Chapter 44: Intimidation!

"What does Magistrate Zhang mean by this?" Yang Jie asked with a deep frown and a look of utter confusion.

"The wind and snow outside are simply too fierce," Qi Xuan took the initiative to explain. "They are so blindingly heavy that one can barely make out the path. Lord Zhang deemed it too dangerous and had us turn back."

"Indeed! I've never seen such a violent blizzard in all my born days. If I didn't know better, I'd think we were in the Northern Barrens—it's far more blinding than a sandstorm."

Zhang Rui remained silent, fixing a steady gaze on Yang Jie. The depths of his eyes were filled with chilling hostility. He had no intention of worrying about those scholars, yet this fellow remained insatiable, seemingly determined to trap everyone here. The unnatural blizzard outside was undoubtedly tied to him, but an evil entity capable of manipulating the weather was a bit of an exaggeration.

In his own discarded draft settings, beings capable of controlling the weather were monsters that awakened in the later stages. Surely he couldn't have run into one by such coincidence?

"Oh, so that's how it is. We actually thought Brother Qi was just sucking up to this esteemed official all the way until we reached the capital," a tribute student sneered sarcastically.

Qi Xuan frowned at these words. His fellow students seemed to harbor a great deal of resentment toward him now, but he didn't care much. From the moment he suspected something was wrong with Yang Jie, he had no intention of warning those people. He knew that if he issued a warning, perhaps none of them would be able to leave. Having made a selfish decision, he didn't expect this crowd to treat him kindly, nor did he feel any pity for them. If they hadn't realized by now that Yang Jie was suspicious, such fools were not worth associating with anyway.

"My lord, shall we go inside to escape the cold first?" Qi Xuan turned back to suggest.

Zhang Rui nodded slightly, though something still felt deeply amiss. Naturally, he wouldn't dare let his family risk the extreme blizzard outside, but the interior of this temple... made him feel even more uneasy.

Dammit, where on earth did Murong Yunji and that old man Zeng go? Nothing could have actually happened to them, could it?

What kind of ghost or monster could be this troublesome?

"Mother, you and Father rest for a while first. I'll have someone heat up a bowl of ginger soup for you."

"I'm fine, there's no need..." the old lady smiled. "The restorative tonic you gave me yesterday worked wonders. I've felt warm all over since today. It's no trouble at all, and with such a fierce storm outside, the worst that can happen is we rest here for another night."

Zhang Rui frowned. Rest for another night? What would become of those people who hadn't consumed the vital essence yesterday? If they rested another night, they'd probably be done for.

Moreover, it was impossible for him to pull out his precious vital essence to sustain everyone like this. Besides, he had a hunch that if these people perished, things would become extremely troublesome.

With this thought, he suddenly remembered that one of the scholars had apparently died during the day. Glancing around, he noticed the corpse was nowhere to be seen, so he asked, "Where is the body of the man who unfortunately passed away yesterday?"

"Why is my lord so concerned about that?" Yang Jie chimed in again.

Zhang Rui shot him an icy glare. "This official is asking you people a question. Just answer it."

"And what if we don't want to answer?" Yang Jie smiled.

"You're welcome to try," Zhang Rui smiled back.

"What?" Seeing the coldness in the other's eyes, Yang Jie felt a strange shiver run through him, but he forced a smile and said, "Does my lord intend to resort to violence? We are all men of scholarly repute. Under broad daylight, what does my lord plan to do to us?"

Hearing this, the other scholars nodded in agreement and stepped behind Yang Jie. Qi Xuan, on the other hand, wore a speechlessly exasperated expression. Had these fellows lost their minds from studying too much? Why let themselves be led by the nose by someone they had only known for a year?

"The scholar who died yesterday was clearly abnormal, and so are you and your fellow students standing behind you. I am escorting my family to the capital to report for duty; naturally, I must be cautious. Since we are out here in the wilderness, let's dispense with the talk of scholarly honor. How many tribute students die on the road every year?"

Zhang Rui's tone was flat, yet the scholars opposite him felt as though he wasn't just trying to scare them. His gaze was so chillingly detached that it seemed he really might do something drastic.

