After the main character who took the blame retired, the female lead quit.

"Is that rabbit one of yours?" he asked.

The woman nodded: "Yes, young man! Don't let her appearance fool you, she's actually quite similar to you, easily impulsive. Consider this a way of cleaning up her mess. It's a bit too much for a Nascent Soul cultivator to bully a Core Formation cultivator."

After saying that, the woman blinked one eye, a mischievous glint in her eyes, and teased Xiao Yu:

"How about that? I've thought of everything for you, haven't I? If you agree, I'll help you create an identity to participate in the secret realm. Don't worry, the Thieves' Guild is much more reliable than your ridiculous face with just three layers of fake skin."

As a master of disguise, Xiao Yu's methods were utterly shoddy and full of flaws in her eyes.

The woman's words made Xiao Yu blush.

Indeed, wearing these three fake faces was stuffy and hot, and it was useless. In the end, Li Yunshang still recognized her.

With a sigh, Xiao Yu also pondered the suggestion the woman had given him. He never expected that the dignified and ruthless leader of the Thieves' Guild would be so polite.

With her help, entering the secret realm would definitely be much easier, and there would be no need to worry about getting into any trouble, since her methods are not standard either.

Although Xiao Yu has now managed to establish his sect with some setbacks, he is still a little short of meeting the standards for participating in the secret realm.

One person is still missing from the five.

With the registration deadline for the secret realm approaching, most of the qualified independent cultivators have either joined other sects or have already given up and left.

Finding another qualified independent cultivator is still incredibly difficult, and tomorrow is the last chance to register, with only one morning available, which undoubtedly doubles the difficulty.

Now, the only hope is that the black-robed girl's underlings can break through to the Core Formation Realm on the spot, but even that is a slim chance.

Tsk!

Well, the woman's suggestion was indeed a good solution for Xiao Yu, just as she said, it solved a big problem for him.

but……

"Ding!"

Suddenly, before Xiao Yu could refuse, a familiar sound came from his mind, interrupting his thoughts, and his body trembled.

Chapter 89, The Protagonist

"Ding!"

"Quest triggered..."

"The host has been detected to be at a branch in the storyline. Two tasks have been generated so far."

"First, agree to the suggestion of the female thief 'brain' and join the sect she infiltrated, forming a team with four other people from the Yantian Sect to participate in the secret realm."

(Note: This task has an impact on achieving a bad ending, so please choose carefully.)

Rewards: 500 points, a selection of thief's secret techniques (including wall-penetrating, teleportation, disguise, and object manipulation, etc.)

Second, they righteously refused, insisting on participating in and entering the Phoenix Hill Secret Realm with their own sect.

Rewards: 1000 points, 10 Sword-Locking Talismans (usable on Nascent Soul Realm and below), Spirit-Divining Dice (temporarily predicts future destinies based on current circumstances, greatly boosting luck; can only be used once), top-grade spiritual material catnip, and Five Poison Powder (a top-grade poison that causes sensory confusion and a sharp drop in cultivation level).

Sure enough, that damn system inside me popped out; it's just like its usual behavior.

After a few days without any prompts, he had almost forgotten that he had a system inside him.

However, the rewards for the two tasks differ significantly.

The second one was much more generous than the first, but after looking closely at the specific reward details...

It seems to be related to the team he formed to enter the Fengqiu Secret Realm after making his choice.

If you choose the first mission, you will be allied with the Thieves' Guild, so it's not surprising that the reward includes the Thieves' Guild's secret techniques.

The second task is quite obvious: the dice correspond to the divination of the heavens, the Five Poisons Powder corresponds to the black-robed girl, and the remaining two each have their own corresponding counterparts.

Since that's the case, there's no need to hesitate at all. Xiao Yu originally wanted to refuse the woman, but with the system intervening, it's just a little extra fun.

How could he possibly join a team organized by the Thieves' Guild? Besides, he didn't know the other four people. Compared to strangers, he preferred to team up with the black-robed girls he already knew.

Moreover, if the girl in black robes found out that he had abandoned them to team up with another sect, she would probably avoid him whenever they met, and the little dumpling would not let him off the hook either.

He devoted so much effort to the Moon Shadow Sect, and was almost drained by Long Wanyan.

Abandoning the girl in black robes and choosing the Thieves' Guild seems like a bad deal, given the significant difference in rewards between the two!

Looking at the rewards for the mission, Xiao Yu had a clue about the last missing "person" in the team, and now he had no worries.

With that in mind, Xiao Yu stopped thinking and directly addressed the woman opposite him:

"No, I've already found a way to participate in the secret realm, so you don't need to worry about it. In comparison, it would be more practical to send me a few more boxes of Golden Dew Cake."

"Hmm? Strange, you actually managed to participate in the secret realm?"

The woman seemed somewhat surprised by Xiao Yu's answer.

"Hmm." Xiao Yu nodded, not needing to explain further, believing that the other party would quickly find out the truth with their methods.

