Chapter 468: Sequential Arrests

Duan Rong carried the box into the Secret Chamber. Before him was a small space, connected to a pitch-black Corridor, and the screams were coming from the depths of that Corridor.

At the entrance of the Corridor, on the stone wall, a Candle Lamp was lit; beneath the lamp stood a man from the Dali Temple, guarding the spot with a saber in hand.

That man had already seen Duan Rong in the afternoon, and seeing Duan Rong enter now, he called out respectfully: "My Lord!"

Duan Rong placed the box on his shoulder onto a Stone Table not far away, then sat on a Stone Chair, exhaled a breath of turbid air, looked at the man, and said: "Call Zhu Cheng over for a moment, I have something to find him for."

"Yes!" The man cupped his fists to accept the order, then turned and walked into the Corridor.

The hair-raising screams inside the Corridor fell silent at this moment, and the man walked to the door of a certain room.

It was an Iron Door with a window, and dim yellow light flickered through the iron grate.

He tapped his fingers on the Iron Door three times. A dull, metallic ringing echoed in the gloomy space.

After a few breaths, the Iron Door opened with a clatter, and a face, illuminated in flickering light, poked out; the voice contained hidden anger as it hissed: "What is it?"

Zhu Cheng's eyes were deep in shadow, and the man could not see them clearly at all, but he still couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, trembling as he said: "Boss, Lord Duan has returned, he is outside, saying he wants to see you."

Zhu Cheng was silent for a moment; the tyranny and cruelty in his eyes seemed to fade slightly, and he stepped out, closing the Iron Door behind him as he did so.

Inside that Iron Door, it was deathly silent; under the dim yellow light, one could only see a human-shaped blood gourd tied to a Wooden Frame with an Iron Chain, motionless, and at the base of the Wooden Frame, blood mixed with bits of flesh flowed all over the floor...

Zhu Cheng exited the Corridor and raised his eyes to look at Duan Rong, who was sitting on the Stone Chair; because of the long-term clenching of his jaw during the torture, his cheeks were somewhat stiff at this moment.

Duan Rong glanced at Zhu Cheng as he walked out, and his eyelids couldn't help but twitch slightly; Zhu Cheng's face and neck were splattered with bits of flesh, and his somewhat stiff facial skin and the lingering ruthlessness in his eyes seemed to explain what he had just been doing, yet at this moment, Zhu Cheng gave Duan Rong a miserable smile.

That smile was stiff and eerie, just like a puppet.

In a trance, Duan Rong felt as if he were seeing the kind of serial-killing demon from a movie.

Zhu Cheng said respectfully: "My Lord, you were looking for your subordinate?"

Duan Rong shook off his distraction, then pointed to the box on the Stone Table beside him and said: "The things in this box are very important. Your Secret Chamber's defenses are quite tight; find a place to hide it. I will have a use for it later."

Zhu Cheng glanced at the box; although he did not know what was inside, since it was something Duan Rong had specifically brought back, it was clearly no ordinary object.

"My Lord, rest assured, I will put it away safely!" Zhu Cheng said, reaching out to pick up the box on the Stone Table.

Duan Rong noticed that the hands Zhu Cheng raised were both covered in blood.

Duan Rong suddenly asked: "How is the interrogation of the people from Taihe Tower going?"

Hearing this, Zhu Cheng's blood-stained hands paused slightly, and he immediately used two fingers to pinch a piece of paper from his lapel.

Zhu Cheng placed the paper in front of Duan Rong; under the dim yellow light, one could see several bloody fingerprints on the four corners of the paper.

Zhu Cheng said: "Five people have been interrogated so far. Four have already spilled." Speaking to this point, Zhu Cheng paused and said: "However, one died."

Duan Rong said: "Who died?"

Zhu Cheng said: "The Owner of Taihe Tower, Qin Ya."

Duan Rong frowned; Qin Ya was clearly the most important among this group.

A flash of displeasure was evident on Duan Rong's face as he stared at Zhu Cheng and asked: "How did he die?"

