Chapter 102: The Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array
Chapter 102: The Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array
“Find out! I want to know which blind fool dares cause trouble in my territory!”
Xu Jingshou slammed his hand on the table and roared.
The officers nearby hung their heads, not daring to speak. Commander Xu’s order sounded simple, but they were the ones who had to carry it out. He wouldn’t face any danger—it was all on them. Of course he could order a full investigation.
“Sir, we must plan this carefully. We cannot act rashly,” one officer said, gathering his courage.
“Plan carefully? My own Xu Family Army aide-de-camp’s house was pried apart and vanished, and you tell me to plan carefully? Should we wait until my Marshal’s Mansion is gone too before you move?” Xu Jingshou raised his eyebrows, a violent look flashing in his eyes.
The officer had no choice but to explain quickly. “I wouldn’t dare suggest that. But this is hard for us to investigate—the victims are either high-ranking members of the Xu Family Army or wealthy merchants and powerful figures in Dongtai City.”
His meaning was clear: those people needed to cooperate, and low-ranking officers like them had no real influence and couldn’t afford to offend anyone.
Besides, they didn’t know if those important people would take their anger out on them. They only drew military pay; they weren’t about to risk their lives for the so-called Dongtai City.
When the rich and powerful encountered trouble, sending small fries like them to handle it—they might agree verbally, but none of them were truly willing.
Xu Jingshou seemed not to grasp the officer’s underlying meaning. Instead, he threw the pipe in his hand at the officer. “You know these are the people who got hit, and after working all night you found nothing, yet you bring this up with me?”
The officer was hit, getting a black eye and even a burn, but he didn’t dare argue. He just mumbled, “I’ll find out as soon as possible.”
“Then get out! All of you, useless trash.” Xu Jingshou was so furious he didn’t care about the consequences.
Seeing this, the officers scrambled away from the Marshal’s Mansion.
Back in his study, Xu Jingshou calmed down.
“Why hasn’t Wang Jiu delivered the human goods yet? This Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array is starting to affect me.”
Xu Jingshou glanced at the jade pendant hanging around his neck. It was now covered with many cracks. If not for this pendant, he might not have been able to calm down.
“Could something have happened on the way? If he doesn’t show up by this afternoon, I’ll have to go procure them myself.”
Xu Jingshou knew that without enough human goods to nourish the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array, it had begun to backlash against him—and it wasn’t the right time for that yet.
Although he had other shady magicians besides Wang Jiu, the others either needed more time or had just set out. This caused a disruption in the human goods he needed.
Originally it wasn’t necessary, but after multiple houses vanished, gaps appeared in the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array. That it hadn’t collapsed already spoke to the array’s quality, but its energy consumption had suddenly increased.
“Did some Feng Shui Master see something and intentionally ruin my plan? Or has this array spawned some eerie entity?”
A trace of gravity entered Xu Jingshou’s expression. If someone was here to sabotage him, this wasn’t the right time. If they really wanted to disrupt his plan to reverse the city’s Qi mechanism into Soul Qi and nurture his Primordial Spirit, they shouldn’t have come now—this wasn’t a good time for sabotage.
Unlike others who aimed to become Qi Refiners, Xu Jingshou’s Qi Refinement and Spirit Cultivation method took a long time but carried no danger—only the conditions were a bit strict.
But he was formidable himself. He seized this chaotic, war-torn era to rise up and become a warlord. More importantly, after becoming a warlord, he never forgot his original goal: to become a Qi Refiner.
Thus, the entire Dongtai City and even his Xu Family Army essentially served his aim of becoming a Qi Refiner.
Ever since occupying Dongtai City, he had ambitiously transformed the entire city into the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array. That was why the strictest regulations in Dongtai City concerned housing construction. Whether commoners or wealthy merchants, anyone wanting to expand or alter their houses needed approval from him, the Warlord.
After years of strict enforcement, nobody made changes anymore.
Who could have guessed that in just one night, such a huge problem would occur?
According to Xu Jingshou’s estimate, the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array needed about three more years of operation to make the rootless Purple Qi resonate with the resentment, Death Qi, and Yin Qi in his Marshal’s Mansion, then transform into Soul Qi and nurture his Primordial Spirit.
The Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array had been running for six years now.
It had never had any issues before.
“Could it be related to the Bai Family Caravan that just arrived?”
Xu Jingshou focused his suspicion on the Bai Family Caravan, mainly because trouble started right after they arrived—it was hard not to connect the two.
“That’s very likely. Otherwise, an ordinary magician wouldn’t have the skill to see through my Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array. At most, they might perceive my Marshal’s Mansion as a place of great misfortune.”
One had to understand—his Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array used the entire city as its foundation. Once inside, they were all inside the array. The array was so vast it was basically invisible.
And from outside the city, mixed with Human Qi and Yang Qi, there were no clues at all.
So whoever could see this array was definitely not ordinary.
As for being a Qi Refiner?
Xu Jingshou completely dismissed that idea. From birth till now, even after becoming a powerful warlord, he had never met a single Qi Refiner. Therefore, he simply wouldn’t consider it.
If not for the rootless Purple Qi on him and the effects of the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array, he wouldn’t believe any of this was real himself.
“Sir, another report—someone’s house has vanished,” his personal guard announced from outside the study.
Crack!
A crisp cracking sound came from the jade pendant. Xu Jingshou’s expression grew even darker.
