Chapter 19: Kill One, Terrify A Thousand
I ignore the looks the others are giving me as Li Jie and his men get to work. They call over someone else to take care of the children and they're told that we would be following up on them. Again, I try my best to remain detached from it all. It's not my world, I shouldn't meddle... any more than I already have.
I remain seated on the stone bench as I try to regain some of my strength. Suddenly, One of Li Jie's men comes over dragging a Fang servant behind him. When he reaches Li Jie, he stops and roughly pushes the younger guy in front of him and says, "Go ahead, tell him what you just told me."
I watch from the side but keep silent. The younger guy who was dragged over pulls at his clothes, smoothing them out before standing tall and arrogantly saying, "You won't find your father, ever." I lean over and lazily prop my chin on my hand as I raise my eyebrows.
Li Jie grits his teeth in anger and says, "Depending on what you say, I may let you live. Where is my father?" The younger man glances over at me nervously before standing his ground and saying "Do you really think I'd help you monsters!? Hah! Dream on!"
Li Jie backhands him so hard, that he stumbles over and falls in front of me with a dazed look. He shakes his head, spitting out blood as he touches his face. When he finally notices my feet, his entire body freezes.
I remain sitting, as I watch him with cold eyes. As he slowly looks up at me, I softly say, "I don't understand stupid people." I tilt my head a little, allowing my hair to fall over my shoulder as I continue, "Maybe I should take one apart and see how they work."
His face instantly drops, turning a sickly white color as he scrambles to his knees and says "I'll talk, I'll tell you! Anything you want to know!"
Li Jie and his men watch with complicated expressions. How could she look like a goddess, so incredibly beautiful and yet be so absolutely terrifying? The way her dark hair falls over her shoulder as she sits so elegantly... you'd think she was talking about tea!! Not threatening to take apart a human being!! It's not normal!! They shudder but yet can't help but admire her.
I look down at the man without sympathy and silently smile. Silence falls upon the courtyard once more as everyone nervously shifts from one foot to the other. Wasn't she going to ask him where Young Master Li's father was?? Why is she just sitting there?
The young man kneeling before me was now shaking like a leaf as sweat dripped down the sides of his face. Why would I waste my breath when he knows exactly what I want? I lift my free hand to look at my nails, but he instantly slams his head onto the ground as he says "Master Fang was an Array Master! When Young Master Li's father came and discovered what was happening here, he confronted Master Fang."
"Master Fang was angry so we lured Master Li and his men into the farthest part of the residence. There he trapped them into an Array. Master Fang was the most powerful Array Master in this city. Unless you have someone stronger than an Array Master, no one can break them out now that Master Fang is gone."
Li Jie stumbles back with a look of despair as the others look on with shock. An Array Master? Is that similar to the magic circles that we create? Why can't anyone else break it? I tap my finger on my chin as I silently think. Li Jie seems frozen, unable to say a word.
I sigh and say, "Lead the way." As I get up and start walking. The young man quickly jerks his head up before scrambling to his feet and running before me. He respectfully says, "Please follow me." I silently follow after him as Li Jie struggles to snap out of his despair and follow.
After a few moments, we come to what looks like a large open field surrounded by a bamboo forest. Under different circumstances, I would have said it looks nice. He raises his arm and bows before saying "This is the spot."
Li Jie and his men rush over, looking around with looks of sadness and despair. I slowly walk through the open yard, trying to look for something I might be familiar with but unfortunately, I don't see anything that looks like a magical circle. If anything, it looks oddly... normal.
I try my hardest to see anything that may indicate this Array but nothing. It just looks like an empty yard. I narrow my grey eyes. This just goes to show how much my magic and their 'power' is different.
Li Jie shakes his head and mumbles "There must be an Array Master who can help us. Even if I have to go all the way to the capital and ask his Majesty for help." I slightly turn to him. Majesty? Like, as in a king? I frown a little and feel a little silly. It would make sense given the world and time I'm in.
I glance back to the yard and start slowly walking. So, an Array is some kind of trap. A trap that somehow hides or transports others. If it's a trap, you must have things to set the trap. I try scanning the whole area with my magic but other than feeling the odd power, I get nothing.
All I can tell is that it's active and alive but the whole area seems to be drenched in it. I can't pinpoint one specific area. As I walk, I come across a stick. It's just a single stick that looks completely normal, but it's stuck in the ground. Someone had clearly placed it there.
Li Jie starts giving orders to the others around us, but I ignore them as I stare at the stick. Why doesn't anyone else seem to notice the odd stick? The more I look at it, the odder it feels. As if drawn to it, I reach down and pluck the stick from the ground. It snaps in my hand as a powerful gust of wind blows around us.
Suddenly, we're surrounded. Those men draw their swords, and our men draw ours when suddenly Li Jie softly says "Father?" Everyone freezes as I turn to look at them. Li Jie suddenly walks over to a middle-aged man before pulling him into a tight hug. Yup, definitely a hugging family.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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