I become a god in another world

Chapter 649 Reincarnation
Chapter 649

This scene sent chills down everyone's spines, and they dared not utter a word.

But the writhing of the black mist did not stop, and yet another villager was chosen and swept into the bench.

Soon after, like the first villager, he collapsed on the bench, like a piece of waste that had been drained of nutrients.

Compared to Zhao Fusheng's group, the villagers of Bailici outnumbered the group, giving them a greater chance of being selected.

Within half an hour, seven or eight people had collapsed beside the benches.

Their bodies were piled on top of each other, and when the last person slid down, he lay on top of the villager in front of him, his limbs unsupported, his skeletal arms dangling in mid-air.

Even though Fan Wujiu had been involved in numerous ghost cases and was much bolder than last year, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he moved closer to Zhao Fusheng:

"Sir, are they dead?"

Zhao Fusheng didn't reply, but Wu Ciping answered in a curt tone:

"no!"

After he finished speaking, he took a breath and then cleared his throat:
"Old Niu, have you recovered yet? If you have, get up and make room for others. Don't block the way for carrying goods, or it will affect the master's selection of people."

His shout had an effect comparable to that of a miracle doctor.

The villagers, who had been on the verge of death, immediately sat up in shock upon hearing the words "affecting the master." They spit pink saliva as they frantically crawled away from the blood-red bench.

"Damn lazybones, get out of here now that you're awake! You're disrupting the ritual and you'll lose merit. Do you even want a good life in your next life?" Wu Ciping shouted.

Chen Duozi was kind-hearted, and upon hearing this, he couldn't bear it and said:

"Lord Wu, why are you rushing us so quickly? They look so pitiful. Just now, just now, that was a ghost sucking their blood—"

"Watch your words!" Wu Ciping shouted sternly.

Zhao Fusheng said:

"Lord Wu must be a kind-hearted person with a cold exterior."

As soon as she said this, Wu Ciping snorted coldly:
"I was just doing my job."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head:
"The increase or decrease of merit points depends on the master's mood. You urged these people to leave because you were afraid that they would affect their own merit points."

Upon hearing this, Chen Duozi suddenly realized what was going on.

Looking at Lord Wu with his cold face again, one could actually see the kindness hidden beneath his expression.

"How much merit they accumulate is none of my business; it's all up to their own destiny. Get out of the way, don't block the way. Who knows when it might be my turn—"

Before he finished speaking, a surge of black energy swept over and tightly bound Wu Ciping.

What's meant to happen will happen—

As soon as he uttered these words, countless thick black liquids poured down from the top of his head, flooding his eyes and nostrils, and instantly blotting his mouth and tongue.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wu Ciping transformed into a bizarre and terrifying 'person' who was entirely black, without eyes, ears, or nose, and only had a mouth, and slowly walked towards the bench.

"My original name was Wu Ciping. I was originally a demon tamer in the Jingdong Town of the capital, commanding calamity-level ghosts. I was ordered by the capital to guard Lizhou."

Wu Ciping began to slowly recount his life story.

These words were clearly no secret—he had probably said them countless times in numerous such rituals, large and small. The terrifying ghost vines were not interested in these matters; they burrowed into his head, forcefully drilling and churning within his brain and chest.

Wu Ciping's brain matter flowed out from his eye sockets along with the black mist. The brain matter had been pulverized, leaving only remnants and fragments, which were faintly gray.

But the strange ghost vines regarded it as a treasure and swallowed it into the shadows.

"..."

Fan Bisi swallowed hard, feeling nauseous.

"Old Ding, are you... are you sure you want to stay in Wuqing County and live forever?"

As if by some strange twist of fate, Fan Bisi suddenly opened his mouth and called out to Ding Datong. Ding Datong shook his head in utter terror, as if he had seen a ghost.

He was filled with regret.

In the archives of the Demon Suppression Division that day, Zhao Fusheng had given him another option.

If he hadn't been tempted by growth and made the same choice as Tao Lifang and the others, would he have avoided being caught up in this terrifying calamity in Wuqing County?
……

Once the Ghost Vine tasted the remaining human brain, it became even more ferocious, almost tearing Wu Ciping's head off.

However, his buttocks were firmly stuck to the blood-red bench by a mysterious force, and the combined force of these two completely opposite forces almost caused Wu Ciping to be decapitated.

His neck was stretched out, and even though his face was covered by thick black liquid, you could still see that he was contorted in pain.

But he kept talking:
"...I stood up for my brother and offended Cheng Mengyin. When I was reincarnated, he specifically instructed me to be exiled to Baili Temple."

Upon hearing the crucial information, Zhao Fusheng finally made a move:
"Rescue!"

The black vine mist burrowed into Wu Ciping's nostrils, tearing his flesh apart. Pale pink blood spilled out, but was quickly absorbed by the vine mist.

