Chapter 244: Old Acquaintance

Duan Rong's figure was swift; seeing he was about to reach the wall of that mysterious residence, he suddenly released his Divine Sense.

Once Duan Rong reached the vicinity of the wall, he swept it with his Divine Sense, chose a spot, and vaulted over.

Not far behind that wall stood a tall mulberry tree, which could just happen to conceal his figure.

Duan Rong's feet landed lightly, and just as he was about to dash out, his figure suddenly paused.

Although he could not see it with his eyes, under the envelopment of his Divine Sense, he could clearly "see" that on the grass not far in front of him, at a position about half a foot from the ground, hung an extremely thin thread!

This thread was of an unknown material and was exceptionally thin; let alone in the dead of night, even in broad daylight, it would be extremely difficult to see with the naked eye.

Duan Rong stood there, his Divine Sense carefully sweeping over it; this extremely thin thread hanging here entered the weeds under the mulberry tree from this point, then wound around a hidden pulley inside the weeds, and finally went up along the trunk of the mulberry tree, where, at a spot concealed by leaves, the end of the thread was tied to a rather large bell.

Duan Rong's expression was grim.

Just now, had he been the slightest bit inattentive and touched this thread, the hidden bell on the mulberry tree would have rung immediately.

Then he would have been exposed!

Wei Yutian was a True Qi Realm powerhouse; if he were exposed, let alone saving Xiao Yu, it would be difficult for him to even retreat unscathed!

Duan Rong took a deep breath, slowed his pace slightly, and advanced while probing with his Divine Sense, bypassing any abnormalities as much as possible.

Duan Rong quickly probed several rooms with his Divine Sense, but these rooms were all empty, and up to this point, he had not detected a single person in the entire Back Courtyard.

However, there were many traps and mechanisms everywhere; Duan Rong avoided them one by one, but his expression grew increasingly anxious.

"Could it not be here?"

The back courtyard of this mysterious residence was practically like a ghost house; not a single shadow of a person was to be seen, yet it was riddled with traps, clearly hiding a massive secret.

Just then, Duan Rong turned a corner of a Corridor and saw from afar, near the Rockery, outside the door of a remote side room, someone standing there holding a lantern; in the pitch-black night, that lantern looked just like an eye.

Duan Rong's figure flickered, and he circled from the side to the back of that side room; he swept it with his Divine Sense and immediately discovered a hole in the corner of the room.

That was clearly the entrance to a Secret Chamber.

Duan Rong's gaze tightened; he simultaneously discovered another thing: he actually recognized the woman holding the lantern, with a goose-quill saber tied at her waist, guarding the door of the side room.

Come to think of it, Duan Rong had even saved her life once. This woman was the same one who, when he was still a painter on the street, had gotten into a dispute with Shen Mizhi in front of his painting stall on West Street and had nearly died under Shen Mizhi's Sword.

At the time, fearing a murder would occur in front of his stall, Duan Rong had intervened to save her, and because of this, he had fallen out with Shen Mizhi.

However, these were old matters; Duan Rong had no time to concern himself with them now.

But, just as Duan Rong's Divine Sense had swept past, a woman in white walked out from the entrance of the Secret Chamber.

Bai Ai walked out of the hole, stood at the door of the side room, and looked at Su Ti, who was standing in the night wind holding a lantern; her eyes flashed with a clever glimmer as she tentatively asked, "Su Ti, you say, why has the Master been sacrificing to the Five-Pass God for two nights in a row? This kind of situation has never happened before, has it?"

Su Ti looked back and rolled her eyes at her, saying, "How would I know? Did you see the woman the Master just carried into the Secret Chamber?"

"Who is that woman?" Bai Ai looked at Su Ti, her eyes full of curiosity. They had all seen the woman's beauty.

"How would I know?" Su Ti's eyes flickered; she had almost wanted to tell Bai Ai that when she first went to the bedroom, the Master was still wearing a night-traveling suit, but her heart tightened, and she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

Deep in Su Ti's heart, there had always been a trace of fear toward Wei Yutian; this was a trauma left behind by Wei Yutian's long-term control over her.

Duan Rong, standing behind the side room, heard the two's conversation clearly.

Wei Yutian had carried a beautiful woman into the Secret Chamber. That woman must be Xiao Yu.

Duan Rong stood there and suddenly shifted his Divine Sense to sweep downward.

