Chapter 1600: Deception and Counter-Deception

He was well-prepared today. The guards he quietly brought out of the manor were all those who had seen Tian Yun that day, ensuring they would recognize him at a glance. These few were Yangshan guards on the surface, but secretly they were Black Armored Army soldiers, He Lingchuan's true confidants.

Wearing veil hats, they entered the Fennel Inn and began to search room by room without saying a word.

The occupancy rate of the Fennel Inn was actually quite high, with eight out of ten guest rooms occupied. They searched the rooms like this, naturally causing a commotion, with cursing everywhere.

The Yangshan guards ignored them and buried their heads in the search.

After searching sixteen guest rooms and four private courtyards, they didn't see Tian Yun's figure.

Had he slipped away? Dong Rui suddenly pointed at a guest: "Take him down."

The Yangshan guards who had already left immediately turned back. That guest had just come out of the public bathhouse, his hair was still dripping, and his belt wasn't tied yet. Hearing this, he was shocked, and threw three brownish-coffee-colored things at the two, turning around and rushing toward the door.

With He Lingchuan's eyesight, he could glimpse that the things he threw were three...

Cockroaches?

These things even had wings, and their bodies grew larger as they spread their wings in the air, reaching about four feet in length! Even He Lingchuan couldn't help but say "Oh my god." Four-foot-long cockroaches, how many people's nightmares must this be?

But looking closely, these three were different from ordinary cockroaches. Their mandibles could fold and open, ejecting a pair of piercing hooks. When they approached an opponent, they would shoot them out fiercely to hook the person over.

This wasn't like a mantis's folding knife, and the appearance wasn't that exaggerated, but the lethality was still very strong. One Yangshan guard was startled by it, and the piercing mandible hit his shoulder armor—thanks to the shoulder armor's protection, it didn't pierce through.

These three cockroaches naturally couldn't cause much trouble for He Lingchuan and the others, and were beaten to the ground in a few strokes. Seeing that two of them had their bellies pierced, Dong Rui was anxious: "Leave one for me, leave one alive!"

Such good experimental subjects couldn't be wasted!

He Lingchuan took out a demon-subduing pestle from his storage ring and, relying on his own brute strength, fiercely pressed the last one to the ground: "Quick!"

He didn't want to reach out and touch this thing at all.

Dong Rui took out a pocket-sized bag and sprinkled only a pinch of medicinal powder toward the cockroach, which shook its head, seemingly very uncomfortable, but its struggling movements slowed down.

Until now, He Lingchuan didn't know what kind of serious hallucinogenic drugs Dong Rui had fed these demon puppets to make them so dizzy.

After only ten breaths, it lay motionless on the ground, and its body size returned to the size of a little finger.

Dong Rui hurriedly took out the cricket cage and put it in, saying: "This thing is actually made quite well, that face cover, which is the split mandible, is a dragonfly larva's."

Dragonfly larvae are the larvae of dragonflies, carrying their own lethal weapons, and are the overlords of ponds and streams, capable of preying on insects, tadpoles, and even small fish.

This demon puppet master in the guest room had grafted the dragonfly larva's weapons onto the cockroach.

He Lingchuan gave a thumbs up. As expected of Dong Rui, he could still look at it with appreciative eyes.

This unique aesthetic was not only unacceptable to He Lingchuan, but others couldn't stand it either, so when this demon puppet master was dragged back by the Yangshan guards, there were several big footprints on his body.

Everyone said they didn't find Tian Yun!

The cursing outside rose and fell, and rapid footsteps sounded, getting closer and closer.

He Lingchuan knew this place was not a place to stay long, so he quickly took his men and a few trophies and retreated.

It was not peaceful in Tian Shui City recently, with refugees and thieves committing crimes everywhere, so the whole city strengthened patrol control, and the bailiffs would appear soon.

He Lingchuan couldn't be seen now.

Everyone stuffed the two captives into sacks, quickly retreated to the predetermined location, loaded the carts, and changed clothes.

He Lingchuan pointed at the captive and asked Dong Rui: "How did you identify him?"

Don't people all have two eyes and a mouth? Why could Dong Rui recognize that this guy was a demon puppet master? The latter had just come out of the bathhouse and looked no different from an ordinary person.

Dong Rui smiled: "Can't explain it, but I can tell at a glance anyway. Didn't Tian Yun identify me the same way?"

Tian Yun borrowed the vision of the insect puppets and locked onto him at once, becoming suspicious.

While the veil hat wasn't taken off, He Lingchuan grabbed the demon puppet master and asked: "Where is Tian Yun?"

The other party looked blank: "Who?"

"Your master!"

This person still wanted to play dumb, but Wanqi Liang stabbed through his shoulder with a knife, covered his mouth with one hand, and blocked his screams in his throat: "If you play dumb again, the next thing to be stabbed through will be your eyes!"

Wanqi Liang pulled out the knife, the dripping tip of the knife shaking lightly in front of this person's eyes. As the carriage bumped, the tip of the knife trembled, almost stabbing into his eyes.

"I'll say, I'll say!" Unable to bear the pain, this person surrendered.

He was just a demon puppet master, not a warrior, and didn't have the ability to endure torture.

"Before I went to take a bath, about a quarter of an hour ago, Master and the fellow disciples were still there; I, I had just gone out, and you came!"

It sounded like Tian Yun had retreated in a hurry, without taking this disciple with him. Tian Yun didn't know how many people He Lingchuan had brought to encircle and suppress him, so retreating first and then planning slowly was the wise choice.