Zhu Cheng said: "Qin Ya had a Tongue Nail, and hidden within the Tongue Nail was a potent Poison. During the interrogation, I had just woken him up when he bit off his tongue; the Poison inside the Tongue Nail sprayed out, and he died of poisoning on the spot!"

Duan Rong sighed; this Qin Ya must have had very important people held in the hands of Ge Rusong, otherwise, he would not have been so unyielding.

It stood to reason; Ge Rusong had entrusted such an important stronghold as Taihe Tower to him to manage, so how could he not have used means to keep him in check!

Duan Rong's expression had softened quite a bit, and he said: "This was unavoidable. He was determined to die and had been prepared for a long time."

"Yes," Zhu Cheng said respectfully.

Duan Rong reached out and picked up the piece of paper on the Stone Table, seeing that about a dozen names were written on it, with an address and cultivation realm noted after each name.

Zhu Cheng said: "These are some names provided by the four who spilled; I was just about to report them to you, My Lord."

Duan Rong's gaze was cold and sharp as he scanned the cultivation realms on the list.

Among them, there were four people in the True Qi Realm.

Duan Rong said: "For these four in the True Qi Realm, I will take Zhu Peng with me. As for the others, send your own men."

"Yes!"

Duan Rong tore off a corner of the paper; the information for those four True Qi Realm individuals was written there.

Duan Rong handed the paper, now missing a large corner, back to Zhu Cheng, who took it with his bloody hands, and Duan Rong stood up and walked out of the Secret Chamber.

Zhu Cheng glanced at Duan Rong's departing back, picked up the box from the Stone Table, and walked into the depths of the Corridor.

Duan Rong arrived at the entrance of the Secret Chamber by the Rockery, looked at Zhu Peng who was guarding there, and said: "Take four Sacks and come with me."

Zhu Peng was slightly stunned and asked: "Where to?"

Duan Rong said: "To catch people."

Zhu Peng already had two rolled-up Sacks on his person, and he immediately pulled down the Sacks of two subordinates beside him, tucked them under his arms, and followed behind Duan Rong, leaping over the high wall of the Back Courtyard into the night.

Duan Rong was not yet very familiar with the territory of Shenyun Prefecture, especially some of the remote places, which he did not know at all.

As soon as the two were out over the high wall, Duan Rong looked at the shadow beside him and asked: "Where is Shiyi Lane?"

Zhu Peng said: "Are we going to Shiyi Lane?"

"Yes!" Duan Rong said: "Go there first."

This person's name was written at the very top; besides the address and cultivation realm, there was also a note that this person had another identity: a Liaison for the Office of Transmission's contact point.

When Duan Rong was an Outer Sect Disciple, he had dealt with such people quite often.

Ge Rusong had built the intelligence stronghold of Taihe Tower to monitor the nobility and keep the Hundred Officials in check, but all his intelligence was not reported to Sect Master Chu of the Elder Council, but instead became his own private power.

For a Sect Elder to use the Hundred Officials Records to control the secular world's court and public was an act that already carried the suspicion of overstepping and treason.

And confirming the connection between that Liaison of the Office of Transmission and Taihe Tower would further substantiate the suspicion against Ge Rusong; this point was clearly extremely important.

Therefore, although those four people were at varying distances, the first place Duan Rong went was Shiyi Lane.

Zhu Peng had grown up in Shenyun Prefecture and knew the streets and alleys like the back of his hand; later, having become a Secretariat Commissioner, he was even more well-versed in some of the remote alleys.

Duan Rong and Zhu Peng traveled together in the shadows of the night.

The two of them were not as easy to expose as twenty-some shadows; they hid in the shadows at the entrance of an alley, and after the patrolling soldiers on the street had walked further away, they suddenly crossed the street and darted into another alley entrance on the opposite side.

About half an incense stick of time later, the two arrived in an alleyway. Soon, they stopped in front of a somewhat dilapidated residential house.

The courtyard and the rooms were all built from adobe bricks; they could not even afford green bricks, which showed the poverty of this household.

