Thousand-Face Disguise Art

The false Qing Dai-or rather, the holy maiden of the Great Vehicle Sect-was still bleeding profusely from her shoulder. At those words, she jerked her head up, disbelief and horror flashing through her eyes. She clearly had not expected Princess Taiping to know even such closely guarded secrets!

Princess Taiping smiled faintly and continued, "The Great Vehicle Sect has a [Thousand-Face Disguise Art], which uses internal energy to alter the bones of the face and one's appearance. Combined with sophisticated Spellcraft, it can perfectly imitate a target's appearance, bearing, voice, and even disposition, until the false passes for the real... Reaching your level must have been no easy feat. For the Great Vehicle Sect to deploy both you and the Ba Serpent, it must have been driven into a dead end... So, you know the 'Immeasurable Seal' has been broken?"

Her questions sounded casual, but with every sentence, the holy maiden's face grew a shade paler.

Her gaze turned venomous as she stared fixedly at Taiping!

Princess Taiping ignored her hostility. Her words were knives, stabbing straight through the woman's defenses. "Let me guess... The breaking of the 'Immeasurable Seal' on Su Bonian was kept secret, but the Great Vehicle Sect has ways of sensing it. At the very least, your sect leader Yue Longyuan, master of the Qi Poison, would have sensed it. You followed the vine to the melon and traced it to Mr. Lu... Naturally, you had to deal with such a grave threat at any cost, either bringing him under your control before his wings fully grew, or... eliminating him completely. Am I right?"

Cold sweat streamed down the holy maiden's face, which had turned white as paper.

Princess Taiping smiled. "Unfortunately, you underestimated him-and you underestimated my Princess of Zhen Guo's Residence!"

"Hmph..."

The holy maiden forced a cold snort through clenched teeth and said flatly, "So what if we did? So what if his art counters ours? Our sacred sect's roots run deep. How could a single man shake them? I failed today, but others will follow! You can guard against us for a time, but not for a lifetime!"

"Others will follow?"

Princess Taiping chuckled, turning her gaze to the feeble, still-bleeding Bashé beside them. "You can appoint another holy maiden, but an extraordinary creature born of heaven and earth like this? You could search the entire world and struggle to find a second... To deal with a threat that hasn't even fully matured, you've sacrificed the sacred beast that safeguards your sect... When your elders and protectors learn of this, do you think they'll praise your loyalty and courage, or resent your incompetence and hate you for burying the Great Vehicle Sect's century of fortune?"

Those words were the final straw, utterly crushing the holy maiden's defenses.

Her body shuddered violently, and she abruptly looked at the grievously wounded Ba Serpent beside her. For the first time, undisguisable remorse and despair appeared in her eyes. She could disregard her own life and death, but losing the Ba Serpent was indeed a monumental sin that neither she nor even her entire faction could bear!

This Taiping really knows how to kill someone by cutting out their heart... Lu Changfeng thought.

The situation was a little complicated.

He had assumed his enemies were Medicine King Valley and Wu Sansi. He had never expected the Great Vehicle Sect to be the first to lose patience and strike. That bowl of porridge had been meant to knock him unconscious, and the Ba Serpent had been meant to carry him away. But Taiping had anticipated it and stationed a supreme expert on guard in secret.

"So, if I want to stroll through Chang'an, listen to music, and watch the dancers, I'll have to wait a little longer... Or perhaps..."

His eyebrow rose as he looked at the holy maiden's face.

Princess Taiping instructed Jinghong, "Take her away and keep her under strict guard. As for this strange beast... spare its life for now and lock it in the Cold Prison. It may still prove useful."

Jinghong was about to obey when Lu Changfeng said, "Wait! Your Highness, could you first entrust this woman to me for questioning?"

Taiping paused at his words, then recalled that he seemed to know arts for reading minds and shifting souls. She nodded. "Very well. The Great Vehicle Sect's Spellcraft is treacherous. Be careful."

"Rest assured, Your Highness-"

Before he finished speaking, Lu Changfeng suddenly moved, flashing before the holy maiden like a phantom. His hands fluttered, and eight Huayang Needles pierced eight major acupoints around her dantian with unerring precision.

"You!"

Shocked and furious, the holy maiden was about to muster her energy to resist when she felt a gentle, mellow force penetrate her body.

That force was not overbearing, yet it seeped into the key points of her meridians like a spring breeze bringing rain.

Then, to her horror, she discovered that the internal energy she had painstakingly cultivated for years was ebbing from every limb and bone like a receding tide, before falling utterly silent within her dantian!

"My cultivation..."

The holy maiden's face went deathly pale. Feeling the emptiness of her dantian and meridians, she suddenly blazed with bone-deep hatred. Trembling all over, she said, "You dared... you dared cripple my cultivation!"

At that moment, her hatred for Lu Changfeng surpassed even her hatred for Princess Taiping, who had captured her.

To her, having her cultivation crippled was hundreds, thousands of times more agonizing than being killed outright!

Everyone present looked astonished as well. None had expected Lu Changfeng to possess such a method.

