Seeing the laws in a natural flow, he confirmed no one was using Daoist Magic to spy on him. However, he couldn’t rule out a rune used for observation.
Sending out his Soul Sense he scanned the room several times to check.
He also scanned this hologram as well.
It wasn’t the first time he did this, but it wouldn’t be the last. He was careful to not reveal anything that give away a link between the Faceless Hero and Li Shen, or at least to anyone who didn’t want to for now.
After all of that scanning, Li Shen released a sigh before he put away his unimpressive membership card and took out the VIP card Huifen gave him.
Till now he hadn’t so much as used it, not that he didn’t want to but that he hadn’t needed to.
He planned on using it now, however, he was hesitant.
It wouldn’t be weird if these cards were tracked so the Mercenary Association knew who was using them.
And the Faceless Hero using the one the Second Prince had would create a link between his two identities.
As for him having the only one of these, he didn’t believe it. There was no way in its long history the Association didn’t hand out at least a dozen, it’s possible that it just wasn’t known to the public.
Li Shen looked at the card in his hand as he twirl it a bit.
‘I could spend a few months or maybe a year tracking this person down, but…’
Li Shen paused his thought as a memory of Huifen giving him the card appeared in his mind.
He remembered the emotion he saw in Huifen's heart when he looked at him.
It was shock. Extreme shock.
‘He saw something.’
Li Shen knew then that Huifen discovered something about him, but he didn’t know what exactly, only a suspicion.
‘If I’m not wrong, he would be the one...’
Without finishing that thought, Li Shen threw the card onto the table.
The runes light up around it analyzing it.
Suddenly, the hologram projection disappeared back into the wall, and the runes around the card faded away.
Immediately as this happens, Li Shen sensed a figure teleporting into the room, despite it being jammed with anti teleportation runes.
This person’s being able to bypass these runes and teleport in here surprised Li Shen, their mastery of a Nascent Realm's natural spatial teleportation ability was extremely high.
However, what didn’t surprise him was that it was Huifen that appeared across from him.
Immediately after appearing, Huifen looked at Li Shen’s appearance with a bit of surprise on his face, though he quickly recovered from it.
Looking down at the black card on the table Huifen took it up before saying.
“I never expected the Second Prince would turn out to be the enigmatic Face-less Hero who I can’t stop hearing about.”
Huifen gave Li Shen a smile as he said that.
Li Shen however said.
“Really? Because you seem to be watching me a lot.”
Weisheng wasn’t the only one who he found out was observing him.
They were plenty of people that wanted to unmask him, but only one other entity of Weisheng’s level watching him.
Li Shen concluded it was Huifen.
One small clue was that it started immediately after he joined the Mercenary Association. The only persons who truly know for certain that the Face-less Hero joined were the Leader and Vice Leader of the Mercenary Association.
To not go into details, Li Shen had used a few months to establish his reputation and worth before contacting the Association.
His signing to the Association was personally overseen by the Vice Leader, and as a consequence, the Leader must have known as well.
Huifen happened to be the Leader’s disciple so his discovering that he joined wouldn’t be impossible.
As to how Huifen could make the big leap in connecting his identity as the Second Prince to the Face-less Hero, Li Shen went back to what Huifen saw in the hall that shocked him.
It wasn’t about discovering that the person he saw at the Huang Clan was him, his shock was too great. Huifen gave him the VIP card because he saw something, and what he saw on him then, he had seen it on the Face-less Hero.
Hearing Li Shen’s words, Huifen's smile didn’t leave his face, it only got wider.
“Let’s take this somewhere else, shall we?”
Before his words could finish completely, his and Li Shen’s figure disappeared from the booth to reappear in another one, albeit more luxurious.
Huifen plop down on the sofa before he took out a gourd and popped the cork.
After taking a swig he casually toss it towards Li Shen, who caught it with a firm grip.
“Care to drink?”
Huifen said but only after throwing the bottle.
Li Shen reached up and took off his masked while saying.
“If you wanted me take of my mask to make sure it was me, you could have simply said so.”
Huifen chuckled at that, but he didn’t deny that was his intention by giving him the wine gourd.
Li Shen sniffed the wine a bit and smelling the fragrance his eyes light up.
He down a mouth full in one go, but he instantly regretted it.
The flavor of the wine was explosive and his senses was immediately bombarded with tastes, ranging from spicy, bitter, sweet, and more prominently burning hot lava.
Huifen froze when he saw the massive gulp Li Shen took, but then seeing him only shaking his head bit with nothing happening after he showed a surprised expression.
“What the fuck was that?”
With tears forming at the corners of his eyes, Li Shen forced out in a horse voice.
“That was wine I found in my Master’s cave, it’s supposed to be jade wine but as you can see it aged to the point it become that explosive mess.”
Li Shen took a depth breath as he tried to relieve his throat and stomach which were currently on fire.
He thought it was Jade Wine, which was a rather popular, rare, and expensive wine among top cultivators from the smell, but that wine wasn’t it. Despite his brain analyzing the ingredients to be the ones used in Jade Wine, he refused to believe this horrible thing wasn't it!
But after a few moments, Li Shen began smacking his lips as the aftertaste came in.
‘Maybe another…’
With that, he put the gourd at his lips again.
Huifen who had expected to receive his turn saw this and thought.
‘I’m not getting that back am I?’
He chuckled in his heart before he took out another gourd, but it didn’t contain Jade Wine only ordinary wine.
Looking at Li Shen, Huifen said.
“Brother Shen… can I call you brother Shen?”
Seeing Li Shen waving his hand casually Huifen smiled and continued.
“Brother Shen, I’m sure you have some questions for me right? You can ask me anything and I’ll answer them truthfully.”
Hearing that, Li Shen paused his hand moving to his lips before he asked.
“What do you see when you look at me now?”
Huifen paused at that, a hesitant expression appearing on his face. Though after a brief moment he looked at Li Shen and said.
“I’m sure brother Shen’s intention is to form a partnership by revealing your identity to me.”
Li Shen shrugged.
“I mostly just confirmed your suspicions right? But I guess you aren’t wrong on that, though it depends.”
Li Shen's words sounded short, but Huifen could tell what he meant.
Looking at Li Shen deeply, he said.
“What I see when I look at you is the energy of the earth entering your body from the ground.”
Li Shen hearing that raised an eyebrow.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om