Chapter 1220

With a few 'bang' sounds, the sturdy wooden door of the prison began to burn, and the arrows that shot through the window into the prison exploded, igniting the dry grass inside. From where He Lingchuan was standing, he could see the fire in the prison suddenly rise, getting brighter and brighter.

"I've been to this city. The wall is three zhang three high." In the woods outside Ju City, Fu Liushan asked his teammates, "While running, how long can you hold your breath?"

Everyone looked at each other and said at least over two hundred breaths. Practitioners have long breathing and powerful heart and lung functions.

So Fu Liushan distributed a talisman to everyone: "All of you, put on the Pixia soldiers' armor and wear this Ghost Shadow Talisman. Remember to hold your breath before putting it on; in the eyes of ordinary people, you won't be seen, just like you can't see ghosts. But as long as you exhale a breath, the invisibility effect of the talisman will disappear, and it will take five breaths to reactivate it, so—"

"We must hold our breath to climb over the city gate and enter Ju City. There's likely an ambush in the city, so don't be careless after entering, and don't step on soft ground." Lest you leave footprints.

They were at the South Gate, and a guard said: "If we enter from the north, there's a row of low houses behind the city gate where we can take shelter."

"You know it, but don't the Pixia people know it?" Fu Liushan glared, "Prepare, put on the talismans!"

Everyone quickly changed into Pixia military uniforms, took a few deep breaths, held their breath, put on the talismans, and then quietly crept near the North City Gate to climb up.

The vision after putting on the talisman was very strange, presenting a thick gray-white color, but it wasn't hindered by darkness and could see extremely far.

Could this be the vision of ghosts and monsters?

There were guards coming and going on the city wall, walking occasionally.

Several team members were just about to pass through them when a bright light suddenly flashed in the city, and then someone shouted loudly! "Enemy attack!"

"It's on fire!"

The city wall guards immediately ran, rushing to the other side to look at the inner city.

Fu Liushan himself was almost bumped into, and the guard's big mouth almost kissed the back of his head. He was so scared his body tilted, and the person brushed past his shoulder, bringing out a gust of wind.

That was close, almost exposed! What enemy attack, why at this time? Besides their own side, who else would come to cause trouble in the middle of the night?

The other team members were also very clever, dodging here and there; although it was dangerous, they didn't really bump into anyone.

However, the small team looked down and saw a long reveal-form lamp array.

Could they pass?

Everyone looked at each other and finally looked at Fu Liushan together.

Fu Liushan also hesitated; these reveal-form lamps could even reveal real ghost shadows, so their Ghost Shadow Talismans were useless. If they went down, they would reveal their forms and trigger all the ambushed manpower in the city.

But if they didn't go down, once their breath ran out, they would also be discovered.

What to do? Should they retreat the way they came? Just as he felt troubled, the city gate officer shouted a few times, and more than thirty soldiers on the city wall lined up to go down the wall.

It just so happened that the ladder entrance was shrouded in the shadow of the city gate tower. Seeing this, Fu Liushan had a flash of inspiration and gestured to everyone:

Go!

Everyone sneaked into the shadows, and until the last Pixia soldier walked down the city ladder, they took off their Ghost Shadow Talismans and followed closely! What's so great about a reveal-form array?

They were wearing Pixia military uniforms, so they would wade through this array openly!

When passing through the array, everyone's hearts were in their throats, fearing a shout from behind, followed by arrows like rain.

Fortunately, there wasn't.

The small team kept their heads down and followed into the alley.

Fu Liushan quietly used a 'Ghost Eye' spell, and could even see the surging human energy behind the low houses.

Living people have energy, and soldiers' blood energy is more vigorous than ordinary people's. Ghosts look at people this way, and Fu Liushan simulated 'Ghost Eyes' to discover the so-called 'human energy'.

There were indeed many people ambushing here!

Fortunately, they had slipped over; if they had revealed their forms, they would probably have been swarmed and chopped into meat paste.

Following the army in front, they turned a few corners, and the small team put on the Ghost Shadow Talismans again to quietly leave the team, passed through the empty and deserted street, and slipped behind a row of shops, only then letting out a long sigh of relief.

Phew, revealed.

"There really is an ambush!"

"What happened in the city?"

Another team member said: "I heard the guards say that the place where the fire is soaring is the direction of the county government office."

"Eh? Did someone beat us to it?"

Everyone looked at Fu Liushan, who was panting the hardest: "Why look at me? It wasn't me who did it. Did your general send other manpower?"

I'm old, holding my breath is so tiring!

Everyone could only shake their heads, not knowing.

"Master Fu, what now?" Someone asked, "With fire soaring to the sky, even if we rush to the prison, the county has already prepared."

"Since there's an ambush, your young master might not be locked in the prison." Fu Liushan was very calm, "Someone is testing the waters, helping us divert the attention of the government soldiers; this is a good thing."

Those tricky people almost pitted them just now!...

Suddenly attacked, fire everywhere, there was a burst of exclamations in the prison.

Soon, jailers pushed open the prison door and rushed out in a panic.

The government officials outside shouted angrily: "Where are the prisoners? Don't burn them all to death!"

