"Could it be... Count Felix severed his own head!?"
Zhong Shenxiu watched coldly from the sidelines, recalling part of the body's memory.
It was the scene where the Headless Earl had used a sword to cut off his own head!
"This is also a kind of evil ritual to extend one's life, now at its final step."
Zhong Shenxiu said indifferently, "However, I cannot let you complete it!"
He now knew why he felt drawn to Delia—she was in possession of the Headless Earl's head!
And the malevolent spirit of the Headless Earl within him had begun to stir at the sight of the head, eager to break through the restraints of the Taoist magic.
Zhong Shenxiu had no doubt about the spirit's body's desperation to obtain the head.
Just a moment longer and perhaps the Headless Earl would have dashed over to unite with his head.
Whether it was his intelligence or madness dominating the entire spirit, the outcome would not be good.
"It's time to settle everything. I possess your memories; your Divine Skills, I shall too."
Zhong Shenxiu's body had become even more terrifyingly corpse-like, but his abilities were rapidly increasing.
At this moment, he could even feel an alien space where Feng Xixi was struggling to hold on.
'If I intervene now, I might be able to release her, but this Colonel is rather useless at this moment...'
Delia placed the head at the end of the infinity symbol, in the position representing the sacrificer, and bowed as she stepped down from the altar, letting out a sigh of relief.
The aura emanating from the other side of the flesh-gate was suffocating her.
Deeply aware of the terror and dread of the ancient god, she bowed her head, not daring to look directly, realizing she lacked even the qualification to accept the god's gifts.
If she were to act arrogantly, she would likely end up just as those writhing chunks of flesh and monsters.
As she bowed her head, she saw a thick darkness erupt not far away, surging toward her.
Before Delia could react, she felt something slip from her hands—the black dagger had vanished.
The Black Fog descended, instantly engulfing her and a few other Westerners near the altar.
Zhong Shenxiu stepped forward, seemingly shrinking the distance, and arrived atop the altar.
This eerie ability came from the Headless Earl.
If the other side could wield methods to throw Feng Xixi into a void, so could he.
At this moment, Count Felix struggled to turn his gaze toward this scene: "No!"
"According to our Eastern sayings, 'My Divine Skills are of the same origin as yours, your spatial separation cannot stop me!'"
Zhong Shenxiu took a step onto the altar, disregarding the malice in the head's eyes, and thrust the dagger back atop the head.
It fit as precisely as a key into a lock.
With the dagger inserted, Count Felix's head seemed to die, yet the veins started to wriggle as if filled with black worms.
Zhong Shenxiu looked down at his chest.
There, the blood seemed to have coagulated, or rather turned into a form like lead-mercury, no longer flowing, seeming as if the corpse transformation was irreversible.
'Sealing this head again would only prevent it from controlling the body...'
'As for the thing inside me, just its instincts could kill me!'
'So... it's still not enough!'
Zhong Shenxiu looked at the blood-red gate before him and suddenly pushed Count Felix's head forward, placing it alongside the bloodstone, in the position of the sacrifice.
The first rule of the mysterious ceremony: equivalent exchange.
At this moment, he treated Count Felix's head as a sacrifice too!
This was the quickest way to deal with the seemingly out-of-control skull!
"As for my problem, I can only take a gamble now."
Zhong Shenxiu split his mouth into a slightly mad smile.
The second law of mysticism, do not gaze directly upon a god!
He knew that although he understood rituals, he could not face the entity behind the door.
Otherwise, he would surely be influenced by it, at best falling into a state of madness as a split-spirit believer.
But he still had this choice.
Zhong Shenxiu initiated the ritual and, in a split second, chose to release that thing inside him.
With his rudimentary understanding of the Tao at that time, he simply could not control the resentful spirit of the Headless Earl.
Whenever he released the Headless Earl, his thoughts would be thrown into chaos.
Zhong Shenxiu had known this from the start, hence aside from unintentionally releasing the entity in the small mountain village, he only slightly borrowed the power of the resentful spirit.
This time, however, he utilized it in reverse.
Almost in the blink of an eye, his body completely rotted, his head vanishing without a trace.
What stood in its place was a corpse dressed in a gorgeous suit, yet without a head!
It stood silently, its thoughts extremely chaotic.
After all, the mysterious ritual chosen by the Headless Earl was to seal one's consciousness within the head, leaving the body with only instinct and madness.
Even if some memories remained, there was no thinking or consciousness; otherwise, Zhong Shenxiu would have met his doom much earlier.
At the moment, it couldn't find its 'target' and paused momentarily.
The next instant, it was attracted by the aura emanating from behind the door of flesh and blood.
The door of flesh slowly opened a crack, an unidentified aura seeping out.
Behind the door lay a profound darkness that could not be seen; it seemed there were many doors emitting different lights, together forming an indescribable shape.
Ordinary people, even just glancing at it, would fall into profound madness, mutating into monsters or becoming zealous believers.
The dim light, leaking from inside the door, enshrouded the offerings.
From within emerged several tentacles that appeared smooth yet grainy, multicolored yet seemingly colorless. They grasped the skull and bloody stone, retracting behind the door.
That great entity didn't even make a conscious arrival.
It was just an instinctive reaction, a natural phenomenon, which resulted in some things being swapped out and burrowing into the Headless Earl's body.
A terrible transformation occurred.
Zhong Shenxiu's consciousness was in chaos.
His thoughts spread out, and he gradually formed some of his own ideas.
He remembered his last moment of madness taking a gamble again.
"Using complete uncontrolled madness to combat the gaze of God is akin to going mad myself first so I fear not your madness over mine?"
"Have I succeeded or failed now? Am I actually insane?"
"But, it doesn't matter."
"Even if my plan fails, I still have the last layer of protection, which is that joke of a Heavenly Show System! Haha... Transmigrator's necessary Golden Finger? I control my life! Even if there's a problem, I'll accept it. After all, having lived three lifetimes, I've already made a fortune!"
In a daze, he seemed to see that joke of a system again:
"Achievement unlocked [Even the System Has to Show Off]!"
The system's light suddenly became chaotic.
Zhong Shenxiu's consciousness fell into complete silence, submerging into darkness.