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

Seeing Mystic Cloud Master still hesitate, Yunzhen slapped his thigh.

”Do you think when I say you’re no worse than my Master, I’m just flattering you?”

Mystic Cloud Master nodded, ”Of course. The Sect Founder was exceptionally gifted, founded the Taiqing Sect... How could I compare to him?”

”Furthermore, Master Yunzhen, I don’t even match your level by a fraction.”

Yunzhen laughed heartily, ”Nonsense. That spider tried and failed to kill you, while my whole soul got trapped in its divine power. On that point alone, aren’t you stronger than me?”

”However... that said, my Master truly had infuriating talent,” Yunzhen said with feeling, ”after ten years of cultivation he could cut down a Twelve-String demon with a sword, after thirty years he was unrivaled among all Daoist sects... after fifty years he created thirty-three talismans, twelve incantations, and two Yin-Yang heart techniques, forming a self-contained system and founding the Taiqing Temple—by the time I fell here, he had cultivated for seventy years, and in twenty years he leveled half the world’s demons while turning the small temple of just him and a dozen disciples into the foremost Daoist sect known across the land.”

”When it comes to you, it could be called the Taiqing Sect—my Master truly was a figure of his own.”

Mystic Cloud Master smiled bitterly, ”Yes, how could I ever match the Sect Founder...”

”No, you can match him. If you had been born into his position you might not have created his teachings or established the sect, but if he were in your place he might not have done what you did,” Yunzhen’s eyes gleamed, ”like I said, you escaped from that demon’s grasp and came here by using a forbidden art, right?”

”Yes. The same Hundred Calamity Forbidden Art the Sect Founder used, the ’Earth-Crushing Mountain-Sealing Absolute Talisman Formation.’”

”You learned his signature move, so on that count you didn’t lose to him,” Yunzhen gave a thumbs-up, ”and the Incarnation Beyond Self... I haven’t heard of that technique, but whether you invented or learned it, the fact you could even use the demon’s Causality Silk shows you’re no ordinary person.”

”You might not have the Sect Founder’s talent, but in the past three hundred years, did the Daoist world make no progress?”

As Yunzhen spoke, Mystic Cloud Master was finally convinced.

”Master Yunzhen, you’re right... I can’t just give up like this.”

Yunzhen nodded with a smile, ”That’s the spirit!”

”Ah, it’s surprising. I never even took on a disciple, I’ve been dead for three hundred years, yet someone called me ’Sect Founder’—it really lifts my spirits.”

He paused, then looked toward the players downstairs: ”Your ’helpers’ are also much stronger than in my day. Back then it was only me... you Otherworldly Ones, none of you are simple.”

”Actually there was a simple one,” Li Nian interjected with a grin, ”but he should be hidden, not here.”

”I see. But there’s also one particularly extraordinary one who counts as evened out,” Yunzhen said, and everyone knew he meant Lin Yu, who had gone alone to meet the demon. ”Eh, she actually came out?”

At Yunzhen’s words, everyone lowered their heads and looked down.

The main doors of Xinglin Medical Hall had opened. Lin Yu strode out and waved up to the people upstairs.

Soon Lin Yu was on the second floor.

Snowy Owl was the first to stand: ”You’re back. What did you talk to that thing about?”

Yunzhen clicked his tongue in amazement, ”You came out so quickly. What did that demon want from you?”

Lin Yu sat directly at the table, deliberately poured himself a cup of tea, twirled the cup and took a sip, then glanced at the old Taoist who hadn’t been there before and spoke with some uncertainty.

”Mystic Cloud Master?”

”No... your current identity is the Taiqing Sect Founder?”

Mystic Cloud Master was taken aback, then nodded, ”You have a keen eye, lay practitioner.”

Lin Yu was not surprised by this result; he realized in an instant this must have been arranged deliberately by Zhu Qiansi.

Doing so would undoubtedly reduce the chance that she would be ”sealed.”

Mystic Cloud Master soon asked again, ”So, lay practitioner, what exactly did you and that demon discuss?”

”She wants to cooperate with me.”

The statement stunned everyone.

”What? Why would that demon want to cooperate with you?” Snowy Owl asked in astonishment.

”And she wants to cooperate only with you,” High Mountain frowned, ”that’s even stranger.”

Lin Yu replied calmly, ”There are many odd things. In short... because my current identity is Zhu Wanluan, her sibling, our causal entanglement runs deep. Within this Phantom Realm she can do many things you cannot.”

”She hopes to cooperate with me so I can help her ’gain freedom.’”

Lin Yu paused, set down his teacup, and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

”And I... agreed.”

The soft words fell on the assembled ears, and everyone’s expressions changed drastically.

With a metallic flash!

Snowy Owl’s long blade slid from its sheath with a chilling gleam, Yunzhen’s talisman glowed bluely at his fingertip. Both rose at once, aiming the blade and talisman at Lin Yu.

Almost simultaneously, Li Nian also stood, her hands enveloped in a white-jade glow.

”Hey—both of you, don’t be so quick to act. She returned and told us this herself, so let her finish!”

”What if she came back to have us pledge loyalty to her? Don’t think that by being on her side you can sleep easy!”

Snowy Owl said coldly.

Seagull, Mystic Cloud Master, and High Mountain did not move, but each offered their stance.

”Is that necessary?” Seagull looked at Lin Yu and urged anxiously, seemingly convinced Lin Yu had sided with the demon.

Mystic Cloud Master and High Mountain were more inclined to trust Lin Yu.

”Master Yunzhen, I don’t think this lay practitioner is senseless. Hear her out!”

”Snowy Owl, we’ve received much help from this person on our journey. We should at least listen to what she has to say.”

Although they did not physically stop anyone, they tried to calm the others with words.

Lin Yu still leisurely lifted his teacup and took another sip.

”This is not hard to explain...”

”So Zhu Qiansi truly has some grievance?” Seagull asked, as if he had realized something.

Lin Yu chuckled lightly, ”No. She doesn’t. She’s just plain evil, the most detestable, far from innocent.”

Snowy Owl knit her brows, ”Then you still...”

”First, Zhu Qiansi asking to cooperate was to directly leave the Prison Mountain Realm—this is a good thing for the Realm,” Lin Yu ignored Snowy Owl and continued, ”She only needs to exploit this sealed past, tamper a bit using Causality Silk, and she can completely abandon the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord identity and leave this realm again as ’Zhu Qiansi.’”

As Lin Yu spoke, High Mountain interjected.

”Could this be your Class ability?”

Lin Yu nodded, ”Yes. She doesn’t fully understand the mechanism, but she recognized my ability. However... that doesn’t matter.”

”Anyway, I was just teasing her. I never intended to truly promise her.”