Abbot Shanqun gazed at the paper with uncontainable delight: “This is truly precious!” Suddenly remembering something, he turned his fervent gaze to Xi Mufu, “Young friend, can you draw this talisman?”
Xi Mufu shook her head.
She was just an ordinary person who hadn’t even stepped through the gates of Xuanxue—how could she possibly possess such skills…
Wait a moment… It seemed she could!
Just then, a series of images had flashed through her mind, as if teaching her how to draw the talisman.
“Do you have yellow paper and cinnabar?” she asked Abbot Shanqun.
“Yes, of course!” Shanqun happened to carry these materials with him and immediately handed them over.
Taking them, Xi Mufu began focusing her energy and started drawing with concentrated intent.
The officials also wanted to see what this talisman-making skill Xi Mufu mentioned actually looked like.
Initially, Xi Mufu drew slowly, but her movements gradually became more fluid until she completed the final strokes in one seamless motion.
“Truly a genius!” Shanqun exclaimed repeatedly.
After all, talisman drawing was no simple matter—Qu Qi Jie Sha consumed tremendous mental energy, and only those with profound cultivation could execute it so smoothly. Someone like him, with average cultivation, found the process extremely difficult. Each completed talisman required several days of rest afterward, more exhausting than mountain climbing. Yet this young friend Xi showed no change in complexion after finishing, as if it were as simple as drinking water. He had witnessed elders from Longhu Mountain draw talismans, but none with such ease.
Truth be told, Young Friend Xi’s talent was so astonishing it couldn’t merely be described as “genius.”
Xi Mufu genuinely didn’t feel tired. With the guidance in her mind, she found talisman drawing exceptionally straightforward—though she wondered how effective the completed talisman would be.
Shanqun suggested: “We can test it on the spot.”
Xi Mufu activated the talisman.
The next second, the office became spotless—even the mottled stains on the ceiling vanished, along with the stubborn ink stains on the desks that had previously been impossible to remove.
“Excellent!” Shanqun couldn’t help applauding and cheering.
After their initial astonishment, the officials’ expressions grew solemn.
This Cleansing Talisman was so remarkably effective that even without verifying the Object Retrieval artifact, they could confirm Xi Mufu genuinely possessed extraordinary abilities.
So everything Xi Mufu had claimed was true?
Whether it was these heaven-defying skills and artifacts or the otherworldly visitors, all were critically important—they needed to report this immediately!
Meanwhile, Shanqun bombarded the Religious Association group chat with messages, primarily boasting about discovering an unparalleled prodigy.
After his bragging spree, he gazed longingly at the talisman diagrams on the table.
Noticing this, Xi Mufu smiled and asked: “Would you like to try?”
Shanqun stared blankly: “I… I can?”
In Xuanmen, lineage transmission was paramount—each school guarded its core Divination Skills closely. Family-inherited techniques like these were typically never shared with outsiders. Though he craved the complete diagrams, he hadn’t dared ask directly.
Xi Mufu replied: “Of course.”
This Talisman-making technique wasn’t exclusively hers to begin with. As a complete novice, she actually hoped professionals would research it alongside her.
Shanqun flushed crimson with excitement: “Thank you!”
Unfortunately, despite multiple attempts following the annotations, he failed to succeed.
“My talent is insufficient,” Shanqun sighed. The Xuanxue world prioritized innate gift—despite being over fifty, he fell far short of this young woman Xi Mufu. “But then, one prodigy in this world is enough.”
Xi Mufu: “…”
In the end, she gave the diagrams to Shanqun, clarifying they could be shared with anyone in Xuanmen.
“You truly possess immeasurable virtue.” Shan Qu had already begun addressing Xi Mufu with the formal “you.”
Xi Mufu: “…”
The leaders on the other side had reported the matter to their superiors.
“We’ll need to trouble you to stay here for another day, comrade.” They needed to capture evidence of [Object Retrieval] to submit to their superiors, making it more convincing.
Xi Mufu naturally had no objections.
·
The next day, once the item’s cooldown period ended, Xi Mufu teleported a nearby stone lion into the courtyard.
