False Becomes True, Seeking Life in Death

"Big Brother, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright. You were kept in the dark too, weren't you? I'm not such a petty person!"

It was clear that Su Mei's plea for help had been a setup right up until the appearance of Lin Tiannan. The Fox Demon had used some unknown method to rapidly recover from her injuries and created a lifelike illusion of Lin Tiannan to test whether Gao Xu had ulterior motives. To ensure the ruse was convincing, she had even kept Su Mei in the dark.

In the Fox Demon's mind, humans would never help demons without a reason. Even if her precious daughter praised Gao Xu to the heavens, she would not believe it.

It was only after witnessing Gao Xu's genuine affection and concern for Su Mei, as well as his willingness to draw his sword against Lin Tiannan, that the Fox Demon truly expressed her gratitude to her savior.

Gao Xu had originally intended to feign some anger at being deceived, but he quickly crumbled under Su Mei's tearful offensive. Furthermore, the gift the Fox Demon offered as thanks made it impossible for him to stay mad!

Royal Jelly x3, Viper Venom x5, Cicada Wing Cloak x1.

Royal Jelly: Blue-tier item, inferior quality. Refined from premium royal jelly, it has restorative and refreshing properties. Instantly restores 5 points of Mental Energy. Can be used during combat; shares a 30-second cooldown with similar items. Can be exchanged for 200 points.

Viper Venom: Blue-tier item, inferior quality. The toxic saliva of a viper. Highly poisonous; when applied to a weapon, it grants attacks a chance to inflict a status effect for 1 minute, causing the enemy to suffer from poisoning, reducing their health by 3 points per second for up to 15 seconds. Can be exchanged for 150 points.

Cicada Wing Cloak: Blue-tier equipment, inferior quality, back armor. A cloak as thin as a cicada's wing and remarkably lightweight, it improves evasion during combat. Defense +1, Agility +2, Constitution +1. Equipment requirement: None. Durability 30/30. Can be exchanged for 500 points.

(Note: In the Space, there are no such things as hit rate, evasion rate, or block rate for normal attacks. Everything depends on reality. If you hit the opponent, it is a hit; if the opponent's shield blocks your attack, it is a block. It all relies on the combat proficiency and fighting techniques of both parties. Therefore, the "improved evasion" mentioned in equipment stats actually refers to an increase in the Agility attribute.)

Gao Xu immediately donned the Cicada Wing Cloak, which had no equipment requirements. The Viper Venom was a sharp tool for killing enemies if used correctly, and the Royal Jelly was even more precious!

In games, blue-tier potions are generally harder to come by than red-tier ones, and the Space is no exception. Setting everything else aside, these three bottles of Royal Jelly alone could fetch at least 3,000 points in the Space's trading district—equivalent to the total earnings of most Tier 1 Reincarnators from a single plot world!

Of course, beyond the material rewards, the Snake Demon and Fox Demon's favorability increased significantly to 80, and Su Mei's favorability rose to 90—a hidden gain. Seeing that this family now considered him one of their own, Gao Xu urged them to leave the Hidden Dragon Cave, retreat into the mountains, and live a quiet life.

The Snake Demon and Fox Demon hesitated, clearly reluctant to give up what they considered a luxurious lifestyle. However, the battle with Tang Mei'er had shattered their confidence, and they knew that if they continued like this, they would eventually meet their end. Thus, with Su Mei's pleading, they finally nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"Phew, finally done!" Gao Xu let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. Just as he was thinking that if he rushed back immediately, he might be able to scavenge some more benefits, Su Mei suddenly tilted her head, stared straight at the entrance, and asked in confusion: "Mother, why did you conjure another Master Lin?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the scene fell silent. Gao Xu followed Su Mei's gaze, couldn't help but slap his forehead, and sighed: "A fake turned real?! Heavens, are you playing with me?"

Indeed, the Lin Tiannan who appeared now was incomparable to the previous counterfeit. The left sleeve of his robe was slightly scorched, likely the remnants of the Nine-Headed Snake's Samadhi True Fire. He had appeared without a sound, but when Gao Xu's gaze fell upon him, a heavy pressure welled up from the depths of his soul.

With an aura as steady as an abyss and as imposing as a mountain, yet contained and unreleased, Lin Tiannan's true strength was perhaps even beyond Gao Xu's expectations. The Snake Demon's family was in grave danger!

Lin Tiannan's stern gaze swept across the Snake Demon, the Fox Demon, and Su Mei in turn, finally landing on Gao Xu's face. He asked in a deep voice: "Why do you consort with these demonic evils?"

Gao Xu weighed his options repeatedly and decided against attacking immediately. He had no confidence that he could survive a single round against a furious Lin Tiannan; if the man went all out, only death awaited him.

Now, the only way was to use a scheme and seek life within death!

Gao Xu took a deep breath, avoided answering Lin Tiannan's question, and instead countered: "I have heard that Master Lin and the Shushan Sect Leader, the Dugu Sword Saint, are close friends. I wonder if the two seniors have ever discussed the issue of demon-slaying? While traveling, I once had a pleasant conversation with a Shushan disciple and found myself in agreement with one of his views: All things have spirits, and demons are living beings too. To kill them without cause is no different from slaughtering the innocent. I wonder what Master Lin thinks of this?"

