Chapter 204: Chapter 197: Jiang Cheng, Hehuan Sect Strategic Partner
At the entrance to Lotus University, Shen Menghan sent a communication talisman to Yue Linger.

“Hello? Linger?”

“Junior, please call me ‘Sister’ in private.”

For some reason, Yue Linger was particularly keen on being called “Sister,” as if she had once been at a great disadvantage regarding seniority and now that she finally had a “younger sister,” she was determined to make up for it.

“Yue Sister, I’m at the school gate now. When will you come over?”

“Right away, right away.”

Soon, Shen Menghan saw the meticulously dressed Yue Linger.

Working together in the publicity department, Shen Menghan had known Yue Linger for a long time. Although female cultivators typically love to look beautiful, Shen Menghan had never seen Yue Linger prepare herself with such care in school.

Looking at Yue Linger, decked out to the teeth, Shen Menghan felt she was not going to visit Jiang Cheng’s house but to the battlefield to have a life-and-death fight with a major villain.

“Senior, what’s wrong?”

Shen Menghan shook her head. “Nothing. By the way, what’s Jiang Cheng asking us to do at his house?”

“Is this your first time going?”

“Hmm.”

Yue Linger looped her arm through Shen Menghan’s and said, “Congratulations, Senior, going to Jiang Cheng’s house to help him test new talismans is the first step of him acknowledging you. From what I know about Jiang Cheng, he doesn’t like to bother strangers. So if he’s willing to trouble you, it means he doesn’t consider you an outsider, understand?”

Upon hearing Yue Linger’s explanation, Shen Menghan felt a touch of sweetness in her heart. “Have you helped Jiang Cheng test many talismans?”

“Of course.” Yue Linger first boasted a little, then deflated, saying, “But don’t get your hopes up too high. His house isn’t some fun place, and his talismans aren’t simple things.”

“Why?”

“You’ll understand once we get there.”

After about fifteen minutes, the two arrived at the entrance to Jiang Cheng’s house.

Yue Linger knocked on the door with practiced ease, while Shen Menghan felt somewhat nervous.

It was her first time coming to Jiang Cheng’s house, and it was impossible not to feel anxious.

Then the door opened, and she saw a fairy-like figure.

Seeing the woman inside Jiang Cheng’s house, Shen Menghan felt for the first time that she herself “wasn’t beautiful enough.”

If beauty had ranks, that woman was at least “Mahayana Realm”!

“Senior?” Yue Linger looked at Shen Menghan’s inexperienced state.

“Ah?” Shen Menghan snapped back to reality.

“Don’t just stand there, come in. Oh, this is Liu Qing, another employee of Jiang Cheng’s.”

Yue Linger introduced her proficiently.

“Hello.”

Liu Qing reached out her hand in greeting, yet she was quite “aloof,” with little expression on her face.

“You, hello.”

Shen Menghan had been exposed to grand scenes since childhood alongside her father, but today, in front of Liu Qing, she experienced unparalleled pressure.

Stealing a glance at the perfectly made-up Yue Linger, Shen Menghan finally understood why her “Sister Yue” had prepared so thoroughly before coming to Jiang Cheng’s house, and why she was armed to the teeth.

With makeup on, she might not necessarily be more beautiful than Liu Qing, but at the very least, she could have a bit more confidence when facing her.

However, the pressure in Shen Menghan’s heart was greatly relieved with the appearance of Jiang Cheng.

“Welcome, Senior, to my humble home!” Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

Shen Menghan’s face turned a bit red. “Not at all, your house is quite nice.”

“It’s just a rental. Oh, right, let me give you your remuneration for the talisman testing.”

Jiang Cheng took out three high-grade spirit stones and handed one to each of them: Yue Linger, Shen Menghan, and Liu Qing.

Shen Menghan received a high-grade spirit stone and exclaimed in surprise, “Ten thousand low-grade spirit stones? Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“Not at all, trust me,” Yue Linger imparted her experience as someone who had been through it to her “younger sister.”

