Chapter 100: A Sudden Riches Surge, the Thousand Illusion Mask!

"Soul Path artifact, and it's actually a mask?"

When Xiao Zhangqing examined the corpse, aside from the white‑haired old woman's storage bag and the white‑bone staff whose Magic Treasure core was damaged by his Six Directions Sword Technique, he did not immediately discover any Soul Path artifact.

It was only after he swept the area with his spiritual perception at full power that he noticed something abnormal.

Because even though the white‑haired old woman was dead, Xiao Zhangqing's spiritual perception still could not penetrate her skull.

When his spiritual perception spread to the head region, it was as if it were blind.

The head was clearly there, visible to the eyes, but when sensed with spiritual perception, the head area was empty.

Then Xiao Zhangqing reached out and felt around, lifting a mask as thin as a cicada wing from the woman's face.

Now that the white‑haired old woman was dead and the spiritual imprint on the mask had already faded, Xiao Zhangqing instantly refined it, and the system responded.

【Thousand Illusion Mask】

【A Soul Path Magic Treasure forged from special material; when worn it can greatly weaken spiritual perception attacks at the Early Nascent Core stage and below, and also grants ever‑changing illusion techniques. (When disguising as another person, one must possess a commonly used personal item of the target to achieve perfect transformation, with identical aura.)】

【Equip Requirement: None】

【Equip Effect: Insight Enhancement, Charisma Boost】

No personal testing of the mask's effect is needed; the system, like a scanning device, has fully explained the mask's origin and functions, as if a manual were attached.

Third‑tier low‑grade Soul Path artifact!

A genuine third‑tier artifact! This treasure is enough to make even Nascent Core cultivators swoon! It can block the vast majority of spiritual perception attacks at the Early Golden Core level, so it's no surprise that when Xiao Zhangqing used the Nightmare Technique earlier, the white‑haired old woman only showed a hint of pain at first, then quickly recovered and attacked him.

With his current Soul Transformation strength, the power of the Nightmare Technique only matches that of an Early Nascent Core, still falling short of a true Early Nascent Core.

"What a good thing!"

Xiao Zhangqing couldn't put it down.

Although his spiritual perception is powerful, far surpassing peers, and he possesses two spiritual perception secret arts, that doesn't mean he doesn't need a Soul Path defensive Magic Treasure.

Moreover.

This Thousand Illusion Mask, besides resisting mental attacks, also has 'ever‑changing' illusion techniques.

Just like the white‑haired old woman just now disguised herself as Ruan Qingzhu, almost identical in appearance and even aura and Soul Transformation, with no flaw.

If Xiao Zhangqing hadn't noticed during the conversation that the other person used the wrong address for him, he might have been fooled.

"Resisting spiritual perception attacks, illusion—these are the artifact's inherent effects. Adding the two major skills extracted by the system makes it equivalent to four skills!"

Xiao Zhangqing felt a surge of emotion.

The two skills the system extracted, Charisma Boost, seemed of little use to Xiao Zhangqing.

After all, in the Cultivation World, the strong eat the weak, strength reigns; if your talent is high enough and your power strong enough, you become the most charismatic, attracting mostly good people, and female cultivators flock to you.

If one's strength is low, at the bottom of the Cultivation World, no matter how good one's looks or temperament, or how great the charisma, it makes no difference.

Especially for male cultivators, it is even more so.

Even female cultivators find it hard to live off charisma in the Cultivation World.

Just like Lin Ziyu back then.

What caught Xiao Zhangqing's eye was the first skill, 'Insight Enhancement'.

This is a very practical minor divine technique.

Previously, Xiao Zhangqing already had an 'Insight Enhancement' on the 'Enlightenment Mat', so he knew what the skill meant.

If described more vividly from his past life, Insight Enhancement is equivalent to +IQ!

The higher the insight, the higher the IQ, you will 'grow a brain'! Don't think IQ is useless in the Cultivation World; on the contrary, aside from spirit root aptitude, IQ is perhaps the most important.

Because Insight Enhancement speeds up proficiency in cultivating techniques, as well as learning talisman drawing, alchemy, formations, puppetry, and other cultivation arts.

Thus the higher the insight, the more monstrous the level.

"This Thousand Illusion Mask, even just for the Insight Enhancement skill, must be equipped."

Xiao Zhangqing glanced at his current equipment slot and removed the second item, 'Transmission Jade Tablet'.

The Transmission Jade Tablet is a cultivation insight on the Longevity Technique left by a mid‑Foundation Establishment cultivator for his descendants; equipping it grants the Grand Completion effect of the Longevity Technique.

More than ten years have passed; Xiao Zhangqing has now established his Foundation, and his proficiency in the Longevity Technique has already reached Grand Completion, fully superseding the equipment's effect.

Therefore this equipment is of no use to Xiao Zhangqing.

Buzz~ In the second slot of the inventory interface, it quickly switched to a miniaturized Thousand Illusion Mask; Xiao Zhangqing was about to feel what double 'Insight Enhancement' felt like. Yet he sensed no change at all, lacking the 'brain‑growing' sensation he got when he first equipped the Enlightenment Mat, and his thoughts did not become clearer.

"What's going on?"

Xiao Zhangqing felt something was off, hurriedly looked at the system interface, and saw a tiny red exclamation mark lit up beside the second equipment slot.

Clicking it, he found a new note on the skill panel: two identical skills cannot currently be stacked.

