But admiration is one thing; in reality, Guide Messenger's understanding of illusion arrays is only half-baked, not to mention his incompetent disciple, William Thompson.

"Don't panic, don't panic." William Thompson comforted himself inwardly. Since he had accidentally entered this illusion array, as long as he could find the array's core, he could break it. Besides, he had been inside for quite a while and hadn't encountered any attacks, so either the array had no master, or the master bore no ill will.

William Thompson was more inclined to believe the second possibility, but on further thought, the first seemed more likely.

Guide Messenger had also said that the area within a thousand miles of Immortal-Breeding Lake was covered by a grand array, and immortals below the Da Luo Golden Immortal level were forbidden to enter. Surely, no Da Luo Golden Immortal would be so bored as to toy with a mere Nascent Soul rookie like him? So William Thompson figured this illusion array must have been abandoned.

But who would leave an illusion array here for no reason? Was it to protect something?

Treasure! The moment he thought of this word, William Thompson's eyes turned into ￥ signs, and he couldn't help but start drooling.

His dejected look vanished instantly. William Thompson cast a Swift Wind Technique on himself and darted quickly through the forest, hoping to find the treasure or the array's core hidden within the illusion array.

Two days later, William Thompson collapsed on the ground in despair. No matter which direction he walked, the illusion array always dumped him back at this campfire.

All his spiritual power had long been exhausted during his running, and even though he kept absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy to replenish himself, it couldn't keep up with the rate of consumption.

William Thompson sighed and got up from the ground. He casually set up an alarm array nearby, then took four low-grade Celestial Stones from his ring and arranged them in the order of Qian, Zhen, Gen, and Kan to form a small Bagua Spirit Gathering Array.

These Celestial Stones were a type of immortal stone circulated among immortals, beneficial for cultivation, containing rich immortal spiritual energy. They were very useful for both cultivation and replenishing lost immortal power. Of course, they could also be used to exchange for other items. There was no currency in the Immortal Realm; the universal medium of exchange was this kind of Celestial Stone.

Celestial Stones are divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. There are also Celestial Spirit Stones and Celestial Divine Stones, also in upper, middle, and lower grades. The exchange ratio between each grade and the next is 1:100.

William Thompson didn't have many Celestial Stones, only a dozen or so in total, and all of them were low-grade. He had pestered Guide Messenger endlessly to get these. That stingy master would never give William Thompson any middle- or high-grade Celestial Stones, claiming that with his abnormal recovery speed, he never had a chance to use them anyway.

William Thompson had thought the same at the time. Even if all his spiritual energy was depleted, he could recover to full just by meditating for half a day. Why would he need these Celestial Stones?

But now, William Thompson just wanted to restore his spiritual power as quickly as possible and continue searching for a way out, so he resorted to using these few hard-earned and limited Celestial Stones.

Putting away his cold gleam, he listened carefully to his surroundings. It seemed there were no immortal beasts nearby. Relieved, he sat in the small Spirit Gathering Array and frantically absorbed spiritual energy. He had already set up an alarm array around him, so if anything entered the array, it would wake him up.

He felt the spiritual energy around him madly pouring into his body, flowing through his spiritual veins, then gathering at the dantian where his Nascent Soul resided, being absorbed bit by bit. William Thompson felt so comfortable, it was as if he was having an NP session with several beautiful women. Even the little Nascent Soul in his dantian slightly opened its mouth, constantly inhaling and exhaling.

Chapter 11: Catching a Thief

Just as William Thompson was immersing his mind in his Nascent Soul to restore his spiritual power, the influx of spiritual energy from outside suddenly paused, and then the speed slowed down.

It felt just like someone pinching your little JJ while you were peeing, making William Thompson extremely annoyed. He opened his eyes angrily, wanting to know what had interrupted his cultivation.

The alarm array was intact; nothing had entered.

Looking down, William Thompson suddenly realized.

The Celestial Stone placed at the Kan position had somehow already been completely absorbed by him, not even a trace left. The other three Celestial Stones, however, were still sitting there, their size barely changed.

William Thompson scratched his head. Could there be fake Celestial Stones? Otherwise, why would stones of the same kind differ so much?

He searched all around but found nothing amiss. So he took another Celestial Stone from his ring, replaced the one at the Kan position, and continued his absorption.

This comfortable state didn't last long. When the absorption speed slowed again, William Thompson was furious.

He opened his eyes, and sure enough, this time the Celestial Stone at the Qian position had disappeared.

Even if William Thompson was a blockhead, he understood that the disappearance of the Celestial Stones wasn't due to his own absorption—they must have been taken by some unknown entity, either an immortal or an immortal beast.

But to be able to steal his Celestial Stones right under his nose without disturbing the array he had set up, this person or beast must be far more skilled than he was.