Upon hearing her speak, Liu Yizhen's eyes flashed with golden light.

Several points of golden light swam in his eyes like small fish. His eyelids, nose, and lips instantly turned golden, as if cast in bronze. When he took a step forward, he landed with a 'thud,' which made the black vines on the ground tremble.

Wang Zhiyi was deeply shocked, and Jiang Jinshan's face froze instantly.

A few golden glints appeared in his beady eyes, and his eyelids and lips turned gold, as if they had been sealed away in an instant.

Wang Zhiyi felt as if the back of her head weighed a thousand pounds, as if someone was pulling on the back of her head, causing her to involuntarily tilt her head back.

Liu Yizhen's power has a profound deterrent effect on evil spirits.

Ghost Vine paused, and Er Fan also moved.

The two men each stepped forward and extended a hand.

The two men held a blood-red umbilical cord in their palms and used it to bind the black vines.

These blood umbilical cords are incredibly powerful. The moment they come into contact with the black vine, scale-like patterns appear on the cords, and a ferocious ghost head emerges between each scale, tearing at the black vine and swallowing it whole.

"..." When the two Fans first saw the power of the blood umbilical cord, they were also startled. They instinctively tried to shake it off, but the blood umbilical cord seemed to be connected to their bodies and they could not shake it off.

The two brothers gritted their teeth and struck again, peeling off the ghost vines that were wrapped around Wu Ciping one by one.

With outside help, Wu Ciping immediately came to his senses and hurriedly reached out to grab and pull at the ghost vine.

But his power was incredibly weak in the face of the vengeful ghost, and he was completely unable to shake this enormous creature.

"Lord Wu, use the power of the ghost!"

Meng Po spoke up to remind her.

Wu Ciping paused.

Decades had passed, and he had long forgotten that he was once a ghost tamer. Now, upon hearing Meng Po's reminder, he couldn't even remember how to control ghosts.

In the end, it was Zhao Fusheng who made the move. She reached out and grasped a pale white ghost whip in her palm.

With a whooshing sound, the ghost whip struck the spreading ghost vines, leaving marks wherever it went, causing the ghost vines to flee in fear.

With her help, Erfan's pressure suddenly eased, and then he used the blood umbilical cord to whip and break the ghost vines binding Wu Ciping, pulling him up from the blood-red bench.

Wu Ciping breathed a huge sigh of relief as soon as he got off the bench.

After the ritual, he seemed momentarily dazed, as if his memories were being reconstructed.

After a long while, Wu Ciping finally came to his senses, his expression weak:

"you--"

He hesitated, then finally sighed:
"You've gotten yourselves into a huge mess." Zhao Fusheng put away the ghost whip and examined him carefully:
"Lord Wu, I just saw these ghostly vines burrow into your brain, pull out some brain matter, and devour it—"

Wu Ciping gave a wry smile:
"This is all I have left to save."

He lowered his eyes, remained silent for a long while, and then sighed:

"Things have come to this point, and I may not be able to escape Wuqing County. While I still have some fighting spirit left, I'll just tell you directly."

He said:
“Every time there is a sacrifice, the master will choose someone to sit on the load. Once you sit on it, the tentacles of these gods will reach into your mind, take away your memories, and record them in the laws of the gods and spirits,” he paused, “I call it the merit book of the gods and spirits.”

Zhao Fusheng pondered: "The vengeful ghost devours the flesh and absorbs the memories."

The villagers who were watching were shocked when they heard this.

Wu Ciping's lips moved, but in the end he did not refute her and tacitly agreed with her statement.

After saying this, Zhao Fusheng felt a sense of doubt:

"Lord Wu, according to your logic, if a person's body is devoured by a vengeful ghost, their brains will be pulled out, and their internal organs will be empty, right?"

"..." Wu Ciping remained silent.

Zhao Fusheng then understood and asked:

"If a person is just skin and bones, with no flesh and blood left, can they still be considered alive?"

She pressed further:
"Lord Wu, are you still alive?"

She asked three questions in a row, leaving Wu Ciping speechless until he finally had no choice but to say helplessly:

"I don't know, I don't know if my situation counts as living. Anyway, I still walk, talk, do things, and eat every day, just like before, but—"

He shook his head:
“But the situation here is different. I don’t know if I’m alive. Normally I should be dead, but I’m still here. You can see that, but we can’t get out of Wuqing County.”

"What do you mean by 'can't get out'?" Zhao Fusheng asked curiously.

Wu Ciping said:

“I tried it before. Walking in one direction, the further you go, the more you get lost in the ghostly fog. After circling around in the fog for a long time, you still end up back in Wuqing County.” He sighed deeply.
"I later learned that doing this would diminish my merit."

