A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 388: The Land of Death
Duan Rong came out of the tea stall, walked away from the front door of the dungeon, and strolled along the streets surrounding the dungeon, pretending to be leisurely.

As he walked around, his spiritual sense was released and covered the dungeon.

In fact, just by looking from here, you can see the dungeon. The door in and out is very narrow, and you can vaguely see the bunkers inside, which is enough to make people feel the danger of this place.

But when Duan Rong's consciousness penetrated the thick high wall of the dungeon and explored the situation inside, he was still shocked. He found that he had underestimated the danger of this dungeon. This place was not only dangerous, but also a dead end with no way out.

The front door of the dungeon was already very small and narrow, and after entering, it was still a funnel-shaped area. Not only were there arrow towers on both sides, but the area above the head between the arrow towers on both sides and the front door was also covered with a dense net covered with barbs.

In the funnel-shaped area, there stood two rows of heavily armored soldiers holding shields. Their shiny black mail armor emitted a cold, dark glow.

In the bunker next to it, there were many prison guards in tight uniforms. They took turns to rest and stand guard day and night.

There was only one person in civilian clothes in the bunker. He was about forty years old and had a long, thin horse face. He was sitting in front of a simple wooden table with a plate of almonds and a plate of peanuts on it.

He sat on a bench, one leg in a boot on it, leaning forward, eating almonds and drinking tea.

This person was obviously the leader near the front door of the dungeon. Duan Rong's spiritual sense instantly penetrated his dantian.

It is the first level of the True Qi Realm!
Considering this man's martial arts level, plus the dangerous terrain of the front gate, and the soldiers in heavy armor and holding shields, if Shen Mizhi really dared to jailbreak, she would probably not even be able to get through the front gate and would die here.

After all, it was the dungeon of the prefectural city! Duan Rong sighed in his heart. He had expected the danger of the dungeon in the prefectural city, but he was still shocked when he saw the situation inside.

He stopped at a candy man vendor on the street and bought a candy man, eating it while continuing his exploration.

As the spiritual consciousness went deeper, each bunker could be regarded as a checkpoint, and there was only one way in and out.

However, there are no more powerful Qi realm masters guarding the following checkpoints.

After the spiritual consciousness passed through several checkpoints, it finally saw the real cell, which was a low building.

It's not like in movies and TV shows, where the cells are separated by wooden fences inside a dark building.

It was a small, short building with three stone walls, a wooden fence, and a roof covered with barbs and iron nails.

These short cells are separated by narrow alleys that are only about one step wide and are arranged in rows.

There are only forty cells in this area, forming a square shape.

Ordinary prisoners could not be imprisoned here at all, they were directly imprisoned in the cells of the Censorate. Only those who could be imprisoned in the dungeon of the provincial capital were major criminals.

There were two bunkers and two watchtowers around the prison area. Patrolling heavily armored soldiers would pass through the alleys from time to time.

Duan Rong originally planned to use his spiritual sense to check the forty cells one by one, to find out which cell held Shen Yanliu.

But he suddenly discovered that at the entrance of an alley in the square area, there was a bench, and a person was lying on the bench.

The man had a felt hat on his head and was pouring wine from a black porcelain flagon into his throat. He lay there with the brim of his felt hat covering his eyes.

Duan Rong's heart moved. It was Xiong Yi!

He directly swept his spiritual sense over and concentrated it near Xiong Yi.

Duan Rong soon discovered that there was a bunker not far from here. Next to the entrance of the bunker, there was a table where four people were playing mahjong.

Three were dressed as jailers, and one was in casual clothes.

Duan Rong's spiritual sense then swept towards the man and penetrated his dantian.

There is a realm of the first level of true Qi.

In this square area, including Xiong Yi and this person, there are actually two powerful people in the Qi realm in charge.

Moreover, there was another person standing at the front door of the dungeon, which meant that there were three people at the Qi realm in charge of the dungeon in this city.

For the average gangster, this is already a death sentence!

To be honest, this place would be so exhausting even for Duan Rong if he went in and out.

If he wanted to bring another person out, it would be difficult for him to guarantee whether the person he brought out was a living person or a corpse.

With so many arrow towers and arrows flying everywhere, he might be able to protect himself, but it would be difficult for him to take care of everything else.

Since Xiong Yi was here, Duan Rong could almost be sure that Shen Yanliu was imprisoned in a cell not far from Xiong Yi.

Duan Rong's spiritual sense immediately scanned the cells near Xiong Yi.

He soon found Shen Yanliu.

