The sword's aura was indeed immense, but that was all it was.
It might be enough to scare a novice, but trying to scare Jiang Zuo?
A pathetic display.
The sword's actual attack power was even weaker than that 1.5-ranked examiner.
Jiang Zuo saw through it, as did the Chi Xue Child. The sword was all bark and no bite; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to boast about shattering it.
But they were the only two who could see it. The Magical Girl and the others had already written Jiang Zuo's group off as dead.
BOOM!!!
The sound of a massive impact rang out, and the aftershock made it difficult for the others to even open their eyes.
Then, they struggled to open their eyes, and the scene before them left them all stunned.
Jiang Zuo was already standing beside Elder Chen, and the terrifying Black Sword was pinned under the Chi Xue Child's foot.
'This is insane. Utterly insane.'
'Just who in the world are these two?'
The Magical Girl's eyes were wide with disbelief, while the others were so shocked their jaws hung open.
'That sword was so ferocious just a moment ago. A blade that could have shredded them in an instant is now just... being stepped on?'
The Daoist and the Monk were terrified. 'Who were we looking down on just now?'
'These two are the real experts.'
A sharp glint appeared in Chen Yao's eyes. 'Perhaps,' he thought, 'Grandpa can be saved.'
Chen Yao immediately asked, "Who hired them?"
"Ah?" The butler finally snapped out of his stupor. "It was... It was... It was the Tianhe Group."
Tianhe Group. Chen Yao committed the name to memory.
Jiang Zuo was unaware of their shock, and even if he had been, he would have ignored it.
His attention was now focused solely on Elder Chen.
The more Jiang Zuo observed, the more curious he became.
"Fellow Daoist, did you find something?" The Chi Xue Child didn't have much expertise in this area.
His Cultivation Talent was indeed impressive, and he had studied a fair bit of extraneous knowledge, but he still couldn't figure out what was going on with Elder Chen.
Jiang Zuo said calmly, "This is quite troublesome."
The Chi Xue Child raised his voice. "Is the pay not good enough?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Yao immediately interjected, "As long as you can save my grandfather, money is no object! We'll double your fee—no, we'll quintuple it!"
The original commission was for one million. Five times that would be five million.
But Jiang Zuo couldn't care less about that. Once he accepted a job, that was that. There was no reason to suddenly raise the price or refuse to do the work just because the pay wasn't ideal.
He had no need for such things.
"That won't be necessary. I operate according to the terms of the commission. Just stay out of my way."
Then, Jiang Zuo looked at the others and said, "And another thing. Utter any more nonsense, and I'll rip your mouths off. No exceptions."
A chill ran down everyone's spines. They knew he was not joking in the slightest.
After that, Jiang Zuo turned his attention back to Elder Chen.
He tapped the space between the elder's eyebrows, then his lower abdomen. Jiang Zuo then quickened his pace, his fingers tapping lightly all over the old man's body.
To everyone's astonishment, each tap summoned a glowing line, which began to form a pattern on the elder's body. The pattern grew increasingly distinct until it was fully revealed.
SMACK!
Jiang Zuo slapped Elder Chen right across the face, hard enough to draw blood.
This sudden turn of events left everyone stunned. They couldn't even process what had just happened.
A moment later, they were furious. This was a blatant insult.
Even the Chi Xue Child looked awkward. "Fellow Daoist, what was that for?"
Jiang Zuo replied calmly, "Waking him up. You got a faster way?"
Everyone: "..."
'The old man has been in a coma for over half a month, and you woke him up with a single slap?'
'Do you take us all for morons?'
Yet, just as they were about to voice their doubts, the old man suddenly stirred.
He even spoke. "Ugh... this... where is this..."
Everyone: "..."
'Did a single slap really do the trick?'
One slap was all it took? Of course not. Jiang Zuo had merely woken him up temporarily.
Jiang Zuo then said, "Thirty seconds. Tell me where it is, and then call out the Demon Cultivator hiding on you. Otherwise, you can just die."
The words seemed to come out of nowhere, and no one understood what he meant. But the old man did.
"The... the safe... I beg you... ugh..."
After uttering these words, the old man passed out again.
"The safe?" Jiang Zuo turned and asked Chen Yao.
Jiang Zuo could tell who was in charge of the family.
The only one who would likely know about the safe was Chen Yao.
And sure enough, while everyone else was baffled, Chen Yao spoke up. "I know what he means. I'll go get it for you, sir."
At that moment, Jiang Zuo said to the Chi Xue Child, "Force the Demon Cultivator out. If she refuses to show herself, just kill the old man."
Jiang Zuo's words shocked everyone. The man was completely without principle; he spoke of killing as if it were nothing.
Just moments ago, they had thought he was their savior. But he was a harbinger of death, one who might even kill them all to tie up loose ends.
Everyone grew afraid.
The Chi Xue Child felt helpless. 'Can you not be so terrifying?' he thought.
However, before the Chi Xue Child could act, a cloud of black miasma erupted from Elder Chen's body and coalesced into a human figure nearby.
It was a woman dressed in black, with long, straight black hair. She was quite attractive.
But her face was contorted with fury as she glared at Jiang Zuo and the Chi Xue Child.
The Chi Xue Child asked curiously, "Demon Cultivator Mo Yan?"
Mo Yan: "The Chi Xue Child?"
The Chi Xue Child was shocked. "Mo Yan is a woman? How have I never heard this?"
"You idiot. Just because you've never heard of it, you assumed I had to be a man?"
"Quiet down. State your purpose," Jiang Zuo said, looking at Mo Yan.
Mo Yan glared at Jiang Zuo. "And why should I tell you?"
Jiang Zuo said calmly, "Because I can save him. And because neither of you wants him to die like this."
"You... How did you know? But you don't want him to die either, do you? So why should I tell you anything?"
Jiang Zuo ignored Mo Yan. Instead, he drew a symbol on the old man's body. A massive pattern instantly erupted from the elder, causing the entire villa to tremble violently.
It felt as if the very earth were shaking.
"Stop! Stop it! You'll kill him!" Mo Yan screamed. "I'll talk! Can't you see I'll talk?! Chi Xue Child, make your companion stop! If my master comes after you, you'll regret it!"
The Chi Xue Child said helplessly, "Fellow Daoist, her master really isn't someone to mess with."
Only then did Jiang Zuo wave his hand, causing the pattern to vanish. The villa returned to normal.
Jiang Zuo looked at Mo Yan. "Speak."
"There's a major Feng Shui array here, you know that, right?"
Jiang Zuo and the Chi Xue Child nodded.
"There's a problem with the array. When my master laid it down all those years ago, he forgot one thing."
Just then, Jiang Zuo cut in, "When things reach an extreme, they reverse. The yin and yang of all creation require a point of balance. Your master forgot to establish one.
So, the auspicious energy peaked and threw everything here into disarray. Elder Chen is the moving eye of the array, so if he leaves, he dies. If he stays, he's just waiting to die.
Is that about right?
I have to say, when your master designed this array, he was either a complete novice or just incredibly careless."
Mo Yan stared at Jiang Zuo as if she were seeing a ghost. 'This is a 1.1-ranked rookie?'
'He's a monster.'