"Rakshasa? What a joke."

The burly man sized Lin Yu up and down, then burst out laughing.

"You're not even as tall as me, how could you be a Rakshasa?"

"Besides, Rakshasas went extinct a thousand years ago—if you really were a Rakshasa, wouldn't that make you my ancestor?"

At that, the burly man's face suddenly darkened;the grin vanished.

"Wait, are you trying to take advantage of me?!"

"Rakshasas are supposed to be the ancestors of our Blood Rakshasa clan, you want to be my ancestor, is that it?"

As he spoke, the burly man rolled up his sleeves, as if about to get physical with Lin Yu.

Lin Yu observed the man's reaction and his brow twitched.

Sure enough, the records had been right: the native life of Black Marsh, especially in the Blood Kingdom, really were a bunch of brainless brutes.

His deception had only just begun, and the other side was already ready to turn hostile and fight—completely devoid of any logic!

Still, Lin Yu remained composed, calmly meeting the burly man's gaze.

"No, I really am a Rakshasa, and I have no intention of taking advantage of you."

"By your logic, all Half-Beasts should bow and show filial piety to pure-blood Beastkin—race is race, the individual is the individual, lineage isn't calculated that way."

Lin Yu said calmly.

Hearing this, the anger on the burly man's face gradually faded, and he scratched his head instead. "Hey? What you said... actually makes some sense!"

"But you look nothing like the Rakshasas described in the records," the burly man mused, "rumor has it Rakshasas have red skin, four arms, terrifying faces..."

He looked at Lin Yu's features.

"Although you do look pretty ferocious, all your other traits are completely human—surely the records can't be wrong? Those have been passed down for generations!"

Lin Yu shook his head again.

"The records are not wrong, but I really am a Rakshasa... Your 'Blood Rakshasa' clan prides itself on being descendants of the Rakshasa, haven't you noticed you actually look a lot like me?"

Lin Yu pointed at the burly man and then at himself.

The burly man froze a moment. "Huh, you're right, that actually does make sense."

This burly fellow clearly wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

Lin Yu watched him and felt secretly relieved.

It was a blessing that the Blood Rakshasa were a mentally deficient, hysterical people—because of the existence of the Blood Rakshasa clan, Lin Yu had thought of the bold idea to impersonate a Rakshasa.

According to Shen Bingmiao's information, the Blood Rakshasa clan... were actually just a group of humans.

They were to the current human populations in Black Marsh what Homo sapiens were to Neanderthals—no relation to Rakshasas at all.

But something happened to that group a thousand years ago, some collective mass hysteria: after the Rakshasas disappeared as a people, their tribal leaders, either to "inherit the lineage" or simply driven by hysteria, suddenly began claiming they were close kin to the Rakshasas, that they carried Rakshasa blood.

Then the clan dedicated itself to finding red sorrel to squeeze into juice and smear all over their bodies from childhood into adulthood—this explained why the burly man in front of Lin Yu had mottled red skin.

This went on for a thousand years, and soon the whole Blood Kingdom and even other races of Black Marsh accepted that the Blood Rakshasa truly were the remnants of Rakshasa bloodline!

On that basis, Lin Yu hatched a daring deception.

After thinking repeatedly, the burly man suddenly raised a new doubt: "Hey, wait, you just said... the records are not wrong, so what does that mean?"

Seeing the man bite the bait and ask voluntarily, Lin Yu unhurriedly replied, "Haven't you ever wondered why your Blood Rakshasa clan looks more human, needs dye to keep the skin color, yet is said to have Rakshasa blood?"

"Well... I thought about it when I was a kid, but once I grew up I stopped."

The burly man answered seriously.

"The clan says it's divine punishment or something... specifics vary, but it's all matters from a thousand years ago, nobody bothers researching it."

This had indeed troubled many in the Blood Rakshasa clan. Lin Yu guessed that in the first decades or centuries some might have noticed the truth.

But now, a thousand years later, the notion that "the Blood Rakshasa are the continuation of Rakshasa blood" had been stamped into everyone's minds like a mental imprint.

Lin Yu looked at the burly man, a confident smile forming on his face, his gaze edged with a bit of pity.

"Well, we're essentially kin;in a sense you're my clansman... so I'll tell you the truth."

"The reason you don't look red, and I don't look red normally... is that the Rakshasa had two forms."

"When we fight, we take on that red, towering form;at other times we appear indistinguishable from humans—just like Beastkin."

"Many pure-blood Beastkin have an 'ancestor true form' ability... hm, I hope after a thousand years, the Beastkin haven't lost that ability."

The burly man quickly interjected, "I've seen what you describe... so you mean Rakshasas can transform?"

"That's unbelievably cool!"

His face was written with envy.

Lin Yu nodded. "Yes. We don't activate that form until it's time to fight—but because we often fight and present that form, especially when facing other races, all the records portray Rakshasas that way."

Lin Yu spoke with calm pride, and the burly man believed him about seventy to eighty percent.

But he still tried to be stubborn: "Even if everything you said is true... how do I know you're not lying to me?"

Lin Yu said nothing, only silently extended his hand.

"Come on, try it."

He said, and the burly man reached out and sat next to Lin Yu.

Then...

In the next moment, Lin Yu used one-handed force to drag the burly man into a stagger.

The burly man was stunned.

"What kind of freak strength is that?!"

Lin Yu was a bit startled as well.

This man's strength wasn't weak either!

He had intended to use the Soldier ability's enhancement combined with Rock Climbing Proficiency's wrist-strength boost to yank the man down, but unexpectedly it only caused a stagger—truly the Black Marsh was full of virile warriors!

But Lin Yu didn't reveal his emotions, maintaining his enigmatic calm as he spoke.

"Would a thin human like me have this kind of strength?"

"Although I haven't transformed, my power can't be fully expressed, yet it's probably not something a human could possess."

He spoke calmly and confidently. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The burly man sized Lin Yu up.

Whether or not this guy was a Rakshasa, he was definitely not a human!

That strength rivaled ordinary barbarians!