Sure enough, after seeing Xiao Yu nod, the smile on the woman's face disappeared. She closed her eyes, frowned slightly, and seemed to be asking about something.

In just a few breaths, she opened her eyes, her plum blossom-like eyes hidden beneath the slits, and this time she squinted much less than before.

"Brilliant! Truly brilliant. So that's how it is. It's quite a coincidence that you managed to create a sect in just one day. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

The fox-like smile on the woman's face vanished, replaced by a playful expression of amazement.

"Well, it seems I went to unnecessary trouble. Sigh! This is a hassle. I should have known better than to send the mouth. The team is still short one person. Oh, right, here is some information about the Phoenix Hill Secret Realm that we agreed on. It's not like you made a wasted trip."

At the same time, she handed him a stack of documents. Xiao Yu took a look and found that they were indeed very different from what he had heard from the outside world.

This Phoenix Hill Secret Realm is not the remains of a phoenix as rumored by outsiders, but the place where a mutated phoenix fell.

At the same time, this secret realm is very likely to have given birth to an earth spirit.

That's a huge amount of information!

Xiao Yu was not surprised by the presence of the Earth Spirit; he was already familiar with the plot and knew this scene all along.

To his surprise, there was a towering ancient phoenix tree within the secret realm.

This wasn't mentioned in the novel.

Now that the protagonist has died, a butterfly effect has occurred, so it's normal for the plot that Xiao Yu is familiar with to deviate from the expected course.

This secret realm might be much more complicated than he imagined.

"Speaking of which, you quickly figured out how to examine that blank piece of paper, not bad at all! It's perfect for our Thieves' Guild. Same old line, I'd like to invite you to join the Thieves' Guild, how about it... do you want to join?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu tensed up, guessing that this was probably the main reason the woman had invited him upstairs to talk.

Just joining the Thieves' Guild...

"Once you join, if you want, you could even become the leader of the Thieves' Guild."

The woman looked at Xiao Yu, a slight smile playing on her lips, her eyes narrowing into slits as she looked at him with other thoughts in mind.

It is often said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but Xiao Yu was completely unable to see through the windows to understand what this woman was thinking.

The contents of the blank paper were quite simple. Remember the token that Mouth gave him at the restaurant? He took it out and scratched it on the blank paper, and the contents appeared.

Xiao Yu looked at the woman and, without beating around the bush, directly asked the question that had been bothering him:

"I don't understand why you and Mouth both want to drag me into the Thieves' Guild. Mouth's reason is quite convincing, it's all for the spirit stones that bring people in."

And what is your purpose as the leader of the Thieves' Guild? Why would you recruit me even if it means giving up your position? What are you after?

Could it be that I possess some extraordinary, top-tier talent for theft, one that I haven't yet discovered?

As he spoke, Xiao Yu looked at himself but did not notice that a third hand had grown on his body.

"Tsk! You misunderstood. Didn't that guy with the mouth tell you? Our Thieves' Guild isn't a thief' guild in the traditional sense, specializing in petty theft. Of course, if we encounter an emergency, we might steal some spirit stones to cultivate or something. It's fine to use it in emergencies. The key is the process of stealing and the insights gained from it."

Just like now, in order to infiltrate the Phoenix Hill Secret Realm, I stole the appearance and identity of a sect leader, impersonated him, and lived as him for a period of time without anyone noticing. That would be considered a successful experience.

The difficulty and effectiveness depend on the impact of the thief on the outside world, and we can also learn from this about our own 'theft'...

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu finally realized something, and his hair stood on end. A chill ran down his spine from the top of his head to his toes.

The theft the woman mentioned, in a way, is exactly the same as what he did as a scapegoat.

Is it possible...

"So, just like in a script, there are passersby, supporting characters, and protagonists. If you steal the identity of a passerby, it's simple, but it doesn't have much value, and it won't improve your status much in our thief's world."

But... what if someone stole the protagonist from the script, the one who is the center of the entire story, the one around whom everything revolves?!

The woman's narrowed eyes finally opened completely, revealing a pair of deep, complex eyes, like plum blossoms, to Xiao Yu.

His narrow eyes were slightly narrowed, as if he were looking through the mask on Xiao Yu's face and directly at the hidden true face.

Chapter 90, The Old General on the Stage

main character!

Xiao Yu's pupils contracted, his heart churning with turmoil, but his years of experience in taking the blame for others allowed him to maintain a calm expression on his face.

The teacup was placed back on the table, and a ripple appeared on the calm surface of the tea.

What he feared finally happened.

Just like a fish that has been brought ashore will still have a fishy smell.

As expected, it's not so easy for the protagonist to clear their name after taking the blame, especially when the protagonist is in trouble. Now, sharks are coming after them.

"You mean the protagonist... what does that mean?"

He asked in confusion, as if he knew nothing at all.

In fact, he had made preparations before he came.

Is she from the Taoist sect?

Dao... Thieves' Sect... Daoist Sect.