CHAPTER 118: 118 WAVING THE TIGER’S SKIN AS A BIG FLAG

A threat?

Lin Bai hadn’t even shown his face, and he was already being controlled by the Heaven-descended people under him!

Zhao Yi’s face turned pale with anger, and his sword-holding hand trembled uncontrollably.

He didn’t understand. The Heaven-descended people were clearly the outsiders. He could wipe out a large swathe of them with a single sword strike, so why was he the one feeling so aggrieved? Even when the Waning Sun Gate had snatched a large number of Heaven-descended people from his grasp, he had only considered himself outnumbered and hadn’t felt this aggrieved!

It was Lin Bai.

The scene of his afternoon encounter with Lin Bai flashed through Zhao Yi’s mind. His sense of powerlessness then was identical to how he felt now, completely unable to exert his Martial Power.

This was all Lin Bai’s scheming!

If it weren’t for him, the Heaven-descended people would never have become like this!

"Quite interesting." Peng Ze gave Crispy Rice a meaningful look, then turned to Daoist Qingming and chuckled, "Daoist, it seems a fight won’t be breaking out. Shall we also sit and have some tea?"

Saying this, without waiting for Daoist Qingming’s response, he seated himself beside Jiang Qingqin. A Beggar Gang disciple refilled his cup with hot tea. Although Daoist Qingming was a Golden Core Perfected Being, he held no authority over Peng Ze’s Medicine King Valley.

Daoist Qingming remained silent for a moment. With a flick of his horsetail whisk, and without any other discernible movement, he also took a seat at the square table.

The Heaven-descended people were immortal; threatening them with Martial Power was useless. It was better to calm down and observe their actions. He could not bear the responsibility of pushing the Heaven-descended people toward evil ways and villainy.

Sun Lie from the Spirit Artifact Pavilion clasped his fist in salute to Crispy Rice and gracefully sat down in the last empty seat at the Eight Immortals table.

Of the five who had come to challenge them, only Zhao Yi remained standing alone, sword in hand, his face ashen. He was in a dilemma, unsure whether to leave or stay.

The four seats at the square table were now occupied by Daoist Qingming and the other three. Sitting next to any of them would make him look out of place; sitting at an adjacent table would be even more awkward.

Damn it all! What kind of people were these?! Zhao Yi’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He closed his eyes in frustration. Everything is going against me!

"That’s more like it!" Crispy Rice laughed. "If there’s an issue, let’s discuss it. All this fighting and killing is so detrimental to harmony..."

"Lin, the Storekeeper, you’ve watched enough of the excitement. It’s time for you to come out," Daoist Qingming said, glancing at Crispy Rice before calling towards the backyard. "Rest assured, with this humble Daoist present, no fight will occur. Since the Beggar Gang was formed by the Heaven-descended, Lin, the Storekeeper, naturally hasn’t violated the rules of the Seven Orthodox Sects. As Heavenly Dao permits the Heaven-descended to enter the world, we shall not act against Heaven’s will by forcibly interfering in their destiny. Otherwise, how would we differ from those who follow evil and unorthodox ways?"

"That Mr. Zhao over there looks pretty fierce," Crispy Rice said. "Lin, the Storekeeper, is an honored guest of our Beggar Gang. If anything were to happen to him on our territory, it would be difficult for us to answer to the Righteous Door."

"Junior Brother Zhao, put your sword away," Daoist Qingming said to Zhao Yi, his tone mild. "We were indeed discourteous first this time. If we continue to be aggressive and belligerent, we will only make ourselves a laughingstock. Since Lin, the Storekeeper, is on good terms with the Heaven-descended, we should seek his guidance."

"I wouldn’t dare presume to offer guidance," Lin Bai’s hearty voice drifted from the backyard. "Cultivators are all one family. We should help one another and work together to maintain social stability. That is the greater righteousness..."

