Long Jing had never been soone who accepted losses quietly.
No matter how many tis he'd been forced to play the clown within the Jokers, out in the broader world he was always the top-tier fraudster ranked just one below Zhen Xin.
When that full pot of bla ca flying down onto his head, he had already prepared a counter in tricks — he was just waiting for the right opportunity.
As luck would have it, that opportunity arrived not long after.
While the Beast Tar and the Master of Trickery continued their exchange, soone in the group suddenly spoke up in confusion:
"Do you think the real Assembly of Gods Convention has already started?"
"What makes you say that?" the unclothed man at the top — mask back on — asked with great interest.
"You all know what the Fun God is like. Given its love of trickery, I think — maybe it's been watching everything happening here from backstage all along. Not the kind of watching where a god observes the entire world and knows all things — I an it's literally here, sowhere we can't see, 'appreciating' this improvised performance. And the odds are very good that when it saw everyone's embarrassing monts, its eyes were already curling up past the tops of its ears in amusent."
At those words, several fraudsters imdiately looked up and began glancing around.
Watching a few lines of sight sweep across the invisible curtain, Cheng Shi — lurking behind it — instantly flattened the corners of his eyes and stopped grinning.
Sharp instincts. Pity they'd guessed wrong. The Fun God wasn't here. The person hiding behind the curtain watching the show was Yu Xi — soone they would never think to guess.
Cheng Shi shook his head, chuckling — then the next second, his smile froze on his face.
Because he suddenly saw Yu Xi appear — not behind the curtain, but on the actual Convention floor.
Yes: Yu Xi. The tall and bamboo-thin [Deceit] Envoy made a bright entrance, standing on Cheng Shi's assigned mask platform, gazing up at the six fraudsters above, and clapping with leisurely rhythm.
"Clap clap clap—"
"Marvelous. Your instincts are sharp — it just took a little longer than it should have to get there. Still, you got there eventually. Unfortunately, the direction was wrong.
The Assembly of Gods Convention was never a gathering to et a true god. The gods sit high on their divine thrones — they would not summon a group of mortals on account of the rules of a small ga. They can summon their believers any ti they wish. So what you see before you today is not an audience — it's an Assessnt eting, to examine each of your understanding and devotion to your faith.
And the examiner for this Assessnt eting is myself.
Don't look so surprised. Many of you already know of my existence. And even those who haven't heard of
— it doesn't matter. After today, his believers will carry my divine na forward.
My na is Yu Xi — servant god of [Void], Envoy of [Deceit], the final step you must climb to get closer to him.
The Assembly of Gods Convention — officially begins."
With that, Lord Yu Xi flicked his fingers lazily — and leaped from the lowest platform in a single bound, landing directly on the mask platform that had belonged to Zhen Xin. With one foot, he kicked the unclothed mask-wearer standing at the platform's edge clean off it, turned his back to everyone, and bowed with a smile toward the empty void:
"Praise to my patron. Your followers have arrived to take your burdens."
This scene was absolutely stunning — whether for the fraudsters standing before it or for Cheng Shi hiding behind the invisible curtain. Because by so extraordinary coincidence, this "Yu Xi" was bowing in precisely the direction Cheng Shi stood — not off by a single degree. This left Cheng Shi with no choice but to wonder whether Long Jing had sohow guessed sothing, or seen through sothing.
Yes — the real Yu Xi was hiding backstage. The Yu Xi on stage was inevitably soone else's performance. And that perforr was Long Jing. This wasn't the first ti he had played Lord Yu Xi — but this ti, he had far more room to give it his full expression.
Among the fraudsters present, it was unlikely anyone didn't know the na "Yu Xi." In the first half of the Faith Ga, Yu Xi's na had genuinely been obscure — but in the second half, especially in the past few months, any player with aspirations of growing closer to [Deceit] could hardly have overlooked this sole Envoy of [Deceit]. Exactly where the na had spread from was no longer important. What mattered was that countless mbers of the History School were vouching for Yu Xi's authenticity, and the very top-ranked fraudsters all seed to have crossed paths with this servant god at least once.
Though none of the fraudsters currently present had actually laid eyes on Yu Xi in person — this figure in front of them: tall, with long slender limbs, a pure-white mask, an overall aura that was slightly uncanny yet thoroughly saturated in [Deceit]-flavor — perfectly matched every image they'd conjured for Yu Xi.
But a fraudster was a fraudster. Standing here was the smallest slice of the most fraudulently gifted people in this ga. Would one convincing appearance make them believe this was Yu Xi?
No. Absolutely not.
The previous "Zhen Xin" who'd been suspected had already been hamred into a "Long Jing."
In the fraudsters' eyes, a re appearance alone would never make you Yu Xi.
But this was precisely where Long Jing's performance was most brilliant. His appearance wasn't a one-off introduction with a single act — en route to introducing himself, he had casually demonstrated his power, kicking that unclothed mask-wearer clean off the first platform.
The one who was kicked off was no passerby. He was the fourth-ranked fraudster — an extraordinarily agile Victim — a peak assassin who had reached mastery in both trickery and physical combat. With his skill set, even if he chose not to dodge, even the third-ranked Acrobat couldn't necessarily kick him off in a single move.
And Yu Xi had done it. One casual kick, handled with ease — as if lifting nothing at all.
This was what a divine being looked like.
Everyone there only needed to see the unclothed mask-wearer's grave expression to know that this "Yu Xi" was quite possibly real. The scene, which had been lively to an extre just monts ago, went suddenly quiet again.
The fraudsters' eyes darted everywhere, peripheral vision scanning everyone else furiously — until finally, in the gradually cooling atmosphere, soone "flattering" led the charge, and a unified chorus rang out:
"Praise to our patron. Praise to Lord Yu Xi."
Yu Xi turned back around, waved a dismissive hand, and gave an amused snort.
"Spare . Whether a fraudster's devotion counts as real devotion remains to be examined. Just like you're wondering in your hearts whether I'm truly Yu Xi — no one can say for certain. Put away that act. Those little thoughts of yours — I walked that sa road thousands of years ago.
Still, you did one thing right. Whatever the situation: rember — always keep your suspicion. Those who deceive others will always be deceived themselves. Even the Fun God itself may not have gone undeceived. Only by maintaining your suspicion can you walk far enough down the road of [Deceit]."
With that, Yu Xi's sharp gaze swept across everyone below, then lingered on the several empty platforms with so apparent regret.
"It's a bit of a pity. The ones who most needed to hear these words aren't here. And the one who is here—"
Yu Xi gave an amused snort and casually flicked a mask dart, shattering the "Long Jing" illusion from before. "—is also a fake."
The fraudsters had suspected Long Jing might be a fake — but hadn't expected him to have been an illusion all along. They turned furious glares toward the eighth platform — only to find the Master of Trickery's illusion smiling awkwardly, but eyes on Yu Xi, gleaming with sharp interest.
Whatever the crowd's reaction, what Yu Xi had just said was undeniably barbed. It was basically implying that however hard the fraudsters in front of him worked on the road of [Deceit], they still wouldn't get very far.
Of course the fraudsters refused to accept that. It wasn't long before soone's eyes darted, and the question ca:
"Lord Yu Xi — since the Assembly of Gods Convention isn't actually a eting with a true god, can you tell us where the Magician, the Acrobat, and that last Fate Weaver... all went?"
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