Chapter 269: Appetite

In front of Liu County Magistrate's Residence.

Fan Qingbo was still keeping his composure, debating with those ten‑something street thugs.

"You all say you're relatives of Liu County Magistrate, seeking to redress his grievance.

You also claim I'm the one who harmed him, refusing to let me enter to investigate, lest I destroy the evidence.

So are we to leave Liu County Magistrate's family exposed to the daylight, their corpses unburied…"

At that moment, Head Constable Yao hurried over with fewer than ten bailiffs.

Seeing the situation, he pressed his mouth to Fan Qingbo's ear and whispered:

"Grandmaster, this Yao Constable has turned his back, holding his subordinate constables back from coming through.

He has also lured many rebels from our Zao Squad.

What should we do?"

Fan Qingbo's body twitched slightly, realizing his delaying tactic had become a joke.

He glanced at those thugs, half‑smiling as if watching a monkey act, guessing they had already known the outcome.

He had only been toying with himself, feeling a sudden pressure in his chest, a mouthful of fresh blood nearly spurted out.

A distinguished Third‑list imperial scholar, Seventh‑Rank Hundred‑Li Marquis, though among the civil officials from the Imperial Examination he was at the very bottom.

But that was on the court, not in the streets!

Having been flogged by the tyrant court, secretly harmed by treacherous ministers, even imprisoned by a eunuch of the Inner Court in the Imperial Edict Prison, Fan Qingbo would not find it more painful than death as he does now.

After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth, his voice like a roar, and said:

"People say I am being clever, being clever, and I am still not convinced.

Turns out these eyes are indeed blind.

Enough, I will go personally to see Head Constable Yao…"

"Grandmaster, that Yao scion spouts nonsense, saying, saying, saying Liu County Magistrate might have been harmed by you.

You go find him…"

"How? He still dares to take me down, doesn't he?"

"Grandmaster, the man has gone mad, yet he can do anything; we should not force him!"

Fan Qingbo fell silent again, his complexion growing increasingly grim, then suddenly looked at Zhang Gui,

"Heir Apparent, aren't you after all the citizens of Shanhai Xiancheng?

Do you want them dead or alive?"

"Naturally, alive."

"Then you must keep the situation steady, prevent great disorder, and avoid the living being scorched, so that it can be as you wish."

"That is natural."

"Since that is so," Fan Qingbo's sorrowful expression slowly vanished, turning as hard as raw iron.

He strolled to Zhang Gui, knelt on the ground, removed his official hat, and presented the official seal at his waist,

"I, the culpable official of Jilu Province, Yanxi Commandery, Shanhai County, Fan Qingbo, humbly appear before the Curtain Office Dragon Tiger General in person.

The culpable official is incompetent; the lands under my jurisdiction breed rebels, plotting to harm my fellow Shanhai County Assistant Magistrate Liu Zhenchun and his entire household; the chaos is nearly irreversible.

I specially petition the Dragon‑Tiger Curtain Office to suppress the rebels' tyranny and uphold justice in extreme peril."

"Very well."

Zhang Gui was initially stunned, then nodded and took the seal.

It had been just a game, but suddenly he felt the difficulty and intensity of wielding Divine Authority within Shanhai County change dramatically.

Although it could not be compared to when he was in Earthly Divine Kingdom, it was already roughly comparable to that on Fresh Mushroom Island, and his heart couldn't help but rejoice,

"Indeed, this County Magistrate truly lives up to being a Hundred‑Li Marquis.

The effect generated by offering the seal to the mysterious realm can equal a quarter of an Imperial Edict.

It feels a bit insubstantial, likely limited by time or conditions.

But this is already a very useful transcendental insight."

As his thoughts turned, consuming Substance and Void, he drove Divine Authority to instantly sweep the already small Shanhai Xiancheng in a single pass.

Zhang Gui instructed Zhao Sanshi, "Zhao Commandant, this time I trouble you to act.

Anyone who criticizes County Magistrate Fan may be killed without mercy."

"Understood."

Zhao Sanshi, after receiving the order, transformed into a Jin Stone Giant and roared:

"All troops form ranks, announce to the whole city.

Now rebels plot treason, and the aimless wanderer on the street shall die…"

At the same time, Zhang Gui activated the Divine Cluster in his mind, shaped like a net, initiating the Grand Campaign of Heavenly Phenomena and Earthly Geography.

He deployed the Pure Brightness segment of the Twenty‑Four Solar Terms, aligning with heavenly timing above and earthly advantage below.

In an instant, the wind roared.

The mottled stone pavement on the ground emitted an indescribable rustling.

It seemed that in the next moment demons would burst up from below, devouring the living whole.

Zhang Gui rose with the wind, drifting to hover in mid‑air before the tea stall at the street's end.

He looked down at the iron‑blue‑faced Jiao Datou and Kong Liu, who were about to ask.

Suddenly Jiao Datou lifted both hands, kicked his legs, and leapt toward Zhang Gui.

In the air, black scales sprouted on his arms, layering over each other.

Outside, uneven fangs grew again, like a massive mouth opening, about to tear Zhang Gui in two.

At the same time, Kong Liu gritted his teeth, used all his strength to smash his own forehead three times in a row, spitting out three mouthfuls of essence blood.

Using a formula to draw, it transformed into three red mountain vines that coiled around Zhang Gui.

Both of them turned out to be Class Bing Cultivators; although the techniques they cultivated were obviously crude and rough, their power was nevertheless quite extraordinary.

Clearly they had painstakingly refined them with utmost effort, and had never let them lapse.

But unfortunately, at times before All Under Heaven, a scholar is merely a joke.

Since Zhang Gui's mind has sprouted a Dark Gold "Heavenly Phenomena and Earthly Geography Grand Confluence" divine cluster.

It means he has cultivated the Supreme Primordial Spirit Technique to its utmost, giving rise to Great Divine Ability.

And what is called purest, truest, the ability to pierce heaven and earth and stealthily wield its power can be termed Divine Ability!

The highest grade of Divine Ability is called Great Divine Ability.

In every gesture and movement, one fully attains the subtlety of nature.

The instant he was attacked, Zhang Gui's mortal body naturally turned into a Pure Brightness wind, gently brushing past Jiao Datou and Kong Liu's ears as they exerted all their efforts.

He said leisurely, "Hahaha… even the modest Millet‑Grain Pearl emits brilliance.

You two truly dwell in a remote mountain town, like frogs in a well gazing at the sky…".

His original intention was to show off, to see if the so‑called magnanimous bearing could subdue the street bosses Jiao Datou and Kong Liu.

But unexpectedly, before he could finish half a sentence, the two bosses had already fallen flat on the ground.

Immediately, his body began to shake violently like a "ram's‑horn wind".

It shook for a while, and the amplitude gradually lessened.

But when it shook again, an extremely faint sound of water flowing emerged from within his body.

His skin all over slightly bulged before slowly sinking inward.

Blood paste seeped from the seven orifices, but because it was too viscous it quickly sealed the pores.

The person was clearly already dead.

From a short distance, Zhang Gui watched this scene and regained human form amid the swirling clear wind.

He couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

He used the Tai Sui Entering Spirit in his skull to generate black slurry, having devoured bones for a magnitude of over a million.

What moldy corpses, dried corpses, tanned corpses, such decayed vascular webs, terrifying giant panoramas he had never seen.

He had long been accustomed to all of this,

yet it was absolutely impossible for him to become perverse enough to develop an appetite for the mutated corpses.

(End of Chapter)