Chapter 395: Cunning Strategy (Part 2)

Duan Rong stood in a shadow outside Tang Wanhong's cell, watching with cold eyes the headless bloody corpse lying on the bench not far away.

A tattered felt hat, stained with blood, had actually been blown near his feet.

Duan Rong merely glanced at the tattered hat, then turned swiftly and stood at the entrance of Tang Wanhong's cell, holding a wire and a long needle, which he inserted into the keyhole of the copper lock.

Under the probing of his Divine Sense, he could "see" the internal spring latches of the copper lock clearly.

About one breath later, the copper lock was picked open.

The technique was still a bit unrefined.

Duan Rong removed the iron chain wrapped around the cell door, placed it carefully by his feet, and then suddenly exerted his movement technique, darting out like a wild cat and landing almost silently outside Shen Yanliu's cell door.

The prisoners in the nearby cells were all in a coma at this time due to the potent anesthetic he had dispersed into the air with his True Qi; Shen Yanliu in this cell was no exception, also lying dead to the world on a pile of hay in the corner of the cell.

Duan Rong followed the same procedure and opened the lock of this cell as well.

The moment he set down the lock and iron chain and pushed the cell door open, Duan Rong's figure flashed, and he vanished from the spot again.

He darted back to Tang Wanhong's cell, tucked Tang Wanhong under his arm, and with a flash of his figure, darted into Shen Yanliu's cell.

Outside Shen Yanliu's cell hung a dim lantern, its faint light slanting into the cell.

Beside the shadows of the light, Duan Rong placed Shen Yanliu and Tang Wanhong side by side; both were under the influence of the anesthetic.

At this moment, the two lay there covered in blood, like two corpses that had died a miserable death.

What was even more eerie was that their faces were nearly identical.

Duan Rong's gaze tightened, and his Divine Sense instantly focused on Shen Yanliu's face, where he saw a mole the size of a mung bean on Shen Yanliu's right cheek.

Duan Rong suddenly drew his blade; the Minghong Saber flashed, and the mole on Shen Yanliu's face was shaved off by him.

Duan Rong carefully took the shaved-off mole from the edge of the blade, wiped away the bloodstains, and then, holding the mole, squatted down beside Tang Wanhong.

When Duan Rong made that face mask, he had left a small hole on the right cheek specifically for this mole.

He applied transparent Peach Gum to the bottom of the mole, carefully pressed it into the small hole in the face mask, and then used a scraper to repair the area around the mole.

Under the probing of his Divine Sense, he saw that the skin around the mole had been repaired until it was smooth and flat; Duan Rong finally exhaled a breath of turbid air.

He examined this "work" which was now in its completed state and nodded slightly. He was quite satisfied.

After devouring the Spirit Tool of the "Autumn Clearing Painting" last time, he had gained a deeper understanding of the visual presentation of works, and these subtle insights were all reflected on "that face."

Just then, Duan Rong's brow suddenly furrowed; under the probing of his Divine Sense, he "saw" a team of patrolling jailers walking out of a bunker not far away, yawning, and heading this way.

Having dug tunnels under the Dungeon for seven or eight days, Duan Rong often used his Divine Sense to probe the situation in the Dungeon above, so he was already very familiar with the patrol patterns inside the Dungeon.

Heavy-armored soldiers and the jailers in the bunkers would take turns patrolling.

The heavy-armored soldiers' patrols were timed, four times every two hours, following a set routine.

The jailers' patrols were much more casual; between two groups of heavy-armored soldiers, a team of jailers would definitely come out to patrol, but there was no fixed time.

Sometimes, just after a team of heavy-armored soldiers had finished patrolling, that team of jailers would walk out of the bunker.

Sometimes, the next team of heavy-armored soldiers was already about to start before those jailers hurriedly walked out of the bunker to make up a patrol.

This group of jailers had clearly come out to patrol a bit early.

The leader of this team of jailers carried a lantern while wearing a saber, and the others all held red-tasseled spears, the silver-bright spear tips gleaming with a cold light under the dim lantern.

They were all half-squinting, their walking somewhat unsteady.

Duan Rong stood in Shen Yanliu's cell, glancing at Xiong Yi's headless bloody corpse on the bench outside.

He suddenly darted out, and before that team of jailers turned the corner, he darted back into Tang Wanhong's cell.

Duan Rong stood in a corner of the wooden fence, flipped his hand, and with True Qi surging in his palm, he slapped a mass of potent anesthetic toward the end of the alley; he slapped out with one palm, then followed with another, slapping five times in total before he stopped, because under the probing of his Divine Sense, the team of patrolling jailers had already turned into the alley.

They were already half-squinting and dazed; after walking a few steps, they felt even more dizzy and lightheaded, and soon, their eyes went dark, and they collapsed in a coma.

The moment they fell, Duan Rong's figure darted over like a ghost, directly gathering the six spears into his arms.

He did this to prevent the spears from hitting the ground and making a crisp sound; it was so quiet here that a sudden series of crisp sounds would alert that True Qi Realm expert playing mahjong at the entrance of the bunker.

