Chapter 178
Chapter 178: Fraud!
Soul-Return Town, a certain alleyway in the Third Ring.
"Run! Tang Sirui, they're chasing us!"
On the darkened street, the Joker—disguised as Tang Sirui—darted between rooftops and alleyways.
Behind him, no fewer than 6 ghost constables gave chase, each wielding a horse-cleaving blade.
"My dear lady! I told you to steal that blindfolded paper-figure man's coin purse—so why did you go and rip out his tongue?!"
The Joker dodged the slashing blades at his back while roaring in exasperated fury.
"I… this was my first time doing something like this, I got nervous and grabbed the wrong thing!"
Not far away on a rooftop, Liu Ruyan—the one who had started all this trouble—was flying on her sword, watching the Joker below draw every last bit of fire on her behalf.
A flicker of embarrassment crossed her eyes, but she quickly shouted back with righteous indignation.
"Besides, setting aside the facts—are you saying you have no fault in this either?"
"You said you'd teach me, and you never even demonstrated it once."
"Practice makes perfect. I'll definitely succeed next time!"
The Joker's face had turned completely red by now—burning with rage.
He looked at himself, battered and covered in wounds, then looked up at Liu Ruyan soaring through the sky above.
"So somehow this is still my fault!"
"It's easy for you to talk when you're flying up there without a scratch—I'm the one eating every single hit down here!"
But there was nothing he could do.
For the sake of the bigger picture, he—the Joker—would endure!
And so, ten minutes later…
Woosh!
The two finally shook off the ghost constables' pursuit.
The Joker was covered in blade wounds from head to toe, his already-tattered beggar's clothes slashed to ribbons.
Liu Ruyan, meanwhile, was completely unscathed—and with his help, had successfully stolen her first pot of gold.
"Hahahahaha! I did it! I knew I was a genius!"
Liu Ruyan's triumphant laughter rang out from above.
She held a heavy coin purse in her hand, her face flushed with excitement.
"15 taels! Today's quota is met! This Sword Emperor refuses to be brought low by some petty little rule!"
Liu Ruyan shook the coin purse smugly, not even sparing a glance at the Joker below.
She turned and flew off in the direction of the Assignment Office, leaving only a single line trailing behind her in the distance.
"I'm going to file my report! You take your time!"
Not even a word of thanks.
In the darkened alleyway, the Joker stood alone.
The night wind swept through his tattered clothes.
He lowered his head, clenched both fists, his expression twitching.
"Hold it together… I am the 6th Seat of the Arashin-Kai…"
"I am the greatest performer in this world… I am acting…"
"I cannot stoop to arguing with a brainless woman whose only asset is her chest…"
He drew three long, deep breaths before barely managing to suppress the urge to cut that woman into pieces.
"Business first. I need to get back and report the intelligence on these people."
The Joker's silhouette melted into the darkness and sped off in the direction of the Grand Summer Inn.
He was going to meet the Sage and Dusk—to discuss their plan of action for tomorrow.
……
Shortly after…
Grand Summer Inn.
The Joker scaled the windowsill without a sound.
But as he pushed the window open and was about to call out a greeting, the expression on his face froze.
The room was in complete disarray.
Tables and chairs smashed, teacups overturned, the walls still bearing the marks of a fierce struggle.
And 【Sage】 and 【Dusk】 were nowhere to be found.
"Something's wrong!"
The Joker's instincts kicked in instantly.
Whoosh!
A sound of something tearing through the air struck from behind!
The Joker instinctively bent backward at the waist.
Boom!
A three-section staff, blazing with dark crimson energy, whistled past the tip of his nose!
It crashed into the wall behind where he had been standing.
The blue-brick wall shattered, chunks of stone flying in all directions.
The Joker used the momentum to roll across the floor, propped himself up on one hand, and fixed his gaze on the shadows.
It was…
That man.
The Special-Grade powerhouse wearing the red mask.
Huaxia's Interrogator—Elder Yue Tian.
He was retracting his three-section staff, eyes locked on the Joker.
How was he here?!
When had he been exposed?!
The Joker's heart lurched in shock, assuming his disguise had suffered a fatal flaw.
He didn't dare linger for even a moment—one back flip, and he hurled himself straight out through the window.
He landed on the inn's roof tiles.
Immediately after, Yue Tian stepped through the hole in the wall, three-section staff in hand.
"Surprised, are you? Tang Sirui…"
"Oh no—I should say, whoever it is pretending to be him."
"Are you… surprised?"
Yue Tian spoke.
A drop of cold sweat slid down the Joker's forehead.
He quietly checked the 【Soul-Shell Membrane】 pressed against his eyeballs—intact, undamaged.
