226: Chapter 226 Underground Ice Cellar, Spirit-Binding Chains (2)

Leng Feng turned around—standing on the third stone step—and glanced into the Ice Cellar. His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword—he did not draw it. Then he walked up, stepping out of the Ice Cellar—the ice door closed again behind him.

Scarface tilted his neck back—the top of his head pressed against the cold surface of the iron stake—his mouth open as he exhaled. The Spiritual Qi being extracted from his Dantian already carried a faint, bloody scent—by the twenty-fifth strand or so—the Spiritual Qi and blood began to ooze out mixed together. The spirit-sealing chain drained the remaining Spiritual Qi from the blood as well—leaving only dark red, residual fluid dripping down from the gaps in the chain links. The residual fluid dripped onto the straw—the straw turned dark brown from the blood—and disintegrated even faster.

About half an hour later, Lu Changyuan returned to the Chart Room. Two items lay on the chart table—the miniature light-returning formation talisman paper that Shorty had stuffed into Scarface's hand before he died, and Scarface's poisoned dagger. Su Qingli was at the table—using a magnifying formation lens to examine the flow of the miniature Array Pattern on the talisman paper.

"The direction of the light-returning pulse—I've calculated it three times. The direction is slightly west by north of the horizon—directly facing the third anchorage outside the Zhenhai fortress. The fortress's logistics transport fleet is docked at the anchorage—at least a dozen ships." Su Qingli pushed the magnifying formation lens aside—and tapped her finger next to the talisman paper. "But the pulse length is less than twenty percent of a normal messaging talisman. The content transmitted isn't text—it's a signal. It's more like a synchronization signal saying, 'I'm done on my end, you guys start.'"

"After the signal was sent—the Private Soldiers moved from the quarantine zone." Lu Changyuan flipped the talisman paper over. The back of the talisman paper was coated with a very thin layer of white salt frost—it was salt formed from sweat that had seeped into the lining of Scarface's belt. The amount of salt frost—was enough to indicate that this talisman paper had been in his lining for at least two days. Two days ago—the battle report of Blue Moon Island repelling the advance party hadn't even reached the fortress yet. "The signal was written in advance. The buyer knew beforehand—that the Haiyuan Clan's flanking assault team would surface today."

"If the buyer could know the Haiyuan Clan's schedule—either someone is within the fortress's intelligence network, or the buyer has direct contact with the Haiyuan Clan."

"There's another possibility—the buyer doesn't need to know the Haiyuan Clan's specific timing. They only need to receive the 'start' signal after the Blue Moon Island formation core is corroded and the blind spot opens—then they know the Private Soldiers are about to act."

Su Qingli was silent for a moment. She aimed the magnifying formation lens at the talisman paper again—then traced the flow of the miniature Array Pattern on the talisman paper stroke by stroke onto the charcoal paper beside it. "The encoding format of the Array Pattern—is exactly the same as the third version of the short-range messaging talisman used by Zhenhai fortress three years ago. The old format from three years ago—the current military department doesn't use it anymore. To use this format—one must have the old talisman mold from three years ago."

Lu Changyuan withdrew his fingers from the talisman paper. Old talisman mold. Three years ago. An abandoned messaging format. "The person who can use the old talisman mold from three years ago—must have already been on the logistics line or communication line at least three years ago. They didn't join temporarily."

"This is a clue to follow."

Outside—a very brief golden light came from the direction of the Ring Reef. The golden light flashed once—then dimmed. The defenders on the front line were still fighting—fighting from day into night. The main force of the Haiyuan Clan attacked the Ring Reef time after time—without stopping. Leng Feng entered from the corridor—holding an observation lens in his hand.

"On the front—half an hour ago, the Haiyuan Clan's main force blew up a section of the reefs on the outer perimeter of the first Ring Reef. The first page of the Sin Battalion retreated to the second line of defense—Commander Cai reported the damages on the Formation Plate: over forty shields broken, casualties—pending verification. He wrote the number of casualties on the back of the Formation Plate—saying he would count them again when it was light." Leng Feng placed the observation lens on the edge of the chart table—the lens barrel was coated with a layer of gray stone dust blown over from the direction of the reef. "The Black-Armored Commander's remnants—have just entered the water from the shallows. They are retreating towards the Dragon Burial Trench—without looking back."

"The Haiyuan Clan's flank has retreated."

"They've retreated. Less than twenty remain—their Spiritual Qi reserves are bottomed out, and their formation is gone. In their current state—if they run into an advanced patrol, they'll be wiped out."

Lu Changyuan stood up—and walked to the window. Outside the window on the sea—below the surface of the water in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench, there were still dark shadows pushing towards Blue Moon Island. The main force was still advancing. But the gap in the flank was temporarily plugged. He pushed the window shutter open a palm's width—the night wind from the sea blew in—flipping nearly half of the charcoal paper on the chart table upwards.

"Go to the Ice Cellar."

Underground Ice Cellar. Leng Feng pushed open the ice door—this time the sound of the door hinge was lower than before. An hour had passed—the spirit-sealing chain had already drained nearly eighty percent of the Spiritual Qi in Scarface's Dantian. Scarface leaned against the iron stake—his head covered in cold sweat. In the temperature of the Ice Cellar, the cold sweat had condensed into a layer of extremely fine white frost—the white frost had frozen through after spreading less than half a finger's width from his forehead towards the bridge of his nose. His lips had also turned from dark red to grayish-purple—blood loss combined with the dehydration from having his Dantian drained had caused his face to sink in by nearly a layer. His jaw joints were already trembling—the source of the trembling was the nerve tremors produced by his body after his Dantian was drained, and it had nothing to do with the pain from his wounds.

He heard Lu Changyuan standing at the entrance of the Ice Cellar—he tilted his head slightly in that direction. When he tilted his head, the joints in his neck cracked twice—extremely crisp.

"You lock me up—you interrogate me—you don't dare to kill me. If you kill me—the buyer will send someone to look for me. You will regret not negotiating terms before I die—"

Lu Changyuan stood at the entrance of the Ice Cellar for about ten breaths. After Scarface finished speaking—he turned and walked towards the stone steps. He walked three steps—stopped—and turned his head to say something in Leng Feng's direction. His voice was not low—just loud enough for the entire Ice Cellar to hear.

"How much longer for Su Qingli's Confusion Formation?"

"Less than an hour."

"After the formation is set up—first tear open his Sea of Consciousness. When his Divine Sense collapses, fish for fragments—you don't need to fish for complete ones, just enough to use will do." Lu Changyuan walked up the stone steps—stopping for half a step when he stepped on the seventh step. "After you're done searching—he won't need to be kept. There's no need to bury the body separately—pile it together with the Haiyuan Clan. When the tide goes out tomorrow at dawn—the blood will be carried away. If the fortress comes to check the corpses, they won't be able to find anything."

Then the footsteps went up—and faded away. The ice door closed again.

Scarface leaned against the iron stake—he did not speak. The spirit-sealing chain tightened by one circle—the Spiritual light seeping from the bottom of the iron stake dimmed by nearly half—completely draining the last of the Spiritual Qi in Scarface's Dantian. In the Ice Cellar, only the dark cyan light of the six cold-light stones remained—and the sound of Scarface's own breathing. The sound of his breathing bounced back and forth between the ice walls—each time the sound bounced back, it was a layer lighter than the last.