74: Chapter 74 Eighth-Rank Demon, Mental Illusion

"Guest Elder Lin, please wait a moment."

Lin Ye stopped and turned around. "Is there anything else?"

"Guest Elder Lin, may I ask if you just went to Mine No. 3?"

Lin Ye wasn't surprised at all that Zheng Fei knew he had gone down into Mine No. 3; after all, he had asked the two guards for directions earlier.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Lin Ye was already getting a bit impatient.

As a Guest Elder of Chijin Hall, he had come to the mine to check the situation. It wasn't the place of a mine manager to interrogate him.

To put it nicely, this guy was a manager; to put it bluntly, he was just a head miner.

However, Zheng Fei didn't seem to notice the impatience in Lin Ye's tone and continued to press, "Then I wonder if Guest Elder Lin discovered anything in the cave?"

Hearing this, Lin Ye turned around completely to face Zheng Fei.

The other man still had a smile on his face, but that smile looked fake no matter how one viewed it.

Wait! Fake?

Lin Ye calmly activated his Qi Observation Technique. In the next second, his pupils constricted.

[Eighth-Grade Demon] (White)

[Essence]: 30

[Qi]: 20

[Spirit]: 40

[Comprehensive Rating]: 200

An Demon!

This Manager Zheng was actually an Demon in disguise!

In fact, Lin Ye had already sensed something was wrong from the moment the man asked that last question.

That was why he had used the Qi Observation Technique to investigate.

He hadn't expected this guy to not only be an Demon but an eighth-grade one at that!

However, Lin Ye showed no outward reaction, his tone remaining flat. "I just looked around the perimeter and didn't find anything.

If Manager Zheng has nothing else, I will take my leave."

After saying that, he cupped his fists and turned to walk away.

His pace was neither fast nor slow, but as soon as he stepped out of the mine's main gate, he immediately activated his Qinggong, sweeping down the mountain like a gust of wind.

What Lin Ye didn't know was that behind him, the corners of Zheng Fei's mouth gradually curled into a bizarre arc.

Lin Ye hurried down the mountain without daring to delay for a moment.

Who knew what kind of weird abilities an eighth-grade Demon had? He had to notify Old Man Shen as soon as possible.

However, before even half a stick of incense's time had passed, Lin Ye suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Something's wrong!

Lin Ye looked around.

Although the path ahead was still the same path and the trees were still the same trees, he still sensed a hint of abnormality thanks to his powerful perception.

He tentatively dashed forward for several hundred meters, looking at the unchanging vegetation and forest around him.

Lin Ye knew that he had already been targeted by that Demon.

The situation he was currently facing was most likely the legendary 'ghost hitting the wall'.

Brothers who frequently encounter ghost hitting the walls know that they are generally divided into two types.

One is mental interference, causing a misjudgment of the surrounding environment, which results in the person walking in circles in the same spot.

The other type is much more impressive.

It directly folds the space within a certain range; once a person walks in, they can never leave that area.

However, a mere eighth-grade Demon likely wouldn't possess such a perverted ability as space folding; otherwise, it wouldn't need to go through the trouble of these tricks.

As for why the opponent was doing this...

Lin Ye speculated that this might be the Demon's method of attack—wearing down the target's mental will to complete a Possession or some other purpose.

Thinking of this, Lin Ye took a deep breath and activated his Qi Observation Technique.

A thin layer of Spiritual Qi appeared in his vision, but the path was still the same path and the trees were still the same trees, without the slightest change.

Refusing to give up, Lin Ye activated his Tracking Technique, attempting to break through the barrier before him by finding anomalies in the environment, but it had no effect.

Everything looked perfectly normal.

But that made sense.

The opponent was exerting influence on him from a mental level rather than the environment itself, so it naturally couldn't be cracked this way.

He had to admit, these Demon things really had some tricks up their sleeves.

His spirit attribute had at least exceeded 20 points, yet he had still fallen for the trick unknowingly.

If an ordinary person encountered this, they really wouldn't even know how they died.

Of course, it was mainly because this was his first time facing an Demon and he lacked experience; he had been caught off guard for a moment.

Without hesitation, Lin Ye pulled the evil-suppressing copper coin given by Old Man Shen from his robe.

Since Old Man Shen said this thing could save his life, it was time to test its effect.

As he poured Qi into the copper coin, the originally cool coin began to gradually heat up, turning redder and redder.

At the same time, an invisible mental shockwave erupted from the copper coin, spreading out in all directions.

Everywhere it passed, the air began to twist and deform.

It was like a wrinkled rag being forcibly smoothed out by someone.

With a series of cracking sounds, the image before his eyes shattered.

There was no forest in front of him; instead, it was the huge cavern deep within the mine.

The discarded pickaxes stuck in the walls and the smell of coal mine lingering in the air all proved that he had never left the mine from beginning to end.

At this moment, he was standing in the center of the cavern, looking directly at that wisp of black Qi.

*Hiss—*

Lin Ye's heart rate suddenly accelerated.

Good heavens, he thought he had been targeted by the Demon after leaving the mine.

It turned out that he had already fallen for the trick the moment he observed this wisp of black Qi.

Everything he experienced afterward was nothing more than an illusion.

Damn it!

No wonder even the Great Han Imperial Court was wary of them!

With such bizarre abilities, anyone would be terrified upon encountering them.

Forcing himself to calm down, Lin Ye began to think about how to get out.

First of all, the Demon's true body definitely wasn't here, otherwise it would have jumped out to attack him long ago.

In that case, the information about Zheng Fei he had investigated with the Qi Observation Technique earlier was probably fake as well, a natural evolution of the illusion based on his own thoughts.

It was just like dreaming; whatever you think in a dream, things often develop in that direction.

Lin Ye had first suspected Zheng Fei before activating the Qi Observation Technique to investigate, and then he just happened to guess correctly. There was no such coincidence.

He hadn't felt anything at the time, but thinking about it now, it was unreasonable in every way!

"Forget it, why think so much? Let's find a way out first."

He gripped the evil-suppressing copper coin tightly and then used the Basic Tracking Technique to find the mine exit.

Fortunately, the traces from when he entered were still there. After some twists and turns, Lin Ye finally saw the light filtering in from ahead.

Exerting his Qinggong to the fullest, Lin Ye turned into an afterimage and rushed out of the cave entrance.

The sunlight hit his face, and this time, he truly felt the warmth.

He let out a long breath, cold sweat faintly seeping from his back.

He looked back at the cave entrance; it felt as if there were a pair of invisible eyes staring at him from the darkness.

Without staying any longer, Lin Ye quickly left the cave entrance.

When he arrived at the mine exit, he didn't encounter any Manager Zheng, only the same two guards from before.

Lin Ye checked with the Qi Observation Technique; these two were not disguised Demons.

"Let me ask, is your manager named Zheng Fei?"

"Yes!"

Hearing this answer, Lin Ye had an idea of the situation.

It seemed that not all the information in the illusion was fake; at least this Manager Zheng truly existed.

As for whether the other party was actually an Demon, he would let Old Man Shen come and investigate for himself.

Without delay, Lin Ye used his Basic Qinggong to the fullest and headed down the mountain.

When he saw the familiar city walls, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He was truly spooked by the Demon's bizarre abilities.

He wasn't afraid of a head-on confrontation with someone, but he feared the opponent using flashy, deceptive tricks.

However, through this incident, Lin Ye also fully realized the power of the spirit attribute.