"Cannot stack?"

Xiao Zhangqing was a bit bewildered.

His mental abacus fell short; he had thought two 'Insight Enhancements' would equal double effect, but now the system tells him you can't make 1+1=2!

"I'm too difficult..."

Xiao Zhangqing shook his head helplessly.

Actually, upon careful thought, the system's requirement isn't unreasonable.

If stacking were possible, one plus one equals two, meaning you could keep adding up to a hundred, a thousand! Especially now that Foundation is successful and the system's inventory has fully lifted restrictions, Xiao Zhangqing could stack skills arbitrarily, quickly building a true all‑round warrior with every talent maxed out.

Insight this high, Talisman Path talent this high, even spirit‑root aptitude this high! He only needs to find an equipment that adds +1 to spirit‑root aptitude, and he could jump from his current Earth Spirit Root directly to a Heavenly Spirit Root! That's a bit too buggy.

Now with the no‑stack rule, future attempts to raise talents or skills further will require higher‑grade equipment.

"However, the system's note only says stacking is currently unavailable; it doesn't say it will always be so. After cultivation advances to Nascent Core or even Nascent Soul, stacking might be unlocked?"

Xiao Zhangqing couldn't help to daydream in his mind.

Of course, that's all for later.

Since Insight Enhancement couldn't stack and he couldn't even sense the Charisma Boost, Xiao Zhangqing placed the Thousand Illusion Mask into the inventory and began checking the other items in the white‑haired old woman's storage bag.

"Whoa, the number of Spirit Stones isn't small. There are actually over a hundred medium‑grade Spirit Stones and more than a thousand low‑grade Spirit Stones…"

"These bottles and jars are... seem to be filled with Pill. But some look more like poison, fitting for an Evil Cultivator. Yet whether poison or Pill, anything left behind by a mid‑Foundation Establishment cultivator won't be cheap. When I have time, I'll go find Pill Master Zhu Youlong and have him properly identify them."

"And there are so many centuries‑old spirit medicines?"

"The Talisman Scripts aren't many, and the highest is only a second‑rank low‑grade Talisman Script, which is of little use to me. Tsk tsk, does an Evil Cultivator really carry so many Demon‑breaking Talismans and Stabilizing‑Spirit Talismans on their person?"

Xiao Zhangqing examined everything in the white‑haired old woman's storage bag and found quite a few valuable items.

The Spirit Stones amount to the equivalent of over eleven thousand low‑grade Spirit Stones, so overall the Spirit Stones are only a small portion.

A heap of Pill and well‑preserved spirit medicines are of incalculable value.

As for Talisman Scripts, Xiao Zhangqing, being a Second‑rank Talisman Master, lacks none.

But discovering that the white‑haired old woman, as an Evil Cultivator, carries two thick stacks—dozens of Demon‑breaking Talismans and Stabilizing‑Spirit Talismans—means that even an Evil Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm is very wary of encountering malevolent spirits.

From now on, Xiao Zhangqing must be even more cautious in this regard.

In addition, there is the Thousand Illusion Mask, a third‑rank low‑grade Soul Dao Artifact, whose value cannot be measured with low‑grade Spirit Stones; it is a treasure that even low‑level cultivators cannot purchase with Spirit Stones.

As for the White Bone Staff and the second‑rank early‑stage robe the white‑haired old woman wears, both are tattered under the Six Harmony Sword Technique and are worth only a few coins.

"No wonder the Cultivation World never lacks plunder cultivators at any time. Robbing houses and looting is so easy to get rich in one go, purse full!"

Xiao Zhangqing felt a sigh in his heart.

The white‑haired old woman's fortune now belongs entirely to him, exceeding the Spirit Stones he earned over the past ten‑plus years drawing talismans plus the Spirit Stones the Lin Sisters made from the Guangju Hall in the last two years! With such a hefty fortune at once, even if he has to leave Nanshan Fang after a while and settle in a larger Immortal City, he won't lack Spirit Stones for a short period.

Thinking of this, Xiao Zhangqing looked at Cao Hao, the head of the Cao family, who lay motionless on the ground, trapped irreversibly in an illusion.

If this person truly, as he suspects, has already defected to an Evil Cultivator, then Nanshan Fang truly cannot be stayed in, and Xiao Zhangqing must find a chance to leave Nanshan Fang as soon as possible.

Although according to the current rules between Da Yu Cultivation World and the Demon Sect Evil Cultivators, Pill‑binding cultivators may not go onto the battlefield, and disciples of both sects may not easily start a war; the two sides restrain themselves to conflicts among market stalls and Scattered Cultivators.

With Xiao Zhangqing's strength, there is no danger.

But the Cao family has already defected; even if he slays Cao Hao, who will then protect Nanshan Fang?

He can't just let them take the front, can he? It makes no sense.

He doesn't want to rush forward to fight to the death.

The Cao family, Luoxia Sect, and Baihua Valley all disregard Nanshan Fang, and each of them wants to trap and kill him; he would only go up there to sacrifice himself unless he's lost his mind.

"Let me see your Cao family, what exactly is going on!"

With a flick of his hand, Xiao Zhangqing made Cao Hao close his eyes and rise from the ground like a marionette; as Xiao Zhangqing used the illusion to lure and coerce him, Cao Hao disclosed everything he knew and the secrets hidden in his heart, one by one.

(End of Chapter)