The stall owner was left speechless. He had always sold these talismans under Lu Tian’s name, but now he had actually been tricked into revealing the truth by a mere yellow-haired girl.
“You tricked me into talking!”
Feng Luan frowned, seemingly puzzled. “Why would I trick you into talking? You are dishonest in your business. Isn’t there a rule in the black market forbidding stalls that pass off fakes as genuine?”
Lu Tian snorted. “Your talismans are clearly drawn incorrectly, yet you won’t let anyone say so. You’re even using my name to swindle people!”
The surrounding crowd erupted. Almost none of them understood the ways of talismans. Some had even spent a great deal of money buying talismans from this stall moments ago, and now several of them were ready to make a move.
The stall owner’s face darkened, and he stubbornly said, “You claim I’m cheating people! Then you must also be a talisman master. Do you have the courage to compete with me in spiritual power? Otherwise, your words mean nothing!”
Although he was no peerless genius, he was genuinely a third-rank talisman master. The talismans he drew all came from the contents of a compendium he had found on the mountain. They could not possibly be drawn incorrectly.
Lu Tian was just about to step forward and say that he would compete when—
Feng Luan chuckled. “Why should I compete with you?”
The stall owner assumed that Feng Luan was afraid. A smug, mocking smile appeared on his face as he waved to the people around him. “She keeps insisting that my talismans are wrong, yet she doesn’t dare compete with me in spiritual power. As everyone knows, spiritual power is essential for becoming a talisman master. If this young lady doesn’t possess spiritual power, then she isn’t a talisman master at all!”
For a moment, the crowd did not know whom to believe.
Feng Luan, however, was completely fearless. A gentle breeze lifted the hem of her skirt, and her red garments blazed like fire.
“If you want to compete, that’s fine. If I win, you will hand over the compendium in your possession to me. If I lose…”
The stall owner frowned. He seemed deeply puzzled that Feng Luan knew he possessed a compendium, and he remained silent.
Feng Luan raised an eyebrow. “Are you afraid?”
The stall owner was instantly enraged and answered, “Fine! I accept! If you lose, you will kowtow fifty times, then become my concubine! From that day onward, your life and death will be under my control.”
Lu Tian wanted to stop him, but he could not get a word in.
Seeing that the fish had taken the bait, Feng Luan smiled. “No problem.”
Lu Tian grew anxious when Feng Luan accepted, but she turned her head and said to him, “Senior, rest assured. I am confident.”
The young girl’s words acted like a stabilizing pill, calming Lu Tian down. If he were to face that third-rank talisman master, there would naturally be no problem.
After all, he was the one who had provoked this matter. If there was going to be a competition, he should be the one to compete.
Yet the calm words of the Red-Garbed girl before him somehow gave him the illusion that her cultivation was higher than his.
As soon as Feng Luan finished speaking, blue-green spiritual power surged behind the stall owner and charged fiercely toward her.
She neither dodged nor retreated.
Seeing Feng Luan standing motionless, the stall owner revealed a smug and contemptuous expression.
So she was merely a little girl who knew how to make empty boasts.
He had said so. From the sound of the little girl’s voice, she clearly was not very old. Even if she truly was a talisman master, she could not possibly exceed first rank.
There were already very few talisman masters, yet this girl had insisted on seeking her own death.
Soon, he would be able to see this girl’s fragrant life wither away. Although he had not seen the face beneath her veiled hat, judging from her bearing alone, it was certain to be breathtakingly beautiful.
It was somewhat unfortunate, but fortunately spiritual power could cause a certain amount of damage to the human mind. If the girl begged for mercy later, he might spare her and bring her home for bed-warming.
“If you beg for mercy, I might be willing to let you go!”
As the stall owner spoke, a lecherous look appeared in his eyes.
At the critical moment, Feng Luan’s fiery-red spiritual power, wrapped in faint purple flame, shot straight toward the blue-green spiritual power. A resounding “bang” followed.
The blue-green spiritual power vanished instantly.
Standing beside Feng Luan, Lu Tian sensed that dense and powerful spiritual power, and his eyes immediately filled with delighted surprise.
“This, this…”
The stall owner had still been immersed in his beautiful dream, but Feng Luan had now humiliated him. Fury rose in his heart. He had originally intended to spare the little girl’s life, but now it seemed there was no need.
Just as Feng Luan withdrew her spiritual power, the blue-green spiritual power unexpectedly charged at her again, with speed and force far more ferocious than before, carrying a vicious and sinister intent.
It headed straight for Feng Luan’s vital point.
“Be careful!” Lu Tian shouted.
Just as a strand of yellow spiritual power was about to move forward and block it—
the fiery-red spiritual power appeared again. Wherever it passed, the air itself seemed to tear apart and fracture, and it collided directly with the blue-green spiritual power.
The stall owner desperately controlled his spiritual power and forced it forward. Sweat poured from his forehead, yet he discovered that the fiery-red spiritual power could not be shaken. The girl even stood with her hands behind her back, looking completely at ease.
He knew that this time, he had kicked an iron plate.
A cold look appeared on Feng Luan’s face. Controlling her spiritual power, she broke through the other party’s spiritual power defense. He suffered spiritual power backlash from his own power, and the blue-green spiritual power exploded inside his Sea of Consciousness.
“Aaaaaah—”
The stall owner let out a painful scream. Blue-green smoke drifted from his seven orifices, while bloody tears streamed from the corners of his eyes. He struck his own head with his hands, trying to alleviate the pain.
Spiritual power backlash would turn the Sea of Consciousness upside down.
In severe cases, it would cause the skull to explode. In milder cases, it would turn a person into an idiot, reducing them to a thoroughly good-for-nothing.
The surrounding onlookers wore pained expressions. Some were also furious, since the stall owner had clearly brought this fate upon himself.
They were not fools. Even if they were not talisman masters, they understood that the strength of one’s spiritual power determined a talisman master’s rank.
“Hmph, he brought this upon himself!”
“Although it is called the black market, under the jurisdiction of the Black Market Writ, passing off fakes as genuine is forbidden. I never thought this fellow would actually engage in such a disgraceful business!”
“A trash talisman cost me ten million spirit stones. Bah.”
Seeing that the stall owner had stopped moving, Feng Luan estimated that his consciousness had already been erased within his Sea of Consciousness. Once he awoke, he would be an idiot.
Feng Luan did not feel guilty, however.
She had never intended to make an enemy of the stall owner.
But the other party had wanted to kill her.
Feng Luan had always believed that if others did not offend her, she would not offend them; but if others offended her, she would exterminate them.
If she had not possessed abilities more powerful than the stall owner’s, perhaps she would be the idiot now.
Lu Tian was still in a state of excitement. That powerful spiritual power had actually made even him tremble slightly.
This was absolutely a peerless genius!
He had to recruit her as his disciple!
Feng Luan still did not know what Lu Tian was thinking. She walked toward the stall and, under everyone’s watchful eyes, began rummaging through the stall owner’s belongings.
“Move along, move along. Don’t stay here.”
“The Black Feather Army is here. Everyone, clear the way.”
Two orderly rows of the Black Feather Army, dressed in black long robes and wearing gray masks that concealed their faces, dispersed the crowd.
Feng Luan quickly increased the speed of her search. Deep within the stall owner’s clothes, she felt a fairly thick parchment scroll.
Without hesitation, she took it out and stuffed it into her clothes.
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