The road is vague

Chapter 401 A Miraculous Insight to Change Fate
The solar boat sails alone on the vast ocean.

Li Mo watched as the people around him, who had naturally forgotten about Liao Quzai, Mu Qianying, and Pang Yi, worked hard to repair the damage to the sun ship, and he joined them.

He knew this was just the calm before the storm.

Just like before when he was studying canvas in the room, the only difference this time was that he was an outsider.

The only thing he was certain of now was that those oil paints were the key to the God of Year's power.

No matter how one perceives these paints, one will inevitably be contaminated by them, unable to see or hear the person forcibly contaminated by the paints, and thus manipulated by the rules of the year god, causing him to collect resentment.

Fortunately, these paints can only contaminate one person at a time.

The person who is forcibly contaminated will be in a very strange state. He will be imprisoned by the God of Time, and what the other contaminated people see of him will be an abstract expression, similar to an oil painting on a sail, or something else.

But this is definitely not an illusion; it is a special order that is far more sophisticated than an illusion.

"Close your eyes when it gets dark. Do not answer the Shedding Man's questions. You may kill the Shedding Man or be killed by him."

Everyone was stunned.

A sense of alertness in their very being made everyone quickly close their eyes and freeze in place, motionless.

Li Mo noticed something was wrong.

Seeing that everyone else was frozen in place, he immediately realized that a new curse order had descended. However, since he had not been corrupted, he did not know what the specific curse was and did not act rashly.

At this time.

Li Mo suddenly noticed that at the end of the sunboat deck, which should have been filled with warmth and brightness, there was an even brighter area.

But beneath this seemingly miraculous and dream-filled light lies a deeper evil and darkness.

It's as if an invisible hand wants to change the world. Hidden beneath the seemingly warm, beautiful, and dreamlike surface is a crazy and evil thought that wants to turn everyone into its own thoughts, inspirations, and memories, so that they can live in its own world of thoughts.

A human figure slowly rose to his feet in the eerie light.

"Pang Yi!?"

Li Mo's pupils suddenly contracted.

This person was none other than the spirit medium Pang Yi. He had mysteriously disappeared after Liao Quzai saw his back, and Liao Quzai went mad as a result, constantly rubbing his back against the deck.

At this moment, Pang Yi looked as if he had just crawled out of the abyss of hell.

He noticed Li Mo looking at him, and a wicked smile appeared on his lips.

"Ahem, King of a Thousand Faces, Princess Dai, Fellow Daoist Gong, Fellow Daoist Zhao, Fellow Daoist Liao, I am Pang Yi."

Pang Yi's tone was extremely weak.

But in Li Mo's eyes, when Pang Yi said those words, the wicked smile on his lips never faded, and his dead fish-like eyes kept staring at him, as if he were provoking him.

Li Mo could clearly sense that the Thousand-Faced King, Princess Dai, Golden Turtle Master, Zhao Ping'an, and Liao Qu'nan were all somewhat nervous.

Don’t say anything else.

The fact that the Golden Turtle Master's surname is Gong is a secret that even Li Mo didn't know.

His long experience dealing with evil spirits taught him that he should never act rashly before understanding the rules of the evil spirit.

Throughout history, many deputy commanders, commanders, and centurions of the Muzhou Heavenly Mandate Division have died at the hands of insignificant little evil spirits.

Based on the current situation, Li Mo has made some initial predictions.

The five people who were corrupted have most likely encountered some kind of obscuring rule that is affecting their souls.

If I were to attempt to kill Pang Yi, it would likely arouse suspicion from others, leading them to attack me. In that case, whether I am killed by others or I kill others and allow the God of Year to collect more resentment, its goal would be achieved, and I would be in dire straits.

So Li Mo remained motionless, coldly observing Pang Yi's performance.

"Fellow Daoists, there is no need to panic. The reason I know you is because we were originally fellow spirit summoners who went to sea together. Unfortunately, the God of Time just stripped away all order here that was related to me, imprisoning me in a vacuum. I could only watch helplessly as you were deceived by the demons, resulting in the tragic deaths of Fellow Daoist Wuzai and Fellow Daoist Mu, the divination master, who were devoured by evil spirits."

Although Pang Yi's words were eloquent and expressive, his expression was fixed on Li Mo, making Li Mo feel a little uneasy.

"I know you've forgotten me, and you've also forgotten Fellow Daoist Wuzai and Fellow Daoist Mu, but some traces cannot be erased even by the God of Time! Fellow Daoist Wuzai, think carefully, do you have an older brother? Fellow Daoist Zhao and Fellow Daoist Gong, think carefully, do you have a fortune teller friend? Thousand-Faced King, think carefully, shouldn't there be a spirit medium on the ship?"

Liao Qunan, Thousand-Faced King, Golden Turtle Master, and Zhao Ping'an all began to breathe rapidly.

However, out of caution, none of the four responded.

Seeing this, Li Mo understood some of the rules a little more. Those who were corrupted would mostly be unable to answer the words of the God of Year, otherwise they would surely meet with misfortune.

Pang Yi continued his performance.

