331: Implementation Plan

Upon arriving at Black Furnace City, the next steps, according to the plan, were to be handled by Zhuang Bifan.

Of course, Shen Bei couldn't remain idle either.

When the two made their plan, they had already discussed the Martial Skills each could use.

For example, Zhuang Bifan could freely travel through any mirror within a one-kilometer radius.

This mirror wasn't limited to the galvanized glass of the earth's surface, but also included copper mirrors within the Earth Cave World, and so on.

As long as it had the meaning of a mirror, Zhuang Bifan could pass through it.

As for Shen Bei, his most important Martial Skill was the Hidden Breath Technique.

The Hidden Breath Technique allowed Shen Bei to stealthily infiltrate.

This infiltration naturally involved shielding his life magnetic field from the perception of other Martial Artists.

If Shen Bei stood openly in front of a Martial Artist, he would naturally be chased and attacked.

The two only wanted the rare item in Fang Han's possession, not to conquer Black Furnace City.

Minimizing disturbance to the Martial Artists was paramount.

Next, the three found a relatively secluded mountain corner, free from Martial Artists.

Zhuang Bifan set down the full-length mirror, pulled out several small mirrors from it, and handed them to Shen Bei.

At the same time, he, carrying Ying Hong's backpack, stepped into the full-length mirror, as if entering a deep pool, his body slowly being swallowed by the mirror.

Finally, with his head still visible, he earnestly said to Fang Hanxi, "You don't need to do anything now. Shen Bei will arrange the precautions later."

After speaking, his entire person completely vanished into the mirror.

Fang Hanxi nodded, looking utterly bewildered.

She was already stunned speechless.

Shen Bei's combat prowess was more astonishing with each display.

And now, Zhuang Bifan's visual impact on her was even greater.

A living person could actually enter a mirror!

What on earth's surface was this!

Fang Hanxi twitched her small nose, truly, among the Martial Artists of the world, there was no end to the strange and wonderful.

The higher the rank of a Martial Artist, the stranger the techniques and Martial Skills they possessed...

After Zhuang Bifan completely entered the mirror, Shen Bei strapped the full-length mirror to his back.

"You might have to stay alone for a few days."

Shen Bei made a strange and fluid hand gesture, and after activating the Hidden Breath Technique, he spoke again, "But don't worry, no matter what happens, even if we can't make it back, you must remember one thing."

Fang Hanxi listened intently.

Shen Bei handed Fang Nanxi a small mirror: "If you truly encounter danger, just take this mirror and run in the direction we left. As long as you are within one kilometer of us, Zhuang Bifan will emerge from the mirror at any time."

"Of course, this place should be safe; I'm just telling you about the worst-case scenario."

Fang Hanxi immediately held the mirror and nodded firmly: "As long as I am here, the mirror is here."

"That's right."

Shen Bei said with a relaxed expression, "We're just going down the mountain to hide for a few days; we'll be back soon. Just hide well. We'll make sure you, our patron, are safe."

Fang Nanxi gritted her teeth: "Then will your plan really be able to lure Fang Nanxi out of the city?"

"There's a ninety percent chance it will work."

After speaking, Shen Bei hid Fang Nanxi in a small pit and covered it with messy grass roots and branches.

"Wait for us."

"Okay."

Shen Bei turned and left without another word.

The path down the mountain was not far.

Soon they reached the foot of the mountain, and the sky immediately turned dark.

The Earth Cave World had no sunset or sunrise.

Day and night were but an instant.

Night was the best camouflage for infiltration.

Shen Bei tightened the full-length mirror on his back, his gaze fixed forward, where a small village lay not far away.

It was small, with only about a dozen households.

Candlelight flickered, not brightly in the pitch darkness.

Shen Bei, enhanced by the Hidden Breath Technique, hunched over and slowly crept into the village.

He reached the edge of the village, hid in a gully, and waited for Zhuang Bifan's reconnaissance.

Zhuang Bifan did not possess an invisibility technique; to avoid exposing himself, he could only hide within the mirror, thus concealing the emission of his life magnetic field. The full-length mirror was carried by Shen Bei, serving as a mobile base.

It was a method born of necessity.

At the same time, the full-length mirror was Zhuang Bifan's main mirror, and the other small mirrors were auxiliary mirrors.

Zhuang Bifan's one-kilometer range referred to the range of the main mirror; outside this range, the auxiliary mirrors were useless.

In other words, Zhuang Bifan's "root" was the full-length mirror.

And at this moment, Zhuang Bifan within the mirror was in another world, one beyond imagination.

This was a world composed of a vast space.

Up, down, left, right, front, and back were all made of various types of glass, like a glass house.

Before Zhuang Bifan, several mirror images appeared.

These were all the mirrors covering the village area, all controlled by Zhuang Bifan's technique.

He reached out and tapped one of the copper mirrors.

Ripples spread across the copper mirror.

