Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 199 The Imperial Golden Mace

"An assassin!" Cao Zifan roared. "Strike the Thirteen-Tone Separation Bell!"

A group of musicians without ears hurriedly started ringing a huge set of chimes, the irritating sound immediately causing most of the people to cover their ears and kneel down.

This enormous magical artifact can interrupt most spells at the soul and mental level, such as curses and bewitching. While it is useless against prominent Confucian scholars, it is extremely effective against the strange and unorthodox methods of the Xuanmen (Taoist) sect.

Cao Zifan himself swayed, barely managing to stay upright. However, the attendant before him had transformed into Lin Fan's appearance and seemed completely unaffected. Cao Zifan knew this mental attack was extremely powerful, and he needed to guard his mind even more.

The man took out a dark green bead and shouted, "Original body, open your mouth quickly, swallow the Soul-Suppressing Bead and you will wake up!"

Cao Zifan didn't dare utter a word, shutting his mouth and fleeing towards the inner palace. The Thirteen-Tone Bell seemed not to have completely untied the person's body. He lunged forward, pinning Cao Zifan down, trying to pry open his mouth.

Cao Zifan struggled desperately. Over the years, he'd encountered all sorts of bizarre traps; how could he possibly trust the person before him?

The two wrestled on the ground, their strength seemingly evenly matched. Cao Zifan desperately activated his supernatural powers, but to no avail, as if his powers had failed.

Cao Zifan was in a hurry, but the assassin was even more anxious. Holding a dark green bead, he desperately tried to shove it into Cao Zifan's mouth, yelling, "Main body, eat! Eat it now!"

Seeing Cao Zifan resisting desperately, he roared, "Main body, if you don't believe me, then pinch me with your left hand! With your left hand!"

Cao Zifan reached out his left hand to grab the assassin's neck, but his hand passed right through the assassin's body and he grabbed nothing.

A thought flashed through Cao Zifan's mind. He hesitated for a moment, and the assassin stuffed the dark green bead into his mouth.

Cough, cough, cough.

Cao Zifan felt a wave of dizziness, as if his face was covered in an oil-like coating, which was extremely sticky and disgusting. Cao Zifan scratched his face and large chunks of black rice stuck together were scraped off.

When his vision returned, he saw his own clone in front of him looking anxious, covered in bloody holes that were gushing out.

Cao Zifan—no, Lin Fan—understood immediately. He himself was the true form! Everything that had just happened was the work of this black rice; it had created a dream for a certain purpose.

In short, if I'm not careful, I might get lost in the dream and be doomed! Fortunately, my clone woke up early because of the Soul-Suppressing Pearl and saved me.

Niu Dadan, who was flapping his wings, was knocked down from the sky. Blood was gushing from his body and wings. It seemed that he had held off Magistrate Cao for a while, which gave his clone a chance to wake up Lin Fan.

When Lin Fan saw the black and white rice surrounding Magistrate Cao, an instinctive fear surged up within him.

The Soul-Suppressing Pearl emitted a faint green light, calming him down.

The memories of what happened in the illusion were like a dream decades ago, and he had forgotten most of them. Just like a dream, every detail is clear when you're dreaming, but once you wake up, you forget most of it or even completely.

However, during this experience, the impeccable strength of Xianxue left a deep impression on Lin Fan. Even though the memory was vague, the feeling was very clear.

No, the teachings in dreams don't possess any bewitching magic, which is one reason why they are described as righteous and orthodox. If that's the case, then actual teachings are probably far less powerful than those in dreams.

After all, this dream was woven from the magic of popular science, so it's normal for them to brag about it!

With this thought in mind, Lin Fan understood and raised the Crane Spirit Wood Greatsword in his hand, "Let's get him!"

He raised his sword high, aiming his navel at Magistrate Cao, who was not far away. Magistrate Cao's body had been completely restored by the righteous energy, and his deep eyes looked at Lin Fan with disdain.

Swish.

Spider silk shot out, and Lin Fan flew towards Magistrate Cao.

Magistrate Cao, who had been seriously injured by this attack, naturally dared not underestimate it, and built thick walls of white rice.

clang!

Lin Fan, with his single arm, swung his sword and slammed it heavily against the rice wall.

Magistrate Cao frowned slightly, because it was too weak; only a patch of rice had been scattered from the rice wall, completely lacking its previous power.

Lin Fan hadn't gathered any sword energy, so his attack was naturally weak. He was simply repeating the same old trick.

Magistrate Cao felt a sharp pain in his ankle. Looking down, he saw a giant ant with its mandibles biting into the thinnest part of his ankle.

Just as he regained his footing, the blood-soaked Niu Dadan flapped his wings and brought down a sword from the sky.

He used the remaining rice to block the bull demon in the sky. His clone, Lin Fan, had already pressed himself against Magistrate Cao's back, and the black blade pierced directly towards his vitals. He stabbed seven times before the blade was caught by the many black rice grains, and the white rice kept shooting out before he stopped.

Seeing the black knife fly out, Zi Yue wanted to jump out to catch it, but Lin Fan used his one arm to pull back the somewhat transparent Zi Yue, saying, "You don't need to go, rest a while longer."

With Lin Fan's involvement, Lin Fan's side immediately turned things around.

Under the cover of the two righteous auras, Magistrate Cao quickly retreated, filling his wounds with white rice and beginning treatment.

Magistrate Cao's face darkened; he hadn't expected the three men before him to be far more troublesome than he'd anticipated. However, this apparent evenness was merely superficial. After all, the three men would bleed if injured, while Magistrate Cao would only need to expend his righteous energy. The blood of the three men was no match for Magistrate Cao's accumulated strength over the years; the outcome of this war of attrition was already decided.

Lin Fan also realized this. The number of rice-grain-sized blood holes on the three of them was increasing. The injuries were not serious, but the continuous bleeding was making their condition worse and worse.

"I am an official appointed by the imperial court, a disciple of the emperor. I cannot be imprisoned, tortured, or beheaded. What right do you unruly commoners have to confront me?" As soon as Magistrate Cao uttered these words, his aura suddenly intensified, as if this declaration could strengthen him. The black and white grains of rice surrounding him faintly shimmered with golden light.

However, this sentence also reminded Lin Fan, "Officials appointed by the imperial court cannot be executed? Cannot be tortured? Then how about this!"

As he spoke, Lin Fan pulled out an object wrapped in black cloth from behind his back. When the cloth was removed, a dull-colored bronze mace was revealed. It was carved with seven dragons and eight phoenixes and inlaid with twelve precious pearls, clearly a top-grade imperial gift.

Upon seeing this object, Magistrate Cao's knees buckled, and he almost knelt down. "No, if you had shown this earlier, what would we have fought for?"

"Your humble servant greets you..."

He hesitated, unable to recall anyone since the founding of the Great Qian Dynasty who had been bestowed with such a weapon.

"May I ask the name of this precious mace, and when will it be bestowed upon you?"

Lin Fan was taken aback. He didn't know. It was given to him by the King of Bo when they parted ways.

Magistrate Cao finally realized what was happening, "Fine, fine, so you're not satisfied with dying alone, you want to drag your entire family down with you, is that it?"

"How dare you use the mace of the previous dynasty to attack the officials of today!"