Death Game: Starting as a Trickster, Pretending to Be a God

Although Lin Yu’s opinion of the Taiqing Sect wasn’t particularly friendly—after all, in his view the sect’s founder really had a hand in causing the deaths of at least six-figure numbers of innocent Willow Town civilians, and this Mystic Cloud Master was someone who let bandits slaughter people and then allowed them to settle around Twin Saw Mountain…

Still, the Taiqing Sect’s starting point was at least somewhat defensible.

In this dungeon, both of the local factions were dirty, but you couldn’t afford to make mortal enemies of both sides; you still had to pick one to fight the other.

So deciding whether Mystic Cloud Master of Taiqing Sect or the spider demon should be your ally was actually fairly straightforward.

Even setting aside morality, intentions, right or wrong, it was obvious which side seemed more likely to keep its promises.

At the very least Mystic Cloud Master had actually produced a stack of Speed Talismans and handed Xie Chong’s remains over to them.

On the other side, Zhu Qiansi and those unnamed Willow Town people, besides releasing spiders and spider silk, were waving puppets outside and threatening them.

Choosing one of the two as teammates wasn’t hard.

Of course, switching to the demons had its advantages.

From a power comparison… the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord’s side held an overwhelming edge over Mystic Cloud Master of the Taiqing Sect.

After Lin Yu executed Chen Yuanye outside the gate, the puppets completely erupted into revolt.

Although Mystic Cloud Master’s temple seemed to have some formation or suppression array, it was obvious it had fallen into disrepair over the years.

Whoosh!

A pale azure light shimmered around the temple, forming a thin luminous curtain.

But that light curtain hadn’t been up long before those black-shadow puppets tore one rip after another through it.

“Old daoist, your formation isn’t doing much!” Li Nian watched puppets climb the courtyard wall and teased with a smile.

Around Mystic Cloud Master, talismans rose and floated in the air, slowly rotating along specific trajectories.

Hearing Li Nian’s teasing, Mystic Cloud Master grimaced, “Lay Buddhist, do not laugh. This formation was set a hundred years ago. How could I have expected people to come knocking like this!”

“But do not panic… if you all just delay them for a little while, I can surely resolve all these puppets around here!”

The old daoist spoke as he sped up placing talismans—his gaunt, wood-like hands working faster, yellowing talismans being taken out and set into the air. The cinnabar lines on the paper faintly glowed azure.

At the same time, Mystic Cloud Master began chanting again.

“Heavenly Venerable above, Taiqing disciple requests command…”

“This is classic NPC cast-bar time,” Seagull glanced left and right and said, “Looks like if we stall long enough we win… the question is how do we stall?”

The first puppet leaped over the courtyard wall—once inside, the black shadow on it immediately dissipated, and its form became clear.

The newcomer was tall, fierce-looking, muscles surging, decked out in battle gear. Before becoming a puppet, he had clearly been a martial fighter, not an ordinary villager.

Swoosh—!

A flying knife whistled through the air and pierced the puppet’s shoulder!

Snowy Owl spoke coldly, “How else do you stall? Of course we fight!”

Blood sprayed. The puppet staggered two steps back, but immediately braced itself.

Then a vivid, ferocious grin appeared on the puppet’s face, and it spoke like a living person.

“Nice flying knife, very handsome skill—about Seven-String level!”

“Then let me, ‘Feng Libo,’ see what you’ve got!”

With that, the martial fighter who called himself “Feng Libo,” and seemed to retain most of his past-life memories, charged at Snowy Owl.

Snowy Owl immediately drew her blade and sliced down—the still-grinning, arrogant “Feng Libo” was instantly cut in two.

Shhh!

Two pieces of corpse dropped to the ground. Snowy Owl exhaled.

“I thought he’d be stronger.”

Even cursed and only able to use thirty to forty percent of her strength, she was after all a long-established Third Tier powerhouse, a mainstay of the Night Watchmen!

An ordinary martial fighter in the Prison Mountain Realm could never be a match for her in a single exchange.

But…

Snowy Owl did not let her guard down.

After all, the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord’s puppets had never been a problem of quality but of quantity!

Although Snowy Owl moved quickly, while she dealt with Feng Libo over the course of a few breaths, three or four more martial fighter puppets broke through the temple’s formation and landed inside the courtyard.

“Nice blade! I’m Cheng Jiuyan of Xuanjiang Martial School, please show your skill!” “Eat my Wen Lianjiang Hammer!” “Hu Shaoan of White Crane Martial School, I come to learn from you!”

Three martial fighters launched their signature moves, pressing their attack toward Snowy Owl.

Seeing this, High Mountain and Seagull immediately stepped forward to relieve her.

“Stand aside!”

High Mountain drew his baton, took a step up, and struck the rear of the dual-hammer fighter’s spine with one blow.

The attacker had been in the midst of assaulting Snowy Owl; hit by High Mountain’s baton, he instantly lost balance and staggered.

High Mountain didn’t waste words and ignored the other two. His baton struck repeatedly, bam bam bam—three powerful hits on the fighter’s head.

“What fast, ruthless baton work—truly law with warmth and a baton with force!”

“Though martial arts are rampant in this Prison Mountain Realm, our world’s fighting techniques aren’t inferior!”

Li Nian, crouched on the ground busy setting up protective items around the employer’s flying knife and manually activating shield components, stole a glance and couldn’t help but quip as she worked.

Lin Yu nodded slightly, recalling information he’d seen among Order and High Mountain’s circle: “This ‘High Mountain’ team leader was the champion of the third provincial judicial police combat tournament in Henan Province. That’s pretty legit.”

After High Mountain dealt with one opponent, Seagull arrived to join the fray.

“Snowy Owl sister, I’m here!”

Seagull tore a page from his notebook. The page warped and transformed in his hand into a stream of light that flowed into him, instantly lightening his movements.

At the same time Seagull produced a long bone staff, which emitted successive golden-red lights that struck two of the fighters entangled with Snowy Owl, momentarily slowing their movements—their bodies sprouted reddish-gold thorns as if bound by some snare.

Snowy Owl naturally seized the opportunity, swinging horizontally and decapitating the two fighters who couldn’t dodge in time.

Three martial fighters fell to the ground, but…

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The dense sounds of bodies hitting the ground continued.

This wave of martial fighter puppets that entered the courtyard… numbered over ten!

“Li Zhenshan of Iron Palm Martial School, request instruction!” “Liu Chengfeng of Qingyun Sword Hall, please teach me!” “Yang Huiming of Demon-Subduing Martial School, I come to test your skill!” “Tian Xinhong of Cold Mountain Martial School, please instruct!” “Yanwu Hall’s Huang Yeming!”

Swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks—names were announced one by one. Martial artists from the Two Mountains, Six Hells and various schools streamed in, pouring into the temple courtyard like dumplings falling into boiling water. The temple yard became crowded in an instant.

“An entire martial arts convention has broken out,” Li Nian exhaled, “Looks like it’s our turn to join in!”