146: Eliminate the hidden dangers of the Zhou Dynasty

The scorching sunlight continued to bake the bluestone road; the sweet, cloying scent of maltose in the air had not yet fully dissipated, mixing with the smell of dust, making it feel somewhat stifling.

The hunched old man carrying the maltose pole was now standing frozen like a clay sculpture or a wooden carving on the fork in the road outside the North Courtyard wall of the City Lord's Mansion.

The heavy load on his shoulders seemed to have taken root, pressing his already hunched back down even further. On his withered face, pea-sized beads of sweat mixed with the undried blood at the corner of his mouth, snaking into his deep wrinkles, making him look exceptionally wretched.

In those murky eyes, only boundless shock and fear remained as he stared fixedly toward the North Courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion.

He couldn't sense any specific source of pressure, but his entire body—from flesh to marrow, even to the depths of his Soul—was being held in a death grip by an invisible, vast, abyss-like will!

The spiritual power within his body was like a frozen river; no matter how frantically he tried to circulate it, it remained motionless.

He had an incredibly clear intuition:

If he dared to move even a single finger, that will would mercilessly crush him into nothingness, destroying both body and Soul!

This was an absolute suppression that transcended his level of understanding, making him, a Golden Core Cultivator who usually stood high above others, taste the despair of an ant looking up at the vast sky for the first time.

The surrounding air seemed to have stagnated.

A few children who had been playing nearby also seemed to sense this eerie and oppressive atmosphere and stayed far away, making the street appear even more empty and silent.

Only the old man's heavy and labored breathing sounded particularly harsh in the dead silence.

Footsteps approached from afar, neither fast nor slow, yet every step seemed to tread upon the old man's heart.

Situ Jun's figure appeared at the fork in the road, dressed in black with ink-dark hair, looking like a walking projection of the abyss under the blinding sunlight.

Behind him, Zhu Changpo stood like a silent iron tower, his gaze sharp as a blade as he scanned the surroundings.

The old man's murky eyes turned with difficulty, focusing on Situ Jun.

When he clearly saw that face—excessively young yet as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice—his heart suddenly constricted!

It was him!

The source of that Divine Sense, which felt like heavenly might!

This City Lord of the Northern Frontier, Situ Jun, was not at the Golden Core Stage as the outside world speculated!

This was clearly... a Nascent Soul monster! No, even stronger!

Situ Jun came to a halt five paces in front of the old man, his calm gaze falling upon him as if looking at a dead object.

There was no anger or inquiry in that gaze, only an indifference that looked down upon dust.

"Who sent you?"

Situ Jun spoke; his voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through the drum-like pounding of the old man's heartbeat, carrying a penetrative force that reached straight to his Divine Soul.

The old man felt an irresistible, terrifying pressure locking down the operation of his Golden Core.

He felt that if he dared to remain silent, he would surely be obliterated in the next moment.

A dry, hoarse voice squeezed out like a worn-out bellows:

"The Great... Great Zhou Dynasty... State Protection Elder Council... Protector... Bai... Bai Yu..."

He didn't dare hide anything; the will locking onto him made him feel as if all his thoughts had nowhere to hide.

"Purpose?"

Situ Jun's voice remained without a ripple, as if asking about an inconsequential trifle.

"To... to investigate the reality of the Northern Frontier's new master... Situ Jun... to evaluate... the threat. If necessary, eliminate him..."

The old man's body began to tremble violently like a sieve, as if that will would grind him along with his Golden Core into powder if he didn't speak.

A very faint ripple of surprise, like a disturbance on a cold pond, flickered in Situ Jun's eyes.

How did this old man evade his Divine Sense search that covered the entire city? That Breath-Concealing and Trace-Hiding technique actually had some merit.

"Just you?"

Situ Jun pressed further, his gaze like physical ice picks, pressing down until the light of the Golden Core in the old man's Dantian dimmed.

"No... no." The old man's pupils dilated with fear.

"There... there are five more... disguised as... merchants... Loose Cultivators... at... at the 'Laifu' Inn's Heaven-grade room..."

Before he could finish, his spirit completely collapsed, and his body went limp, only held up by the invisible restrictive force.

Situ Jun obtained the information he wanted, which basically matched the core information provided by the Eye of Detection.

He stopped looking at the old man who was like a pile of mud, lifted his gaze slightly toward Zhu Changpo, and flicked his finger.

A servitude pill swirling with eerie, ghostly light traced an arc and landed precisely in Zhu Changpo's palm.

Zhu Changpo understood, caught the pill, and put it away.

Stepping forward, his large hand, like an iron pincer, pressed silently onto the old man's shoulder.

The old man felt an overbearingly peerless spiritual power instantly surge into his body, completely sealing off his already damaged Golden Core and all his spiritual power pathways.

Then, a bone-chilling coldness spread from Zhu Changpo's palm. The old man's vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness, his body slumping.

Zhu Changpo lifted him like a chick, and with his other hand, easily picked up the heavy maltose pole. The entire process was as fast as lightning and completely silent.

With a few flickers, the two men along with the load disappeared into the shadows of the secluded alley, as if they had never appeared.

Situ Jun stood alone at the empty fork in the road. The afternoon sun stretched his black-clad shadow very long, casting it solitary onto the scalding stone slabs.

He turned his head slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through thousands of mountains and rivers toward the vast territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty, his lips slowly curling into a bone-chilling arc.

