Ritual

On the hillside.

"As expected... Count Felix's head was cut off by himself!?"

Zhong Shenxiu watched the scene with cold eyes, recalling a part of this body's memories.

It was the Headless Count cutting off his own head with a sword!

"This is also an evil ritual to prolong life, and now it's the final step."

Zhong Shenxiu said indifferently, "But I can't let you complete it!"

He now knew why Dilia had something that attracted him; it was because she was carrying the Headless Count's head!

And the Headless Count's Vengeful Spirit within his body had already begun to stir the moment the head appeared, wanting to break free from the confinement of Daoist Arts.

Zhong Shenxiu had no doubt about the Vengeful Spirit's desperation to obtain the head.

In just a moment longer, this Headless Count might even rush over to merge with its head.

And whether it was intelligence or madness that occupied the Vengeful Spirit, its fate would not be good.

"It's time to end everything. I have your memories, and I will have your Spiritual Power."

Although Zhong Shenxiu's body was becoming more terrifyingly reanimated, his abilities were also rapidly increasing.

At this moment, he could even sense a separate space where Feng Xi'er was struggling to hold on.

'If I make a move, I can probably let her out, but this Colonel is useless right now...'

On the altar.

Dilia placed the head on the other end of the infinity symbol, in the position of the sacrificer, and bowed, stepping down from the altar, letting out a sigh of relief.

The aura emanating from the blood-red door opposite had already made her feel suffocated.

She deeply understood the terror and dread of ancient gods, so she lowered her head, not daring to look directly, knowing she didn't even have the qualification to receive the ancient god's gift.

If she were to force herself, those wriggling flesh masses and monsters would probably be her best outcome.

Just as she lowered her head, she saw a dense darkness erupt from not far away and surge towards her.

"What?"

Before Dilia could react, she felt her hands go empty, and the black dagger had disappeared.

The black mist enveloped them, instantly swallowing her and several Westerners near the altar.

Zhong Shenxiu took a step, as if shrinking the ground into an inch, and appeared on the altar.

This strange ability came from the Headless Count.

Since the other party could use means to throw Feng Xi'er into some void, he naturally could too.

"My body?"

At this moment, Count Felix on the stage struggled to turn his head, looking at this scene, "No!"

"According to our Eastern saying, my Spiritual Power is of the same origin as yours, and your spatial separation technique cannot stop me!"

Zhong Shenxiu strode onto the altar, ignoring the malice in the head's eyes, and thrust the dagger back into the head.

Click!

It fit perfectly, like a key entering a lock.

After the dagger was inserted, Count Felix's head became as if dead, but the blood vessels began to writhe, as if there were small black worms wriggling within.

Zhong Shenxiu lowered his head and looked at his chest.

There, his blood seemed to have solidified, or rather, turned into a lead-mercury-like form, no longer flowing out, as if the reanimation was irreversible.

'Sealing this head again will only prevent it from controlling the body...'

'As for the thing inside me, its instincts alone could kill me!'

'So... not yet!'

Zhong Shenxiu looked at the blood-red door in front of him, suddenly pushed Count Felix's head forward, placing it alongside the blood-red stone, in the position of the sacrifice.

The first rule of mysterious rituals: equivalent exchange.

At this moment, he was treating Felix's head as a sacrifice too!

This was the fastest way to deal with this seemingly berserk head!

'As for my problem, I can only take a gamble.'

Zhong Shenxiu grinned, revealing a somewhat crazed smile.

The second law of the occult: one cannot look directly at the divine!

He knew that although he understood the ritual, he could not face the being behind the door.

Otherwise, he would inevitably be influenced by it, at best becoming a schizophrenic fanatic.

However, he still had one choice.

Zhong Shenxiu initiated the ritual, and in an instant, chose to release the thing within his body.

With his current rudimentary Daoist Arts, he was utterly incapable of controlling the Headless Count's vengeful spirit.

Every time he released this Headless Count, his mind would fall into a state of chaos.

Zhong Shenxiu had known this for a long time, so apart from the time he unintentionally released this thing in the small mountain village, he had only made slight use of the vengeful spirit's power.

This time, however, he was using it in reverse.

Almost in the blink of an eye, his body completely rotted away, his head vanishing.

Appearing in its place was a corpse wearing a magnificent formal suit, but without a head!

The Headless Count!

It stood there silently, its mind in utter chaos.

After all, the mysterious ritual the Headless Count chose involved sealing its own consciousness within its head, leaving only instinct and madness in this body.

Even if some memories remained, there was no thought or consciousness, otherwise Zhong Shenxiu would have been completely finished long ago.

At this moment, unable to find its 'target' for a while, it paused for a brief moment.

The next second, it was drawn by the aura behind that door of flesh and blood.

RUMBLE!

The flesh and blood door slowly opened a crack, and an inexplicable aura leaked out.

Behind the door lay a darkness so deep it was invisible, yet it seemed to contain door after door emitting different colors, forming an indescribable shape.

An ordinary person, even just a glance at it, would fall into the deepest madness, transforming into a monster or a fanatical believer.

A dim light leaked from within the door, enveloping the sacrifice.

From within, several tentacles emerged—their surfaces seemingly smooth yet seemingly covered in granules, colorful yet seemingly colorless—grabbing the head and the blood-red stone, and pulling them behind the door.

That great existence hadn't even descended its consciousness.

It was merely a reaction of instinct, or rather, a natural phenomenon, that caused some things to be exchanged and burrow into the Headless Count's body.

A terrifying transformation occurred.

Zhong Shenxiu's consciousness was a mess.

His thoughts scattered, gradually forming some ideas of his own.

He recalled the final desperate gamble from before.

'Using complete loss of control to resist gazing upon a god is equivalent to me driving myself mad first, so you won't be able to drive me mad again?'

'So, am I successful or have I failed now? Am I truly mad?'

'But it doesn't matter.'

'Even if my plan fails, there's still a final layer of protection, and that's that silly Heavenly Show System! Heh heh... the essential golden finger for every transmigrator? My life, I control it myself! Even if something goes wrong, I'll accept it. After all, I've lived three lifetimes, I've already made a huge profit!'

In a daze, he seemed to see that silly system again:

'Achievement unlocked: [Even the System Wants to Show Off]!'

'Reward obtained...'

The system's light suddenly became erratic.

Zhong Shenxiu's consciousness completely subsided, sinking into darkness.