"I heard from Senior Sister Qiu Hui that you set up a Tier Two array here?"

Jing Ao smiled and casually sat down opposite Li An.

Li An took a sip of soup, the last bit of calmness on his face shattered, a look of fear emerged from his eyes, and his hand trembled slightly as he reluctantly put down the bowl, saying, "You..."

"Don't be nervous."

Jing Ao said, "You did well, very thorough consideration... Where is the jade talisman to activate the array?"

Anger and fear surged together on Li An's face, along with a hint of grievance. He suddenly stood up, "That array is mine... I bought it with my own money!"

"It has nothing to do with you, nothing!"

He seemed extremely agitated.

Seeing this, Jing Ao's smile faintly withdrew, and he stood up, casually patting Li An's shoulder.

The cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Stage was lightly released, and Li An felt a great force on his shoulder, causing him to fall back onto the chair with a bit of blood at the corner of his mouth, his face turning pale!

"Don't get so worked up; getting worked up won't change anything, will it?"

Jing Ao spoke calmly, "It's just a Tier Two array, and you're only at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer. At most, you can exert one-third of its power."

"Of course, we have to maximize the benefits, don't we? Don't forget, we're also here to protect you."

"Think about it carefully, okay?"

Li An's eyes showed anger, but he had already come to his senses. Facing a Foundation Establishment expert, he dared not act rashly, biting his lip, he asked, "You guarantee... you will definitely keep me safe?"

Jing Ao smiled, "Of course."

Li An hesitated but finally sighed, took out a jade talisman, and handed it to Jing Ao.

The jade talisman was inscribed with array patterns and was key to activating the array.

Jing Ao took the jade talisman, injected a bit of spiritual power to sense it, and immediately, the power of the great array vaguely emanated around the Spirit Talisman Shop. Nodding in satisfaction, he said, "Talisman Master Li, you are a smart person. You should know what to do next."

"Just live as usual, eat and drink as normal, don't show any abnormality..."

"Otherwise, sabotaging the sect's great plan would be a capital crime judged by the sect!"

Having said that, he casually picked up a bowl from the table and poured himself a bowl of the Nourishing Essence Soup left by Tan Qingxue, took a sip, and praised:

"Lady Li truly deserves to be one of the three flowers of the outer sect back in the day, even her soup is so delicious."

He licked his lips, somewhat regretfully, "To think I am Qingxue's savior, yet Talisman Master Li is the one enjoying this good fortune..."

Xu Qiuhui, Tan Qingxue, Mu Qingwan—the three flowers of the outer sect were these three.

Li An's expression changed slightly as Jing Ao stood up, saying, "The plan, begins."

He withdrew with his people.

...

Jing Ao and the others did not stay directly within the Spirit Talisman Shop, but hid in the surrounding shops, forming a siege.

After all, hiding in the Spirit Talisman Shop would easily be discovered by the demon cultivators.

By the time the demon cultivators noticed something, the plan might already be foiled.

This was exactly as Li An had deduced. If Jing Ao and the others were not by Li An's side, usually, he would be killed by the demon cultivators directly before Jing Ao and his team took action.

However, according to Li An's guess, Jing Ao and the others would certainly leave some monitoring magical artifacts inside the Spirit Talisman Shop.

After all, the demon cultivators have many methods, and if Li An were to be killed without anyone knowing, they'd be in trouble.

Additionally, when Jing Ao entered earlier, the other disciples didn't follow him; instead, they went to other parts of the Spirit Talisman Shop, possibly setting something up.

After Jing Ao and the others left, Li An began to operate the Super Sensing Skill, meticulously walking through every corner of the Spirit Talisman Shop.

Over the past decade, Li An had become thoroughly familiar with every corner of the Spirit Talisman Shop.

With his careful investigation, he quickly noticed some clues.

On the storefront counter, the teacup had been replaced.

Originally just an ordinary porcelain cup, it had been swapped with a slightly more refined white jade cup, and the base of the white jade cup was noticeably thicker.

"Twin Spirit Bells!"

Li An realized instantly!

This was a Tier Two magical artifact, very special, usually appearing in pairs. When one is destroyed, the other would alert.

"And it's specifically for detecting demonic Qi..."

Having cultivated the Yin Yang Demon Furnace Skill for many years, Li An, upon careful sensing, understood the mechanism within this cup.

