Chapter 282: 274 Prison

A wooden boat traveled on the water surface, its speed steady, the propeller at the rear spinning without wind, carving out a white wake.

This was a lake-touring boat prepared by Zhuoyu Villa for its guests, equipped with a Rune Formula as its power source; one only needed to steer, though it could not go very fast. It was thanks to this that there was no need for a few old men to row with grunts and groans.

"Pay attention, pay attention." The burly old man Lu Bao, who had been the first to find the clues, patted the side of the boat and loudly reminded them: "We are almost there."

We're here already?

The few people on the same boat looked left and right, seeing only a vast expanse of white water; they could not see any difference in this stretch of water, not even a floating marker. They truly admired that this old fellow could still recognize it.

That Lu Bao, feeling excited, personally adjusted the direction and charged toward one side.

"Bang—"

Following a soft sound, the wooden boat pressed against a transparent wall. Although there was still open water before their eyes, no matter how the rear propeller spun or how the white wake churned, the small boat could not advance even a fraction of an inch.

Sure enough, there was a transparent wall blocking the front. Everyone reached out to touch it; it was neither stone nor wood, feeling like hardened, solidified air, truly like an iron wall.

"Look, what did I say? This must be a secret site, which is why it was hidden by some kind of Array. It must be that Sword Furnace. As long as we break through, we can ruin Xue Xianyun's grand plan. Even if we take a step back and say it isn't the Sword Furnace, it is still a treasure ground of Zhuoyu Villa, hiding their family assets. If we go in and wreak havoc, it will surely make Xue Laotou's heart ache."

Everyone nodded—compared to the bustling crowds in Jichun City and Snow Mountain who came for profit, these few were quite simple from beginning to end—simply wanting to cause trouble for Xue Xianyun.

The old grudges of yesteryear were still in their hearts, so as long as it was something Zhuoyu Villa valued, wreaking havoc on it was never wrong. Moreover, looking at how it was protected, it really might be that Sword Furnace.

The few old men glanced at each other, and the eldest, Brother Chang, said: "Enough talk, prepare to break the Array."

The old men observed and pondered individually; someone said: "Since it is an Array, I think we can use an Array to break the Array."

Another said: "I think we might as well start from the Array Eye..."

It turned out that although these few each had their own martial arts and were Knights-Errant, Loose Practitioners, or Martial Venerables, they were primarily quite outstanding Talisman Sword Masters. They were rivals and peers of Xue Xianyun; although they were not more successful in the path of Sword Casting, their attainments in Rune Formulas were not bad. At this moment, they were discussing it quite professionally.

At this time, the Sword Heroine Old Xun, who had been sitting at the stern of the boat with great interest, said: "Someone is coming."

Everyone turned back and saw a large red tiger running over the water surface not far away.

What is this, a tiger running on the water?!

Looking closer, there was someone riding on the tiger's back.

Although the group had never heard of Zhao Gongming riding a tiger, seeing someone come riding a tiger across the waves so suddenly, they also felt it was very magical. Especially after looking at the tiger's face and body for a moment, some had already reacted:

"Bi'an!"

Amidst the exclamations, a young man flipped off the back of the Bi'an and stood directly on the water surface as if it were flat ground, saying: "Really. It's you old folks again. You came yesterday and you're here again today. Since you're here again, why didn't you go directly to the place from last time? Changing to this place made me run all this way; I've lost my composure of waiting at ease for the exhausted enemy."

Lu Bao was stunned for a moment and said: "Last time? I came to this place last time too."

The young man said: "Bullshit. I was watching you the whole time last time; you went to the northeast. I figured you would definitely come back, so I was waiting where you left. As a result, you blindly ran here—do you know you changed direction?"

Lu Bao was shaken by what he said; the water surface here was too similar, perhaps he had made a mistake?

However, he immediately reacted and shouted: "Impossible. I didn't change direction, otherwise why would I have found this transparent wall again? Are these two places not the same one?"

The young man's mouth twitched slightly, and he said: "About that..."

Then, his expression turned serious, and he said: "According to past practice, you are people with invitations, so it's not easy to deal with you; usually, we just drive you back or drive you out. But since you asked this question, it's a bit troublesome. I have no choice but to keep you here." As he spoke, he backhanded and suddenly grasped a long sword that had appeared out of nowhere.

The leader among the old men, Brother Chang, had been staring at the Bi'an and suddenly shouted: "Sword Image Manifestation. Sword Hero? You are a Sword Hero!"

The young man did not deny it and said: "So what? Can't a Sword Hero hit you?"

The old men nearby were shocked upon hearing this and shouted one after another: "It's actually a Sword Hero?!"

"Calling a Sword Hero to help, how despicable!"

"Cheating, Xue Xianyun is cheating!"

Even though the young man's skin was thick enough, he was momentarily stunned by this group of old eccentrics. He couldn't take them seriously, sighed, and said: "Sword Technique—Deep Prison."

A gate with a Bi'an head rose behind him, and starting from there, bars extended outward, with iron wires wrapped between the bars, finally forming a closed loop that enclosed everyone inside.

Inside the fence was a prison.

