The topic shifted abruptly, but Wu Jinliang quickly understood, his eyes instantly lighting up. “He crippled his cultivation; in this wild, remote area, even if he wants to silence witnesses, he can’t possibly be without protection.
You’re dreaming, but since they won’t let us go either way, we definitely have to try if there’s a chance. What if it works?”
He was clearly a desperado too, unwilling to miss an opportunity to gamble.
“They’ve already sent word. Barring any accidents, people will arrive soon.
Let’s bypass them.” Shi Chun pointed to the canyon exit, indicating they should go around from the outside.
As he spoke, he moved to the edge of the opening and peeked out.
Wu Jinliang pulled off the cloth wrapped around his neck and stuffed it haphazardly into his pack.
He glanced at the corpses on the ground, then hoisted his blade and ran up to Shi Chun, complaining, “You, since we’re going back, why bother killing them? Aren’t you tired?”
“Their deaths here prove even more that we escaped.” Shi Chun tossed out the words and shot out, hurrying on his way.
Wu Jinliang froze, then realized it made sense. Only by making them mistakenly believe they had run away could they more safely sneak back.
Even if there was no chance to act, they could still slip away more safely.
He chuckled, then flashed away to follow.
The two did not take the way they came. Shi Chun led the way, using the positions of the lurking personnel he had seen in the bizarre vision from his right eye earlier, finding an alternative route to sneak back.
This was mainly to avoid encountering enemy reinforcements who would have received the report and rushed over.
In fact, the enemy reinforcements arrived very quickly, already reaching the previous lurking spots of the two dead men.
Leading them was a robust masked man who had a full set of clothes and even wore boots. Behind him followed a dozen or so masked figures.
Seeing no one at the scene, they circled around and spotted the glowing finger marks. The group immediately rushed off in pursuit.
The murder scene wasn’t actually far from here; the key was that Shi Chun, fearing a prolonged night of dreams, didn’t dare to delay and acted nearby.
The dozen masked men quickly reached the canyon where the incident occurred.
They paused briefly, smelling blood, then discovered the corpses.
The masked giant took out an exquisite fire-starting stick from his waist and lit it.
He personally pulled back the masks from the two heads. After clearly seeing the faces of the two dead men, he let out a deep breath, then examined the environment of the fight before walking out of the canyon and staring at the undulating wilderness under the night sky for a long time.
Unsure of the killer’s whereabouts, and knowing that a blind pursuit was pointless, he turned back, dropped a single sentence, and left alone. “You handle the aftermath.”
He flew all the way, not going anywhere else, but directly to the mining area.
A bright moon already shone brilliantly in the night sky, its cold light spilling like mercury.
Outside the mine shaft, Qi Ziru lay on a reclining chair, eyes closed in rest, guarded by two sedan chair bearers. The entrance of the shaft was blocked and guarded by seven or eight overseers.
Shen Youkun was not here, having been sent into the mine shaft by his uncle outside to personally oversee things.
A figure flew directly from the mountain and landed in the valley.
The guards at the entrance all looked over, and someone shouted, “Who’s there?”
The guards all drew their weapons, and Qi Ziru also opened his eyes to look. He saw a robust masked giant walking unhurriedly.
He immediately spoke to calm those around him, “It’s nothing, one of our own.”
The masked giant did not come all the way over but stopped several zhang away, nodding slightly to Qi Ziru.
Qi Ziru propped himself up, refused the help of the two sedan chair bearers, and prevented them from following, walking over alone. He did not stop when he reached the masked giant, who immediately followed him.
The guards at the entrance exchanged glances, all sensing the formidable power of Shen Youkun’s faction; they actually had additional personnel.
Only after reaching a position where they could avoid being overheard did Qi Ziru stop.
He said nothing, waiting.
The masked giant leaned in and reported in a low voice, “Someone broke through our outer perimeter and killed two of our men.”
