"Watchu gonna do, huh? Call the guards? Like the weak little pussy you are, a weakling who can't even defend himself," the seer's verbal attack continued.
And sure enough, that ugly-looking Jaegal made a facial expression that matched his appearance. After a brief pause, the expression disappeared, replaced by a smirk.
"Hah, weird you would say that, for I sense no Qi from you whatsoever. Maybe because you're a cripple... and you still dare to talk mighty," the Jaegal retaliated.
"My cultivation was temporarily sealed off specifically so weaklings like you don't get crushed under its weight. You should be grateful," the seer countered.
"That's enough of your insults," the skin and bones Jaegal moved to attack the seer.
Sure enough, just like his sickly physique, his techniques were sloppy. The seer had no problem punishing him with a slap.
"Ah, jeez, I touched ya, disgusting. Hopefully, this ain't contagious," the seer loved trash talk. It was one of the things he thought was art.
The enraged Jaegal rushed in again, and the seer, not wishing to waste any time, grabbed him by the back of his head and smashed it into the sandy ground.
"Be grateful I spared you. Next time you try something, I don't think even my friendship with your father will be able to stop me from ending you." It was a lie, but declaring it as an ending dialogue to a fight made it very believable, and everyone indeed ended up believing that he was here for some work that needed to be done.
The beaten teen and his mother left the site on a flying sword.
Now, they all had access to the entire site, just as the seer wished, with the guards thinking they were supposed to be there.
"Bring it in," the seer waved, and carts full of TNT were pulled in by Liu and Cao.
"What is this stuff?" asked a guard.
"It's explosives," the seer answered.
"It's what?" another guard followed up.
"It's flammable explosives. It goes boom-boom if it comes near a fire," the seer explained. And no guard questioned any of it again.
The TNT was placed wherever the seer demanded it to be.
"Give me the blueprints," the seer demanded, and they were presented.
"Place these here and here," the seer demanded, and his instructions were followed.
The entire setup was completed in a matter of minutes.
The Jaegal who had left earlier returned with more reinforcements.
From the very top of the pit, someone descended after leaping from a sword. This time, it was a true Jaegal, dressed in white and jade robes that matched the color of his pure green eyes.
It must not have taken them long to realize something was amiss and for them to send a backup. The edge of the pit was now filled with Jaegal Family's forces. They were encircled, while the guards inside stood dumbfounded, looking at their master's oldest son pointing his sword at the seer, who merely stood there smiling in front of him.
"What is your purpose?" the Jaegal asked.
There was no response from the seer. And so, the man did what he thought was right and attempted to kill the intruder.
"I would not do that if I were you," the seer warned, and the man heeded it. He sensed something amiss.
Murim, much like a video game, has its very own meta—techniques and information that transcend the rules and limits of the game. The meta changes from generation to generation. Many powerful martial arts are created and lost over time, only to be rediscovered after long durations. The current meta involved a specific cultivation method that gave the user's Qi the attribute of fire. So any and all of their martial arts would have a flame attribute to them.
The Jaegals had made this powerful technique the main technique of the clan, and many outsiders also used it. This cultivation method gave them an attribute very easily, as obtaining Qi attributes is often a difficult task.
"Down on the ground. It's gunpowder. If you use your martial arts, that black stuff catches it, and the entire mine goes down," the seer warned the man.
"You bluff. You would die as well."
"Well, I'm a madman," the seer responded. "But please, don't let me stop you."
The man knew better than to test the seer's patience and ordered everyone to stand down and refrain from using martial arts. Naturally, there was one who could not follow orders and served as an example and a demonstration by getting blown up by some of the laid-out gunpowder.
The poor man was now legless, but luckily the fire did not spread since the black powder was well mixed with the sand. However, the people who witnessed the explosion knew that using martial arts would not only endanger their own lives but also the lives of everyone present.
They understood that the stronger a person's cultivation and the more flames they created, the higher the chances of the entire mine collapsing.
Everyone became hesitant, relieved that the person who attempted to show off was weak in their cultivation.
"Just tell us what you want!" the man demanded, frustrated that he could not use his martial arts. The seer had effectively crippled all martial artists in the vicinity.
"Before I demand anything, you should know that I have things like these with me, so don't think you can do whatever you want if you don't have fire-based Qi," the seer warned, lighting a matchstick and bringing it close to his face, revealing a rather devious expression in the dim lighting.
"My demands are simple: tell us who has the Yin Yang relics. Oh, better yet, call him here. And also, withdraw your operations from this place while you're at it," the seer demanded. "Otherwise, it's boom boom time. And don't act like this place isn't valuable to you guys. I mean, if this place goes down, it will cripple the entire province, which is on the verge of a large-scale war with other provinces. No economy and no cultivation resources meaning no power will result in your loss, so please, be wise."
Their entire army that surrounded the seer looked at him with scornful eyes. It was not their decision to make. The emperor would surely punish and extinguish the entire Jaegal clan for losing the mine. Worse yet to a random madman over some scuffle over a treasure.
But what were they expecting jumping in like that underestimating the seer? All those rumors and stories and tales of the great seer and it still saves no one from his clutches. But then again the seer was the only one who could make such powerhouses feel such helplessness.
No one actually uses their brains in Murim. And that was a source of unimaginable strength to the seer.