"This is the Forbidden Sea. Even the God of Time cannot unleash much power here. As long as you trust me, we can definitely defeat it! As an observer, I have already gained a preliminary understanding of the God of Time's secrets. The God of Time's power lies in its mental world. These oil paints are actually the fate-altering aura of that mental world, which the God of Time obtained by chance after collecting countless divine inspirations. Anyone who is attached to the fate-altering aura will have their personality and destiny extracted, making them impossible to divine or predict. And everyone who sees the oil paints is not under an illusion or so-called corrupted, but rather has sensed the God of Time's mental world. Only by continuously consuming the resentment here can we gradually escape this predicament..."

Pang Yi recounted everything in detail. Li Mo, who had originally intended to find fault, was surprised to find that the other party's explanation was quite reasonable and practically flawless.

"Could all of this be true?"

According to the other party, even the projection of the God of Year cannot descend upon the Forbidden Sea. Therefore, it can only use this so-called fate-altering light to influence everyone's perception in its illusory world and manipulate the ants at will.
Even Li Mo, who retained his memories, agreed with Pang Yi's explanation, let alone the others.

Lies may be reasonable, and all sorts of tricks may exist, but only the truth remains, and there is only one.

Liao Qunan, in particular, clearly agreed with everything Pang Yi said and, through numerous clues, completely believed that he had an older brother named Liao Quzai.

A dignified Golden Core cultivator was actually shedding tears.

Seeing that the time was ripe and that everyone had at least a 70-80% approval of him, Pang Yi suddenly changed the subject and turned his attention to Li Mo.

"So the one who shed his skin was this Fellow Daoist Li!"

Pang Yi grinned wickedly as he looked at Li Mo.

"Mu Qianying died at the hands of this Fellow Daoist Li. Her body was in his room, and it was never contaminated!"

Although everyone was unable to open their eyes or use their divine sense at this moment, Li Mo could feel intense hostility. It seemed that if he could not prove himself and convince everyone, he would be quickly abandoned.

Shedding one's skin?
Li Mo chuckled softly.

"Hmph, that's perfectly reasonable. If I weren't the one you're targeting, I'd probably believe it myself."

Li Mo chuckled softly.

"This fellow Daoist Pang Yi knows a great deal, and most of it is true. If I were to prove my innocence in the usual way, I'm afraid you all would not believe me at all. But fortunately, from what you just said, it seems that there is only one shell-shedding person here. And judging from your behavior, it seems that because of the pollution of those paints, oh, the fate-altering spiritual light, you cannot communicate with this shell-shedding person, otherwise you will surely suffer a terrible disaster. So, things will be easier from here on out."

Li Mo raised his hands, making a gesture as if summoning to the heavens.

Then he actually summoned the Peacock Saint Son, Wen Aoxing!

However, this Peacock Saint was clearly still very weak. After landing on the deck, he collapsed to the ground. His memory was still stuck on the scene of being severely injured by Lei Libu Huaji's self-destruction during the battle for the Saint. He was about to grit his teeth and say something when he suddenly noticed his current situation.

Wen Aoxing reacted extremely quickly, instantly realizing something.

"Sealing technique!?"

Li Mo was very satisfied with Wen Aoxing's reaction, and given his current weakened state, it was impossible for him to engage in combat.

He then looked at Pang Yi with a cold smile.

"Look, I now have two people here. How do you plan to reconcile this?"

Seeing that Pang Yi did not answer immediately, Li Mo looked at the others.

"Thousand-Faced King, Princess Dai, Fellow Daoist Golden Turtle, Fellow Daoist Liao, Fellow Daoist Zhao, unfortunately, I am a sealing master. This is the ethereal peacock clan's holy son that I sealed on the other side of the Forbidden Sea during the battle for the holy son of Mount War God. Now I am releasing him to defend me. If you think I am a shell-shedding person, then kill this peacock holy son. Otherwise, kill this Pang Yi who popped out of nowhere."

Say it.

Li Mo then looked at the weakened Peacock Saint.

"Fellow Daoist Wen, our current situation is not very good. The evil and exalted God of the Year is watching this Sun Ship and has established the so-called Order of the Shell-Shedding People. You must prove that you are not a Shell-Shedding Person. Otherwise, I don't have a good way to prove my innocence. But don't worry, we have plenty of time. This Shell-Shedding Person disguised as Pang Yi will explain everything to you in detail."

"You've provoked the Temple of the Year God? This is the Forbidden Sea!!"

After regaining his senses, Wen Aoxing showed a look of astonishment, followed by immense anger. He stared coldly at Li Mo.

"Who has become this year's Holy Son of Mount Ares?"

"Jin Yi".

Li Mo's response made Wen Aoxing clench his fists, his eyes filled with resentment.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "I have to kill him. You'd better stop this solar ship right now, or kill me!"

Li Mo shrugged.

"That's probably too late. This holy son is already dead. You should resolve the current predicament first before discussing anything else."

Say it.

He returned to his room with an air of nonchalance.

Let's leave this troublesome problem to the Peacock Prince. Judging from his past experiences, he is definitely not someone who will die easily.

Besides, even if someone dies, it's not Li Mo who dies.

Li Mo would certainly not hesitate to use the other person's life to prove his innocence.

Once the Sun Ship enters a new cycle, Li Mo can begin working towards quelling the resentment on the ship, and he seems to have returned to his life as an inspector of the Heavenly Mandate Bureau.

(End of this chapter)