Chapter 57: Bombshell News!!

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Bombshell News!!

Faced with the sudden spray of crimson blood and tofu-like white matter, Zeng Anmin possessed the capability to dodge. As an Eighth Grade Martial Artist with the strength of a Seventh Grade, he had the reflexes for it. However, to avoid blowing his cover, he forcibly suppressed his bodily instincts and let the gore splatter all over him.

"What happened..." Disregarding the filth on his body, Zeng Anmin stepped forward to inspect the old man’s corpse.

Blood burbled freely from the man’s neck. He lay motionless on the ground, surrounded by a macabre splatter of brains, blood, and hair.

"Obstruction Observation Lock." His father slowly walked over to Zeng Anmin. Squinting at the corpse on the ground, he said in a deep voice, "A Sixth Grade of the Confucian Dao can use the Vast Cyan Qi Lock to seal their Purple Mansion. If suppressed by the Power of the Divine Soul, it explodes within the Purple Mansion. This is done to prevent the Confucian Inquiry of the Heart.

"However, doing this also means sacrificing their own ability to use the Confucian Inquiry of the Heart."

For a moment, the tiny room became a classroom where a father lectured his son.

Zeng Anmin looked thoughtful and slowly nodded. His gaze drifted toward the bookshelf in the room. "Just now, he said three words: ’Move the book...’ If my guess is right, he probably meant to move the bookshelf?" ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

As soon as he spoke, everyone turned to look at the tall, slender bookshelf that was narrower than a man’s waist. It was incredibly thin, measuring less than half a foot wide from the side. Given this width, even if a secret passage was hidden beneath it, a grown man couldn’t possibly squeeze inside. Therefore, everyone who had entered the room earlier had merely given the shelf a cursory glance, lacking the motivation to investigate deeper.

His father’s face was as dark as still water as he stared at the small bookshelf. Expressionless, he turned to Lin Rong. "Move it."

As the only other Martial Artist present, this task naturally fell to him.

"Yes, sir." Lin Rong didn’t waste words. He respectfully took the order and headed toward the bookshelf.

Zeng Anmin and his father moved with shocking synchronicity. Both quietly stepped back, subtly hiding behind Lin Rong as they watched him with bated breath.

Naturally, Lin Rong didn’t notice this subtle movement. His calloused hands gripped the bookshelf, and with a forceful heave, he easily moved it aside. The pristine floor beneath was revealed, showing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

"Nothing unusual." Lin Rong looked up blankly at Zeng Anmin and his father.

"What about the floorboards? Tap them to see if they’re hollow or solid," Zeng Anmin prompted.

Lin Rong quickly complied. Squatting down, he rapped his knuckles against the ground. His index finger struck the floorboards, producing a solid, muffled THUD THUD THUD.

It was solid. Lin Rong looked up to meet Zeng Anmin’s eyes.

"That’s not right," Zeng Anmin said, a trace of calm logic in his voice. "If he needed to move the bookshelf, crawl underground, and then close the floorboards, there’d be no way to move the bookshelf back into place from the inside. You should be tapping the surrounding floor."

The details! Lin Rong’s eyes lit up as realization hit him. It wasn’t that he was stupid; he was just following a conventional line of logic and lacked Zeng Anmin’s unconventional thinking.

Lin Rong immediately reached out to tap the surrounding bluestone tiles.

TAP TAP TAP. Incorrect.

He changed spots.

TAP TAP. Still incorrect.

He shifted again!

THUNK. The moment his finger struck the floor, the sound became extremely hollow and high-pitched.

A sharp glint flared in Lin Rong’s eyes. THUNK THUNK THUNK! The sound of his finger hitting the bluestone was incredibly clear.

"Break it open!" Zeng Anmin raised his voice, his Dan Feng eyes locked dead onto the hollow floorboard.

Lin Rong instantly circulated his inner Martial Arts Aura. Clenching his hand into a fist, he squatted down and raised his arm high.

BANG!

His fist met the floor with a crisp collision.

CRACK.

The floorboard shattered, and several pieces of rubble tumbled down. A rather small hole appeared before them.

"I knew there was a trick to it!" Zeng Anmin bounded over in two quick strides, arriving behind Lin Rong. He squinted, staring intensely at the dark hole that was smaller than a baby’s head. "But this hole..."

It was too small. An average adult couldn’t possibly fit inside!

His father’s voice echoed faintly. "It could be a Bone Shrinking Pill... or perhaps a special Martial Skill... both can shrink the body."

"After him!" Zeng Anmin suddenly shouted, his gaze locked firmly on his father. "It doesn’t matter how he did it! Right now, we must stop King Jiang from leaving this secret passage! The tunnel is narrow, so he won’t be able to run fast. We have to catch him before he makes it out! If he escapes, we’ll have a massive problem on our hands!"

His words hit the nail on the head.

"Men! Dig!" his father bellowed toward the Red-clothed Guards outside without hesitation.

Since they had no immediate way to shrink their bodies, normal people could only enter the passage by widening the opening.

"Yes, sir!"

In an instant, twenty or so Red-clothed Guards rushed in from outside. Wielding shovels, they began digging forcefully at the small hole. The hole gradually expanded. Finally, as they reached a tipping point, the dirt above caved in.

BOOM!

A large hole, perfectly sized to accommodate a grown adult’s body, was revealed.

"After him!" Catching sight of the opening, Zeng Anmin shouted sternly, a dangerous glint flashing across his face. "Hurry!"

Lin Rong didn’t waste a word. He immediately snatched a blade from the waist of a nearby Red-clothed Guard and dove into the hole. However, since the passage barely fit a human body, how fast could he possibly run? Several Red-clothed Guards followed suit, the squad slowly navigating the deep, dark secret tunnel.

Zeng Anmin was just about to follow them when an urgent report stopped him in his tracks.

"Mr. Zeng! Commander Wang... he... he died in the prison!!" An urgent voice rushed in from outside. The man panicked like a startled bird, his speech stumbling and frantic.

"What?!" Hearing this, his father was instantly shocked and furious. He glared at the servant who had come to deliver the report. "Wang Deli?! Dead?!"

BOOM!

This news was nothing short of a massive bombshell!

Zeng Anmin was completely stunned. Wang Deli, Commander of the Liangjiang Commandery’s Observation Department, the number one Martial Artist in Liangjiang Commandery, a formidable expert in the Concealing Breath Realm... Dead?!! The very same Wang Deli who shared his father’s tastes! The one he had seen just moments ago!

"How did he die?" his father asked, staring at the clerk before him, enunciating every word.

"I don’t know. We only heard a loud crash from the prison. By the time we rushed over, Commander Wang was already dead..." The man looked at his father with trepidation, his lips trembling slightly.

A dignified Fourth Grade Military Officer of the imperial court had just died, just like that. Zeng Anmin felt like his brain couldn’t process the situation. Wang Deli’s imprisonment was likely due to his failure to guard King Jiang, leading his father to lock him up in a fit of rage.

From the time his father left the Observation Department until now, barely half an hour had passed. Who could have possibly killed him?!

"I’m returning to the Observation Department. I’ll leave things here to you," his father said in a deep voice, looking at Zeng Anmin. "If King Jiang escapes, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

"I understand." Zeng Anmin nodded solemnly and watched his father stride away.