Chapter 25: Your talisman is very wonderful, we would like to borrow it for a while.

"How come you're so proficient at kneeling?" Liang Yi complained inwardly. He hadn't even said anything, and this guy was already on his knees.

"You're really something we can't afford to have on our conscience." Liang Yi looked at the trembling chubby kid in front of him, feeling like the three of them were like big bad wolves.

"Ah? You're sparing my life? Thank you, noble hero! Thank you, noble hero!" Yu Wei hadn't dared to lift his head up to this moment, let alone take a peek at who had captured him. He feared that once he saw their true faces, they might silence him forever.

Su Youyi and He Zhiqing had no idea of Liang Yi's intentions and simply stood behind him watching the conversation unfold.

"Yu Wei, get up. We just want to borrow something from you." Liang Yi had no patience to continue playing along and wasted time was not a good thing.

"Boss, I'm called Wang Fugui, I'm not Yu Wei. Are you sure you've got the right person?" Yu Wei didn't show any panic when the person in front of him called out his real name, acting as if Liang Yi really had the wrong person.

"Enough already. This is Chief He Zhiqing from Complete Heaven Sect, I'm Liang Yi from Taoist Sect, and this is my junior sister Su Youyi. Even if you haven't seen us before, you should have heard of us, right? We need your Mirage Talisman for something; I owe you a favor for this, alright?" Liang Yi didn't feel like explaining any further and went straight to the point.

Yu Wei, having heard Liang Yi reveal the identities of the three of them, had already lifted his head and saw a man and a woman, as well as someone else tightly wrapped in a cloak, only revealing a pair of eyes.

Yu Wei was already convinced to a large extent. Although he had not met Liang Yi and Su Youyi, he had met He Zhiqing and had even sold his goods to him; prior to Liang Yi, He Zhiqing was the only person who had bought something from him.

He Zhiqing pulled down his mask, revealing his full face with starlight swirling in his eyes, a display of the Complete Heaven Sect's inherited Cultivation Technique, the "Complete Heavenly Cycles Scripture." Su Youyi also radiated a mysterious aura, profound and vast, characteristic of the Taoist Sect's "Endless Dao."

Convinced by the aura of the Cultivation Techniques, Yu Wei completely let his guard down. Right, these three people must be genuine.

"Young Hero Liang really scared me there for a moment," Yu Wei straightened up, his posture changed, and he suddenly transformed from the timid, obsequious chubby kid to someone quite different.

"The situation is urgent, and we had to interrupt Young Master Yu's training, I apologize." Liang Yi gave a half-bow of apology. If things hadn't been so sudden, it really would have been quite a while before he ran into this fatty again.

"Alright, I accept your apology. As for what you need, I won't ask. I'm a merchant; you owe me a favor, I'll lend you the Mirage Talisman; the trade is fair." Yu Wei, coming from a line of merchants, naturally had a merchant's cunning. Liang Yi obviously wasn't the ordinary person without cultivation talent as rumors suggested. It was worth making his acquaintance now and having him owe Yu Wei a favor.

Yu Wei took out a talisman shrouded in mist from his ring and handed it to Liang Yi. Under the swirling fog, no one present could see the text on the talisman, not even Zhiqing from the Fourth Realm.

[Mirage Talisman (Minor Talisman)]: After the demise of the ancient Mirage Dragon, only a single Mirage Pearl was left behind. It was acquired by a mighty Talisman Daoist, who used his heavenly Mana to refine it into a talisman. When activated with Mana, it can transform a person to take on another's appearance. It also alters the person's voice, stature, and even Cultivation Technique moves as perceived by others, lasting for six hours and can be deactivated at will. This is one of three minor talismans.

Liang Yi, upon receiving the talisman, was naturally able to check its attribute description. It was of deep purple quality, the peak among purple quality items. This was exactly what he needed, a Mirage Talisman that was even better than any disguise Cultivation Technique! He certainly knew that the Main Talisman was held by Yu Wei's father at the headquarters of Wind God Commerce, but he couldn't borrow it now. Thus, his sights were set on Yu Wei.

