Star Trace Gate

Chapter 933 Goodbye, Illusion

Inside the tent, the storyteller looked at the extremely cunning brat before him and immediately cursed, "I risked my life to save you several times?! And this is how you repay me with poison?"

Beside the long table, Ren Ye had woken up, but his body and soul were completely immobile. He could only blink his sharp little eyes and angrily retort, "Don't make it sound so nice. Didn't you poison me too?"

"You son of a bitch, I shouldn't have saved you in the first place!" The storyteller was so angry he was about to have a stroke: "I was on guard against everything, but I never expected you to scheme against me?! You son of a bitch, you clearly saw through me, but you never said anything. Look how cunning you are! You're so young, yet you're full of schemes and tricks. You deserve to be useless!"

"You old bastard, try saying it again and see if it doesn't work?!" Ren was so angry that his eyes turned red.

"You're no good. You're not even as strong as Little Fatty!"

"Damn you, I'll poison you, you old monster!" Ren Ye gritted his teeth and said, "You're not going to live, you're going to die today...!"

Once they both revealed their true intentions, they completely lost their guard and started hurling insults at each other without any regard for others.

"puff……!"

After exchanging insults for a full quarter of an hour, the storyteller, overwhelmed by anger and grief, suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground, looking utterly dejected.

He quickly sat cross-legged on the ground, channeling his divine sense to examine his dantian and physical body. He then discovered that his bloodline contained at least several hundred Gu worms of different shapes and toxicities, all of which were now awakened. As if in the midst of the National Games, they were leaping and jumping in his bloodline and flesh, fiercely devouring his vital energy.

At the same time, a foul light appeared in his dantian, devouring his spiritual energy; and at the crown of his head, yin energy surged, and a dozen terrifying yin spirits inexplicably appeared around him, constantly drawing out his yang energy, absorbing his three souls and seven spirits, and emitting shrill ghostly howls...

The Severing Spirit Powder also took effect, suppressing him and dimming the entire starry void, thus dispelling his divine power.

"Damn it..." The storyteller, realizing his true state, broke down again: "You really gave me so many kinds of poison?! You little brat, you're too ruthless?"

"I'll kill you!!" Ren Ye glared and cursed, "An old liar like you, who never tells a word of truth, deserves to die like this!"

"How dare you talk to me like that? Have you ever told me a single truth?" The storyteller's voice was filled with grievance.

"Arguing back?! Still arguing back? I'll watch you die!"

"…!" Blood began to spill from the storyteller's mouth and nose. Even though he was a peerless expert, he couldn't withstand the torment of so much top-grade poison.

He paused for a moment, then forced his hands down and gritted his teeth, saying, "Okay, okay, we won't curse anymore, let's all calm down...!"

"Now you know how to calm down?!" Ren Ye glanced at him angrily and said, "You can curse me all you want, but you can't say no."

"Alright, alright, you're really something, no man in the world is as good as you, okay?" The storyteller yielded, sitting cross-legged to regulate his breathing, and asked with great confusion, "How...how did you figure that out?"

"You admit it?!" Ren Ye asked, raising an eyebrow as he sat down in his chair.

"Admit what?!" the storyteller replied, feigning surprise.

“I acknowledge that you are the only traveler here besides me.” Ren Ye stared intently at him, replying slowly and deliberately, “Where we come from, travelers… are also called players.”

“…!” The storyteller closed his eyes slightly and fell silent.

"You won't admit it?! Then you can just wait to die." Ren Ye added bluntly.

"...How did you figure that out?" The storyteller, barely suppressing the urge to vomit blood, pressed him again.

"Ah."

Ren sat by the candlelight, and once again let out a chilling laugh of unparalleled wisdom: "Because your performance was too convincing, you started the story, but there was no follow-up."

"What do you mean by that?!" The storyteller subconsciously beckoned with his finger.

"From the very beginning, I suspected you weren't a remnant soul, but a player. Why? Because the timing of your appearance was far too coincidental for Blind Huang. When I entered the Heavenly Prison to test you, I was actually at my wit's end, with no clues and no way to continue investigating. But I only probed slightly, and immediately received your response, after which we decided to escape together and join forces." Ren Ye frowned slightly, recalling carefully, "This coincidence feels like the traces of the Heavenly Dao are too heavy, as if it were a forced arrangement by Him... of our meeting. To put it bluntly, if I hadn't found you at this stage, then all the subsequent events wouldn't have been triggered, or rather, their triggering would have been delayed...!"

"Therefore, I speculate that in the real story, Blind Huang may have known Number 79 for a long time and went through a long period of testing and communication before deciding to conspire together. But in the secret realm evolved by the Heavenly Dao, pushing the story forward in this way would be too slow, and it might not be possible to trigger the next chapter for two or three years. Therefore, the real experiences of Number 79 may have been rewritten by the Heavenly Dao, and this heavily rewritten version will most likely involve a traveler."

"But in our subsequent interactions, I became convinced that you were not a traveler."

"Why?! Because after I successfully rescued you, I received several announcements from the Heavenly Dao. And in these announcements, it was mentioned several times that... you are actually a very powerful remnant soul."

"In that case, no one will doubt your identity anymore. After all, Heaven has made it clear. Who the hell would be stupid enough to doubt Heaven?!"

