I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Chapter 183 Straw fire is also straw!
The shouts of the surrounding crowd were so loud that it took Roland a long time to hear Old John's cries.

He followed Old John's finger and looked at the statue behind him, his expression becoming extremely strange.

He found that there was something wrong with the statue behind him, and there seemed to be a few more scarecrows in the crowd.

Thinking about it carefully, Roland broke out in a cold sweat.

The crowd around was still scrambling for money. Roland carefully walked through and came to Old John.

He asked quietly, "How did these people manage to re-carve the statue in such a short time?"

Old John was also convinced. He looked at the empty hall behind Roland and said, "Master, there's no one here! Don't go crazy, I'm so scared!"

When Roland heard this, sweat started to flow down his face.

He turned around and looked at the hall again, then his whole body shook slightly and his face turned pale.

This is not some magnificent cathedral.

This is the remains of a building that was burned down to its skeleton.

How can anyone come here to worship?
Apart from the scarecrows, Roland saw no one.

No matter what magic he used, he couldn't detect anyone.

The benches, curtains, and chains in the hall were swaying slowly in the wind.

They became quieter and quieter, and gradually, the hall returned to dead silence.

Roland was completely numb at this moment, and a thought flashed through his mind—everyone was looking at him!
Because the money has been divided!

He hurriedly threw out a few more handfuls of silver coins, and the wind became stronger, and the curtains and chains began to sway again.

Roland breathed a sigh of relief.

The mystery here is essentially a human desire.

This was once a small town full of desires.

The lords here are greedy, the townspeople are greedy, and the bishops and priests are even greedier!

The bishop was a very clever man. In order to build such a magnificent church in this small, shabby place, he joined forces with the lords and townspeople and came up with a clever idea.

This trick is called "trading straw for gold".

To use Roland's words, it is a "pyramid scheme", a "pig killing scheme" or a "Ponzi scheme".

Afterwards, a magnificent church was built, and the residents of the town lived in large three-story villas with high pointed roofs.

This "straw for gold" movement grew bigger and bigger, and the bubble became bigger and bigger, almost affecting the entire small kingdom.

A real wizard was lured here and built a wizard tower far away from the town.

Gradually, the people of Straw Town accumulated more and more wealth, while the people of the kingdom could only use straw as gold and silver.

But the people in the kingdom firmly believed that the straw was gold and silver, and tried every means to "exchange straw for gold" with the surrounding kingdoms.

But if we are a little more sober and can keep a little rational, how can we believe in the dream of exchanging straw for gold?
The surrounding kingdoms naturally did not believe it.

This absurd bubble shattered with just a slight rub.

Suddenly, the kingdom was filled with grief, and angry people rushed into Straw Town and burned it into ruins.

Then, the wizard planted a prison seed.

This prison seed was planted in the ghosts of the thousands of Straw Town residents who died in the fire.

Then, he gathered together all the stories related to 'straw' in the kingdom over the years, as well as all the desires of the people, and watered this prison seed.

The prisoner species used the thousands of townspeople who were burned to death as soil, and thrived in desire and obsession.

As a result, Straw Town slowly turned into a place of disaster and evil.

Fortunately, a Black Abyss wizard passed by and fought a duel with the Twilight wizard, preventing the prisoner from growing.

Seeing that the Prisoner Seed had grown useless and his disciple had failed to become an Immortal, the Twilight Wizard knew that the Seed had grown useless and was no longer useful. He beat his chest and stamped his feet, fighting with the Black Abyss Wizard for a long time, and was finally driven away.

But he left behind a huge mess.

The Black Abyss Wizard couldn't handle the mess by himself, so he called a group of friends.

So, a group of Black Abyss and White Chess Tower Masters came together and came up with many tricks. In a subtle way, they quietly contained this "disaster" in the mirror in the Straw Town Church, and then sealed the mirror in the church.

The entire process of containment and sealing is simple to describe, but it is very complicated when it is actually carried out.

He pulled out all the hair of Godric, the master of the Crab-Eyed Elephant Tower, which was not much to begin with.

He also pulled off a lot of scales from the body of the Snake Tower Master, Master Wusak.

