A Pawn's Passage

Major Zhang knew that the Green Phoenix Guard Major’s Office was not unified, so news was bound to leak out. Thus, he tried to act fast before the enemies were alerted.

However, they were still a step too late when they arrived at the salt merchant’s manor outside the city. The place was already empty.

Major Zhang could not hide his disappointment. Before he went to see Xu Kou and Qi Xuansu, he had already sent his confidants to keep an eye on this manor. Since his confidants did not see a large group of people leaving the manor, it meant that there was another exit, which was most likely an underground tunnel.

Another possibility was escaping through formations, like the Yin-Yang Gate. However, it was very expensive.

Wannian County did not have a formation blocker because those required constant maintenance, money, and manpower. For example, Jade Capital spent more than 1 million Taiping coins in order to maintain a formation for spring-like weather all year round, of which at least 300,000 Taiping coins were labor expenses. Moreover, there was no shortage of Diviners or Qi Refiners in Jade Capital. Labor costs would only increase in this county since it was not a Daoist stronghold.

Major Zhang ordered his subordinates to search around the manor.

Searching homes was one of the Green Phoenix Guard’s skills, which included finding secret rooms, mechanisms, compartments, cellars, and tunnels.

Soon, the Green Phoenix Guard’s search yielded results. There was indeed a tunnel here, but they could not find the entrance. At this time, they lacked equipment and gunpowder, and digging a hole manually was unrealistic since they were pressed for time.

Xu Kou used to be a Green Phoenix Guard, so he did not stand idly by and helped search for the entrance to the secret passage.

Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu followed Xu Kou and observed the former Green Phoenix Guard expertly knocking on walls and shelves to listen for hollow spaces.

After a while, Xu Kou found the entrance. It was a well in the backyard, with unknown depths of turbid water.

Major Zhang also brought his people over.

Liu Hu leaned over the edge of the well and looked down, puzzled. “How could there be a tunnel in a well? Aren’t they afraid that the well water will flood the passage?”

Xu Kou explained, “The entrance might not be at the bottom of the well but at the walls. The entrance could be submerged, but the tunnel would usually be above the water level, so there would be no risk of backflow.”

Major Zhang nodded. “That makes sense.”

Xu Kou volunteered. “I’ll go down and take a look first.”

After saying that, Xu Kou jumped into the well. All they could hear was a splash before Xu Kou disappeared under the turbid water.

They were not worried about Xu Kou’s safety because he was a Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner.

After a while, Xu Kou’s upper body emerged from the water. He yelled, “I found the entrance!”

Qi Xuansu responded, “I’ll come down right away!”

Xu Kou dived into the water again. Qi Xuansu hesitated for a moment, deliberating whether to bring Liu Hu with him. Seeing how excited and eager Liu Hu was to go on an adventure, Qi Xuansu brought her along.

Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu descended slowly along the rope and dove 10 meters underwater before seeing a half-open door on the wall of the well. Qi Xuansu entered first, followed closely by Liu Hu.

The steps behind the door led upward, so the water level gradually became more shallow with each step. After about a dozen steps, they were finally out of the water. The surroundings were silent and dark.

Suddenly, they saw a flash of fire.

Xu Kou was standing not far away with a flame stick in hand. He had already steamed his clothes dry with his blood qi. He warned, “Be careful. There may be booby traps here.”

Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu also followed suit, using qi to steam dry their clothes.

Their guns and projectiles were waterproof, so there was no need to worry. Qi Xuansu casually handed his Divine Dragon Pistol to Liu Hu for self-defense while he pulled out the only remaining cutlass and injected it with innate qi. The blade of the cutlass ignited with flames, doubling as a torch in this pitch-black tunnel.

This secret passage was wide enough for two people to walk side by side without feeling crowded. So Qi Xuansu and Xu Kou walked shoulder to shoulder in front while Liu Hu stayed close behind.

They walked for some distance until they felt like they had left the boundary of the manor.

This corridor seemed endless, and they had no choice but to continue moving forward. After walking for several kilometers, they finally saw two closed stone doors. This tunnel was straight with no detours, so it would have covered a long distance above ground. As such, the two stone doors were most likely near the county seat.