“I thought you were here with good news.” Qi Ziru’s face instantly darkened as he turned to look at him.
“Even the things I gave you couldn’t subdue them?”
The masked giant replied, “They weren’t used. The opponent’s speed was too fast, unusually fast.
I rushed to the scene as quickly as possible but was still too late. I didn’t see who the killer was, or how many there were.
From the location of the incident, our men were discovered not long after they followed the killer. There wasn’t even a trace of extra struggle at the scene, indicating the fight ended very quickly.
From the manner of death, both men were likely killed by the same person. One of them didn’t even have time to draw his weapon.
So, either the killer’s strength is too great, leaving our men no chance to fight back or escape, or it was a sneak attack. Either way, this killer is not simple.
Is it someone who escaped from here?”
He finished speaking and waited in silence.
Qi Ziru’s expression was not good.
He naturally knew who did it, but he hadn’t expected his careful arrangements on the outer perimeter to be so vulnerable. That fellow had escaped so easily, making both him and his nephew seem quite ridiculous.
He had worried before that the backup might not be able to stop them, and indeed, someone had slipped through the net. It seemed this matter could only be reported to the family.
He had considered concealing it before, but then remembered that the other person who knew was the escaped chief. Who knew what he went to do after getting the treasure, or if he would expose them one day? After weighing his options, he abandoned the idea of hiding the truth.
After a few breaths to calm his emotions, he slowly said, “Things are almost finished here. Gather your men to this vicinity and await orders.”
“Good.” The masked giant nodded slightly in agreement, then turned and left, disappearing over the mountaintop in a few leaps.
Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, who were pressed close to the mountain’s shadow in a nearby hollow, saw the masked giant’s departing figure.
They had just arrived.
Indeed, those who left earlier did not arrive before the masked giant. The latter dared to run at full speed in a straight line; they were more cautious.
By the time they quietly snuck to the edge of the valley, able to see the situation inside the valley and at the mine shaft entrance, Qi Ziru had already returned to his chair and lay down.
“How come the guards on this mountain are all gone? They couldn’t have been silenced so quickly, could they?” Wu Jinliang whispered curiously.
Shi Chun made a shushing gesture at him. Although they were hiding quite far away, it was better to be careful.
Next was a period of waiting. While observing, Shi Chun also secretly used his cultivation to examine his own body.
He finally had time to ponder the strange change caused by the purplish glowing Nebula entering his body.
The stars shifted, and the bright moon gradually moved to the other side.
As time slowly approached the latter half of the night, Wu Jinliang, who was about to yawn, suddenly opened his eyes wide and lightly nudged Shi Chun with his elbow.
Shi Chun saw it without needing a reminder.
Shen Youkun walked out of the cave, seemingly holding something glowing.
It was a burning incense stick.
Shen Youkun walked up to the reclining chair. “Uncle, it’s finished.
It’s all dug out.”
Qi Ziru glanced at the incense stick in his hand and asked, “Are they all lit?”
Shen Youkun nodded, secretly glancing at the few guards at the cave entrance.
Qi Ziru said to one of the sedan chair bearers, “Call people to carry the things.”
Soon, a shooting star shot out from one of the sedan chair bearers’ hands with a bang, then exploded into fireworks in the air with another bang.
Shi Chun and the other man, lying in the dark on the mountain, looked up.
Not long after, a group of masked figures rushed down from the mountain side next to the mine shaft, totaling nearly three hundred people.
Wu Jinliang bared his teeth in surprise and nudged Shi Chun again, making a gesture indicating they had no chance.
The masked giant leading the team walked up to Qi Ziru to receive orders.
Qi Ziru took out a small black cloth pouch from his sleeve and handed it to him, saying, “If it’s hard to pack, take it apart. Not a single bone is allowed to be missed; pack all of it.”