Inside the courtyard, a faint scent of beans drifted about... This family made tofu...

Duan Rong's Divine Sense had already passed through the walls and courtyard, and he saw that in the inner room of the adobe house, a couple was sleeping on the bed, embracing each other naked.

His Divine Sense penetrated the two people's dantian; the woman on the bed was clearly just a commoner with no martial arts at all, and she perhaps did not even know that her husband had another identity.

Duan Rong could not help but sigh, and he turned his head to whisper instructions to Zhu Peng: "Wait for me here."

Zhu Peng was only at the True Qi Realm; once he moved his body, it would be very easy to alert the person inside the house.

Duan Rong suddenly rose like a large bird, leaped over the courtyard wall, landed as lightly as a falling leaf inside the courtyard, and then, with a tap of his toes, stood before the door of the main room like a ghost.

At this moment, the person in the room was still snoring slightly.

Duan Rong suddenly formed his hand into a blade, True Qi flickering on his fingertips, and with a flash, he swept across the door gap; the door bolt inside snapped in response.

The person sleeping soundly on the bed heard the slight snapping sound of the bolt and woke up abruptly, but before he could even rise, he saw the curtain in front of the inner room door flicker, felt a faint breeze brush across his face, and Duan Rong's palm had already struck his dantian through the quilt.

In the darkness, cotton fluff danced, and the man let out a muffled groan, falling onto the bed with blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

The woman was clearly startled awake by the commotion and was just about to turn over, but at this moment, Duan Rong flicked his sleeve, and a cloud of medicine powder had already been sprinkled onto the woman's face.

The man lay there, enduring great pain, and said in a hoarse voice: "She knows nothing. Let her go..."

Duan Rong ignored the man, flicked his sleeve, and another cloud of medicine powder was sprinkled onto the man's face.

The man felt his eyes blur, and the words he had not finished speaking became stuck in his throat...

Duan Rong stood there, his Divine Sense scanning the room; on the bed, both were naked, and when he scanned the woman, his eyelids could not help but twitch.

In the darkness, Duan Rong suddenly turned his head to look at a corner of the room, walked over slowly, and removed an adobe brick from there.

That adobe brick was actually only half a piece; Duan Rong reached into the hole in the wall and pulled out a wooden box. Under the probe of his Divine Sense, he had already seen clearly that the wooden box contained the Sect Cloud Token and the Official Seal of the Office of Transmission.

Duan Rong stood there, his gaze flickering; he looked at the naked woman on the bed, and a flash of hesitation crossed his heart.

He still could not bear to kill her!

Duan Rong suddenly lunged, landing lightly on the bed; he crouched down, wrapped his arms around the woman's neck, and the quilt covering her slid off.

Although under the probe of his Divine Sense the quilt was already like nothingness, the real visual was even more impactful, and Duan Rong's blood could not help but surge.

He suppressed the agitation in his heart, flipped his hand to take out a porcelain bottle, fed a medicine pill into the woman's mouth, and then rubbed her plump chin and throat to confirm that the medicine pill had been swallowed.

When he was in Xiangu County, he had given this medicine pill to Yang Zhen; after swallowing it, it would make this woman sleep here for five days.

Five days later, everything should be settled!

Duan Rong stood up, holding the wooden box in one hand and hoisting the naked man with the other, then leaped out.

Duan Rong leaped over the courtyard wall like a ghost without a sound, landed beside Zhu Peng who was waiting there, threw the man onto the ground beside Zhu Peng, and whispered: "Use a sack to cover him!"

Although the starlight was dim, Zhu Peng still saw that what was before him was clearly a naked body; his gaze shifted, he looked at Duan Rong, and asked with a somewhat strange tone: "What did you do to him?"

Upon hearing this, a vein immediately bulged on Duan Rong's forehead. "What do you mean by what did I do to him? He wasn't wearing any clothes when I went in."

"Oh, I see!" Zhu Peng did not know whether to believe him or not, but he had already covered the man with the sack.

