The Ferocious God in the Celestial Master's Mansion

Zhang Yulei lightly brushed the dust off the door frame with his fingertips. The distorted aura of qi lingered in his senses like a bone-deep infection, impossible to shake off.

He stepped slowly into the room, his feet landing on the floor without making a sound. Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, casting dappled shadows on the dusty floor. Dust motes swirled in the beams of light, making the small space seem even more silent. He closed his eyes, and the ultimate Qi he had honed through seventy years of seclusion spread out like a spiderweb, meticulously combing through every remaining trace of energy in the room.

Zhang Chulan's Golden Light Mantra carries the unique impetuosity of youth; although his Qi flow is not condensed, it is as tenacious as wild grass. Zhuge Qing's Wuhou Qimen is as orderly as a chessboard, with each flow containing directional mysteries, carrying the rigor of a family inheritance. Wang Ye's Feng Hou Qimen appears unrestrained and free; his Qi seems to be able to influence the surrounding airflow as it flows, possessing its own rhythm of the universe. Feng Baobao's Qi is the most special, as pure as a mountain stream.

As for the four enemies who were taken away, their Qi was mixed and chaotic, with obvious traces of external cultivation. They were more like rogue cultivators who made a living by brute force and were not worth fearing.

Only that strange aura, like a fine thorn, pierced the depths of Zhang Yulei's perception.

It's too messy.

The Qi of ordinary extraordinary people, regardless of its strength, always has its origin, whether it comes from their own cultivation or from bloodline inheritance, just like a tree rooted in the soil, with its own veins that can be traced. But this Qi is different. It is as if dozens of completely different types of Qi have been forcibly mixed together, colliding and repelling each other, yet it is forcibly restrained by an invisible force, forming an extremely unstable balance.

It's like... like countless rushing streams being crammed into a narrow pipe. The surface may appear calm, but underneath, there are turbulent undercurrents that could burst at any moment.

"Rootless duckweed, forcefully fused Qi..." Zhang Yulei murmured, his brows furrowing slightly. He had lived for nearly a hundred years and seen countless extraordinary people, and his knowledge of esoteric arts was extensive, but he had never seen such a strange Qi. This thing did not seem to be naturally formed, but rather a product of artificial refinement.

Who has such abilities? And why would they want to create something so unstable?

He walked to the center of the room, where the residual Qi was most concentrated. He bent down, his fingertips lightly touching the ground, and a faint golden light emanated from his fingertips, gently mingling with the eerie Qi in the air.

"laugh--"

Like boiling oil meeting water, the two streams of energy produced a subtle popping sound the moment they touched. The strange energy seemed to be stimulated, suddenly becoming agitated, its distortion intensifying, showing signs of dissipating, but just before it was about to vanish, it was reassembled by some deeper force.

Zhang Yulei's eyes narrowed, and he withdrew his finger. The thing hidden in this Qi was more complex than he had imagined. That layer of binding power was extremely subtle; if he hadn't deliberately probed it just now, he probably wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.

He didn't investigate further. Sometimes, leaving things unsaid makes them clearer. The source of this aura was a mystery, but its presence here was undoubtedly related to those monitoring Wang Ye. And behind these people, there was clearly an entity he couldn't yet fathom.

"Interesting." A faint smile curved Zhang Yulei's lips. Seventy years of seclusion had tempered his impatience, but it had not extinguished his innate thirst for exploring the unknown. This strange aura, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, created ripples in his tranquil mind.

He turned and left the room. The moment he closed the door, everything in the room returned to normal, as if no one had ever been there. The sunlight remained, the dust remained, only that eerie aura silently recounted the confrontation of the previous night.

Leaving the apartment building, Zhang Yulei didn't return to the villa area. Instead, relying on his memory of the Qi trails of Zhang Chulan and the other three, he sped towards Wang Ye's house. He could sense that those youthful auras were becoming rapid and scattered, clearly indicating they were busy with something.

In the backyard of Wang Ye's villa, Brother Du frowned deeply as he looked at the four men who were tightly bound and gagged with strips of cloth. He was the old butler of the Wang family, having served them for decades and seen many big scenes, but this kind of "kidnapping" was a first for him.

"Young Master Zhang, is this...is it appropriate for me to leave this here?" Brother Du rubbed his hands together, looking at Zhang Chulan standing to the side with a troubled expression. "If the master and madam see this, they might misunderstand."