"Is my lord trying to frighten us?" Yang Jie scoffed with amusement. "Even if you've lost your mind, have the martial guards behind you lost theirs too?"

"Impudent!" Lin Bao and the others furrowed their brows, somewhat annoyed by the surnamed Yang scholar's arrogance, yet they were inexplicably curious about Lord Zhang. Although the official's attitude wasn't great, what he said was true. They were official martial guards and couldn't possibly attack a group of scholars with official academic status. What was the use of Lord Zhang making such empty threats?

"Do you think I'm just trying to frighten you?" Zhang Rui stepped forward, moving very slowly, yet inexplicably, with every step he took, the hearts of the scholars opposite skipped a beat.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the momentum of this frail-looking magistrate as he walked step by step felt like an overwhelming mountain, pressing down on them to the point where they could barely breathe.

Yang Jie was also startled. Looking more closely, he saw that the stone flags beneath Lord Zhang's feet were actually cracking under the pressure.

You've got to be kidding me? This temple was...

"My lord?" The martial guards behind him also sensed that something was terribly wrong. Why did this Magistrate Zhang's imposing aura feel even more terrifying than their own general back in Yunzhou?

Surely he wasn't planning to use Daoist arts against a group of scholars with official status, was he?

That was a supreme taboo!

Without a second thought, Lin Bao reached out to stop him, directly placing a hand on Zhang Rui's shoulder to halt his advance. "My lord, you mustn't—hmph?"

The moment his hand touched the shoulder, a massive force surged backward, causing his arm to snap away as if struck by lightning. His tall frame staggered backward repeatedly, and Old Du behind him, sensing danger, quickly stepped forward to support him and steady his footing!

"Baozi... what's going on?" Old Du asked in a low voice.

With a look of sheer terror, Lin Bao stared at Zhang Rui, then slowly extended the arm he had tucked into his sleeve. Seeing it, Old Du gasped in shock.

At that moment, Lin Bao's arm was twisted like a braided cruller, and his tendons and bones were clearly completely dislocated. Yet he had clearly witnessed that Magistrate Zhang hadn't done a single thing—just a tap on the shoulder had such a severe consequence? What kind of dangerous technique was that?

Lin Bao looked back at Zhang Rui's retreating figure with lingering fear, not daring to utter a sound for a long time.

That wasn't a technique...

He had encountered it once before, right around the New Year when the Third Prince came to Youyun on official business. At the time, failing to recognize the prince's status, Lin Bao had committed a minor transgression and reached out with his hand just like this, brushing against the shoulder of Eunuch Qin, who stood behind the prince. As a result, his hand had been jolted and dislocated in the exact same manner.

The bone-setter who treated him later had explained that once a martial artist reaches the First-Rank Martial Realm, their physique becomes entirely different from that of an ordinary person. Their entire body's flesh hardens like adamant. As long as they maintain their inner breath, swords cannot pierce them, and they need not fear sneak attacks; incoming arrows will even be instinctively deflected and snapped in two by the body itself. If you physically collide with such a physique, the outcome will be precisely what he had just experienced. He was lucky Eunuch Qin had shown mercy and not bothered with him, otherwise his entire body might have been twisted into a pretzel just like his arm.

At the time, he hadn't believed it and had stubbornly argued, "Could that person really have done nothing and simply used his physical body to twist me into a cruller? What realm is a mere eunuch anyway?"

"That Qin... is a Half-Step Grandmaster!"

He had broken out in a cold sweat at the time, never expecting that he would one day have the opportunity to touch the shoulder of a Half-Step Grandmaster in this lifetime.

Yet even back then, it hadn't been as terrifying as the Magistrate Zhang before his eyes. This magistrate... was actually on the same level as Lord Qin Fang?

"M-My lord!"

Finally, someone among the scholars ahead cracked under the pressure. His legs turned to jelly, and he collapsed onto the ground, trembling as he stammered, "L-Lin Ye's corpse... was taken away by his coachman."

Hearing this, Zhang Rui halted his steps. The mountain-like pressure instantly vanished. All the scholars ahead, including Yang Jie, collapsed onto the ground with ashen faces, their legs shaking violently, utterly unable to stand.

