60: Chapter 60: The array talisman is stolen; Li Qingfeng uses talismans to lure out rogue cultivators.

Li Qingfeng had just finished drawing the last Talisman blank and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when the female manager of the New Courtyard rushed to the study door like a gust of wind, her voice tinged with urgency: "Young Master! Something has happened! An urgent report just arrived from the External Affairs Hall; Zhou Mo was intercepted on his way back to the Outer Town, and one of the three Rank 1 Azure Wood Formation Talismans we purchased was snatched away!"

Su Qingyue's hands, which were busy tidying up the discarded Talisman paper on the table, paused, and her delicate brows furrowed immediately.

Li Qingfeng's expression also darkened.

With one Rank 1 Azure Wood Formation Talisman missing, the Small Spirit Gathering Array could only barely function; with one of the three array feet missing, the Spiritual Qi could not circulate, and the effectiveness would be reduced by at least seventy percent.

He did not rush to vent his anger, but asked in a deep voice: "Have you clarified the location of the robbery, the route, and the personnel escorting him?"

"It has been clarified." Wang Qingluan's voice came from outside the courtyard. She had clearly just received the news as well and walked in with hurried steps, clutching a message Talisman that had just been delivered. Today, she was wearing cyan-colored tight-fitting clothes convenient for movement, which made her long legs look even straighter and more powerful, and her waist was cinched extremely tightly.

She handed the message Talisman to Li Qingfeng, her tone very cold: "This wasn't a crime of opportunity. The other party calculated that Zhou Mo was selling Talismans today, knew that he didn't have any decent guards with him, and even knew that our Li family was in urgent need of this batch of Rank 1 Azure Wood Formation Talismans. This was aimed at our Small Spirit Gathering Array."

Once these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room became even heavier.

Li Qingfeng finished reading the message Talisman and nodded: "Stealing one, not all three. This shows that the other party doesn't want to completely destroy the array, but wants to dismantle the Talisman path of this Talisman to see what method our Li family is using to gather Spiritual Qi."

He knew clearly in his heart that the blueprint for the Small Spirit Gathering Array was produced by the System, so the Talisman path was naturally more exquisite than the common goods in the market. It was perfectly normal for someone to smell the scent and want to steal the craft.

Wang Qingluan's expression was not very good; the trade route under her management had just been tied to the Li family when this happened.

"I have already sent people from the Wang family to investigate to see who leaked the information," she said in a deep voice.

"It's too slow to check for an inside man now." Li Qingfeng waved his hand, his gaze falling back on the pile of discarded Talisman paper he had just drawn, "Get the Talisman back first, then track down the people through the Talisman."

Wang Qingluan looked at him, somewhat puzzled: "How to get it back? Since the other party is aiming for the Talisman path, they are probably afraid they have already dismantled the Talisman by now."

Li Qingfeng picked up a "fake Rank 1 Azure Wood Formation Talisman" he had drawn where the Spiritual power at the tail of the Talisman was not smooth, and laughed: "If they want to dismantle it, if they want to know how much this Talisman is worth, they will definitely come out to test the waters. Then I will give them one that looks even more like bait."

Once he explained the plan, Wang Qingluan's clear eyes brightened immediately.

She did not hesitate at all and immediately went to arrange for undercover agents in the market to release the news: The Li family is willing to pay a high price to buy back the stolen formation Talisman, even if it is damaged.

The next afternoon, Li Qingfeng and Wang Qingluan sat together in a private room on the second floor of the Wang family's market storefront, looking through the window at the bustling street below.

The stairs were narrow; when a clerk came up carrying a tea tray, in order to avoid a customer, he turned his body to the side, and the tea tray looked like it was about to bump into Wang Qingluan.

Li Qingfeng was quick-witted; he reached out and pulled her into his arms, his arm firmly clasping her soft yet powerful waist.

Wang Qingluan's body tightened instantly, and a faint fragrance mixed with the refreshing scent of vegetation on Li Qingfeng caused her to hold her breath for half a beat.

"Your action of steadying people today is getting more and more practiced." After she stabilized her posture, she did not immediately step away, but instead looked up at him, her tone carrying a trace of subtle teasing.

Li Qingfeng let go quickly as well, with no extra expression on his face, and replied casually: "The stairs are too narrow; if Miss Wang were to fall, the Wang family would probably have to ask me to compensate them with a manager."

Wang Qingluan gave a soft hmph and straightened her collar, which had been messed up: "That would depend on whether you could afford to compensate."

Li Qingfeng's gaze had already fallen back to the floor below, his tone carrying a hint of a smile: "It depends on what is being compensated."