This jade cup was extremely fragile and sensitive. As long as there was demonic Qi fluctuation within three meters, it would be destroyed.

He carefully placed the jade cup back and continued to walk around.

In the small inner courtyard garden, beneath a flowerpot; in Li An's room, under the chair where Jing Ao had sat!

Including the teacup in the storefront, a total of three locations were fitted with Spirit Bells.

"They're really sparing no expense!"

Li An murmured, knowing that just these three pairs of Spirit Bells cost over a thousand Spirit Stones, and clearly refined by the artifact masters of the Profound Yang Sect specifically targeting demon cultivators!

However, the Yin Yang Demon Sect's marauding had become a grave threat to the Profound Yang Sect. Eliminating the Life-taking Horse-Faced was part of their strategic plan. With even Fake Pill Level inner sect elders taking action, they spared no resources.

In this way, as soon as the demon cultivator makes a move to kill Li An, demonic Qi fluctuations would be unavoidable. Even if it's silent, Jing Ao and his team on the perimeter would immediately notice.

"It's Jing Ao who's here, not a Fake Pill Level elder, obviously because the Profound Yang Sect's guess aligns with mine, speculating that Life-taking Horse-Faced would head to the herbs side."

"Plus, with Yu Xiong, the Foundation Establishment expert stationed here, there are at least two Foundation Establishment experts in the market!"

"And the Demon Sect, to increase their chances of success, will most likely use the same tactic as last time, sending someone to feign an attack from the perimeter while the expert sneaks in to kill me."

"So, Yu Xiong definitely cannot participate in matters here. Even if he knows the Profound Yang Sect's plan beforehand, he must focus on the perimeter. Otherwise, if he comes here and doesn't show up to defend the perimeter, it would alert the Demon Sect!"

"Which means the only Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Profound Yang Sect here might just be Jing Ao."

"If it's just him alone..."

A thought suddenly flashed through Li An's mind, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

But this couldn't be confirmed until the time came... Once the demon cultivators truly appear, any other hidden Foundation Establishment experts would likely show themselves, too.

Li An could then decide what to do. He secretly clenched the jade talisman in his hand, inexplicably gaining a sense of reassurance.

——The real jade talisman controlling the Tier Two array... is with him!

The one he gave to Jing Ao was merely a fake he had crafted!

In his previous life, the only arts Li An cultivated were arrays and talismans. Although his strength was far from being able to create arrays now, with a pre-existing array in place, he only needed to condense some simple parts of it into the jade talisman, creating the illusion that the talisman could activate the array to deceive Jing Ao!

From the moment he had Tan Qingxue buy the Tier Two array, he never expected to keep it secret.

After all, in the face of a great sect plan, Xu Qiuhui would never help Li An keep it a secret; their relationship was far from reaching that level.

Deliberately handing the fake array talisman to Jing Ao... was also part of his plan!

...

At this moment.

In a building next to the Spirit Talisman Shop.

"Senior Brother Jing, the Master Senior Brother asks if the Tier Two array has been set up?"

A disciple at the peak of Qi Refining asked Jing Ao.

This time, dealing with Life-taking Horse-Faced, the Profound Yang Sect was extremely cautious. So, it wasn't just Jing Ao who came to the market.

There was someone else, hidden in the background.

"Tell him it's been set up."

Jing Ao smiled slightly.

He glanced at the jade talisman in his hand. In fact, according to the Profound Yang Sect plan, a Tier Two array was indeed supposed to be set up in the Spirit Talisman Shop.

It was just unexpected that this little talisman master, Li An, was so wealthy and had set up one himself.

As it turned out, the set given by the sect could naturally be embezzled by Jing Ao.

"Your wealth, and your woman... you've enjoyed them for so many years, and that should be enough."

He closed his eyes, recalling the appearance of Tan Qingxue. A married young woman, even more enticing...

After this battle, it would naturally be his turn to enjoy.

...

In the next few days, everything was as calm as usual.

On the perimeter, Jing Ao and the others never once appeared on the streets, clearly very cautious, avoiding detection by demon cultivators.

Li An continued with his routine of eating, sleeping, and selling Spirit Talismans.

Tan Qingxue did not return, and Li An heard no news regarding her.

Xu Qiuhui should have settled her, right?

It was better that she left, so if he died here, there would be someone to take care of the aftermath.

Li An thought this, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Do you have any Breaking Charms for sale?"

Just then, a voice suddenly came through!

...

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