Of course, for Duan Rong to kill him would only be a matter of one encounter. However, once he made a move, the plan would fail.

Duan Rong placed the six spears beside each person in turn, then quietly retreated.

He returned to Shen Yanliu's cell and looked at the two eerie "Shen Yanlius" lying on the ground; except for the mole on the right cheek, one could hardly tell any difference.

Duan Rong suddenly used his Divine Sense to penetrate Shen Yanliu's skeletal structure, looking at the multiple bone dislocations throughout his body, which had clearly been snapped by Chen Xun using the Capture technique of Muscle-Splitting and Bone-Dislocating.

Under the scan of his Divine Sense, he carefully observed the technique and the direction and force of the bone dislocations; he had also devoured this style of martial arts within Changliu Mountain.

He had achieved Great Perfection in more than a dozen Capture techniques, including the Eighteen Bone-Breaking Hands, Dragon Claw Hand, and Muscle-Splitting and Bone-Dislocating.

Within Changliu Mountain, the number of True Qi Realm martial arts Duan Rong devoured in the cave at Taipu Hall where discarded weapons were stored was countless, as numerous as the sands of a river.

The first martial art he achieved to True Qi Realm Great Perfection was the Ku Rong Ban Ruo Dao.

After achieving this one, it took him about five days to achieve the second, the Whisk Mountain-Opening Saber, to the realm of Great Perfection.

The third saber technique only took two days.

As for achieving Great Perfection in the fourth through eighth saber techniques, he completed them all in a single day.

And after that, he discovered that for all saber-type martial arts, as long as he had devoured them, he would be at the realm of Great Perfection the moment he used them.

Having mastered saber techniques, he only needed a thought for other categories of martial arts to immediately achieve them.

For example, those three True Qi Realm Great Perfection archery techniques: Ash, Phantom Yin, and Star Fall; he had actually never practiced them at all, but once they passed through his mind, they were directly at the realm of Great Perfection!

Duan Rong suddenly leaned forward, his hands moving like lightning; the sound of bones snapping, "crack, crack," rang out all over Tang Wanhong's body as he mimicked the technique Shen Yanliu had suffered, twisting and breaking many of Tang Wanhong's joints.

Tang Wanhong lay there like a corpse, motionless.

Relying only on that anesthetic obviously could not achieve this effect; Duan Rong had given him a Medicine Pill in Tang Wanhong's cell.

This Medicine Pill would not only take effect at this moment but would also take effect tomorrow during the execution.

Having finished all this, Duan Rong dragged Tang Wanhong onto the pile of hay; he stood in the darkness, his thoughts rolling like lightning as he went over every detail again, and only after confirming there were no errors did he wipe the fine sweat from his forehead.

He picked up Shen Yanliu from the ground, darted out of the cell, placed him on the ground, and then turned back to close the cell door, wrap the iron chain, and lock the copper lock.

Afterward, Duan Rong picked up Shen Yanliu and darted back into Tang Wanhong's cell.

Duan Rong placed Shen Yanliu at the entrance of the tunnel, then turned back out of the cell, closed the cell door well, wrapped the Iron Chain around it, and locked it with a copper lock.

Throughout this entire process, Duan Rong's Divine Sense remained in an outward-projecting state, paying attention to the movements in the surroundings.

The moment he finished locking the copper lock, he finally let out a long sigh of relief. The plan had gone quite smoothly, and he hadn't encountered any setbacks.

At this time, the patrol of the other wave of heavy-armored soldiers had not yet begun, and it was completely silent. Suddenly, a series of cracking sounds came from all the joints in Duan Rong's body, and then, with a shrug of his shoulders, he squeezed through the gap in the wooden bars and into the cell.

Not far away, under the illumination of the dim light, blood was still flowing from the severed neck of Xiong Yi's headless corpse...

Lines of blood dripped down from both sides of the long bench, splashing blood flowers onto the ground.

It was like a terrifying scene in a dim hell.

And at the entrance of the alley on that side, a team of jailers lay unconscious on the ground; a lantern had fallen to the ground, illuminating the pale face of the person in the lead.

The prisoners in the nearby cells, however, were all unconscious.

Duan Rong had used True Qi to blast the potent anesthetic into the air, creating an indiscriminate state of intoxication in this area.

But at this moment, inside Tang Wanhong's cell, it was already empty, and not even a shadow of a person could be seen.

In the pitch-black cell, beside a pile of hay, there was a strange hole.

Duan Rong had already taken the unconscious Shen Yanliu and gone down through the hole...

Not far from the Prefecture City Dungeon was a residential area, a courtyard overgrown with sparse weeds.

In the midst of the silence, one could only hear a sudden rustling sound in the main room, and then the old wooden door of the main room suddenly opened, and a black shadow darted out as fast as a ghost.

It was precisely Duan Rong, carrying Shen Yanliu on his back.

Duan Rong moved with the agility of a rabbit and the swiftness of a falcon, and with a few leaps, he vaulted out of the courtyard.

With his Divine Sense clearing the way, he instantly unleashed his movement technique and flashed away into the darkness.

Duan Rong threaded through streets and alleys, avoiding the Prefecture City bailiffs patrolling on the road.

