I Cheated While Cultivating

Yun Xiu had already prepared a guest room for Zhou Heng and invited him to stay over.

For Zhou Heng, where he stayed didn’t matter much; it was just a change of place for cultivation, so he didn’t refuse.

After settling into the guest room, he sat cross-legged on the bed, formed the Innate Seal with his hands, and practiced the Innate Skill, drawing in the aura of heaven and earth while harboring his Divine Soul within.

Although he was now primarily cultivating the Pure Yang Dan Jing as his internal strength, the Innate Skill at the Lower Third Rank stage was quite mystical, especially in strengthening the spirit, so naturally, he couldn’t simply give it up.

Zhou Heng’s Innate Skill had already reached a high degree of perfection, with a proficiency level of 1256, meaning he was less than 3000 proficiency points away from Perfection.

Perfection in the Innate Skill represented the peak of the Seventh Rank, just one opportunity short of truly bridging the heavens and earth, internal and external, penetrating the vast universe to achieve the Secret Six Rank of the Innate Realm.

Moreover, with the advancement of the Innate Skill, his already incredibly powerful Divine Soul, bolstered by the basic attribute bonus of spirit, further strengthened.

This allowed the might of his Immortal Seal Technique to become extremely strong, casting illusions that were far beyond the normal level, very formidable.

Therefore, when Zhou Heng cultivated the Innate Skill, he was also enhancing the power of his Immortal Seal Technique—killing two birds with one stone, why not?

The next morning, Zhou Heng awoke from his meditative state, said goodbye to Yun Xiu and her parents, and left the place to prepare for his return home.

In the following days, he planned to rest for a few more days and then go to the Purple Tenuity Palace to see if there were any tasks suitable for him that he could complete in a short time.

He hoped to complete a task before the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer meeting on the eighteenth of the first month, accumulating some good deeds and seeing if there would be anything he needed then.

He was still lacking a suitable treasure weapon.

It would be best to get his hands on one before the Second Month’s Sunrise Wine Gathering; by that calculation, there actually wasn’t much time left.

Although he had already obtained “Heavenly Thunder Metal,” which could serve as the main material from opening his Fortune Bag earlier, one cannot forge a treasure weapon with only the main material; additional materials were also needed.

As Zhou Heng walked, he pondered what materials he needed and contemplated the Sunrise Wine Gathering, considering how to inquire about it from the Lu Yang Zhou family.

While walking, he saw a few people selling flowers up ahead.

Many people gathered around the flower stalls. Zhou Heng took a longer look, and suddenly he felt as though the light and shadows around him had twisted for a moment.

He then found himself in the courtyard of a mansion, not any ordinary place, but the very mansion that once sealed the Celestial Man, Yang Fan.

“How did I get here?” Zhou Heng frowned and muttered to himself, looking perplexed, murmuring softly, “Don’t tell me I took the wrong path? Impossible.”

He had realized that someone had cast an Illusion Technique on him.

This Illusion Technique was extremely sophisticated, definitely beyond the scope of the Lower Third Rank.

Most individuals at the peak of the Seventh Rank probably wouldn’t even detect such an illusion.

But the Illusion wasn’t strong enough to completely suppress a person’s spirit. Zhou Heng could even break free from this Illusion at any time with his powerful Divine Soul Power.

Therefore, he surmised that several high-level experts at the peak of the Seventh Rank were likely joining forces to cast an Illusion Technique of at least Secret Six Rank.

With this in mind, he had nothing to fear.

Before figuring out the opponents’ intentions, Zhou Heng intended to continue feigning bewilderment by the Illusion, to see if he could uncover the casters’ objectives.

Although he had some speculations in his mind, he still needed to verify them himself.

Thus, Zhou Heng pretended to be bewitched by the illusion technique, walking around the large mansion until he finally arrived at the screen wall where he had entered, seeing the carved three-legged crow and the chains that bound the crow.

However, in reality, after Yan Shouyi captured Yang Fan and stripped the Celestial Man’s Cave Sky to give to Zhou Heng, the three-legged crow was no longer on the screen wall.

But this was something Zhou Heng shouldn’t have known about.

After all, ever since he first entered this large mansion and refused to stay, he had never gone inside again.

Therefore, it was impossible for him to know about the changes to the screen wall.

Zhou Heng acted exactly that way, looking at the screen wall with an admiring face, he couldn’t help but laugh, “Although it’s been a long time, I still feel that this relief is simply a work of genius, so amazing, really so amazing.”

Even so, the caster in the shadows seemed not content, and Zhou Heng clearly sensed a psychological suggestion urging him on.

“Do you know the secret contained within this screen wall? Do you know the secret contained within this screen wall? Do you know the secret contained within this screen wall?”

It was an extremely clever psychological suggestion, targeted only at those who had already been affected by the illusion technique.

Once the illusion was lifted or broken, the psychological suggestions received during the casting would be completely forgotten, leaving virtually no aftereffects.

Without doubt, this was a method of direct manipulation of the human mind.

Extremely deplorable.

“Really overstepping bounds!” Zhou Heng snorted coldly, no longer probing in such a manner, he immediately shouted, channeling his immensely powerful Divine Soul Power, and fiercely shattered the illusion.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery, like shattered glass, rapidly broke into fragments.

The relics of that large mansion as well as the screen wall gradually disintegrated, eventually becoming pieces of illusory light and shadow, disappearing as if they had never existed.

Zhou Heng found himself back in reality, still on the street, having stood in place all this while, drawing the attention of many people.

And not far ahead of him, at the corner of the wall, the three young men selling flowers stopped what they were doing and smiled at Zhou Heng.

“Quite impressive Divine Soul Power, worthy of being the sixth on the people’s ranking, worthy of the true transmission of the Pure Yang Palace,” one of the men said with a light laugh, putting down his flowers and walking towards Zhou Heng.

This was a young man in his twenties, with a tall stature and handsome appearance, dressed in a white brocade robe, holding a folding fan, the very image of a refined and graceful young master of this troubled world.

He approached Zhou Heng, looked him up and down, and smiled, “Zhou Heng, I’ve always heard that you are proficient in brave combat, but I didn’t expect your spirit cultivation to be quite good as well, to actually break the Illusion Technique of the Illusory Law Sect, heh, just now we cast a little illusion on you, how do you feel…?”

Hum!

At that moment, the void trembled slightly, a humming sound that only the young man could hear rushed into his mind, capturing his Divine Soul, and instantly constructing layers of illusions.

Immortal Seal Technique!

Illusion-bewildering!

“Pfft!” The man spat out blood on the spot, losing his refined demeanor, directly going down on one knee, unable even to lift his head.

“It seems that the question you wanted to ask just now will have to be asked by me,” Zhou Heng said indifferently, “A little bit of illusion technique, how do you feel?”