Chapter 974: You and I are but passersby

You and I are but passersby.

"?"

The moment he heard this sentence, Du Qiyu did not think Fooling was fake; he was just wondering where this Messenger Lord had just lied to him?

It couldn't be the second chance at the test, could it?

Could his own profanities have dispelled the other party's intention to continue testing him!?

No, impossible! It was the temptation of 【Deception】 that made me like this. As His Messenger, you should be responsible for this!

You cannot cancel my eligibility for the test!

Du Qiyu was enraged. With anger rushing to his head, he could no longer suppress the irritability in his heart. He drove the beast tamer Xiao Qi to grab Fooling's collar and sprayed spit viciously at that mask:

"Test! Me! Immediately!"

"?"

Is this person crazy?

Cheng Shi blinked, nodding with an increasingly eerie smile.

"Fine, since you insist, then I..."

With a swift strike, he directly slashed the beast tamer's throat while Xiao Qi was completely off guard. At the same time, he dissipated Fooling's image, looked toward the dense forest with a mocking face, and sneered:

"... can only shatter your beautiful dream."

"I said, I lied to you. There is no such thing as Fooling in this world."

"Thank you for returning my vessel."

"The feeling of recovering what was lost is not bad. I just wonder how the feeling of losing what was recovered is, Xiao Qi?"

"!!!???"

He is... Cheng Xiaoshi!!?

No!

Impossible!

This is impossible!

When Du Qiyu realized that his only remaining beast tamer had died at the other's hands just like that, at that moment, the irritability that had almost reached its peak suddenly experienced a second of stagnation. Immediately, boundless fear exploded in his heart, and his brain fell into a blank buzz.

He dug his ten fingers deep into the soil beneath him, his whole body tensed. Unable to believe and refusing to believe, he roared at Cheng Shi in the field:

"This is the real hoax!"

"Fooling, you can't fool me!"

"There is no Cheng Xiaoshi in this trial at all. This is your test, your second test for me!"

"I have already seen through you! I passed! You can't fool me! You can't fool me at all!!!"

Du Qiyu really seemed to have gone mad.

Cheng Shi curled his lips, covering his ears slightly because the other's voice was too loud, and then shook his head and sighed:

"The most powerful deception in this world is deceiving oneself."

"I have always felt you were unworthy of being His believer, but now it seems I truly underestimated you."

"You think this is all fake?"

"Why, is it because of this vessel?"

As he spoke, Cheng Shi pulled out two more vessels with his backhand. While playing with the vessels in his hand, he said jokingly:

"Do you think this vessel cannot be fake, so my identity cannot be fake either?"

"But..."

"Who told you the vessel is fake?"

"The vessel is certainly real, and I didn't lie either. This is indeed a necessity to become Them, it's just that I have many more of these necessities."

"So, do you understand? The vessel is very real; it's just that I was lying to you."

"!!!"

The moment the words fell, Du Qiyu, whose beautiful dream was shattered, rushed toward the outskirts of the dense forest like an arrow released from a bow. His roaring just now was not without the intention of finding an opportunity, but in his heart, he did indeed harbor a glimmer of hope, wishing that this was truly the second test from Lord Fooling.

However... in the heat of his emotions, he could not believe a word said by someone who looked like Cheng Xiaoshi. Even if this were the second test, he did not want to continue.

He only wanted to live now, and then find another opportunity to return all the deception and humiliation he had suffered today, back onto Cheng Xiaoshi. Regardless of whether Fooling existed or not, Cheng Xiaoshi must not exist!

But unfortunately, the escape methods Du Qiyu had once been proud of failed today, because Cheng Shi didn't need to know where he was at all.

"It seems the second test has also failed."

Cheng Shi sneered, stretched out his hand, and snapped his fingers casually. Then, four bolts of thunder whistled out from between his fingers, sweeping through the forest like a torrent of plasma, destroying everything in their path, and directly blasting the beast tamer, who was burying his head in escape while cursing heaven and earth, into fly ash.

"Boom—Boom, boom, boom—"

The violent explosion made the entire valley floor shake. The last bolt of thunder even slammed viciously into the surrounding trees because it couldn't find a target.

For a time, a large area of the dense forest was plowed by thunder, full of charred remains.

Looking at this scene, which was like a corridor of hell, Cheng Shi did not rush to confirm whether Xiao Qi had truly been reduced to ashes. Instead, he paced unhurriedly to the side of the beast tamer who had just died, kicking the corpse under his feet casually.

He had never forgotten what Sun Miao had said. The other party had said that a beast tamer was a cunning hunter who dressed up many beast tamers to lure enemies and counterattack. So who could be sure that the one blasted to death was Xiao Qi's true body!?

