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

Chapter 586 City Covered in Ashes
The people at the entrance of the communal dining hall gradually dispersed. Although more than 300 people were eating, two large groups of people crowded in, and there weren't many left.

The steamed buns have all risen, and the two large buckets of porridge I cooked are now just empty at the bottom.

When Li Gang saw that no one was coming, he told the children to start eating, since there was still a lot of work to do after breakfast.

Duan Rong had been sitting on the threshold of the small kitchen. When he saw that Li Gang and the others were starting to prepare their meal, he glanced at Guo Tian across from him, poured the last bit of soup from the bowl he was holding into his mouth, and then got up and went into the small kitchen.

As soon as he entered the small kitchen, Duan Rong threw the empty bowl in his hand on the stove, walked quickly behind the black curtain, and took out two porcelain bottles from the jar of pickled salted duck eggs. Both of the porcelain bottles were about the size of a fist.

This was a carefully considered plan he devised when calculating toxicity. A practical plan must consider not only pharmacology but also dosage!

Duan Rong, holding a porcelain bottle in one hand, came to the stove. He placed the bottle at his feet and opened the thin iron plate with folded corners that was blocking the stove opening.

The embers of dry firewood still burned in the stove, glowing red like charcoal.

The firewood used for the small kitchen is top-quality! You can tell just by looking at the charcoal that it's all made of good hardwood!
Duan Rong got up and took out the bundle of dried corn stalks that he had placed behind the woodpile in the middle of the night. He put it at his feet, then broke off half of a corn stalk and stuffed it into the stove. The smoke made him choke, so he leaned over the stove and blew on it, and the flames started to ignite.

After the fire started, Duan Rong added some corn stalks to it, and then stuffed more in. The more corn stalks he stuffed in, the more the fire was suppressed.

At this moment, Duan Rong suddenly flipped his hand and grabbed another porcelain bottle, which was the bottle containing the antidote pills that Hu Jin always carried with him.

He poured out a pill and put it in his mouth. Then he tied a dry rag hanging nearby to his face, covering his mouth and nose.

After doing all this, Duan Rong went to the stove again. This time, the fire in the stove started burning again, so he immediately broke off half a corn stalk and stuffed it in to extinguish the fire.

After suppressing the fire, Duan Rong picked up a porcelain bottle at his feet, opened it, and with a slight flick of his wrist, sprinkled some poison powder onto the surface of the corn stalks in the stove that had not yet caught fire.

After sprinkling the poison powder, Duan Rong immediately broke off some dry corn stalks and stuffed them into the stove, filling it completely. At this point, the fire couldn't start burning, but thick smoke billowed out, rising gently along the chimney...

After filling the stove, Duan Rong immediately picked up the thin iron plate with folded corners and used it to block the stove opening, because there was still smoke coming out of the stove opening into the small kitchen.

Amidst the wisps of smoke, there were still many tiny, black, fibrous bits from burnt corn stalks, drifting about...

The moment he covered the lid, Duan Rong immediately held his breath and jumped away, because the blue smoke and black dust were poisonous!
Although the toxicity was not high and he had an antidote pill in his mouth, smelling it for too long was still not good!

These poisonous powders, if used on one person, could kill them! But if put in a stove and burned into fine fibers by corn stalks, the poison contained in those fibers becomes negligible.

To reiterate, discussing toxicity without considering dosage is simply irresponsible.

In the courtyard, the children were squatting by the kitchen door, eating. Lu Chu, however, placed his freshly ladled porridge at his feet, seemingly with no intention of eating it at all. A child next to him, slurping his thin porridge, asked, "Why aren't you eating?"

Lu Chu said, "I'll eat later!" As he spoke, he couldn't help but glare at Guo Tian. He still wanted to eat? He had personally witnessed Guo Tian putting the drug in his food!
Not only did he not eat, but Guo Tian, ​​Jiang Hanyan, and Du Wan also didn't eat. Only Du Wan pretended to hold up her bowl, but didn't put anything in her mouth. The others simply put their bowls in front of them and looked around nervously.

They all knew there was poison in the porridge, but what were they going to do after they put the poison in?

At this moment, Li Gang also strolled out of the kitchen. He was carrying a bowl of porridge in one hand and a flatbread in the other. He ate the flatbread and drank the thin porridge at the same time, making the children next to him drool. The flatbread was oily and looked delicious.

Li Gang was eating when his eyes suddenly lit up, because he saw thick black smoke billowing from the chimney of the small kitchen across the yard.

Thick smoke rose in wisps, then was gently dispersed by the breeze...

"What's going on? It's this late, why is the small kitchen still on fire?" A look of confusion flashed across Li Gang's face.

The small kitchen is for cooking for the heads of the household, and the food is usually prepared earlier than what's cooked here. It's quite rare to see someone still cooking at this hour.

What made Li Gang even more suspicious was that what was billowing out of the chimney was thick smoke!

