My junior sister sees everyone as a heretical cultivator.

Chapter 273 The Fourth Calamity and the Competition Begin!
On the walls of the imperial city, a corpse suddenly moved.

It was the player who had ignited the chaos in Bhikkhu City. He slowly rose from the ground, his face transforming into a heavily painted theatrical mask. The lines on his face were composed of countless tiny, writhing runes. One eye bore a sinister grin, while the other shed tears of blood, its corner drooping downwards.

He is none other than the "clean" pillar among the "Four Pillars" of "Floating Life Play"—[Huodou].

Beside him, those costumed actors who had previously played the roles of "court spies" and "patriotic officials" revealed their true faces. Their faces had all been transformed into various theatrical masks, some with mouths splitting to their ears, and others with eyes growing onto their cheeks.

Several actors dressed as female impersonators in green robes (a type of female role in Peking Opera) let out high-pitched laughter and teased each other.

"The sect leader's move was absolutely brilliant! He treated us like a game, and now it's finally their turn to crash and burn! Hehe, an entire dynasty's players have been crippled and given red names! The sect leader did a great job!"

"Yes, yes! What goes around comes around! Sacrificing a dynasty has finally taught these so-called players a lesson! Hehe!"

"Aren't you one too? Please don't arbitrarily group us indigenous people together! You're a bunch of damned bastards too, hehe!"

"Then come and kill me. But it seems my acting skills aren't up to par; you saw through me..."

"Hehe... Boss, the show's over, let's hurry up and open the 'Illusionary Opera Sect'! This 'Lingding Sha' was a huge success!" Another voice rang out, filled with eager excitement.

The speaker was a petite player with a clown-like face painted in a "tofu block" shape, and a comical swirl drawn on her nose.

She was none other than [Youcai'er]. As soon as she finished speaking, the paint on her face receded like a tide, revealing an even more familiar face—Xiao Huijun.

She was the female player who caused the downfall of the Marriage Sect.

The troupe leader stood at the edge of the imperial city, his back to the crowd, looking down at the royal city that had become a dead city. He slowly turned around, and his face, half crying and half laughing, looked even more eerie in the dim light of the day.

"Why are you in such a hurry for me to open the Illusionary Play Sect? What are you planning to do?"

Huodou and Youcai'er exchanged a glance. "Hehehe... guess... the time is almost up."

Just as they were about to say something, a roar suddenly came from the sky, "Little Huijun! You can't escape!" A sword light tore through the clouds, and a Taoist with his hair and beard standing on end hovered above the imperial city on his sword. A powerful pressure belonging to a great immortal cultivator crashed down!
【You Cai’er】(Xiao Huijun) didn’t even bother to look at him, but just grinned at the troupe leader, “Boss troupe leader~~~ Look, the pursuers are here.”

Huo Dou chimed in, "Yes, Master, since you're unwilling to open the Illusionary Opera Sect, why don't you... join us here and 'finish filming'?"

"Hehehe..." The troupe leader let out a strange laugh, then shook his head. "Him? You think he can kill me? And why would you think it's me standing here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the troupe leader's mask of crying and laughing suddenly peeled away inch by inch, revealing not his true face, but another mask, the mask of an old man belonging to the "last" line.

The man playing the role of the troupe leader, "Thousand-Faced Old Man," continued, "Hehehe... you've all been fooled by me. Why don't you all be buried here with me? Hehehehe..."

The smiles of [Youcaier] and [Huodou] remained unchanged.

"What a pity, I've fooled so many of you for nothing. If I had survived, I definitely would have been promoted, hehehehe." The [Thousand-Faced Old Man] was still rambling on.

Above the sky, the powerful cultivator clearly had no more patience for this farce. "Die, all of you!" he roared, forming a sword with his fingers and slashing it fiercely at the Star-Picking Platform below.
【Youcai'er】 and 【Huodou】 simply exchanged a glance, their faces filled with regret.

"Sigh, I haven't played this round before. I didn't manage to 'finish off' the boss."

"Yeah, we'll lose a level, and we'll still be red-named, lose our equipment, and be locked up for a while. It's a bit of a loss. It looks like we'll have to postpone killing the boss. Hopefully, the boss won't be intercepted by other fellow disciples before he releases us, hehe."

Meanwhile, the imposter troupe leader, "Thousand-Faced Old Man," crossed his legs and swung them around in the air: "What's there to regret? You've only dropped a grade, right? You deserve to die anyway, but it's a real shame that most of our profession is gone! But if I can fool all of you 'stars' before I die, then this trip won't be in vain. It's been quite a laugh! Hahahaha!"

The next moment, a sword light that reached the heavens and the earth descended from the sky, but in her eyes, the world-destroying sword light seemed to slow down.

In the light, [Thousand-Faced Old Man] seemed to have returned to that small village where the setting sun hung.

That day, she bought the children's favorite malt candy from the city, humming a country tune. From afar, she could smell the aroma of food wafting from her house. It was such a peaceful and warm day.

However, what shattered all of this was a deafening explosion and piercing screams.

A group of people were laughing wildly in the village. With a wave of their hands, beams of light would collapse into houses. They slaughtered their fleeing neighbors as if they were playing a fun game.

