Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 167 Fake Death
Rong Wanyin and Mo Yun exchanged a glance, their hearts tightening. Could they be talking about Yan Mingzhang? Did they know Yan Mingzhang had faked his death? Oh no! Rong Wanyin cautiously peeked out. This wasn't a secret room at all; it was a secret prison!

The secret prison had many cells, winding and complex, and almost all of them were filled with people. They were either lying on the floor or sitting in corners, silent and their fates unknown. Surprisingly, the outermost cell held the two bandits, Liu Mubai and Li Feihu!

Liu Mubai remained seated with his eyes closed, not opening them even when he heard the newcomer. Li Feihu, however, continued pounding on the prison door, cursing loudly: "You corrupt officials! You untrustworthy corrupt officials! You promised us amnesty, which is why we rushed all the way from Guannan, but you used a muscle-relaxing drug to incapacitate us! If you have the guts, fight me! Using underhanded tricks behind my back, you treacherous villains! What kind of skill is that!"

Lord Sun didn't even glance at Li Feihu, and called out unhappily, "Lord Wang..."

Lord Wang wiped the sweat from his brow: "Lord Sun, this...this medicine is too little. I'll have someone increase the dosage later."

"Hmm..." Lord Sun snorted coldly, "Don't let them die from poisoning, after all, they'll still need to take the blame. A high-ranking official of the court has died; there has to be an explanation!"

"Yes, Your Excellency understands!" Lord Wang nodded, bowing even more deeply. "Let's go inside and check on the one who's pretending to be dead!"

Lord Sun nodded and left, completely ignoring the shrill and incoherent Li Feihu.

Li Feihu was confused: "Explain yourself clearly, why should I take the blame?"

Liu Mubai, who was meditating in the corner, couldn't hold back any longer: "Brother Feihu, calm down. Isn't it obvious? The one lying on the ground in the innermost room, they want to kill him, but they're short of a murderer. Coincidentally, you and I are mountain bandits, and we're going to discuss the matter of surrendering to the emperor, so we just happen to fall into their hands. Tell me, what could be more reasonable than mountain bandits killing an official of the imperial court? Maybe we can even use this incident to wipe out our Tiger Head Gang. Isn't that killing three birds with one stone? You see, we're perfect as murderers, so it's settled."

"What do you mean it's settled?" Li Feihu was furious. "I, Li Feihu, have killed many people, but if I didn't kill them, I won't admit it! Are you just going to accept your fate like this?"

Liu Mubai remained silent, focused on his meditation.

"This is all your fault! You said the imperial court would grant us amnesty and we could live in peace from now on. Look at the mess we've made now!" Li Feihu was furious. If he weren't so weak, he would have punched Liu Mubai to death.

"You're right!" Liu Mubai not only didn't argue, but directly admitted it.

Li Feihu felt as if he had punched a soft cotton ball, which was completely useless and made him even angrier!
Rong Wanyin and Mo Yun emerged from the shadows. Just as Li Feihu was about to shout, Liu Mubai lightly touched the ground with his toes, used his lightness skill, and silently arrived beside Li Feihu, covering his mouth with his large hand.

"If you want to live, keep quiet!" Liu Mubai warned.

Li Feihu nodded, and Liu Mubai then released his hand.

Li Feihu angrily pushed Liu Mubai away: "Fine, you Liu Mubai, tell me, why weren't you poisoned?"

Liu Mubai went back to meditate: "I didn't drink that tea. They put a muscle relaxant in it."

“Then…” Li Feihu realized he was speaking too loudly and quickly lowered his voice, “Then you’re not going to tell me?” “If I tell you, this charade won’t work. I want to see what tricks they’re up to,” Liu Mubai said with his eyes closed.

"You...you..." Li Feihu was furious. This guy is insane!

“These fried beans can cure all poisons…” Mo Yun handed over a few fried beans and stuffed them into Li Feihu’s hand. “One a day, no more.”

Li Feihu was quick; he had already stuffed all the beans into his mouth, but upon hearing Mo Yun's words, he hurriedly spat them out. He held a few spiky roasted beans in his palm, picked one up, and popped it into his mouth. Looking up, he saw that Mo Yun and Rong Wanyin were already gone, and he secretly rejoiced. But when he turned back, Liu Mubai, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, was looking at him with disdain. He subtly leaned back...

"Uh...no..." Li Feihu was speechless and had no choice but to wipe the beans clean and put them neatly into his pocket.

Meanwhile, Mo Yun and Rong Wanyin had quietly approached the last cell. Unlike the others, this cell was airtight. The door was ajar, and Rong Wanyin peered through the crack. What she saw made her gasp: Yan Mingzhang and Changfeng were both bound hand and foot to a pillar, and Changfeng's sixth uncle was also chained to a pillar.

Changfeng was conscious, but Yan Mingzhang was still unconscious. Changfeng's sixth uncle lay to one side, his fate unknown.

"How does it feel to try and steal a chicken but lose the rice instead?" Lord Sun sat up straight on the bench, his face full of sarcasm. "Just because you're clever, you think you can do whatever you want? Do you think you're the only clever one? You always beat me, how does it feel this time?"

Suddenly, Lord Sun's face turned ferocious. He stood up and slapped Yan Mingzhang's face several times.

Seeing this, Rong Wanyin was so angry that she wanted to rush in and argue with him, "kindly" teaching him a lesson.

Mo Yun reached out and stopped Rong Wanyin, lowering his voice: "If we go in now, all of Master's efforts will be wasted! Master said that when he wakes up, we should try to get information out of this person."

Mo Yun suddenly muttered to himself, "Winning against me every time? I remember now, this guy surnamed Sun is the same year as the Master! He's not good enough and always loses to the Master, so he always sneaks around and does dirty tricks, like a rat in a gutter. But the Master is away from the capital for a year, so how come he's now in a high position?"

Rong Wanyin knew that "fellow examinees" meant people who took the imperial examination in the same year, but this man surnamed Sun looked really old, so it was hard to connect him with Yan Mingzhang for the time being.

Lord Sun drew his dagger and slowly walked towards Yan Mingzhang, his eyes filled with malice and his lips curling up: "He only wants me to arrest you, but he didn't say whether you have all four limbs intact. I'll cut off your ten fingers one by one, then cut off your toes, crippling you piece by piece. I don't believe you can make a comeback!"

The dagger gleamed coldly as it drew ever closer to Yan Mingzhang.

At this moment, Yan Mingzhang lay on the ground, sweat beading on his forehead. No one knew that he was trapped in his own memories.

Yan Mingzhang possessed the ability to remember everything he saw, but this ability was also a punishment, a source of pain. As a child, he didn't know how to organize and preserve his memories, and every night, all his memories would surface and fight in his mind, causing him excruciating headaches.