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

Chapter 392: Strategy (I)

Duan Rong packed up his things and put the useful things into a small moon-white cloth bag. He glanced at the messy place and suddenly walked to the carved wooden stake. With a surge of his true energy, he smashed the stake into sawdust with one palm.

Then he stood there and tied the small cloth bag around his waist. He looked up at the sun above his head and estimated that it was just past noon. He prepared to go back to his room to sleep and recover his energy. After all, the highlight was the evening.

He hadn't slept well in the past eight or nine days, and after staying up all night, his mind and spirit were a little exhausted.

Duan Rong dragged his tired body and walked back to the room with bloodshot eyes, then fell asleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept when he was suddenly awakened by a knock on the door. Duan Rong opened his eyes and saw that the room was already dark and it was already dusk.

He got out of bed and opened the door half-awake, only to see Liu Shushan standing outside with a nervous look on his face.

As soon as Liu Shushan saw Duan Rong, he said, "Brother Duan, Yang Ji just returned to the city."

Duan Rong opened the door, walked to the table, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it down his dry throat.

He finished drinking the water, then sat there and said in a calm tone: "Okay, I understand."

Liu Shushan was quite surprised at Duan Rong's calm attitude.

Governor Yang Ji went to Shenyun Mansion for the approval documents for Shen Yanliu's case. When he came back this time, he must have brought back the approval documents.

In other words, tomorrow at noon will be the time to execute Shen Yanliu.

Duan Rong had promised Shen Mizhi that he would save Shen Yanliu. It was less than ten hours before Shen Yanliu was executed, but Liu Shushan had not yet figured out any of his plans.

He didn't expect that Duan Rong could still be so calm at this moment, as if nothing had happened.

Duan Rong really didn't think there was anything to be nervous about. Yang Ji came back a little earlier than he expected, but it didn't matter much. In this world, the time to execute the criminals can only be at 3:45 in the afternoon. It is said that only then is the time when the Yang energy is the heaviest in the day.

The time he originally chose for the action was before dawn on the day Shen Yanliu was executed. This would greatly reduce the risk of exposure.

At this moment, he had already prepared everything he needed, and he was just waiting for the right time. Why should he be nervous?

He can even rest for a few hours.

Duan Rong turned his head and looked at Liu Shushan who was standing at the door in a daze. He said, "Shushan, I'm a little hungry. Can you please go to the restaurant and order some wine and food?"

Liu Shushan was shocked when he heard this. "Brother, you still want wine and food at this time?!"

However, looking at Duan Rong's leisurely attitude, Liu Shushan finally sighed. Since Duan Rong said so, he couldn't just not go and get it.

Just as Liu Shushan was about to leave, Duan Rong suddenly stopped him and said, "Where's Kankan? Call him over. I have something to talk to him about."

Liu Shushan agreed and left.

Not long after, Ximen Kankan came in. Duan Rong whispered something to him.

Ximen Kankan then left the villa, got a carriage from the carriage shop, and drove out of the east city gate in the twilight.

Over the past ten days, the case of Shen Yanliu had caused a lot of public attention in the city, and several city gates were strictly checked. However, Ximen Kankan was driving an empty carriage, so the officers guarding the city gates let him go after checking.

When Ximen Kankan drove out of the city, Duan Rong and Liu Shushan were already sitting in the hall of the villa. Facing a table full of rich dishes, Duan Rong was already starving, and he immediately started to eat and drink.

Liu Shushan asked, "Where is Ximen Kankan?"

Duan Rong stuffed food in his mouth and answered vaguely: "I asked him to leave the city."

Duan Rong wanted him to leave the city at dusk to avoid stricter inspections after nightfall, or even a ban on going out, which would affect the implementation of his subsequent plans.

Liu Shushan's eyes flickered, but he still said, "Brother Duan, tomorrow should be the day of execution."

"I know."

"But you don't seem to be in a hurry?" Liu Shushan looked at Duan Rong curiously.

Duan Rong was not only not in a hurry, he was actually very relaxed.

He picked up the wine pot, poured wine for Liu Shushan and himself, and said with a smile: "It's just getting dark now, so we need to eat and drink enough to get things done. Come on, Shushan, have another drink with me!"

Liu Shushan had no choice but to raise his glass and clink glasses with Duan Rong, but he still noticed that Duan Rong had a small moon-white cloth bag tied around his waist. The bag was bulging and he didn't know what was in it.

After Duan Rong had eaten and drunk his fill, he picked his teeth with a toothpick while chatting with Liu Shushan about random family matters. Liu Shushan chatted away, but his mind was always elsewhere.

The two chatted for a while, and Duan Rong suddenly said, "Shushan, you don't have to participate in tonight's operation. You've been tired these days, so have a good rest."

Duan Rong said this, then he stood up, patted Liu Shushan on the shoulder, and walked out of the hall.

Liu Shushan looked at Duan Rong's back and wanted to call him, but finally swallowed the words back.

