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

Chapter 587 The Price of a Single Strike
The reason Duan Rong asked everyone this question was because the final trap he had set could potentially kill people.

After all, they were just eight physically weak children, facing a seasoned martial arts expert at the second level of the Inner Breath Realm. Meng Zongqiu, to become the leader of this band of bandits, must be a ruthless and cunning old fox.

In this deadly trap, if anyone on their side dies, or even if most of them are wiped out, and Duan Rong makes a decision to let them enter the trap without consulting them beforehand, it's tantamount to using his comrades as pawns. Even if they don't say anything when they return to the ruins after completing their mission, they will inevitably harbor resentment towards him.

If that's the case, then his situation will become awkward.

Now, Duan Rong laid out all his plans to them, and then let them decide together whether to leave the stronghold or stay and orchestrate the scheme to kill Meng Zongqiu. This was to avoid ending up with nothing to show for his efforts.

Everyone remained silent. After all, they were facing a master at the second level of the Inner Breath Realm. If anything went wrong, Meng Zongqiu would kill them children as easily as slaughtering chickens and dogs.

Seeing that they remained silent, Jiang Hanyan grew anxious and said, "Duan Rong's plan is very ingenious, and we've already come this far. Are we just going to give up now? Even if we leave the stronghold and hone our martial arts skills outside, will we still be able to find Meng Zongqiu then? I've been searching for him all over the Nine Provinces for over ten years, and he has vanished without a trace ever since. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have carried this obsession all the way to this Divine and Demonic Ruins."

Duan Rong told them that the odds of success in their plan were fifty-fifty. The group was initially wavering, but they were unwilling to give up, which is why they remained silent.

Jiang Hanyan's words brought their thoughts back to the deadly trap.

Just as Jiang Hanyan said, once Meng Zongqiu disappears without a trace, even if they achieve martial arts prowess, where will they find him? This opportunity must not be missed, otherwise they will truly be trapped in this magical illusion for ten or twenty years!

Guo Tiandao said, "Those who are afraid can leave! Those who agree to do it can stay!"

The group continued walking forward, and no one left.

Duan Rong glanced back at everyone and said, "Since everyone has decided to stay, let's fight Meng Zongqiu. When I said we have a 50% chance of winning, I meant if everyone's hearts were not united and some people left. Now we are all united in our hatred of the enemy. As the saying goes, those who are of one mind will win! As long as we are of one mind, the chances of winning this final battle are at least 80%!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

Guo Tian gave Duan Rong a meaningful look. True leadership qualities lie in the ability to inspire morale and motivate followers in times of difficulty. Guo Tian wasn't sure if Duan Rong was telling the truth, but his words had clearly been encouraging. At any time, fighting spirit and fighting ability are equally important!

Lu Chu suddenly said, "Then let's fight him! Whoever backs down is a coward!"

Duan Rong's eyes were clear and cold as he said, "Let's hurry, time is running out!"

After he finished speaking, he hurried forward, and everyone followed his pace.

Duan Rong delivered meals every day and knew all the alleys like the back of his hand. He led the group to Wu Mingfu's courtyard in the shortest possible way.

In front of the courtyard gate, a guard lay there, his face blackened and blood dripping from his eyes and nose.

Duan Rong strode over, kicked open the courtyard door, and said, "The air in the room is still highly toxic. Guo Tian, ​​Lu Chu, and I will go in and carry out Wu Mingfu's body. The rest of you will stay in the courtyard."

Guo Tian and Lu Chu were already standing beside Duan Rong.

The three of them stood in the corridor, took a deep breath, held their breath, and rushed inside.

When they reached the wooden table, Duan Rong pulled Wu Mingfu to the ground and then grabbed Wu Mingfu's head, while Guo Tian and Lu Chu each grabbed one of their legs.

The three of them dragged and pulled Wu Mingfu out.

As soon as Duan Rong and the others stepped out of the room, they immediately began to pant heavily.

