Lin Yi Won Another Round!

Exactly!

Just as everyone had guessed!

Everything Lin Yi had said earlier, including his thoughts, had been an act!

The first time he had used [Eye of Illusion Breaking] on the black-robed man, the attribute descriptions had told him that the man before him was no ordinary person!

In fact... the black-robed man could read his thoughts!

In his previous life, Lin Yi had encountered similar abilities.

Without precautions, he would expose all his secrets to the person before him.

Later, through prolonged, deliberate training in focusing his thoughts, Lin Yi had learned to make himself think and judge according to the current situation when facing such enemies.

Instead of letting his mind wander!

This technique was called [From the Heart]!

But later, Lin Yi had discovered that not letting his mind wander at all was even more suspicious!

And so, an advanced version of [From the Heart] had emerged!

Lin Yi needed to let his mind wander in ways that made sense for the current situation, supporting his words and actions!

That way, his enemies would be unable to figure out his real thoughts!

Not believing in the existence of a great opportunity...

Calling the black-robed man a rotten old geezer...

Planning to kill himself...

Wanting to shake hands...

Wanting to befriend an influential benefactor...

All of these had merely been false impressions Lin Yi had manufactured in his mind!

Lin Yi's target had been that so-called great opportunity!

The black-robed man could casually produce a whole pile of incredibly rare experience worms, so the great opportunity he spoke of had to be something extraordinary!

Of course, doing this carried risks!

The other man could very well fly into a humiliated rage and slap Lin Yi to death.

But so what?

He would only lose one [Death-Exemption Scarecrow].

Burning his bridges?

Sorry, this wasn't the only path available to him!

The black-robed man stared at his hand, which had been knocked aside, and froze.

He raised his eyes slightly and looked in puzzlement at the smiling Lin Yi, his hoarse voice laced with coldness:

"You little brat!"

"You've got some nerve!"

"You..."

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Lin Yi grinned, his eyes narrowing slightly, a subtle smile playing at the corners of his mouth:

"Senior, what do you mean by that?"

"I used everything I had to complete the difficult task you set me."

"For you to say that now really does leave me rather disheartened."

The black-robed man fixed his eyes on Lin Yi, radiating a terrifying aura as he spoke again:

"I suggest you watch yourself!"

"Isn't ambushing an old man like that winning unfairly?"

Boom!

Thunder cracked overhead, and the rain once again began to rage wildly.

At the same time!

The wind rose!

The flowers and grasses all around bent beneath it, seemingly about to be uprooted the very next moment.

The gale swept the torrential rain toward Lin Yi, hammering his body.

Feeling the pressure around him and the terrifying killing intent bearing down on him, Lin Yi barely managed to steady himself.

The smile faded from his face, replaced by indifference:

"Winning unfairly?"

"Heh!"

"We weren't playing house. The moment you set the rules, we were already fighting!"

"A battle may have plenty of twists and turns, but in the end, it only produces two kinds of people."

"The loser... or the winner!"

"A great opportunity? Heh!"

"Ten percent experience barely counts as a great opportunity!"

"I don't want to waste any more breath either. Just kill me with a slap!"

"Let me see exactly how strong you are!"

After speaking, Lin Yi slowly extended his right hand amid the black-robed man's terrifying aura.

He seemed to want the other man to give him a taste of his own medicine, avenging that earlier blow.

Looking at Lin Yi's right hand trembling slightly under the pressure of his terrifying aura, the black-robed man suddenly smiled:

"Clever boy!"

Whoosh!

Clasp!

The terrifying aura surrounding the black-robed man vanished instantly!

At the very last moment, the flowers and grasses managed to hold on, escaping the cruel fate of being torn out by their roots.

The rain weakened, its gentle drizzle soothing the earth.

The black-robed man extended his right hand, clasped Lin Yi's, and shook it up and down.

They seemed to have already forgotten the earlier unpleasantness, becoming two kindred spirits in that instant.

Lin Yi grinned and laughed without reservation:

"I... won again."

Exactly, just as everyone had guessed.

Lin Yi and the black-robed man had once again gone through several rounds of maneuvering!

After Lin Yi had injured him, the black-robed man had felt that all Lin Yi's earlier talk of respect was bullshit and expressed great anger.

Lin Yi, however, had said he had done it out of necessity to complete the task the other man had set.

Different paths led to the same destination!

Wasn't going all out also a form of respect for the black-robed man's strength?

The black-robed man had spoken again, declaring that Lin Yi had used underhanded tricks unbecoming of a gentleman.

Lin Yi, however, had stated that once a battle began, then...

There was no distinction between righteous and wicked, only victory and defeat!

At the same time, Lin Yi had shakily extended his right hand.

On the surface, he had seemed intent on dying, but in truth, he had been giving the black-robed man a way to back down.

If the black-robed man did as Lin Yi said and wiped him out with a slap...

That would be a powerful man bullying the weak, a truly unfair victory!

And the battle was already over. If the black-robed man attacked again, he would be admitting he was no gentleman.

That would completely contradict what he had said earlier!

To a powerhouse like him, saving face mattered more than the outcome of a minor contest.

Even if he could easily kill Lin Yi, it would feel worse than eating shit.

Thus, the black-robed man could only accept Lin Yi's renewed gesture of goodwill and shake hands to make peace.

In this battle of psychological maneuvering, Lin Yi had won a complete victory!

Likewise, the black-robed man did not argue this time and nodded:

"Yes, you won."

"The great opportunity is yours!"

"However, I still have a few questions for you."

Lin Yi nodded and spoke with a somewhat relaxed air:

"Go ahead, Senior."

The black-robed man nodded, began pacing in front of Lin Yi, and slowly spoke:

"First, do you think changing the past is possible?"

"Second, do you think changing the future is possible?"

"Third, if a miracle occurred, would you still hold to your original views?"

Faced with the black-robed man's three questions, Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.

He withdrew his gaze from the black-robed man, forcibly suppressed the urge to let his thoughts wander, and cupped his hands slightly:

"The first question."

"Changing the past is, of course, impossible!"

"Things that have already happened on the past timeline have become established facts!"

"Established facts cannot be changed!"

"In other words, changing the past is impossible!"

Lin Yi paused, then spoke again:

"The second question."

"Changing the future is, of course, possible!"

"On the future timeline, things that haven't happened yet may have their original course altered by various factors."

"Things that haven't happened can, of course, be changed!"

"In other words, changing the future is possible!"

Lin Yi frowned slightly, considered for a moment, and spoke again:

"If a miracle occurred, I would still hold to my original views."

"After all, a miracle is merely a point formed by the convergence of various coincidences."

"That point cannot change the past timeline, nor can it keep the future course of events stable forever."

Recalling his calculation of the odds of victory just before killing the [Nightmare Giant Dragon], Lin Yi suddenly smiled:

"A miracle is called a miracle if you put it nicely."

"Put less nicely, it's nothing more than a coincidence!"