A girl in a purple robe darted out from the academy gate. She was petite, slightly chubby, with rosy cheeks on her round face, making her look especially adorable.

  “William Hill Senior Sister, have you checked the academy’s Xin Gui platform? Big news, huge news! Hehe... You won’t believe it even if I tell you!” The girl rushed over, shouting loudly.

  “Xiao Dan, can you not disturb me? Can’t you see I’m working?” The girl called William Hill frowned, displeased.

  Little Dawn blinked, stuck out her tongue, and looked embarrassed. “Sorry, Senior Sister, I didn’t know you were busy!”

  Her eyes sparkled, and she quickly said, “William Hill Senior Sister, are you still trying to crack that ‘Red Fish Young Master’s’ illusion talisman? How’s it going? Any success?”

  William Hill’s expression changed slightly, and she replied awkwardly, “Almost, I’ll crack it very soon!”

  Little Dawn pouted and said, “But you said the same thing yesterday! Senior Sister, if you don’t crack this thing soon, we’ll really be strapped for spirit stones this month. I saw a little spirit cat yesterday and was hoping to buy it once we got paid!”

  William Hill frowned and said, “You little rascal, all you think about is raising spirit cats. Can’t you help Senior Sister crack this talisman? Our elite disciples’ monthly allowance all comes from the income of the affiliated academies. Now this Red Fish Young Master has made this so-called ‘Basic Rune Compendium,’ causing our illusion talisman sales to drop by thirty percent this month.

  Now their illusion talismans are selling over a hundred a day. If this keeps up, we’ll be in a tough spot...”

Chapter 8: Trouble Caused by Illusion Talismans!

  “Failed again!” Little Dawn cried out in surprise.

  A flash of fire appeared on a grass-orchid illusion talisman on the table. The talisman paper quickly burned and turned to ashes in an instant.

  Little Dawn’s lively eyes stared at William Hill, full of disbelief.

  William Hill gritted her teeth hard, feeling utterly frustrated—this was already her seventeenth failure.

  Such a simple grass-orchid illusion talisman, and she still couldn’t crack it. Who exactly was this Red Fish Young Master?

  The South Sea Immortal Cultivation Academy had many affiliated cultivation classes, which were an important source of income for the academy.

  These cultivation classes involved many profit channels, and one key channel had been handed over to the academy’s elite disciples.

  That is, all the cultivation materials, medicines, low-level magic tools, and various study manuals needed by the low-level disciples of the cultivation classes—this entire market was controlled by the elite disciples.

  The income from this part would be shared among all the elite disciples!

  The whole academy was divided into many halls. For example, the elite disciples of the Alchemy Hall dominated the market for all low-level medicinal herbs in the affiliated cultivation classes.

  The elite disciples of the Artifact Hall dominated the market for low-level magic tools in the major affiliated cultivation classes.

  As for the Talisman Hall, the market for all kinds of illusion talisman materials, simplified manual illusion talismans, basic talisman paper, talisman ink, and talisman brushes was all under the control of the elite disciples of the Talisman Hall.

  It was the duty of the elite disciples to dominate and maintain the order of the market.

  But not long ago, a new type of “Basic Rune Study Compendium” illusion talisman suddenly became popular in the cultivation classes. This talisman was very simple to make, and its content was even simpler—it just analyzed the meaning and usage of basic runes one by one.

  There were no illusions in the talisman, only simple text and image analyses. The text was straightforward, the images clear and intuitive, and it was specifically aimed at the academy’s various rune assessments.

  Because it was simple, direct, highly targeted, and most importantly, cheap, it quickly became a hot commodity among the low-level disciples of the cultivation classes.

  At first, William Hill didn’t pay much attention, but after half a month, according to market feedback, the sales of the Talisman Hall’s standard illusion talismans had dropped by more than thirty percent this month.

  Only then did she suddenly realize that someone was stirring up trouble.

  She quickly found a sample of this “Basic Rune Study Compendium” illusion talisman and discovered that each talisman was designed for one person.

  Anyone could use the talisman—just input their own mana imprint, and the contents would immediately appear, extremely convenient.

  But once one person used the talisman, no one else could use it.

  Otherwise, the talisman paper would self-destruct, burning to ashes in an instant!

  It had to be said, the person who made this talisman was quite cunning, coming up with such a strange method to prevent copying and multiple users per talisman.

  William Hill was highly skilled in talisman arts and knew of more than a dozen rune combinations that could achieve this effect.

  But what intrigued her was that this simple illusion talisman, with only a few dozen crooked rune imprints, could achieve such a function.

  None of the rune combinations William Hill knew could accomplish this with such simplicity.

  Was it really worth using such a method on a low-level grass-orchid illusion talisman? And with the talisman being so cheap, wouldn’t the maker be losing out?

  William Hill immediately became deeply interested and decisively gave up on the idea of sweeping this kind of talisman out of the market right away.