“Investigate! Mobilize the Xu Family Army,” Xu Jingshou said, his face twisted fiercely, killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Then he hurriedly took another jade pendant from his desk drawer and put it on, finally calming down.
He casually removed the heavily cracked jade pendant and threw it on the desk. The moment it hit the desk, it shattered.
“Good thing I prepared an extra Mind-Clearing Spirit-Nourishing Jade Pendant. Otherwise, I really would have been affected.” Xu Jingshou spoke with some heartache.
This was a Ritual Implement—not something easily made.
The Qi Refinement and Spirit Cultivation method of the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array indeed had little danger, but the prerequisite was that you could sustain it. Now, without human goods as nourishment, the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array naturally couldn’t restrain the Death Qi, Resentment Qi, and Yin Qi.
And because these three Qi Mechanisms, guided by the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array, recognized only Xu Jingshou and didn’t affect others in the Marshal’s Mansion.
Unless the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array truly exploded, as long as the array existed, neither the Marshal’s Mansion nor Dongtai City would come to harm.
This was perfectly normal. Xu Jingshou needed these three Qi Mechanisms to undergo Combined Refinement into Soul Qi. Even if these Qi Mechanisms weren’t good things, they couldn’t be allowed to flow to others. If that happened, his share would decrease, and the Soul Qi Combined Refinement would fail.
So this counted as one of the risks. But as long as the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array wasn’t damaged, at most it would affect his mood, making him prone to anger, sadness, and so on.
And this Mind-Clearing Spirit-Nourishing Jade Pendant was precisely to prevent such situations.
But if the array were damaged or severely disrupted, not only would Xu Jingshou suffer the backlash, but the entire Dongtai City would share the consequences—after all, the whole city was already covered by the grand array.
“Find Wei Sheng to handle this. Tell him I said so,” Xu Jingshou suddenly said.
Only then did the guard outside reply, “Yes, Sir.”
His earlier angry words were actually unreasonable—ordering the Xu Family Army to mobilize without clear instructions. So the guard had stayed, waiting for his next command.
Then Xu Jingshou took out a calendar and began comparing and calculating. He was determining when he could start crafting another Mind-Clearing Spirit-Nourishing Jade Pendant—it required a precise date and time.
After all, now he only had the one Mind-Clearing Spirit-Nourishing Jade Pendant he was wearing. If something went wrong again, he would be in trouble.
Besides the Mind-Clearing Spirit-Nourishing Jade Pendant, he also needed to repair the flaws in the Qi Reversal Soul-Returning Array as soon as possible. That also required the right timing and conditions—he couldn’t just fix it immediately. Without accurate calculation, it could cause backlash.
…
On Chen Xiyi’s side, he was controlling five Alloy Pickaxes to continuously tear down houses.
Honestly, demolishing other people’s houses felt great.
Of course, he didn’t know the true details about that Commander Xu, nor did he know that the entire setup in Dongtai City was actually this Commander Xu’s doing.
On his Game Map, Commander Xu’s nickname was [Warlord Xu Jingshou].
Warlord was the Home Game’s certification for Xu Jingshou. In reality, he was indeed the leader of a warlord army. Wanting to become a Qi Refiner was just one of his methods, not his actual identity.
Thus, Chen Xiyi made an incorrect judgment.
But even if he knew, he wouldn’t care. No matter who had arranged the entire Dongtai City, it wouldn’t affect Chen Xiyi’s house demolition and “finding” their legacy.
No matter who it was, Chen Xiyi just needed to keep a low profile, go over, and take action.
As long as he didn’t encounter a Qi Refiner, Chen Xiyi felt confident in whatever he did. Even facing the entire Dongtai City didn’t scare him—he had TNT.
Yes, having TNT was awesome.
“Done. At my demolition speed, I should be able to tear down all the powerful families on the list by tonight. I can move on to that street in the latter half of the night.”
Chen Xiyi looked at the empty plot of land, now just dirt, and packed up the Wooden Storage Chest.
If this world were more suitable for laying low, he might find a place to set up a small villa and enjoy life.
“But my large-scale actions seem to be affecting Dongtai City’s grand array. I hope it doesn’t explode.” Chen Xiyi felt a bit guilty.
“It probably won’t. I only dug up a few houses—it’s not like I blew up a whole street.”
Chen Xiyi subconsciously ignored his plan to dig up a street that night.
“It’s fine. I believe in that expert’s methods. After all, anyone who can use a whole city to set up an array must be highly capable. He can definitely fix this minor issue easily.”
Well, that was just what Chen Xiyi thought—he had no real evidence or certainty.
“Besides, such a precise grand array definitely wouldn’t malfunction just because I tore down a few houses. If it did, that expert must be pretty incompetent.”
Chen Xiyi judged others by himself. He felt that someone capable of setting up a large Formation Array must be extraordinary. For example, with his current theoretical knowledge, if explaining things could create arrays, he definitely could succeed. But if he actually had to do it himself, it was more practical to think about how to demolish things faster.
After tidying up the demolition site, Chen Xiyi checked the addresses and dragged the five Alloy Pickaxes toward the next victim.
Perhaps because his reputation had spread over a day and night, these mansions were all empty—everyone had gone out to seek refuge.
This made Chen Xiyi’s demolition work especially satisfying.
“TVs, tape recorders, little telephones, all kinds of lights… Tsk tsk, really opening my eyes here.”