Watching Yue Linger casually accept the spirit stones without any psychological burden, Shen Menghan hesitated for a moment but also accepted Jiang Cheng’s remuneration.

Liu Qing, however, silently stored the spirit stone in her payment vault.

Following the traditional talisman-testing procedure, Jiang Cheng first gave the three of them instruction manuals for the Perception Transmission Talisman.

When Shen Menghan saw the instruction manual, her face reddened noticeably.

But her two “seniors”—Yue Linger and Liu Qing—were very composed, with no change in expression.

Unperturbed by it all.

Shen Menghan thought to herself: Is this the composure of “sisters”? Too strong.

“Have you all finished reading it?” Jiang Cheng asked.

All three nodded.

Jiang Cheng pulled out a magical treasure capable of silencing an area and said, “Take these three talismans. Let’s first test your hearing. You need to let go of the protection of your spirit space, then use the talisman on yourselves, and increase the sensitivity of your hearing by twenty times.”

As Jiang Cheng activated the magical treasure, Yue Linger and the other two used the talismans on themselves.

Hu, dong, hu, dong!

The once unnoticeable sounds of breathing and heartbeats became incredibly clear in their ears.

The sound of breathing was like the panting of a wild beast, and the heartbeat resounded like war drums next to their ears!

“How does it feel?”

“Ah!”

Shen Menghan and Yue Linger immediately covered their ears; what was a casual phrase from Jiang Cheng sounded to them like a deafening thunderclap!

Although Liu Qing could also hear any subtle sound, the reason she could hear was her Mahayana level of cultivation, not Jiang Cheng’s talisman.

In the face of the overpowering strength of Mahayana, Jiang Cheng’s first-order talismans would have no effect on her.

Talismans that could affect her had to be at least seventh-order or above.

“You can stop the talisman’s effect now,” Jiang Cheng said again.

Yue Linger covered her ears, but she found out that her ears were not the source of the sounds she heard, and covering her ears had no effect!

Under the twentyfold enhancement of hearing, any sound became a disaster for the one affected by the talisman!

After the experiment ended, Shen Menghan exclaimed, “The Perception Transmission Talisman’s effect is so exaggerated. As long as it works, traditional defenses are almost ineffective. Is this really the power that a first-order talisman can unleash? The effect is so strong, it’s almost unreasonable!”

Yue Linger simply summarized the extraordinary behavior of this talisman as, “This is Jiang Cheng.”

Jiang Cheng took out three more talismans, distributed them to the three of them, and held out a towel saying, “Next, let’s test touch by enhancing your tactile sense twentyfold.”

Under Jiang Cheng’s instruction, Yue Linger and Shen Menghan enhanced their sense of touch as well.

They then discovered that with their touch magnified twenty times, their bodies became extremely sensitive.

Even the air currents produced by breathing were enough to stimulate their bodies.

“Jiang Cheng, can I not continue with the experiment?” Yue Linger looked at the towel in Jiang Cheng’s hand and said somewhat fearfully.

“You’ve come all this way,” Jiang Cheng spoke the truth.

He then gently swept the towel across the back of Yue Linger’s hand.

Yue Linger blushed, tensed up all over, and tried her best not to cry out.

She didn’t understand the sensation, a mix of pain and itching, as the mere tactile information from the towel’s sweep over her hand was enough to overwhelm her sensory processor.

After being stimulated by the towel, Yue Linger’s brain felt like it was overclocked; she was blushing and gasping for breath.

Shen Menghan, seeing the devilish towel, finally understood why Yue Linger said “ten thousand Spirit Stones really isn’t much,” and realized that testing talismans for Jiang Cheng was truly an unbearable job!

As night approached, the last item on Jiang Cheng’s talisman testing – taste – was finally completed.

Recalling the sour-tasting water, Yue Linger swore not to drink any more water that day. The water tasted worse than the bitterest herbal medicine.

Too sharp a perception is not necessarily a good thing after all.

