Chapter 123 - 118: Secret Passage
"From what I know, you only started your martial arts training last year. Yet in just a little over a year, you’ve reached the First Layer of the Qi Realm. I’ve never heard of such rapid advancement, not just in Qinghe County, but in all of Ying Province."
Drilling Mountain Leopard stroked the wiry beard on his chin, his gaze on Zhao Lin full of meaning. "Spit it out. What kind of treasure did you get your hands on? Tell me, and I’ll make your death a little less painful."
Zhao Lin struggled back a few steps, deliberately speaking in a disdainful tone. "Why don’t you use that blockhead of yours and try to guess?"
Drilling Mountain Leopard’s face darkened, his eyes narrowing to slits. "I’m guessing you’re unfamiliar with my methods of torture. Do you want a taste of a life where you’re begging for a death that will never come?"
"If you don’t talk now, you’ll be begging me to listen later."
Zhao Lin grinned, a picture of nonchalance. "I could tell you. But you’d have to show some sincerity, wouldn’t you?"
"What kind of sincerity?"
"Kneel down and kowtow to me three times."
"You’re at death’s door and you still dare to run your mouth!"
Drilling Mountain Leopard’s face twitched. With a furious roar, he lunged forward, turning his Iron Tooth Sword sideways to strike at Zhao Lin.
Worried he might kill Zhao Lin in one blow, he deliberately used the flat of his blade.
But to his utter surprise, Zhao Lin suddenly shot upward. His iron ruler came crashing down from above like a collapsing mountain.
The wind howled, and killing intent saturated the air.
’He doesn’t look poisoned at all!’
Drilling Mountain Leopard was horrified. He had tested the Hundred Poison Needle on himself before; a single, tiny needle was enough to make a person’s entire body go numb, sapping them of all strength.
’This kid took several needles. How is he acting like nothing’s wrong?’
Completely enveloped by the iron ruler’s descent and with nowhere to dodge, Drilling Mountain Leopard could only raise his elbow in a panic, channeling his energy into his arm to block the blow.
Zhao Lin’s full-force strike was unstoppable. With a KRAK, the iron ruler snapped Drilling Mountain Leopard’s arm. Its momentum unchecked, it raked across his torso from his right chest to his left abdomen, shattering his ribs and grievously wounding his internal organs.
Drilling Mountain Leopard’s soul nearly fled his body. Only one thought remained: ’Escape!’
Forcing himself to ignore the excruciating pain, he scrambled sideways to the armchair in the center of the hall and pressed down hard on a mechanism on its back.
With a RUMBLE, a section of the hall’s eastern wall slid open, revealing a pitch-black passageway.
Seeing that Drilling Mountain Leopard was about to escape, Zhao Lin executed his Body Technique, darting forward to cut off his escape route.
But Drilling Mountain Leopard didn’t move. He pressed a switch on the armchair’s armrest, and the stone slab in front of him flipped over, revealing a five-foot-square hole.
"Just you wait! I’ll repay the pain you’ve caused me today a hundred times over!"
Drilling Mountain Leopard spat out the threat, leaped into the hole, and the stone slab slammed shut behind him.
Zhao Lin sprinted over and pressed his body against the stone slab. He could faintly hear the sound of hurried footsteps, growing more and more distant.
"Damn it!"
After cursing, he stood and went to the armchair. Mimicking Drilling Mountain Leopard’s earlier action, he pressed the armrest.
The armrest sank about two inches, and the stone slab opened again.
Zhao Lin didn’t jump down right away. He leaned over the edge, sent out an ultrasonic wave, and scanned the situation inside.
Below the slab was a tunnel, roughly one person tall, with smooth walls. There were no hidden blades or arrows, and it stretched in the direction of the hall’s main door.
A human-shaped figure lay on the floor. It had no breath or heartbeat—utterly lifeless. It seemed to be a corpse.
THUD!
The stone slab slammed shut again.
Zhao Lin turned and walked back to the armchair, finding the armrest had already returned to its original position.
