Chapter 107 Stealing Xie Tian's Plot Armor (2)
"Senior Jia Shan!?" Xu Miao recognized this voice.
"This voice, is it Xu Miao? What are you doing under the latrine?"
Xu Miao was surprised when he heard Jia Shan's voice. At first, his heart sank to his feet as he thought that his infiltration plan had been discovered. But after recalling the face of Wei Huang and how he acted in the grand hall, Xu Miao found it suspicious.
From the collected intel from Jiang Lan and others, Wei Huang definitely took over the sect from Jia Shan. It was odd that not many human cultivators or elders of the sect didn't resist against him, but Xu Miao didn't care.
After figuring out that Jia Shan wasn't in league with Wei Huang, Xu Miao was relieved.
Jia Shan's voice came from above. Xu Miao scanned through the ceiling, looking for a hole or any weak place that he could dig up. It didn't take long to locate a fist-sized hole, which connected to a pit toilet.
"Latrine? Excuse me if I ask, where are we?" Xu Miao
"I should be the one asking you. What are you doing down there? This is a prison."
"Prison?"
"Well, my designated tomb, apparently. Wei Huang has locked me up in the sect's prison, and he's leaving me to rot here."
Hearing the critical information, the face of Xie Tian and Xiong Zhenzhen came to his mind. The girl had said something about their business here in the mountain goose sect, which might relate to Jia Shan.
'Hypothetically, Xie Tian is probably trying to rescue Luo Cheng since he doesn't know that the shorty is working for Xu Xiuying. But if this is a novel plot, he will run into Jia Shan. And then…'
Xu Miao's jaw dropped as he had just discovered a turning point, which could become a stepping stone for any main characters in every novel - Obtaining a favor from an OP master!
In eastern fantasy novels, the luck protagonists were usually absurd. Nine out of ten stories, they always discovered lost ancient arts, obtained ultimate bloodline, received guidance from a supreme master, or used their cheat devices to get stronger when their strength was inferior to the antagonists.
In Xie Tian's case, Xu Miao guessed that he might be destined to become Jia Shan's legacy disciple, and the lady luck was guiding him to the sewer. If Xu Miao never existed or interfered with Xie Tian's adventure, the protagonist could have gotten here and encountered Jia Shan in the prison here.
Unfortunately for Xie Tian, Xu Miao unknowingly influenced the fate of the protagonist. During the previous encounter, Xie Tian lost his temper after seeing Xu Miao's face, which forced Xiong Zhenzhen to abort their plan for coming here.
And now, Xu Miao got here first. He could potentially steal another layer of Xie Tian's plot armors here if he played his cards right.
Xu Miao's hands moved as if they were on steroids. He from an ice shovel with his Yin Qi. Then, he stabbed the hole, digging it, so he could reach the prison cell that Jia Shan was in.
Since Xu Miao had already taken a fecal bath, he didn't mind digging through another shit hole.
Within five minutes, Xu Miao dug through the toilet hole and climbed into a dark prison cell.
The room was small and suffocating. It was a 2 cubic meter cell with only a pit toilet. The only source of water was the running water on the hand-sized drainage, which carried urine or fecal from other unknown sources to this place.
There was no bed or furniture. A bright orange wall, a defense array, separated the cell from the corridor outside. Had any daredevil touched it, they might die from whatever the array had prepared for them.
In other words, this room was designed to be the worse prison cell of the Mountain Goose Sect, and Jia Shan was trapped here.
Although the room was too small for two men to be inside, Xu Miao got into the room and cupped his fist, "Junior Xu Miao greets Senior Jia."
Jia Shan revealed a wry smile. He didn't mind the odor and several pieces of dirt and fecal on Xu Miao's face and body. He inspected Xu Miao's face and stopped when he noticed the short black hair, "I see. This must be the real you."
"Oh, you knew?"
"Xu Xiuying never has a child or a husband. It's obvious that she is up to something if someone suddenly shows up as her son. Well, you must have quite an adventure to come here through the toilet drain. What are you doing here? What happened to your disguise?"
As Jia Shan kept questioning Xu Miao, he noticed the red eyes of the latter, which indicated that he had practiced an evil art. It disappointed the ex-sect master that Xu Miao walked the wrong path.
"Yes, I'm not Xu Xiuying's son. I'm just a lowly slave that she picked up and trapped me in the brothel."
"I know. But you haven't answered my question."
"Well, complicated things happened on our end. All disciples have deserted the sect, and I'm here to bring someone with me. We're planning to leave the city before Xu Xiuying kills us all. Say, senior, since fate guides us here, would you like to tag along with us?"
Xu Miao didn't miss this opportunity to recruit Jia Shan to his side. He didn't notice that Jia Shan had lost all his cultivation strength.
Jia Shan shook his head, "Leave me be. I'm too tired to struggle in this fight for power anymore. I want to die in peace."
