Chapter 114 The Thunder Traction
Looking up at the ever-lasting snow on the peak, Zhou Zhenyue felt a shred of hope rise up in his heart.
“Perhaps the year with that monster could force Zhao Ling to grow up like the seniors in our faction expect her to do. That girl is indeed gifted, but she is still too naive and idealistic, totally ignorant of the danger and complexion in this world.”
“Hopefully, putting up with that freaky county magistrate is a good way to help her get rid of those drawbacks.”
Curiously, Zhou Zhenyue found that county magistrate somehow reliable and trustworthy.
Although Li Mu killed his nephew, Zhou Wu, he knew, in fact, his nephew deserved it since he had committed tons of crimes.
“Our deal of two sword strikes… Well, one day, I’ll fulfill it.”
He muttered to himself.
For a martial arts practitioner, there was nothing more thrilling than encountering a challenging opponent.
And Li Mu was undoubtedly such an opponent for Zhou Zhenyue.
A while later…
Zhou Zhenyue tore his eyes from the snowcapped peak down to the foot of the mountain.
There lay the vast and flatlands that had been turned into patches of cropland, vegetable farm, and orchard.
Some farmers employed by the Taibai Sword Faction were working hard on the farmland.
They were the food supplier of the Taibai Sword Faction. After all, the experts on Taibai Peak still needed three meals a day like any other human beings. Thus, there were about one thousand farmers living there, who practically formed a little village.
The Zhou family, including Zhou Zhenhai, had all settled down in this village thanks to the help of Zhou Zhenyue. They planned to take shelter here for the moment and started to work like other farmers.
Despite his bitter resentment, Zhou Zhenhai also went in for farming.
After his last retaliation was thwarted, Zhou Zhenhai became usually silent due to the carry-over of fear of Li Mu’s power. Perhaps he already got over with his hatred, or he was just quietly working on the next a revenge plan. Well, only he could know the answer.
…
At the same time in Taibai County…
Li Mu just left the training room.
In that room, there were over 30 jade articles that had been carved into different shapes and inscribed with mysterious lines and writing. Those jade sculptures looked quite weird. If professional jade sculptors ever saw those objects, they would certainly accuse Li Mu of wasting such good jade with his lousy carvings.
Those jade sculptures were the works of Li Mu in the past few days.
They were also the most critical preparation for setting up a formation.
Like a tornado, a formation also could not go without an eye.
And those jade objects were exactly the eye of the formation.
At that time, Li Mu, accompanied by Li Zhaochen, was inspecting the finished project around the county government.
More than 300 trees of varied kinds were planted in the surroundings. Nine canals were created, which were also interconnected. A new well had been dug up, which provided the canals clean water. Since the canals were connected to the old spring, a zig-zagged stream came into being. It encircled the county government and flowed down to a river beneath the mansion.
What was more, 72 artificial hills and rocks had been placed in specially designated spots around the county government.
The walls of the back yard were also torn down and rebuilt several hundred meters away for the expansion of the yard. The thick woods behind the yard got straightened out as well. Ugly trees were chopped down and replaced by a grassy lawn that stretched all the way to the steep cliff.
Everything had been done in compliance with Li Mu’s requirements, and he could find no flaws at all.
By then, only the work about 36 dry wells that went about seven meters down to the earth were not completed yet. They had all been plastered with stone tiles at the bottom, and the gaps between tiles were crammed by unslaked lime. The inside of those wells looked like a stone dungeon. But there were also piles of soil stored aside that were prepared to fill the wells again.
No one knew what the dry wells were used for except Li Mu himself.
After looking through all the places, Li Mu was very satisfied.
“Good job. Thank you for these days’ hard work,” praised Li Mu, who also clapped a hand on Li Zhaochen’s shoulder.
He found that young prison guard a smart, meticulous quick wit and decided to train him further.
“From today, you don’t need to go back to the county prison. You can stay here and start with being the Dutou Official,” said Li Mu with content.
Overjoyed to hear that, Li Zhaochen agreed immediately, “Thank you so much for the promotion.”
In the past couple of days, he had been working as a temporary employee of the county government. Normally, when he finished his task he should return to the county prison and continue his old duties. He had been thinking that perhaps the county magistrate would promote him as a guard or a government soldier if he did an outstanding job.
Now, he finally got what he wished.
And that promotion was even better than he expected—he was now the Dutou Official!
That was surely a rapid rise.
“I’m ready to go through the most severe trials and die the cruelest death for Your Honor!” Li Zhaochen cleverly demonstrated his loyalty at the right timing.
Li Mu laughed and said, “You should only do your job while you are with me. No need to go to an extreme.”
Li Zhaochen also chortled bashfully. He subconsciously scratched the back of his head, almost unable to control his excitement.
“This is really exhilarating! Tomorrow, I might wake up laughing from my dreams.”
“Dutou Official! Haha, from now on, I have a title!”
“That’s it. Go, take one day off. Take care of the shift handover in the county prison and tell your uncle the good news. Then, you can spend some time with your family.” Li Mu thought quite highly of that young man, so he was extraordinarily considerate towards him. After a short pause, the county magistrate continued, “Inform the others, they should all leave the county government for a while. No one can step in without my approval.”
“Yes, sir. And thank you, Your Honor,” responded Li Zhaochen, who quickly took off to notice the staff.
Li Mu smiled at the back of the young man.
Then, he was finally going to set up the formation.
If we compared that process to a chemical experiment, the civil engineering project was the preparation of experimental supplies and materials. Next, he had to keep the temperature and the material quantity of each step at the precise values before the experiment brought in the desired result.