[Resentment from Zhao Yi, Daoist Qingming, Sun Lie, Peng Ze; +1+1+1]

[Guilt from Jiang Qingqin; +1+1+1]

The moment Lin Bai appeared, the five challengers accurately conveyed their respective emotions to him through the system.

Lin Bai smiled at the group, walked over at a leisurely pace, and stood beside Crispy Rice.

To be honest, the Players’ performance had somewhat exceeded Lin Bai’s expectations. However, it was also within reason. The Players, by being with him, understood the objectives of those sects, even if they weren’t very familiar with the sects themselves. On the other hand, looking at Daoist Qingming’s group, even though the Players had been in this world for nearly twenty days, they clearly still didn’t understand the NPCs’ behavioral norms.

One side acted without scruples, while the other was wary at every turn.

This was inherently an unfair negotiation...

Unless the Seven Orthodox Sects and Taiyi Country could bring themselves to ruthlessly exterminate the Players, giving them absolutely no game experience, they were destined to be constrained by the Players...

But thinking about it, that was impossible. Not to mention the threat of heavenly lightning to "Basic City." There was simply too much scheming and infighting among them. If the Seven Orthodox Sects were to fully target the Players, it would give the villains an opportunity...

Moreover, Taiyi Country was not the only nation on the Continent. As long as someone on the Continent could tolerate the Players’ existence, any sect or nation that moved against them would ultimately suffer a devastating calamity.

The Players, with their limitless growth potential, were too much of a game-breaking factor—a double-edged sword. It all depended on who could wield them effectively.

So far, only he—who neither belonged to this world, yet understood the Players, and was also burdened with a host of inexplicable systems—had managed to barely gain a slight upper hand in the struggle against the Players. Of course, this had also drawn much more hatred towards him...

But in the future, once the NPCs adapted to the Players’ methods, his advantage would cease to exist.

Daoist Qingming appeared to be in his thirties. He sat there, calm and composed, looking as if everything was under his control. Yet, the moment Lin Bai emerged, his eyebrows still twitched upwards involuntarily.

The young man to his left wore a Daoist robe embroidered with an Alchemy Furnace; he was likely a Pill Master from the Medicine King Valley. The middle-aged man to his right had a swarthy complexion and an air of soot and fire about him; he likely hailed from the Tool Refining Sect...

Lin Bai understood their identities with a single glance. He clasped his fists in salute: "This humble disciple of the Righteous Door, currently traveling the world, greets Daoist Qingming, Senior Brother Peng Ze, Senior Brother Sun Lie, Senior Brother Zhao Yi, and Junior Sister Jiang..."

With this greeting, he accurately named everyone present.

Aside from Zhao Yi and Daoist Qingming, both Peng Ze and Sun Lie were momentarily stunned.

Peng Ze asked, "You know us?"

"This is our first meeting," Lin Bai smiled. "Hasn’t Junior Sister Jiang told you? The Righteous Door possesses Divine Skills of heavenly deduction. Although I, Lin Bai, have not yet mastered them fully, divining names upon a first encounter is still within my capabilities."

"Is that so?" Sun Lie looked to Jiang Qingqin for confirmation.

"Senior Brother Lin does indeed possess this Divine Skill," Jiang Qingqin nodded. "Previously, when we confronted the Blood Shadow Sect, Senior Brother Lin also stated their names after just a glance."

"Heavenly deduction, is it real or fake?" Mad Man asked in the team voice chat.

"It should be real. Unless Lin, the Storekeeper, could know everyone’s names beforehand, but in that case, the Righteous Door would be even more terrifying." The Lonely Old Man’s eyes shone brightly. The more awesome the Righteous Door is, the brighter our prospects!

"I suspect Lin, the Storekeeper, hasn’t just mastered an Art of Divination for guessing names; he likely also possesses some predictive abilities," Bitter Melon Vine said. "Don’t forget the time we besieged him. I asked around afterward—no one leaked our plan. Yet Lin, the Storekeeper, knew all our arrangements clearly. I suspected back then that Lin, the Storekeeper, had the gift of foresight."