The range of his Divine Sense was one hundred meters; everything in the underground Secret Chamber was instantly as if right before his eyes.

Xiao Yu lay unconscious on the high platform of that eerie Secret Chamber Mandala, and Wei Yutian was kneeling beside her; he looked at Xiao Yu with an obsessed expression and said, "Little beauty, if it weren't for the fact that I still need to practice the Filthy Blood Divine Art, I would want to fuck you right now... Wait for me... wait for me to finish sacrificing to the Five-Pass God... and we shall go to ultimate bliss together..."

Wei Yutian had to suppress the lust in his heart because practicing the Filthy Blood Divine Art required complex rituals to be performed.

Duan Rong stood behind the back wall of the side room; when his Divine Sense swept over that eerie Secret Chamber Mandala and he heard Wei Yutian's words, he was greatly shocked.

"Filthy Blood Divine Art? Wei Yutian is actually a member of the Filthy Blood Sect!" Although Duan Rong had read many rumors and anecdotes about the Filthy Blood Sect in miscellaneous books before, this was his first time encountering a member of the Filthy Blood Sect in reality.

Previously, there were rumors in the streets that this Wei Yutian, despite having a vast fortune, had never married because he was a natural eunuch.

Now it seemed that this rumor was completely false. Wei Yutian's refusal to marry was entirely for the convenience of secretly practicing the Filthy Blood Divine Art.

Duan Rong had previously read many miscellaneous books concerning the Filthy Blood Sect and the Filthy Blood Divine Art.

He knew that when practicing the Filthy Blood Divine Art, complex rituals had to be held, and it was quite time-consuming; now that his Divine Sense had swept over, the Secret Chamber where Wei Yutian was located had an eerie layout and contained many complex offerings, and coupled with Wei Yutian's words just now about sacrificing to the Five-Pass God, all of this corroborated what was said in the miscellaneous books.

This was good news for Duan Rong; if this were true, it could at least buy him some time to rescue Xiao Yu.

Duan Rong stood there, his eyes flickering, his thoughts churning like lightning as he considered a strategy.

Wei Yutian was a Martial Artist of the True Qi Realm; with his current martial arts, he was no match for him. Taking a risk by force was meaningless; not only would he fail to save Xiao Yu, but he would also lose his own life in the process.

But he could absolutely not watch Xiao Yu be used as a cauldron and raped to death.

To deal with Wei Yutian, he had to borrow the power of a True Qi Realm Martial Artist.

Ruan Fengshan was not there.

Duan Rong suddenly thought of one person, and that was the magistrate of Xiangu County, Shen Yanliu.

Shen Yanliu was a Martial Artist of the True Qi Realm Second Layer; with him holding the line, there would be no need to fear Wei Yutian.

Moreover, he was certain that Shen Yanliu would definitely take action because this was a major case involving the Filthy Blood Sect. Shen Yanliu was obsessed with power; how could he let such a great political achievement slip by?

The only thing he had to do was to make Shen Yanliu believe that Wei Yutian was a member of the Filthy Blood Sect.

Duan Rong knew that Wei Yutian and the magistrate Shen Yanliu had a very good private relationship; every holiday, Wei Yutian would always send generous gifts.

Words alone were not proof; what if Shen Yanliu did not believe him? After all, he was only a low-level Escort of the Yuanshun Escort Agency; how would he know such secret information?

Although Shen Yanliu needed political achievements, he was not a fool; after all, his status was humble—would Shen Yanliu take action against a local tycoon just because of his word?

Duan Rong frowned, then his eyes suddenly brightened; he swept his Divine Sense toward Su Ti, who was standing at the door of the side room holding a lantern.

Duan Rong then stood there, sensed the wind direction, and walked to the upwind side behind the side room; suddenly, he flicked his sleeve, and a cloud of white, mist-like Medicine Powder was dispersed into the night wind.

Su Ti stood at the door of the side room, her gaze sweeping the surroundings from time to time; as the night wind brushed past her face, for some reason, she felt her vision blur, and the next moment, her consciousness began to fade.

Su Ti's legs went soft, and she was about to collapse to the ground!

Just then, a figure dashed out from the side of the side room and grabbed her waist.

Duan Rong hoisted Su Ti up, fully exerted his Cloud Snake Step at the Small Success Realm, and vaulted over the wall to leave...

(End of chapter)