Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

The festival to welcome the gods must continue, no matter what situation the Li family is in. It must never be stopped halfway.

As long as this festival to welcome the gods continues, as long as our connection with the mountain god remains, we will remain who we are, and the Li family will continue to prosper.

Those who disappeared, those who are truly dead and cannot be brought back to life, are no longer part of us. Ha, they thought they could live by letting go of their leashes, but don't they know why they're still alive? Cross their names off. From the moment they left us, they had nothing to do with us anymore, and were no longer a part of Li Family Village.

If any of them dare to come back, kill them. Kill these nobodys.

Our sole mission is to perpetuate our clan. Therefore, anything other than the Mountain God, anything other than the power given to us by the Mountain God, will strip us of ourselves and is unnecessary to us.

Our Li family can only recognize the Mountain God as our sole deity!

Boom——

A pale flash of lightning streaked past the paper window, casting a brief burst of light into the room.

Gao Hai stopped in his tracks.

The corpse beside him stopped in its tracks.

You can sense that everyone has gathered together and that they are all here discussing the issue.

But it's not right.

That's not the case.

There's no one here.

At this moment, Gao Hai is the only person present here.

"Little Black Mountain...is it the mountain god?"

Gao Hai raised his head somewhat blankly, trying to sense it, but he couldn't feel the presence of that gaze.

The festival to welcome the gods was discontinued.

The connection between the mountain god and the village was severed.

The connection was severed, so the villagers of Lijia Village began to cease to be villagers.

It's disconnected, so things that were originally unable to return, but were driven by instinct to want to go back, can now return here.

The strange creature has no self.

Ultimately, these strange creatures are nothing more than the remnants of a dead person. They are not living beings; they only form clear or vague rules based on the inertia formed by memories and emotions from their previous life, combined with the power of the strange creatures.

So these corpses, without memory or clear form, are simply following inertia, trying to reclaim what they have lost.

As a villager who was unable to hold the welcoming ceremony for the gods, is it because I lost the protection I should have had, and because I still possess the land deed as proof of my identity, that I became a target?

It was aimed at myself from the very beginning.

Maki and the others might have become targets... No, that might have been the case initially, but now the target will only be me, only me who poses the highest threat. If it was impossible to ascertain the situation at the beginning, then my abilities and level of threat should have been quite clear in the previous operations, and my possession of the [land deed] should certainly have been discovered.

So that’s how it is… So that’s how it is…

"So, the Li family, who worshipped the mountain god of Xiaoheishan, first transformed from humans into monsters, and then from monsters back into humans, or rather, [believed] they had transformed back into humans?"

"Although we don't know what price we will have to pay to complete this transformation, there is no doubt that from now on, the lives of everyone in the Li family will be tied to the mountain god. You are like the mountain god's dogs, no, you are even worse than dogs, you are slaves, and the kind of slaves who could die suddenly if there is the slightest accident."

"Just like those who were banished, killed, and then transformed back into monsters, forgetting their true selves and becoming creatures that prey on others. You will also change in that direction, which is why you need fresh flesh and souls, and why you need to constantly hunt. Heh, I wonder how much you can still remember now?"

With a calm tone, Gao Hai looked up at the high platform in front of him, and at the disheveled man standing above him.

That's Li Ziyong.

Or perhaps two-thirds of Li Ziyong would be a more appropriate description, because one side of his cheek has lost its facial features, becoming blurred and indistinct, with skin that appears to be disappearing occupying about a third of his face, and this transformation is clearly still ongoing.

[You actually... were able to remain conscious despite being corrupted by so many "spirits"?!]

Li Ziyong's body was covered in wounds caused by various farm tools. His only remaining eye was bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse and unpleasant, completely unrecognizable from his original voice.

This is no longer the "Li Family Village" we just saw.

All the strange creatures summoned by the wreaths surrounding the village had their rules and powers forced to target Gao Hai, and after dark, they silently moved him to another hidden space.

This transformation process clearly bypassed the normal spatial transformation zone that Gao Hai had previously explored. Coupled with the excessively strong power of the strange creatures, Gao Hai was unable to react immediately. However, this level of power could not ultimately hold him captive for long. Even with the combined effect of multiple high-level strange creature powers, he eventually discovered the problem, broke free of his restraints, and regained consciousness.

"You seem to be quite badly injured. It seems those villagers don't really respect your leadership."

Gao Hai commented on the injuries on Li Ziyong's body.

"It was you...you stole the land deed and cast some kind of curse on me...This is impossible, there can't be anyone this strong among the players, how could you be so strong..."