"Damn, he can even predict Player plans? How does he do it? Has AI really become this terrifying?" Well Does Not Move exclaimed.

"Terrifying, my foot! For a game, predicting Player movements is all too easy," Just For Now said with contempt. "All our conversations are logged by the backend. If the server wanted to, it could reveal everyone’s chat logs to Lin Bai. That’s your so-called Art of Divination for you! What’s that got to do with intelligence? It just means Lin Bai is the developers’ favored child!"

"Damn, we’ve really latched onto a powerful patron this time," Silver gulped.

"Let’s have a moment of silence for those who oppose Lin Bai!" Mad Man said. "They have no idea how many cheats the damn developers have given Lin, the Storekeeper."

"My only fear is that Lin, the Storekeeper, will eventually transform and become the final BOSS!" Crispy Rice couldn’t help but interject.

In an instant, all the Players fell silent.

DAMN IT! I teach you Martial Arts, I help you earn coin! And all you think about day in and day out is overthrowing me! You bunch of ungrateful curs!

Hearing the Players’ discussion, Lin Bai grumbled internally but maintained a calm exterior. One person’s abilities are ultimately limited. I have to constantly bolster the reputation of the Righteous Door behind me, even if it’s a fabrication. It’s necessary to make them wary of acting rashly...

"Heavenly deduction?" Peng Ze repeated subconsciously, frowning at Lin Bai. "Lin, the Storekeeper, forgive my bluntness, but the Medicine King Valley has a legacy spanning ten thousand years. Why have we never heard of the Righteous Door’s deeds?"

"That, I do not know." Lin Bai chuckled. "My tutelage was incomplete when my Master pushed me out of the sect. Master said that with the Heaven-descended people entering the world, I was to face the tribulations of this era. He never told me about the Righteous Door’s past. And once I entered the mortal realm, even the location of my own sect became hazy to me. The world’s ignorance of the Righteous Door is likely because the sect’s ancestors used techniques to interfere with heavenly secrets."

Face tribulations? Interfere with heavenly secrets!

These two phrases, dropped one after another by Lin Bai, profoundly shook Daoist Qingming and the others.

They were reluctant to acknowledge the Righteous Door’s existence, yet Lin Bai’s words seemed to possess a natural Charm, compelling them to involuntarily choose belief.

In fact, from the moment Lin Bai stepped out of the backyard, everyone’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to him, to the extent that they even overlooked the Heaven-descended people who had been causing such a commotion just moments before.

Lin Bai was calm and composed, a white fox perched on his shoulder. At first glance, he exuded the air of a disciple from a prestigious sect, like a true direct disciple from one of the Seven Orthodox Sects—ethereal as an immortal, with an extraordinary bearing.

A disciple from an ordinary minor sect would never possess such an aura.

The instant he saw Lin Bai, Zhao Yi, who had been seething with suppressed anger, had intended to draw his sword regardless of the consequences. But the moment Lin Bai appeared, Zhao Yi seemed to see a faint halo around him, causing a moment’s hesitation. By the time he came to his senses and thought of drawing his sword again, he was already undecided.

Peng Ze glanced at Daoist Qingming, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, betraying his unease. It seems our judgment of the Heaven-descended people, Lin Bai, and the Righteous Door was entirely wrong.

Daoist Qingming, however, looked at Jiang Qingqin with displeasure. All the information about Lin Bai had been provided by her, and now it seemed there was a huge discrepancy.

Jiang Qingqin was oblivious to his gaze. She had known Lin Bai the longest, so his transformation had the greatest impact on her; she almost thought he had become a different person.

Is this his true self? Jiang Qingqin’s heart pounded. The Righteous Door truly exists, and the cultivation method of Spoken Law Follows must also be real...