At this time, above the sky, the crescent moon had already set, and that morning star seemed even brighter, just like a flickering human eye.

When Duan Rong set out from that Separate Courtyard of Liu Shushan, it had already passed the Yin hour.

And at this moment, it was exactly the darkest time before dawn. It was also the time when the Prefecture City bailiffs, who had been patrolling all night, were at their most fatigued and slack.

Duan Rong did not take Shen Yanliu back to that Separate Courtyard of Liu Shushan, but instead came directly to the base of a city wall a few feet away from the East City Gate. There, a beggar was sleeping soundly covered in straw, and a slight snoring sound echoed in the silent night.

The city wall before him was about three zhang high, much taller and thicker than the city wall of Xiangu County, but for Duan Rong, things like city walls, whether high or low, were of little use.

With the Lightness Skill of the True Qi Realm Great Perfection, one could step on swaying, ice-covered Iron Chains and cross cliffs over snow; what did a city wall amount to?

When Duan Rong leaped down from the city wall, he saw that the wilderness outside the city was as pitch-black as ink. He chose a direction and his figure flashed away.

In the pitch-black night, in the wild fields beside the Official Road, a carriage was parked. The horses were grazing on the wild grass by the road, and Ximen Kankan was sitting on the carriage, nodding off repeatedly.

Just at this moment, there was a rustle in the trees beside him, and a black shadow darted out, as fast as a ghost.

"Who?!"

Ximen Kankan immediately grabbed his blade and glared, his entire body's muscles tensing instantly.

"Me!"

Duan Rong exhaled a breath of turbid air and replied lightly.

Ximen Kankan felt a surge of joy in his heart and immediately flashed to Duan Rong's side. In the darkness, he saw that Duan Rong was still carrying a person on his back.

"Rescued?"

"Mm."

Ximen Kankan then took Shen Yanliu from Duan Rong's shoulder and carried her into the carriage.

Duan Rong looked at Ximen Kankan and said, "Let's go."

Ximen Kankan immediately led the carriage onto the Official Road and whipped the horse's rump hard.

Duan Rong was inside the carriage cabin; the cabin was shaking violently. He lay down beside Shen Yanliu, feeling quite exhausted. In the dungeon, his nerves had been in a state of high concentration and tension; now that he had relaxed, a sense of fatigue washed over him...

Inside the Prefecture City Dungeon, about a quarter of an hour later, another team of heavy-armored soldiers began patrolling from that end, carrying lanterns.

They turned into this alley from the alley entrance at the other end.

As they walked, the person in the lead saw, not far away, under the residual dim light, the headless corpse of Xiong Yi on the long bench.

"Alert!"

"There's a situation!"

Following his loud shout, the team of heavy-armored soldiers immediately held their shields, forming a narrow oval, with all shields facing outward.

Only then did they form a formation and walk forward.

Just as they reached Xiong Yi's side, a person in plain clothes flashed into the alley from the other end; it was precisely that True Qi Realm expert who had been playing mahjong at the entrance of the bunker.

As soon as that person darted into the alley, he saw the team of jailers lying there.

His brow twitched, and he immediately picked up a lantern from the ground and flashed swiftly to the front of Shen Yanliu's cell. Seeing the cell door locked tight, he saw the prisoner in the pitch-black cell lying on the pile of hay.

Only then did his heart settle slightly, and he glanced at Xiong Yi's headless bloody corpse on the bench nearby.

Xiong Yi's head had actually been blasted into mush, and during this process, he hadn't heard a single sound of fighting.

This headless bloody corpse was still lying on that long bench at this moment, and that was the posture Xiong Yi usually slept in.

In other words, Xiong Yi hadn't even had time to react before his head was blasted apart by someone.

A chill suddenly rose up his back; Xiong Yi was a True Qi Realm expert!

He turned his head to look at the team of heavy-armored soldiers and said, "Quick, have someone notify the Prefecture Master; someone has broken into the prison, and Xiong Yi is dead!"

"Yes!" The person in the lead immediately cupped his fists and left.

Following this person, quite a few jailers also poured into this alley from the bunker side, but these fellows were all full of fatigue, their eyes bleary with sleep.

The person in plain clothes looked at them and roared, "Someone has broken into the prison! Search every prison cell thoroughly to see if there is anything unusual!"

While he was giving orders to the crowd, his attention remained scanning the surroundings, and his hand was pressed against the weapon at his waist; he suspected that the person who had killed Xiong Yi had not yet retreated.

Outside the East City Gate of Ruyang Prefecture, on the Official Road ten-plus miles away, in the dim light of dawn, a carriage was speeding away. Duan Rong had long since instructed Ximen Kankan to drive the carriage to a ruined temple twenty miles west of the suburbs of Tongbai County.

In his early years, Duan Rong was at the Yuanshun Escort Agency and had traveled the Escort Route to Ruyang Prefecture many times, so he was already very familiar with the various stopover points along the way; furthermore, another intersecting Official Road, located not twenty miles from the western suburbs of Tongbai County, was the path Shen Mizhi and her party had to take to return to Ruyang Prefecture.

(End of chapter)