Chapter 780: Jidao's Stance
Yan Zhichun rose at dawn and looked at the two women before her.
When she had rested here the previous evening, these two women had entered the building one after another. Neither of them spoke; they simply retreated to a corner and waited silently for the night to pass.
Like the most common "participants" in the "Land of Finality."
Now, these two strange women rose on their own as well, beginning to tidy themselves up. They appeared not to know each other either.
The three people in the room were all cautious. Throughout the night, they had each huddled in their own corners, none of them initiating conversation with the others.
After a while, one girl broke the silence, tentatively speaking to the other two: "Um... this place looks pretty dangerous. Do you two want to team up and move together?"
Yan Zhichun glanced over without changing her expression. The girl had a serene appearance and fair skin—not particularly beautiful, but giving off a comforting vibe.
She had her hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a simple T-shirt and black pants like the most ordinary girl you'd see every day.
Yan Zhichun felt the woman looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't recall where she had seen her.
"Sorry, I'm a loner," Yan Zhichun said. "You two can team up on your own. Don't include me."
The ponytailed girl shrugged helplessly at this and looked at the other woman. "What about you? This place clearly needs teammates no matter how you look at it. Want to go together?"
The other woman smiled slightly after hearing this, then shook her head. "Sorry, I already have teammates. I need to go find them now."
The ponytailed girl could only nod in resignation, understanding their positions.
Knowing she had never met either of them, Yan Zhichun turned to leave but suddenly heard four words that froze her in place—
"Long live Jidao."
Yan Zhichun's brow twitched. She turned back to look at the other woman.
The ponytailed girl also cast a puzzled glance at the speaker. "Long live... Jidao? What's that?"
The woman slowly stood up, staring into Yan Zhichun's eyes, and said it again, this time more tentatively: "Long live Jidao."
"Long live Jidao," Yan Zhichun replied.
"You really are one of us." The woman broke into an instant smile. "My name is Lin Qin."
Yan Zhichun nodded. "Yan Zhichun."
Though they exchanged names, curiously, neither had heard of the other's reputation.
After a few seconds of silence, Yan Zhichun felt something was off. "Are you really with 'Jidao'?"
"Yes, one hundred percent genuine," Lin Qin said. "Why?"
"Did you just join recently?" Yan Zhichun asked again.
"No, at least seven years ago," Lin Qin shook her head.
"Seven years...?"
After those words, Lin Qin could clearly see hostility brewing in Yan Zhichun's eyes.
But she pretended not to notice, smiling at Yan Zhichun. "What's wrong? Have you been in it a long time too?"
"Tell me," Yan Zhichun's expression gradually cooled, "how many years has 'Jidao' actually existed? Are you messing with me?"
"Oh?" Lin Qin paused. "How am I messing with you?"
"That's way too early to have joined," Yan Zhichun said. "Were you one of the founding members when Jidao was first established?"
"Of course not, I just joined very early," Lin Qin said. "What... are you a founding member?"
Yan Zhichun eyed her warily, a foreboding feeling rising in her heart.
If this woman wasn't with Jidao, how would she know the code to confirm her identity?
But if she was with Jidao—someone who had joined for seven whole years—and Yan Zhichun had never even heard of her, that was far too strange.
After all, she herself had founded Jidao only seven years ago.
"Sorry, I just need to know... who exactly are you?" Yan Zhichun said. "Why are you impersonating Jidao?"
"'Impersonating'...?" Lin Qin frowned slowly. "I don't understand. Is our Jidao some kind of all-powerful organization? What would be the point of me impersonating a 'Jidaoist'?"
"How strange," Yan Zhichun said. "Your words are riddled with too many flaws in just a few sentences. That makes me suspicious. I thought you said 'Long live Jidao' because you recognized me, but you were just saying it randomly? What made you so sure I'd be a 'Jidaoist'?"
"Because you said you're a loner," Lin Qin replied. "We 'Jidaoists' have always been loners. Is there a problem?"
Watching Yan Zhichun and Lin Qin argue like they were exchanging coded messages, the ponytailed girl grew increasingly uneasy.
"Hey, both of you, stop fighting..." she said to them. "You're meeting for the first time, aren't you? Why are you going at each other so hard?"
"Stay out of this," Yan Zhichun said coldly. "I don't need others to understand me, but I hate it when people impersonate Jidao."
"Say that clearly," Lin Qin said, getting angry herself. "You have no way to determine whether I'm with Jidao. How can you be so sure I'm an impostor?"
"Hmph, I don't know what your stance is or who sent you, but 'Jidao' is my faith. I will never allow anyone to desecrate it." Yan Zhichun stared coldly at Lin Qin. "I would do anything for this faith. If you're part of some organization trying to investigate us or dismantle us, abandon that thought now—or I will kill."
"Ridiculous." Lin Qin was clearly angered, standing up with fury in her expression. "You talk as if you're the only 'Jidaoist' in the whole world. Are you the only one who's given everything for those two words?"
"Since that's the case, tell me—what is Jidao's stance?" Yan Zhichun asked.
"There's an outsider here," Lin Qin said. "Are you sure you want to ask me that?"
"Yes," Yan Zhichun said. "I've been away too long, and now there are so many hacks trying to pass themselves off as the real thing. I'm deeply disappointed."
"Fine... Jidao's purpose is to protect 'Peachland' and prevent anyone from collecting enough 'Dao' to escape from here," Lin Qin said. "Is that enough?"
Before Yan Zhichun could respond, the ponytailed girl's expression shifted.
"What...?" She was stunned. "What the hell did you just say...?"
The two of them turned to look down at the girl, feeling she was acting strangely.
Both of them found her somewhat familiar, but they couldn't recall where they had seen her before.
"You're the ones preventing everyone from collecting 'Dao'...?" The girl's voice was clearly hostile. "What kind of cult is this...? This is what you call a 'faith'?"
Lin Qin looked at her T-shirt, feeling increasingly certain. Suddenly, a flash of realization struck her mind, and she froze.
"Wait... what's your name?" Lin Qin asked.
"Me? I'm Wen Qiaoyun."