"Deceiver is what we call people like us."
"Heretic is just a name those crazy people gave us. In our eyes, those crazy people are the real heretics!"
Aunt Wang placed the nine-ringed saber on the desk, pulled over a chair and sat down casually. The chair let out a 'creak' sound as if it couldn't bear the weight.
Aunt Wang continued to explain: "Deceiver, someone who breaks through confusion."
"Those crazy people are all confused by demons, while people like us have broken through the confusion, so we are called 'Deceivers'."
"But most Deceivers appear later in life, like me..."
"I was also a believer in demons back then, but later that demon organization was destroyed, and the demonic power controlling my mind naturally disappeared."
"So I woke up and became an acquired Deceiver."
"Natural Deceiver... like you."
"Born with a strong soul, not easily controlled by demonic power in your thoughts or mind. Natural Deceivers who can independently resist ordinary worship ceremonies are already very rare, but you... you withstood a worship ceremony conducted by a mid-level Seeker!"
"You amaze me. In our entire Sushan City... no, in our entire Bingjiang Province, you are currently the only natural Deceiver with such a strong soul."
"You are a natural Deceiver, and even more so a natural Disguiser!"
"Huh? Did I say another new term? It's okay, our people will be here in a while. We have plenty of time."
Jiang Yuan felt dizzy from listening.
He understood what a Deceiver meant.
A Deceiver is what people in this world consider a heretic.
An acquired heretic, a natural heretic, that's all it means.
Jiang Yuan didn't rush to ask about Seekers, Disguisers, or the "our people" Aunt Wang mentioned.
After a moment of silence, he looked up and asked: "So these past few days, you've been testing me, right?"
"Trying to test if I'm a Deceiver?"
Aunt Wang smiled and nodded: "That's right. After all, I couldn't be 100% sure you were a Deceiver."
"When I comforted you the day your parents had the accident, and the day you and your sister came back, I was laying the groundwork for scaring you later."
"By scaring you in that way, if you weren't a Deceiver, I wouldn't expose myself either."
"Fortunately, the first time I scared you, I was almost 100% sure you were a Deceiver. The second time I continued to scare you was just to confirm a bit more."
"I had originally decided to come find you after dawn, but I didn't expect you to encounter danger, so I came early."
Jiang Yuan let out an "Ah?" with a confused look: "You were almost 100% sure I was a Deceiver the first time? How did you confirm that? I don't think I gave myself away, did I?"
Aunt Wang pouted: "Didn't give yourself away? How much more obvious could you be?"
"I called you a 'heretic'! Under normal circumstances, if you were a believer, you would have been furious, because no believer can remain calm when someone calls them a 'heretic'."
"But you? After seeing me from the window, you were actually scared!"
"You were scared, you know that!"
"If you're not a Deceiver, then who is???"
Jiang Yuan opened his mouth but had no response.
He thought he had disguised himself well, but he didn't expect to be seen through long ago.
Fortunately, the other person was also a Deceiver, otherwise he would have been finished long ago.
Jiang Yuan digested this information.
After a while, he continued to ask: "What is my sister, this Seeker? And what's a mid-level Seeker? Is the Seeker you're talking about my sister?"
"Of course it's her!"
"I moved next door to your house two years ago specifically because of your sister!"
Aunt Wang's body once again exuded a murderous aura as she explained: "Seeker..."
"Let me first talk about the situation in this world. After all, you haven't been exposed to this before, so I'll explain it to you properly."
"In this world, the vast majority of people are believers in demons, but there are also a very small number of people who have woken up."
"So overall, humans in this world are divided into two major camps—"
"The Demon Camp and the Redemption Camp."
"Deceivers aren't necessarily part of the Redemption Camp, like you."
"But people in the Redemption Camp are definitely Deceivers!"
Aunt Wang explained the basic structure of the world behind the veil: "Since there are two major camps, different professions have also emerged."
"Seeker is a profession among fanatical believers."
"A Seeker is a profession specifically for finding us Deceivers from among the crowd."
"Mid-level Seeker, the 'mid-level' in front represents your sister's strength. She is a strong person with mid-level third-grade strength!"
"At the same time, she is also a Seeker in the Merciful Demon Cult."
At this point, Aunt Wang fell silent for a moment and said: "Actually, I didn't expect it. I didn't expect your sister, as a Seeker, to actively let you go!"
"Of course, the main reason is that she isn't 100% sure you're a Deceiver. Otherwise, no matter what relationship she has with you, she would definitely kill you to sacrifice."
"But even so... it's surprising enough. But it's precisely because of this reason that I still couldn't be sure if you were a Deceiver, or if you had already been corrupted by demonic power."
"It wasn't until this evening when I scared you for the second time and you still didn't react that I had no more doubts about your identity as a natural Deceiver."
Jiang Yuan understood.
Deceivers and fanatical believers are actually general terms for everyone in the two camps.
Seeker, and the Disguiser that Aunt Wang mentioned earlier, the former is a profession among fanatical believers, the latter is a profession among Deceivers.
That his sister was a Seeker was quite unexpected for Jiang Yuan.
That she let him go, and even chose to believe his full-of-holes lie, was even more unexpected!
Shouldn't seeking out Deceivers, especially natural Deceivers like himself, be a Seeker's greatest duty?
From his sister's case, it could be seen that demon believers in this world don't all seem to have lost their reason and humanity.
Also, Jiang Yuan remembered what Aunt Wang had said earlier and immediately asked: "Can these believers whose souls have been corrupted by demons return to normal?"
"Just by destroying the demons they believe in? Wait... that's not right. How can we destroy demons? Can we kill demons???"
Jiang Yuan found it incredible.
Aunt Wang smiled and said: "Kill demons? What are you thinking?"
"If demons could be killed by us mortals, would the world have fallen to this state?"
"What I mean is, we just need to destroy all the mid-level and above demon idols of a certain demon, and kill that demon's Demon Sons... oh, that's what they call God Sons and God Daughters."
"Just by doing this, those believers whose thoughts are controlled by demonic power will become Deceivers."
"And destroying mid-level and above demon idols, or killing Demon Sons... no! Actually, as long as we kill any demon believer casually, we will receive a reward of redemption power from heaven."
"Redemption power is a power different from demonic power."
"This is also the fundamental source of whether we Deceivers can become stronger!"
"Oh, right..."
Aunt Wang suddenly pointed at the headless corpse of the young security guard on the ground and smiled: "For example, him. I just killed him and received a reward of redemption power."
"Although this bit of redemption power is almost useless to me, this is how we become stronger."
Jiang Yuan fell silent.
In other words, if he wanted to save his sister and make her return to normal, he would have to destroy the entire Merciful Demon Cult?
Jiang Yuan smiled bitterly.
Demon statues...
Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan couldn't help but shift his gaze towards the study.
A hint of brightness appeared in his eyes.