As time silently passed, the group of cultivators that Li Ji’an could mingle with became fewer, and many ultimately had no choice but to accept the queue for inspection.

The situation grew increasingly dangerous, yet Li Ji’an became even more calm.

He carefully evaluated all the resources he could utilize at the moment.

Six tier-three Lifebound Spirit Talismans, which would have little effect against True Pill mid-to-late stage True Men of the Ten Thousand Laws Palace, especially on their territory.

Two embryonic magical treasures and one ninth-grade magical treasure, but given the Ten Thousand Laws Palace’s foundation, they likely wouldn’t amount to much.

A tier-three poison... could catch them off guard, but True Man Chunyuan’s title as Pill King is no mere fame, with the same source for pills and poison, there surely wouldn’t be a shortage of Antitoxic Pills.

The Faceless Mask... only this Dao Artifact from ancient times might be effective.

"It’s just... it can conceal appearance and body shape, confuse the aura of magical power, yet it can’t hide the mind... huh!"

After carefully considering for a moment, Li Ji’an’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Without further hesitation, he flew towards the Profound Light Immortal City.

--------

West City Slum of Profound Light Immortal City.

Inside a gambling den.

"Big, big, big!"

"Small, small, small!"

"I bet big, ten taels of Spiritual Sand!"

"I bet five taels."

...

A group of Qi Cultivators with bloodshot eyes was screaming hoarsely around the gambling table centered on a dice cup enclosed in a translucent light shield.

This was a gambling table for lower-level cultivators, surrounded by an Absolute Spirit Array that isolated the internal Spiritual Qi, preventing interference from magical power, while the dice cup was a quality Magical Artifact capable of blocking divine sense probing below Core Formation.

As the dice cup fell into the Absolute Spirit Array, people around the table placed their bets in quick succession.

"Open!"

"Another big!"

"How does this kid have such good luck, winning big eighteen times in a row."

"He’s been winning nearly a hundred Spirit Stones over the past three days."

...

As the dice cup opened, there were both wins and losses, but everyone’s gaze invariably fell on a Qi Cultivation 3rd Layer young man beside the table.

The young man had been at the gambling den for three days, having turned his initial bet of three taels of Spiritual Sand into almost three thousand times that amount.

Considering that in a small gambling den like this, the wins or losses would be merely a dozen or so taels of Spiritual Sand per game, and the young man mainly bet on big and small rather than high odds like triples, being able to win nearly a hundred Spirit Stones was entirely thanks to his betting accuracy reaching as high as eighty percent.

The owner behind the gambling den even secretly hired a Foundation Establishment Tributor to observe, but nothing unusual was found.

As for being able to see through the dice cup, that possibility was almost zero.

After all, which Core Formation True Man would idly come to such a small gambling den, winning this amount of Spirit Stones in three days, which is purely a waste of time.

However, for the gamblers inside the den, the Spirit Stones the young man won were enough to make them envious.

Sensing everyone’s gaze, the young man quickly and carefully pocketed all his Spirit Stones: "Enough, enough, I can buy the Flying Cloud Pill to break through the bottleneck now."

Then, keeping a low profile with his head down, he vigilantly looked around before swiftly exiting the gambling den.

However, not far from leaving the den, another figure quietly followed him.

Once at a corner, the young man was finally blocked in a dead-end alley by the other person.

"Kid, if you know what’s good for you, hand over the Spirit Stones... ah, you..." But before a complete sentence could be uttered, he suddenly felt a chill all over, his consciousness growing heavier and ultimately falling into nothingness.

The young man let a cold smile slip across his lips, subconsciously licking the corners of his mouth.

"This..." In the next instant after licking his lips, the young man’s expression slightly froze.

"Is this the side effect of the Faceless Mask? Continuing to play as Huang Jie for too long, my heart nature has been assimilated?"

The young man was naturally Li Ji’an, who previously, upon returning to Profound Light Immortal City, had started searching for a suitable candidate until he accidentally found this gambling addict.

Coincidentally, he was just a servant disciple of the Ten Thousand Laws Palace’s outer sect, with no background connections, hence he had fallen to the most impoverished and barren West City Slum.

Using the Faceless Mask, he extracted his essence blood and Divine Soul, replacing them with the Essence Blood of the Red Stone Wanderer.

Activating the essence blood, he instantly transformed into the appearance of the gambling addict.

"Zhao Ming, a servant disciple of the Ten Thousand Laws Palace, a West City patrol team member, with a Qi Cultivation 6th Layer, was once an ambitious person, sparing no effort to join the Ten Thousand Laws Palace, cultivating hard, hoping for a turnaround one day... however, his identity as a servant disciple destined him to be overlooked. Ten years ago, to break through the middle stage of Qi Cultivation, he lacked contribution, ran out of Spirit Stones, and, holding a hope of luck, gambled for the first time, then sunk deeper ever since, now owing over a hundred Spirit Stones in debt, unable to make ends meet monthly..."

After carefully inspecting Zhao Ming’s Sea of Consciousness and memory, Li Ji’an secretly nodded; isolated with thin relationships, besides a few companions at the slum bottom, he had no deep connections with sect friends.

Even if he were to really die one day, no one would care.

Removing the Restriction Array and erasing all traces, Li Ji’an returned to the West City patrol team under Zhao Ming’s identity.

For the following half month, Li Ji’an lingered in the Immortal City disguised as Zhao Ming.

On this day, just as he was about to patrol the streets as usual and then head to the gambling den, he saw the captain walk in with a stern face: "Supreme Elder Order, immediately gather all cultivators in the area at the square for interrogation, those who disobey will be killed without mercy!"

With that, the captain sharply scanned the crowd: "I don’t care about the usual, but whoever disrupts the Supreme Elder’s grand matter this time will deserve to die!"

"Group yourselves into threes; if anyone from the responsible area is missed, the entire team won’t fare well."

Li Ji’an felt a tremor in his heart. Although he had long anticipated this day, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of fear.

Without the Faceless Mask, he really couldn’t think of another way to escape.

That day, all cultivators, whether permanent residents or temporary stayers in the Immortal City, were taken to designated areas for inspection.