Zhang Rui cast a cold glance at Yang Jie. "This official will only issue a warning like today's once..."

Yang Jie bit down hard on his teeth without uttering a word. Zhang Rui frowned slightly, said nothing more, and turned to walk toward his family.

"Brother... you look so majestic..." Zhang Meng was standing further away and hadn't felt the oppressive aura; in her eyes, she had simply seen her eldest brother take a few steps forward and the scholars were so frightened they collapsed to the ground.

Could this perhaps be the legendary official majesty?

How utterly handsome.

The old lady, however, frowned. "My son, why are you giving those scholars a hard time? They might become your colleagues in the future."

"Your son has his own plans. Mother should rest; I'll have someone stoke the fire."

The old lady nodded upon hearing this and pressed no further. The scholars in the distance retreated even farther away, and even the group of martial guards looked at Zhang Rui with cautious, fearful eyes.

Meanwhile, Zhang Rui leaned against a shadowed corner and closed his eyes to rest.

Using that trick carried a heavy side effect. The moment he withdrew the pressure, he felt dizzy and his heart raced violently; if he hadn't suppressed it, he might well have vomited right then and there.

He forcibly clenched his jaw to keep the strange foreign sensation in his throat from forcing its way out.

A Grandmaster's imposing aura? Of course he didn't possess such capability; it was merely a bluff. As for how he pulled it off, it relied on the items harvested from Northern Sea City within the Heavenly Mystery Box.

That's right, it was Master Tian's dismantled remains.

After Master Tian's death, the evil entity naturally couldn't escape and had been handed over to him by Murong Yunji along with the rest. At this point, there were already three types of evil entity materials inside the Myriad Mechanism Box.

The first was the painting spirit that Tian Ye had initially left behind. To this day, he still hadn't forced out its true identity, but three of its abilities had already been stripped away, including Scroll Form, Entering Painting, and Storing Painting.

The second was the evil entity *Camellia*, which had caused the annihilation of the entire Northern Sea City. This entity was rather dangerous, and Zhang Rui had exterminated it at the first opportunity to turn it into material. Like the painting spirit, it was temporarily sealed within jade.

Jade was the best short-term material for crafting spiritual tools. Its advantage was that, relying on the Myriad Mechanism Box, basically any evil entity could be refined into it; its disadvantage was that it was fragile and unstable. If slightly overused, it would break and need to be sent back into the Myriad Mechanism Box for repair. Since he currently lacked an artificer's heritage and knew none of the basics of artifact refining, he could only rely on this method to generate a bit of immediate combat power.

What he had just used was a certain ability belonging to the evil entity *Camellia*, named: [Bridal Robe]. It allowed the user to channel collected vital essence to transform mortals. Master San had previously gained Grandmaster-level power due to this ability, but it required a lengthy period of bodily conditioning. Using it abruptly, as he had just done, placed a severe burden on the body.

Moreover, it couldn't be overused. It only functioned while holding the jade containing the [Bridal Robe] ability inside one's mouth. Previously, *Camellia* had absorbed the vital essence of hundreds of thousands of people, and that power was so immense that the jade simply couldn't endure it for long. He had only used it for a short moment just now, and the jade in his mouth had already shown clear signs of cracking.

Yang Jie was right; he was merely bluffing.

Given that the opponent's methods were uncanny, Murong Yunji had gone missing, they couldn't escape outside, and this temple gave him a thoroughly bad feeling, he—completely devoid of intelligence regarding the situation—had no choice but to use intimidation to force the other party to reveal a flaw.

Judging by the opponent's reaction just now, Yang Jie himself probably didn't possess much actual power. Should he find an opportunity to strike directly at him?

As he pondered this, he turned his head and inadvertently glanced up at the idol statue above. Suddenly, a thought struck him with curiosity: "Mother, what is enshrined in this temple?"

"You child..." the old lady glared at him. "What kind of crowd have you been running with these past few years in the north? You don't even know of the Azure Phoenix Goddess?"

"The Azure Phoenix Goddess?" Zhang Rui paused, feeling like the name sounded vaguely familiar.

Yet he failed to notice that as he looked toward the idol, a distinct expression of tension flickered across Yang Jie's eyes in the distance...