Duan Rong returned to the room, sat cross-legged on the bed, and closed his eyes to rest.

An unknown amount of time had passed. In the dark room, Duan Rong did not move at all, as if he had merged into the darkness.

On the street, the faint sound of the night watchman's clapperboard could be heard. Duan Rong immediately perked up and listened carefully to the number of beats of the clapperboard.

Suddenly, in the darkness, Duan Rong's eyes suddenly opened.

"It's already the hour of the tiger."

Duan Rong suddenly jumped up and landed silently in front of the door like a falling leaf. He opened the door and walked out.

The moment Duan Rong walked out of the room, his eyes suddenly moved and he glanced at the rockery in the courtyard not far away. However, he just paused for a moment, then gently closed the door and jumped out of the courtyard like a big bird.

As soon as Duan Rong's figure disappeared from the wall of the villa, Liu Shushan appeared from behind the rockery not far from Duan Rong's room. In the darkness, he looked at the wall where Duan Rong's figure disappeared, his eyes flashing.

Liu Shushan stood there for a while, then went back to his room to sleep. He was just curious about when Duan Rong would take action. Since Duan Rong had told him about the action at night, he didn't have to participate, so he naturally wouldn't act rashly.

He knew very well that they were going to rescue someone from Chen Xun's hands this time, which was like taking advantage of someone's power. Duan Rong's plan could not afford any mistakes, and he could not do anything reckless.

When Liu Shushan walked back to his room, he felt much calmer. He found that he still had confidence in Duan Rong.

The cold moon is like a thread, and a big star hangs upside down in the sky.

In the inky darkness of the night, Duan Rong's figure flickered like a ghost.

The patrols and guards on the streets of the city have obviously been strengthened, but with the help of Duan Rong's spiritual consciousness and ghostly body skills, no matter how many patrols there are, they are of no use.

Soon, Duan Rong jumped into a lane not far from the city dungeon. Once in the dark alley, Duan Rong was like a fish in water, and his body instantly became faster.

But after a few breaths, he jumped into a yard covered with sparse weeds.

When the spiritual consciousness penetrated, everything inside and outside the house remained the same.

Duan Rong walked over slowly and pushed open the half-open door. A strong smell of earth immediately hit him in the face.

He stepped into the room, closed the door gently and put the bolt on it.

Duan Rong's eyes flashed, and he picked up a short-handled iron shovel from the corner of the wall, then leaped up, retracted his shoulders, and jumped into the hole in the middle of the main room.

Duan Rong climbed to the end of the tunnel. With his spiritual awareness released, he paid attention to the situation in the dungeon above. It would be dawn in two hours, and now was the best time to dig the last half zhang.

Duan Rong infused himself with true energy and started digging with his shovel.

In a cell above the tunnel, Tang Wanhong was lying on a haystack in the corner, but he was seriously injured and often woke up in pain in the middle of the night.

At this moment, he felt waves of piercing pain in his ribs again. He gritted his teeth and managed to endure it. The pain seemed to be slowly fading away like the tide.

Tang Wanhong exhaled and prepared to sleep for a while. At this moment, he seemed to hear some subtle sound.

The sound seemed to be right beneath his body.

Because the rustling sound was very subtle, Tang Wanhong thought he had heard it wrongly, but when he listened carefully for a while in the silent cell, he found that the sound continued.

Tang Wanhong moved his body and slid to the edge of the haystack. Because the wound was pulled, his mouth cracked in pain.

But when he leaned sideways and put his ear to the ground to listen carefully, the sound suddenly disappeared.

But after a moment, the rustling sound started again.

"Maybe it's a mouse..." Tang Wanhong thought to herself after listening for a while.

Duan Rong could see clearly what Tang Wanhong was doing in the tunnel by using his spiritual sense. When Tang Wanhong put her ear to the ground just now, he stopped for a moment and then continued to shovel the soil.

Tang Wanhong listened for a while, and the sound seemed to become clearer and clearer. A hint of doubt flashed across his eyes. "It doesn't seem to be a mouse..."

At this time, a patrol of heavily armored soldiers passed by the cell. As the patrol soldiers passed by, the sound disappeared. After the patrol soldiers walked away, the rustling sound rang again.

Tang Wanhong's dry throat rolled over, and her eyes showed an expression of extreme astonishment. "Is... is it a human?"

Although I'm not sure, the one who knew how to avoid the patrol of heavily armored soldiers is most likely a human.

"Could there be someone under the dungeon?" Thinking of this incredible conclusion, Tang Wanhong's heart trembled.

Tang Wanhong had already thought that he was doomed.

But at this moment, the sound from the dungeon gave him a delusion of life.

Maybe someone came to rescue him?

Tang Wanhong was thinking about this. "Who could it be?"

"Is it Yu'er? No! Yu'er is still young."

"Is it Guan Kui? No, that guy is still in jail."

