Chapter 524: Whelp, You Dare Make a Fool of Me!

The sudden dimming of the dungeon also drew the attention of the two cultivators standing guard inside. One flashed over and landed outside the cell to inspect the situation, but saw nothing unusual.

Shao Sansheng stared blankly at Shao Pingbo inside.

With someone else present, he did not dare reveal anything, but the look he gave Shao Pingbo was complicated.

Shao Pingbo stood with his head lowered and his eyes closed. Slowly, he said, “The lamp went out. Add oil.”

“Yes.” Shao Sansheng rose.

Right in front of the cultivator, he removed the iron bolt from the cell door, opened it, and went inside.

There was nothing strange about him being allowed to enter and leave the cell freely. Shao Pingbo was not truly a criminal. Dachan Mountain had not pushed matters to an absolute extreme and permitted Shao Sansheng to enter and attend to his needs.

Shao Sansheng went to tend the lamp on the wall.

Seeing nothing abnormal, the cultivator turned and went back.

The extinguished oil lamp was lit again.

Shao Sansheng whispered, “Eldest Young Master...”

Shao Pingbo shook his head slightly. “No hurry. It may be a misunderstanding. Let’s watch a little longer.”

He turned and walked to the iron bars dividing the cell from the corridor, then looked toward the dungeon entrance and waited.

“Open the door!”

Zhong Yangxu’s heavy shout could faintly be heard from outside.

Iron chains rattled. With a clang, the dungeon door opened.

Several people entered, led by Zhong Yangxu.

“Master!” The two disciples guarding inside hurriedly saluted.

Shao Pingbo stood inside the cell watching.

He watched Zhong Yangxu stride toward him with a treasured sword in hand. His cheek twitched violently.

The last trace of hope vanished.

Zhong Yangxu saw Shao Pingbo standing in the cell as well and continued approaching, his expression grave.

Suddenly, Shao Pingbo spread both sleeves, cupped his hands, bowed from the waist, and called out loudly from afar, “Uncle, do not harm my father!”

At the same time, Shao Sansheng moved.

He seized the handle beneath the wall lamp and pushed hard.

A click sounded inside the wall.

In the dungeon corridor, an iron portcullis suddenly dropped from above and struck the ground with a tremendous clang.

Zhong Yangxu and the others were startled.

At the same moment the portcullis fell, stone and earth came crashing down like a landslide, cutting off their view of the figure who remained perfectly composed and motionless, still bowed with hands cupped.

“What?” The Dachan Mountain men cried out in shock.

Zhong Yangxu was both startled and enraged.

Clang!

His sword left its sheath.

He hacked repeatedly, blasting apart the falling earth and stone.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sword struck the obstructing portcullis, yet left only several marks. It could not cut through.

The iron barrier had actually been forged from superior refined steel.

In the end, Zhong Yangxu struck with furious palms until the iron portcullis and the surrounding wall collapsed together.

By the time the group blasted aside the rubble, forced open a breach, and rushed through, there was no longer a trace of anyone inside the cell at the far end of the dungeon.

Shao Pingbo and Shao Sansheng had vanished into thin air.

Remembering how Shao Sansheng had pushed the wall lamp, Zhong Yangxu flashed into the cell and shoved the lamp himself.

The entire wall loosened.

With another push, the wall rotated inward slightly, revealing a pitch-black opening with steps leading down.

“They can’t have gone far. Pursue them! Kill them on sight!” Zhong Yangxu roared.

Several Moon Butterflies flew out. Dachan Mountain disciples entered the tunnel one after another, Zhong Yangxu among them.

The Moon Butterflies spread their wings and sped through the passage, lighting the way.

The tunnel was extremely long, and no one knew where it led.

By the time they had chased halfway through, Zhong Yangxu already realized something was wrong.

At Shao Pingbo’s speed as an ordinary mortal, there was no way he could have run this quickly.

With their own speed, they should already have caught up.

At last, the group reached the end of the passage and discovered a stone chamber.

There was no further path.