Li Ziyong's eyes were bloodshot with hatred as he looked at Gao Hai, his gaze filled with a desire to tear Gao Hai apart. But after a brief moment of thought, he quickly realized the problem with Gao Hai and understood that he had kicked a real hornet's nest this time.

But why?

I haven't done anything yet, and I've never even seen this man before.

Why was he able to take the land deeds as if he had foreseen the future, transfer the entire village to another dimension to interrupt the welcoming of the gods festival, and even cast a curse on him so that he could not unite the villagers, leading to the worst possible outcome?

The man gritted his teeth and, facing Gao Hai who was surrounded by a large number of corpses not far away, took a step back.

It's impossible for me to defeat this man with my own strength.

Even if he were to unleash any monsters he could summon to attack him, it would be the same. This was destined from the moment he tried to summon the villagers who had died early to besiege Gao Hai, only to be eroded and awakened by the other party, facing him face to face.

Li Ziyong clearly understood this point.

Therefore, he chose the most correct measure he could think of.

[Mountain God, save me!]

Li Ziyong opened his arms and, at that moment, cried and begged like a child.

hum-

Unlike before, this time Gao Hai clearly felt the spread of a terrifying will.

This eerie, dark space seems to make it easier to summon the mountain god? Seriously, is there such a thing as calling for your parents in this fighting style?

Having clearly understood from the terrifying arrival that he was powerless against this thing, Gao Hai took out the land deed, the object of his obsession, in less than a second of thought.

"You little thief, those belong to the Li family!"

Li Ziyong roared from not far away, while Gao Hai simply raised the land deed high, activated its power, and after confirming his identity once again, shouted with a strong voice:

"Mountain God, save me!"

The next moment, a terrifying will descended… That will had always been here, its gaze split open, hmm? That gaze was scanning back and forth between the two summoners on the field, seemingly confirming their identities. Ah, that gaze stopped; now it wasn't seeing anything, just frozen in place… Ah, it seems to be stuck?

Chapter Sixty-Six: Unraveling the Mystery of the Little Black Mountain God and the Legendary Era

At this moment, Li Ziyong's expression completely lost control.

"you you……"

His eyes were wide open in anger, and his facial features even showed slight disarray at this moment, as if his eyes, nose, and other organs were about to fall off his face.

After Gao Hai followed suit and performed the same act of praying to the mountain god for power, and it actually worked, the man completely lost control. His terrifying posture made it seem as if he was about to rush up to Gao Hai and kill him with a knife at any moment.

Of course, he didn't actually do that. Although Gao Hai wasn't quite sure how he did it, this guy clearly knew he was no match for Gao Hai and remained remarkably calm, showing no intention of acting impulsively. Therefore, after a brief hesitation, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran away, disappearing into the darkness in a flash.

"I thought you were going to confront us head-on, but you just ran away like that?"

Gao Hai had initially been somewhat wary and tense after seeing Li Ziyong's twisted expression, worried that he might pull off some kind of boss-like second transformation. However, Li Ziyong's impotent rage followed by his escape left Gao Hai feeling rather bored. Nevertheless, this confirmed that the villagers living in this instance as "humans," once removed from the protection of village rules and the mountain god's power, were truly nothing, practically devoid of combat ability.

Are they ultimately just a bunch of trash who exploit powerful external forces? Looking at it that way, these villagers aren't even as good as those from Takamagahara. While Takamagahara was also trash, at least they could tamper with dungeons and manipulate some kind of power within them. But ultimately, according to the night watchman, these villagers are just a bunch of domesticated dogs. Expecting anything of awareness or ability from these guys is unrealistic, isn't it?

As Gao Hai pondered this, he looked at the corpses that were gradually gathering around him.

If he had hesitated and timidly acted before because he didn't understand these things, Gao Hai now doesn't care about them at all.

After all, he was already able to use another force to deal with these things.

"Please, esteemed mountain god, protect me, a villager of Lijia Village."

Holding the land deed, Gao Hai spoke in a low voice, and then felt a gentle gaze upon him, and felt a force slowly working within him.

As a result, the corpse that had previously eroded Gao Hai and whose body had become similar to Gao Hai's immediately returned to its original state, and the erosion damage on Gao Hai's body also disappeared without a trace.

Next, Gao Hai asked the mountain god to protect the other villagers who had been approached by the corpses. This time, he didn't see any effect, but Zhenfei and Qianhua quickly communicated with Gao Hai through their mental link and confirmed that all the victims in the village on the other side had returned to normal. Therefore, the harm caused by these suddenly appearing corpses was completely eliminated.