He looked at Zhao Fusheng with a complicated expression:
“Lord Zhao, I am very grateful for your saving me, but it’s all in vain. There are too many sacrifices here, every month. In many places, it’s a cycle every three to five days. The more sacrifices a place has, the higher the contribution. In future reincarnation, the higher the merit value, the greater the benefit.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said:
"According to you, doesn't this mean one can neither live nor die?"

Wu Ciping said:

"almost."

"In Wuqing County, everyone's purpose in life is to please the master and the gods."

As soon as Zhao Fusheng finished speaking, Wu Ciping nodded again: "That's right."

Zhao Fusheng then said:
“Lord Wu, if I may be so bold, what you said is a paradox.”

Wu Ciping was stunned for a moment:
"How do you say this?"

Zhao Fusheng explained:

"As you said, merit points are very important. Accumulating merit points is not about doing good deeds and getting good results, but about holding sacrifices and pleasing the gods and deities in order to accumulate merit points."

Wu Ciping nodded:
"Yes."

"I think your so-called sacrifice is just feeding ghosts with your own flesh and blood, isn't it?" Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

Wu Ciping, steeling himself, replied again:

"Almost, nearly so."

"They feed their own flesh and blood to ghosts in exchange for merit, just so they can be reincarnated in the next life and live a good life," Zhao Fusheng concluded.

Wu Ciping could almost guess what she was going to say next:
"Yes."

"After you've achieved a good life, do you still need to hold ancestral rites?" Zhao Fusheng asked him bluntly.

Wu Ciping was stunned.

The answer is self-evident.

In Wuqing County, the master (Master Chang) is the god. Everyone below the Chang family is just nourishment for the evil spirits in this county. No matter what their status, everyone needs to make offerings to the 'gods' and the 'master'.

“You’ve spent your whole life striving and plotting, and no matter where you are, you still have to hold sacrifices. You yourself are one of the sacrifices. What good is accumulating merit?” Zhao Fusheng turned to look at Wu Ciping and said:

"According to you, the people here won't die; they just can't leave Wuqing County. So why struggle to accumulate merit? The worst that can happen in reincarnation is this—"

"No no no."

Wu Ciping shook his head in horror:
“You’re wrong. We’re bad right now, but not the worst. The worst is to be a slave. Once you’re a slave, you’ll be killed, and your flesh and bones will be made into tools and playthings for your master’s use. That’s when you can’t live and can’t die.”

Er Fan held his arms, but he kept waving his hands.

"Lord Zhao, you must understand that these people are still conscious and alive. If they don't have enough merit points, they will become slaves, and their heads will be made into stools, wine vessels, gongs, drums, and whistles. They will never be able to reverse this fate and will be used by others."

His words were chilling.

Chen Duozi simply couldn't imagine that such cruel torture existed in the world, where death didn't count, and living, conscious people were turned into objects.

If it were to become an object, yet retain its consciousness, that would be incredibly terrifying.

Zhao Fusheng's face darkened:
"Is the situation in Wuqing County really that bad?"

Wu Ciping shook his head:
"There's no way out. Once you're in, you can't get out. You'll be trapped here." After saying that, he was filled with regret.

"Why come looking for me? Why enter this place? What karma are you trying to get involved in? Lord Fengdu—" He called out 'Fengdu's' name twice, then cried again:

"Lord Fengdu has been so kind to me, but alas, I—"

"Stop howling."

Zhao Fusheng interrupted Wu Ciping without hesitation:

"Feng Du only said a few words; we did the work. If you want to thank someone, don't thank the wrong person."

"..."

Wu Ciping gave a weak smile, and Zhao Fusheng said:

"Let's resolve the current predicament first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

"Is it possible to turn back?" This thought crossed Wu Ciping's mind.

He had spent a long time in Wuqing County and had hit countless walls, his beliefs had long been shattered, but Zhao Fusheng's firmness at this moment gave him a strange feeling. He hesitated for a long time, but still nodded.

As Er Fan carried him down, the golden glint in Liu Yizhen's eyes disappeared.

Without the combined efforts of the people of Wan'an County to obstruct it, the Ghost Vine has revived once again.

The shadows underground writhed and crawled like snakes.

Zhao Fusheng looked at Wang Zhiyi:

"Lord Wang, the two of us are strong. If we are chosen as tribute later, we should hold out a little longer and see what the consequences are."

Wang Zhiyi gave a soft snort:
"I won't lose to you, and I'll at least last longer than you."

Zhao Fusheng chuckled softly and remained silent.

The interrupted ritual restarted, the ghost vine returned to the blood-red bench, and the ritual began again.

The villagers who had been absorbed by the ghost vines earlier had recovered and returned to the group like walking corpses—they were the waste products absorbed in this ritual, and this ritual had passed safely.

(End of this chapter)