Zhang Chulan patted Brother Du on the shoulder with a "don't worry" expression: "Brother Du, it's alright. We'll leave them here with you for now. We'll move them as soon as we've finished dealing with this. These people are monitoring Wang Ye's family; they're not good people. You don't need to be polite."

"That's right, Brother Du, just give them some water to drink, as long as they don't go hungry." Wang Ye came out of the house with a stack of papers in his hand, covered with addresses written on them. "My parents just called and said they didn't find anything unusual, so these people probably haven't had a chance to make a move yet."

Zhuge Qing held up another map, on which more than a dozen points were circled in red: "According to the information we just extracted from these four people, they brought more than twenty people in total, divided into five groups, each keeping an eye on Wang Ye's parents, brother and sister-in-law, and nephew. The four we just arrested were watching the villa area, and the remaining four groups..." He looked at Zhang Chulan, "We need to act quickly, lest things get complicated."

"Without further ado, let's split up now." Zhang Chulan made a decisive decision, pointing to the marks on the map. "Feng Baobao, come with me to keep an eye on Uncle Wang Ye and Aunt Wang Ye. The old couple likes to play chess in the park after their morning exercise, so they're the most obvious targets. Zhuge Qing, you go to the vicinity of Brother Wang Ye's company. His sister-in-law happened to be delivering documents to the company today, so that group of people will most likely be staking out there. Wang Ye, you go to my nephew's school. There are a lot of people and eyes there, so we have to be extra careful not to alert ordinary people."

"No problem." Wang Ye nodded, picked up his coat, and said, "I'll be right back."

"Baby, let's go." Zhang Chulan waved to Feng Baobao. Feng Baobao was squatting on the ground, teasing a passing ant with a twig. Hearing the call, she immediately stood up, dusted off her pants, and followed without expression.

The four split into three groups, each heading towards their respective destinations.

Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao drove straight to People's Park in the city center. On the way, Zhang Chulan instructed Feng Baobao as he drove, "When you see anyone, don't attack immediately. First, confirm whether they are the target. There are three of them, all wearing black jackets, which are quite distinctive. Let's hide and wait until they are alone before making our move, and try not to make too much noise."

Feng Baobao chewed on the jianbing guozi she hadn't finished that morning and mumbled an "Oh."

Upon arriving near the park, the two parked their car in a secluded spot and walked into the park. The park was bustling with activity in the early morning, filled with people walking their birds, practicing Tai Chi, and dancing. Zhang Chulan, with his sharp eyes, quickly spotted three men in black jackets near a pavilion not far away. They pretended to admire the scenery, but their eyes kept glancing at Wang Ye's parents, who were playing chess at a stone table.

"It's them." Zhang Chulan lowered his voice and pulled Feng Baobao behind a big tree. "Let's wait until they leave the park. There are too many people here."

Feng Baobao nodded, but her gaze was drawn to a cotton candy vendor not far away, her eyes sparkling. Zhang Chulan sighed helplessly, took out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to her: "Go buy one, and remember to keep an eye on them, don't let them get away."

Feng Baobao took the money and ran towards the cotton candy stall like a little rabbit.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Qing had already arrived at the technology park where Wang Ye's brother was located. He did not rush in, but instead found a window seat in a coffee shop outside the park, ordered a coffee, and seemingly leisurely flipped through a magazine, while in reality he used the magic of Wuhou Qimen to shroud the entire entrance of the park.

Before long, three furtive figures entered his perception range. The three were dressed as food delivery workers, riding electric bikes and loitering around the park entrance, their eyes constantly scanning the people coming and going, clearly waiting for Wang Ye's sister-in-law to appear.

Zhuge Qing put down the magazine, a talisman between his fingers, a cold smile playing on his lips. These people were mistaken if they thought they could pull some tricks under his nose.

Near the school, Wang Ye seemed to have a headache. The area in front of the elementary school was bustling with parents picking up and dropping off their children, making it impossible to distinguish the few people monitoring them. He could only circulate his Feng Hou Qi Men technique, spreading his Qi senses to gradually scan the surrounding atmosphere.

"Found them." Wang Ye's eyes sharpened as he locked onto three men standing on the street corner. The three were dressed in ordinary sportswear, but they weren't carrying anything, making them stand out from the parents around them who were carrying schoolbags and snacks. More importantly, the aura emanating from them was exactly the same as the one he had sensed outside the villa.