Following that, Zhu Peng carried the sack on his back, and he and Duan Rong went to the next location.

About an hour later, the two of them, each carrying two sacks, leaped over the high wall of the Back Courtyard of the Zhu Cheng Mansion, and then, without slowing their pace, flashed toward the Rockery.

Not long after the two left, black shadows successively leaped over the high wall from the night, and they were also carrying sacks on their shoulders; one by one, the figures disappeared at the Rockery.

After Duan Rong and Zhu Peng handed the people they had captured to Zhu Cheng, they leaped out of the back courtyard wall again, their figures disappearing into the pitch-black night like ghosts...

When they returned, Zhu Cheng had already interrogated another batch of people.

This was the rhythm Duan Rong had planned, cycling back and forth to finish off the grasshoppers on this line one by one. What he had originally envisioned was to take down Taihe Tower, pulling one hair to move the whole body, dragging out everyone who could be dragged out...

In actual implementation, the most important thing was the word "secrecy"; as the saying goes, affairs succeed through secrecy.

If they had taken down Taihe Tower at that time and that carrier pigeon had flown out, I am afraid their current operations would all have come up empty...

Duan Rong and Zhu Peng, carrying sacks again, leaped over the high wall in the dim light of dawn; the two had long since forgotten how many times they had leaped over this wall.

Duan Rong carried two sacks on his shoulders, while Zhu Peng only carried one sack on his shoulder.

When Zhu Peng landed, he stumbled, let out an "ouch," and fell to the ground along with the sack and the person inside.

After falling, Zhu Peng simply took advantage of the situation and lay there sprawled out, panting heavily, his whole body drenched in sweat.

Duan Rong glanced at the lying Zhu Peng; after a night of busyness, even he was a bit tired, let alone Zhu Peng who was at the True Qi Realm.

Duan Rong put down the sack on his right shoulder, then kicked Zhu Peng's sack with his toe so that it also landed on his right side; Duan Rong grabbed with his large hand and had already gripped the openings of both sacks in his hand.

Then, carrying one sack on his shoulder and dragging two sacks in his right hand, he flashed toward the Rockery.

Before long, Duan Rong arrived at this place again, but Zhu Peng was still lying on the ground like a dead pig, motionless, and kept swallowing his saliva...

Duan Rong kicked Zhu Peng in the waist and said: "Get up!"

Zhu Peng turned his head, saw Duan Rong holding another piece of paper in his hand, and immediately felt life was hopeless, complaining mournfully: "Why is there still more!?"

Duan Rong said: "Hurry up and get up! Be quick! This one has two new addresses, I don't know the places."

"My bones are about to fall apart..." Under Duan Rong's urging, Zhu Peng struggled to stand up; he glanced at the sky above and muttered: "It's about to be dawn."

Upon hearing this, Duan Rong also looked up at the sky and said: "I've prepared a carriage, we'll drive there."

This carriage was also something Duan Rong had instructed Zhu Cheng to prepare in advance, specifically for the convenience of traveling after dawn.

Once it was dawn, they could no longer walk the streets carrying sacks; that would be too eye-catching. Putting the sacks into the carriage could also cover their tracks quite well, and even if they encountered inspections, they had the tokens of the Dali Temple and the Privy Council, so no one would dare to check.

Duan Rong and Zhu Peng drove a carriage out from the side gate of the back courtyard...

In the dim light of dawn, the three-story Taihe Tower had its doors tightly shut.

This Taihe Tower usually opened its doors to welcome guests after breakfast, but even so, at this time of day, the doors of the first-floor Main Hall would have long been opened; although guests were not yet allowed in, the shop assistants delivering fresh fruits, vegetables, and pastries for the day would already be moving in and out of the building.

But at this moment, seven or eight assistants pushing small carts were all crowded outside the door, and some had already been waiting for quite a while.

"What's going on? I'm in a rush to deliver to the next place! If I'm late, the Manager will scold me!?"

Those who could not wait went up to knock on the door, but Taihe Tower was deathly silent inside, with absolutely no response at all...

(End of chapter)