Although Le Yu had long known that the sword sheaths daring to participate in the sword quest were not good characters—Mad Face Swordsman Niruo, Young God General Mie Tangya, Instant Annihilator 'Yin', Stalker Cai Nu, Beast Tamer Feng Lv, Blood-Drinking Zither Le Yin...

But even the profession of 'Face-Stripper' appearing in this game took him by surprise. Even though it was truly useful to have a thousand faces, was the person who hired him not afraid—

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of look is that?" Thousand Faces tilted her head: "Aren't you all not good people? Why look at me with such a repulsed gaze, as if I'm an even lower kind of anomaly compared to you."

"In truth, precisely that." Niruo said indifferently, "I've slain countless scoundrels, but I've never done such a vicious and filthy thing as stripping the faces of young girls."

"Vicious and filthy?" Thousand Faces said with folded arms, "I'm very moved. You actually think killing is more elegant and clean than what I do."

"Wait." Le Yu suddenly realized a loophole: "Even if you stripped Shang Lingyi's face, the Shang family should be a wealthy and noble family. With their financial resources, hiring a few Medical Officers to restore her face should be a simple matter, right?"

For someone like Shi Wen, who was severely burned all over and turned into almost charcoal, he has become a spirited young man with scars. The matter of losing face skin ought to be a trivial surgery in the hands of skilled Medical Officers with advanced technology.

"Mind my wording, Teacher Qin." Thousand Faces smiled: "I said she 'lost' her face. It might be hard for laymen like you to understand, but there are many ways to change a person's face: knock out a few teeth, change the shape of the bones... really, you can't imagine the scene, when after treatment, Shang Lingyi looked in the mirror and saw an ugly face she had never seen before, and she went mad."

"Her 'face' was completely lost, both physically and psychologically."

Niruo frowned: "Did you see her go mad with your own eyes?"

"On the day the treatment ended, I 'borrowed' the face of a certain Medical Officer and openly witnessed this final face-stripping ceremony," Thousand Faces said gently: "How could those Medical Officers possibly know that I had secretly changed her facial bones? After I stripped her face off, unless I'm willing to 'return' it to her, no one in this world can help her restore her original appearance, not even the Chief Medical Officer."

Le Yu and Niruo exchanged a glance and nodded silently—strike hard right away, kill instantly if possible, don't give her a chance to call for Dora Cha Huan.

"It seems you have some misunderstandings about me." Thousand Faces found a tree to lean against, shrugged: "However, there's not much misunderstanding, most of what you're imagining, I have indeed done."

"For example, after killing someone else's son, I disguised myself as him, went home to dine with his parents, and then sent them to a family reunion after they fell asleep..."

"For instance, I tied up the male owner and let him watch me disguise myself as him, entering his mansion, and soon the lively sounds of his concubines echoed from the bedroom..."

"For instance, seizing the opportunity when a certain County Governor was in Yanjing, I disguised myself as him, usurped his position, abused authority, forced subordinates into rebellion, and committed countless atrocious acts..."

"As for disguising myself as a target's relatives or lovers to assassinate them in the dead of night, leaving the target unable to die in peace, I've done that even more."

With each sentence Thousand Faces spoke, Niruo tightened his grip on the sword, and Le Yu's fists clenched even harder.

"However."

Thousand Faces revealed a bright smile: "I am a good person."

"Don't laugh," she raised her eyebrows: "The evidence is that I became a sword sheath. If the people behind the scenes didn't trust me, would they let me participate in this game?"

"Or maybe it's just that the predatory ones are short-sighted; they're blind," Le Yu said.

"But don't you feel that my ability to disguise myself is more potent, more unpredictable, and more unsettling than any so-called Hidden Sword Technique?" Thousand Faces touched her face: "But why, throughout two thousand years of brilliance, have they banned the White-Haired Hidden Sword, but not let my disguise technique be recorded in the annals?"

Le Yu was about to speak, but he suddenly realized something and closed his mouth immediately.

Niruo said: "First, unlike the White-Haired Hidden Sword, you have no distinctive features; second, the Bloodline of the Radiant Royalty is verifiable—your disguise technique cannot impersonate members of the Imperial Family."

