Chapter 208

In the main hall of the City Lord's mansion, lanterns blazed brilliantly.

More than a dozen great cultivators sat down around He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng also sat down.

"Do you know Wang Dun?" The one asking the questions was still the white-haired cultivator.

He Pingsheng dared not lie: "I know him!"

The white-haired cultivator asked: "Did he come to you yesterday?"

He Pingsheng said: "Yes."

"What did he say to you?"

He Pingsheng did not hesitate: "Earlier, Wang Dun told me he would take me into Divine General Mountain to protect my safety and guide me to seek treasures!"

"But yesterday he found me and suddenly said he couldn't take me along anymore!"

"He said he was leaving!"

"Leaving?" The white-haired cultivator nodded: "Correct, he did leave—but did he tell you where?"

"No!" He Pingsheng shook his head.

Until now, everything He Pingsheng had said was true, with no concealment.

Nor had there been any emotional fluctuation.

"Then… do you know where he went?" the white-haired cultivator asked again.

He Pingsheng shook his head: "Actually, I don't know him well!"

"Then… how did the two of you meet, and why did he promise to take you into Divine General Mountain and protect you?" All eyes fixed on He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng felt a slight tension in his heart.

He took a deep breath, wiped his forehead with his sleeve, and said: "I'm a pill alchemist—I can refine second-rank 【Spirit Gathering Pills】, and sometimes even produce mid-grade quality!"

"Wang Dun heard of my reputation somewhere and came to me to have pills made!"

"I've made three batches of pills for him altogether!"

"That's how we met!"

"As for why he promised to take you into Divine General Mountain?" He Pingsheng said: "Because he owes me spirit stones!"

The white-haired cultivator said: "Owes you spirit stones?"

"Yes!" He Pingsheng said: "And he also hoped I'd help him refine the 【Chaoyuan Pill】 to break through to the Golden Core realm!"

"The 【Chaoyuan Pill】?" The white-haired cultivator laughed: "What nonsense—you're only a Foundation Establishment second-layer cultivator, and you claim you can refine a third-rank pill?"

He Pingsheng said: "I can't—but I soon will… because my spiritual sense is extremely strong!"

"Boom…" As he spoke, He Pingsheng suddenly unleashed his spiritual sense: "My spiritual sense has already reached over a thousand zhang!"

"What?"

Everyone was stunned.

Over a thousand zhang?

That…

How is that possible?

Everyone stood up and began testing the strength of He Pingsheng's spiritual sense.

After testing, they confirmed it was true.

He Pingsheng's spiritual sense had reached one thousand five hundred zhang.

That was equivalent to the spiritual sense strength of a Golden Core third- or fourth-layer disciple.

"Sssss…" The white-haired cultivator gasped: "No wonder, no wonder… no wonder you can refine pills!"

"But boy, with such a powerful spiritual sense, you must have a Spirit Refining technique, right?"

"Yes!" He Pingsheng waved his hand and pulled out a Spirit Refining scripture.

The Profound Gate Stillness Heart True Manual!

But it only contained three sections: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core!

To save his life, he had no choice but to reveal it.

Why did He Pingsheng do this?

Because he was cornered.

After Wang Dun fled, he had no options left.

Either run!

If he ran, he'd likely be caught—and if caught, death was almost certain.

After all, he lacked Wang Dun's methods.

Wang Dun carried great secrets.

If he didn't run, they'd trace him—and then He Pingsheng's only fate would be soul-searching.

How to avoid soul-searching?

Only by demonstrating overwhelming spiritual sense.

Soul-searching isn't something anyone can do casually—it requires the searcher's spiritual sense to far surpass the target's.

At least three major realm levels higher.

For example, a Nascent Soul cultivator searching a Qi Refining disciple—no problem.

No backlash!

A Soul Transformation cultivator searching a Foundation Establishment disciple—also no backlash.

He Pingsheng was terrified.

Who could be sure there wasn't a Soul Transformation cultivator in the City Lord's mansion or in Dingxiang City?

What if there was?

So, on his way to the City Lord's mansion, he had secretly swallowed a 【Dual-Spirit Pill】.

And this 【Dual-Spirit Pill】 was top-grade.

Originally, one batch of 【Dual-Spirit Pills】 had been enhanced by He Pingsheng into two batches: twelve Jipin and twelve mid-grade.

Of those twelve mid-grade, he ended up with four.

Later, He Pingsheng further enhanced these four mid-grade pills—though he couldn't fully control it, their quality rose to top-grade, not Jipin, but top-grade.

Why enhance them to top-grade?

Because He Pingsheng originally planned to use them to trade at the Jiaoyi Society.

Top-grade 【Dual-Spirit Pills】 had value without causing a sensation.

For the same reason, the third-rank 【Soul-Returning Pills】 in his possession—besides the twelve Jipin —were all enhanced to top-grade, none Jipin.

All reserved for critical trading moments.

He Pingsheng had tested before: mid-grade 【Dual-Spirit Pills】 doubled his spiritual sense for one hour.

Today, he discovered top-grade 【Dual-Spirit Pills】 tripled his spiritual sense—reaching one thousand five hundred zhang.

And the duration increased dramatically—three full days.

This was incredibly extraordinary.

So now, He Pingsheng was no longer afraid of soul-searching.

Though his cultivation base was only Foundation Establishment, his displayed spiritual sense matched Golden Core strength.

To cast the 【Soul-Searching Secret Art】 on him was nearly impossible.

Unless a Void Refinement elder came.

The white-haired cultivator frowned.

Yes—he had truly intended to perform soul-searching.

Because Wang Dun was too critical.

But he lacked the ability himself; his original plan was to arrest He Pingsheng and return to the imperial capital, letting a Soul Transformation ancestor of the imperial family perform the soul-searching.

But now, with this man's spiritual sense so strong, letting an ancestor perform soul-searching would endanger the ancestor!

If the ancestor's spiritual sense was damaged, the entire Great Qi would collapse.

Soul-searching was out of the question!

Tricky!

"Huh…" The white-haired cultivator took a deep breath: "No wonder your spiritual sense is so strong—it's a Heaven-grade Spirit Refining technique!"

He asked: "Where did you get this Spirit Refining technique?"

He Pingsheng bowed: "It's family-transmitted—my ancestors were all cultivators without sects, earning resources by refining pills for others."

"Their greatest asset was this family-transmitted Spirit Refining technique!"

"Otherwise, how could they refine pills?"

As he spoke, He Pingsheng moved to retrieve the scripture.

"Wait…" The white-haired cultivator's eyes gleamed with greed: "Leave this here for now. It's connected to Wang Dun's disappearance—we must study it before returning it to you."