You have to understand, the small kitchen uses top-quality firewood; even the communal kitchen burning dry corn stalks wouldn't produce this much black smoke. Unless someone deliberately suppressed the fire to prevent it from spreading!
While he was wondering, he didn't notice that the yard in front of him was already filled with tiny fiber scraps.

Just as Li was about to drink his porridge, he suddenly noticed a small black dot on the surface of the porridge in his hand. At first, he thought it was a tiny ant that had gotten in, but in just a moment, one black dot turned into three...

Three became five!

Those black spots were tiny fiber fragments that fell into his porridge bowl and reacted instantly.

The toxicity contained in the tiny fibrous fragments from burning dried corn stalks that float in the yard is actually very weak.

The poison in the porridge, diluted more than ten times, wouldn't kill anyone, but when combined, it becomes extremely poisonous!

As Li Gang was wondering, he suddenly looked up and saw that the sky above the courtyard was filled with dust and debris, like catkins flying all over the city.

Just then, the children around him fell down one after another like dominoes, all of them with black faces and blood flowing from their mouths and noses!

That's clearly poisoning!

Just as Li felt something was wrong, she felt dizzy and then collapsed to the ground with a thud, spilling the pancakes and porridge onto the floor.

Although he had only drunk two or three mouthfuls of porridge, many fine dust particles entered his nostrils when he breathed in. The two tiny toxins met in his body and reacted immediately, producing a highly toxic substance!

At the entrance of the kitchen, Li Gang and a group of children were instantly poisoned to death!

Only Guo Tian and his group stood there dumbfounded, their eyes wide with astonishment. They couldn't understand why these people seemed to have died as soon as they drank the porridge, while the bandits who came to collect their food ate their porridge as they walked, and why they were unharmed.

Why is this happening? This is so bizarre!

Just as they were filled with doubt and astonishment, Duan Rong came running out with a tattered rag wrapped around his face, shouting as he ran, "Hold your breath! That smoke is poisonous!"

Duan Rong was referring to the black smoke billowing from the chimney of the small kitchen.

Upon hearing this, Guo Tian and the others looked up at the billowing black smoke that resembled a black dragon, their faces filled with astonishment. "Is that smoke poisonous too?!"

Duan Rong had been paying attention to the situation, and as soon as Li Gang and the others collapsed, he rushed out to warn Guo Tian and the others in time to prevent them from inhaling too much of the toxic fumes.

Guo Tian and the others didn't drink the porridge; the toxicity of the poisonous smoke was extremely low.

Duan Rong ran over, carrying a porcelain bottle, and began pouring antidote pills into their mouths. "These pills can neutralize the poison; hold them in your mouths!"

After giving each of them a pill, Duan Rong said, "You should all find a cloth to cover your faces so you don't inhale this poisonous black dust!"

After he finished speaking, he immediately ran back to the small kitchen. The stove was waiting for him to add more fire and poison. He was busy at the time. Although the poisonous shavings filled the courtyard, they were far from filling the entire mountain village.

Duan Rong came over as fast as the wind and ran away just as fast as the wind.

Guo Tian and the others looked at the pills in Duan Rong's hand, and suddenly noticed that the porridge bowl in front of them was covered with dense black dots, like black ants crawling all over it.

A chill ran down their spines, and the density of the black dots was increasing, layer upon layer… Clearly, they were the fine black particles that filled the courtyard and had fallen into the porridge, and once the black dots became dense, they emitted a strange, foul stench…

Guo Tian and the others immediately put the pills Duan Rong gave them into their mouths, then rushed into the shack to find something to cover their mouths and noses.

Duan Rong stood in front of the stove, constantly suppressing the fire to prevent it from escalating, keeping the stove filled with dry corn stalks, and sprinkling in some poison powder every now and then.

After sprinkling the poison powder, he covered the stove opening with the thin iron plate with its folded corners and ran to the side. Even so, the small kitchen was soon filled with fine black dust. Duan Rong had no choice but to wrap the rag around his face even tighter.

Guo Tian and the others each had a cloth wrapped around their face as they walked out of the shack.

They looked up and saw that the chimney above the small kitchen was still billowing black smoke, while Duan Rong was running around inside the small kitchen, sometimes here and sometimes there.

Du Wan frowned and asked, "Duan Rong, what is he doing?"

Everyone was silent.

At this moment, Lu Chu said, "Did you notice? Before we took the pills, we also inhaled some of those floating black particles. But we're all fine, while Li Gang and the others are dead!"

Du Wan said, "Yes, they drank the porridge, and the porridge was poisoned!"

Lu Chu said, "If the porridge is poisoned, why weren't those bandits who were drinking it on the way down the road immediately poisoned? Li Gang was poisoned to death after only two sips?"

Guo Tiandao said, "Didn't you see that as soon as those bits of food fell into the porridge bowl, they turned into a dark, lumpy mess?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chu and Du Wan both looked at Guo Tian.