Shen Yanliu was wearing prison clothes, his hair was disheveled, his face was pale, and he had heavy iron chains on his hands and feet. He was lying on a pile of hay, turned over, and perhaps because of the pain, he let out a dull groan from his throat.

His body was covered with wounds and several bones were dislocated. It was obvious that he had suffered severe torture not long ago.

Duan Rong's consciousness condensed and penetrated Shen Yanliu's Dantian. As he expected, Shen Yanliu's Dantian had been destroyed.

Shen Yanliu himself is also a strong man in the True Qi Realm. If his Dantian had not been destroyed, it would have been difficult for those people to keep him here without worry.

The iron chains and the prison cell were as useless as paper to a strong man in the Qi realm.

Duan Rong's spiritual sense swept across the several prison cells near Shen Yanliu again, because he was sure that Shen Yanliu's case involved many people and they would not just arrest him.

Sure enough, Tang Wanhong and Ma Chunmin were also found in Duan Rong’s cell.

Ma Chunmin was also wearing prison uniform, but she was not seriously injured. However, her eyes were dull, like a corpse without a soul.

In the cell diagonally opposite Shen Yanliu, Tang Wanhong was also covered with bruises. He lay next to the wooden fence, staring at Xiong Yi who was lying on a bench at the alley not far away.

He really didn't expect that his accidental action on the street would actually lead him into a trap set for him by the mansion lord Chen Xun.

When Shen Yanliu first came to Ruyang Prefecture, the Prefecture Lord Chen Xun valued him for a while because of his strong ability to handle affairs and his good relationship with colleagues.

But just one year later, Shen Yanliu began to develop his own strength and build up his wings.

He tampered with many criminal cases and even built a Shen Garden outside the city. He used all kinds of threats and inducements on the chief investigators and the county magistrates under him, instructing them to fabricate false cases, while he made huge profits from it.

Then he would use the profits to collect beautiful women and antiques and give them to his superiors, paving the way for their further promotion.

The Lord of the Prefecture Chen Xun and the Governor Yang Ji both began to be wary and fearful of Shen Yanliu. Most of the county magistrates under the jurisdiction of Ruyang Prefecture were recruited by Shen Yanliu, and he also had contacts with many officials from Shenyun Prefecture.

This man is so powerful that after discussing it, Chen Xun and Yang Ji decided to join forces to overthrow him. If they let him struggle for another two years, they would probably have to give up their positions as the Lord of the Mansion and the Governor to him.

However, although Shen Yanliu has a big business and many connections, he is also the most dirty person and has been involved in too many dirty things. The key is to find evidence.

After repeated planning, Chen Xun and Yang Ji quickly locked onto Tang Wanhong as the weak spot to bite Shen Yanliu to death. This choice was a vicious one!
But how to take down Tang Wanhong is also not an easy task.

Chen Xun personally arranged the situation and began to investigate all of Tang Wanhong's activities.

In fact, Xiong Yi’s game was not the first one he set up.

However, the first two attempts ended in failure, and Tang Wanhong did not take the bait.

Chen Xun did not think that this third game was any better than the previous two.

That day, he already knew one day in advance that Tang Wanhong was going to that store to do some business.

Therefore, the woman, the rascal, and Xiong Yi who was napping on the street were all carefully designed by him.

That night, when he came back from the yamen, a spy came to tell him that Tang Wanhong had taken the bait. At that time, he just smiled slightly.

Because, even if Tang Wanhong doesn't take the bait this time, he will continue to look for opportunities and set up traps for him. He has always been very patient, and he has always been very skilled in this kind of thing. Among the people he has dealt with, the most people have persisted until the sixth round.

In fact, he really hopes to see someone break this record.

To be able to sit on the throne of the Lord of Ruyang Prefecture, he must have climbed up by stepping on the corpses of countless people.

Shen Yanliu was capable and ambitious, but he didn't know when to advance and when to retreat, and he overestimated himself. If he could be like Yang Ji, following him wholeheartedly, he would let him move up one step at a time if he took a step up.

But if he wants to step on my head, I can only send him off.

Duan Rong strolled along the streets surrounding the city dungeon, ate a candy man and a string of candied haws, and had a thorough look at the dungeon inside and out.

After this tour, he came to the conclusion that even a powerful man like him who had reached the great perfection of the Qi realm would find it difficult to bring a prisoner out alive from the dungeon.

This dungeon can be described as a dead end place with no way out!

After Duan Rong left the dungeon, he slowly walked to a teahouse not far from the government office in the city.

Sitting by the window on the second floor, after ordering a pot of tea and a plate of melon seeds, Duan Rong sipped the tea and looked out the window.

