After a spell of speechless awkwardness, Li Ling came to his senses and finally accepted that One-Mind Daoist had seen through him.
Yet he still had his doubts and could not resist probing. "Senior, you really do enjoy a joke, haha..."
One-Mind Daoist shook his head with a rueful smile. "I am only just past five thousand, still in the prime of my years. I have not yet reached the point where age dims my eyes. You have projected your soul and manifested before me. How could I fail to tell?"
Li Ling started in alarm. "So that was it?"
One-Mind Daoist said, "I imagine you possess extraordinary innate gifts, a rare aptitude scarcely found among hundreds of millions, which is how you managed this. But you probably do not realize that this does not mean you have condensed a true spirit and attained a genuine Nascent Soul Dao fruit.
"Ordinary people struggle to discern the difference because they cannot manifest their own primordial spirits and illuminate the truth. I, however, can distinguish it, because my cultivation stands at the peak of Nascent Soul.
"Of course, had you come today as True Person Zixu, I might not have been able to see through your background. But you clearly possess only Core Formation cultivation, yet you used soul projection, muddling the manifestations that should belong to your flesh and your soul..."
Li Ling listened, dumbfounded. No wonder this man could tell. It really did seem to have been his own mistake.
One-Mind Daoist was right. He had indeed grown careless.
It seemed he truly could not underestimate the heroes of the world and act recklessly just because he possessed extraordinary gifts. He had never been exposed before only because he had not encountered a genuine master. This One-Mind Daoist was plainly