No wonder the ancients often said — a married couple should not be too sensitive, lest domestic peace be disturbed.

After completing the tests for the Perception Transmission Talisman, and all the indicators met Jiang Cheng’s expectations, he was in an excellent mood.

“Let’s go, I’ll treat you to dinner tonight. Consider it a celebration for the success of the new talisman.”

On the way, Yue Linger asked, “Jiang Cheng, what do you plan to do with these new talismans?”

“Fishing.”

“Huh?” Yue Linger felt she was hallucinating from all the talisman testing.

What kind of fish could a sensory-enhancing talisman catch?

Mermaids?

“I plan to fish for the people from the Hehuan Sect. They will definitely not be able to resist this talisman of mine,” Jiang Cheng explained.

Shen Menghan expressed her concerns, “But, you only have Qi Training. Although the Hehuan Sect is constantly suppressed, their Demonic Tao cultivation techniques are all about quick results. They may not have many high-ranking fighters, but they should have quite a few at the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation levels.”

While their opponent was not to be underestimated, Jiang Cheng confidently said, “As long as the Immortal Sects are around, when will it be my turn to personally catch people? Don’t worry, at most I’ll act as an undercover or something.”

Yue Linger and Shen Menghan, who had been ready to relax, now felt even more worried.

In the office of the president of the Talisman Master Association of the Tongtian Sect.

Gao Miao frowned at Jiang Cheng’s “Perception Transmission Talisman” as if he was looking at a twisty knot.

This Perception Transmission Talisman seemed strangely tailor-made for the cultivation techniques of the Hehuan Sect.

“Jiang Cheng, I need to ask you a question, and you must answer me honestly.”

“Please go ahead.”

“Ever since you came to the Capital, you’ve been creating talismans with high intensity. What exactly are you trying to do?”

Jiang Cheng summarized his motivations for creating talismans over the past few months, “I have a friend named Bai Xiaohe; she works at a Tongbao Pavilion store affiliated with the Outer Sect. The store she manages is about to close, and I want to help her improve the business.”

Gao Miao’s eyes bulged; you turned the Capital upside down just for this little favor!?

To Gao Miao, Jiang Cheng’s words were no different from “I’m not happy because my sweater got stuck on my neck when I put it on backward today, so I intend to destroy the world.”

“Just give me a moment, I need to make a talisman call,” he said.

Gao Miao walked out with the talisman, and returned half an hour later, looking refreshed and sitting back down.

“There, I’ve sorted out your friend’s work issue. Does that mean we don’t have to certify this new talisman of yours?”

“Elder Gao, you’ve misunderstood; I’m not here to certify a talisman today.”

Gao Miao’s fists were clenched tight.

He had gone out to pull strings, using up quite a bit of goodwill, and after much persuasion had managed to get Bai Xiaohe promoted from the Tongbao Pavilion branch to the main store.

And now you’re telling me you’re not here to certify a talisman!?

Really, this could only be Jiang Cheng.

If it had been his son who pulled such a stunt, Gao Miao would have made sure that his son learned what “fatherly love like earth-shattering mountains” truly meant.

As a Core Formation cultivator, Gao Miao managed his emotions quite well.

Although he might have just done a pointless chore, at least, fortunately, Jiang Cheng wasn’t there to certify a talisman.

As long as Jiang Cheng did not certify any talismans, everything was negotiable.

After self-soothing, Gao Miao felt much better.

He thought Jiang Cheng was occasionally quite considerate. For instance, today, knowing there was something off about his Perception Transmission Talisman, he simply decided not to certify it.

Very good, he had grown up, matured, gained insight, and learned to alleviate the leaders’ worries.

Upon further reflection, although Jiang Cheng’s talismans were often troublesome, he himself was very well-behaved, never actively causing trouble. He was quite the rule-abiding Talisman Master.

“So, what did you come for today?”

“Well, Elder Gao, I plan to completely round up the disciples of the Hehuan Sect in the Capital.”

“What?”