"All right." I cleared my immortal throat, letting one last drop of blood drip from Destiny Blade into the dirt.

There.

"Everyone, we'll take a vote now, in a circle. Who do you think the mafia was?"

I looked at Li Cheng first. The poor kid was drooling with bug eyes, looking like he was in another world. Mumbling incoherently, he raised a finger and pointed it at himself.

I wanted to smack my forehead, but I just barely restrained myself.

Just because I'd never seen someone point themselves out as the mafia...didn't mean it was against the rules, right? Heh...heh?

I stole a glance over at Fong Jue, who was rocking back and forth slightly on his criss-cross legs, eyes flaming with excitement. I let out a breath of relief.

Whew. As long as this moody, kid-ish demon king didn't think anything was off, then there wasn't a problem.

"All right," I nodded. "One vote for...ahem, Li Cheng. Next!"

Like this, they all went around in a circle. Some zombie-villagers gurgled and pointed at Xu Yun, who was already sprawled on the ground, looking very dead. Others huffed and pointed confidently at themselves. No one, thankfully, pointed at Fong Jue. I didn't want to set off his moody anger and have this whole plan thrown in the gutter.

At last, we reached Fong Jue, the last person in the circle to vote. With a wide, sharp-toothed grin, he raised a claw and pointed it...

At me.

"You," Fong Jue's demonic, gleeful voice rumbled. "You must be the mafia, foolish immortal!"

"..."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that was actually against the rules.

"Hah! Hah, Venerable One, you've got the best senses, as always...heh..."

I instructed everyone to scooch forward a little, then turn around and close their eyes again while I announced the person voted out, and the next round.

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I breathed in deeply, setting my feet into the center of the formation, and pressing them slightly into the dirt.

"Tonight, one villager was voted out of the town. That villager...was Xu Yun."

I coughed awkwardly, glancing at Xu Yun, who was still miming zombie-death very well. He couldn't exactly die twice, so...I'd just leave him there for now, I guess.

"Even though Xu Yun can't die twice...um...he died. Again! Because he was voted out. But no worries! Because this brings us to the end of our game! HOLD!"

All at once, the array I'd painstakingly drawn while waddling around the circle and playing mafia started glowing red. It was more intricate than any array I'd ever drawn; the more powerful the demon, the more powerful the Demonic Restricting Array needed to be. As a scarlet light filled the cave, Fong Jue began to rumble.

"Immortal fool," he growled, sounding half confused and half furious. "What have you done to this Venerable One? Why — why is this Venerable One's backside stuck to the ground? Is this a part of your mafia game?"

I'd just lifted the Hundred Minds Sleepwalking Technique, causing all of the zombie-like villagers and my two zombie students to snap out of their daze and look around in confusion. At first, I'd been planning on trapping Fong Jue and running with everyone for our lives, hoping he couldn't break my array...but suddenly, a new idea hatched in my immortal mind.

(I'm so clever, right? They should call me the Wise, Clever, Honorary Scholar, and Best Laoshi Immortal Xia, heh)

I coughed.

"Yes! Exactly, Venerable One. This array technique is a special one, called...cough, uh, huh, sorry, something stuck in my throat! It's called the Scarlet Mafia Protection Technique! You see, for the next three rounds, you'll be protected! And I forgot to tell you that, um, while this technique is activated, all the non-mafia people need to leave."

Fong Jue rumbled, trying to lift himself up, but failing. He looked...very, very grumpy.

"Very well," he growled, frowning. I felt a little bad for him. This guy was way too gullible when it came to games. "I will remain here, protected by your foolish Scarlet Mafia Protection Technique. Be quick."

"Yeah! You got it, Venerable One! We'll be right back." After a wink and a finger gun, I turned away and started herding the confused crowd of villagers and students straight to the exit. Fong Jue remained behind us, scratching the ground idly and humming a song that made the whole cave rumble.

I'd just pushed the last lagging person, an extremely perplexed Li Cheng, out of the throne room, when suddenly I got a bad premonition.

Behind me, the Demonic Restricting Array seemed to have glowed incomparably bright, casting the rock in front of me a bright lava color.

That could only mean one thing.

Fong Jue, the demon king restricted by the hasty array, had tried to use his demonic powers for some small task — maybe he was trying to play with fire out of boredom. And the array...had nullified his power. Meaning...

The whole cave rumbled under my feet, causing me to stumble. I fell sideways and clutched one of the throne room doors for support.

"FOOLISH IMMORTAL. THIS IS NOT A SCARLET MAFIA PROTECTING ARRAY. IT IS A DEMONIC RESTRICTION ARRAY! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO FOOL THIS VENERABLE ONE WITH YOUR TRICKS? YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

I gulped.

It meant that he'd definitely just realized I was lying to him.

And that he was very, very angry.