Li Mu measured the distance between the dry wells with his foot. After he confirmed that the locations of the 36 wells were correct, he went back to the training room and brought the 36 jade objects in different shapes here. As specified by the serial number and location he gave them, he put the jade objects into the 36 dry wells one by one.
After that, Li Mu began to observe those dry well.
However, the wells with the jade seemed motionless as usual.
“That’s not good…” murmured Li Mu.
He realized something must go wrong with his previous calculations.
Otherwise, the jade objects in the well must have reacted in some marvelous way.
Therefore, he started musing.
“The old faker can’t be wrong. The only possible explanation is that the locations of the constellations are a little different than what he observed on Earth. So, the order and location of the jade objects can use some adjustment?”
After remaining thoughtful for a few moments, he set to modify the locations of the jade articles.
The process was very time-consuming. As if he was cracking the password of another man’s vault, he had to try every possible sequence.
Fortunately, Li Mu had a rough direction of where he should be heading for instead of just doing it blindly.
Soon, two hours passed by.
“It’s done!”
Li Mu yelled with excitement.
The moment those fist-sized jade objects were all placed into the dry wells, they began to quake slightly and squirt out faint silver mist as if some kind of energy was about to erupt. After several seconds, the silver mist was already growing steadily thicker.
Detecting that change, Li Mu wasted no time and rapidly began to refill the 36 dry wells.
The odd jade sculptures were all covered up in dirt.
Then, Li Mu took a deep breath before scooting to a spot he selected beforehand and made a complicated hand gesture, which triggered an enigmatic Thunder Magic.
The old faker valued this Thunder Magic very much and named it the Thunder Traction. It could forcibly intercept the power of the thunder and the lightning to enhance the formation and bestow it with the psychic powers. Meanwhile, this Thunder Magic would pump the might of the heave and the earth into the formation, and that was the key of booting the whole formation.
This was the first time Li Mu tried to cast that magic.
…
…
Rumble!
A clap of thunder rang across the sky out of the blue.
On the streets of the county, many people got a fright and instantly threw astonished looks in the direction of the county government.
Dark clouds from distant mountains were drifting swiftly towards the county government as though they were driven there by a certain unknown power. Shortly, the sky over county government went overcast. Then, at an unbelievable speed, the dark cloud spread from the government building to the entire county.
In the blink of an eye, the twin suns were covered by the dark clouds.
The county grew murky.
“What happened?” A man on the street shouted in surprise.
“Is it going to rain?” Another passerby asked.
“But the clouds… don’t look like the sign of a storm.”
People in the county were taken back at the sudden climate change. No one knew what was going on.
It was quite abnormal to have such weather in this season. In fact, it never happened before.
Very soon, it became dark as if at night.
Rumble!
A second thunderclap was heard.
Flashes of purple lightning lightened the dark clouds over the county government. Like dancing purple serpents, they looked eerie but gorgeous. Streaks of purple lightning burst out from the dark clouds at increasingly shorter intervals. After a moment, a sea of purple lightning appeared over the county government., which made the scene incredibly magnificent.
Naturally, the breathtaking change drew the attention of the young prince, Qin Zheng, who had been learning his lessons.
“Sister, look!” He tossed aside the pen and sprinted to the corridor, staring at the county government with amazement.
Hearing the yell of her younger brother, Qin Zhen, the princess, also went out to check what had happened. Gazing at the county government, her beautiful eyes revealed a glint of alien feverishness.
“Is that magic power?” She asked herself.
“That’s magic power.”
Wang Chen emerged next to her.
He looked extremely astounded.
“It is… magic, a Thunder Magic with great destructive power. But, but what kind of Thunder Magic could be so powerful? This is terrifying. It can attract the purple thunder and lightning that wriggle like mad serpents! I’ve never heard any of that kind…”
Pale with shock, Wang Chen mumbled to himself.
He was trying to recall if he had seen any other warlock in Taibai County Government, but no one came to his mind.
“Then, what kind of person is casting the Thunder Magic?”
“Could it be possible that there is an expert in the Master Realm living secretly in the county government? … No, a warlock who can launch such Thunder Magic must have surpassed the Master Realm and reached the Great Master Realm! In that case, an expert in the Great Master Realm is hiding in the county government?”
Wang Chen looked up at Qin Zhen.
The latter had fixed her eyes on the county office.
Due to the location and height of the Orchid High-Rise, it was the only place that could almost look at the county government at eye level. Thus, right now, the flashes of purple lightning were so close that they seemed within arm-length. The three on the top floor of the Orchid High-Rise naturally had a more real experience of the appalling power the lightning had.
A quarter of the time later, the thunder suddenly stopped roaring.
The sea of purple lightning also faded very swiftly.
Dark clouds dispersed at the same fast rate.
The sky was blue and clear again. The twin suns hung up over people’s heads. The weather was great. An afternoon brimming with sunshine had returned.
Many were still staring at the sky in silence.
All that just happened was like an illustration, so unreal and mysterious.
On the Orchid High-Rise, Qin Zhen and Wang Chen exchanged a look. Both of them were taken aback.
That kind of horrible Thunder Magic easily drew over thunder and lightning. But it did not destroy anything. On the contrary, when its power peaked, it suddenly backed off and vanished. That cursory ending did not suit their expectations.
“What the heck was that?” They all wondered.
“Look! The county government is changing!”
Qin Zheng pointed into the distance and screamed in surprise.
…