The talisman testing platform was set up in a corner of the main hall.

  It was a square stone platform, no higher than knee height, specifically designed for public talisman inspections.

  Over a dozen cultivators had already gathered around, murmuring discussions growing louder.

  Some whispered messages to each other, others lingered without leaving, and more cultivators from East Street, hearing the news, hurried over.

  The crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger.

  "A new shop opened by the Mistvale Sect, and trouble arises right from the start… Is the quality of their talismans really problematic?"

  "Let's just watch the spectacle. If the talismans are truly subpar, Moon?Veil Pavilion's reputation will be ruined today."

  Qin Suniang stood at the side of the platform, her expression unchanged, only speaking gently:

  "Brother Liu Qing, since this batch of Spirit?Gathering Talismans was drawn by you, why not have you test them yourself?"

  Liu Qing cupped his hands respectfully. "Sister, rest assured. Your younger brother will naturally take charge."

  Full of confidence, he took the Spirit?Gathering Talisman from the shelf that had been accused of being defective.

  The talisman paper was yellowish, the talisman patterns seemingly intact.

  He channeled his spiritual power, and the talisman lit up, placed upon the platform.

  As the talisman light first appeared, the Spirit?Gathering lines slowly activated, and the spiritual energy in the air seemed to begin gathering.

  The onlookers held their breath, waiting quietly.

  But in the very next moment, the talisman surface suddenly trembled.

  A fine crack appeared in the middle of the pattern, and the spiritual light flickered, as if blocked by something.

  The gathered spiritual energy instantly scattered chaotically, even rebounding with a thread of chilling energy that shot straight toward Liu Qing's fingertips.

  Liu Qing's face changed dramatically. He hastily withdrew his hand as the talisman shattered with a snap, turning to ashes that scattered across the platform.

  The main hall fell silent for a moment, then erupted in uproar.

  "It really is faulty! How could the talisman collapse on its own?"

  "Is this the quality of the Mistvale Sect's new shop? Daring to sell at twenty percent off the market price—are they trying to deceive people?"

  Liu Qing stood before the platform, his face pale with anger, cold sweat beading on his temples, his fingers trembling slightly within his sleeves.

  "Impossible… I drew this talisman myself. The lines were stable… How could this happen…"

  Qin Suniang frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping over the shattered talisman ashes. A faint sense of suspicion already stirred within her, yet she spoke softly: "Brother Liu Qing, do you have anything to say?"

  Liu Qing stiffened his neck, arguing forcefully: "This talisman paper must have been tampered with! Otherwise… otherwise, how could this happen!"

  The leader of the rogue cultivators sneered coldly: "Tampered with? Your own shop's talisman, and you blame us? If you don't compensate tenfold in spirit stones today, this matter won't be settled!"

  The voices of the onlookers grew louder, and the scene gradually descended into chaos.

  Lu Chi stood quietly to one side, his gaze lingering on the shattered talisman for a moment.

  A faint trace of Yin energy lingered at the site of the crack—it was not a natural collapse but clearly the result of someone injecting a thread of Yin?Sha energy with a fine needle, disrupting the balance of the talisman's intent.

  So the talisman had been tampered with when it was put on the shelf, and in a very hidden way. Could there be a mole inside Moon?Veil Pavilion? The troublemakers were likely prepared long in advance.

  Qin Suniang's gaze also lingered on the shattered talisman ashes for a moment. She glanced at Liu Qing, a question seeming to flicker in her eyes, though she did not speak aloud—likely communicating via voice transmission.

  Liu Qing's face was pale with anger, cold sweat still on his temples. Yet under Qin Suniang's gaze, he took a deep breath and gave a slight nod.

  Only then did Qin Suniang allow a faint smile to appear, her voice gentle yet carrying an undeniable authority that spread throughout the main hall:

  "Everyone, please remain calm. The talismans of Moon?Veil Pavilion are all personally drawn by our sect's talisman masters. Their quality speaks for itself."

  "Since there are doubts and disputes, why not have Talisman Master Liu Qing draw another Spirit?Gathering Talisman publicly? If its quality passes, then the earlier claims will naturally be groundless."

  She paused, her gaze sweeping over the surrounding crowd, her smile deepening: "Moreover, for all fellow Daoists present today who are willing to purchase talismans, we will offer an additional ten percent discount as a gesture of sincerity."