Xu Kou asked, “Brother Wei, do you remember passing by the City God Temple when we left the city?”

“Yes.” Qi Xuansu nodded. “Based on the distance and direction of this tunnel, we should be near the City God Temple now.”

Xu Kou stepped forward and pushed on the stone door, but it did not budge.

His expression changed slightly as he exerted more strength again. With his strong blood qi and physique, Xu Kou pushed the door until the veins on the back of his hands bulged. However, the stone door only shook slightly and made a rumbling noise.

Seeing that the stone door remained shut, Qi Xuansu also came to help.

With the combined efforts of the two Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioners, the stone door finally opened with a bang.

In fact, there was probably a mechanism to open this stone door, but Qi Xuansu and Xu Kou did not bother looking for the mechanism and decided to use brute force to open it instead.

Behind the stone door was a stone staircase that led up to what looked like a dead end.

Upon closer inspection, the steps extended to the dome above, but the space was so small that they had to hunch their backs while climbing up.

Logically, there should be a secret door up there because they were in an underground tunnel, so the entrance and exit had to be above ground.

At this angle, it would be difficult to use brute force again to push the dome open, so Xu Kou started to explore the space using the light from the fire. Since most mechanisms were similar, Xu Kou quickly identified the opening. “Found it!”

With a click followed by a cranking sound, the dome above slowly parted to reveal the exit.

Xu Kou walked out first, followed closely by Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu. The three of them came to a side hall with closed doors. It was slightly dim.

Qi Xuansu looked around. “This should be the City God Temple.”

At this moment, they heard rushed footsteps outside the door. It seemed that the cranking sound of the mechanism had alerted the guards.

Immediately after, the door was kicked open from the outside. A sword light split the air like a long bolt of lightning.

Qi Xuansu charged forward with his blazing cutlass, killing two people with one slash and landing gracefully without getting hurt.

The other person was holding a long sword, his eyes wide open, with a Seven Phoenix Feather nailed to his throat. A gurgling sound escaped his throat as blood gushed out, dripping along his clothes and onto his feet. He was killed in one move.

Qi Xuansu did not stop. The flames on his blade flickered elusively as he continued his killing spree. Wherever it passed, someone would drop dead on the ground.

Suddenly, a spear shot straight at Qi Xuansu, bringing along a strong gust of wind. Qi Xuansu keenly noticed the attack and swung his cutlass to block it.

However, this spear was unstoppable. Qi Xuansu failed to split the incoming spear with his cutlass, so he had to duck to avoid getting stabbed. The man holding the spear was tall and ferocious. The head of his spear was also spinning like a drill.

Qi Xuansu did not fight with this person. Instead, he used the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique to slash seven people in succession. The others were frightened, so they retreated to form a circle around Qi Xuansu, but they dared not step forward rashly.

On the other side, Xu Kou was also on a killing spree. Unlike Qi Xuansu, Xu Kou did not use weapons. He only used his trusted limbs, which was common among Martial Arts Practitioners. Xu Kou used the Green Phoenix Guard’s unique technique, the Green Dragon Hook, in which his five fingers curled like a claw. The blood qi in his palms was just as sharp as sword qi, whistling through the air as he struck his opponents.

Naturally, none of these people were Xu Kou’s opponents because he used more than ten of the Green Phoenix Guard’s signature moves.

At this moment, a Diviner entered the hall and stood on a beam. He took out a small cloth bag from his waist, opened it, and shook it gently. Several small figurines carved from willow wood fell to the ground.

Willow trees were yin objects, so these little figurines were surrounded by a faint yin energy. Each figurine also had fine talisman patterns engraved on them. As soon as the figurines landed on the ground, they instantly enlarged to the size of an adult. They then got into an army formation to surround Xu Kou.

These wooden figurines were like puppets, but they were a type of talisman that was extremely tough and difficult to break.

An ordinary person encountering such a formation would panic, but Xu Kou was a Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner who happened to be naturally resistant to such spells. That was why Xu Kou was not at all afraid of these figurines. He merely stepped forward and unleashed a bout of turbulent blood qi.