Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Arrival

’I’m already dead?’

Upon hearing this, the smile on Zhu Ge’s face widened.

Hua Liusha, standing before him, asked in confusion, "What are you smiling about?"

Zhu Ge didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked one of his own. "I’m already dead. So what about you? What... are you?"

At his words, Hua Liusha’s expression went blank for a second before a smile bloomed on her face as well.

"You’ve figured it out?" Hua Liusha’s smile blossomed, and the entire night sky seemed to grow bewitching along with it.

Zhu Ge smiled faintly. "To think you’d use Hua Liusha’s body as a shrine. If you hadn’t shown up, I might have kept thinking your shrine was still in the village."

"But you intercepted me on my way to see the Xigui. You were clearly afraid I’d discover the real problem."

That was it!

The Hua Liusha before him wasn’t the real Hua Liusha, but her physical body, buried after her death!

The real Hua Liusha’s soul had become the Xigui!

If he had reached the wedding room, opened the door, and found Hua Liusha’s body missing, he would have certainly realized this.

The other god, however, clearly didn’t want Zhu Ge to find its shrine, which was why it had suddenly appeared to stop him.

Of course, there was also the matter of his previous encounter with the Xigui.

Zhu Ge remembered it clearly. At the time, he had used "Kunpeng" to send his soul out of his body, which had stopped the Xigui from appearing.

Back then, Yu the Scholar had told him to attack the "Double Happiness" character on the wedding room.

Furthermore, the wedding room itself had only been built a few days ago by Ma Laizi and the others; it hadn’t always been there.

In other words, the "Double Happiness" character pasted on the wedding room was the Xigui’s true dwelling place!

Since the Xigui dwelled within the character, it couldn’t be dwelling in its own physical body.

So where had its real body gone?

After all, Zhu Ge had seen Hua Liusha under the sun.

This proved that the Hua Liusha who had been singing the nursery rhyme that first day was the shrine of another god!

A physical body used as a shrine isn’t afraid of sunlight. It’s only afraid when the god leaves the body to seize another’s divinity.

The nursery rhyme Hua Liusha sang back then had misled him about the god’s existence, making him think the Tiger God was in the village.

And to discredit the Xigui, it even had his father and mother specifically say that "Hua Liusha is already dead."

The goal was to make him think the original body’s memories were correct—that it was just the Tiger God using Chong Ghosts to control the villagers.

From that day until this very moment, Zhu Ge had finally confirmed it: Hua Liusha’s body was the real shrine!

"Oh? So you’ve found me out. What now?" "Hua Liusha" narrowed her eyes and gave a cold smile, but her body shot backward.

"Don’t even think about running!" Zhu Ge shouted coldly, rapidly closing in on "Hua Liusha."

"Once I destroy this shrine of yours, the village’s problems will be solved! I’ve practiced the Martial Dao precisely to destroy you today!"

Zhu Ge’s voice was filled with killing intent.

Who would have known that in the next instant, "Hua Liusha" would reverse her retreat and charge forward, a mocking look on her face.

However, Zhu Ge’s body also switched from advancing to retreating in that same moment. He turned and fled in a flash.

The two movements happened almost simultaneously!

"Hua Liusha" froze on the spot, clearly not expecting Zhu Ge’s maneuver.

In the two seconds she stood there stunned, Zhu Ge had already vanished into the village.

"Interesting."

"Hua Liusha" stared at the village for a moment, then turned and entered the forest behind her.

"A pity he’s a dead man. Otherwise, he’d be perfect as my third shrine."

...

HUFF, HUFF...

Zhu Ge gasped for breath, only daring to look back once he reached the entrance to Yu the Scholar’s house.

Seeing that Hua Liusha hadn’t followed, Zhu Ge finally breathed a sigh of relief.

’Are you kidding me?!’

’How many days have I been practicing the Martial Dao?’

’I’m a complete amateur, unranked and unskilled!’

’I’d have to be out of my mind to think I could beat a god from the Shrine Prison Realm.’

’In a situation like this, the best solution is obviously to run, not stay!’

