One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

After hearing Tao Qingci's explanation, Ye Cheng, Zhang Lingqiu, and the others felt utterly devastated.

A priceless treasure, the remains of a powerful demon with over a thousand years of cultivation!

Such a heaven-defying divine object, no wonder! No wonder neither the Celestial Master's discerning eye nor their close contact along the way could detect even the slightest trace of demonic or evil aura in this "Qin Lang"!

Under the cover of the Mirage Dragon Pearl, he stood there, and in the perception of the energy of heaven and earth, he was a real, insignificant rogue cultivator at the bottom of the Qi Gathering Realm!

After listening, Jiang Shou did not show any shock on his face, but simply nodded slightly, as if confirming a certain guess in his heart.

"No wonder..."

Jiang Shou looked at Qin Lang, "So, the dream beast we encountered when we first entered the second barrier..."

"That illusion that pulled all five of us into—was that also your doing?"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Upon hearing this, Qin Lang let out a piercing laugh from his young face.

"Not entirely."

His ethereal, overlapping voice carried a smug air of intellectual superiority: "That low-level beast, the Dream Eater, excels at digging into the secrets of people's subconscious. Naturally, it has no ability to pull five of you top Daoist geniuses into such a deep level of illusion at once."

"But I was right there with you then."

Qin Lang spread his arms wide. "Naturally, I'll use the concealment ability of the [Mirage Dragon Pearl] to help it out and create a little 'surprise' for your long and tedious journey."

"Unfortunately... even if that beast gave him a chance, it wouldn't have mattered. I don't know where you saw through his weakness."

As Qin Lang finished speaking.

His once youthful face, belonging to a young Taoist priest from Yunmeng Mountain, began to distort and change like ripples in the cold morning mist.

The bones made a teeth-grinding "crackling" sound, and the body grew an inch taller.

In less than three breaths.

The one standing before the crowd was no longer the timid little Taoist priest.

Instead, a handsome middle-aged man with long hair casually draped over his shoulders appeared!

Most striking were the two thin, eerie, dark red lines at the corners of his eyes, making his gaze both strange and profound! His wide black robe fluttered without wind, and a terrifying aura belonging to a great demon was released without any concealment from the [Mirage Dragon Pearl]!

"alright."

Qin Lang—or rather, Elder Li—raised his chin slightly, looking down at Jiang Shou.

"See, I've answered all your questions."

"So now, isn't it your turn to answer me?"

Elder Li's eyes gleamed with an almost obsessive curiosity. "When exactly did you begin to doubt me?"

……

The morning breeze carried the unique chill of the deep mountains, blowing across the gently sloping ground littered with debris.

All around were a dark mass of elite Luoyin Sect members, and the sect leader standing with his hands behind his back, exuding a gloomy aura.

In the middle of this dead end where there is no way to escape.

Jiang Shou looked at the great demon who had finally revealed his handsome middle-aged true form, but did not answer immediately.

He casually slipped one hand into the pocket of his black special forces uniform.

"actually……"

Jiang Shou's tone was calm, as if he were in a street-side tavern, reviewing a game of chess he had just finished with an old friend he hadn't seen in a long time.

"You guessed right."

"I have indeed started to suspect you a long time ago."

Jiang Shou looked at Elder Li, his eyes revealing a chilling clarity: "On the high-speed train back from Longhu Mountain, I kept replaying every detail of that Daoist gathering in my mind. And among them... the strangest thing that felt most out of place and most uncomfortable to me."

"It's you."

Jiang Shou held up one finger.

"The first thing. Longhu Mountain, Doufa Valley."

"..."

"When Wen Daoqing and Brother Ye were competing, Wen Daoqing was forced to summon the Golden Armored Divine General. The general's golden light was dazzling, and its aura was astonishing, as if a god had descended to earth. At that time, all of us young people present were completely overwhelmed by that immense power."

Jiang Shou stared at Elder Li's face, a mocking smile curving his lips:

"But you. A 'low-level rogue cultivator' who hasn't even stabilized at the Qi Gathering Realm, when you saw that golden-armored divine general, do you remember what the first question you casually asked me was?"

"..." Elder Li did not speak, but stared intently at Jiang Shou.

"You asked me..." Jiang Shou repeated his original words, "'Wen Daoqing is using his own true essence to continuously support such a behemoth... how long can his Dao essence last?'"

Jiang Shou sneered: "You actually managed to ignore the terrifying pressure emanating from that divine general at first glance, and accurately discerned that Wen Daoqing's vital essence was rapidly draining away, and that he was forcibly overdrawing his life force to maintain his Dharma form!"

"This is definitely not the kind of insight and knowledge that a rogue cultivator who has just entered the Qi Gathering stage and has barely even seen any Dao techniques should possess!"

"..."

Elder Li's eye muscles twitched slightly, almost uncontrollably.

But he was, after all, a great demon who had lived for a hundred years, and he quickly suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, forcing a smile as he retorted, "Just because of that? Couldn't I have just guessed it by chance? It's too arbitrary of you to doubt me based on just one sentence."

"Of course, this statement was just a starting point, merely leaving a lingering doubt in my mind."

Jiang Shou looked at the stubborn Elder Li and slowly extended his second finger.

"What truly convinced me that you were no ordinary cultivator was at the marketplace where goods were exchanged."

"..."

"At that time, I was squatting in front of a stall looking at the items. And then, you suddenly appeared behind me."

Jiang Shou spoke slowly, emphasizing each word:

"You used the [Mirage Dragon Pearl] to conceal your aura; your heartbeat and breathing were perfectly disguised as those of a low-level cultivator. But I am naturally perceptive. With my cultivation and perception at the time, even Brother Ye Cheng, or Senior Brother Zhang Jinghe from the Celestial Master's Mansion, could not possibly have appeared behind me so silently, like a ghost, and I didn't even notice before I turned around!"

Jiang Shou's gaze was like two sharp swords, piercing directly into Elder Li's eyes:

"Your usual disguise is indeed flawless."

"However, some things, once etched into your bones, become your subconscious instincts. They are extremely difficult to fake."

"It's like a person who has mastered riding a bicycle. The moment he gets on the seat, his body weight will subconsciously adjust to the bicycle to maintain balance. If you try to make him pretend to be a complete novice who can't ride at all and is wobbling around, he won't look convincing."

Jiang Shou pointed at Elder Li: "Just like the way you walk, your habit of concealing your presence."

"You can't hide that kind of muscle memory."

"..."