All three of them held their breath until their faces turned pale, but they dared not breathe in any random way, so they had to endure it.

Lu Chu suddenly said, "Duan Rong, I think I took a small breath in there just now. I hope I'm alright?"

Duan Rong said, "It's alright, the lamp went out a long time ago. The density of the poison gas will gradually decrease, and you also have an antidote pill in your mouth." Lu Chu was finally relieved to hear Duan Rong say this.

After they pulled Wu Mingfu's body out, Du Wan and Xu Hui began searching his body.

Soon, two large keys were found on him. These keys were for opening large locks, not the locks on ordinary doors.

Du Wan held up two large keys and said to Duan Rong, "There are two keys here!?"

"Take it all! Let's go!" Duan Rong said, and walked outside.

Yesterday, in the dim light of Meng Zongqiu's bunker, Meng Zongqiu handed the key to the granary to Wu Mingfu. Duan Rong, though unaware of this, immediately guessed the truth upon seeing the two keys with distinctly different tooth patterns. After all, Li Tang was dead; the granary key wouldn't still be on him. Clearly, Meng Zongqiu had temporarily entrusted the key to Wu Mingfu as well.

Duan Rong and the others walked out of the courtyard. At the courtyard gate, Duan Rong suddenly turned around and looked at Jiang Hanyan, who was still standing in a daze at the door of the room.

Jiang Hanyan stared at Wu Mingfu's corpse lying on the ground by the door, her eyes flashing with a strange and savage light.

Duan Rong suddenly shouted, "Jiang Hanyan! Now is not the time for you to vent your anger! Meng Zongqiu is not dead yet!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Hanyan suddenly realized what was happening, and her expression returned to normal. Duan Rong was right, Meng Zongqiu wasn't dead yet! She glared at Wu Mingfu's corpse, then ran out to catch up with Duan Rong and the others.

During the few days that Duan Rong wandered around the mountain stronghold searching for poisonous herbs, there were several places he couldn't get close to, such as the arrow tower at the entrance of the stronghold, Meng Zongqiu's bunker, as well as the granary and armory.

The granary and armory were guarded by many bandits, and Duan Rong would always avoid them whenever he passed by.

However, Duan Rong knew their locations perfectly well.

Every morning after getting up, Meng Zongqiu would stand in a meditation posture inside the bunker for an hour. The practice of internal energy cultivation mainly involves standing meditation.

Internal breath originates from qi and blood, and is refined from the surging qi and blood during standing meditation.

After finishing his practice, he wiped himself off before leaving the bunker.

Even inside the bunker, even while sleeping or practicing martial arts, Meng Zongqiu always wore his headscarf. Even the two mute men who served him in the bunker never saw his true face.

Meng Zongqiu turned the mechanism, pushed open the thick iron door, and walked out of the bunker.

The moment he stepped out of the bunker, the pale-skinned young man with a sinister face, who had been waiting there, immediately opened the food box and placed the breakfast items one by one on a stone table.

Meng Zongqiu walked over slowly, sat down, took out silver needles, examined them one by one, and then began to eat breakfast.

He ate very slowly, which was his usual habit.

He had heard that body fluids are essential for health and a key to longevity. Eating slowly would help draw out these fluids.

Moreover, he was indeed in no hurry. He had handed over all the daily affairs of the stronghold to others, and he didn't have a single chore to do himself.

Today's events are nothing more than the third brother's funeral and sending Dr. Hu Jin back to Cangfang Town.

There's no need to rush these things.

When seeing Dr. Hu Jin off, shouldn't we wait until he finishes his meal? If he arrives too early and Dr. Hu Jin is still eating, wouldn't that be impolite? Therefore, after finishing his breakfast, Meng Zongqiu drank a cup of tea before slowly getting up, opening the thick wooden door, and walking out of the high wall surrounding the bunker!
The moment Meng Zongqiu stepped out of the high wall, he immediately sensed something was wrong!