The present leaders fell into silence.
Even with psychological preparation, the sight remained deeply shocking.
Director Zhang soon received a response—
“Personnel from the Special Administration Bureau will arrive tonight.”
This meant Xi Mufu’s case would be fully transferred to the Special Administration Bureau.
The Special Administration Bureau, officially named the Special Affairs Management Bureau, was the most mysterious government unit capable of mobilizing all necessary resources during critical moments.
In reality, the arriving group wouldn’t just include Special Administration Bureau personnel—rumor had it the Mao Shan Sect, Longhu Mountain, and other sects were also sending representatives to investigate, indicating they’d alarmed numerous important figures.
Xi Mufu actually felt relieved instead. With the nation as her backing, she feared nothing!
Inside the instance, Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi confirmed the effectiveness of the Incense Paper Money, while other players also discovered this secret and came to inquire.
The two didn’t conceal anything. When Li Jiandong had cried for help in the group chat earlier, all players had rushed over, indicating everyone in this instance had good character—had they been the type to abandon companions or push them into danger, they definitely wouldn’t have revealed the secret.
But when they directed other players to the Incense Shop, they discovered nobody else could see the shop.
“So it seems only you two encountered this special opportunity,” pointed out Meng Chen, an experienced player.
Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi exchanged glances, both astonished and hardly believing their extraordinary luck.
Unfortunately, when they tried returning to the Incense Shop to purchase more Incense Paper Money, they found they could no longer leave the campus either.
“Truly a rare encounter… not something you can seek out,” Kong Yu murmured, her heart filled with regret. She still wanted to see that young shopkeeper again, to ask whether they were a deity come to save those unjustly pulled into the Infinite World.
·
Afterward, Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi progressed smoothly through the instance. Using the Incense Paper Money, they evaded all NPC pursuit, uncovered the murderer and evidence, successfully leading all companions to clear the instance.
—Every NPC in this instance was culpable. The young girl had been abused to death by security guards, but before that she’d been repeatedly assaulted by her homeroom teacher, and even her classmates had bullied her. The principal and dean, fully aware of her suffering, had suppressed the entire matter to protect the school’s reputation.
“If we hadn’t uncovered evidence to accuse all perpetrators, the young girl might have ultimately turned malevolent, increasing the instance’s difficulty beyond our capacity to withstand. Someone would surely have died,” Meng Chen explained during the post-game debrief in the game lobby, before turning to Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi. “Thanks to your Incense Paper Money, we all survived… To my knowledge, whether in high or low difficulty instances, casualties occur nearly every time. The probability of full survival is less than 1%.”
This time, all eight of them entered the Guangming Primary School instance and successfully cleared it with no casualties. What made it even more remarkable was that more than half of the eight players were newcomers—this was nothing short of a miracle.
Both Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi knew in their hearts that their good fortune was due to the Incense Paper Money they had purchased, not because of any particular skill on their part.
“Would you be willing to join the Xi He Guild?” Meng Chen suddenly asked, then introduced himself, “I am the deputy captain of the Eleventh Brigade of the Xi He Guild. I hope I have the honor of recommending both of you to join our guild.”
Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi widened their eyes in surprise.
The Xi He Guild was the top guild in the Infinite Flow World, rumored to have the strongest leader among all players. It was composed entirely of elites, and joining them would significantly increase one’s chances of survival in instances.
“But… we’re very weak…” Kong Yu knew Meng Chen was interested in their encounter with the Incense Shop, but the problem was they couldn’t re-enter the shop to trade again.
Meng Chen smiled lightly: “It doesn’t matter.”
If they could trade once, there would likely be a second time. Perhaps these two would gain access to the Incense Shop again in the next instance. Even if they couldn’t, keeping them as mascots wasn’t a big deal—such a large guild wouldn’t mind two more members.
Kong Yu and Xu Wenzi were thrilled: “We’d love to!”
Since visiting the Incense Shop, they had begun to experience extraordinary luck—not only successfully clearing instances but now gaining protection by joining the top guild.
Perhaps… that young shopkeeper of the Incense Shop was truly a deity sent to save players?