Chapter 1367: The Audience Assembly: The Fool's Play

The Audience Assembly: The Fool's Play

Long Jing has never been one to suffer losses.

No matter how many times he was forced to play the clown among the jesters, outside, he remained the top deceiver, second only to Seeing Zhen Xin.

When a black pot was thrown onto his head like that, he had long been preparing to counterattack with his deception arts, but he still lacked a suitable opportunity.

Coincidentally, not long after, that opportunity arrived.

While the beast tamer and the master of strange arts clashed repeatedly, someone in the arena suddenly spoke up in confusion:

"Do you think the real Audience Assembly might have started long ago?"

"Why do you say that?" The naked man at the very top readjusted his mask and asked with interest.

"Everyone knows what sort of person the God of Amusement is. Given His personality of enjoying to tease, I feel... perhaps He is hiding behind the scenes, watching everything happening here.

I am not talking about that kind of divine gaze that surveys the world and knows all things, but that He is right here, in a place we cannot see, 'appreciating' this impromptu performance!

And it is highly likely that when He sees everyone's ugly postures, the corners of His eyes will already be raised up to the sky.

As he spoke, several deceivers looked up and began to scan the surroundings.

Seeing several lines of sight sweep over the invisible curtain, Cheng Shi, hiding behind the curtain, instantly smoothed the corners of his eyes and stopped giggling.

Very sharp, but unfortunately guessed wrong.

The God of Amusement is not here; the one hiding behind the curtain watching the show is the Lord of the Fool's Play, whom you could never imagine.

Cheng Shi shook his head and laughed, but the next second, his smile froze on his face.

Because he suddenly saw the Fool's Play appear in the Audience Assembly arena in front of the transparent curtain!

Yes, the Fool's Play!

That tall and thin 【Deception】 Envoy made a dazzling entrance, standing on the mask platform belonging to Cheng Shi, looking up at the six deceivers above, and clapping with a certain rhythm.

"Clap, clap, clap—"

"Excellent, your intuition is very sharp. Although it took a bit longer to think of this layer, you finally thought of it.

Unfortunately, the direction is wrong.

The Audience Assembly has never been a gathering to see the true gods. The gods sit high on their thrones and will not summon a group of mortals because of the rules of a small game.

If they wish to see, they can summon their believers at any time, so the Audience Assembly before you is merely an examination, used to test everyone's understanding and piety towards the faith.

And the examiner of this examination is none other than me.

Do not be so surprised; many of you know of my existence. Even if you have not heard of me, it does not matter. After today, His believers will also spread my divine name.

My name is the Fool's Play!

I am the subordinate god of 【Void】, the Envoy of 【Deception】, and the final step you must tread when you wish to approach Him.

The Audience Assembly officially begins."

As he spoke, the Lord of the Fool's Play lightly snapped his fingers, leaped from the last platform, and landed directly on the mask platform that originally belonged to Seeing Zhen Xin. Then, he kicked the naked masked man standing at the edge of the platform off, turned his back to everyone, bowed slightly towards the empty void, and said with a smile:

"Praise the Benefactor, your follower has come to relieve your burdens!"

This scene was incredibly shocking, whether for the deceivers present or for Cheng Shi behind the invisible curtain.

Because, by sheer coincidence, the direction in which this Fool's Play bowed was exactly towards Cheng Shi, not a millimeter off, making Cheng Shi unable to help but suspect whether Long Jing had guessed something or seen through something.

Yes, the real Fool's Play is hiding behind the curtain; the Fool's Play on stage must be someone else playing the role, and this performer is Long Jing.

This is not the first time he has played the Lord of the Fool's Play; it is just that this time the space for him to perform is greater.

For the deceivers present, perhaps no one would not know the great name of the Fool's Play.

In the first half of the 【Faith Game】, the Fool's Play indeed had little fame, but in the second half, especially in the last few months, anyone wishing to approach 【Deception】 would probably not ignore this sole Envoy of 【Deception】, the Fool's Play.

Where exactly the name of the Fool's Play came from is no longer important; what matters is that countless members of the Historical School are vouching for the authenticity of the Fool's Play, and the top few deceivers seem to have had a brief encounter with this subordinate god.

Although the few present have never seen the Fool's Play with their own eyes and do not know what He looks like, this one before them...

Tall figure, slender limbs, pure white mask, an overall slightly eerie and full-of-【Deception】 image, completely matches all their fantasies about the Fool's Play.

But deceivers are still deceivers; standing here are the small group most proficient in deception arts in this game. Can they believe this is the Fool's Play based on just an image?

No, absolutely not.

The previous Seeing Zhen Xin, who was suspected, was beaten into Long Jing.

So in the eyes of the deceivers, if you only have one image, you cannot be the Fool's Play.

But the brilliance of Long Jing's performance lies here; his appearance was not a one-time introductory walk-through. During the introduction, he effortlessly demonstrated his strength, kicking that naked masked man off the first platform!

Know that the one kicked down was no mere passerby; he was the fourth-ranked deceiver, an extremely agile victim, a peak assassin who had reached perfection in both deception arts and physical techniques!

With his skills, if he wanted to dodge, even if the third-ranked acrobat came, he might not be able to kick him down with a single kick.

But the Fool's Play did it; a casual kick, lifting a heavy weight with ease, looking like it required no effort at all.

This is a god!

Everyone knew from the solemn expression on the naked masked man's face that this Fool's Play before them was likely real, so the scene, which had just been extremely lively, suddenly fell silent again.

The deceivers' eyes rolled around wildly, their peripheral vision frantically scanning others, until finally, in the gradually cooling atmosphere, led by a certain "sycophantic" deceiver, they shouted in unison that line:

"Praise the Benefactor, praise the Lord of the Fool's Play."

The Fool's Play turned around, waved casually, and snorted with a laugh:

"Spare me. Whether the piety of deceivers is truly piety remains to be seen.

Just like you guessing in your hearts whether I am truly the Fool's Play, no one can say for sure.

Put away this act; those little tricks of yours are paths I walked thousands of years ago.

But one thing you did well: no matter when, remember, always maintain your doubt.

Those who deceive others will be deceived by others.

Even the God of Amusement Himself may not have been deceived.

Only by maintaining doubt can you walk far enough on the path of 【Deception】."

Saying this, Xiang Yu's sharp gaze swept across everyone below the platform, then looked toward the several empty platforms, and said with considerable regret:

"What a pity — the people who most needed to hear these words are not present.

The only one who is present..."

Xiang Yu snorted a laugh, gave a casual flick of his hand, and used a mask-shaped throwing dart to shatter the Long Well illusion from earlier. "That one was fake too."

Though the swindlers knew Long Well might be fake, they hadn't expected it to be yet another illusion. They glared toward the eighth platform, only to see the illusion of the master illusionist on that platform smiling sheepishly — but the glint in his eyes as he looked at Xiang Yu was sharp.

Regardless of the reaction in the room, Xiang Yu's words had been somewhat grating — this was unmistakably mocking that, no matter how hard these swindlers worked at 【Deceit】, they would never get far.

The swindlers were of course unconvinced, and soon someone rolled his eyes and asked:

"Lord Xiang Yu?

If the Audience Assembly isn't the segment for audience with the true god, then can you tell us — where did the Magician, the Acrobat, and that last Fate Weaver... all go?"