Because it's quiet!
The village is so quiet today!

You should know that there are more than three hundred bandits in this mountain stronghold. If they talk to each other, any little noise they make will add up to quite a commotion.

This mountain stronghold was built single-handedly by Meng Zongqiu, and his familiarity with this place surpasses that of anyone else. From the moment he established it, this stronghold has never been this quiet.

It was absolutely silent! So quiet that even the birdsong from the surrounding mountains and forests sounded frighteningly loud!

Meng Zongqiu immediately grabbed the hilt of the knife tied to his waist with his right hand, and cold sweat was already seeping from his forehead.

The deserted mountain stronghold made him think of one possibility: perhaps a master had launched a sneak attack on the stronghold last night!
But it’s impossible!
There must have been a chorus of screams from over three hundred people killed! Moreover, there were alarms connecting the arrow tower, other key points, and even Lao Er's and Xia Kun's locations to the bunkers!

But he didn't receive any news last night!

Could someone have infiltrated the mountain stronghold silently and then wiped out everyone without a sound?

Unless you're an absolute master!

At this moment, Meng Zongqiu even considered hiding in the bunker. A master who could kill more than three hundred people without making a sound was definitely not someone he could confront.

But at that moment, Meng Zongqiu looked up slightly and suddenly saw that in the morning light of the rising sun, there were countless tiny black specks floating around...

"This is……"

Meng Zongqiu was startled. His first thought was that the granary had been burned down! Otherwise, why would there be so much black dust floating in the air of this mountain stronghold?

But that's even more impossible! The granary has many mechanisms connected to his bunker. If the granary were burned down, the alarms in his bunker would definitely go off.

It was definitely not a grain warehouse that was burned down!
If the granary hadn't been burned, where did those dense black dust particles floating in the air come from?

At that moment, Meng Zongqiu's mind was filled with doubts!

His bunker was built into the mountainside, in the innermost and most remote part of the mountain stronghold, surrounded by high walls. Therefore, when he was having breakfast inside the high walls, he did not notice any black dust floating in the air. Perhaps there was too little, and the dim light inside the high walls where he lived made it impossible to see those tiny black dust particles.

Meng Zongqiu sensed something was amiss, so he carefully took his knife and walked forward.

After walking for a while, he suddenly saw two bandits lying on the roadside ahead. He recognized both of them. They were already dead, their faces were black, and blood was dripping from their eyes and noses. They had obviously died of poisoning!

Meng Zongqiu's bunker was heavily fortified with traps and had thick, high walls, so no one was guarding it. He walked for a while before he saw the body.

Meng Zongqiu was startled and rushed over immediately. He thought that a master had infiltrated and killed them, but he did not expect that they had died from poisoning!

How can this be? !
Could it be that everyone in the entire mountain stronghold was poisoned to death?

Otherwise, even if someone poisoned him, how could there be no sound at all?
As Meng Zongqiu approached the two corpses, he saw one of them lying there, holding a black pottery bowl in its hand, which still contained about half a bowl of porridge.

There were some black specks in the porridge. The specks were not dense because this area was relatively remote in the mountain stronghold, and it was the farthest from where Duan Rong and his men burned corn stalks and released billowing poisonous smoke. The black dust floating in the air was also the thinnest.

However, Meng Zongqiu was an old hand at the trade, and he immediately understood that those black spots were related to the black dust floating in the air.

He recalled what Hu Jin had said about the mixed methods yesterday. Such profound poison skills were probably impossible for ordinary martial arts practitioners to master!
"Hu Jin!? I treated you as an honored guest! Why did you slaughter all my brothers in this mountain stronghold!?"

Meng Zongqiu immediately concluded that Hu Jin was behind this. He was instantly enraged, his eyes wide with fury, and he strode towards the courtyard where Hu Jin lived.

The sight of corpses scattered everywhere along the way horrified him!