However, this group of powerful people can be said to have fulfilled their mission. Before the straw disaster could develop and affect anything else, it was dealt with by everyone at a minimal cost.

As two participants, 'Godric' and 'Usak' both have a strong sense of responsibility.

They felt that others were unreliable, so they all wanted to place their sons or disciples here to guard the refugees.

On the one hand, they regard protecting people as an honor.

On the one hand, those who guard here can comprehend the mysteries of this place, which is of great benefit to those who take the mysterious magic route.

The task of guarding the seal went on for a long time and finally fell on Roland's head.

He is the youngest in the family.

Master Usak was also proud of his youngest disciple.

He favored Roland and had high hopes for him.

Mentor Usak was very confident about the seal of Straw Town. After all, it was something he and a few of his buddies did together.

Not to mention the villagers in the surrounding area, even if a group of wizards came, they would rack their brains and still couldn't figure out how to get the thing in the mirror out.

Even if Instructor Usak came in person, it would still take some effort and at least two or three days to release those things.

But if Roland, the mentor of Usak, was here today, and saw Roland looking in the mirror, seeing Roland using the method of throwing money, ordering straw to repair this place, and other mysterious operations, he would definitely give Roland a big thumbs up and be amazed by his genius idea.

Then the mentor will roll up his sleeves and slap the traitor to death with one palm!

With a crisp sound, a chain in the church broke.

The second and third ones follow.

As the chains broke, a strong wind began to blow in the hall.

Afterwards, the church, which had been burned to a skeleton, recovered to its original state at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The church that Roland had seen gradually appeared before him and Old John.

It is an art palace built by gathering people's wisdom.

It also gathers people's good wishes.

But the flesh and blood of this art palace were built by the blood and sweat squeezed out of the people of the entire small country.

Those who come here to worship are not worshipping some devout faith, but the desires in their hearts.

This magnificent palace cannot bring any good to people, nor can it feed those who died because of it.

It's like a gorgeous bubble, all show and no substance.

It also looked like a luxurious straw house, seemingly magnificent, but actually made of straw! "My lord, why is this church made of straw?!" Old John's legs were shaking with fear, but the lord didn't let him leave, so he didn't dare to leave. He was afraid that he would be inexplicably turned into straw like those slave traders.

"Who knows!" Roland was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He didn't dare to stop and continued to throw silver coins. After a short pause, the hall suddenly became quiet.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.
Strange noises gradually appeared in the hall, as if countless dry snakes were crawling on the ground.

Roland took a closer look and his eyes suddenly went dark.

He saw a lot of straw spreading out from the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the center of the hall!
At this moment, Roland suddenly had an idea.

"Hey! How dare you tease your lord?!"

Roland suddenly cursed, pointing to the dome of the hall above his head, "I said I wanted to build a church, and you guys are trying to trick me with straw mats?"

"You don't want the reward?"

"Master, I have prepared 10,000 gold and 100,000 silver for you!"

"What? The material is good? As valuable as the gold and silver I threw?"

"fart!"

"Can gold and silver be burned?"

"If this church is set on fire, won't it burn down?"

"Light up the candles in the silver candlesticks for me, and I'll give you a reward!"

With a clang, a straw silver candlestick moved, and then a flame woven with straw appeared on it. Immediately afterwards, the whole church was set on fire!

The fire grew bigger and bigger, but this fire was made of straw!
The straw fire continued to spread in the hall, and the chairs in the hall shook violently, as if people were running around in panic.

Roland noticed that as the straw fire grew bigger, less and less straw came out of the mirror!
really!

All the straw materials come from mirrors!

In just a short while, the entire straw hall was engulfed in flames.

Roland stopped throwing silver coins, because the desire to survive is also a desire! A stronger desire.

"Master, what's going on? How can straw fire light straw?" Old John didn't understand, but was shocked.

The young master patted his clothes and said, "Because, that straw is desire! It is like fire. As long as someone stimulates it a little, it will burn. I will tell you the details later. Let's go."

Old John swallowed and said, "Is it all right? The straw fire in the hall is getting bigger and bigger!"

Old John was worried that the raging straw fire would grow stronger and stronger as it burned more and more, and then catch up with the two of them and even bring disaster to the entire kingdom.

