Deception

"The Way of Sitting and Forgetting?" The Cultist in the red Nuo Mask sounded skeptical. "What sect is that?"

Xia Lun did not answer at once. His gaze flicked over the other Cultist closing in and the four Skinned Corpses. Then he pointed into the thick fog behind him. "Do you know what that fog is?"

"Everyone in Sorrow Hill City knows."

The Cultist in the red Nuo Mask gave nothing away. Clearly, he was wary of Xia Lun.

Seeing that he would get nothing out of him that way, Xia Lun changed tack.

"If you know what the fog is, you should know what it means to be able to walk through it," he said calmly. "I just came through it. That's why you didn't see me when you searched this temple."

"..." The Cultist in the red Nuo Mask froze and scratched his head in confusion.

They had been lying in wait here for a long time and had seen no one else. This man in strange clothes really had seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Still, something felt off...

He thought for a moment and was about to ask another question when the fellow Cultist beside him spoke.

"Can you get us out of here?" asked the Cultist in the green Nuo Mask. "Can you really walk through the Death Fog?"

As a Merchant with a gift for persuasion, Xia Lun knew how to sell an image. He smiled at the green-masked Cultist. "You don't have to take my word for it. I'll show you."

The moment Xia Lun said that, the green-masked Cultist grew visibly excited. The short man took a few steps forward without realizing it.

The Cultist in the red Nuo Mask sensed the shift in mood. He gave a sharp snort to warn his companion, then said, "Ever since the Yuanwater Festival, that fog has cut off the entire city. Even Master Fleshbound can't bring anything in from outside. You're just planning some street performer's trick!"

"Why don't you watch and decide for yourselves?"

Right before the Cultists' eyes, Xia Lun held out his hand and manifested the Voidwood Box from thin air. Glowing silver particles appeared alongside it, swirling around the box like a gauzy veil. The whole thing took on a dreamlike radiance, almost like Starlight.

The bizarre display left the green-masked Cultist stunned.

"A Secret Art?!" Delight surged through the green-masked Cultist's voice. He bent forward in an instinctively fawning bow. "We're saved! We can get out of here!"

As the green-masked man bowed his head, the three Skinned Corpses beside him lowered theirs and knelt.

The Cultist in the red Nuo Mask froze too. The words he had prepared stuck in his throat. "This..."

Can this man really use Secret Arts?

Besides Master Fleshbound, Lord Bai, and Daoist Xuanyan, there's a fourth person in the city who can use them?

That makes no sense. Could he be Daoist Xuanyan in disguise?

At that thought, the Cultist in the red Nuo Mask grew even more guarded. He quietly raised his red lantern and used Calling to contact Snake Face, the high-ranking Cultist who had led him and his companion here to ambush Xuan Yan.

At the same time, a line of Cobalt Blue text swept across the corner of Xia Lun's vision.

[Deception! You successfully bluffed a "Nuo-Mask Plague believer" into trusting you somewhat. You gained 50 Memory Points.]

Nuo-Mask Plague?

Xia Lun noted the strange term and filed it away.

His mind was racing, but he did not pause.

"This wall of fog is the Yin Bo Wall. Yin Bo is one of the Sunset Stars. There are four Sunset Stars: Zi Gong, Yin Bo, Luo Xiong, and Ji Ming. Yin Bo governs lifespan and calamity. Enter its domain, and you'll lose your way and years of your life."

He lifted his chin slightly. His voice was assured, his pace unhurried, as though he were a genuine expert in astrology.

"Watch closely. I'm about to show you what the Way of Sitting and Forgetting can do."

As he spoke, he turned his wrist and tossed the Voidwood Box straight into the thick fog behind him, to the Cultists' astonishment.

"To pass through the Death Fog, you need Mastery of the Astral Ritual and must calculate where Qi flows and water comes to rest. To do that, I need to know what this place was like before the fog arrived. The positions of the stars and the lay of the land both matter. So tell me about the people and events in this city. Once I've worked out the causes and fixed our bearings, I can lead everyone out."

He turned his wrist again, returned the Voidwood Box from the fog to his Personal Space, then manifested it in his hand once more.

"What?!"

Even the Cultist in the red Nuo Mask, who had doubted Xia Lun all along, was dumbstruck.

The strangely dressed man had retrieved something from the fog—a place from which nothing that entered had ever returned!

And everything he said sounded coherent and methodical. His Dao Cultivation even seemed deeper than Master Fleshbound's.

He had shown them a bizarre Secret Art without hesitation, as if its cost did not concern him at all.

Those extraordinary feats, along with his openness about them, made one thing clear: this man truly had special abilities! Perhaps he really could walk freely through the Death Fog and had come from outside!

Excitement seized the Cultist in the red Nuo Mask. He was about to speak when his companion beat him to it again. "Sir, did you really come from outside?"

"The genuine article," Xia Lun said with a smile. From their reactions, he knew his bluff had worked.

The trick to deception was not making a lie airtight. It was finding what people longed for and what they feared, then using words to stir their greed or dread until their imaginations filled in the lie for them.

In other words, the key was not what he said, but how they saw it.

Clearly, these two Cultists wanted to leave the city. Only the fog stood in their way.

[Deception! You successfully bluffed a "Nuo-Mask Plague believer" into trusting you completely. You gained 40 Memory Points.]

When another notification appeared, Xia Lun pulled the yellowed invitation from his pocket and waved it at the two dazed Cultists.

"No need to call me sir. We're all seekers of the Way, so 'fellow Daoist' will do. I only recently came down from the mountain and don't know much about the world. First, tell me why this place is called Sorrow Hill City."

The green-masked man hurried over.

"Fellow Daoist, our city used to be called Seven Hills City, after the seven small hills nearby. But when the sun set and the Death Fog came, Master Fleshbound ordered the name changed to Sorrow Hill City. They say it could slow the fog's advance."

Xia Lun nodded slightly and was about to ask more when the red-masked man smacked Little Green hard on the back of the head!

Smack!

"How dare you call a master 'fellow Daoist'?" the red-masked man snapped. Then he lowered his head and bowed to Xia Lun with a sudden show of Humility. "Master, how should we address you?"

Xia Lun chuckled, but did not put on airs. He shook his head. "I'm no master. My Daoist name is Master Danyang. Big Red, hold your tongue and let Little Green finish telling me how the Death Fog came about."

First he drew them in with an approachable manner, then tested them by casually putting them down with nicknames. It was an old tactic, but an effective one.

Neither Cultist noticed his subtle, underhanded test. In fact, both seemed quite pleased with the nicknames Xia Lun had given them.

Unlike the suspicious, ruthless pirate outlaws, these two Cultists were remarkably naive. They had little experience with the deceptions people used against one another.

In a few words, a hierarchy that existed only in their imaginations had taken shape...

Little Green had been rubbing the back of his head, but at Xia Lun's words, he quickly dropped his hand and bowed respectfully.

"Master Danyang, Sorrow Hill City used to be a very prosperous place. Thanks to the Yin Longevity Pills refined by Master Fleshbound, it was once the most prosperous city south of Tianhuai. Nobles and dignitaries from far and wide came here seeking pills to extend their lives.

"But a year ago, everything changed..."