Deep within a secluded study in the Anping County Yamen.
A lone lamp, its flame no larger than a bean, cast a dim yellow halo. Chu Bai sat cross-legged on a cloud couch, his breathing long and slow, like a turtle's.
Through the profound connection between the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture in his sea of consciousness and the underground formation, he could clearly sense the fervor and relief of Sun Bu'er, the magistrate of Longwind County, and the formation masters a hundred li away.
Those fierce emotional fluctuations born of sated greed shone as brightly as open flames in the night.
Feeling those emotions, the smile on Chu Bai's face deepened, even taking on a chilling trace of cruelty.
"When fishing, the greatest fear is that the fish hasn't swallowed the hook deeply enough."
Chu Bai slowly opened his eyes, his slender fingers tapping lightly against his knee. "If it only brushes the bait, it'll escape the moment you pull the rod."
"Only when they've truly tasted the sweetness, let down every last guard, and swallowed that bloody hook all the way into their stomachs, letting it twist into their intestines... only then can you jerk the line back and drag out that big fish's organs, along with every last scrap of bone!"
"Eat. Eat to your hearts' content. The happier you are eating now, the more satisfying it'll be when you spit it all back out with interest."
Chu Bai abruptly rose, swept his broad sleeve aside, and walked over to the enormous Complete Topographical Map of Qingzhou's Seventy-Two Prefectures hanging on the study wall.
His fingertip landed precisely on Longwind County.
Then, following the invisible earth vein linking Anping County and Longwind County, he slashed it fiercely back toward himself, without the slightest mercy!
"Once Anping County's Black-Armored Guards