She decided to first crack the small technique contained within this talisman. If such a method could really be achieved so easily, and all the standard low-level talismans of the Talisman Hall adopted this method in the future, wouldn’t their income skyrocket?

But what she never expected was that, no matter what method she used, she simply could not glimpse the complete rune combination of this talisman.

She first tried using spiritual power, but as soon as her spiritual power touched the rune combination itself, the talisman paper would immediately make a “pop” sound, followed by a choking tobacco smell, and it would be instantly ruined.

She tried six or seven different ways to channel her spiritual power, but all failed, resulting in six or seven piles of talisman ash.

For this, she spent a full three or four days.

Next, she racked her brains and decided to use her divine sense to investigate.

Her cultivation had just reached the Divine Sense stage, and each use of divine sense consumed a lot of energy.

But she was stubborn and competitive, so she didn’t care about that. What baffled her even more was that using divine sense didn’t work either.

As soon as her divine sense touched the body of the rune combination, the talisman paper would “pop” and ignite, then quickly turn to ashes.

She searched through all the divine sense rune-cracking texts in the Sutra Pavilion, summarized and compiled seven or eight extremely cautious and safe cracking methods, but without exception, all of them failed...

And today, she was originally full of confidence, because she had specially consulted her master, gained inspiration, and thought of a method she believed to be absolutely foolproof.

However, she was disappointed once again—her last two attempts had both failed!

Failure after failure drove her crazy; she could hardly accept this fact.

She stared fixedly at the newly taken-out illusion talisman on the table, muttering, “This is provocation, this is a prank, someone is definitely doing this on purpose, trying to ruin our Talisman Hall’s reputation! Despicable!”

Beside her, Little Dawn blinked, her lips curling slightly as she said softly, “William Hill Senior Sister, you’d better just order these things to be cleared from the market! Now even the Cultivation Class’s talisman shop is selling them. If this goes on, our standard talismans are doomed!”

A sharp light flashed in William Hill’s eyes, her expression shifting between cloudy and clear.

After a long while, she snorted and said, “No! Absolutely not! I don’t believe this person won’t show their true colors. We’ll just wait by the tree for the rabbit—we must catch this person! I want to see what this sneaky fellow looks like, daring to challenge the authority of our Talisman Hall!”

Little Dawn’s delicate brows furrowed, as if she was deep in thought. After a long pause, she suddenly said, “William Hill Senior Sister, do you think this Young Master Red Fish could be Eric Clark?”

“Eric Clark? Who’s that? An elite disciple from which hall?” William Hill looked at Little Dawn in confusion.

“Haha!” Little Dawn burst out laughing, her laughter exaggerated. She clutched her stomach with one hand and pointed at William Hill with the other, saying, “William Hill Senior Sister, you’re so out of touch! You don’t even know our Talisman Hall’s most awesome black-robed disciple, Eric Clark? He even defeated Master Grace Foster, the talisman prodigy, in a duel!”

“What? A black-robed disciple defeated Grace Foster? And a talisman prodigy? That’s ridiculous!” William Hill’s eyes widened, her expression suddenly changing.

Just hearing Grace Foster’s name made her feel uncomfortable.

Grace Foster of the Gao family was only a year older than her; the two had similar talent since childhood, and their cultivation was neck and neck.

But everything changed when Grace Foster became a disciple of “One-Word Wisdom Sword” Immortal Jiang, specializing in swordsmanship, and last year even broke through to the Innate stage in one go.

What William Hill found hard to accept was that after Grace Foster broke through and joined the South Sea Cultivation Academy, she still chose to enter the Talisman Hall.

A sword cultivator, even if Innate, could become a master in the Talisman Hall?

William Hill was the first to object.

She publicly challenged Grace Foster to a talisman debate, but in the end, she lost in disappointment—Grace Foster’s talisman skills were also unfathomable...

Because of this, William Hill had always been obsessed, treating Grace Foster as her greatest rival and target to surpass.

But now Little Dawn was saying that a black-robed junior cultivator from the Talisman Hall had defeated Grace Foster—how could she believe that?

Little Dawn giggled, gently patted the small, exquisite storage pouch at her waist, and a compact message jade screen appeared in her hand.

“Don’t believe it? Let me show you a little illusion!” Little Dawn blinked proudly.

She skillfully entered the academy’s message jade platform, opened the recently trending illusion on the platform, and placed it in front of William Hill.

William Hill’s delicate brows furrowed as she stared at the jade screen. As the illusion played, her eyes twitched a few times, her expression suddenly changed, then turned confused, and finally several flashes of sharp light appeared in her gaze.

In just a dozen breaths, her face went through at least four or five different expressions.

Little Dawn leaned closer to William Hill, blinking mischievously, and said, “Well? Do you believe it now? Isn’t it amazing? I didn’t even know there was a hidden rune inside the ‘Peachwood Talisman Sword.’ This Eric Clark is so cool, so dashing, really hiding his true abilities…”

William Hill snorted, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, and said, “That guy is just a scoundrel, a blind cat that stumbled upon a dead mouse. If he really fought Grace Foster, Grace Foster could wipe him out with just a glance!”