Under the light of the Moon Butterflies, only a simple table and several chairs stood inside.

The group hurriedly knocked on the surrounding walls and floor, using spiritual power to probe for hidden passages.

Zhong Yangxu walked to the table.

A sheet of paper lay atop it, bearing a single line:

“I spare your lives. Do not harm my father, lest Dachan Mountain suffer annihilation!”

Given the surroundings, the meaning was not difficult to understand.

It was as though Shao Pingbo were saying: since I could lure you all here, killing you would be effortless. I refrain only out of concern for my father. I spare you, so do not harm him either. Otherwise, I will destroy Dachan Mountain root and branch.

“Whelp, you dare make a fool of me!” Zhong Yangxu shouted.

He crushed the paper in his fist, trembling with rage.

Clearly, this warning had not been written in haste just now. The age and condition of the ink alone showed it had been prepared long ago in anticipation of this very day.

If Shao Pingbo never fled, no one would ever see the letter.

If he did flee, they inevitably would.

In other words, Dachan Mountain’s so-called imprisonment and surveillance had been a joke from beginning to end.

If Shao Pingbo had wanted to escape, he could have slipped away long ago. There had never been any need to wait until now.

Thinking back to the way Shao Pingbo had calmly cupped his hands and bowed in farewell—so unhurried, so composed, treating Dachan Mountain as though it were nothing—felt like a vicious slap across the face of the Elder stationed at the Provincial Inspector’s Residence.

How could Zhong Yangxu not be furious?

If Shao Pingbo escaped from right beneath his eyes like this, how was Zhong Yangxu supposed to answer to the sect?

“There must be another hidden passage somewhere along the way back. Search!” Zhong Yangxu roared, his voice making the stone chamber hum.

He was right.

The group spent some time retracing their path and really did discover another hidden passage branching from the tunnel.

It was actually not far from the tunnel entrance, but no one knew where the mechanism controlling it was located.

Boom!

They simply blasted apart the sealed opening by force.

Zhong Yangxu and the others charged into the second passage. On the walls within, they soon discovered bloodstains, along with drops of blood on the ground...

Outside the city, at a rural estate, the door to a solitary storage room opened.

Shao Pingbo and Shao Sansheng stepped out into the light of dawn.

“Ah-ba, ah-ba...” A mute who had been sweeping nearby threw down his broom the instant he saw Shao Sansheng and ran over to bow in greeting.

Shao Sansheng asked heavily, “Where are they?”

“Ah-ba, ah-ba!” The mute gestured with his hands and quickly led the two away.

A tightly closed hall door was pushed open.

Six people sat in two rows of chairs inside, all wrapped in black cloaks.

The six turned together to look at the three who entered.

Shao Sansheng waved the mute away, then cupped his hands to the six. “Everyone, we can leave now.”

The six rose.

One of them seemed to recognize Shao Pingbo and gave a surprised sound. “Eldest Young Master Shao?” His gaze fell to Shao Pingbo’s bloodied hand. “What happened to your hand?”

Shao Pingbo raised it and looked.

Earlier, he had lost control for a moment and punched the wall of the secret passage, injuring his own hand.

He answered calmly, “A minor injury. Nothing serious. Let’s go.”

The man asked, “Where are the people we’re supposed to escort?”

Shao Pingbo pointed at himself and Shao Sansheng.

“You two?” The man was surprised. “Eldest Young Master Shao intends to leave Beizhou?”

They had been ordered to come receive and escort someone, but no one had told them who.

In truth, even their superiors had not known whom they were coming to collect.

Shao Pingbo said, “Have Xiaoyue Pavilion’s rules changed? Don’t ask what you shouldn’t. I’ll explain afterward. Pursuers are behind us. If we don’t leave now, it will be too late.”

Since he put it that way, no one dared delay.

They immediately moved.

A short while later, three giant flying mounts shot upward from the estate and sped into the distance.

In the courtyard below, the mute stood with tears streaming down his face, waving toward the figures disappearing through the sky.

