The entire camp lay silent. Apart from the wind and the clear cries of mountain birds, no one dared make the slightest sound.
"Insolence!!!"
Qingjing King was still the first to react.
"Without this king's command, who dared release an arrow on their own!!"
His face immediately darkened with fury as he shouted his rebuke.
Yet not a single person around him answered.
Lin Xin had arranged this himself, deliberately striking one man's crossbow bolt with a pebble and making it fly toward himself.
What he wanted was to show everyone a little of what he could do.
With spells difficult to display under these circumstances, such direct methods were the fastest way to establish authority.
"It is nothing, nothing." Lin Xin gave a dark chuckle. "Just something like a little ant."
Everyone's hearts trembled with fear.
At such close range, a direct crossbow shot could nail even a wild ox to death, yet it had not even pierced this man's skin.
This was practically sorcery!
After a moment of silence.
"May I ask whether Daoist has seen Huaiyang Princess and the other four...?"
With their relationship eased, Qingjing King coughed and quietly asked about the purpose of Lin Xin's visit.
"They are staying on the mountain. There is a cave at the summit; take your men and bring them out." Those bound by the Master-Servant Contract could not escape no matter what. Lin Xin was not in a hurry. Once the contract inflicted pain upon them later, they would know to come obediently to find him.
Qingjing King was instantly delighted. Knowing this was Lin Xin's expression of goodwill, he hurriedly sent people to search the mountaintop. Before long, they rescued several young men and women entirely unharmed.
Other than being somewhat dispirited, the four had no other problems.