The Way of Deception.
Deceive Heaven, deceive Earth, deceive All Beings.
It sounded incredibly awesome, utterly invincible.
But only he himself knew how bitterly, how wearily, he had walked this path!!
Thus, faced with this dead end, faced with the Eighth Divine General's irresistible strength, he was not afraid of death.
He was tired. He wanted to rest.
And he had one regret: that he had not attained a perfect Dao Fruit, had not seen the highest level of the Dao.
These years, truly...
He was so tired!
From that ruined temple in Azure Cloud Town onward, he had been deceiving.
Deceiving others, and deceiving himself.
He deceived himself into saying that he did not need to care about others' opinions.
He deceived himself into saying that he did not need friends, did not need family, did not need anyone's understanding.
He deceived himself into saying that he could walk well on his own.
But he knew all of it was false.
He cared!
He cared deeply!!
He cared more than anything!!!
He, too, wanted someone to understand him. He, too, wanted someone to accompany him down this path.
He, too, wanted a household that could shelter him from wind and rain when he was tired!
He, too, wanted a master who would sweep away every danger for him when peril came.
But... those were things he would never obtain!
Because what the Way of Deception feared most was someone learning the truth!
Once someone learned the truth, the Heavenly Dao would know, and the Heavenly Dao... would not spare him!
He remembered that it had happened a very, very long time ago, so long ago that he could no longer remember how many tens of thousands of years had passed.
At that time, he had only recently stepped onto