The most dangerous place is the safest; a puppet could also be the true body. This was also an experience introduced by Wei Mu, who was the first in the broken path of ascending to godhood. Cheng Shi had listened and kept it in his heart.

Therefore, he would not ignore any potential threats.

But what allowed him to react so quickly, focusing on the corpse at his feet the moment the escaping Xiao Qi died, was not purely steadiness, but the Death Fun Ring that was continuously performing meritorious service.

Because the Fun Ring, which had been deliberately left with a minimum charge, was actually fully charged again at this moment.

But there was only himself and a corpse on the scene, so... where did the fear come from?

Hard to guess.

Thus, Cheng Shi looked at the corpse under his feet with a mocking face and said:

"Stop pretending, I know you're still alive."

"But you must also know that for every second you live longer, your fear will increase by one point, because you cannot escape."

"This is the rule of this game. While you ordinary players are still striving for Their gaze, I have long since sat at the same table with Them, becoming one of the rule-makers."

Hearing this, the corpse's hand twitched slightly.

Cheng Shi looked at this old friend who refused to wake up with a half-smile, took out his vessel and threw it back and forth like a clown, and then continued to hammer the other's mental defenses with a heavy blow:

"Perhaps you are curious how I accomplished all this. Let me tell you, because I was never human to begin with."

"!!!"

The beast tamer opened his eyes abruptly, looking at this familiar yet strange "person" in front of him with disbelief and terror, as well as the vessel he was throwing up and catching in his hand.

"Willing to wake up?"

"Heh."

Cheng Shi glanced at Xiao Qi casually, and just like Fooling earlier, he no longer cared about Xiao Qi's life or death, instead pacing leisurely.

"We are experiencing one era after another. Mortal lives repeat their own destruction in every era without knowing it. Only we can transcend everything, standing at the crest of the era, appreciating this beautiful scenery that belongs exclusively to the gods."

"So you should understand. The time you had the most hope of killing me was the era when I had not yet become a god. But now, apologies, I lied to you again."

"I am indeed not Fooling, but that is only for the present, because soon I will become Him again, and then when the era perishes, I will watch with my own eyes as this world heads toward true nothingness."

"You will never have the chance to make me pay for your obsession again. It's painful, isn't it, Xiao Qi."

"I experienced this kind of despair in the era when I hadn't become a god, and it was you who personally created it. That was the era when you were closest to becoming a god, but unfortunately, the one who succeeded in the end was me."

"Originally, humans and gods were different, and I had long since grown tired of this repetitive drama and didn't want to bother with you. But your look of seeking death every time always makes me have to satisfy the wish of an old friend like you."

"So goodbye, old friend. See you in the next era."

"I also sincerely advise you, although we will eventually reunite, give up your little thoughts. Don't pin your hopes on the next era; I will never let you become one of us."

After speaking, Cheng Shi did not forget to sneer to add a touch of mockery to this parting.

Yet, just as his words fell, a bone-chilling muffled groan came from behind him.

Cheng Shi seemed to have guessed what had happened behind him. He turned his head slowly without any surprise, and then saw a bone knife stuck straight into Xiao Qi's heart. The other's expression was so resolute.

Xiao Qi had committed suicide.

Unable to bear the humiliation, he would no longer be humiliated.

But Du Qiyu did not find relief. Instead, he looked at Cheng Shi with malice in his eyes, spitting blood foam, and left behind a final roar of unwillingness:

"Next... era... I will definitely... win against you!"

His obsession was still accumulating.

Clearly, Du Qiyu, who could not understand everything at hand, believed what Cheng Shi had said. Otherwise, he could not explain why Cheng Shi had the victory in his grasp but refused to give him the final blow. This disgusting Cheng Xiaoshi was clearly using the identity of a Messenger to humiliate him!

So it was better to die, and start over in that so-called next era!

Since everyone had a chance to become a god, then in the next era, I will definitely return the humiliation of the past a thousandfold, a hundredfold!

But the next era?

Heh, even the Fun God doesn't know if there will be a next era, so how did you know?

Believed my nonsense?

Then apologies, I lied to you again.

As for the reason for lying to you repeatedly... I was just verifying a theory: if a person loses the motivation to live in the present, then he probably won't have any backup plans for resurrection, right?

Du Qiyu breathed his last. Even in death, he refused to close his eyes.

Cheng Shi looked at Xiao Qi's corpse under his feet with a complex expression, closed his eyes, and sighed long.

You began my life with a lie, so I shall return your ending with a lie.

There is nothing else to say. After all, you and I are but passersby. Hmm, you are the road under my feet, and I... am the person.

Cheng Shi sneered and stepped over the corpse.

Immediately, several roars of thunder erupted in the dense forest, because the Steadiness Sect never forgets to deliver the finishing blow. ===== CHAPTER 975 =====