Qin Qi: Granduncle, why didn't you retreat back then?

"That's right. The Illusion Barrier must be used in conjunction with Catkin Step to maximize its effectiveness."

"Your body must be like willow catkins; you shouldn't make a single sound when you move, as light as a drifting catkin."

Tang Jiaren's figure materialized; he was standing right in front of Qin Qi as he spoke.

"Understood."

Qin Qi nodded. He had realized that the techniques of the Tang Sect were essentially designed as sets, meant to complement one another.

"Granduncle..."

Qin Qi looked at the Tang Jiaren before him and suddenly lashed out with an attack. The Tang Jiaren in front of him was instantly pierced by an Instant Strike and vanished into thin air.

"So this is the second stage of the Illusion Barrier: Illusion Body."

Qin Qi remarked as he watched the figure disappear.

"Correct. That illusion emitted the exact same aura as I do; it's quite impressive that you managed to spot it."

Tang Jiaren's figure materialized elsewhere, and he spoke with a laugh.

"I didn't actually spot it. I just felt that you wouldn't reveal yourself so easily, and I went with the philosophy that it's better to be safe than sorry."

"I attacked just to be sure—it's not like it would kill you, anyway."

Qin Qi truly hadn't noticed anything; in his observation, that phantom had been identical to the real thing.

He had simply guessed based on his gut feeling.

"Being able to guess correctly is a skill in itself. You must learn to trust your intuition; for us, intuition is vital!"

Tang Jiaren's voice suddenly came from behind Qin Qi, and his figure materialized there as well.

"Huh? You're messing with me again."

Qin Qi looked at the Tang Jiaren in front of him, then at the one behind him, realizing he had been played once more.

"I never said there could only be one illusion body, did I?"

Tang Jiaren laughed. "You simply assumed that yourself, and then you let your guard down."

"Sigh, there's no guarding against this."

Qin Qi shook his head. Normally, once a trick was seen through, the user would reveal themselves—especially when they were in the middle of teaching.

It had looked like the real deal from every angle.

"That is exactly the point—to be impossible to guard against. Normally, an illusion body cannot speak."

"However, we can use other methods to compensate for that. There was once a sect among the three hundred and sixty trades that specialized in mimicry."

"I am using their techniques."

Tang Jiaren continued.

"Granduncle, I want to learn that!"

Qin Qi said.

"Rest assured, sooner or later all my skills will be passed on to you. For now, you should focus on learning Invisibility and Heart Concealment."

"Heart Concealment is particularly important; even when you aren't using the Illusion Barrier, you will find it useful in daily life."

Tang Jiaren said.

In the time that followed, Qin Qi began his study of the first stage of the Illusion Barrier: Invisibility and Heart Concealment.

It took Qin Qi a full month of study to successfully reach the entry level.

[Ding, congratulations on learning Illusion Barrier. Achievement points +1, Credits +100.]

However, once he reached the entry level, he could achieve perfect invisibility without appearing semi-transparent like a ghost.

"Your speed in entering invisibility is too slow. It's passable while standing still, but it falls apart once you start moving."

"Overall, your proficiency is still too low. You are still a long way from learning the second stage."

Tang Jiaren said after observing Qin Qi's Illusion Barrier.

"Understood."

Qin Qi checked his Proficiency Panel.

[Illusion Barrier (Entry): Proficiency, 1%]

"Granduncle, I have a question. With your mastery of the Illusion Barrier, how exactly were you discovered back then?"

Qin Qi looked at Tang Jiaren and asked, deeply puzzled.

When he went to assassinate the Shinobi Head, if his Illusion Barrier hadn't been seen through, then with Tang Jiaren's skills, he could have easily retreated after the kill. In fact, he could have escaped at the time if he had wanted to.

But to kill the Shinobi Head, he had chosen to trade his life for a life!

"That is a good question. Back then, I didn't understand how I had been discovered either."

"But now, I have figured it out. I will explain it to you properly, so listen carefully."

Tang Jiaren prepared to explain the matter to Qin Qi, hoping to help him avoid repeating the same mistakes.

"Back then, that Shinobi Head used a technique I had never seen before; I couldn't figure out the principle at the time."

"But after recalling it repeatedly, I remembered that a subtle ripple seemed to have swept across my body."

"It must have been an extremely faint energy fluctuation, through which the ninja..."

"Used the ground or the air as if it were the surface of water. These energies would return ripples whenever they touched something."

"By interpreting these ripples, they could understand the situation in the surroundings."

Tang Jiaren did not know what ultrasonic detection was, but through long experience, he had still deduced the reason he was discovered.

"Hmm."

Qin Qi nodded. He knew about ultrasonic detection, but was there any way to counter such a thing?

"Although our Illusion Barrier makes us invisible, we still physically exist."

"Once touched by that subtle energy, it will still return a ripple. If a blank space suddenly produces a ripple..."

"That will definitely lead to discovery, but I have already figured out a way to deal with it."

Tang Jiaren suddenly revealed a very confident smile; when it came to the Illusion Barrier, he was among the best in the Tang Sect.

"What method?"

Qin Qi asked.

"The Illusion Barrier isn't just about invisibility; the 'illusion' part is also important. Next time you encounter an opponent with this ability..."

"When the opponent uses their technique, you can use illusion arts to forge false ripples and send them back."

"This way, the opponent won't be able to find you, and you can even create a false position to make them misjudge."

"Take that opportunity to launch an assassination."

Tang Jiaren explained the solution in just a few words, but achieving it required a high level of mastery over the Illusion Barrier.

Qin Qi could not do it yet.

"Why does it feel a bit..."

Qin Qi suddenly thought of spiritual detection. If what Granduncle said was true, and ultrasonic waves could be deceived with fake feedback...

Could spiritual detection also be fooled using the same method? If that could be done, then the Illusion Barrier would truly become absolute disappearance!

In the time that followed, Tang Jiaren taught Qin Qi some more tips regarding the Illusion Barrier.

Qin Qi committed them all to memory, preparing to slowly practice and learn them in the coming days.

After the teaching session ended, the two began to chat.

"Granduncle, you just told me that if you can't kill them, you should run and look for another opportunity."

"But why didn't you run back then? Was there no chance to escape?"

Qin Qi asked with some curiosity.

"There was a chance. If I wanted to run, no one could have stopped me."

"But if I had run, that Shinobi Head would surely have been spooked and gone into hiding. It would have been impossible to kill him after that."

"But if he didn't die! I don't know how many more of our Yanhuang Sect soldiers would have died."

"So... I had no choice but to trade my life for his."

Tang Jiaren reached up to scratch his head, smiled, and spoke.

"Sigh, the information gap... If you had discovered his ninjutsu earlier, this battle would have had a completely different outcome."

Qin Qi couldn't help but sigh; if they had known about the Shinobi Head's ninjutsu a little earlier, the result might have been different.