Dawn still lay over the land, but high above, Shao Pingbo’s body was gilded by sunlight.

He turned and looked back toward the prosperous Beizhou Prefectural Capital in the distance. His face was filled with indescribable reluctance.

That city, that land—he had poured far too much of his heart and blood into them.

Was he really going to abandon it like this?

Leave just like that?

But there was no choice.

If he stayed, everything would be over.

If he left, then although years of labor would be destroyed in a single stroke, as long as the green hills remained, there would never be a lack of firewood.

There was still much he did not know.

He did not even know what exactly had happened over at Myriad Beasts Sect to make Dachan Mountain reach such a decision.

Unexpected, yet reasonable.

This ending merely confirmed his own judgment.

With Niu Youdao personally sitting at Myriad Beasts Sect and making his move, Dachan Mountain had, unsurprisingly, proven no match for him.

In the end, Niu Youdao had succeeded.

He had lost.

And he had lost disastrously.

Everything he had exhausted himself building over all these years had been destroyed by Niu Youdao’s hand.

“Puh!”

Shao Pingbo suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He clutched his chest and collapsed backward, his face white as paper.

“Eldest Young Master Shao!” The cloaked man beside him hurriedly caught him.

After using spiritual power to examine him, the man immediately took out a medicinal pill, placed it in Shao Pingbo’s mouth, and circulated qi to help regulate his condition.

“Eldest Young Master!” On the flying mount traveling nearby, Shao Sansheng shook his head helplessly and burst into loud sobs.

The black-cloaked people looked at one another.

None knew what exactly had happened...

At the rural estate outside the city, the solitary storage room collapsed.

Several figures shot out from the wreckage. Zhong Yangxu stood holding his sword and looked around, killing intent raging from him.

The Dachan Mountain pursuit party had finally followed the trail to this place.

But finding it was useless.

Shao Pingbo had led them in a circle.

They were already too late...

“Grand Commander Xie, I ordered you to seal the city and conduct a search immediately. Did you not hear me?”

Inside Beizhou Prefectural Capital, a Dachan Mountain disciple stood before the armored Grand Commander of the city guard and shouted harshly.

Several other Dachan Mountain disciples stood behind him.

Grand Commander Xie shook his head. “I need the Provincial Governor’s handwritten warrant!”

Shing!

The furious Dachan Mountain disciple drew his sword and pressed the blade against the commander’s neck. “Are you tired of living? Even your Provincial Governor obeys Dachan Mountain. Dachan Mountain’s word is your Provincial Governor’s military order!”

Grand Commander Xie said in a deep voice, “Without the Grand General’s personally written warrant, I do not dare obey!”

The disciple shouted, “You think I won’t kill you?”

Grand Commander Xie replied, “The Grand General gave an order: without his personally written warrant, no one may mobilize troops without authorization. Cultivator, please first obtain the Grand General’s warrant.”

Puh!

Blood sprayed.

The disciple slashed through Grand Commander Xie’s throat with one stroke. The man collapsed, blood pouring from his neck.

The bloodied sword immediately pointed toward another officer among those present.

“You! From now on, you replace him as Grand Commander. Give the order immediately!”

The officers stared at Grand Commander Xie’s corpse, grief and fury on their faces.

The officer who had been singled out cupped his fists. “The Grand General issued orders. Without the Grand General’s personally written warrant, anyone who dares seize authority without authorization will be treated as a rebel, and Beizhou’s forces will rise together to execute him.”

“Cultivator, even if you make me Grand Commander, without the Grand General’s warrant I cannot mobilize a single soldier. Do you truly want to throw Beizhou into chaos?”

...

Inside the Provincial Inspector’s Residence, Zhong Yangxu stood with both hands resting on his sword, his face dark.

A disciple hurried back and cupped his hands. “Master, commanders throughout Beizhou refuse to obey mobilization orders. Every one of them insists on seeing Shao Dengyun’s handwritten warrant before they will act. We argued ourselves hoarse and even killed several people to frighten them, but it was useless!”

[End of Chapter 524]