  The three troublemaking cultivators exchanged glances. Their leader showed no fear at all, laughing as he said: "Fine! Let Talisman Master Liu draw one on the spot! If it collapses again…"

  If it collapsed again, then Liu Qing's reputation as a mid?grade talisman master would truly be undeserved.

  The Spirit?Gathering Talisman was nothing more than a common first?rank talisman. What talisman master hadn't drawn it hundreds or thousands of times? Even if drawing on the spot tested one's mental state, it shouldn't fail so easily.

  Liu Qing forced himself to steady his mind and cupped his hands: "In that case, I shall comply."

  He took a deep breath, retrieved his own talisman brush and a stack of talisman paper from his storage pouch, then took out a small inkstone, added water, and began grinding the ink.

  He laid out each item one by one. Though his movements were slow, they carried a deliberately demonstrative air, as if trying to reclaim the face he had lost earlier.

  Liu Qing said no more. Dipping his brush in ink, he set it to paper: dotting the talisman's head, guiding the talisman's body, closing the talisman's foot—each stroke was executed with extreme care.

  The onlookers held their breath.

  But just as the talisman's foot was about to close, Liu Qing's fingertip suddenly trembled.

  The ink line deviated slightly, and the spiritual intent instantly became unstable. The entire talisman paper shattered into ashes with another snap.

  The main hall fell dead silent, followed by several low laughs and sighs.

  Liu Qing's face turned deathly pale. The fingers in his sleeve clenched into fists, veins bulging at his temples. His voice was low but carried a faint tremor:

  "Impossible… I've drawn this talisman no less than a hundred times. My brushwork is long since perfected—how could I fail for no reason? You must have used something to disrupt my concentration!"

  The three rogue cultivators exchanged smiles. Their leader spread his hands, his tone sarcastic:

  "Talisman Master Liu, that's an interesting thing to say. The three of us are standing right here, clean and proper. Where would we get any mind?disrupting items? If we did, point them out—let all the fellow Daoists see."

  Another chimed in,

  “Exactly. If a talisman fails, so be it. To lose is to lose. Why make excuses and refuse to accept it?”

  A third person sneered,

  “Moon?Shadow Pavilion made the wager. Now that they’ve lost, they should honor the tenfold compensation. This talisman shop… they should close their doors sooner rather than later, before completely losing face.”

  Qin Suniang stood beside the platform, her fingers tightening slightly beneath her gauzy sleeves.

  Her doubts only deepened.

  The matter was indeed suspicious.

  Though Liu Qing had a proud nature, his craftsmanship was not poor.

  Even if the pressure of a public trial affected his focus, he shouldn’t have failed twice in a row like this.

  But if those three had truly tampered with the talisman, why had none of the many cultivators present noticed anything unusual?

  Her gaze shifted and settled on Lu Chi.

  Seeing the calm expression in his eyes, an inexplicable glimmer of hope rose in her heart.

  Her voice soft, she asked, “Talisman Master Lu Chi, do you have anything to say?”

  Lu Chi remained silent for a moment, not rushing to speak.

  He felt no particular goodwill toward Liu Qing.

  Privately, he was not entirely without schadenfreude, but what the other had said was true: he had indeed sensed that thread of mind?disturbing fluctuation disrupting the talisman’s completion.

  This keen perception stemmed from the changes brought about by the elevation of his soul through the [Dual Brushes]? talent.

  However, the source of that fluctuation remained unclear for now.

  After all, his cultivation had not yet reached Foundation Establishment—if it had, a single sweep of divine sense would have revealed it.

  A plan formed in his mind.

  He quietly activated another talent: [Fiery Will].

  This talent was originally meant to gather one’s spirit, forcibly concentrating the soul in one place for breaking through seals when crafting difficult talismans, forcing them into form even when they seemed impossible to complete.

  Now, his soul burned like wildfire, his awareness as fine as a needle’s point.

  Ordinary scattered thoughts vanished, leaving only a single thread of brush?intent.

  But this time, he was not drawing a talisman.

  Instead, he directed this concentrated spiritual power toward that rippling soul?disturbance.

  Under the effect of [Fiery Will], his spiritual perception multiplied.

  Even the subtlest fluctuations were now as clear to him as silk threads.

  That disturbance was extremely hidden, diffuse like smoke—something ordinary people could not detect.

  But under the tightly focused energy of [Fiery Will], it was like a dark shadow beneath a lamp, its source laid bare.