It was clear that Yue Tian had not used the Interrogator's ability to forcibly breach that layer of defense.
If it wasn't that his own cover had been seen through, then the only possible explanation was…
The Joker's eyelid twitched—and then he suddenly burst out laughing.
"Heh heh. You didn't go take up the prison guard post after all—you swept the entire Third Ring instead, didn't you?"
Yue Tian snapped his fingers: "Correct."
"I never went to carry out that so-called assignment."
"Instead, I used the time to search every inn and hidden base in the Third Ring."
"And just moments ago, I also paid your 2 companions a little visit—that old man cursed you for being a fool on his way out."
He hoisted the three-section staff onto his shoulder, his tone unwavering and certain.
"Now, drop the disguise."
"6th Seat of the Arashin-Kai. Joker."
Upon hearing those words, the Joker went still for a moment—then let out a low laugh.
"I see… you bluffed it out of the Sage, didn't you?"
"Worthy of the one who commands Huaxia's intelligence apparatus—extracting information is truly your forte."
"Even a crafty old fox like the Sage ended up tripping over you."
The Joker bent at the waist in a formal bow.
"In that case, I won't make a fool of myself any further."
"Besides… I no longer want to keep playing this suffocating Tang Sirui act—I took quite a beating just now, after all."
As his words fell, the Joker revealed his true face.
"Now—it's my turn to ask."
The Joker raised his head and looked at Yue Tian.
"Sir Interrogator…"
"How did you know, from the very beginning, that this Tang Sirui of mine was a fake?"
"Otherwise you wouldn't have come up with the plan to search the rooms, would you?"
Yue Tian's lips curved upward.
"Why, of course… you told me yourself."
Upon hearing those words, the smile on the Joker's face did not disappear.
Instead, it transferred itself to Yue Tian's face.
‘I told him myself?’
‘Just now he…’
‘Was bluffing me?!’
The Joker arrived at a realization.
The Sage had never been tricked into revealing his identity at all.
Yue Tian had deliberately dangled the bait of I know you are the 6th Seat.
And he himself had taken it—hook, line, and sinker—voluntarily dropping his own disguise.
Watching the expression on the Joker's face, Yue Tian casually swung his three-section staff.
"From the very beginning, I only had my suspicions."
"After all, the identity you were disguising yourself as was peculiar in every way."
"The bamboo pole… the ring…"
"And that tombstone in the Mass Burial Ground."
"While my Interrogator told me your identity was Tang Sirui, that didn't mean I was going to trust it blindly."
Yue Tian stepped forward, his full aura unfurling.
"Because the world is vast, and there will always be methods capable of resisting—or even deceiving—the rules."
"Not long ago, I personally encountered a powerhouse who could ignore my interrogation entirely."
The Joker listened to the end, then spread his hands helplessly and let out a sigh.
"Alas, what a pity—such a perfect performance, ruined."
"If that wretched rabbit hadn't interfered, leaving behind so many loose ends…"
"We could have coexisted quite a bit longer."
He raised his head, his gaze turning cold: "But I'm curious—how did you determine I was specifically the Joker?"
"My ability doesn't involve shapeshifting, you know~"
Yue Tian's gaze was piercing: "Simple."
"Within the Arashin-Kai, you previously claimed publicly to be the Thousand-Face Demon Lord—one who seizes others' bodies using a mask."
"We believed it at first."
"But you should never, under any circumstances, have let Nightmare use his domain."
"To forcibly implant into the battlefield at the Polar Ice Wastes the memory of you possessing Dual Abilities."
"A retroactively patched-in detail will never withstand scrutiny."
"Especially a patch method like this one—forcibly filling holes by tampering with memories—which only leaves behind even more openings."
"And so, Huaxia's intelligence division formed a bold conjecture."
"Your ability is not the Thousand-Face Demon Lord at all."
"Nor is it some Dual Ability with an added Savage Warform."
"Rather, it exists within the sequence yet to be identified—somewhere in the top 20!"
"And this sequence is intimately connected to 【the memories of others】 and 【the impressions others hold of you】."
"The core of it is… performance."
At this point, Yue Tian suddenly stopped in his tracks, tucking the three-section staff back at his waist and folding his arms across his chest.
"Finally: after listening to my analysis, you will know you cannot overcome me in a direct confrontation, and so you will choose to flee."
"And before fleeing, you will absolutely leave behind one arrogant, cutting remark."
Yue Tian made a sweeping 'please go ahead' gesture.
"Now… please begin your performance."
The Joker stood motionless on the rooftop for a full 5 seconds.
