Chapter 749: Plotting in a secret tunnel raises murderous intent; playing chess in the water pavilion sets a net

Deep beneath a dilapidated Taoist temple in the east of the city that had been abandoned for who knows how many years, in a secret chamber tightly sealed with heavy blue bricks, there was a nauseating, moldy, fishy stench. The dozens of wooden barrels just smuggled in through the underground river in the corner of the wall were emitting a pungent tung oil smell.

A few extremely weak, pale white rays of moonlight leaked diagonally through the cracks in the ventilation holes, hitting the few fine steel short blades with a faint blue luster on the stone table, pushing the killing intent of this narrow space to the peak.

Feng Yuan, the spy chief of the Shadow Department of the Qi State, pressed his hands heavily on the edge of the stone table covered in scratches. His thin face twisted into the outline of a demon in the dim halo, a hysterical, fanatical flame burning in the bottom of his eyes.

He stretched out his chicken-claw hands, which were like withered tree branches, and grabbed the short blades from the old wooden box with a seal on the side. The blades refracted a chilling, poisonous light under the dim candlelight, and then he pushed these murder weapons one by one to the side of the death warrior leaders of the aristocratic families wearing night clothes in front of him.

"These blades are coated with the 'Summoning Death Talisman' poison specially made by our Shadow Department. If you run into those troublesome eagles and dogs of the Mingjing Si later, just scratch them with even the smallest blood cut, and it will turn them into a puddle of stinking pus within three breaths."

The death warrior leader inserted the short blade back into the leather scabbard at his waist, his fingers rubbing back and forth on the anti-slip texture of the hilt, his tone revealing a bit of undisguised nervousness and worry.

"The weapons given by Lord Feng are naturally extremely dangerous good things, but the defense line Chen Yan has set up on the periphery of the south city workshop is as solid as gold. I'm afraid our brothers will be shot into sieves by those heavy crossbows hidden in the dark before they even get within a foot of the wall."

Feng Yuan grabbed the front of the night clothes of the death warrior leader and dragged him forcibly in front of him. His two rows of yellow teeth rubbed out a harsh sound, spraying saliva with a foul smell onto the other's face, which was full of fear.

"You idiots really think those people in the Mingjing Si are gods with three heads and six arms? Their seemingly seamless patrol sentries have long been figured out by these eyes of mine for their fatal blind spots."

Feng Yuan pushed the death warrior leader back to his original place forcefully, his shriveled lips cracking into a cruel slit, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table, making a dull 'da-da' sound.

"Those patrol guards change shifts at the third quarter of the midnight hour every night, and there will be a half-cup of tea's worth of defense gap. As long as we put these blazing oils into the night-soil buckets that your aristocratic families usually use to transport night soil, we can openly touch the bottom of the wall directly from the stinking water ditch trestle at the east gate."

This self-clever deployment eased the tense atmosphere in the secret chamber a little. The death warrior leader breathed a long sigh of relief, bowed his hands to accept the order, and turned to lead his men to start pouring the pungent blazing oil into the night-soil buckets prepared in advance.

At the same moment, the night wind passed through the wide lotus pond of the Xia Prefecture Governor's Office, blowing the water vapor with a bit of coolness into the gauze tent of the water pavilion, blowing the flames of those sheep-horn palace lamps to sway unsteadily.

Chen Yan, wearing a loose and comfortable moon-white long gown, leaned on the soft cushion of the rosewood Grand Master's chair. His slender fingers slowly fiddled with the white jade chess box, making a crisp and pleasant sound of jade stone collision.

Zhang Wenqian sat opposite the chessboard, his brows tightly knitted into an unsolvable knot. He held a white piece in mid-air for a long time, unable to find a way to break the game.

"The chess game of 'inviting the king into the urn' arranged by the Lord is truly exquisite. My large piece of white chess has been forced into a dead corner by your black dragon entrenched in the middle game, and there is no room for maneuver or breathing."

Zhang Wenqian sighed helplessly, threw the white piece back into the jade chess box as if in compromise, and picked up the cup of tea that had long since cooled by his side, trying to cover up the embarrassment of being killed and left with no armor on the chessboard.

"Old Zhang, you are still too constrained by the gains and losses of one city or one pool in this square inch. The flaws in this world are often bait deliberately exposed to opponents by the chess player. It just depends on whether the fish hidden in the dark are greedy or not!"

Chen Yan picked up the blue porcelain teacup engraved with lotus patterns in front of him, brought the boiling tea soup to his lips to blow away the floating leaves on the surface, took a sip, and placed it steadily back on the rosewood desk.

A breeze of ripples arose without warning in the corridor outside the water pavilion. Gao Jiong, wearing a suit of pitch-black tight clothes, stepped through the bead curtain with silent steps. He respectfully held a 【Shadow Department Clearing List】 covered with the highest top-secret red seal and came to the desk.

"The Zhuguo is as wise as a god. Those rats lurking in the Taoist temple in the east of the city finally couldn't hold back and are pushing dozens of wooden carts disguised as night-soil buckets toward the south city workshop."

A bloodthirsty, mocking smile appeared on Gao Jiong's dark, sinister face. He placed the file gently on the edge of the chessboard and leaned forward slightly to report the latest movements of the Shadow Department.

"These spies from the Qi State really have grown hair on their guts, actually daring to hit the idea of the curved-shaft plow at this juncture. If the workshop is lost, the million-acre military colony plan of Xia Prefecture will be completely lost."

Zhang Wenqian broke into a cold sweat when he heard this news. He stood up in a panic, his wide sleeves accidentally knocking over the teacup by his side, and the brown tea dripped onto the carpet along the rosewood table.

"Old Zhang, don't be so panicked. That old dog Feng Yuan thinks his movements are secret and flawless, not knowing that every tael of ignition saltpeter that his men bought from which pharmacy in the city has been clearly recorded in the account books under the eyes of our Mingjing Si brothers!"

Gao Jiong straightened up, took out a silk handkerchief embroidered with dark patterns from his sleeve, and wiped the tea dripping from the table unhurriedly, his words revealing the ultimate contempt and mockery for this group of prey.

"Not only is the quantity of saltpeter recorded, but even the smuggled blazing oil that they thought was hidden extremely secretly was quietly replaced with stinking water mixed with yellow mud in the underground warehouse last night by our people."

Gao Jiong crumpled the silk handkerchief he used to wipe the table into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket in the corner, lowering his voice to continue throwing out this truth of dimensionality-reduction strike that could make any intelligence personnel fall into despair.

"The so-called defense gap on the periphery of the south city workshop was also a gap deliberately left by the Zhuguo instructing the garrison during the shift change, just to open a door straight to the underworld for this group of assassins who are tired of living."

Zhang Wenqian heard this series of absolute killing layouts, and his awe for the city government of this young master in front of him reached the extreme. He sat back in the chair and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, looking at the black dragon killing all sides on the chessboard and remaining silent for a long time.

The bottom of Chen Yan's eyes revealed an extreme coldness like looking at a pile of dead people. His slender fingers pinched a black jade chess piece and fell heavily on the dead hole of the chessboard, shaking the entire remnant game to collapse instantly.

"Since these shitty aristocratic families like to play with fire in combination with the Qi people, I will simply accompany them to play a big game today and burn the last batch of parasites in this Xia Prefecture City completely clean."

Chen Yan lazily rested his wrist on the armrest of the seat, a cruel and ruthless arc floating on his lips, and the voice with murderous intent echoed coldly in the water pavilion.

"Go and pass my military order to Lu Ming. Since the net has been spread, let him take troops to crush all these fat rats that have entered the pocket now!" ===== CHAPTER 750 =====