Chapter 1490 - Tables Turned Around
The crowd froze at Liu Wuxie's question. They had all watched the Memory Talisman only moments ago, and none of them had noticed anything amiss, leaving them to trade equally blank looks.
"Liu Wuxie, are you doubting the authenticity of the Memory Talisman?" Li Hong sneered. The Memory Talisman was genuine, and everything in it looked crystal clear.
"We'll know if it's real or not once we test it," Liu Wuxie said, his smile deepening as he gestured for Li Hong to play the Memory Talisman again.
Right before everyone's eyes, Li Hong played the Memory Talisman once more. His group battled the Golden-Horned Bull, and his companion—running low on true essence—pulled out a pill and prepared to swallow it.
"Hold it right there," Liu Wuxie said, and he waved his hand to pause the Memory Talisman.
"Liu Wuxie, why did you stop it? Is there a problem here?" A middle-aged man asked as he stepped out from the crowd. He was a local cultivator in Mount Dragon City, neither hostile nor friendly toward the Heavenly Dao Society, and curiosity alone had pushed him forward.
"Everyone, look carefully. This person turned his back against the talisman before he consumed the pill, and he turned back around in the exact moment he took it. Don't any of you find it strange?" Liu Wuxie asked.
At Liu Wuxie's prompt, everyone leaned in, and the detail snapped into sharp relief. They saw the man turn away before taking the pill, his back facing the Memory Talisman, yet he happened to turn around at the exact moment he swallowed it. He nearly got killed by the Golden Horned Bull in that same instant.
"It doesn't make any sense. In an actual fight, you'll swallow the pill immediately if you're short on true essence. Why would you make an extra effort and take the risk to turn around?" Someone in the crowd asked.
No one had noticed that detail earlier until Liu Wuxie had pointed it out.
"Did Li Hong's group deliberately want to let others see that the person had died because he swallowed a pill produced by the Heavenly Dao Society?" Another voice rose.
If he had kept his back turned, no one would have seen him take the pill, and that made it seem intentional. Otherwise, why would the victim suddenly turn around to swallow the pill in the middle of a life-and-death fight with an astral beast?