Then he raised both hands and began to applaud.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"
"Worthy of the one who steers Huaxia's intelligence apparatus!"
"Ginger gets spicier with age—you truly have this young man's admiration!"
As his words fell, the Joker stopped clapping and tilted his head with a smile.
"Since Sir Interrogator has already written the script, I shall do as you wish—and leave behind this parting remark."
His body began to lean backward, about to tip off the edge of the roof.
"Yue Tian, you will have no chance to bring this intelligence out of here."
"Because… in this place called Soul-Return Town, what has returned to its soul is not only people and ghosts…"
"But also… a being you can absolutely never resist…"
"She will return soon—to reclaim the blood debt that is owed—and become the sole protagonist of this grand performance…"
"And I… shall be the one who sets all of this in motion!"
The Joker fell backward off the roof.
"Prepare to welcome the calamity…"
"My opponents!"
"I hope when we meet again, you can still keep your composure—hahaha!"
The voice echoed outward.
Yue Tian stood at the edge of the eave, watching the Joker's silhouette vanish into the depths of the dark alley.
He said nothing more, waiting until he confirmed the other man's presence had completely left the range of his senses.
Only then did his back curve ever so slightly.
Yue Tian turned and dropped back into the Heaven-Class Suite of the Grand Summer Inn—now a scene of utter devastation.
"Phew…"
The moment he landed, he staggered two steps, barely bracing himself against the ruined wall before sliding down to sit on the floor.
He pressed a hand to his chest, his breathing turning labored.
"It seems… even within the Arashin-Kai, there is no unity of iron."
Yue Tian let out a cold laugh, fighting through the intense pain as he lifted his own shirt.
In the moonlight filtering through the broken window—
There on his left chest, directly over his heart, was a black handprint, stark and unmistakable.
That was the wound the 【Sage】 had left on him when he fled during the raid on the Heaven-Class Suite.
Yue Tian could feel it—a strange and sinister force was seeping inward through that black handprint, corroding his five organs and six viscera.
Attempting to alter his genes and bloodline!
This feeling…
He knew it all too well.
"It's almost identical to the kind of curse that Shadow carries on her body!"
Yue Tian gritted his teeth.
That white-haired old man with the grey cloth over his eyes…
Just what manner of person was he?
How could a single seat within the Arashin-Kai wield the power of the Mist?
And then there was the 3rd Seat, Dusk…
He had turned into a complete fool!
What scheme had brought them to Soul-Return Town?
But now was clearly not the time to dig into any of that.
He had to leave.
Fortunately, the Arashin-Kai was, when all was said and done, something of a ragtag outfit.
The members didn't fully know or trust one another.
The confrontation just now with the Joker had been entirely a performance he staged through psychological composure and an information advantage—a classic Empty Fort Strategy.
If the Joker had known the Sage's true strength.
Or if, halfway through, he had caught on and turned back.
Given the state Yue Tian was in—with the curse eroding him—he would have been no match at all for the Savage Warform.
That was also the fundamental reason he had let the Joker walk away just now, rather than pressing the advantage.
He rested briefly against the wall to recover, then pushed himself upright and prepared to leave this place of trouble.
But the very moment he stepped out through the inn room door—
Whoosh!
Two gusts of dark wind rose from nowhere, and ghost constables blocked his path.
"Prison Guard Yue Tian."
The ghost constable on the left shook open a proclamation right in his face—written in red characters, it bore a judgment.
"Failure to complete assigned duties on schedule. Dereliction of post!"
"Sentence pronounced! Mandatory transfer to the 【Livestock Factory】 for 12 hours of high-intensity labor—as a warning to others!"
Faced with the punishment ruling before him, Yue Tian's tense body actually relaxed.
He did not draw his three-section staff, nor did he offer any resistance.
"12 hours? That'll do."
Yue Tian had been at a loss for how to find the Livestock Factory and investigate it from the inside.
This punishment was like a pillow arriving just as he was about to doze off.
And besides—after this engagement, the Sage had fled with heavy injuries, and the Joker was rattled and uncertain. The Arashin-Kai's side…
In the short term, they shouldn't be able to stir up any more trouble—they wouldn't dare show their faces again so easily.
"Lead the way."
Yue Tian calmly extended both hands.
The 2 ghost constables flanked him on either side, escorting him as they disappeared into the darkness, heading in the direction of the Livestock Factory.
……
And not long after Yue Tian was taken away—
In the distance, the sound of festive music suddenly rang out!
Gongs and drums thundered; suonas shrieked!
The Scholar's Dojo's bridal procession…
The true culprit behind Dusk being turned into a fool.
Had arrived!
Bunny