Stealth at night

Tiaotiao clung to the corridor's stone pillars, his figure fading into the darkness, barely avoiding the patrolling torch-wielding guards. Without Mu Jin's restraint, he was as fast as a flash of black lightning.

The Sacred Fire Hall's interior was a maze of passageways, the stifling air tinged with the stench of moisture and moss on the stone walls. He didn't know the reservoir's exact location, relying solely on his acute sense of moisture and air currents to traverse the air. Every wrong turn was accompanied by the hissing of an hourglass rapidly draining away. The monotonous sound of dripping water in the distance—tick...tick...tick...—now pounded like a night watchman's drum, relentlessly hammering at his tense nerves, reminding him that the hour of the night had already passed.

The dim light of the stone wall vaguely reflected the glaring scarlet on Su Baiwei's chest, burning his eyes. His Adam's apple rolled, his nails dug deep into the cracks of the stone, suppressing his surging blood, his eyes scanning each inch for the suspicious wet marks.

Finally, at the end of the damp, cold, and fishy fork in the road, he locked onto his target. Several guards were lazily leaning against the heavy stone gate, chatting idly.

"What could possibly happen in this shabby place?"

"Guarding this stagnant water every day, my bones are going to rust..."

A cold glint suddenly gleamed in Tiao Tiao's eyes. He quickly straightened the guard uniform he'd been handed, straightened his back, and exuded an air of authority. He strode out of the shadows, his heavy footsteps echoing in the claustrophobic passage.

"You bastards!" a shrill cry rang out, shaking the stone walls. "Just now, there was a great disturbance of poisonous insects, and I suspect there are spies who have sneaked into the important water source. You have neglected your duties to such an extent, the hall master has specially ordered me to investigate!" His eyes swept over the pale-faced guards, and finally fixed his gaze on a guard with an honest face. "You, lead the way immediately, this is the hall master's personal order! If you make even a single mistake, you will be sacrificed!"

The words "blood sacrifice" were uttered, and several people's faces instantly turned pale. The guard named trembled, his keys jingling. Suspicion welled up in the eyes of an older guard nearby. He looked up and met Tiao Tiao's undisguised murderous intent, and suddenly remembered the mountains of blood and corpses in the past. A chill rushed to his head, and all doubts froze in an instant. He immediately lowered his head, not daring to look.

Tiao Tiao locked onto the elder man out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly pushed the hilt of the sword upwards with his thumb from his sleeve, and the guard slammed fiercely into the waist of the target guard.

"Ouch!" The guard winced in pain, his groan suppressed in his throat as cold sweat streamed down his face. This sinister and cunning move completely crushed any remaining doubts the other guards had.

The targeted guard was terrified. He endured the severe pain, his hands shaking so much that he could hardly hold the key. He struggled to turn the keyhole and pushed open the heavy stone door engraved with a ferocious flame emblem: "Yes... yes! My lord, calm down. Please come this way!" He almost crawled in.

Tiaotiao followed closely in, scanning the passage quickly, memorizing the hidden doors and mechanisms along the way. The passage was dark and cold, a fishy wind blew in his face, and the strong smell of mold and earth blocked his mouth and nose. Between the sound of footsteps, the faint sound of mechanism turning could be heard. At the end, a huge stone chamber suddenly opened up. A huge bronze mechanism was embedded in the wall, and in the reservoir, the water roiled and roared, making a muffled thunderous roar.

"Sir, the water source hub is here." The guard pointed tremblingly at the bronze mechanism beside the pool.

"Get out! This place is so secretive that no one is allowed to pry into it. I want to check it myself. Close the door! Anyone who breaks in without permission will be killed!" The guards hurriedly backed out as if they had been pardoned. The heavy stone door slammed shut with a harsh friction sound, isolating the inside and the outside.

After confirming that the person had gone far away, the arrogance and majesty in Tiao Tiao's eyes faded away like the tide, leaving only cold murderous intent in his pupils.

Time flew by. He darted forward, leaping before the massive bronze mechanism. Gathering his inner strength, he pressed his fingertips against the key joint of the transmission rod. A faint click echoed, instantly swallowed by the churning sound of water. Then, he reached back and reached out—

"Zheng!"

A clear sword sound tore through the dull air!

The Green Sword was unsheathed, and man and sword became one. The sword's will condensed into a fine green light. Tiao Tiao's muscles tensed to the limit, trembling slightly. The image of Su Baiwei spitting out glaring blood exploded in his mind, igniting madness.

The sword tip, carrying unparalleled sharpness, pierced the most vulnerable point of the reservoir's load-bearing wall. In the nick of time, an old wound in his ribs suddenly throbbed with pain, his internal energy suddenly became disordered, and the tip of the sword trembled slightly. In his hallucinations, he could hear the thundering sound of approaching soul-chasing horses' hooves.

