The Sneak Talisman, Hu Gan Comes Calling

"Teacher, I'd like you to help me with something." Xiao Yan's eyes darted toward the Bone Flame Ring as he called out to Yao Lao.

"What is it?" Hearing him, Yao Lao drifted out of the Bone Flame Ring and stroked his beard out of habit.

"Help me test a new ability," Xiao Yan said honestly.

Yao Lao was undoubtedly the best person to test the Snake Talisman on.

With his Soul Perception at Spirit Realm Grand Perfection, there were few people on the Northwest Continent—or even in the Central Plains—who could evade his senses.

Yao Lao had long since grown used to such things. He merely raised an eyebrow.

Xiao Yan kept turning up with new abilities. Yao Lao had gone from shock to numbness, and by now he had learned to take it all in stride.

Questions never got him anywhere anyway. He might as well cooperate and save himself the trouble.

"Teacher, I'm going to turn invisible. See if you can find me." A faint smile touched Xiao Yan's lips. Without wasting another word, he activated the Snake Talisman right in front of Yao Lao.

A mysterious power silently swept through his body. Then, before Yao Lao's very eyes, Xiao Yan vanished into thin air without warning.

It was no illusion, no afterimage. He had disappeared completely, without leaving so much as a trace of his aura.

"What sort of trick is this?" Yao Lao raised an eyebrow, interest flashing in his aged eyes.

He immediately spread his Soul Perception across the entire area and began searching carefully.

But the longer he searched, the graver his expression became.

His initial nonchalance vanished, replaced by mounting disbelief.

At his level of soul cultivation, even the twitch of an ant's antenna could not escape his senses. Yet now he