A moment ago, the old men were sitting blankly on the small boat, but suddenly their bodies felt heavy, as if they were wearing heavy shackles, and they plummeted, sitting on solid ground that felt like yellow earth. Looking around, it was gloomy, dark, and had a musty smell like a cellar, as if they had truly arrived at a heavenly prison; they were all terrified.

He had used this move before, but at that time, those fences were layered together like a rack, using the prison space within to buffer and offset the powerful force of Yun Xiyan's Sword Art.

And what was displayed now was the true form of the prison.

This was a powerful Sword Technique that combined defense, imprisonment, and space. Those people felt the shackles, and they were not wrong at all; anyone who entered the Deep Prison had to wear invisible, heavy shackles, which would press down until their strength was completely gone, keeping them firmly imprisoned, unable to move in the darkness and decay. Moreover, they would be intimidated by the heavenly prison, falling into a state of fear, losing their nerve even more.

As an opening Sword Technique, once the prison closed, the people inside could almost never escape. For example, previously, Yun Xiyan could pierce the prison with a charged strike from the outside, but if she were trapped inside the prison, this strike could not be unleashed at all. To break through, one either needed a sufficiently strong Spirit to resist the intimidation of the prison and use a high-burst Sword Technique to break it instantly, or one had to leave before it closed at the very beginning.

For instance, the only person in this team who was not in the prison.

Xing Ji looked up and saw that person outside the prison.

An old woman with graying hair but undiminished grace was standing outside the prison with her hands behind her back, her feet on the small boat they had arrived in. She not only reacted extremely quickly, escaping in an instant, but also snatched the only small boat; one had to say her eyes were sharp and her hands were fast.

The two sides looked at each other across the iron cage. Xing Ji frowned deeply in the prison. But the old woman's expression was calm, and she just smiled slightly.

"Officer Xing, long time no see. Please, enlighten me."

——

"Really, why is the plan so messy? I clearly shouldn't be here."

In the forest, a few people were moving forward rapidly. Among them, an old man with graying hair sighed silently in his heart.

"Old Zhang—" a woman beside him called out.

The old man was startled and said: "Calling me? What for?"

The woman shook her head and said: "You, you still can't react; I call you Old Zhang, you have to answer. Do you remember how the Protector Lord instructed us? Since we have already gone to such great lengths to impersonate the original guests, let's just keep using this identity. It just so happens that the person we are going to see is not one of our own who knows the bottom line; not exposing our true identities is also for the sake of caution. From now on, you are Zhang Cheng Yi, not Zhan Feng, and I am Hao Huixian; let's call each other this way, don't forget."

The old man nodded, but he was secretly smiling bitterly in his heart.

The problem was, he was not Zhang Cheng Yi, nor was he Zhan Feng; he was Hua Qian.

Hua Qian's profession was a killer; he had a small reputation at the Yama Shop and was one of the best among the new generation of killers. This time, he was entrusted by his "former brother" Wei Se to infiltrate the enemies of Zhuoyu Villa.

Things had gone very smoothly. He and Wei Se had intercepted a deal, impersonated the fake Zhang Cheng Yi, arrived at a secret location to gather, mixed into the enemy team, and also met one of the masterminds behind this.

This team gathered spies who were impersonating guests of the Sword Casting Conference, numbering twenty or thirty. Hua Qian kept their information in his heart one by one; even if there was no chance to turn the tables later, at least he could report the news and collect a base-level intelligence fee.

Who would have known that, unfortunately, after their leader, the young "Protector Lord," appeared, he said there were too many people and being double agents would be a hindrance, so he casually pointed for Hua Qian and the others to go support another team. He even said that this team was hidden in the mountains and was the real trump card; they should be happy to take on such an important task.

In fact, except for Hua Qian, everyone was quite happy because they all knew that team could achieve more merit. And compared to sneaking up the mountain, following that team to charge directly up the mountain was much more satisfying.

As for Hua Qian, although he was unwilling in his heart, he could only follow for the time being, and he kept calculating within the team.

Suddenly switching from the pre-arranged infiltration team to the other side and taking a route completely different from the plan—should this mission still be carried out? How would things develop subsequently? The reward... the reward was a minor matter; the key was that if this mission were to be aborted, it would be a professional stain for him. Not to mention that this was commissioned by the Weise.

He had previously almost wanted to break away from the team, then sneak back, find another spy to kill and impersonate, and change his identity to complete the original mission, but he never found the opportunity.

Although his team only had four people, their strength was not poor, and the leader among them had martial arts that were, if anything, superior to his own. Although he could take them out by relying on assassin methods, it would inevitably alert the others, making it difficult to act against the remaining two, and the chance of exposure was very high.

After failing to find an opportunity several times, he finally followed the team to a grotto.

In front of the grotto, there were people lurking on guard. Without needing Hua Qian to worry, someone in the team stepped forward to exchange the secret signal, saying:

"Please report to Mr. Shi, we have come to provide reinforcements under the orders of the Pillar State Protector Army."

The other party checked their identification, led the group deep into the grotto, and there, a person wearing fine clothes was sitting cross-legged; it was a young man with a steady appearance.

The group stepped forward and said in unison: "Greetings, High Minister Shi Chunqing."