch helplessly as the waiter led the man to a seat and he sat down.

Fortunately, they were quite far away from them, so they weren't really in their way.

However, with outsiders around, it became difficult to discuss private matters. Everyone could only drink and eat, and before they knew it, the topic had shifted to other states.

"By the way, have you heard about what happened in Yizhou?"

"What is it?" "The complete extermination of the Hanshan Temple sect."

At this point, the atmosphere finally warmed up a bit.

"Is there anyone who hasn't heard of this? Although Hanshan Temple isn't large, it still controlled an area of ​​several hundred miles. Yet, it suddenly disappeared overnight. I heard it offended some great evil spirit?"

Upon hearing this speculation, someone immediately scoffed.

"You can't even hear correctly. The one that was destroyed by the Great Ghost was the Wusheng Sect, okay? Although it was also a sect, it was much worse than Hanshan Temple."

The person who spoke was also unconvinced and immediately retorted.

"So that's how you found out?"

The man who scoffed said.

"Of course I know. My brother-in-law's great-uncle's childhood friend's grandson works as a handyman at Hanshan Temple, so naturally he knows a lot of inside information."

It was clearly a distant relative, yet, just like before, it still elicited a rather subtle sigh.

The man, just like Master Xu, spoke with a smug expression.

"He also escaped from the temple a few days ago. According to him, the temple was originally meant to enshrine some great deity named the Peerless Buddha of the Purgatory, who was invincible and capable of destroying heaven and earth."

"Cough cough cough cough!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a violent cough suddenly came from not far away.

Looking up again, I realized that the young man seemed to be suffering from tuberculosis, pounding the table and coughing so hard that it was dizzying.

What the hell is this guy doing?

At the same time, they finally noticed the young man's clothing.

It wasn't exactly shabby, but it certainly wasn't luxurious either; in any case, it was definitely not up to the standard of the Ziming Tower.

He's probably someone who's finally saved up some money and wants to enjoy life while he's young, right?
They had seen some young people like this who pretended to be rich despite being poor, so apart from a bit of disdain, they didn't pay much attention and instead changed the subject back to what they had been talking about before.

"Where were you talking about?"

"Please invite that Buddha who is invincible and capable of destroying the world."

"Yes, yes, that's it." The man slammed his hand on the table and continued showing off, "The Hanshan Temple had a perfectly good plan. If they could really invite such a great deity to descend to earth, they would be able to rule the entire prefecture. Who would have thought that at the most crucial moment, they would be suddenly attacked by foreign enemies?"

It must be said that although this person's story was utterly absurd, he did have some talent for storytelling. His words were full of ups and downs, so much so that even the young man next to him couldn't help but listen attentively.

With an audience, the man's enthusiasm grew even higher.

"The person who launched the sneak attack was also quite remarkable; she was Yan Feidie, a former lover of the abbot of Hanshan Temple, known as the Soul-Eating Demoness."

"Cough cough cough cough cough!!!!"

Another series of coughs followed.

After being interrupted twice, these people became angry, and some of them immediately tried to slam their fists on the table—but were quickly pulled back down.

It's not worth it for such a young brat who hasn't even grown up yet.

So the narrator simply gave a vicious glance—which earned him an even more innocent look—and continued speaking.

"Yan Feidie was said to be an unparalleled beauty, capable of captivating a city with a single smile and a nation with a second. Countless men were at her feet. Yet, she fell deeply in love with the abbot of Hanshan Temple. Alas, her affections were unrequited. For the sake of his sect's future, the abbot of Hanshan Temple ultimately parted ways with Yan Feidie. The enchantress, consumed by love turned to hatred, deliberately chose this crucial moment and stormed into Hanshan Temple, ultimately leading to the complete annihilation of the entire temple."

For a moment, everyone fell into silence.

After a long while, someone finally raised their glass and sighed.

"The ancients said that beautiful women are a source of trouble, and now it seems that's certainly true. Come, come, don't just stand there, let's drink! I'll toast you first, Brother Meng!"

After this, the guy surnamed Meng immediately became the center of attention, even temporarily replacing the old man in the main seat.

However, Master Xu seemed completely oblivious, not caring at all, and simply played with the emerald green wine cup in his hand with a faint smile.

After several rounds of drinks, when everyone was somewhat tipsy, he finally spoke.

"By the way, didn't you all say before that you had some concerns about things at the temple?"

Upon hearing this, the lively atmosphere cooled down again.

Someone gestured with their eyes, indicating that there were outsiders present and they didn't want to give others cause for gossip—but Old Master Xu just smiled inexplicably and spoke slowly.

“What I just said is indeed true. The rules in the temple are strict, and it is impossible to pass messages—but then again, if you come in person, then it doesn’t matter.”

For a moment, everyone else was stunned.

After a long pause, someone finally spoke.

"Mr. Xu, what do you mean?"

The old man, with a mysterious—or rather, extremely pretentious—smile, was about to speak again.

Otherwise.

His words were interrupted once again.

This time, the waiter carried the tray up from downstairs, went to the young man, and served him all the dishes.

That's what they say, but it was just two plates of the cheapest stir-fried dishes and a pot of warmed Shaoxing wine.

Given Ziminglou's standards, even the cheapest item couldn't be that bad, but in the eyes of this wealthy gentry, it was still just a low-class item.

So after glancing at it, Old Xu continued speaking.

"Chengwen and Chengwu happen to have a day off recently, and given these turbulent times, I've set aside my pride and invited them to come and pay their respects to the elders. Judging by the time, they should be arriving soon."

(End of this chapter)