Chapter 165

Chapter 165

When Yao Tianlin heard Zeng Qingfeng personally admit that he had deliberately built the smokestacks to create fire-form baleforce and harm his family, his rage erupted.

“Damn you! You bastard.”

He clenched his teeth and fists.

He wanted nothing more than to rush forward and beat the man viciously!

But reason made Yao Tianlin restrain himself.

This was the other man’s territory, after all… And before we left, I had told him not to rush. I intended to make use of this man first.

Seeing Yao Tianlin’s ferocious expression, Zeng Qingfeng burst into laughter again.

“Do you know something, Boss Yao? I love watching people despise me while being completely unable to touch me.”

With that, he sat back in his black leather chair.

He even crossed his legs, wearing an arrogant expression that said, “What can you possibly do to me?”

Zeng Qingfeng probably figured that since they had already torn away all pretense, there was no reason for further false courtesy.

“Oh, really? You think there’s nothing we can do to you?”

I sneered, stepped forward, and regarded him with an ambiguous smile.

Zeng Qingfeng froze.

The vicious smile on his face stiffened.

He had probably only now remembered that I had instantly identified the Reverse-Bow Fire-Metal Baleforce Formation at his brickworks. Anyone capable of seeing through it couldn’t be ordinary!

Zeng Qingfeng therefore restrained himself slightly.

“I misjudged you! I never expected such a young little brother to possess such impressive abilities. I wondered why Yao Tianlin brought two children. It seems you’re the helpers he hired?”

I shrugged without confirming or denying it.

Zeng Qingfeng smiled.

“If he hired you to help, then this is a relationship based on profit. How much did Yao Tianlin pay you? I’ll pay double! Don’t doubt me. I may not own many businesses in Lianghe Town, but I have businesses in several other large towns.”

Fubei might have been only a county, but it had a long history. It had formally become a county during the Eastern Jin dynasty, nearly seventeen hundred years earlier!

It controlled a vital transportation corridor between Sichuan and Chongqing. Since ancient times, it had been strategically contested territory and one of the southwest’s transportation hubs, with a prosperous economy and flourishing river trade.

Thus, when the winds of reform began to blow, Fubei’s economy and society also developed quite well.

Many of the more than twenty towns under the county’s administration were ancient towns with histories stretching back a thousand years. They seized the opportunity presented by the market economy and rose to prominence.

Fubei locals referred to towns with populations above fifty thousand as “large towns”–there were six in total.

Lianghe Town, the largest town outside Fubei County’s urban center, had a total population exceeding seventy thousand!

Zeng Qingfeng’s meaning was clear: although he couldn’t compare with Yao Tianlin within Lianghe Town, his overall financial strength was greater.

“Oh?”

I gave him an ambiguous smile.

“You mean to buy me off and make me switch sides, Boss Zeng? I suppose that isn’t impossible…”

Delight immediately flashed through his eyes.

Since he harmed people through feng shui, he naturally didn’t fear the police. His earlier taunt that Yao Tianlin might be sent to a psychiatric hospital if he reported the crime may even have been true.

But he was somewhat wary of a boy like me who had recognized the Reverse-Bow Fire-Metal Baleforce Formation at a glance.

“But twice his price probably isn’t enough.”

“How much do you want, little brother?”

Zeng Qingfeng shot Yao Tianlin a triumphant look and even took a pack of cigarettes from his desk drawer, preparing to smoke.

He probably thought he could spend money to avert disaster.

“All your assets! Give me everything and keep not a single cent.”

“What?!”

Anger flashed through Zeng Qingfeng’s serpentine eyes as he glared at me.

“You’re playing with me!”

I laughed loudly. “Exactly. I’m playing with you.”

Zeng Qingfeng flew into a rage.

“Very well! Don’t think I’m truly afraid of you merely because you’re a feng shui master. A feng shui master is impressive only when I show him respect. Without my respect, you’re nothing but an ordinary little brat. If you truly provoke me, I’ll have you…”

He drew a finger across his throat. He had clearly committed his share of crimes!

I said nothing and raised my hand, casting a sheet of talisman paper.

Whoosh!

The talisman paper burst into flame the instant it left my hand. It became a fireball, traced an orange line through the air, and flew straight at Zeng Qingfeng’s face.

It lit the cigarette between his fingers and burned away his eyebrows and mustache while it was there.

Beside me, Wang Dachun couldn’t stop himself from bursting out laughing.

I said indifferently, “I lit your cigarette for you, Boss Zeng. How does it feel?”

Zeng Qingfeng was horrified.

He sprang from his leather swivel chair and retreated several steps until his back pressed into the corner–a psychological sign of extreme fear, as he instinctively sought something secure behind him.

“Y-you… That was talisman arts! You know talisman casting? How is that possible? Aren’t you a feng shui master? How can you also practice talisman arts?”

Zeng Qingfeng had clearly been stunned by my display.

I sneered.

“You know rather a lot, don’t you? Who told you a person can’t cultivate talisman arts and feng shui together?”

I couldn’t even be bothered to tell him that I knew far more!

Besides those two subjects, which were my strongest, I also knew methods for commanding a household familiar, martial arts, coffin-carrying arts, and spirit-paper arts!

Zeng Qingfeng immediately lost his nerve.

His arrogant bluster vanished, and he spoke cautiously.