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When the three of them re-emerged from the shadows, they were perched on a tree outside Little Bamboo House. A lanky young man covered in pockmarks - this was Liang Yi; a burly, rough-looking man standing eight feet tall - this was He Zhiqing; and a fierce-looking bandit woman with a scar across her face - this was Su Youyi. The Mirage Talisman had been returned to Yu Wei; after the transformation caused by the talisman, it didn't need to be worn at all times.

"The city does not allow the establishment of protective Arrays, which makes it easier for us to act," He Zhiqing whispered as he looked at the orderly bamboo houses before him.

"Indeed, so where shall we start our investigation?" Liang Yi had undertaken many stealth missions before, but his style of infiltration was heavily influenced by an ancient assassin game.

Liang Yi highly approved of the "peerless stealth" mode—in which if everyone dies, there won't be anyone left to notice. Every time he carried out a stealth mission, not even a creature left to breathe would remain at the site of infiltration.

But now he was not in a game, and he did not possess such strength, so he chose to follow the lead of his more experienced senior brother.

"First, let's find out where Zhang Feng is currently staying, mainly investigating the back room bedroom and the guest hall. If the real Zhang Feng isn't dead, he should be either within the city or outside. For now, let's focus on this city," He Zhiqing analyzed.

"Okay!" Liang Yi replied in a low voice.

Unexpectedly, their first investigation of the back room bedroom led them straight to Zhang Feng.

The three hid in the shadows among the tree branches outside the house, carefully concealing their figures, their gazes peering through the gaps in the leaves and the windows, observing Zhang Feng, who was sitting inside cultivating.

For fear of being discovered, the three did not use Divine Sense to investigate Zhang Feng's condition; instead, they observed with their bare eyes.

"Those living around the house all seem to be miscellaneous personnel from Little Bamboo House. This Zhang Feng doesn't appear to be anything unusual," He Zhiqing conveyed to the others with a message transmitted through spiritual energy.

Liang Yi scrutinized Zhang Feng carefully. If it weren't for the strange feeling in his heart and the System not indicating the completion of the task, he wouldn't have been able to tell that Zhang Feng was an imposter. But even now, he couldn't find any flaws upon observation.

"Do we capture him now, or retreat and discuss further?" Su Youyi's heart was beating fast. It was her first time leaving the mountain to do something this thrilling, and her heart was having a hard time coping.

"No rush, let's observe a little longer. I have a feeling something isn't quite right," He Zhiqing said. Factions like the Complete Heaven Sect, which foretell the workings of the Heavenly Mechanism, often had very accurate instincts.

While carefully avoiding the patrolling personnel inside Little Bamboo House, Liang Yi and the others also continually changed their position, observing Zhang Feng's house from far and near.

"Something's wrong, there indeed is a problem!" He Zhiqing, as the Chief of the Complete Heaven Sect, quickly noticed something was amiss after repeated observations.

"What's wrong?" Liang Yi's strength was limited, and his Divine Sense investigation was not very precise.

Su Youyi also looked towards He Zhiqing. She could observe clearly but lacked He Zhiqing's extensive experience and could not identify what was wrong.

"He seems to be sitting in meditation, cultivating and absorbing Spiritual Energy, but since our arrival half an hour ago, his Spiritual Power has remained very stable, neither increasing nor decreasing," He Zhiqing explained.

When a cultivator circulates a Cultivation Technique to absorb Spiritual Energy, they convert the ownerless Spiritual Energy in the air into Mana with an owner. Through such transformation in cultivation, either the Mana is increasing, or the Mana is being compressed to improve its quality and reduce its quantity.

But for Zhang Feng inside the house, after half an hour of cultivation, his Mana had not changed in the slightest!