  It was precisely that inconspicuous jade pendant hanging at the waist of the lead rogue cultivator.

  It contained a thread of cold, disruptive soul?energy, silent and unnoticed, specifically meant to disturb the spirit during talisman?crafting.

  What a cunning method.

  Crafting talismans most feared an unsettled spirit.

  This object did not harm the meridians—it only disrupted the talisman?intent.

  Liu Qing’s failure must have been because he had unknowingly fallen victim to it.

  Lu Chi withdrew [Fiery Will].

  His soul felt slightly drained, but he showed no outward sign.

  He simply cupped his hands and said, “This matter does indeed seem unusual. The cause lies in that jade pendant at the waist of that fellow cultivator.”

  The entire hall was stunned.

  First came a moment of silence, then an immediate uproar of discussion.

  The lead rogue cultivator’s face paled.

  He instinctively touched his waist, then retorted angrily, “Nonsense! This is just an ordinary jade pendant. How dare you slander me like this!”

  Qin Suniang’s gaze turned cold.

  With a flick of her delicate hand, a thread of moonlight?colored spiritual energy wrapped around the jade pendant like silk, lifted it lightly, and it fell into her palm.

  She infused it with her spiritual sense.

  A moment later, the corners of her lips curled slightly in a cold smile.

  “Indeed, it is a soul?disrupting jade. Fellow Daoists, this object serves as proof. Talisman Master Liu’s failure was not due to lack of skill, but to external interference.”

  The onlookers instantly turned hostile.

  Someone shouted angrily, “A vile trick! To bring such a thing to disrupt a shop’s business?”

  The faces of the three rogue cultivators turned ashen.

  They hastily bowed in apology. “We… were blind. We are willing to make amends.”

  Saying they would make amends, they in fact turned and left, their steps hurried, slipping out through the door in the confusion.

  Seeing this, Qin Suniang’s sleeve fluttered slightly as she sent a voice transmission: “Cao Zhen, follow them.”

  She then turned to look at Liu Qing.

  “Brother Liu Qing, now that the interference has been removed, would you be willing to draw another talisman to let all fellow Daoists distinguish truth from falsehood?”

  Liu Qing took a deep breath and cupped his hands.

  “Sister, rest assured.”

  He took a new sheet of talisman paper.

  This time, his brushwork was steady.

  As the talisman pattern took shape, the lines flowed smoothly, completed in a single breath.

  When the talisman was finished and lit up, spiritual energy gathered—rich, stable, and far more potent than before.

  The onlookers exclaimed, “So it really was external interference after all!”

  Liu Qing’s face flushed slightly.

  He forced a smile and bowed deeply.

  “Many thanks to Brother Lu Chi for exposing the villainy.”

  He felt somewhat awkward.

  When he had been drawing the talisman earlier, he had indeed sensed something unusual.

  His spirit had felt as if pulled by fine threads, but he couldn’t clearly tell whether it was an external force or his own nervousness.

  To stubbornly argue in front of everyone that he had been disturbed was just saving face, finding a way to step down with dignity.

  Now that the flaw had been pointed out by Lu Chi, a seed of uncertainty sprouted in his heart.

  How had this person detected it?

  Could his methods truly be above his own?

  Liu Qing’s gaze drifted, avoiding Lu Chi’s scrutinizing eyes.

  The tip of his finger trembled slightly within his sleeve.

  I much preferred your earlier, arrogant and unyearing demeanor…

  Seeing him so discomposed, his earlier posturing long gone, leaving only this flustered state, Lu Chi couldn’t help but smile.

  “It was only my duty. There is no need for Talisman Master Liu to dwell on it.

  In the days to come, focus on your studies.

  Your mental state still needs stabilization—it requires further tempering.”

  Liu Qing’s expression stiffened.

  He managed a strained smile but did not reply, merely lowering his head and retreating to the back hall.

  Seeing this, Qin Suniang’s heart stirred, though she offered no words of consolation.

  Liu Qing had lost face before everyone.

  Now, with Lu Chi’s few words exposing the truth and salvaging the situation, this composure, this capability…

  It was no less than Liu Qing’s—perhaps even… superior to it.

  Qin Suniang’s fingers lightly twisted beneath her sleeve.

  The corners of her lips curved into a faint smile, but a flash of resolve passed through her eyes.

  If Lu Chi could continue crafting talismans from now on, with a complete range and ample quantity, then this position of Lead Talisman Master… it seemed, was settled.