In the evening, a Loose Cultivator wearing a gray short jacket sneaked into the Wang family's storefront, took out a small piece of cloth stained with Azure Wood Talisman ash, and inquired about the high-price Talisman collection.

Wang Qingluan followed the plan and deliberately drove the price down, saying that a fragment was worthless and that more of the Talisman body needed to be seen.

The Loose Cultivator became anxious and, while arguing, accidentally revealed half a piece of Talisman paper hidden in his sleeve, on which the familiar Talisman path flashed by.

"That's it." Li Qingfeng saw it clearly from upstairs. He had already locked onto the unique residual trace of Wood Spiritual Qi using Vitality Perception; it was exactly the one that had been stolen.

He did not let the Wang family arrest the person on the spot, but followed quietly, trailing the Loose Cultivator all the way to an abandoned old warehouse in the south of the city.

In the warehouse, four other Loose Cultivators were waiting for news. The leader was a sturdy man with the cultivation of Late Stage Qi Refining Stage 8, his aura solid; he was clearly a character who had spent years licking blood from the edge of a blade.

Seeing the gray-clothed Loose Cultivator return, he immediately asked: "How is it? Is the Li family really willing to pay a high price?"

"They are willing, but they want to see more of the Talisman body!"

"Hmph, I knew it..."

Before the leader finished speaking, the warehouse door was kicked open.

Li Qingfeng and Wang Qingluan blocked the entrance one after the other.

"Gentlemen, having taken the Li family's things, you must leave something behind before you go, right?" Li Qingfeng said with a smile.

The leader's expression changed. Without a word, he directly crushed a smoke Talisman. Pungent thick smoke instantly filled the entire warehouse, and he himself rushed towards the back window under the cover of the smoke.

"Want to leave?"

Li Qingfeng sneered and raised his hand to throw the fake Rank 1 Azure Wood Formation Talisman he had drawn himself.

The Talisman paper ignited without fire in mid-air, and a weak yet precise Wood Spiritual force instantly pulled on an old, rotten wooden beam in the corner of the warehouse.

"Swish!"

Several tough wooden vines exploded out from the beam, like living poisonous snakes, precisely entangling the ankle of the leader who was leaping in mid-air, dragging him down heavily from the air!

"What the hell is this!" The leader was both shocked and angry, waving his knife to cut, but he saw a cyan sword light faster than his knife, already pressing against his face.

Wang Qingluan's movement technique was extremely fast, her sword stance sharp. With one strike, she shook off the opponent's short knife, and the second strike was already pressing against his throat.

Li Qingfeng walked up unhurriedly and struck the opponent's Meridians with a reversed Azure Wood Rejuvenation Art. The leader only felt his internal Spiritual Qi surge, instantly becoming stagnant and difficult to move, and immediately collapsed to the ground.

The remaining few Loose Cultivators had already been firmly held down by the guards ambushed outside by the Wang family.

The interrogation went very smoothly.

Half an hour later, Li Qingfeng and Wang Qingluan looked at the confession in their hands, their expressions both a bit cold.

This group was indeed hired by the Chen Family Trading Firm from the Outer Town. The Chen family had recently wanted to squeeze their own Spiritual Plant business into Qingshi Town. Seeing the Li family and the Wang family form an alliance, they wanted to use this kind of low-class method to probe the Li family's foundation first, and by the way, steal the Talisman path of the Small Spirit Gathering Array.

"The Chen family has always been ruthless in doing business," Wang Qingluan said coldly, "If they figure out the details of the Small Spirit Gathering Array, the next step will be to directly send people to grab Spiritual seedlings, pry away managers, and dig up our roots."

Just then, in Li Qingfeng's mind, the System's notification sound rang crisply.

[Ding! Host successfully used Talisman knowledge to complete a counter-trap, preserving the core Materials of the Small Spirit Gathering Array!]

[Reward: Cultivation infusion (small amount); Talisman proficiency increased!]

[Current Talisman attainment: Novice Talisman Disciple · Mid-stage!]

[Extra reward: [Rank 1 Azure Wood Formation Talisman Line-Repair Method]!]

Li Qingfeng was in a good mood with the recovered formation Talisman, but just as he returned to the New Courtyard, the manager from the Spirit Beast Garden ran over, sweating profusely, his voice even carrying a crying tone.

"Young Master! It's bad! The three White-Eared Spirit Rabbits in our garden, for some unknown reason, have suddenly become restless! Also, news just came from the Wang family side that the batch of Green-Horned Deer cubs we had booked to transport have been intercepted and snatched away at a high price by people from the Chen Family Trading Firm on the way!"