Guo Tiandao said, "Don't look at me, I don't know what's going on either. But I know that Duan Rong must be a master of poisons. Otherwise, how could he have poisoned the Third Leader Li Tang and escaped unscathed?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"No matter what Duan Rong wants to do, we'll just cooperate with him!" Jiang Hanyan said, her eyes gleaming as she looked at the slender figure running around in the small kitchen.

For others, the obsession in this magical realm is just a task, but for her, it is an obsession that runs deep into her bones. She is now very certain that the slender figure running around in the small kitchen is her hope for eliminating the obsession!

About half an hour later, Duan Rong had burned the bundle of dried corn stalks and used up the entire bottle of poison powder.

He came out with another bottle of poison powder, and Guo Tian and the others stood there staring at him in a daze.

After Duan Rong came out, he only glanced at Guo Tian and the others before looking up at the chimney above the small kitchen, where thick black smoke was still billowing out...

A gentle breeze blew the black smoke, causing it to tilt slightly towards the southeast...

Duan Rong looked at the black smoke to determine the wind direction. After observing the wind, he quickly grasped the general situation. A few days ago, he had searched the entire mountain stronghold twice in search of poisonous herbs, so the layout of the stronghold was already crystal clear in his mind.

Duan Rong turned to Guo Tian and the others and said, "Carry two bundles of corn stalks and come with me!"

After he finished speaking, he walked out of the courtyard, and the others immediately followed. When they reached the entrance of the kitchen, Lu Chu and Du Wan ran to the corn stalk stack, each carrying a bundle of corn stalks, and joined the group.

As soon as they stepped out of the courtyard, they saw scattered corpses along the roadside, all with blackened faces and blood flowing from their mouths and noses. Some of them were still holding bowls of porridge, which also had a few specks of black residue...

Duan Rong led them in the opposite direction of the wind. There wasn't as much black dust here as in the courtyard, but there was still quite a bit. This kind of fine black dust would sometimes drift around when the wind stopped...

After walking for a while, they turned onto a side road and walked for a bit longer before stopping in an alley.

This is the northwest direction of the mountain stronghold, and the location is quite remote.

Duan Rong and his group stopped in that alley.

Duan Rong turned his head and said, "Put the two bundles of corn stalks on the ground and light them with a tinderbox."

Lu Chu and Du Wan put down the two bundles of corn stalks, and Guo Tian took out a tinderbox, blew out a flame, and lit them.

After burning for a while, Duan Rong opened the porcelain bottle and poured the poison powder onto the corn stalks. After burning for a while, thick black smoke billowed out...

As the thick black smoke billowed, countless tiny black particles were scattered and danced in the breeze...

Duan Rong glanced at the burning pile of corn stalks and said, "Come on, follow me!"

Jiang Hanyan asked, "Where to?"

Duan Rong said, "Let's go to Wu Mingfu's place!"

Jiang Hanyan frowned, startling everyone. She said, "Wu Mingfu is a martial artist at the first level of the Inner Breath Realm!"

Duan Rong said, "He is dead. He has the key to the armory on him. Let's go over and take the key from him."

"died!?"

Everyone stared at Duan Rong in astonishment; none of them knew this information.

Duan Rong said, "Let's talk as we walk! Time is of the essence!"

The group then followed Duan Rong toward Wu Mingfu's courtyard. They had been staying in the kitchen courtyard for the past few days and rarely came out, so they were not familiar with the entire stronghold. Without Duan Rong leading the way, they would be practically directionally challenged.

This is why Jiang Hanyan advised them to endure for a few years, transforming the martial arts experience in their minds into a physical level of martial arts prowess, before taking any action, because they were simply too weak and at the mercy of others.

Jiang Hanyan had known this would happen for a long time, and she couldn't think of any good solutions.

After all, he was just a seven or eight-year-old child with a weak body, and he was in a bandit stronghold amidst the chaos of war. He was under considerable constraints!
However, Duan Rong was able to kill the third and second leaders in succession under such circumstances, and now he has even poisoned the entire bandit stronghold!

Almost entirely by one person, how magnificent!
Especially after hearing Duan Rong's explanation of the killing scheme he laid out, they were completely convinced!
This final, deadly trap was naturally prepared for the leader, Meng Zongqiu.

After Duan Rong finished explaining the entire plan, everyone fell silent for a long time, unable to say a word.

This final, deadly trap was truly fraught with danger.

Meng Zongqiu was, after all, a powerful expert at the second level of the Inner Breath Realm. Even though they had set up the scheme and gained the upper hand, the outcome of the battle was still evenly matched.

Duan Rong made this point clear to them directly!

Their silence stemmed from a question Duan Rong had asked them: "Should we leave the stronghold, or set a trap on the spot and kill Meng Zongqiu?!"

(End of this chapter)