Ren Ye spoke with some emotion, and sighed deeply: "Until the matter finally came to an end, I finally realized that Heaven will never lie, but people will."

Upon hearing this, the storyteller shook his head speechlessly and said, "Explain this to me. How could a traveler lie and forge an identity by using the proclamation of Heaven? Who the hell could do that?"

“You’re right, most people in this world can’t do that, but you can.” Ren Ye revealed a confident smile again: “Because you’re a player who relies on empty talk to fool people, and you’re also a successor of the Ancient Path of Word Power!”

The storyteller fell silent upon hearing this.

Ren continued to expose him, "I've thought about it carefully. After you and I finalized our plan to escape from prison, I immediately received a proclamation from Heaven and activated a task called 'Dangerous Relationship.' In this proclamation, Heaven explicitly described your Awakening Wood magic weapon as a 'Remnant Soul Magic Weapon.' Heh, all of this seems to fit perfectly, doesn't it?"

"But before I heard this proclamation of Heaven, you recited a poem in a very smooth way: 'When it rains, the ground is slippery; if you fall, you get up yourself; relatives and friends lend a hand; wine for wine, tea for tea.'"

"After you finished reciting that opening poem, the Heavenly Proclamation rang out. Was this a coincidence? No, not at all. You were secretly using the power of the Ancient Path of Words to pull me into a special situation and environment without my knowledge. Just like you influenced the prison guards during the prison break, you deeply influenced me, making me firmly believe that the proclamation was issued by the Heavenly Dao. But in reality, it was just a task you gave me, imitating the Heavenly Dao. Its purpose was to obtain the crucial information about the four words 'Remnant Soul Magic Treasure,' so that I would no longer doubt that you are a player…!"

"Am I right?!"

"After that, the several Heavenly Dao pronouncements about you being a remnant soul all took place in extremely quiet and enclosed environments. And those environments could even affect Daoist Jiuhan, let alone a third-rank stray dog ​​like me. Right?"

"The Ancient Path of Words can ensnare oneself, and it can also ensnare others. Zhongdeng... you really have some impressive skills. You're the only one who could trick me into reaching the end of the secret realm before I even realized it."

When Ren Ye mentioned this, he made no attempt to hide his admiration for him.

"These are all speculations. I'd like to know, how did you finally determine that I am indeed the traveler?" the storyteller asked, puzzled.

“Didn’t I tell you? Your performance at the beginning was very realistic, but there was no follow-up.” Ren Ye stared wide-eyed and said, “Since you are a remnant soul, and the Heavenly Dao even developed tasks around you, why are there no tasks related to you at all in the later chapters? There isn’t even any basic guidance.”

"For example, everyone here who wants to leave must take the road to their hometown. But at the end of the story, Heaven neither tells me that I must find a way to save you and take you on the road to your hometown, nor does it tell me that I must kill you to justify the new master. This is too strange. How can such an important supporting character, the second male lead, not have a clear ending and a way to deal with him? Isn't that abrupt?"

"Moreover, after meeting Zhao Mi and successfully triggering and completing the special mission, I received a clear message from the Heavenly Dao. I have experienced the entire story here... To put it bluntly, the entire journey through the secret realm ends here, but the Heavenly Dao's announcement still doesn't mention you at all. This also proves that my above guesses are correct."

"Also, after you first entered the Undying Hall and then came out safely, I sensed a very familiar aura on you. At first, I wasn't sure what it was... Even now, I haven't been able to make a very appropriate comparison with that familiar aura. That aura is like something that wouldn't exist in the Illusion Village."

"Later I figured it out. It was an aura that I was very familiar with, yet it didn't exist, and it could even resist the power of devouring. So there was only one possibility... that was luck."

Ren squinted at the other person: "So, when I entered the Undying Palace to retrieve the Primordial Chaos Qi, I deliberately asked you what you were looking for? But you gave me an Oscar-worthy performance... saying that he might not even be here...!"

"Heh, the way you pretended to be a malfunctioning remnant soul is utterly shameless."

He let out a cold laugh, the sarcasm quite obvious.

"...Damn it, he spent his whole life playing with eagles, only to have his eyes pecked out by one." The storyteller sighed, "You son of a bitch, just tell me... what exactly do you want?!"

“I originally wanted to kill you, but now that I know you’re a traveler… even if I kill you, you can’t be used by me.” Ren shook his head slightly and said, “I only have doubts now.”

"What doubts?!" the storyteller asked, blood streaming from his seven orifices.

"You should know which camp I belong to, right?" Ren retorted.

“You are order,” the storyteller replied without hesitation.

“Alright, so I, a person of order, am playing the role of a prince of chaos. Then… who exactly are you, the one who seems to be an intruder into order, on?” Ren asked with piercing eyes.

"I am also order," the storyteller replied as readily as ever.

"Bullshit! How much fake wine must Heaven have drunk to arrange the identities of these two travelers like this?" Ren Ye cursed loudly, not believing it at all. "In a Heavenly Grace-level secret realm, if there are people of order who have experienced the identity of a chaotic prince, then there must also be people of chaos who have experienced the identity of a person of order. That's fair."

"...I really am Order." The storyteller sighed, helplessly saying, "You kid, you're terrifyingly clever. You guessed right, Number 79's impromptu prison break collaboration with Blind Yellow did seem a bit forced, with too much of a Heavenly Dao influence. But do you know why?"