Chapter 90: Red Training Boy

After Duan Rong finished washing his hair, he dried it with a towel. Standing in the cramped dormitory, he recalled the feeling of the moment he threw the stone earlier.

Duan Rong feared that this inspiration, obtained by chance, would soon vanish. A flash appeared in his eyes, and he immediately had an idea.

Duan Rong stood there and tossed the towel; it landed steadily on the edge of the wooden tray in the corner of the wall.

Duan Rong smiled lightly and said, "If I use this hidden weapon technique to shoot baskets, I'll be the next Curry!"

Duan Rong walked quickly out of the dormitory, left the Yuanshun Escort Agency, and arrived at West Street.

Duan Rong made a turn on West Street and entered an alley. He stood at the alley entrance, peered into the alleys on both sides, and suddenly walked into one of them.

Inside that alley, someone was seen squatting against the base of the wall, with a propped-up Wooden Box placed beside them. This Wooden Box was about one foot five or six square, with straps tied to both sides, so it could be hung on the chest or placed by the side of the alley.

This was actually a box for selling needles, thread, and thimbles!

In ancient times, this sort of thing was considered a hot commodity, and every household had use for it.

Duan Rong walked over quickly and said, "Give me thirty needles!"

"Thirty needles?" The man squatting at the base of the wall was in his early thirties, very thin, and looked somewhat shifty.

"What? Don't you have that much stock?" Duan Rong asked, frowning.

"Yes, yes, how could I not?" The man said, counting out thirty needles, wrapping them in straw paper, and handing them to Duan Rong. He asked curiously, "Usually, people buy them one or two at a time. Customer, why are you buying thirty all at once?"

Duan Rong's gaze sharpened, feeling somewhat displeased. He thought to himself: A peddler of needles and thread, why is he so talkative? Doesn't he know curiosity killed the cat?

Duan Rong smiled and said, "I'm using these needles to practice a martial art!"

"What kind of martial art?"

"This martial art is called the Nianhua Finger Technique. You throw these thirty needles one by one into the brick crevices, using only one finger. If you can pick them all up within a quarter of an hour, that is the Entry Realm of the Nianhua Finger Technique!"

"Really? Can I practice this martial art?" the man asked with pleasant surprise, feeling that this martial art didn't seem difficult.

"Of course, it's just the entry level, it's not that hard! Anyone can practice it!" Duan Rong smiled. "Do you have thin cotton thread? Give me a roll of that too."

"I do." The man took a roll of cotton thread from his stock.

Duan Rong smiled, paid the money, tucked the needles and cotton thread into his sleeve, and returned to the Escort Agency.

The man watched Duan Rong leave, then immediately grabbed thirty needles, threw them into the crevices of the bluestone in the alley, and began to practice...

Duan Rong returned to the dormitory, opened the needle packet, pinched a needle in his hand, stood still, and suddenly shot it out!

A flash of needle light appeared, and it nailed itself into the bed frame.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered. He used the footwork of the Cloud Snake Step, flashing and shifting within the cramped dormitory. As his body turned, he waved his hand gracefully time and again, and the twenty-nine needles in the packet shot toward the bed frame one by one.

Before long, those needles on the bed frame had actually formed a plum blossom!

"This technique is actually not difficult; the methods for shooting needles are all common! As for the changes in angle each time, they are adjusted according to the footwork!"

Duan Rong did not know that hidden weapon techniques are actually very difficult to practice; it was only because he had already obtained the realms of two techniques through the Devouring Artifact Spirit, and by chance, he had connected them.

At this moment, he truly felt it was not difficult!

But if a novice wanted to reach his level, who knows how much suffering they would have to endure!

Duan Rong took the needles off the bed frame one by one. Looking at the needle packet in his hand, he prepared to carry out his other idea.

He cut the cotton thread he had bought into small segments and threaded a white tassel tail onto each needle!

Then, he took out the black Porcelain Bottle, only the size of a plum, from his inner garment pocket.

