CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 52: UPRISING (PART 2)

Lou Yi released the hand holding ’Lord Huang’ Huang Lei and warned, "Go squat in the corner, if I catch you playing tricks, I’ll break three of your legs!"

Huang Lei meekly agreed, but wondered where he would get three legs from.

After giving his six cellmates a substantial intimidation.

Lou Yi sat boldly on the straw mat, while the others shrank into a corner like timid daughters-in-law, afraid of drawing Lou Yi’s attention.

Bored, Lou Yi decided to chat with them.

"Are you all bandits from Sunset Mountain?"

"Yes, lord, we’re not really bandits. We were forced to go up the mountain to survive under pressure."

"Sunset Mountain has a notorious reputation. I’ve heard about you for two years now. Why has the government allowed you to run wild?" Lou Yi asked with some curiosity.

"Lord, the government’s crackdown has never ceased over these years.

But our boss is a powerful Two-Blood Warrior. Additionally, with Sunset Mountain being easy to defend and hard to attack, we’ve held on until now," one of the henchmen, who fell first to Lou Yi, said with some pride.

"Two-Blood Warrior? What’s a Two-Blood?" Lou Yi asked curiously.

The Martial Artists have always been a mystery to Lou Yi, a rustic from the village.

He only knew they were highly prestigious but had no idea about the system or terms.

The powers that be seemed deliberately to block any related information.

Surprisingly, the henchman knew only the basics and stuttered when asked about the key points.

"I know a bit." From the adjacent cell came the voice of third-in-command Zhu Darui.

"Ordinary people learning martial arts accumulate Blood Qi. When the flesh reaches a certain strength, it breaks the Xuan Gate, condensing a solid mass of Qi-Blood, called Secret Blood, which makes one a Martial Artist."

"Due to possessing Secret Blood, Martial Artists can often sense each other, roughly knowing each other’s level."

Upon hearing this, Lou Yi recalled a past ambush.

He now understood why those Martial Artists were certain he wasn’t one of them.

"Most Martial Artists exhaust their potential at this stage, almost impossible to advance further.

But if one breaks through again and condenses a second mass of Secret Blood, their strength dramatically increases."

"Even in Tai City Main City, Two-Blood level Martial Artists aren’t many."

Zhu Darui’s explanation was clear and succinct, many prisoners there were hearing this for the first time, feeling enlightened.

Lou Yi felt puzzled. Though his body had strengthened numerous times, he could face those Martial Artist Chief Constables head-on without disadvantage, yet hadn’t formed Secret Blood.

And what exactly is Xuan Gate, where is it?

This is the misfortune of the wild path. Relying on oneself for a lifetime might still be futile.

Though the Attribute Panel is formidable, it can only enhance what’s already present, unable to create something from nothing.

Thinking this, Lou Yi grew increasingly eager for the Breathing Technique, with a growing, intense thought in his mind.

Time quickly reached nightfall, as the body’s biological clock urged Lou Yi to rest.

He didn’t lie down but leaned against the wall with the wooden shackles acting as a neck support.

One shouldn’t trust others easily; Lou Yi didn’t want to be caught off guard in this little cell.

’Lord Huang’ and his group seemed too scared to make any disturbance.

The dungeon soon filled with the sounds of snoring and rustling mice.

Smelling the mixed odors of feces, urine, foot stench, and rotting flesh, Lou Yi slowly closed his eyes but slept shallowly, waking several times at night.

...

"Get up, all of you get up!"

A prison guard came to deliver food, waking everyone up.

The prisoners’ meals mainly consisted of malted bread in small wooden bowls, with plenty of bran, tasting terrible, and a small amount of unwashed radish.

The critical issue was the portion size, which wasn’t enough, barely preventing starvation, let alone providing satisfaction.

"You, come out!"

Before Lou Yi could start eating, a prison guard singled him out.

The narrow corridor outside had many people holding torches, brightly illuminating the dark dungeon.

As soon as he stepped out, several bowmen pinned him down.

"Why did you kill Ah Hu?" Inspector Cao emerged from the back, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Lou Yi.

"He was going to kill me, should I just offer my neck for slaughter?"

"He’s an official, you’re a civilian, how dare you, how dare you?" Inspector Cao’s face darkened, "A hundred cheap people like you aren’t worth lamenting over!"

"Who kills me, I kill them," Lou Yi stared at Inspector Cao, responding unyieldingly.

"Impudence!"

Old Li, the prison chief with half-white hair, jumped out, wielding the Killing Rod wildly at Lou Yi.

Lou Yi’s loud ’screams’ elicited laughter from the bowmen.

