Chapter Fifteen: The Surprise Attack

“What about the other two?”
Duan Lingqi kept silent, but Su Yuanbai followed up with another question.
“The one with the surname Li is called Li Xiaoyan. The name sounds feminine, but in reality, he’s a burly man with a black face and a thick mustache. He was transferred to this prison twenty years ago, together with Zhang Kai. But while Zhang Kai became the Warden, Li Xiaoyan remained only as Deputy Warden. It’s said that the two have clashing personalities, and have often been at odds within the prison administration. Li Xiaoyan is skilled in physical arts; his body is impervious to blades and spears, strong enough to withstand the mauling of the Black Tiger Demon Prisoner or the charge of the Savage Bull Demon Prisoner.”
Duan Lingqi continued to answer respectfully. Before Su Yuanbai could ask further, he went on,
“As for the last one, surnamed Shen, you and I have spoken little about him. No one knows his origins, and his whereabouts are ever elusive. Some claim to have seen him in the outer wards, others in the inner wards, and there are even those who say he’s been spotted lying within the burial pits at Stone Bamboo Mound.”
Duan Lingqi spoke softly.
“I can attest to that... When I’m digging graves, I often turn around to find Deputy Warden Shen lying in the pit I’ve just excavated,” Qu Hanchen said, trembling as he raised his hand.
“There’s no need for your testimony. His Excellency will judge for himself,” Duan Lingqi cast a cold glance at Qu Hanchen, who immediately felt the chill of that gaze, dropped his hand, and fell silent.
“In my view, Deputy Warden Shen is highly suspicious. No one knows what he’s thinking, no one knows what he’s doing. Such a person is the most dangerous.”
Duan Lingqi spoke with deference.
“Who do you think killed the Bi’an?”
Su Yuanbai ignored Duan Lingqi and instead gazed down at Qu Hanchen, who kept his head bowed.
Qu Hanchen cautiously lifted his head and glanced at the corpse of the Bi’an stretched across the corridor. The round wound on its head made him recall the dagger that Tang Changhong carried.
But Tang Changhong’s dagger was double-edged, causing small wounds with sharp angles, not the smooth and rounded wound before them.
Still, nothing could be certain.
“I don’t know,” Qu Hanchen answered, lowering his head.
Su Yuanbai, the closest to him, naturally noticed the look in his eyes, but asked nothing further. Just as he was about to turn back to examine the Bi’an’s body again, Duan Lingqi suddenly looked up.
“Someone’s coming,” Duan Lingqi warned, eyes on Su Yuanbai. The luminous pearl suspended above the corridor abruptly fell. Just before striking the ground, a stream of water caught it, muffling the fall and preventing it from shattering.
Then, the light was extinguished.

“Kill?”
The corridor, bright as day just moments before, was plunged into utter darkness. Only Duan Lingqi’s slitted pupils flickered with a cold, murderous light.
“Let’s wait and see.”
Su Yuanbai was far less murderous than Duan Lingqi. He lifted his gaze to the dark round archway nearby, his black eyes almost blending with the shadows.
At that moment, dim firelight flickered uncertainly from the top of the stairs.
Duan Lingqi extended his claws. Suspended above the archway were four columns of water, their sharp tips gleaming, ready to pierce a man’s skull.
The wavering firelight gradually crept to the archway.
Suddenly, the footsteps halted.
Without hesitation, Duan Lingqi sent the four water columns crashing to the floor, where they splashed into arcs of spray.
In the instant those droplets scattered, they linked together, forming a watery net that swept towards the firelight.
This brief display showed just how finely Duan Lingqi controlled water.
But the firelight suddenly flared, blazing as bright as the noonday sun and turning the archway into a blazing furnace.
“This one’s got some power!”
Duan Lingqi grunted, flipped his palm, and swallowed the remaining half of the peach he’d been eating.
He thrust both hands forward; the air of the corridor, once damp, became dry as bone. Between his hands, at a slight distance, a lifelike water dragon had formed, though no one knew when.
“My thousand years of cultivation were not in vain!”
Duan Lingqi sneered. With a sudden upward thrust, the water dragon shot forward like lightning, surging up the stairs through the archway.
Wherever it passed, it left deep traces of water.
The dazzling sunlight within the archway was instantly devoured by the water dragon, and darkness reclaimed the stairs.
“Fortunately, these peaches not only prolong life but also restore spiritual power, or I’d have suffered a setback here.”
Duan Lingqi watched the water flow back down the stairs, sensing clearly that his attack had struck home.
Even the little beast at Lianyun Cave Lake had trouble withstanding such a blow. With the Warden Zhang now gone, he doubted anyone in this prison could survive such an attack.
Su Yuanbai lifted his head slightly but said nothing.
“Your Excellency, allow me to see who it was,”
Duan Lingqi cupped his hands toward Su Yuanbai. Seeing no objection, he took it as permission, slipped past Su Yuanbai, and stepped into the archway.

Qu Hanchen, too, glanced anxiously toward the archway.
Normally, only he and Tang Changhong ever came down to this dungeon. Could it be Changhong entering alone?
The roar of the water dragon had filled Qu Hanchen with instinctive dread. He didn’t think Tang Changhong could survive such an attack.
Yet his eyes were nowhere near as sharp as Su Yuanbai’s—he could barely discern the direction and outlines of objects in the darkness, let alone see far.
Soon, Duan Lingqi returned, his expression grim.
“Who was it?”
Unable to see Duan Lingqi’s dark face, but worried for Tang Changhong, Qu Hanchen ventured a cautious question.
“Who do you think you are? It’s not your place to speak,”
Duan Lingqi kicked Qu Hanchen aside and replied coldly.
“Your Excellency…”
After venting some anger, Duan Lingqi hesitated, then bowed to Su Yuanbai with a soft sigh.
“I understand. For now, let’s see the tunnel you used to leave the prison, in case we need it to escape later,”
Su Yuanbai shook his head.
His ears were sharp—he’d heard the dull thud of the water dragon striking a body and the hurried footsteps of someone fleeing.
By rights, Duan Lingqi should’ve noticed as well.
But his confidence had blinded him.
“This passage was dug according to your advice, to avoid areas where the ground might collapse,”
Duan Lingqi glanced at Su Yuanbai, then led him to his own cell, opened the door, and respectfully gestured for him to enter.
Unlike Su Yuanbai’s cell, Duan Lingqi’s was anything but bare. It had all the necessary furnishings, and even boasted a huanghuali wood rocking chair and several antique vases of considerable value—who knows where he’d acquired them.
“Where did you get all these things?”
Xi Chunxue, who was dragging the would-be-escapee Qu Hanchen, couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise upon seeing the cell’s contents.
This was a prison cell, after all!