The man in green laughed, “It seems like this fellow daoist is not a fool.”

Face darkening, Meng Xingzi glared at the man in green before saying to Lin Xun, “Brother Lin, that fiend spirit is as crafty and deceitful as a demon. He’s deliberately sowing discord between...”

Lin Xun cut him off, “I’ll give you one last chance.” His voice was more chilling than before.

Sweat beaded on Meng Xingzi’s forehead as he stumbled in a state of panic, “Brother Lin, you…what are you suspecting? Don’t be fooled by that evil creature!”

Unfortunately, the man in green on the mountain summit spoke aloud, “Let me tell you the story then. A month ago, this man came here with a group of people and they happened to witness a primeval relic appear, so they competed to claim it.

“Unfortunately, I was also there at the time, and I discovered the treasure before them...”

Meng Xingzi’s face turned livid and he roared, “Shut up! Brother Lin, don’t listen to his nonsense!”

“Why are you panicking? There’s no harm in listening to his nonsense.”

Lin Xun clapped a hand on Meng Xingzi’s shoulder, and he froze right away, unable to utter a sound. He was so nervous that he became soaked in cold sweat.

The man in green smiled and continued, “Fellow Daoist, you know that I am transformed from a fiend spirit. In your eyes, I am an evil creature that should be killed. But I have gained intelligence and consciousness and I have my own personality and pride.

“When we competed for the treasure, I defeated Meng Xingzi’s comrades one by one, but I did not kill them. I only asked Meng Xingzi to hand over the treasure in exchange for the lives of his comrades.

“Who would have thought…haha…” The man in green sneered, “Who would have thought that Fellow Daoist Meng Xingzi...would take the treasure and escape by himself.”

Restrained, Meng Xingzi, struggled furiously, as though desperate to explain himself, but his efforts were in vain.

“He escaped?” Lin Xun frowned, looked at Meng Xingzi, and withdrew the restraining force. “Is this the real truth?”

Meng Xingzi panted, flustered, as he tried to explain, “Lies, it’s all lies. How would I, Meng Xingzi, abandon my fellow disciples for a treasure? That evil creature is clearly spewing lies and trying to sow discord!”

“Lies? Then take a look at who these people are.”

The man in green smiled and waved his hand.

A group of figures appeared, men and women, all in low spirits and gasping for breath.

The sight of Meng Xingzi filled them with anger and hatred, prompting some to hurl curses at him.

“Meng Xingzi! We have known you for hundreds of years, and we even saw you as a brother. But you abandoned us all for a treasure. You...are heartless!” Р𝐚Ŋо₿Еs̩

“I followed your orders and fought with everything to help you get the treasure, but you ran away by yourself after getting your hands on the treasure!”

Those men and women were all agitated, looking like they wanted to tear Meng Xingzi apart.

Meanwhile, Meng Xingzi’s face had turned deathly pale, and he was visibly trembling and flustered. “You all...how are you still alive? No, you all must be under the control of that evil creature. When we fought for the treasure, I saw you guys meet with disaster...”

He turned to Lin Xun and pleaded, “Brother Lin, please don’t be fooled by that evil creature. I did lie before. After I obtained the treasure and left the fourth level, I had no intention of coming back because I knew that my comrades were already dead!

“I deceived you so I could get the treasure back from you.

“But I swear that I never thought of abandoning my comrades and escaping with the treasure alone! Never!”

He was like a drowning man, exhausting all his energy to explain himself.

In the distance, the man in green let out a sigh. “At this point when all the evidence is laid out in front of you, you still stubbornly refuse to admit it. It’s truly pathetic.”

He looked at Lin Xun and asked, “Fellow Daoist, do you believe it now?”

“Brother Lin–!” Meng Xingzi slumped to the ground, howling hoarsely, his expression a mix of speechless despair and panic.

“I don’t believe it.” Lin Xun stated.

His dark eyes flashed like lightning as he stared at the man in green on the distant mountain top.

Those four words took the man in green aback. “You don’t believe it?” He frowned. “Isn’t all this enough to prove it?”

Lin Xun said indifferently, “Let me ask you, the treasure has been taken away so why did you keep Meng Xingzi’s comrades around? Don’t tell me that you had anticipated this would happen, so you prepared them as witnesses in advance.”

“Yes, yes, yes! That’s right!” Meng Xingzi shouted excitedly as if he had come back alive.

The man in green sighed, “Fellow Daoist, I’ve already told you that I have my own intelligence, my own personality and pride. During the fight for the treasure, I did not resort to ruthless means. Even if the treasure was taken, how would I possibly vent my anger on those people?”

“Nonsense!” Meng Xingzi snarled. “You’re a creature formed from a fiend spirit, how could you possess a merciful heart? Ridiculous!’

