Chapter 41: 40 Dragon-Severing Stone

40 Dragon-Severing Stone

The Judge led the two of them in a swift retreat, pulling Tang Zhao by the hand and urging Sun Sheng forward until they reached a secluded courtyard, where he leaped over the wall.

The three of them landed inside the wall without making a sound. As the Judge pulled him along, Tang Zhao felt his body become light as a feather, landing on the ground without kicking up a speck of dust.

This was an empty space, deserted on all sides, with a dark shadow in the middle that vaguely resembled a building.

Tang Zhao's eyesight had always been poor; he could only see things clearly if they were illuminated. The place before him was dark and dim, and since he wasn't wearing his glasses, he only saw a blur.

He heard Sun Sheng say, "This is... a prison, right?"

Before this operation, Tie Xiezi had distributed detailed maps of the villa to everyone invited. Sun Sheng had a good memory, and by combining the orientation with the scenery before him, he had already recognized the place.

He couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed. When the Judge proposed "fishing in troubled waters," he had assumed it meant taking the opportunity to loot the treasury. He was a lone bandit in the pugilistic world, a wandering thief, habitually greedy and insatiable. Although he cherished his own life, hearing that such an expert wanted to "fish" had naturally stirred his own greed, and he had intended to hitch a ride to make a profit. Now that he saw it wasn't about getting rich, he became even more eager to retreat.

The Judge said, "Correct. I was aiming for this place from the start. There should have been guards here, but now there isn't a single one. Even the spiders have gone to pay respects to their ancestors; it truly is a heaven-sent opportunity."

Sun Sheng said, "Lord Judge, you should think this through again. Black Spider Villa is a subordinate of the Five Poisons Society, most skilled in using poison, not to mention their mechanisms and traps. You think it's a good opportunity, but you might just be falling into someone else's scheme."

The Judge said, "I have already thought it through. Brother Sun, you go in first."

Sun Sheng's expression turned ugly, and he said, "You said you had a use for me, and that use is to have me scout the path? Damn it, I'm not playing along anymore!" Suddenly, his figure flashed as he lunged backward.

In truth, although his sudden retreat was abrupt, it was something he had been considering the entire way. Having arrived here and confirmed the target, knowing he had to leave, he had already scouted his escape route. With this full-power burst, his already excellent light-body technique was pushed to the limit; his figure was like a wisp of light smoke, and in the blink of an eye, he was already atop the rear wall.

Suddenly, only a "chi" sound was heard, and the sound of wind erupted.

Sun Sheng looked as if he had been struck in the face with a club; his figure froze, and with a thud, he fell down.

The Judge turned and walked toward the prison, saying, "Kid, drag him over."

This was the first time he had let go of Tang Zhao. Tang Zhao paused, looked at the Judge's back, then looked at the wretched state of Sun Sheng sprawled on the ground, and walked over in silence.

Don't let the fact that the Judge had his back turned fool you into thinking there was an opening; since he dared to do so, he naturally had the confidence to control the situation, or was perhaps even intentionally fishing. With Sun Sheng's example right before his eyes, Tang Zhao suppressed his desire to flee once more and silently went to drag the man.

When his fingers touched Sun Sheng, he found him lying on the ground motionless, like a stone. Tang Zhao poked his skin hard, but there was no reaction. He found it even stranger and was about to try again when he looked up and saw Sun Sheng glaring at him, his eyes bloodshot, which looked terrifying against that monkey-like face.

Only then did Tang Zhao realize the man was conscious, just unable to move or speak. He thought to himself: Is he paralyzed, or were his acupoints sealed? It should be Acupoint Sealing, right? He said softly, "My apologies."

It must be said, when it actually came to moving heavy objects, Tang Zhao realized his strength had indeed increased significantly. This Sun Sheng weighed at least a hundred pounds or more; if it were the Tang Zhao from half a month ago, let alone carrying him, he wouldn't even have been able to drag him. Now, he didn't feel any strain holding him. He figured he could probably lift the medium-sized stone locks in the training grounds of the Grape Courtyard now. Following the example of Yang Dong carrying a live Donkey across a single-plank bridge was just a matter of time.

Of course, dragging was less strenuous, but he felt that dragging a living person like a dead dog was too insulting. Relying on his remaining strength, he hoisted him up and walked several dozen steps, stopping only when he reached a pavilion in the middle.

This pavilion was the only building in the surrounding clearing, so it must be the entrance to the prison. There was nothing else in the pavilion, only a large Blue Stone piled up, several times larger than the stones Tang Zhao practiced with, almost filling the entire space inside.