Tiaotiao clenched his teeth, tensed his wrist muscles, and twisted his wrist against the ripping pain, forcing himself to steady his sword. The light, condensing all his strength, will, and madness, finally sank deep into the stone wall.

“Crack!”

Tiny, dense cracking sounds erupted from the sword's tip, and spiderweb-like cracks suddenly blossomed, spreading wildly. The core structure of the load-bearing wall was crushed to the brink of collapse by the sword's force.

The Qingguang Sword returned to its sheath.

The excruciating pain still lingered, and he forced a deep breath of Qi, retreating quickly according to his memory. However, the passage he had come from was shifting silently. Huge rocks shifted, rotated, and closed silently, as if alive. The passage twisted and deformed. Relying on his supreme lightness skills, he navigated the ever-changing narrow gaps, each leap brushing against the edge of the boulders, which crushed flesh and blood.

Finally, he rushed out the side door of the water source area, his ears throbbing and tinnitus pounding, and he felt as if the blink of an eye had passed. He looked up, and the cold moonlight outside the high window had silently shifted two finger widths to the side. The night wind, carrying a damp chill, blew in, making him shiver and instantly sober.

Tiao Tiao quickly suppressed the suspicion and murderous intent that was surging in his eyes, and put on arrogance again on his face. He strode out of the side door: "The water source is stable, you are lucky. The hall master has ordered that you defend this place to the death! Anyone who leaves without permission or lets anyone go will be killed immediately!" After he finished speaking, without even looking at the guards' frightened reactions, his figure flashed, and he shot into the bottomless darkness ahead like an arrow.

The grand hall was brightly lit, a chilling atmosphere permeating the air. Two rows of silver-armored guards, like iron statues, stood in a tight, staggered formation, leaving no blind spots. The hall was utterly silent, the only sound being the crackling of torches, which stretched and swayed the shadows on the dragon-shaped stone pillars. The captain of the guards swept his gaze across the room like lightning.

Tiaotiao crouched deep in the shadows of the stone pillars outside the hall, his presence completely subdued. He locked onto his target: a silver-armored guard standing slightly off to the side, just at the edge of the captain's line of sight, partially obscured by the figure of the guard in front. The token on the target's waist was key. Between his fingers, he slipped the silk from Su Baiwei's medicine chest and silently shot it out, entangling the frayed buckle below the waist token. With a slight flick of his wrist and a pull—

"Tap." A soft sound, distinctly clear in the dead silence, fell into the shadow at the guard's feet.

The guard suddenly lowered his head, his face changed drastically, and he bent down quickly to grope in the shadows.

The muscles on the captain of the guards' face suddenly tensed, and his sharp eyes pierced the source of the sound, firmly locking onto the bent figure.

Opportunities are fleeting!

A small stone bounced silently from Tiao Tiao's fingertips and hit the ankle of the patrol leader in the distance.

"Ouch! Who's blind..." The leading guard stumbled and cried out in pain, sending the squad into a commotion. This sudden movement instantly drew the attention of the captain of the guards and the nearby silver-armored guards.

Just when the sight was diverted!

A jumping figure shot out from behind the target! The guard, startled by the wind, quickly drew his sword with his right hand, instinctively protecting his neck with his left. Tiaotiao was even faster, firmly covering his mouth and nose with one hand while his other hand precisely penetrated the tiny gap between the collar and helmet. Three fingers, like hooks, gripped the cervical vertebrae, and his internal energy condensed into a needle, piercing through the bone.

The muffled sound of flesh and bones being instantly shattered by internal force was completely drowned out by the commotion of the patrol. The silver-armored guard's body trembled violently, his pupils dilated, and he collapsed. A sharp pain shot through his ribs, and Tiao Tiao faltered slightly as he brought the body down with him. He crouched in the deepest shadow of the original location, sheltered by the base of the stone pillar and the leg armor of the nearby guards. He quickly stripped off his silver armor, donned Shang Wen's helmet, and pulled down his visor, revealing only his deep eyes. Then he calmly returned to his position, his posture erect, his gaze piercing, blending seamlessly into the guard formation.

The captain of the guards frowned, glancing over the patrol pacifying the commotion. After confirming that nothing was amiss, he returned his gaze to the formation. He passed where Spring was camouflaged—the silver-armored figure stood as usual, its helmet a deep shadow. His gaze didn't pause as he moved on to the next target.

The silver armor clung to his body, and the sweat that seeped out was evaporated by the dry heat. A salty, fishy smell permeated beneath the visor, and his mouth was filled with saliva as thick as glue. In the flickering firelight, the shadows outside the slits of the visor pressed down heavily.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

At the hour of midnight, the bangzi sounded with a loud bang, and the sound was like a heavy hammer hitting the tense heartstrings, echoing endlessly in the silent hall.