Most of the local natives didn’t recognize this small black cloth pouch, but Shen Youkun’s eyes lit up. Others didn’t recognize it, but he did; it was a magic treasure, a “Universe Bag.” The spatial dimension within this magic treasure was considerable, and he had never used a magic treasure of this caliber before.
He hadn’t expected such a magic treasure to be brought in.
Now he finally knew how they planned to remove such a large skeleton.
The masked giant took the pouch and nodded, then waved his hand, signaling his men to head straight into the mine shaft.
As the group threaded past the seven or eight guards at the entrance, a flash of cold light and chaotic shadows passed, accompanied by several screams of “Ah!”
Already inside the cave, the masked giant, leading the way with large strides, shouted, “Remember, leave no one alive!”
Behind him, a flurry of weapons being drawn immediately rang out.
After the large contingent of men had all entered the cave, seven or eight corpses lay at the entrance.
Shen Youkun looked at his uncle, who was resting with his eyes closed on the reclining chair, then at the corpses in the pool of blood. He smelled the strong scent of blood, and the corners of his mouth still couldn’t help but twitch.
There was a reason why he feared this uncle.
Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, lurking in the shadows, exchanged glances.
The latter whispered, “It’s really started!”
The mine shaft was filled with a smoky atmosphere. Faint smoke drifted, and unburnt incense sticks could occasionally be seen stuck in the cave walls.
As they walked deeper into the mine, dead bodies began to appear one after another on the ground, increasing in number the further they went.
Someone squatted down to examine them, seeing faces turned blue with wide-open eyes, and exclaimed in surprise, “Are they poisoned?”
No sooner had he spoken than someone else leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, “No, Chief, the smoke in this cave is problematic.”
Similar reactions began to appear one after another, and the scene instantly erupted into chaos.
“Chief, quick, withdraw! It’s poisonous!”
The leading masked giant, however, ignored them and continued forward.
As he gradually moved further away, he faintly replied, “Too late. You’ve been eating it for over a month; the catalyst has already activated.”
The chaotic crowd hadn’t heard what he said; some people had already begun to fall one after another.
Some desperately ran towards the cave entrance, but none managed to escape, all collapsing halfway.
At the “T”-shaped intersection at the end of the mine shaft, the masked giant saw the sprawling Dragon Bone. He unfurled the Universe Bag in his hand…
When he reappeared outside the cave, he was the only one.
Behind him, a violent rumbling sound came from inside the mine shaft.
Shi Chun and the other man, lying on the ground, looked at each other in surprise.
They could feel the intense tremors coming from the ground, wave after wave, unsure of what was happening.
Boom! With a loud roar, a massive cloud of dust shot out from the mine shaft, clearly visible under the moonlight.
The lone masked giant allowed his back to be impacted, his entire body swallowed by the thick dust.
The two sedan chair bearers had already moved Qi Ziru some distance away, and they also pulled Shen Youkun along.
Shi Chun, his face full of surprise, muttered to himself, “It collapsed!”
Wu Jinliang felt the same. He wondered what method these people used to collapse the mine, and only one person came out?
Both were quite shocked.
They had initially thought they would only silence the original people in the mine. After seeing the three hundred new people commit the acts, they thought they had come for nothing and lost their chance to act, but they didn’t expect the other party to eliminate those three hundred people as well.
Not long after, the masked giant emerged from the rolling dust once more and presented the Universe Bag to Qi Ziru.
Qi Ziru inspected it and nodded in satisfaction, saying, “Let’s go.”
The two sedan chair bearers lifted him and turned, while the masked giant grabbed Shen Youkun’s arm, and they all flew towards a nearby mountain peak.
A fierce look flashed across Shi Chun’s face as he crouched in the shadows.
He grabbed Wu Jinliang’s shoulder and said in a low voice, “As long as we take out those three, the other two are useless. Two against three, do you dare to go?”
“Hehe, my great blade is already thirsty for blood!” Wu Jinliang said with a sinister grin, then sprang up, dragging his great blade and charging towards their target.