"Interfering with heavenly secrets is an Immortal Technique! Lin, the Storekeeper, aren’t your words a bit too grandiose?" Zhao Yi said unconvinced. "If the Righteous Door can truly deduce heavenly secrets, why would they send someone like you, who hasn’t even formed a Golden Core, to represent them in the world? If an accident befell Lin, the Storekeeper, wouldn’t all of the Righteous Door’s plans turn to ash?"

The more he spoke, the more confident he became. Zhao Yi’s eyes gleamed, as if he had exposed Lin Bai’s true colors.

"Master naturally has his reasons. Senior Brother Zhao, must you insist on dwelling on this point with me?" Lin Bai smiled faintly. "Senior Brother Zhao, do you know? Since the dawn of time, the mortal realm has endured countless tribulations. In each one, innumerable people have perished. Correspondingly, several individuals destined to face these tribulations also emerge to save the world from disaster. They may not be the most powerful, but they share a common title: The Fated."

"What do you mean?"

"More than one person to face the tribulations?"

"The Fated?"

Sun Lie, Peng Ze, and Daoist Qingming asked simultaneously.

"The Fated turn misfortune into auspicious fortune, and danger into safety," Lin Bai said, puffing out his chest, as if in that moment, he truly were the protagonist of the world.

GULP.

Jiang Qingqin swallowed lightly.

When Lin Bai finished speaking, the Beggar Gang disciples and the livestream audience erupted, comments flooding the screen:

"Damn, what a huge secret!"

"This has to be the main storyline of the game, right?"

"Lin, the Storekeeper, really is a story NPC!"

"If he’s one of The Fated, then what are Players? Villains?"

"From the game world’s perspective, Players are indeed the villains. They’ll stir up the world until it knows no peace."

"So, that means Players will eventually have to confront The Fated?"

"You think they haven’t clashed already? How many people are planning to get in the game just to kill Lin Bai? Now they have even more reason!"

"What kind of reason is that? If Lin Bai is really a story NPC, he can’t be killed, no matter what."

"Yeah! At the critical moment, the System will probably lock his health. That’ll be as disgusting as it gets."

"Still, we have to try. Players destroying the world, The Fated protecting it—that’s probably the true main storyline of this game."

"The game’s main storyline is pretty dark. There’s no BOSS that can’t be defeated. If The Fated are overthrown, it means the world gets taken over by Players. That’s a tragic fate for the native NPCs."

"Would the game company dare to prevent Players from achieving ultimate victory?"

"Such an epic storyline! I’m getting more and more excited for what comes next. It feels even more thrilling than watching a blockbuster! Kudos to the damn developers for their hard work."

"MBD, when will open beta truly begin?! Not being able to personally participate in such an epic game would be the regret of a lifetime!"

"Senior Brother Lin, are you one of The Fated?" Jiang Qingqin asked.

"Perhaps," Lin Bai smiled, neither confirming nor denying. "To be honest, I’m not entirely sure myself..."

"Why?" Jiang Qingqin asked. "But you clearly said just now..."

"Lin, the Storekeeper, please elaborate," Daoist Qingming interrupted Jiang Qingqin to ask.

Lin Bai sighed. "Destiny is fickle; no one knows how the future will unfold. Every tribulation is a cycle, Heaven and Earth reordering themselves. To face a tribulation, there is naturally more than one of The Fated.

"Whenever a great worldly tribulation occurs, those destined to face it will enter the world. They bear their own missions. They might end up supporting one another, or they might become adversaries. But ultimately, through various events, they will dispel the tribulation and restore peace to the world.

"It’s like the end of a dynasty: many powerful contenders rise, but ultimately, only one true sovereign, the Son of Heaven, will emerge. Yet, in the course of history, all those connected to this true sovereign—be they teachers, friends, or foes—are indispensable. So, naturally, there cannot be only one such significant individual."

He looked around at the surrounding Players and said, "Furthermore, Master once told me of a possibility: the true Child of Destiny might even emerge from among the Heaven-descended people."