After being reminded that he was talking to an old man without power, Xu Miao realized the anomaly.
Jia Shan didn't have Qi. His physique also looked weaker.
"Senior, what happened?"
"Do you have time for a story?"
Xu Miao gazed at the clock on his smartphone. There was still time before the sunset.
"… Sure."
…
Jia Shan retold everything after he was poisoned by Jian Meng. His cowardice subordinates didn't even try to protect or avenge against the poisoner, but they chose to surrender to Wei Huang instead.
After losing everything, Wei Huang sent Jia Shan to this prison and mocked him, telling him to slowly die here as a helpless old man. This was a fate that was worse than death.
Jia Shan still wanted revenge, but he was powerless. In the end, he cut his emotion and planned to starve himself to death.
Yet, Xu Miao showed up. Jia Shan, whose brain had almost stopped thinking logically, decided to vent his frustration by telling him about his backstory.
Xu Miao never missed the detail. He paid attention to what had happened behind the scene.
"Are you alright? You've been poisoned, right?"
"The poison only destroyed my dantian. It has already exited my body through urine. You don't have to worry about it."
"That's … an odd poison."
"Be careful, and be warned, it cannot kill anyone, but it can cripple the victims forever! Look at me, I can't use Qi anymore. That bastard Wei Huang wants to torture me to the point that he traps me here! Had I been a bit more ruthless, I could have killed Wei Huang many years ago! Every time I think of him, I want to kill him… but, Haiz."
Upon realizing that Jia Shan still had grudge against Wei Huang, Xu Miao had an idea, "Senior Jia, you should come with me. I'm planning to abduct Wei Yuan and migrate to another city."
"Ho? Wei Yuan?" Jia Shan was interested, "Didn't you violate her during the assessment test?"
"Yes. I'm taking her with me."
Jia Shan still hesitated. He was concerned about Xu Miao's survival, "I might become a hindrance to you, though. Wei Huang will send pursuers, and I won't be able to help you anything. I'll remind you again. My dantian has already been destroyed."
"Don't you want to pay back against Wei Huang?"
"Yes. Hey, what's your actual relationship with Wei Huang? Why are you trying to abduct Wei Yuan?"
"You're not the only one who wants Wei Huang dead. I might like his granddaughter, but I won't spare him because he's my relative."
"Ho?"
"That's why – Senior Jia, we need your sword techniques, experience, and wisdom. Aren't you a sword saint?"
"I was, but I can't use my techniques without Qi. As I said, I don't have a dantian."
"Of course, you can't swing your swords as you did in the past. But you forgot something."
"What?"
"Don't you want someone to inherit your swordsmanship and kill Wei Huang for you?"
"Oho?"
Xu Miao hinted that Jia Shan's skills could be passed down to others. He could still have as many disciples as he could, and they could kill Wei Huang and the poisoner for him.
Inspired by Xu Miao, Jia Shan regained his fighting spirit. He chuckled and stroked his long white beard, "Young man, you've succeeded coaxing me. Very well! I'll go with you! Do I have to dive into the toilet to leave here?"
"Well, nobody has erected a protective array in the sewer. So…"
"Hahahaha! Good! Very good! I've been on top for too long, and I've lost everything to my subordinate! I've fallen from the great height, and I have to crawl my way in the latrine to get my revenge! Xu Miao, you'd better keep your promise. Once I get out of here, I'll teach you everything!"
"Sure…"
Jia Shan burst into laughter as he jumped into the hole that Xu Miao came from. He didn't care if he would be smeared with feces.
Xu Miao shrugged while his face became Obama's "Not bad" meme.
'Welp. That was easy. I thought I had to do something dramatic, like busting a wall, beating a bad guy, or using cliché one-liner to win his heart.'
Xu Miao took out his phone and texted to Jiang Lan and others, telling them to welcome the old man into the group.
"Lad, where should I go from here?"
While Xu Miao was busy, Jia Shan asked for the way out.
"Follow the sewer path. At the end of the sewer, there's a small tunnel that you can crawl inside. Enter that hole, and you will find a vertical pipe to get down. Be careful and slowly climb down from there. It's a bit high. Once you get to the ground, and you'll find my subordinates. I've told them to protect you, so you'll be alright from there."
"Won't you come with me?"
Xu Miao jumped down to the drainage again, "Nah, I'll play around here to search for a way up. You go first."
"Okay. Whatever you've planned to do, don't die. I still want you to fulfill your promise."
Despite being an ex-supreme cultivator, Jia Shan's enthusiasm and excitement could be seen in his eyes and his smile. Xu Miao doubted his eyes when he saw Jia Shan crawling in the shitty sewer without minding whatever inside the brown water.
After Jia Shan left, Xu Miao continued to explore the sewer under the prison.
'I wonder if I can dig through the prison sewer to the resident sewer. I should recall White Album and use her eyes to scout for an exit route.'