Little did they know, Lou Yi’s defense far exceeds normal, this level of attack was like scratching an itch to him.

"Don’t break him, he’ll be sent to the main city in a couple of days," Inspector Cao lightly instructed before turning to leave.

"You keep talking about great laws; is abusing prisoners also part of the law?" Lou Yi couldn’t help but ask.

"Haha!" Inspector Cao turned around, pointing at Lou Yi as if he had heard a joke, "The law is for people to hear. In my eyes, you are no different from weeds. Why should I speak to you?"

After Inspector Cao left, the prison chief, Old Li, with half-white hair, came up with a strange look on his face.

"I heard you killed Chief Ma from Baima Village?"

Seeing Lou Yi not answering, he continued speaking to himself, "For you to kill a martial artist, there’s only one possibility, you must have learned martial arts as well.

If you recite this martial art you know, I can make sure you suffer less in the coming days."

"You’re ugly, but you have quite a vivid imagination." Lou Yi said coldly.

The prison chief didn’t mind Lou Yi’s sarcasm, and continued with a half lure, half threat: "If you tell me, I’ll have someone bring you good wine and meat.

If you don’t, I’ll have to use all my skills accumulated over decades on you."

"I’ve heard that to become a peerless master, one must temper their will steadfastly, just like quenching iron.

You can just be the one to help me with that." Lou Yi paused for a moment and then surprisingly said this.

"Good! Good! Let’s see how long you can keep this up!" The prison chief laughed in fury.

He ordered his men to bring out various torture instruments, such as whips, thumb screws, branding irons, and iron whips.

The prison chief did not know that Lou Yi had an attribute panel, and no matter how severe the injuries, he could recover as if they were new.

Just as Lou Yi was about to undergo harsh punishment, a voice came from the cell next door: "Let him go, last time you asked me about the silver notes, I told you where they were."

Zhu Darui, the third leader from Sunset Mountain, suddenly spoke to help.

"Let’s give face to our third leader then."

The prison chief’s expression changed for a moment, then he sneered and raised his hand to stop his men’s actions.

Zhu Darui was brought out, while Lou Yi was put back into the cell.

It was also the first time he had seen the third leader of Sunset Mountain’s appearance.

Tall in stature, with a full beard, his eyes were wide like copper bells, giving him a somewhat rugged look.

Both his hands and feet were shackled, but compared to Lou Yi, the only good thing was that he was not constrained by wooden shackles.

"Where?" Old Li, the prison chief asked.

"Come closer, or I’ll shout it loud enough for everyone to hear."

Old Li reluctantly leaned over, and moments later, his eyes revealed a greedy look.

"For today, I’ll let you go temporarily, behave yourself!" Old Li warned Lou Yi, then hurriedly left with his men.

"I saved you, can this count as a favor returned?" Zhu Darui, the third leader, asked Lou Yi.

"Honestly, I don’t really need it, but I do owe you one." Lou Yi thought for a moment and replied.

"Haha! I like your attitude!" Zhu Darui laughed, "If it weren’t for this damn place, I’d love to have a drink with you!"

"Maybe there will be a chance in the future."

Hearing Lou Yi’s words, Zhu Darui shook his head helplessly, clearly with no hope.

Whether the prison chief was busy looking for silver notes or not, Lou Yi was not disturbed that night.

Another night passed.

The next day, everyone was awakened by scattered footsteps.

"Damn it, how dare you deceive me!" The prison chief’s furious voice rang outside, "Bring those two out here!"

He was talking about Lou Yi and Zhu Darui.

’Smack!’

The prison chief went up and slapped Zhu Darui: "You must have a lot of nerve to fool me with a fake location?"

"Impossible!" Zhu Darui struggled angrily, "The place I gave was definitely real, there should be hundreds of liang there!"

But with his hands and feet bound and pressed by three or four prison guards, he couldn’t cause any trouble.

The prison guards all had mocking glints in their eyes.

Seeing this, Lou Yi understood that the other side intended to renege and had a very low moral bottom line.

Next, the prison chief continued to eye Lou Yi with a hint of greed.

"Recite your secret manual, or I’ll show you what it means to live without hope, and die without peace."

"It’s the fourth day."

Out of nowhere, Lou Yi suddenly came up with this sentence.

"What?" The prison chief looked bewildered.

The next moment, the shackles on Lou Yi’s hands fell to the ground with a ’clang.’

’Bang!’

The wooden shackles were then split apart, and Lou Yi’s upper body was entirely free.

Next, he calmly spat out a silver needle, catching it in his hand.

Bending down, he was about to loosen the shackles on his legs.

"Hold him down quickly!" The prison chief shouted anxiously.

...