Chapter 682: The Exposed Manipulator

The dark clouds in the sky were growing thicker and heavier, the faint rumbling of thunder becoming more and more frequent.

Watching this scene that was truly terrifying and carried the majesty of heaven, Mystic Cloud Master’s face grew even more worried.

“Not good. This demon called ‘Rakshasa’… it’s not from the Prison Mountain Realm, is it?”

Li Nian nodded. “That’s right. This thing is from another world too.”

“Then it’s even worse. This Lightning Art seems to be the Righteous Lightning Art of Demon-Slaying,” Mystic Cloud Master said. “A heretic demon like this will make the power of this Lightning Art even stronger!”

“After all, although the Righteous Lightning Art is a Fangshi technique, its principle is similar to our Daoist sect’s methods—both draw on the power of heaven and earth, borrowing the laws of the Dao to execute.”

“Moreover, because the target is an extraterritorial heretic, this Lightning Art will inevitably lock onto it—it’s almost impossible to dodge or evade; it can only be taken head-on.”

Mystic Cloud Master spoke in a heavy voice, and Snowy Owl furrowed her brows.

“Then isn’t Old Yao out there in danger?”

“She herself might not necessarily be in trouble, but this summoning creature is probably going to have a hard time holding out!”

But even so, all they could do was sit tight and watch!

In the sky, blue-violet lightning surged and gathered within the clouds, exuding a majestic and murderous aura.

Li Nian couldn’t help complaining again.

“Ha, what kind of world is this? A puppet being manipulated by a demon can still use this kind of ‘righteous method’? The Heavenly Dao of this world doesn’t seem very intelligent!”

“If it were truly intelligent, it should have struck down the puppet casting the spell first!”

But that was just Li Nian’s wishful thinking.

Since the other side had used it, it was impossible for them to be struck down directly.

Soon…

The first bolt of lightning fell!

“Boom!”

A cyan python-like bolt of electricity crashed down toward Lin Yu, completely engulfing the massive Rakshasa form!

“Shushushushushua!”

The lightning poured down continuously, lasting a full several seconds before ending.

And when the bombardment was over, after the electric light had completely dissipated…

The giant Rakshasa’s figure had already vanished!

“What? Where did it go?”

Seagull said nervously.

Then Lin Yu’s voice sounded again from outside, relaxed and easy: “Of course I put it away. It was just my [Summon] anyway!”

This Lightning Art had indeed locked onto the Rakshasa, making any attempt to dodge futile, but…

Lin Yu wasn’t the Rakshasa!

All he had to do was end the transformation the moment the Lightning Art started, then dodge and evade.

Of course, the official explanation was still that he had “put the Rakshasa away.”

After ending the transformation, Lin Yu didn’t summon the Rakshasa again either.

“What a hassle. Letting that thing out once has a huge consumption and a long cooldown.”

Standing outside the Taoist Temple, Lin Yu said softly, refining the setting for the “Rakshasa.”

This wasn’t entirely [Fraud]. After all, although transforming into the Rakshasa no longer required additional [Belief]—he only needed to use [Public Opinion Forges Truth]—the transformation still placed an enormous physical strain on Lin Yu.

If it weren’t for the boost from the [GP700 Life Activity Injection] and [Asylum Patient Gown], Lin Yu would probably be gasping for breath by now.

Hearing Lin Yu say this, Li Nian spoke up to ask, “Do you need help?”

“Not for now,” Lin Yu said, lifting his head to look at the thunderclouds slowly dissipating in the sky. “After all, I’ve already found them.”

Then he stepped forward. [Corner of the Gloomy] activated, and in an instant, he passed through the shadows to cross in front of several martial artists, arriving before one person.

He thrust the torch into the mouth of the puppet, who was also dressed as a martial artist, and looked at them with a smile on his face.

“You’re pretty clever, knowing to protect your ‘output’-focused trump card—high attack, low defense—behind the scenes.”

But unfortunately, now that Lin Yu could use his spiritual perception more and more skillfully, although it still took some effort to pick out a specific person from a crowd, it was no longer impossible!

Among these puppets was one fake martial artist and real Fangshi, and Lin Yu could sense it!

After all, this person’s aura was way too different from the people around him—the Fangshi and martial artists of the Prison Mountain Realm were severely unbalanced in their specialization.

The former had frail bodies but strong spirits; the latter had abundant blood and qi but weak consciousness.

And after Lin Yu shoved the end of the torch into the other person’s mouth, he showed no mercy, no hesitation—not even any discussion or negotiation.

“Shua!”

Pale flames erupted from the inside of the puppet Fangshi’s mouth. The flames of Fear instantly engulfed the target’s head.

Lin Yu stood up, watching the white flames blazing fiercely on the other person’s head like an oversized Fear Torch.

A silent scream lasted only a second before going completely silent.

Lin Yu didn’t bother with the now-collapsed, unconscious puppet Fangshi on the ground. He immediately turned his head and scanned his surroundings.

Soon, Lin Yu’s eyes met those of an unremarkable martial artist in the crowd. Their gazes connected.

Lin Yu revealed a smile.

“Ha. Found you.”

The manipulator of these puppets, the Willow Town survivor who had first spoken to him directly using Chen Yuanye’s body, the minion of the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord… Their position had been locked by Lin Yu.

The principle was simple too.

Since they were the manipulator of all these puppets and had demonstrated the ability to directly override Chen Yuanye and other puppet consciousnesses, that meant although the other puppets appeared to retain their own self-awareness, there had to be a “backdoor” left by the manipulator within their consciousness.

Then…

Powerful enough emotions could perhaps be fed back to the manipulator as well.

And the Fangshi who had just been killed by the Fear Torch carried an intense—bordering on abnormal—fear emotion!

So, in the vision of the [Mind-Peeping Eyepiece]…

Lin Yu could clearly see that among the many martial artist puppets, there was one person whose emotional fluctuations also displayed “abnormal fear.”

“Fear 72%, shock 11%, worry 7%, determination 6%, unknown 4%…”

Lin Yu didn’t hesitate. He lit the torch again and lunged in their direction.

“Shit!”

The manipulator also realized something was wrong and immediately ordered the martial artist puppets to run toward where their body was, forming layers of encirclement.

However…

In front of Lin Yu, this kind of human wall defense was completely useless!

“Shua——!”

[Corner of the Gloomy] activated, and Lin Yu instantly passed through the shadow gaps between the crowd, appearing beneath the puppet manipulator’s body.

“Boom!”

The torch burning with pale flames wildly swung again in the confined space, igniting the clothes and bodies of several nearby martial artists while also striking straight at the manipulator’s vital points!