At the critical moment, who let this unlucky guy be in the bathhouse?

He Lingchuan asked him: "Do you know who we are?"

This person looked at him and shook his head timidly.

Dong Rui was behind this person and said two words to He Lingchuan silently:

Lying!

The disciples taught by that guy Tian were all capable of lying.

Nodding would mean death.

He Lingchuan asked again: "When did you check into the Fennel Inn?"

"Five, no, four days ago."

He Lingchuan let Wanqi Liang open the sack and took out the other captive to show him: "Do you recognize him?"

This person's face turned even paler: "I, I recognize him, this is the second senior brother Yang Chi."

Confirming the relationship between them, He Lingchuan asked: "Is your master skin-white, with a mole on the corner of his eyebrow?"

"Yes."

"What has he been doing these past few days?"

"Master, Master basically stayed in the inn and didn't go out much. I sent tea and food to him several times, and he was either meditating or closing his eyes to rest in the room."

"Didn't meet any outsiders?"

This person thought for a while: "Master went out alone twice, I don't know where he went."

"His real name isn't Tian Yun, right? What's his identity?"

"Master's surname is Cao..." Before he could finish, this person suddenly screamed, and blue veins burst out on his forehead and neck. He was tied with his hands behind his back and couldn't scratch his neck, so he fell forward.

Wanqi Liang grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up, but saw his face was purple, pale yellow foam flowing from the corners of his mouth, and his breath carried a strange stench.

He Lingchuan moved like the wind, sealing several of his acupoints to cut off the meridian flow; Dong Rui also grabbed medicinal powder and poured it into his mouth.

However, it was still a step too late.

This person gasped for a few breaths with difficulty, and died.

Only one living captive remained. Tian Yun was truly ruthless and decisive in dealing with his own disciples.

Wanqi Liang lifted the carriage curtain to reveal a crack and looked outside. They were almost at the East Gate.

Tian Shui City was a city that never slept, with no curfew. As long as nothing major happened in the city, the gate guards wouldn't check strictly.

They were flying the flag of the Tian Shui eastern city expansion on this carriage, and the gate guards let them pass casually without even taking a second look.

The captive lay at the feet of the "second senior brother" Yang Chi who had been caught earlier, staring with wide, unblinking eyes, his eyes bulging, staring straight at Yang Chi. The latter felt his scalp tingle from being stared at, and sweat broke out on his forehead.

At this time, He Lingchuan said to Yang Chi: "It's your turn."

Yang Chi shook his head violently.

Dong Rui was displeased: "Your master even wanted to kill you to silence you just now, have you forgotten the taste of the brain bug devouring your brain so quickly?"

How could the captive forget, but he shook his head repeatedly: "I'll tell you, I'm also on a dead end!"

Every word was filled with despair.

Dong Rui chuckled: "We caught him first, so you can leave safely."

Yang Chi's eyes shifted uncertainly, and Dong Rui continued: "The restriction on your body has already been removed by me, otherwise your corpse would have been cold long ago."

"Compared to the pain of being devoured by the brain bug, your junior brother died quite comfortably." He pointed to the corpse on the ground, "Master treats you like this, and you are still willing to keep secrets for him and suffer all kinds of torture for him?"

Yang Chi shuddered, not knowing whether it was from a cold heart or from Dong Rui's last sentence.

Wanqi Liang drew his dagger with a *clink*, his gaze scanning his body as if looking for a place to stab.

Dong Rui pointed at Yang Chi and said: "Two stabs on the ribs, let some blood first."

He didn't have much patience either.

The last bit of hesitation of the captive was scared away, and he finally poured out everything: "I'll say, I'll say! My master is known as 'Red Hut', and Situ Yu was killed by him personally! I am his disciple, chosen by him since I was nine, and have served by his side for twenty years!"

He Lingchuan suddenly asked: "You aren't Yao people, right? Where are you from?"

"Bei, Beijia!" the captive said, "I am a Chi Yan person!"

This statement exceeded everyone's expectations. Dong Rui was greatly surprised: "A Beijia person, running to the Yao Kingdom to do this line of work?"

"I followed Master here!" the captive said, "Master is my benefactor, and also my master! We, we are all Beijia people, everyone is!"

"How many of you are there?"

"Sixty-five, no, now it's sixty-three." Yang Chi added, "This time Master brought seven people to the Yao Kingdom, and the rest are still in Red Hut."

"Why come to the Flash Gold Plain?" Let's play a quick question and answer.

"Master wanted to come, so we followed."

"Then good, let's change the question." He Lingchuan said quickly, "Wasn't Cao Wendao having a hard time in Beijia, why come to the Flash Gold Plain?"

"Master said, it's more convenient to get materials on the spot here." Yang Chi said in a low voice, "Also, the experiments we do need, need to use monsters, which is not easy to do in Beijia."

Beijia claimed to be the "Northern Demon Country," and demons were the nominal leaders of this country. Cao Wendao catching demons to do experiments in the Demon Country indeed carried risks.

Dong Rui catching the Ghost Ape to refine demon puppets had been wanted by Beijia for many years.

Qingyang, who was once the State Preceptor, also captured demons to extract pulp beads and refine the Elixir of Immortality through Cen Boqing. The surface reason was that she harmed the demons of Beijia, and finally couldn't even keep her position as State Preceptor, being exiled to the Flash Gold Plain ten thousand miles away. ===== CHAPTER 1601 =====