He thought for a moment, then took a constable’s standard-issue rope from his waist pouch. He pressed the armrest down and wound the rope around it, securing it tightly.
Sure enough, the stone slab opened and stayed open.
Zhao Lin took a deep breath and hopped lightly into the tunnel, careful to avoid the corpse on the ground as he landed.
Once he steadied himself, he used the faint light from above to get a look at the dead man. He could just make out that it was one of the bandits’ top lieutenants, Wang Mazi.
’It’s true what they say. It takes a villain to kill a villain.’
Zhao Lin stepped over the corpse. Worried that someone might enter the hall and trap him inside, he hurried deeper into the tunnel.
The tunnel was narrow, only about three feet wide. He had only gone about twenty paces when he saw an iron gate blocking his path.
He pushed against it with all his might, but the iron gate didn’t budge an inch.
He tapped it twice with his iron ruler. The gate let out a low, muffled thud, telling him it was extremely thick and heavy.
’Of course it’s an escape tunnel. They even prepared an iron gate.’
Zhao Lin guessed the mechanism to open it was on the other side, designed to stop any pursuers.
Even so, he spent a good while feeling along the walls, but he found nothing.
A moment later, Zhao Lin leaped back out of the tunnel.
He walked over to the opening in the eastern wall. The passageway was barely ten feet long and ended in a dead end. It was a fake.
’I can’t let him get away!’
Zhao Lin paced back and forth in the hall. He suddenly remembered the poison needles still sticking out of his chest, hastily plucked them out, and tossed them aside.
’The tunnel must lead outside the valley, but as for the exact location of the exit... besides Drilling Mountain Leopard himself, probably no one else knows.’
’Without knowing where the exit is, trying to find him by searching the entire mountain range would be next to impossible.’
’What should I do?’
Zhao Lin stomped his foot in frustration, on the verge of rushing outside to start a blind search.
"SQUEAK SQUEAK..."
A sound like a mouse’s squeak suddenly broke the silence of the hall.
Zhao Lin glanced over and saw it was the Fragrant Mink that Drilling Mountain Leopard had been holding earlier. It was darting around in a corner, occasionally poking its head out to peer in his direction.
’Fragrant Mink... sense of smell!’
Zhao Lin muttered to himself. An idea suddenly struck him. He crouched low and crept cautiously toward it.
The Fragrant Mink was extremely quick-witted. The moment it noticed someone approaching, it vanished into a hole in the wall in a flash of gray.
’Looks like I have no choice... I’ll have to use the fifth slot!’
As if having made a firm decision, Zhao Lin clenched his fists and strode out of the hall...
"Hey brothers, who do you think will win? The Chief or that Zhao kid?"
"That’s a stupid question! The Chief, of course!"
"I wouldn’t be so sure. They’ve been in there for a while, and no one’s come out. It’s hard to say who won."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get out of here! If that Zhao kid wins, we’re all dead!"
"You go if you want to! When the Chief comes out and finds out someone dared to desert their post, he’ll skin you alive..."
As Zhao Lin and Drilling Mountain Leopard fought to the death in the assembly hall, the bandits outside heard the commotion, and news spread quickly throughout the mountain fortress.
Now that all the leaders at or above the Qi Realm were gone, most of the remaining bandits were weak. None of them dared get involved; they could only watch from a safe distance, whispering amongst themselves.
When Zhao Lin walked out of the assembly hall, the crowd erupted in an uproar, and the bandits scattered like startled birds.
But they were no match for Zhao Lin’s speed. He quickly caught up to one of them.
Zhao Lin grabbed a stocky, dark-skinned bandit and demanded, "Where are the Fragrant Minks kept?"
The stocky bandit froze. "Huh?"
Without another word, Zhao Lin slapped him dead.
"Where are the Fragrant Minks kept?"
Zhao Lin grabbed a second bandit and repeated his demand.
"The mink pens are next to the stables! See? That wooden building right there!"
The second bandit blurted out the answer before Zhao Lin could even finish the question. He even thoughtfully pointed south, toward the valley.
"Thanks!"
Zhao Lin killed him with a single palm strike and headed straight for the stables.