"I am truly moved," Thousand Faces laughed: "The reasons you gave, Niruo, are all incorrect. Teacher Qin, it seems you figured out the true reason."

"Your transformational technique is too advanced, unheard of before; I have never heard of any technique capable of this. Maybe Scenery Battle Technique can accomplish it, but at least it would have to be a Medical Officer of the Peak of Perfection realm..."

Le Yu touched the iron bracelet on his wrist and said: "Is your transformation technique derived from the effect of a Divine Weapon?"

"Extreme Divine Weapon·Water of Mutation."

Thousand Faces had no intent to keep it a secret: "The Water of Mutation is just a drop of water. It cannot be normally passed on; after drinking, it takes effect immediately. After the drinker's death, their entire body melts into sludge, but a deep blue droplet of water will appear at the location of the heart—that is the Water of Mutation."

"Teacher Qin, you should know who created the Divine Weapons, right?"

"The Imperial Family."

"That's right, the Radiant Imperial Family. Since they created these things, do you think they wouldn't know the harm they pose and wouldn't set traps inside them? If they thought they couldn't control it, this Extreme Divine Weapon would simply not have been circulated."

Thousand Faces retracted her smile and said: "To transform into someone else with the Water of Mutation has a necessary condition: you must fulfill someone else's wish."

Niruo snorted coldly: "Do you think I would believe that?"

"Don't you believe it? Then your mad face will surely weep." Thousand Faces said: "The Divine Weapon is most sensitive to a person's Spiritual Power. The principle of the Water of Mutation is to obtain positive spiritual feedback from others to record their 'appearance,' so when I need it, I can directly 'borrow' it."

"People only know that Mad Face causes the holder to become increasingly mad, but actually, it's the opposite—the more frenzied the holder becomes, the larger the feedback given by Mad Face. The Divine Weapon cannot drive people insane, only emotions of slaughter, violence, and power will cause the Spirit to swell."

Niruo paused slightly at these words and retorted: "That's just your side of the story."

"I don't intend to persuade you," Thousand Faces said: "But I am not the kind to stay silent and feel self-pity when falsely accused, so I need to rebut a bit. This way, at least I've tried, and if you don't believe, it's your brain that has a problem, not me."

"If what you say is true," Le Yu said, "then you're saying you did wrong to those you've helped?"

The sky grew darker, streetlights outside were already lit, and the shadows in the small grove grew thicker and more enveloping. Thousand Faces suddenly pulled out a cigarette from her dress, lit it, and took a puff, casually flicking the ash, creating a strangely decadent beauty against the backdrop of the shadowy grove.

"It's my calamity, an eternal one."

Thousand Faces said: "Ever since I obtained the Water of Mutation, to collect as many people's 'likenesses' as possible, I've walked on the path of doing good deeds, helping others to the best of my ability. The number of people I've helped is more than the number of people you've killed."

"But a few years later, I no longer wanted to continue."

Niruo mocked: "Oh, is it because you, the living Saint, couldn't find anyone to help anymore?"

"It's because those I helped, instead of being grateful, turned against me."

Thousand Faces' tone was icy, her gaze turned to the shadows in the grove, as if staring at distant vengeful spirits.

"Can you imagine after I saved a child, being tied up by their parents and sold to human traffickers? Can you imagine after driving away a miscreant and saving a young girl from a predator kiss, being falsely accused of being the aggressor, with the miscreant becoming a righteous agent in my place? Can you imagine after striking down the bullies who oppressed the citizens on the street, being charged as the offender while not a single person on the street was willing to testify for me?"

After a moment of silence, Niruo said: "Those are just the minority."

"But it's that minority that completely destroyed everything about me." Thousand Faces blew a smoke ring: "And the rest—are they truly good? They just haven't encountered a chance to do harm. Moreover, if I want to keep utilizing the Water of Mutation, I have to continue 'accumulating virtues and doing good,' even if it means helping those I despise. Reality demands its tasks, and afterwards, in a year, I'll search out those I've helped, and if they haven't sent any feedback, those who don't deserve a face shouldn't have one."

"They have no right to a face without any gratitude at all."

"This is my disaster."

By this point, Thousand Faces had already blown out another smoke ring, "If there's truly no reward for being good in this world, then I'll be their retribution!"

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