Tang Wanhong thought about it over and over again, and he was almost certain that no one would come to save him when he was about to die.

His eyes turned cold.

But he suddenly thought, what if there is someone who remembers his kindness, but he has forgotten it?
He was like a drowning man, desperately grabbing at a straw above the water... tormenting himself in wild thoughts and delusions.

Tang Wanhong thought so and listened again. She heard the rustling sound, which seemed to be ringing in her ear, very clear and close.

Tang Wanhong was startled and immediately moved aside. At this moment, in the darkness, she could vaguely see the soil there collapsing.

Then a dark shadow poked out from where the soil collapsed.

Although the cell was pitch black, Tang Wanhong immediately knew that it was a single person.

"who is it?"

Tang Wanhong's teeth were trembling as she asked in a low voice.

At this moment, the black shadow shook his sleeves, and a ball of powder sprinkled on Tang Wanhong's face.

Fear flashed through Tang Wanhong's mind, and he felt his face suddenly sticky as if it were powdered. When he wanted to hold his breath, it was too late. The powder was obviously very effective. In just a moment, his eyes went black and he lost consciousness.

Duan Rong took a look in the darkness and saw Tang Wanhong lying unconscious next to the haystack.

He urged his mind, and the range of his spiritual awareness was instantly expanded to its maximum.

It was pitch black all around, and the patrolling heavily-armored soldiers were heading to the other end, holding lanterns.

Not far from here, next to Shen Yanliu's cell, there was a dim lantern hanging. Under the light, Xiong Yi was seen wearing a felt hat and lying on a bench. It was not known whether he was asleep or not. On the ground next to him was a brown round-bellied wine bottle.

Farther away, at the entrance of the bunker, the sound of mahjong tiles was still clattering. Several jailers were yawning, but the man in plain clothes had bright eyes and looked not sleepy at all.

Duan Rong took a deep breath and stepped out of the cave lightly.

He carefully untied the small moon-white cloth bag tied around his waist, and using his spiritual sense to check, he accurately took out the things he needed from it.

Duan Rong laid Tang Wanhong's body flat and scanned his face carefully with his spiritual sense.

He took out the clay he had prepared in advance, scraped a little with a small wooden knife, and carefully applied it on one side of Tang Wanhong's nose.

Tang Wanhong has a flat nose, while Shen Yanliu's nose is very straight.

After Duan Rong finished dealing with the nose, he used a razor to shave off Tang Wanhong's eyebrows and beard. Then he carefully took out "that face" and pasted it on Tang Wanhong's face, smoothing out all the delicate wrinkles.

After using his spiritual sense to investigate, Duan Rong was quite satisfied with his face-changing skills.

This operation actually wasted a lot of time. Seeing that the patrolling heavily armored soldier was about to come over again, Duan Rong immediately jumped into the hole, pulled Tang Wanhong over, and covered the hole next to the haystack with his back.

The patrolling heavily-armored soldier walked by with a lantern and saw that the place was quiet. Xiong Yi was sleeping on a bench not far away.

They just glanced at the cells on both sides as they walked by and passed by quickly.

After the patrolling heavily-armored soldier walked away, Duan Rong pulled away Tang Wanhong who was covering the cave entrance. He suddenly flipped his hand and stuffed a pill into Tang Wanhong's mouth. He rubbed his throat to make sure he swallowed the pill.

Duan Rong suddenly walked to a corner of the wooden fence of the cell. In the darkness, he grabbed a handful of medicinal powder, and with the inner energy in his palm surging, he scattered the powder into the air like flowers scattered by a fairy.

Duan Rong did this three times in a row.

This powder is a strong drug, and soon the prisoners in the nearby cells fainted in their sleep.

Xiong Yi, who was lying on the bench, suddenly felt his nose twitch. For those strong men in the Qi realm, because they have Qi protecting their bodies, ordinary poisons have great difficulty in dealing with them.

The moment the poison entered the body, the true energy in Xiong Yi's Dantian meridians began to churn.

He was about to jump up, but suddenly he saw a flickering light, flashing before his eyes like a firefly.

The next moment he was petrified, and the scene in front of him instantly became distorted and blurred.

But at the moment when the scene began to distort and blur, a flying knife shot out from the distorted and blurry back, flashing with cold light, and growing bigger in his eyes!
It was a strange feeling, as if the flying knife was shot towards him from the rippling lake.

He could feel that the flying knife was real!
However, his body was like petrified and he couldn't move at all!
The flying knife took his life silently. The moment it hit Xiong Yi, his entire head exploded like a watermelon, and blood plasma and minced meat splattered all over the ground.

Under the light not far away, Xiong Yi's headless body was still lying on the bench, his hands hanging naturally, and the brown round-bellied wine bottle next to him was splattered with minced meat...

A willow-leaf flying knife was stuck diagonally on the ground not far from one end of the bench.

And all this happened silently without attracting anyone's attention.

(End of this chapter)