The Judge was standing before the mountain stone, arms crossed, looking it up and down. Hearing Tang Zhao approach, he said, "Not bad. With this strength, you could make a living at the docks."

Tang Zhao replied, "I'll take your word for it."

He also looked at the mountain stone, scanning it left and right, but saw no other entrance in the pavilion. He thought: Could I have guessed wrong? Is this not the entrance to the prison?

The Judge mused at this moment, "The entrance should be underneath the stone."

Tang Zhao was startled. The Judge looked up, and Tang Zhao followed his gaze, only to see a huge winch mounted on the pavilion roof, with several chains hanging down, tethering the giant stone. Clearly, this was a mechanism like a Dragon-Severing Stone.

The Judge said, "They lowered the mechanism before leaving. Very good. What does this mean?"

Tang Zhao couldn't be bothered to play the straight man to his performance and let him act it out. The Judge said to himself, "It means there are indeed no guards. A mechanism this massive is certainly not used for closing the door daily. Lowering it once is not easy, and pulling it back up is even harder. Since they set this insurance, there is truly no one inside. Now, we just need to raise the mechanism."

What he said actually made sense. Tang Zhao looked closely at the massive winch and the iron chains as thick as a child's arm, feeling a sense of dread.

He wondered: If I used Ant Strength, how long would it take to move such a large stone? Could Teacher Guan do it?

The Judge circled the pavilion once, his body lightened, and he rose from the ground, landing lightly on the winch. He grabbed the iron chains and said, "This is not a mechanism one person can operate. It requires several people to coordinate. It's not a matter of how much strength one has; it requires operating different parts. It needs at least four people. But we don't have four people. Originally there were three, now there are only two."

Tang Zhao thought: Who is "we" with you?

The Judge continued, "Let's be a bit rougher then. I'll do the work of two people and pull the stone up from above. You take the opportunity to open the dungeon door and use a stone to wedge it, propping open a gap. As long as we can get in, that's enough."

He fiddled with something overhead, and a "zi-zi" sound came, the heavy mechanism slowly starting to move, the curved iron chains gradually pulling taut.

The teeth-gritting sound of the iron chains rubbing against each other rang out incessantly. The giant stone began to tremble, as if struggling to rise, but it remained unable to leave the ground.

After a long while, the giant stone finally lifted inch by inch, revealing the trembling ground.

There was indeed an entrance on the ground, sealed by a grate door. Through the grate, one could see a staircase extending downward, bottomless. Tang Zhao was about to lift it when a thought struck him, and he tore off a piece of his sleeve to wrap around his hand.

He had been in Black Spider Villa for quite some time now and knew well that everything here might be poisonous. Although he hadn't been hit yet, that was because he didn't court death. Now that he was taking the initiative to lift the lid, he couldn't afford to be unprepared.

Lifting it through the cloth, the grate moved slightly but did not lift.

"Ah..."

The Judge asked from above, "What is it?"

Tang Zhao said, "There's a lock."

The Judge said, "What kind of lock?"

Tang Zhao said, "A padlock." He gestured with his hand, about a foot long, "This long."

The Judge was above, and it was unclear if he could see Tang Zhao's gesture, but he said almost immediately, "Cut it."

Tang Zhao said, "It's very thick, I'm afraid it's difficult..."

The Judge said, "I remember you have a very sharp Sword."

Tang Zhao sighed. This Judge had too clear a mind; it was hard to find an opportunity to shirk the task. He drew his Dharma Artifact Sword, gestured to the position with his hand, and said, "It needs to be raised another two feet."

The Judge didn't waste words; the mechanism creaked, and the giant stone indeed rose further.

Until it was raised to half a person's height, Tang Zhao measured the distance and said, "That's it."

At this moment, he held the sword with focused intent, his attention entirely on the target, sinking his waist to exert force, and raised his hand to hack down—

"Cha—"

With a sound of an extremely crisp strike, the padlock was severed in two.

Tang Zhao removed the broken padlock and held it in his hand, seeing that the cut was smooth, not like iron that had been sliced, but rather like wood that had been sliced by iron.

"Good sword..."

The Dharma Artifact seemed to no longer be forged from ordinary iron; he didn't know what material it was, but since it already had such near-miraculous effects, what was a little sharpness?

He felt it was only right, lifted the cover lightly, and said, "I'm opening it—"

Suddenly, he was struck hard from behind, sent flying, and plunged headfirst into the passageway.