“Why do fiend spirits have to do evil?” The man in green questioned back, his expression displeased. “Remember, I have my own intelligence and I am unlike those stupid things without intelligence!

“Besides, even if you don’t believe me, you should at least believe what these people say, right?” The man in green pointed to the men and women.

Lin Xun’s dark eyes were deep and inscrutable, and he said something that was equally difficult to understand, “They are no longer themselves, so their testimony can’t be trusted.”

Meng Xingzi looked confused.

However, the man in green seemed to understand. He froze, startled, then a peculiar light flashed in his eyes. “You...already saw through everything?”

It was as if he was meeting Lin Xun for the first time, his expression filled with surprise that showed how intrigued he was.

Lin Xun sighed, “If you hadn’t summoned those people, then I might have believed you, but you just made things worse.”

With his All-Seeing Eye, he could see that Meng Xingzi’s comrades looked no different from normal people on the outside, but their spirits had long been sealed by countless eerie and peculiar blood-red talismans!

In short, without their spirits, they were no different from puppets.

When they spoke earlier, they were being controlled by the man in green!

In fact, it was precisely because Lin Xun saw through everything that he suddenly came to his senses, his heart jolting with shock. As he had said earlier, he had almost believed the explanation of the man in green!

“Brother Lin, you finally believe me...” Meng Xingzi almost broke into tears. He was so frustrated and flustered just now that he almost went crazy.

It was no exaggeration to say that he thought that he would die unjustly!

“If you hadn’t told several lies before this, how would this have happened?” Lin Xun shot a glance at him, unable to show any sympathy.

It was because Meng Xingzi had lied to him that he almost fell for the trick of the man in green!

Meng Xingzi flushed with shame and guilt, unable to look Lin Xun in the eye. Ultimately, all of this had happened because of his fixation on the treasure!

“It looks like I underestimated you.” The man in green stared at Lin Xun, his smile fading, replaced by an unsettling glint in his eyes.

His voice was thick with disdain.

Lin Xun said indifferently, “Because you were not confident that you could kill me, so you had to proceed gradually. If I had fallen for your trick, then you would have taken further action.”

“What action?” The man in green raised his brows.

Lin Xun continued, “For example, lure me into the mountain and use the power of the forbidden arrays in the mountain to deal with me.”

The man in green paused in astonishment for a moment before bursting into applause with a look of admiration. “Impressive, Fellow Daoist, you indeed have sharp eyes. It’s hard not to be impressed by you.”

After a pause, he smiled and said, “However, you are not entirely right. The reason I deceived you was not because I was not confident that I could kill you. I just wanted to have some fun.”

His eyes reflected a hint of sorrow. “I awakened my consciousness a long time ago, but for who knows how many years, I have been trapped in this place that you call Dark Hidden Purgatory. I want to leave...but no matter what I do, I can’t escape from the power of this place...

“As time passed, it’s hard not to feel bored, lonely, and...tortured...” the man in green sighed.

Lin Xun looked calm and indifferent, without any change of emotion.

The man in green seemed like a wise and knowledgeable scholar, exuding an air of integrity and righteousness, but in reality he was as silver-tongued and as deceitful as a demon. It was hard to tell how much came out of his mouth was the truth or lies.

Lin Xun had lost all interest in discerning what was true or false.

He flipped his hand over, and the broken spear appeared in his palm. He said frankly, “With your intelligence, you must have guessed that I came here for this treasure.”

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The man in green was taken aback, not expecting Lin Xun to show no interest in what he said at all.

After a moment, he nodded. “Correct. Anyone who gets half of a treasure like this will definitely be thinking about where the other half is. Anyone can guess this.”

“Then do you know where the other half is?” Lin Xun asked directly.

The man in green couldn’t help but laugh, “Why should I tell you?”

“Why?” Lin Xun also laughed as he stepped forward, his clothes billowing around him. An unparalleled, mighty aura radiated from him, instantly transforming him into a different person—a superior divine god.

The man in green narrowed his eyes and let out a long sigh, “How boring! Since ancient times, disputes all end up being resolved through violence...”

While sighing, he flourished his sleeve.

Boom!

The blood-red lightning hanging ominously in the sky suddenly surged and crackled violently.

Blood-red figures flashed out from them, like evil creatures rushing out from hell.

They were an unending swarm of fiend spirits, sweeping across the sky and earth like an unstoppable flood.

The man in green said with a smile, “Fellow Daoist, if you can survive this calamity, I will tell you where the other half of the Dao Skyless Spear is.”

He stood triumphantly atop the mountain, adorned in a tall hat and a wide belt. At his moment, he no longer looked like a scholar, but the ruler of this world!