"Great Zhou Dynasty? State Protection Elder Council?"

He whispered to himself, every word sounding like ice beads hitting a jade plate, carrying a heart-palpitating sound of slaughter:

"Very well. Once the matters here are settled, this City Lord shall personally visit to see what confidence you all have to dare send your lackeys to spy on the Northern Frontier."

Giving a sneer, that cold killing intent retracted slightly, turning into an indifference that controlled everything:

"A subordinate who is infinitely close to Half-step Nascent Soul... the boundary threat from the Great Zhou Dynasty can be considered a resolved crisis for now, leaving me temporarily worry-free."

With those words, he stopped lingering, turned around, his black sleeves brushing a cold, hard arc in the sunlight as he strode toward the majestic main gate of the City Lord's Mansion... Deep within the South Courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion, in a secret room with tightly closed doors and windows and a simple isolation Restriction.

The light was dim, with only a Spiritual Power Lamp in the corner emitting a pale and weak glow.

The air was filled with a damp, moldy smell.

The old man who called himself Bai Yu was now stripped of his outer clothing, left with only a filthy inner lining, slumped on the cold, hard stone floor like a pile of mud.

His withered face was bloodless, dried blood scabs remained at the corners of his mouth, his eyes were tightly shut, and his breath was as weak as a candle in the wind.

Zhu Changpo's overbearing palm strike had not only sealed his cultivation but also injured his Golden Core; at this moment, he was not even as good as a slightly stronger Mortal.

Zhu Changpo stood to the side expressionlessly, his gaze as cold and hard as iron stone.

Holding the servitude pill swirling with eerie ghostly light, he didn't hesitate and flicked his finger. The pill turned into a streak of ghostly light, accurately shooting into Bai Yu's slightly open mouth and sliding down his throat.

The moment the pill entered his stomach, a sudden change occurred!

"Ugh—he-he-he..."

The previously unconscious Bai Yu suddenly arched his body like a shrimp thrown into boiling water! His withered limbs twitched and convulsed violently, and the veins on his neck and forehead bulged like coiling dragons!

Strange, beast-like death rattles came from his throat; his murky eyes snapped open, but his pupils were a vacant, pale white, filled with extreme pain and confusion!

A violent, scorching, and strangely cold mixed force ignited the spiritual power within him!

They raced frantically through every Meridian, burning the fragile Dantian and battering the Golden Core that was on the verge of shattering!

Furthermore, a cold will, like a maggot on a bone, arrogantly invaded his Sea of Consciousness, tearing, branding, and twisting his sense of self!

"No... don't..."

Bai Yu let out tuneless howls, his fingers clawing at the cold ground, leaving streaks of bloody nail marks.

Zhu Changpo looked coldly at the old man rolling and wailing on the ground like a malevolent ghost; there was no pity in his eyes, only the indifference of executing an order.

He knew that this old man must have done something to displease the City Lord, leading to the use of this low-grade servitude pill.

The dominance of this low-grade servitude pill lay in its ability to not only destroy the will to resist but also to reshape absolute loyalty, even if the target was a powerhouse infinitely close to Half-step Nascent Soul!

This process was like purgatory.

In the secret room, Bai Yu's painful roars and the dull thuds of his body hitting the ground lasted for a full fifteen minutes.

Finally, the roars gradually weakened, and the violent twitching turned into intermittent spasms.

Bai Yu's body was no longer crimson but showed a strange grayish-blue, as if all his vitality had been drained.

He slumped on the ground, his chest heaving violently, every breath accompanied by the sound of a broken bellows. He stared vacantly at the ceiling of the secret room; in the depths of his pupils, the last trace of the arrogance and malice belonging to "Bai Yu" was completely extinguished, like a candle in the wind.

In its place was a bottomless, complex light—a mixture of extreme fear and fanatical worship.

Zhu Changpo stepped forward, crouched down, and placed two fingers on Bai Yu's withered wrist.

A stream of pure spiritual power entered, carefully checking the condition inside the other's body.

Then he took out a healing Medicinal Pill and fed it to him.

Standing up, Zhu Changpo looked down at the dying old man on the ground, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion:

"From today onward, you are the Master's subordinate. You shall obey Master Situ Jun in everything!"

Bai Yu's body on the ground shuddered violently.

He struggled, using all his remaining strength to turn over with great difficulty, and slammed his forehead heavily against the cold, hard ground over and over again, making dull "thud, thud" sounds.

"Bai Yu kowtows in thanks... Master... for the grace... of remaking me..."

His voice was hoarse and broken, like sandpaper rubbing together, yet it was filled with fanaticism:

"I am willing... to die for the City Lord... to go through water and tread on fire... not hesitating even at ten thousand deaths..."

Every kowtow pulled at the intense pain throughout his body, but he seemed completely oblivious, with only the fanatical fire of loyalty burning fiercely in his eyes.

Zhu Changpo nodded with satisfaction:

"Enough. Meditate and recover, then await orders."

Having said that, he no longer looked at the lowly slave who was as humble as dust on the ground. He turned and pushed open the heavy stone door of the secret room and walked out.

Outside the door were the slightly noisy sounds of the City Lord's Mansion in the afternoon and the scent of sunlight.

Inside the door was the abyss of falling completely into darkness and servitude.

Zhu Changpo closed the door, isolating that bloodiness and despair. He looked up toward the direction where Situ Jun was deep within the residence, the reverence in the depths of his eyes growing even stronger...