“Little brother… I still haven’t asked your honorable name. Are you the disciple of some great master? Or perhaps a disciple of a sect from one of the famous sacred mountains?”

When he mentioned the latter, his tone carried even more intense fear.

I merely smiled without answering.

Circulating the qi in my dantian, I controlled a sheet of talisman paper and made it orbit slowly around my wrist. The trick had no practical use, but the sight violated common physical laws and looked extremely intimidating!
Zeng Qingfeng continued begging for mercy.

Most villains were like that.

Ordinarily, they strutted about arrogantly and bullied everyone around them. The moment they realized they were disadvantaged and weak, they became complete cowards.

Of course, the man might have been deliberately feigning weakness while still plotting. I noticed that his eyes kept darting toward the telephone on his desk several yards away.

He was probably debating whether to risk lunging over, grabbing the receiver, and making a call!

At the same time, his throat kept bobbing. He was likely considering shouting for help and summoning the brickworks security team…

But he also feared that if he moved too slowly, he would be finished!

While Zeng Qingfeng hesitated, I took several pebbles from my pocket and seemingly scattered them casually across the floor.

In reality, they landed precisely in specific positions.

In an instant, our surroundings transformed!

We had been standing in the boss’s luxuriously decorated office, but now it seemed to become a void.

The walls disappeared. Darkness surrounded us, with mist drifting through it.

The bookshelves, desk, chairs, telephone, and everything else that had filled the office… all vanished.

Only the four of us remained, standing in the empty room.

“What is happening?!”

Zeng Qingfeng hadn’t even reacted yet, but Yao Tianlin was badly frightened. His body trembled involuntarily. Wang Dachun, standing beside him, was actually calmer.

I explained to the shaken Yao Tianlin.

“Don’t panic, Uncle Yao. This is one of my methods. In more scientific terms, I use my qi to influence the positions of the Eight Trigrams and create a distortion in the magnetic field. It deceives part of an ordinary person’s five senses and causes misalignment.”

Yao Tianlin calmed slightly. As an intelligent university graduate, he instinctively blurted out, “Is this the glamour spell from folk legend?”

I smiled and nodded.

“You could call it that.”

He sighed repeatedly in amazement, saying he had never imagined such wondrous arts truly existed. He had heard stories about them growing up in the countryside, but stopped believing after entering university in the city.

Yet after turning forty, he discovered that the stories he had heard as a child were true.

In reality… this technique was an illusion formation from Qimen Dunjia!

It was more advanced than an ordinary glamour spell.

Its effects were stronger, and it covered a wider area.

Within the illusion formation, everyone’s five senses except mine were fundamentally confused–unless I deliberately allowed someone to perceive normally.

For example, even if Zeng Qingfeng saw the telephone on the desk and lunged toward it, he would actually leap in the exact opposite direction. If he shouted for help, he might not make any sound at all. He would only hallucinate that he had.

His perception was misaligned and confused!

The explanation was complicated, and there was no need to give Yao Tianlin, an outsider to the esoteric arts, every detail.

For Yao Nan’s father’s sake, I had already been exceptionally patient and thorough.

As for Zeng Qingfeng, his entire body was shaking uncontrollably.

“Th-this isn’t an ordinary glamour spell… It’s an illusion formation? You even know formations! I saw you create the formation nodes just now. Those pebbles you scattered.”

“Huh?”

His words surprised me.

I studied him carefully.

“I never expected an ordinary businessman to possess so much knowledge! It seems there’s quite a lot about you worth discussing.”

Zeng Qingfeng not only recognized talisman arts, but knew about formations?

He even knew terminology and key concepts such as formation nodes!

But he seemed trapped in overwhelming fear and continued muttering.

“How is this possible? You’re only a teenager. You know far too many bizarre, mystical methods! Could… could you be a disciple of Qingcheng?”

By Qingcheng, he meant Mount Qingcheng in Dujiangyan.

Unlike in martial arts novels and television dramas, the real Mount Qingcheng was one of Daoism’s sacred sites! Since ancient times, it had been home to famous, powerful Daoist sects.

It could be considered the leader of Daoism in the southwest and held the highest position in the esoteric world there!

But these lofty Buddhist and Daoist sects from famous sacred mountains, elusive as divine dragons, rarely interacted with folk arcane lineages like ours…

And since the founding of the People’s Republic, those sects had rarely emerged from their famous mountains.

Unexpectedly, Zeng Qingfeng even knew about Mount Qingcheng.

Naturally, I flatly denied being any so-called “disciple of Qingcheng.”

I couldn’t be bothered to keep feeling surprised.

I ordered Zeng Qingfeng to confess everything–including why he knew so much about the esoteric arts and how he had planned to murder the Yao family.

Naturally, the man didn’t want to speak.

I told him that if he confessed, I wouldn’t attack him.

If he refused, I would use talisman arts to destroy several of his three hun souls and seven po souls, turning him into a madman!

Then he wouldn’t even have a chance to enter the Netherworld and reincarnate.

Judging by his behavior, he undoubtedly had blood on his hands. Even if I killed him outright, my conscience wouldn’t trouble me.

At that, Zeng Qingfeng finally surrendered completely.

He hurriedly confessed everything in full…

It turned out he truly was an ordinary person.

He knew neither magical arts nor feng shui.

But about ten years earlier, a chance encounter had brought Zeng Qingfeng face-to-face with an “expert”!