Now that everything was clear, I was ready to "abandon the millstone after grinding the donkey."
"Village Chief, how should we deal with this fraudster?" I found the Village Chief among the crowd and asked him.
"This…" The Village Chief hesitated, seemingly unsure of how to deal with the fraudster. Logically, sending him straight to the police station would be ideal, but our impoverished mountain village didn't have a police station, and the nearest one was hundreds of miles away in the county town, so that was impractical.
"Village Chief, such a trickster who pretends to be a deity must be punished severely without leniency."
"Break his legs!"
"Breaking his legs is letting him off too easy, I suggest burning him to death! Use his soul to atone to the heavens."
"Yes! Burn him! Burn him!"
The villagers had all come to their senses, realizing that he was a fraudster, and they began clamoring once I asked the Village Chief to decide how to handle that Great Immortal.