Still less had they expected him to act so decisively.

"Now we can take our time questioning her..."

Lu Changfeng withdrew the needles, then delivered a sharp backhanded slap that instantly swelled half the woman's face. The blow was so powerful that it knocked out two of her teeth. He sneered. "What wouldn't I dare? If not for that snake, you would already have been my prisoner inside the tower! With your paltry skills, you still dared come out and make a spectacle of yourself!"

His tone abruptly sharpened, his gaze blazing like a torch as he barked an interrogator's command. "Speak! The essential principles of the [Thousand-Face Disguise Art]!"

The holy maiden's eyes were bloodshot, her heart seething with hatred. Hearing this nearly made her lungs burst with rage. She shrieked, "You damned cur... you even dare covet our sacred sect's secret teachings?! Even if I die..."

She had meant to shout, "Even if I die, I'll never tell you!" Yet as she looked into those eyes and listened to his voice, the word "never" had barely reached her lips before her tongue seemed to acquire a will of its own. It froze beyond her control, and an invisible force pried her jaws apart. What followed bizarrely became a detailed explanation of Spellcraft:

"...Even if I die... transform... transform the two energies of yin and yang, using yin energy as a guide. First pass through the 'Tear-Bearing Point,' then proceed through the 'Four Whites.' True qi must be supple as spider silk, slowly permeating the facial bones..."

Her face was filled with utter horror and resistance, her eyes struggling, yet her lips kept opening and closing, clearly spilling out the cultivation method word by word. "...Complement this by concentrating the 'Heart-Confusing Seal' in both eyes. Visualize the target's form and spirit, stir your own qi and blood, then draw upon the muscles and bones to make minute adjustments, imitating their breath..."

Everyone around them watched this utterly bizarre scene, dumbstruck.

Qing Dai instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.

A person could actually glare at someone with the most venomous hatred while involuntarily reciting her sect's most closely guarded secrets like the most obedient student!

"..."

An intense flicker of interest now passed through Princess Taiping's previously tranquil eyes.

She leaned forward slightly, studying the scene before her with fascination.

It really is Spellcraft...

And he seems able to use it without forming hand seals...

An eye technique?

Lu Changfeng was giving her more and more surprises.

Lu Changfeng silently committed it to memory.

This Spellcraft was not difficult. The difficulty lay in fine control and diligent practice; otherwise, a resemblance in form alone would still be "fake at a glance." But he did not want to imitate anyone else. He wanted to "hide in plain sight amid the bustling city."

As long as he used this method to change his appearance and slipped into a crowd, whether it was the Great Vehicle Sect, Medicine King Valley, or the Prince of Liang's Residence, finding him would be like fishing a needle out of the ocean!

Lu Changfeng was thoroughly satisfied. With this, he could go out and enjoy himself~

Taiping was satisfied too. She nodded. "I'll leave this woman to you. Whatever you can get out of her will depend on your ability. Jinghong, fetch a classified dossier for Minister Lu."

With that, she stayed no longer and turned to leave gracefully, as though tonight's upheaval had been no more than a brief interlude before a banquet.

Jinghong followed her orders. With one hand, she lifted the tail of the enormous, barely breathing Bashé and walked expressionlessly toward the Ten Directions Secret Prison. The heavy serpent's body dragged a long streak of blood across the ground.

In an instant, the commotion subsided. Only Lu Changfeng, Qing Dai, and the terrified holy maiden, slumped limply on the floor, remained inside the Snow Listening Tower.

Lu Changfeng crouched down and smiled. "Don't be afraid. Let me tell you a secret. My 'Soul-Shifting Great Method' has a flaw. It can only subdue people whose will is weak and whose cultivation realm is low."

At his words, the holy maiden seemed to grasp a life-saving straw, and her gaze focused again.

Then she heard Lu Changfeng slowly add, his voice full of regret and sympathy, "...But you seem to have perfectly avoided both of those qualities."

"You!!"

That deeply insulting taunt was the final straw that broke the camel's back, instantly shattering what remained of the holy maiden's defenses.

Her eyes bulged, her qi and blood surged upward, and a sweet taste rose in her throat-

"Pfft!"

She spat out a mouthful of blood, her vision went black, and she passed out from sheer rage.

Qing Dai: "..."

Her Highness always kills by cutting out the heart, and Mr. Lu is just the same!

Looking at the unconscious holy maiden on the floor, Lu Changfeng shook his head helplessly. "That was enough to make you faint from anger? Your nerves are far too fragile. I can't let you die yet. You still have to sell out every last scrap of the Great Vehicle Sect to me!"

He narrowed his eyes and was about to use his needles to save her.

Just then.

[Noble Physician's Canon activated.]

[Target: Wei Linlang. Identity: current holy maiden of the Great Vehicle Sect, master of the Ba Serpent, inheritor of the Thousand-Face Disguise Art. Overall value: three and a half stars.]

[Condition: rage attacking the heart, disordered meridians, dantian completely destroyed.]

[Success reward: max-level "Ice Skin, Jade Bones Art."]

[Failure penalty: none.]