So another group of people rushed in to escort the prisoners.

The prison courtyard was soon filled with prisoners, probably seventeen or eighteen. But He Lingchuan looked through the firelight, and there were no familiar faces here.

Either Boss Situ He hadn't been rescued yet or was unfortunately shot dead by him, or he wasn't locked up here at all.

Cough, cough, he thought the former possibility was very small.

At this time, someone below was already shouting: "The tower, the tower is shooting arrows!"

They had already reacted to where the arrows were coming from.

People in the tower climbed onto the roof to check, only to see three corpses and three repeating crossbows; where was anyone else? Bad, it's a trap!

This person climbed down the tower and ran into the government office to report.

He Lingchuan was waiting for this moment.

When the messenger passed under the tree, a spider the size of a grain of rice fell down and landed right on his shoulder.

Light as nothing, it didn't attract his attention.

The eyeball spider climbed into his collar and lurked.

Thus, He Lingchuan soon stole the conversation inside the government office.

The messenger reported the situation on the tower, and the county magistrate appointed by the Pixia people asked the guard on the side:

"Any news about the death row prisoner?"

Just from this sentence, He Lingchuan knew Boss Situ He was locked up in another place.

"Not yet."

"Send a signal to see how they reply." The prison was burned, so the county magistrate was naturally worried about the death row prisoner acting as bait, fearing this was the enemy's feint.

"Yes." The guard replied and ran toward the back.

The eyeball spider jumped with all its might and landed on his sleeve.

It followed the guard and ran to the second floor of the government office.

Then, the guard took out a mirror and flashed it toward the south a few times.

Very rhythmic.

This was sending a signal.

To prevent the other side from not receiving it, he even repeated several groups.

However, although the buildings in the south woke up from the darkness and lights turned on one after another, there seemed to be no flashing signal returned.

The guard wasn't in a hurry either, just changed two grass knots from his bosom and placed them in his palm.

About a dozen breaths later, one of the grass knots suddenly broke on its own.

The guard immediately held it and went downstairs, sending it to the county magistrate: "My lord, only one grass knot broke; the death row prisoner is safe."

This kind of grass knot is called a 'thousand-thousand knot'; He Lingchuan had seen it from Wanqi Feng. Every time it's refined, a pair comes out. Within ten miles, as long as one breaks, the other will also break.

It's very convenient for simple communication.

But it can only do the simplest communication, such as answering 'yes' or 'no'.

He Lingchuan guessed it with just one look; this set of communication probably used two pairs of thousand-thousand knots, one pair breaking meant safe, and both pairs breaking meant something happened.

Hearing this, the county magistrate relaxed.

But the Soul-Sucking Mirror was dissatisfied: "Oh my, the other side isn't using a mirror to reflect light to reply; how can we locate them?"

"They use thousand-thousand knots instead of mirror reflection, just to avoid being discovered." He Lingchuan's eyes flickered, standing on the tree and looking toward the south.

The Pixia people's caution exceeded his expectations. But it doesn't matter; his plan can be revised at any time.

"But the distance of mirror reflection isn't far, and the position of the second floor of the government office isn't high enough, and there are a few trees blocking outside, so the low buildings in the south can't receive this signal at all."

Under the cover of night, he began to sneak toward the south.

"So the government officials guarding the death row prisoner must also stand high to observe the mirror reflection." He Lingchuan continued to analyze; he had only come to Ju City yesterday and had some impression of it, "The streets and alleys of Ju City are very narrow and not neat, winding and turning, not convenient for transporting troops. The county magistrate wouldn't lock up the death row prisoner too far, which is convenient for sending troops to support each other, so it's at most within 150 zhang to the south."

"Even if the range is narrowed to within 150 zhang, there are still many houses, right? How to find them?"

He Lingchuan explained: "We ate Manjian cake in the south yesterday and knew that most of them are mainly bungalow residential houses. Places with higher vision usually only have..."

The Soul-Sucking Mirror answered: "Tall towers, inns, warehouses, shops!"

It's unlikely for officials to lock up death row prisoners in residential houses or inns in operation.

Ju City also has no tall towers.

Then that only leaves warehouses and empty shops, right? He Lingchuan jumped onto a big tree again, looking toward the south: "Ju City is a small city, the government office is soaring with fire and very noisy, ordinary residents will all get up to see what happened. We came to the south yesterday, and most of the shops are front shops and back houses, where people live."

"So—our target is a warehouse or shop with three or more floors within 150 zhang south of the county government office that isn't lit!"

Since these officials are secretly locking up death row prisoners, they naturally wouldn't dare to light up at will.

Other residents light up, but they might not dare.

The range is further narrowed, which is very specific.

The Soul-Sucking Mirror helped its master look together and soon shouted: "There, there, look at your left hand, there's a three-story building that's pitch black!"

He Lingchuan sneaked over and found it was a defunct inn, with half the sign fallen off.

He asked the mirror: "Did you feel any array or barrier?"

"No."

"Then it's not here." He was too lazy to go in and turned to find the next target.

Time is precious.

He Lingchuan was also unlucky; he missed twice more, once a broken warehouse and once a vacant carriage inn.

(End of chapter)