Chapter 16
The night was as dark as ink. Beneath the cold moonlight, the silent city resembled an ancient beast lying in wait.
Liu San stood alone in the middle of the city, facing an old locust tree that had long since withered, its branches twisted and gnarled.
This was the place the old shopkeeper had told him about.
He took a deep breath and pulled out the black talisman bearing the image of a blue-faced, fanged demon.
At the urging of his spiritual power, a tiny flame sprang into being and immediately set one corner of the talisman alight.
“Whoosh—”
The black talisman did not burn. Instead, it became a wisp of icy blue smoke that instantly burrowed between his brows.
In an instant, Liu San felt the world spin around him. An irresistible sense of chaos swept through his entire sea of consciousness. The world before his eyes began to blur and twist, before finally dissolving into a void of darkness.
All life vanished from his eyes.
...
Far away, in a cave abode, Liu Ming abruptly opened his eyes as he sat cross-legged!
At that very moment, he sensed that something was wrong. He had actually lost control of Liu San!
It was like a normal person suddenly discovering that he couldn’t lift his own hand. He could clearly “see” that his arm was there, yet he couldn’t make it move at all.
This clone was out of control!
But fortunately, he could still observe what had happened to the clone through Liu San’s eyes.
Liu San turned stiffly like a walking corpse, then walked away from the dead city, one step at a time.
The direction he was heading was none other than Three Talents Market, the place he had just left!
“A Guiding Talisman, huh?” Liu Ming couldn’t help cursing. “What kind of route are you guiding me along?!”
Sure enough, Liu San trudged tirelessly through the mountains until he returned to the edge of that 10,000-zhang abyss.
This time, he didn’t hesitate at all. Facing the bottomless void beneath his feet, he simply stepped forward.
His body instantly lost its support and plunged straight down into the unfathomably deep canyon.
Just as the darkness was about to swallow him, a gentle yet irresistible white light shot out from a cave below and caught his body with perfect precision.
The light enveloped him and slowly guided him, eventually carrying him into a vast, noisy, oppressive workshop.
Inside, countless cultivators toiled with their heads down like worker ants. The air was filled with the peculiar scent of talisman paper mingled with spiritual ink.
Liu San was seated before an empty stone table. The moment he sat down, a torrent of information was forcibly poured into his mind.
It was a series of methods and techniques for drawing talismans, covering everything from the most basic “Spirit-Gathering Talisman” to the relatively complex “Sharp Metal Talisman,” in exhaustive detail.
The next moment, Liu San mechanically picked up the talisman brush on the table, dipped it in spiritual ink, and began drawing on the talisman paper stroke by stroke. His movements were precise and mechanical, making him indistinguishable from the enslaved cultivators around him.
Elsewhere, Liu Ming narrowed his eyes and finally understood.
That seemingly kind old shopkeeper really had meant no good!
He hadn’t wanted to help Liu San at all. He’d lured him here to make him work for Three Talents Market!
Liu Ming finally understood where the tens of thousands of cultivators in these enormous workshops had come from.
They had probably all been lured here from outside by Three Talents Market through all kinds of underhanded schemes, just like Liu San!
Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the cave abode’s main door. “Knock, knock, knock.”
Liu Meng was immediately alerted. Her brows knitted together as she waved a hand, opening the stone door.
A young attendant dressed in the Treasure Gathering Pavilion’s uniform stood outside, respectfully holding a wooden box.
“Senior Sister, the hundred Yang-Attracting Pills you ordered have arrived. That’ll be one Three Talents Coin.”
Liu Meng’s gaze instantly turned icy. An invisible pressure surged forth and enveloped the boy.
“You have some nerve, Treasure Gathering Pavilion!” she shouted. “You abducted one of my people, and now you even dare come to my door to deliver medicine?”
The pressure forced the boy to take half a step back. He seemed surprised that Liu Meng had learned of this so quickly, but he soon regained his trademark merchant’s smile and chuckled:
“You jest, Senior Sister. Fighting among fellow disciples is strictly forbidden in our sect. How could the Treasure Gathering Pavilion dare lay a hand on one of your people? It’s just that... he was foolish enough to ‘voluntarily’ join the Treasure Gathering Pavilion. You can’t blame anyone else for that.”
“If you’re dissatisfied, Senior Sister, you can kill me right now. But I should warn you: the moment you strike, the sect’s Hall of Punishment envoys will arrive before long. When they do, you’ll suffer a hundred times worse than I will...”
“Of course, if you’re truly that angry, you can also set a trap for me. If I fall for it, then whatever you ask me to do will be my ‘voluntary’ choice.”
Liu Meng’s pupils contracted slightly.
She finally understood. This was how the demonic sect’s rules worked in full!
Once you became a cultivator, you could no longer kill anyone. That was an ironclad rule of the sect.
But as long as you obeyed that rule and didn’t resort to force, you could use schemes and tricks to lure someone in. Even if you sent them to their death, no one would hold you accountable!
No wonder... No wonder Qin Shuang had tested her with that vicious secret technique from the very beginning, and repeatedly warned her not to fall into anyone else’s trap!
The fury in Liu Meng’s chest slowly subsided. She took a Three Talents Coin from her storage pouch and tossed it to the boy.
“Leave the pills here. You can go.”
“Certainly, Senior Sister. Enjoy!” The boy took the coin and left with a grin.
Liu Meng shut the door and returned to the main hall. For the first time, a look of chagrin appeared on her face.
She really had been too careless.
Because Liu San was only a clone, she had so easily trusted the old shopkeeper, needlessly sacrificing the clone.
Liu San had at least reached Qi Refining. Losing a fighter like him still stung a little.
—But without this clone, who else could help her test the waters and explore?
This demonic sect was no place for decent people!
Liu Ming sat in a specially carved-out secret chamber and couldn’t help cursing under his breath. But a moment later, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Profound knowledge about talismans was flowing into his mind in an endless stream.
Although Liu San had been “tricked” away by Three Talents Market, it wasn’t as if Liu Ming had gained nothing from it.
The people from Three Talents Market must have thought Liu San was completely under their control, with no chance of escape. That was why they dared to pour all this precious knowledge of talismans into his mind without holding anything back.
How could they have known that Liu Ming, who shared the same consciousness as Liu San, could receive it all exactly as it was?
Those incredibly precious talisman arts were now his to master, without him having to lift a finger!
And among them was the talisman that truly led to “Luofeng City”!
“Since you don’t want me to enter Luofeng City... then I’ll go in on my own.”
“That Soul Banner is mine, no matter what!”