Wang didn't rush to make a move; he simply followed silently behind. He was waiting for the right opportunity—an opportunity that would allow him to subdue the man without frightening the child.

Time passed second by second, the sun gradually rose higher, and the temperature began to rise as well.

Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao cornered the three men who had been following Wang Ye's parents in an alley outside the park. Feng Baobao was incredibly fast; she knocked two of them unconscious before they could even react. The remaining man was entangled by Zhang Chulan's Golden Light Spell and subdued after only a few struggles.

Zhuge Qing then took action in the underground parking lot of the park. He set up a formation that trapped the three fake deliverymen, and subdued them with little effort. His movements were clean and efficient, without even alerting the parking lot security guards.

Wang Ye's actions were a bit more complicated. He waited until school let out at noon, and only after watching his nephew being picked up by his sister-in-law, did he stop the three men at a quiet street corner. The men were clearly skilled and tried to resist, but Wang Ye used the Feng Hou Qi Men technique to outmaneuver them, leaving them exhausted and collapsed on the ground, where Wang Ye easily subdued them.

According to the combined information from the three sources, ten people have already been arrested. However, based on previous confessions, there is still one last group that has not yet shown up—this group is the leader, responsible for overall coordination, and is said to have been hiding in an unfinished building on the outskirts of the city, without personally participating in surveillance.

"Only three left." Zhang Chulan looked at the locations on his phone, his tone tinged with exhaustion yet unable to hide his excitement. "Once we take care of them, this matter will be over."

"I know that unfinished building. I've passed by it before. It's a huge area with a complicated structure. It might be hard to find." Wang Ye rubbed his temples. He was feeling a bit tired from continuously circulating Feng Hou Qi Men. "Besides, they're the leaders. They're definitely more difficult to deal with than the people in front of us."

"We have to deal with it, even if it's difficult." Zhuge Qing straightened the wrinkles in his clothes. "The sooner we resolve this, the sooner your family will be free from trouble."

Feng Baobao licked the stick of the marshmallow in her hand, her eyes slightly vacant, as if she had no idea what was going to happen next.

The four of them ate something simple, rested briefly, and then drove towards the unfinished building on the outskirts of the city.

The wind was strong in the suburbs, whipping up dust and scraps of paper that swirled and danced in the air. These unfinished buildings stood amidst the overgrown weeds, their exposed steel and concrete resembling massive skeletons, appearing particularly eerie in the setting sun.

Zhang Yulei stood on a distant hill, gazing at the unfinished buildings and then at the cars driving towards him, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

He followed the aura of Zhang Chulan and his companions, observing their actions throughout the day. Although these four young people each had their own temperaments and ideas, and their cooperation wasn't exactly seamless, they were able to unite as one when facing a common enemy, and their efficiency far exceeded his expectations.

Especially that girl named Feng Baobao, who seemed naive but was ruthless and decisive in her attacks. Her pure fighting power even caught his attention.

Now, they're going to deal with the last group of people.

Zhang Yulei could sense three auras, significantly stronger than those of the previous group, hidden within that unfinished building. One of them was the most concentrated, faintly exuding the pressure of a leader; it must be the one in charge.

More importantly, he sensed that strange aura again in that unfinished building.

Compared to what I sensed in the apartment, the Qi here was much denser and more distorted, as if the source of that "rootless duckweed" was deep within this abandoned building.

Zhang Yulei's interest was completely piqued.

With a swift movement, like a faint shadow, he slid down the slope of the hillside, silently blending into the overgrown weeds surrounding the unfinished building. He didn't get too close, maintaining a sufficient distance and concealing his presence to the extreme, like a stone integrated into its environment.

He wanted to see what secrets these last group of people were hiding. He also wanted to see if these four young men could successfully take over this final stronghold.

The car stopped at the entrance of the unfinished building. Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao, Wang Ye, and Zhuge Qing got out one after another, their faces showing vigilance. They looked up at the gloomy building in front of them, exchanged glances without speaking, and then gripped their weapons tightly before walking deeper into the unfinished building.

Zhang Yulei's gaze fell on their backs, then turned to the depths of the unfinished building. The eerie aura was like a silent summons, drawing his attention.

His figure moved slightly in the weeds, following like flowing water, and blended into the huge shadow cast by the building.