Inside this Porcelain Bottle was the deadly poison he had obtained from Zhou Shoushan!

Duan Rong took out a porcelain trough he used for mixing dyes, added a small amount of clear water to it, and then carefully opened the lid of the black Porcelain Bottle.

Immediately, a foul stench permeated the cramped dormitory. Duan Rong used a needle to pick out a tiny bit of the black, murky ointment, then leaned the needle against the edge of the trough, immediately capped the Porcelain Bottle, and put it away.

Duan Rong opened and closed the window a few times, leaving a crack, and only then did the stench in the cramped space diminish slightly.

Duan Rong's gaze was focused. He carefully picked up the needle from the edge of the trough, rinsed it in the clear water of the porcelain trough to wash all the ointment into the water, and then stirred it for a long time. Only then did Duan Rong lean all thirty needles against the edge of the trough, soaking the front third of the needle tips into the murky, poisonous water...

After Duan Rong finished handling it, seeing that it was time for the canteen to serve lunch, he closed the window, locked the door, and went to the Middle Courtyard canteen to eat.

After Duan Rong finished his meal, he returned to the dormitory, took the needles out of the poisonous water, placed them on the windowsill one by one to dry, then took the porcelain trough out and poured the remaining poisonous water into a corner of the wall far away.

Duan Rong rinsed the porcelain trough with clear water before walking back into the dormitory and placing the porcelain trough separately on the other side under the bed!

He decided that this porcelain trough would be used exclusively for this purpose from now on.

After finishing all this, Duan Rong opened the window to let the sunlight shine in so that the poison-quenched needles could dry faster. Moreover, even though so much time had passed, there was still a faint, foul stench in the cramped dormitory!

Just at this moment, Duan Rong suddenly caught sight of a gray-white spider, the size of half a pinky fingernail, on the bed frame where the sunlight was shining.

His eyes were sharp and his hands quick. He pinched the tail of a needle on the windowsill, and with a wave of his hand, a Poison Needle shot out!

A flash of needle light appeared, and it nailed that gray-white spider to death!

Under the sunlight, the gray-white spider was seen turning black instantly, then it actually transformed into a drop of ink and dripped down from the bed frame!

"My goodness... this poison is truly formidable!"

Duan Rong looked at the row of Poison Needles drying on the windowsill, and suddenly a flash appeared in his eyes. He said, "Ice Soul Silver Needle!"

"Red Training Fairy..."

"No! Red Training Boy Duan Rong!"

As Duan Rong spoke, he made a few empty-handed gestures of waving his hand to shoot needles.

After the Poison Needles were dried, Duan Rong found a cork, stuck the Poison Needles into it one by one, and then put the cork into his trouser pocket.

In this way, he at least had one more means of saving his life!

"In this world today, it's not easy to get by!"

Just as Duan Rong finished putting away the cork with the Poison Needles, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind!

In fact, although Duan Rong was doing other things, his mind had been constantly pondering the matter of Xu Ruhu and Xie Lei!

This matter was like a huge puzzle?

It piqued Duan Rong's interest!

But just a moment ago, it seemed as if something had flashed light from within the fog-like puzzle and then quickly submerged again; Duan Rong had failed to capture it for a moment...

"What is it?" Duan Rong paced back and forth within the cramped dormitory...

After thinking for a long time, he only felt that the flash of inspiration was like a clay ox entering the sea, becoming increasingly difficult to find...

Duan Rong decided to reorganize his train of thought!

Upon clearing his thoughts, Duan Rong immediately discovered the problem.

He had previously been thinking about how Xie Lei, having already left, could have appeared in the Dungeon again?

He had treated this matter as a locked-room mystery game, purely out of curiosity and for entertainment!

However, another more important question had just flashed through his mind.

That was, what exactly was Xie Lei's motive?

Why would he take such a huge risk, going so far as to let his own uncle and himself bear the blame for dereliction of duty, just to rescue a notorious wanted criminal?

This question was clearly the more important one!

Because "why" is always more important than "what"!

(End of chapter)