Then, he looked toward Yu the Scholar’s house and shouted, "Wake up, Scholar! Hurry up and come out, I’ve made a huge discovery!"

A commotion came from inside Yu the Scholar’s house. A moment later, Yu the Scholar appeared at the door, the character for "Scholar" glowing faintly on his chest.

"What’s the urgent matter?" Yu the Scholar asked, a tense look on his face.

Zhu Ge immediately pulled Yu the Scholar to the side to sit down and recounted what had just happened under the moonlight.

He had also discovered that although the memories Yu the Scholar had left for Zhu Ge and the others portrayed him as a stern father figure who despised evil...

...Zhu Ge suspected this was a persona that his ’teacher’ and Yu the Scholar had created.

A stern father and a gentle mother. It was a better way to manage the village and help their Jianshan Village develop.

Having actually spent time with him, Zhu Ge felt that Yu the Scholar had a bit of a hidden wild side.

Just like his college roommate from his past life, who acted all proper and serious on a normal day but was unbelievably wild when he was with his friends in private.

Of course, in the face of true righteousness, whether one was secretly wild or just putting on a serious act, it was all as meaningless as floating clouds.

"...The shrine is actually Hua Xiaomei’s physical body?!" After listening, Yu the Scholar’s breathing grew heavy, but he immediately became confused.

"No, that can’t be right. Hua Xiaomei couldn’t have become a shrine! Unless... her internal organs developed their own consciousness?"

"That’s not right either. Even if her organs did gain consciousness, they would never become so powerful in such a short time..."

Yu the Scholar muttered to himself, but he didn’t doubt Zhu Ge’s words.

’Shrine... main body...’ Zhu Ge seemed to have a realization, but he didn’t voice his thoughts.

"So what are you planning to do for the Mushroom Festival tomorrow?" Yu the Scholar asked Zhu Ge.

It was clear that Yu the Scholar was now looking to Zhu Ge for leadership.

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow, we still ignite the whole village!"

Zhu Ge stroked his chin. "Hua Liusha already knows I came to find you. She definitely won’t risk appearing in her shrine form again. We have to ignite the whole village first. Only then can we better find her hiding place."

"That makes sense." Yu the Scholar nodded slightly. "But are you still going to try and contact the Xigui tonight?"

"I have to!" Zhu Ge narrowed his eyes. "To deal with the fake Hua Liusha, we’ll need the help of the real Hua Liusha."

’He still preferred to be overprepared when he did things. It was always better to have enough cards up his sleeve.’

’He couldn’t achieve perfection, but doing his best to make things foolproof was fundamental.’

"Also, I have some theories about that god..." Zhu Ge and Yu the Scholar began to talk.

It wasn’t until the moon was high in the sky and the glowing "Scholar" character on Yu the Scholar’s chest flickered and faded that Zhu Ge, with bloodshot eyes, returned home to sleep.

’I don’t have the energy to find the Xigui today anyway. Besides, I doubt that god would let me find her.’

To prevent any unexpected changes, Zhu Ge decided to leave everything for tomorrow’s Mushroom Festival.

When the time came, it had to be a single, fatal blow!

...

The Mushroom Festival tomorrow was a matter of life and death. Zhu Ge had to get a good rest and be in top mental condition.

But when Zhu Ge woke up the next day, he once again felt unwell all over.

’Why do I feel like I’m about to die...’ Zhu Ge shook his head. He felt dizzy, his vision swam, and his limbs felt unresponsive.

’Did I catch a cold...?’ He forced himself to sit up, waiting a moment before getting up to fetch some water.

The water cistern reflected his pale face and bloodshot eyes.

"This complexion is as pale as a three-day-old corpse." Zhu Ge thought of some jokes from his past life and couldn’t help but smile and shake his head.

’After overdrawing so much of his lifespan, he was lucky he hadn’t fallen gravely ill.’

’But this wasn’t the time to think about such things.’

’Today is the Mushroom Festival...’

’My parents have already gone out. Every household will be preparing mushrooms to eat.’

’Tonight!’

’Tonight is when it all ends.’

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