"That is indeed true! Although Shushan takes demon-slaying and protecting the common people as its duty, it never kills the innocent indiscriminately. Generally, if a minor demon's life force is stable and they are not shrouded in resentment, it indicates they have not used evil methods to harm human lives, and thus, no unnecessary killing is done." Lin Tiannan's upright face shifted slightly, revealing a hint of mockery. "But these two demons have hands stained with the blood of over a dozen people. You wouldn't dare claim they are innocent!"

"What a joke! You brought people into our cave, shouting about slaying demons. Are you saying we shouldn't resist and should just bow our heads and wait for death?" The Snake Demon was still in the weakened state from the Berserk Demon Art, his face pale and his arms limp. Despite having lost his combat ability, his retort was devoid of fear.

Lin Tiannan raised his eyebrows in anger: "If you hadn't abducted young women and had instead cultivated peacefully in this cave, would you have brought this disaster upon yourselves?"

The Fox Demon, now vaguely realizing that resorting to force would lead to a disastrous end, suppressed her urge to attack and said: "While we are greedy for comfort and kidnapped some women to serve tea and weave cloth, we did not take their lives. Our crimes do not warrant death! Since your first 'visit,' Master Lin, have you ever shown a shred of mercy?"

"Well said!" Gao Xu praised internally. Before Lin Tiannan could reply, he sighed softly from the side: "This is what is called a difference in perspective. Perhaps in Master Lin's eyes, the Snake Demon kidnapping innocent women is an act of lewdness and evil that must be eradicated. But to these demon clans, who come from the mountains and lack concepts of etiquette and morality, capturing a few young women to serve as servants is not a major matter..."

Lin Tiannan snorted coldly, not refuting the point, effectively conceding.

Seeing that the timing was right, Gao Xu cupped his hands solemnly and said: "Therefore, I have a presumptuous request. It is said that when Shushan disciples go out to slay demons, they bring those whose crimes do not warrant death back to the Demon Locking Tower for imprisonment. Since you are well-acquainted with Shushan, I wonder if you could give them a chance to atone for their sins?"

Lin Tiannan was stunned, appearing somewhat incredulous: "What did you say? Boy, do you know what kind of place the Demon Locking Tower is?"

Gao Xu nodded without hesitation: "I do! The Demon Locking Tower was originally built by an Emperor of the Southern Dynasty and later used by the Shushan Sect to imprison demons. It contains the Demon-Dissolving Water bestowed by the Divine Realm and the Demon-Subduing Barrier. It is one of the symbols of Shushan's divine authority."

"You know quite a bit. Since that is the case, then why..." To be honest, if not for seeing how harmoniously Gao Xu got along with this family of demons, Lin Tiannan would have suspected that Gao Xu hated these two demons even more than he did.

The space inside the Demon Locking Tower was not vast, but Shushan disciples threw many demons that harmed the world into it every year. Consequently, the internal fighting and slaughter were extremely brutal; many demons would rather commit suicide than be locked inside.

Just thinking about who had been held in the Demon Locking Tower was enough to understand how difficult and dangerous the survival conditions were inside!

The demon world tycoon Heavenly Demon Emperor, the Lord of the Li Shushan Demon Realm Liaori, the Ghost Realm leader Heavenly Ghost Emperor, the wandering soul of the Wine Sword Immortal's grand-uncle Jiang Qing, the Demon Clan flag-bearer Kong Lin... even the Evil Sword Immortal had escaped from the Demon Locking Tower!

It could be said that in many cases, if you hated a demon to the bone, throwing them into the Demon Locking Tower to make their life worse than death was an excellent way to vent your hatred.

Although Lin Tiannan deeply hated the Snake Demon and the Fox Demon, he was an upright man who acted with justice. He had only thought of killing the demons to rid the people of harm and had never considered using extrajudicial punishment to vent his anger, let alone using his connections with Shushan to torture them.

Lin Tiannan had originally thought Gao Xu was deceived by the Fox Demon, unable to distinguish right from wrong. But seeing his clear eyes and sincere tone now, he couldn't help but hesitate, feeling deep down that something was not quite right.

With the conversation reaching this point, Gao Xu was 70 or 80 percent sure of success. The next step was to convince the Snake Demon and the Fox Demon.

However, ever since he mentioned the Demon Locking Tower, even the fearless Snake Demon began to tremble, showing just how terrifying that name was to the demon race.

The Fox Demon was slightly more composed than her husband. She stared straight into Gao Xu's eyes and smiled bleakly: "We appreciate our benefactor's good intentions, but rather than begging for a miserable existence in such a place, it would be better to end it all. So..."

"Mother, please, don't..." Before the Fox Demon could finish, Su Mei was already sobbing uncontrollably. The young girl had never heard of the horrors of the Demon Locking Tower. In her mind, the most important thing was that her parents could survive, so without any hint from Gao Xu, she played her part perfectly.

"Madam, can you really bear to let your daughter lose her parents at such a young age? The demon race values the survival of the fittest. Do you think that without you, Mei'er's future will be easy?" Gao Xu struck while the iron was hot, his words finally moving the Snake Demon and the Fox Demon. "Only by living is there hope! No matter how much of a dragon's den or tiger's lair the Demon Locking Tower is, as long as you have faith, there will be a day to meet again!"

"Fine, since they are willing to accept this..." Lin Tiannan sighed softly and was about to agree when another person flashed into the cave and shouted:

"Wait!"