Not far away is the majestic and imposing gate of the provincial government.

Since Xiong Yi was able to guard Shen Yanliu in the dungeon of the prefectural city, this alone was enough to prove that the person in charge of the Shen Yanliu case must be Chen Xun, the prefect of Ruyang Prefecture.

Duan Rong sat there, cracking melon seeds, and his spiritual awareness suddenly spread outward, covering the government office in the city.

He quickly locked onto Chen Xun, but Chen Xun was busy with various official duties all day, as if the Shen Yanliu case had nothing to do with him at all.

However, Duan Rong was not in a hurry. He used his spiritual sense to monitor Chen Xun while eating melon seeds. This teahouse was not like the area near the dungeon, which was easy to attract other people's attention. In the teahouse, there were many people who would just order a pot of tea and sit there for a whole day.

As night fell, all the teahouses were closed.

Duan Rong was one of the last customers to leave.

He sighed. He had been guarding here for so long and drinking a bellyful of water, but he didn't get any useful information from Chen Xun.

Duan Rong strolled to a wonton stall at the corner of an alley not far from the teahouse, prepared to eat a bowl of wontons, and then go back.

The stall owner brought the steaming wontons over. Duan Rong poured a spoonful of chili oil on the wontons, slurped them, and swallowed one with all the soup and juice.

Just after swallowing it, Duan Rong coughed, as if he was choked.

He had originally planned to go back after finishing the bowl of wontons, but just as he took the first bite, two people suddenly came to Chen Xun's study to see him.

These two people did not come together. One came from the left corridor and the other came from the right corridor.

But they seemed to have no reservations and walked into Chen Xun's study together.

Duan Rong immediately recognized the tall man among them. It was because of recognizing this man that he almost choked himself.

This person was the one who followed Xiong Yi out in the middle of the night at Shen Garden and met Xiong Yi in front of the mountain god temple beside the official road.

Upon seeing this person, Duan Rong immediately shouted to the wonton stand owner: "Boss, your wontons taste good, give me another bowl."

"Okay!" The boss wiped his hands on his apron and responded happily.

Duan Rong didn't really want to eat wontons. To be honest, the wontons tasted just average. Any random wonton shop on the street in Xiangu County would make better ones than his.

However, since the tall man showed up, it meant that Chen Xun and the others wanted to talk about Shen Yanliu. He was looking for an excuse to stay at the wonton stall for a while longer so that he could find out more carefully.

The tall man was named Li Hong, a retainer of Chen Xun whom he valued very much. The other person who came in with him was Yang Ji, the governor of Ruyang Prefecture.

Li Hong had already saluted Yang Ji at the door.

When they came in, both of them wanted to salute Chen Xun, but Chen Xun raised his hand with a tired look to stop them.

The two understood each other and sat down.

As soon as Li Hong sat down, he looked at Chen Xun and said, "Palace Master, I have already investigated the Zhengze Palace. Shen Mizhi was halfway through the case when she left without saying goodbye."

Chen Xun didn't say anything, just took a sip of ginseng tea.

Yang Ji said, "This is to be expected. If someone's family has such a big incident, who would have the energy to handle other people's cases? However, the crimes committed by Shen Yanliu have all happened since she was promoted to the position of Censor, and Shen Mizhi has been in Changliu Mountain for the past three years and has had almost no contact with the outside world. The case really cannot be linked to her, otherwise it would be better to directly investigate her as a joint suspect to save trouble."

Chen Xun said: "You have to cut the grass at its roots, otherwise it will become a disaster sooner or later!"

Li Hong's eyes moved and he said, "Her father is in prison. I don't believe she can just watch and do nothing."

Yang Ji said: "The dungeon is not the time to take action. I think the Dharma field is the key."

Chen Xun glanced at Yang Ji.

Both of them noticed Chen Xun's look. Although it was a very cold look, they had followed Chen Xun for a long time and were very familiar with his temper. They knew that it meant that Chen Xun agreed with Yang Ji's opinion.

Li Hong said: "The defense of the execution ground is not as solid as that of the dungeon."

Yang Ji said: "Besides, if it was just Shen Mizhi alone, it wouldn't be a big deal. What we should be afraid of is that she would get involved with a group of people. If that's the case, it would be really tricky..."

Chen Xun said: "Then we can't give her time to worry about it."

Chen Xun stood up and paced back and forth in the room. He suddenly looked at Yang Ji and said, "Sir Yang, I think I'd better trouble you to go to Shenyun Mansion in person. Go and find some connections to ensure that the case is approved within ten days."

(End of this chapter)