He had spent half his life building this stronghold and winning over these people, and now it had all been destroyed in an instant. How could he not be furious?!

Meng Zongqiu knew that although Hu Jin had some poison skills, he had no martial arts skills. He was only worried that Hu Jin had already escaped after killing these people!
Using his lightness skill, Meng Zongqiu darted like a wildcat into the courtyard where Hu Jin lived. The door was open, and he stood there shouting, "Hu Jin, get out here!"

Seeing that no one answered, he suddenly moved swiftly and jumped through the window.

As he rolled to the ground, he was suddenly startled! He smelled a strong stench of blood, and upon closer inspection, he saw that Hu Jin and the guards he had sent were both dead in the room.

Hu Jin lay on the ground, a steel knife embedded in his chest. The blood beneath him was already quite thick, indicating that he had been dead for some time.

The guard also had knife wounds, but his face was dark, indicating that he had also been poisoned.

Meng Zongqiu stood there, his eyes darting around, unsure of what had happened.

Hu Jin and the guard were both killed, and they had obviously been dead for quite some time. The people in the mountain stronghold were poisoned while eating breakfast, so it was impossible for Hu Jin to have done it.

"If it's not Hu Jin, then who is it?!"

Meng Zongqiu suddenly realized that besides the black shavings floating everywhere, the poison could also be found in the porridge.

"Who poisoned the porridge? Was it Li Gang or He Chong?!"

Thinking of this, Meng Zongqiu moved swiftly and disappeared into the courtyard of the kitchen. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed, but the poisoning of all the brothers in the village clearly meant that something had been done to their food.

He had to go check out the kitchen no matter what; as the primary crime scene, there must be clues there.

As soon as Meng Zongqiu entered the kitchen courtyard, he was shocked to see that the children who were used as laborers had been killed at the entrance of the kitchen. The corpses were everywhere, their faces were black, and blood was flowing from their seven orifices. Their deaths were very tragic!
Among those children were two adult corpses, namely Li Gang and He Chong!

Meng Zongqiu had thought about it on the way. He thought that Li Gang and He Chong might have been used by others. Now that he saw the two of them die tragically here, it confirmed his thoughts!
But Meng Zongqiu suddenly noticed that Li Gang's face was black and blood was dripping from his eyes and nose. His death was the same as the others, but He Chong, the old man, died with a normal face and no black blood dripping from his eyes and nose.

Suspicion arose in Meng Zongqiu's heart. Suddenly, he flicked his wrist, and a javelin pierced Old Man He's chest. Meng Zongqiu channeled his inner energy, causing the javelin to penetrate without taking root, leaving only the red tassel floating outside.

Old Man He remained motionless, clearly dead beyond any doubt.

After confirming that Old Man He was not faking his death, Meng Zongqiu slowly approached. He wanted to go and take a look to see how Old Man He died and why his death was different from others. Perhaps there were some clues in this.
Duan Rong died beside Old Man He, his face also turning black, blood flowing from his pores, his death was very tragic.

Because of Li Tang's death, Meng Zongqiu recognized Duan Rong, but his gaze swept over him coldly without lingering, as Duan Rong's death was no different from that of other children and not worth his attention.

Meng Zongqiu walked to Old Man He's side and was bending down to examine the cause of death when, at that moment, the eyes of the corpse lying next to Old Man He suddenly opened on its blackened face. The small hand that had been resting on Old Man He's shoulder suddenly flipped over, and a plum blossom afterimage appeared beside the thin, chicken-claw-like hand. Two poisoned silver needles suddenly shot out from the plum blossom afterimage!
The moment the two silver needles were shot out, Duan Rong's wrist snapped with a crack, and his right hand was almost completely shattered!
This is the price he paid for that strike!

With his profound understanding of martial arts, he made significant reductions and improvements to this hidden weapon technique to suit his delicate wrist. Even so, he himself could not be sure of the success or failure of this attack until the moment it was actually launched.

(End of this chapter)