Death Game: Starting as a fraudster, pretending to be a god

#677 - Zhu Qiansi

Lin Yu had seen that Xuan Yunzi harbored no malice, but that didn't mean he completely believed everything Xuan Yunzi said.

Having no malice didn't necessarily mean he was being honest.

As a 'deceiver,' Lin Yu knew very well that sometimes deception wasn't driven by malice, or even necessarily by goodwill—the person being deceived might simply be a pawn in the deceiver's plan.

And when he considered Xuan Yunzi's words with the premise that "Xuan Yunzi might be lying and concealing things," there were too many coincidences, vague statements, and ambiguities.

Perhaps some of it was genuinely due to the passage of time, and he truly didn't know.

But... but...

With so many opportunities to "fake" and "deceive," Lin Yu didn't believe that the other party hadn't deliberately mixed in ten or eight falsehoods.

Of course...

Lin Yu hadn't expected to accidentally uncover the old scandals of the Taiqing Sect.

Seeing the wind shifting and all six "Outland Travelers" now siding with him,

Chen Yuanye looked at Xuan Yunzi: "You hypocritical Taoist priest, you've finally shown your true colors!"

Xuan Yunzi's face was unsightly as he looked at Chen Yuanye: "Even so, a demon is still a demon... Perhaps the Patriarch made a mistake back then, but that spider demon was also a great demon who brought disaster to the world. Letting it develop would have doomed more than just Willow Town!"

Xuan Yunzi looked at the players and cupped his hands, saying, "I admit... I did deceive you six Outland Heroes and young friends. I also admit that perhaps the Patriarch's actions three hundred years ago were inappropriate, but... the Prison Mountain Realm three hundred years ago was even more chaotic and disordered than it is now. Sometimes, we had to resort to some desperate measures."

Gao Shan sighed: "Does 'desperate measures' mean sacrificing the lives of a million people to deal with a demon who killed a few hundred?"

"Inappropriate, what a convenient word!"

Xue Xiao said coldly, his tone extremely unfriendly.

Xuan Yunzi was speechless, then sighed again: "I am willing to atone for my Taiqing Sect's Patriarch with my death, to apologize to the million citizens of Willow Town, but... even if my Patriarch was deeply sinful in this matter, this Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Thread Demon Lord must not be released! If this demon reappears in the world, it will truly mean that those million innocent lives died in vain!"

Xuan Yunzi spoke sincerely and earnestly, and the players fell into contemplation once more.

At this moment, Chen Yuanye spoke again: "Hahahaha!"

He laughed loudly, and Xuan Yunzi looked at Chen Yuanye, glaring: "What are you laughing at now?"

"Xuan Yunzi, little Taoist priest," Chen Yuanye said, laughing, "You're still spouting nonsense and distorting the truth—but I don't blame you. You intentionally concealed the previous events, but you truly don't know what comes next!"

"Your Patriarch committed two sins back then. First—he sacrificed a million innocent people to kill the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Thread Demon Lord! He arrogated himself as righteous, believing he could decide the lives and deaths of others, a sin of presumption and arrogance!"

"Second..."

Chen Yuanye said coldly: "He was stupid!"

"Three hundred and fifty years ago, the righteous sects and martial arts academies of the world joined forces to investigate a mysterious demon that had killed countless people... The demon's characteristic was killing invisibly, causing the victims to disappear without a trace and then become puppets," Chen Yuanye said. "The Taiqing Patriarch traced a spider demon hiding in human form in this Willow Town, and discovered that its 'Causal Thread' power seemed similar to the demon causing trouble at that time, so he determined that it was the evil demon and attacked it violently."

"However... your Taiqing Patriarch was wrong!"

"Although that demon possessed the 'Causal Thread' power, it had lived in Willow Town for over thirty years under the name 'Zhu Qiansi' and had no time or motive to commit any crimes."

"Although it was a demon, it was a long-cultivated, inherently kind demon. It lived in Willow Town, treating people with kindness and harmony, and everyone praised it."

Xuan Yunzi looked at Chen Yuanye, and said blankly: "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, your Taiqing Patriarch killed the wrong demon. Zhu Qiansi was not a demon who wreaked havoc on the world. She was a kind, good demon who tried to integrate into human society, making a living in town by telling fortunes!"

Chen Yuanye repeated, his tone becoming somewhat agitated.

Xuan Yunzi was struck by lightning upon hearing this, and muttered: "Impossible, impossible..."

"Therefore, Xie Chong has Zhu Qiansi's blood in him."

As Chen Yuanye spoke, Xuan Yunzi suddenly thought of something and said excitedly.

"No, no, you said that Zhu Qiansi was inherently kind, but she still killed thousands of people—you said that yourself just now."

"And seven or eight out of ten people in the town were affected by the Causal Threads... There's no such thing as a kind demon in the world. As demons, they can't possibly restrain their instinct to eat people!"

Chen Yuanye looked at Xuan Yunzi and sighed.

"That's because Zhu Qiansi made a living by telling fortunes... As a spider demon, where would she have learned such divination techniques? Of course, she relied on her Causal Thread power to do it."

"As for the thousands of people who died... If your Taiqing Patriarch had investigated back then, he would have known that those who died were originally heinous and incorrigible criminals."

"Some committed adultery, some murdered and robbed... Zhu Qiansi only took their souls and used them to cast the 'Causal Thread' spell, to help those good people do better."

"After being killed by Zhu Qiansi, they returned to town with a 'reformed' and 'repentant' attitude—what do you think made Willow Town become the number one town in the Two Mountains and Six Prisons from an ordinary town in those years?"

Xuan Yunzi looked at Chen Yuanye, speechless.

After a long silence, he finally spoke: "Who... who exactly are you?"

"Just a survivor of Willow Town who received Zhu Qiansi's favor back then," Chen Yuanye said in a low voice, "No... I didn't even survive, I just fortunately retained a trace of consciousness and can still move around with Miss Zhu's ability."

Then, Chen Yuanye looked at Lin Yu.

"Alright, having listened until now, you probably know what's right and wrong, right?"

Lin Yu looked at Chen Yuanye and nodded slightly.

"I understand, but I still have questions..."

"Since this Xie Chong is Zhu Qiansi's descendant, why did you kill him and divide his body into five parts?"

"Why did you entrust Jin Fu Escort Agency to transport his remains to the current 'Willow Town'?"