Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 96 Xuan Yuan Daoist
—Like the sound of a paper-shelled walnut cracking open.

The old Taoist's skull shattered with a bang under the wooden mallet, just like the two in the pig demon's lair.

Lightweight, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.

However, there was nothing inside.

There were no babies, no centipedes; it was empty, as if nothing had ever existed there.

This is the essence of the old Tao—from the very beginning, it was nothing.

With that, the story comes to an end.

But what should I do next?
Zhou You carefully prepared the old Taoist's remains before looking up.

Inside the main hall, dappled sunlight streamed down, illuminating the still-abandoned halls.

The story seems to have come to an abrupt end here, leaving me with only two choices: either cross Youtai Mountain and flee towards Cangzhou, or return to Changhua County and seek refuge with the Zhenxie Division.

"but."

He looked around.

“Normally speaking, is this old Taoist? Master has been guiding us all the way here, there must be a key plot point here—moreover, the curse of the taro worm transformation and the Yin Ghost feeding song on me has not yet been lifted.”

"So there's definitely something wrong here, and the only clue is..."

Zhou You's gaze finally settled on the headless body sitting cross-legged.

The other person seemed oblivious, not moving an inch since entering the room, just like a real corpse.

Zhou You looked at it for a while, and then seemed to have discovered something. A look of speculation gradually appeared on his face. He took a few steps forward and then bowed to the headless body.

"I am Zhou You, here to deliver my master's head back to his hometown. I pay my respects to Master Xuan Yuan."

No one answered.

The headless corpse simply sat there silently.

Zhou You couldn't help but frown slightly.

—Could it be... that I guessed wrong?

But just as he shook his head, preparing to bury the old Taoist's body, a gentle breeze suddenly blew by, and the accumulated dust rose up, but as it fell, it formed three characters.

"who are you?"

Zhou You was startled and suddenly looked up.

The headless corpse did not move an inch.

Zhou You took a deep breath and then cautiously probed for the words.

"I am Zhou You, the apprentice who escorted my master back to his hometown."

no respond.

".A traveler?"

The silence remained.

"A disciple of the Yunjing Sect?"

He also remained silent.

Zhou You also stopped for a moment.

He pondered for a while, but felt that there were no clues to the problem—but suddenly, as if a flash of inspiration had struck him, a certain sentence that the old Taoist had said before suddenly flashed through his mind.

Then, I thought about my own physical condition.

Zhou You opened his mouth and said softly, "I am probably yourself, Daoist Master."

—Yes, the old Taoist priest had told him that before.

"—Take me, for example. I practice the method of slaying the four demons. By slaying my own delusions, anger, venom, and gluttony, I transfer the corruption on my body to these heads to avoid losing my senses. You just need to go to the mountain, and I can teach you this spell directly. Moreover, I can also help you detoxify from the poison of the corpse worm blood bait soup on your body."

The problem is that, back then, including the old Taoist priest himself, there were only three heads on the pig demon's table.

Then I realized that my body also happens to have bulimia.

So... the answer is self-evident.

About ten breaths later, suddenly, a loud laugh rang out.

It didn't come from Zhou You, but from the abdominal cavity of that headless corpse.

"Interesting, interesting, extremely interesting! I never thought that out of the heads I cut off back then, two of them would actually manage to carve out a new life. Poison Heart has taken in a good disciple, and Taotie has managed to get a human body—which was then taken over by an outsider!"

Zhou You was startled and terrified.

He wasn't surprised that the headless corpse came back to life; after all, the story had to continue, and the system would have to arrange another guide after the old Taoist left. What surprised him was that the other person could tell he came from the outside world—

Does that mean this guy knows he comes from reality?

However, the headless corpse seemed to sense his confusion and let out a series of laughs, explaining as follows.

“Kid, don’t mind me. I don’t actually know where you came from either. But a Taotie could never be so polite, much less have such a clear mind—it basically doesn’t think about anything other than eating. After thinking about it, I know that the one inside is definitely not the real one.”

"but--"

As the abdomen throbbed, the headless corpse spoke again.

"Although you're not the main culprit, you're definitely not some kind of ghost or demon. You don't have any evil or demonic aura on you at all, not to mention you can't even smell the scent of a Tai Sui. The only two things that are a bit abnormal about your body seem to be things I picked up from my haphazard teaching with my poisonous heart."

At this point, Zhou You was finally able to get a word in edgewise.

"Master Xuanyuan, are you aware of these two curses I bear?"

The headless corpse let out another burst of laughter.

"How could I not know? This is a method passed down from generation to generation in our Yunjing Sect. How could I, as the sect leader, not know it!"

The voice was so loud, almost deafening, that Zhou You couldn't help but take a step back before asking.

"Then, do you have a solution?"

The other party did not rush to answer, but spoke first.

"Kid, you don't need to be so formal. Since you've cultivated this method, you've entered the Yun Jing Sect. Although Du Xin and I are actually the same person, I can't compete with him for a disciple. So just call me Uncle Xuan Yuan."

The headless corpse, which was actually Daoist Xuan Yuan, patted Zhou You on the shoulder and continued.

"Your problem is one that Poison Heart wouldn't be able to solve at all, but it's a minor issue for me. After all, I've spent half my life eliminating the pollution from my methods, and I finally found a solution recently—but unfortunately, my joy was short-lived, and I was killed by that Tai Sui and that county magistrate! Hahahahahaha!!!"

Although he was talking about his own death and the dissipation of his cultivation, there was no trace of sorrow in Master Xuanyuan's voice, as if he were just talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

—This is a chivalrous hero who inspires affection in people at first sight.

Zhou You had this idea after only a few meetings.

The Xuan Yuan Daoist seemed to have disregarded life and death, showing no concern that he was now nothing more than a headless corpse. He simply put his arm around Zhou You's shoulder, as if he were merely delighted to have met an outstanding junior.

After a while, the laughter finally subsided.

Xuan Yuan Daoist seemed to have finally remembered the important matter. He slapped Zhou You hard on the back, causing him to stumble, before speaking.

"Alright, putting aside the kindness of you bringing the Poison Heart back, as your senior uncle, I can't possibly ignore it. Come with me, I'll find a way to get rid of these two hidden dangers on you—and you can also tell me about what happened along the way."

(End of this chapter)