The young master laughed and said, "No, because the fire will go out. Besides, didn't you see someone putting out the fire?"

Old John: “???”

The young master sighed, "Alas, their desire to survive is no match for their obsession with the church. Don't worry, it's all right. Those straw fires will die out after spreading to a certain extent."

After that, the straw outside the mirror disappeared."

There was one thing the young master didn't tell old John.

That is, the straws never really disappear, because they are desires, and desires are endless.

However, when the straws in the mirror grow enough, they will continue to rebuild the church for the reward, but they will never be able to build a church that will not be burned. So, desire is once again trapped in the church.

The church will always be in a cycle of rebuilding, burning, and rebuilding.

Because these scarecrows will never remember the pain of the fire. After the fire is extinguished, they will remember the reward money and start weaving the church. Then they will weave the fire on the silver candlestick.

But once the fire was started, the whole church would be set on fire again.

Therefore, the church will continue to cycle through reconstruction and burning, and the scarecrow will be trapped in the church forever.

Mysteries cannot be sealed, but they can seal themselves.

Instructor Usak and his men used this logic to seal the camel's back.

The young master said that there was a problem with the teachers' seal, but based on the mentors' methods, he came up with a new crooked idea to patch the hole he had poked.

When the young master took old John out of the church, he was drenched in cold sweat.

The mystery in Straw Town is essentially desire and obsession.

Fear is also a desire, the desire to survive!
The prisoner seeds are planted in the ghosts of thousands of dead people. The ghosts all have one thing in common - they are obsessed with memories and afraid of memories.

Based on these things, the young master used his own crooked ideas and took a gamble. He escaped the disaster and walked out of the church, but he also forgot something.

Just as the young master was secretly sighing in his heart, he suddenly discovered that the entire town was in ruins!
What made him even more frightened was that there were several scarecrows in the ruins of the town.

How dare he just wander around here leisurely? He quickly took out his flint and turned into a flame with Old John, and flew out of the town.

Next to the carriage outside the town, he folded a raven and drove it to fly into the town and circled for a while.

With the help of the raven's eyes, he observed the town for a while, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"I told you before that if you stay here, you'll get 20 silver coins as a settlement allowance. I don't know how those scarecrows escaped from the church, but they don't seem to want to leave town just for the 20 silver coins."

'They're rebuilding the town.'

"Because I said before, this place needs maintenance. It needs repairs. Only if the work is done well can you receive the 20 silver coins."

"They're useless. They build a town and then it burns down."

The young master shook his head.

This group of scarecrows were once a group of black-hearted liars.

But this little lord is even more evil-hearted.

After all, the feudal lords are more ruthless. The scarecrows are afraid that they will never be able to leave this town.

Although the scarecrow could not leave the town for the time being, in order to prevent people from accidentally entering the town and getting killed, and to prevent some passing wizards from discovering that they had caused trouble, the young master came up with a trick.

He ate a fire vine root, then took out a small silver pot and injected magic power into it, trying to release the ghost fog.

However, this magical object was extremely difficult to use, as if it was not his own.

He drank several bottles of magic potion in a row, and the ghost fog finally covered the town. But if he wanted to achieve the same effect as the "Dal Town Mountaintop" and hide the entire town, he would need several days.

At this time, it was already dark.

This job could not be completed in one day, so he called Old John and took him to the Wizard Tower.

Old John is still shivering all over, and he is still frightened.

The young master comforted him a lot.

It wasn't until the two of them were almost at the wizard tower that Old John's emotions calmed down.

This guy is really awesome. If an ordinary person were tormented like this by the little master and the scarecrows, he would be scared to death if not crazy.

But as for Old John, apart from getting his pants dirty, nothing happened to him.

As the young master got out of the car, he finally said to him, "Well, so I am the wizard lord here. Sent by the White Queen, the 'White Moon Lady' you all worship. What I did just now was standard procedure when borrowing the power of Lady Helaka. I wasn't going crazy."

Old John said, "Ah, yes, yes, sir, whatever you say is right."

As they chatted, both of them vaguely felt that something was wrong.

(End of this chapter)