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

Chapter 697: Counterplay and Strategic Maneuvering

In Lin Yu's conjecture, the time point that this Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord had restored Willow Town to was most likely right before its impending destruction.However, that was ultimately just speculation.

"Perhaps a true genius here could already thread the needle to untangle every thread of this place and find decisive evidence to confirm their conjecture, but with this limited information I can only choose... to take a gamble."

Lin Yu stood at the edge of the teahouse, couldn't help thinking to himself.

But thankfully, this time... his gamble had paid off again.

One by one, the people queuing for fortune-telling at Xinglin Medical Hall entered, and when half of them had received satisfactory answers—at the other end of the street, a Daoist in a green robe appeared, carrying a long banner over his shoulder.

The banner fluttered fiercely in the wind, its green fabric inscribed with seal-script-like characters that resembled talisman symbols.

The Daoist didn't look particularly old, maybe in his fifties, with a trimmed beard of moderate length and some streaks of white mixed into his graying temples.

He wore straw sandals on his feet, a pair of bronze bells hanging from his waist. As he slowly walked over from that end of the street, the bells clinked rhythmically, growing from distant to near.

Lin Yu watched him and quickly confirmed...

This guy was definitely one of the two green-robed figures he'd seen in the Fear Lens.

And even for the players who hadn't seen the Fear Lens, looking at this green-robed Daoist who was clearly no ordinary passerby, they all had their suspicions.

"Could this be the Taiqing Sect Founder?"

Snowy Owl said, and Lin Yu nodded. "Ten to one."

"Then let's hurry and meet up with him!"

Snowy Owl said excitedly, but High Mountain hesitated. "What if this is just an illusion created by that Zhu Qiansi?"

After all, this Willow Town was Zhu Qiansi's home turf. It wasn't impossible for her to sense their movements and create an illusion to fish them out.

But Lin Yu shook his head.

"No, it shouldn't be."

He said softly.

"Zhu Qiansi wouldn't dare take that risk. Besides, this was probably calculated by the Taiqing Sect Founder."

From how Mystic Cloud Master, this elder and honored guardian of Taiqing Sect, was willing to stake his own life and use the Incarnation Beyond Self technique to trap himself here, tricking that demon into sealing itself for an extra hundred years, Lin Yu could vaguely sense the modus operandi of Taiqing Sect, the former leader of Daoist sects.

In the Prison Mountain Realm, even decently strong martial artists could live twenty or thirty years longer than ordinary people. And Daoist priests with deep cultivation could directly extend their lifespans to a hundred and fifty or sixty years...

But the Taiqing Sect Founder from three hundred years ago was the first generation who established the sect. After more than two hundred years of succession, why had it only reached the sixth generation?

If there were just sixth-generation disciples, you could say they recruited frequently. But Mystic Cloud Master had already left Taiqing Sect seventy years ago, and even back then he was already an honored guardian of the sect.

Thinking along these lines, it wasn't hard to guess that most of Taiqing Sect's disciples hadn't lived very long.

Combine that with how Mystic Cloud Master had matter-of-factly said there were three thousand Twelve-String demons in the world, his tone taking it for granted that all those demons were "responsibilities" that Taiqing Sect disciples had to handle. Lin Yu could easily infer why.

Obviously, Taiqing Sect disciples didn't value their lives—if they ever got a chance to trade one-for-one with some major demon, they'd absolutely do it without hesitation.

Based on this, Lin Yu had no doubt that back then, when the "Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord" was so terrifying, the Taiqing Sect Founder would have paid some "sacrifice" to leave behind countermeasures against her.

Before seeing the Taiqing Sect Founder himself appear, Lin Yu couldn't be certain.

But now, Lin Yu's spiritual sense could clearly perceive that the Taiqing Sect Founder's current state was completely different from all other Willow Town residents.

If the other residents were like burning wicks, faint flames of light residing within the Causality Silk, then this Taiqing Sect Founder was a blazing torch.

He wasn't "false"—he genuinely had a soul. That actually made him somewhat similar to their group.

Except that their group had merged with some Willow Town resident's identity, so without carefully examining it, you wouldn't notice the difference.

But the Taiqing Sect Founder was using his own identity, making him exceptionally radiant.

Lin Yu didn't think Zhu Qiansi had actively imprisoned the Taiqing Sect Founder's soul... This felt more like a countermeasure the Founder had left behind on his own.

So...

"Let's go down and take a look."

Lin Yu said softly.

Although everyone present were long-established figures among the players, coming from different major organizations, within this dungeon, after Lin Yu's repeated analyses, his accurate grasp of the situation, and his perfectly timed interventions...

Everyone had subconsciously built up trust in Lin Yu.

They hadn't had time to think about why this "Old Yao," who came from a small local organization like Jiang'an Hall and was completely unknown, was so capable. But in the Death Game, suddenly emerging an obscure but low-key expert wasn't impossible.

Half of the Top 100 List had chosen to remain anonymous. Among the player community, there were quite a few who didn't want to publicize themselves.

Of course, half the reason for everyone's trust in Lin Yu was also because Li Nian had led by example.

Soon, the five of them walked down from the teahouse and stepped onto the main street.

That imposing green-robed Daoist, likely the Taiqing Sect Founder, also attracted the sidelong glances of many Willow Town residents.

But precisely because he looked so distinguished, no one greeted him.

Lin Yu quickly stepped forward and clasped his hands.

"Daoist, please hold a moment."

Seeing Lin Yu approaching, the green-robed Daoist wasn't nervous at all. Instead, he sized up Lin Yu from head to toe.

"This layperson, what business do you have stopping little me?"

The green-robed Daoist asked with confusion, his gaze clear and bright.

Lin Yu looked at the Daoist and asked, "May I ask, Daoist, why have you come here?"

"Naturally to rest my feet," the green-robed Daoist said, his gaze sweeping over the other four players silently watching Lin Yu negotiate from behind. "And may I ask, layperson, why do you ask?"

"Naturally to know your intentions, Daoist," Lin Yu said with confidence, as if he knew the green-robed Daoist very well. "And you've misunderstood my question. I wasn't asking why you came to Willow Town... but why you came to this 'Xinglin Medical Hall.'"

Hearing Lin Yu's words, the green-robed Daoist gripped the long banner in his hand and showed slight surprise. "How does the layperson know I was coming to this 'medical hall'? Do I look that badly ill?"

"You jest, Daoist. Everyone knows that although Xinglin Medical Hall is called a medical hall, nowadays more people come to find its daughter for fortune-telling."

Lin Yu said. The green-robed Daoist looked at Lin Yu again, seeming more and more uncertain about who this person before him was.

"Layperson, who exactly are you? Why did you suddenly stop me?"

Hearing this, Lin Yu exhaled and finally confirmed something.

"So this Daoist doesn't realize he's trapped in a Phantom Realm either..."

Although Lin Yu still didn't think Zhu Qiansi had actively brought this soul in, it was clear that Zhu Qiansi probably wasn't completely without means of restraint.

But...

The fact that this Daoist, suspected to be the Taiqing Sect Founder, didn't understand his own identity—this was actually a good thing for Lin Yu!

He looked at the Founder and spoke with a smile.

"Fellow Daoist, are you from Taiqing Sect?"