It can be considered a false alarm. I originally thought these corpses would be troublesome, but I didn't expect to be able to borrow the power of the [Little Black Mountain God] here.

Thinking this, Gao Hai looked up at his surroundings, but could only see a world that was almost completely dark.

He was now certain that the being known as the "Little Black Mountain God" was dead.

This might sound strange, but Gao Hai felt that if we define the life and death of an existence in terms of self-awareness and thinking ability, then the mountain god could indeed be considered dead. After all, this thing no longer possessed any concept of "self."

Gao Hai had some guesses about this before, but he didn't dare to say anything without verification. Now, after confronting Li Ziyong head-on and truly communicating with the power of the mountain god through the land deed, and feeling the emotional fluctuations contained within it, he was finally able to confirm this fact.

The "Little Black Mountain God" seems to be similar to Alice in essence, combining the extraordinary power of a monster with human self-awareness and wisdom. Now it is a pure monster and no longer has the ability to think.

Its current emotional responses are actually nothing more than a replication and feedback of the communicator's personality and thinking.

Therefore, when Li Ziyong, the patriarch of Li Family Village, communicates with the mountain god, the mountain god will have Li Ziyong's own personality biases. Thus, when Gao Hai comes into contact with the mountain god in this state, he will feel the vicious and twisted emotions and will, and may even be ridiculed.

When Gao Hai was parasitized by the power of the Blood Flower and stubbornly persisted in his actions, this state touched another person who had previously communicated with the Mountain God, thus causing the Mountain God to feel pity for him.

Once a person successfully establishes contact with the Mountain God of Little Black Mountain, their personality and cognition are created in the Mountain God's database, or rather, an operating system is generated. Under certain circumstances, the Mountain God will respond to specific situations using the personality template of this contact. Therefore, actions such as harming villagers or provoking the Mountain God will cause the Mountain God to activate Li Ziyong's personality template, resulting in Gao Hai being severely beaten or killed. The presence of the blood flower will activate another template… Hmm, Gao Hai suspects this is the result of something done by the person who suppresses evil spirits.

This personality template isn't something that can be established and finished with in a single connection; it requires continuous strengthening over a long period. Li Ziyong's Li Family Village has consistently strengthened its connection with the Mountain God through the rituals of the Welcoming the God Festival. Therefore, the Mountain God bestows various benefits upon them, which is why the Mountain God truly intervened and dealt a devastating blow to Gao Hai when he triggered the relevant rules. However, the contact person who is likely the one who suppresses the evil spirits has probably not strengthened their connection with the Mountain God for a very long time. Therefore, after Gao Hai is parasitized by the Blood Flower, the Mountain God will pity him, but that's all; they won't take any concrete action.

Discussing the biases of the mountain god and pondering what kind of god the mountain god is is actually meaningless.

This deity may have once possessed a self, but now all that remains of it is its terrifying power and rigid, inflexible response mechanism—nothing more.

As for why this being had become like this, Gao Hai suspected it might be related to the [Blood Flower]. After all, according to existing intelligence, it was very likely that the Mountain God suppressed this terrifying thing called the Blood Flower. And in order to combat the Blood Flower's all-pervasive corrosive infection, destroying its own thinking ability and leaving only a personality template that faced humans, this strategy might actually be somewhat useful.

Of course, most of the content was just Gao Hai's speculation, but being able to basically understand the essence of the Mountain God was already a huge surprise for Gao Hai.

The fact that Li Ziyong and his fellow villagers were able to establish a complex and effective connection with the mountain god is undoubtedly linked to the intricate rules of Li Village itself. So, if I wanted to establish the same connection with the mountain god—well, not necessarily at the same level, but at least a relatively stable one—perhaps I should consider some useful procedures, such as rituals or something…

slam-la-

Amidst the pounding rain, Gao Hai silently took a step forward.

He could feel that the pitch-black space was gradually dissipating, and he should be able to return to Zhenfei's side soon.

After being repelled by the mountain god's power, the corpses did not move forward. They simply wandered aimlessly around, as if searching for something, or perhaps they were simply lost.

Gao Hai knew that these corpses were essentially unfortunate souls who had lost their connection with the mountain god for various reasons, thus losing their human nature and becoming monsters. Including Li Ziyong, the reason all the villagers of Li Family Village were human and not monsters was ultimately due to the power of the mountain god. Without this external force, these villagers could no longer survive, so while they worshipped the mountain god, they were also bound together by the mountain god's rules and system.