She rushed home like a madwoman, only to find a charred ruin and mangled remains. The blood-stained rattle drum was the one she had bought for her child that morning…

She knelt in the pool of blood, frantically digging at the bricks and tiles. A "player" covered in blood walked up to her. She raised her bloodshot eyes and asked, "Why...why?"

The man tilted his head and laughed matter-of-factly, "Why? Because it's fun! I love driving into crowds when I play urban fantasy games, and this is fun too. Look, it just explodes and people fly everywhere, isn't that interesting! But you probably wouldn't understand anyway! I'll take you along to meet them too~"

How funny... Her world, her reason, completely collapsed at this moment.

Just as the man was about to casually get rid of her as well, a figure appeared silently.

The woman wore a bizarre mask that was half-crying and half-laughing. With a mere wave of her hand, the villain, whom she perceived as incredibly powerful, turned to ashes. This was the future leader of the Floating Life Play Sect…

The sect leader extended his hand to her and told her that they treated this place as a game, acting recklessly, fearless of death, and even without any bottom line, as if even the gods could not stop this disaster.

They are—the “Fourth Calamity”…one of the “cancers” of this world…

The techniques he taught her plunged her already shattered spirit into even deeper madness, but within this madness, she glimpsed a glimpse of the truth.

She seemed to remember that this kind of abnormality had occurred many times before. However, this time, it was a "player" who liked to kill NPCs. It was because of the excruciating pain, the complete madness, and the effects of the technique that the impression was so clear to her. Even the changes in her cognition could be corrected again by her own madness.

Their resistance seemed so weak and meaningless in the face of these so-called natural disasters, but the sect leader gave her a new path, a hope.

Since we cannot defeat them, let them suffer. Since they see us as playthings, let them lose interest in this game, make them miserable, make them disgusted, and get them out of our world!

From that day on, she abandoned her name, her past, and everything else, becoming the "Thousand-Faced Old Man".

To achieve this goal, she can become even more insane and ruthless than those players.

Even at the cost of an entire nation, as long as these high and mighty "players" stumble and fall hard, as long as they experience even the slightest pain, or even challenge the so-called official authorities, then everything I've done is worthwhile...

This was the most insignificant form of resistance she, a tiny indigenous person, could muster.

……

Fragments of memories vanished in the flash of the sword.

The old man's mouth twisted into a maniacal grin, and the old man's mask on his face seemed to come alive, as two lines of turbid tears streamed down his face.

This seemed to be the limit of what a native like her could do... even though she hadn't had enough fun yet... even though as long as she survived, she could get promoted, gain more power, stage more plays, and create more entertainment...

But now... it ends here...

The next moment, a towering sword light crashed down, and a wild, exhilarating yet tragic laugh accompanied her annihilation, echoing throughout the entire imperial city.

"Hehehehe...haha...hahahaha! Hahahahahaha!"

The entire city of Bhikkhu, along with all the members of "Floating Life Play," as well as all the players and natives, were razed to the ground by that sword light...

……

In contrast to the Bhikkhu Dynasty at this time, Anhe City in the Great Qian Dynasty was a place of peace and tranquility.

The afternoon sun pierced through the clouds and shone on the racetrack that stretched across the sky.

Outside the south gate of Anhe City, at the starting point of that towering staircase, there was already a huge crowd and a great deal of noise.

Su Ling'er looked down at the sea of ​​people below from the competition entrance. She saw that Zhang San and Li Si had expanded their "begging and selling steamed buns" business from inside the city to outside the city. Not only that, they had also brought a group of new people to join the ranks.

On the left was a row of "Beggar Clan disciples" kneeling and begging, with broken bowls lined up in front of them, chanting slogans in unison. On the right was a row of "steamed bun vendors" pushing carts, loudly hawking "charity steamed buns," their business booming, and Guixi Sect disciples constantly throwing money at them.

Some locals who felt they had no hope of winning the competition even joined in. Some set up betting tables on the side, betting on who would come in first place; others weaved through the crowd, selling tea and dry food.

Su Ling'er was numb to the scene, but she noticed that some beggars did not squeeze into the busiest inner circle. They huddled far away in the corner, clearly distinct from the vigorous and energetic "professional beggars".

Those people seemed to be real beggars; some had broken legs, some were blind. They huddled in the shadows, not daring to compete for space with their strong and robust "colleagues."

Su Ling'er's heart sank. She remembered what her senior brother had said before: "Your seemingly benevolent charity will make some black market activities profitable and breed truly dark things." She decided to follow these real beggars and see what was hidden behind them.

Qin Sihai, the head of the Jingtao Hall in the west of the city, was leading a group of disciples, stretching their arms and legs, clearly aiming for the cultivation manual.

Liu Yue stood under a big tree, gazing tenderly at a grinning man in the crowd, Ma Tietou.

The man came from the No Man's Hall in the west of the city. He noticed Liu Yue's gaze, grinned at her, and patted his chest.

At that moment, a figure in black also leaped into the An family mansion...

Everyone stood poised and ready before the starting line. Su Ling'er withdrew her gaze, glanced at the sky, and knew the time had come.

"The Sky-Climbing Race, now—begins!"

(End of this chapter)