The reflected image gradually became clearer.

Due to the copper mirror, the image was somewhat yellowish, but it didn't hinder observation.

Zhuang Bifan saw that the mirror showed a small house, where a family of three Martial Artists were eating in the main hall.

They wore coarse linen clothes, covered in dust, their faces dirty, and their fingernails black.

Zhuang Bifan observed for a while and could confirm they were ordinary Martial Artist farmers.

He closed it.

And with a wave of his hand, the copper mirror vanished.

The next mirror was a bit more advanced, a galvanized mirror.

It was either snatched from human Martial Artists or traded for in Ula Mountain.

He opened it and took a look.

A cozy boudoir.

Colorful bed curtains, a tidy floor.

There were also many decorations.

No one was visible inside the room.

Even though it was empty, multiple candles were lit for illumination.

It seemed they were relatively wealthy.

Then, Zhuang Bifan waved his hand in front of him.

The mirror in front of him transformed into a speck of light, gradually moving away, like the only star in the night sky.

If one looked closely, they would find that this mirror was like a marked point on a map.

This was another of Zhuang Bifan's methods: he could freely see the position of the current mirror.

As long as he moved towards it, the light speck of that mirror would grow larger and larger.

He could accurately and precisely locate the room where the mirror was.

Then, Zhuang Bifan whispered towards the ceiling, "Nine o'clock direction, about five hundred meters."

Shen Bei heard the command from within the mirror.

He raised his head, glanced at the village, and under the cover of night, advanced towards the position Zhuang Bifan had indicated.

Passing through the village paths, Shen Bei moved like a rat, quickly sneaking through.

At about 400 meters of advancement, there was a large tree.

Shen Bei used his hands and feet, slowly climbing up.

Actually, Shen Bei could have easily jumped onto the treetop in one leap.

But he would have to deactivate the Hidden Breath Technique and use his True Qi.

That would immediately expose him completely.

This was also why Zhuang Bifan did not penetrate the mirror and directly reach that room; he had to quietly enter the village without firing a shot.

Squatting on the tree trunk, Shen Bei immediately saw the target household.

After observing for a while, Shen Bei was somewhat disappointed and said to the mirror, "There's nothing there, probably just a landlord."

Zhuang Bifan in the mirror shrugged at the remark.

They were looking for a household that frequently entered and exited Black Furnace City.

Frequent entry and exit would naturally mean a small workshop.

A small workshop would certainly be wealthy.

This was Zhuang Bifan's first step in finding wealthy households through mirrors.

He closed the mirror for this landlord's house.

It was meaningless.

Zhuang Bifan checked more than a dozen mirrors in a row, with no success.

He whispered towards the ceiling, "Let's go, there's no target we want."

Soon, Shen Bei's voice seemed to descend from the sky to Zhuang Bifan's ears: "Just keep looking slowly; this can't be rushed."

Shen Bei slid down the big tree, evaded several wandering Martial Artist villagers, and left the small village.

Next was an endless repetition of the above steps.

At the same time, Shen Bei dropped a mirror along the way at regular intervals as a backup.

While searching for the village chief, he also gradually approached Black Furnace City.

In the middle of the night, with the world in complete silence, Shen Bei arrived two hundred meters outside the Black Furnace City gate.

Many large trees stood like night ghosts by the roadside, unmoving.

Shen Bei climbed up again, took out nails and a mirror.

He nailed this mirror to the tree trunk, ensuring it wouldn't reflect light after dawn, then Shen Bei slid down.

"The surveillance is set up."

Shen Bei clapped his hands.

Phase one of the mission was complete.

Shen Bei found a hidden gully in the fields and began to rest.

He had fought a lot that day; even an iron man couldn't endure it.

He had to rest when he needed to.

He couldn't be impatient.

Only by casting a long line could he catch a big fish.

...

After dawn.

Shen Bei slowly woke up.

He pushed aside the camouflaging weeds above his head, looked around, and saw no one.

He quickly ate something, crawled out of the gully, circled around, almost crawling on the ground, and continued to crawl towards other villages.

He had searched five villages last night, and Shen Bei had even personally infiltrated them to check, but he hadn't found a satisfactory target.

After dawn.

Too many Martial Artists were active, which greatly interfered with Shen Bei's movements.

Sometimes, to avoid a single Martial Artist, he had to squat for half an hour before he could move.

This caused Shen Bei's progress in checking village after village to be slow.

After a full day, he had only explored two villages.

The efficiency was too low.

But Shen Bei knew that even so, he couldn't be impatient.

...

On the third day.

The effort finally paid off.

The village Shen Bei was currently infiltrating was not small, with a hundred households.

After Zhuang Bifan checked each mirror, he found that one mirror's image was a workshop!

The entire workshop was steaming.

A large pot was boiling with a milky yellow-white liquid.

And a Martial Artist was constantly adding something to the iron pot.

Zhuang Bifan observed for a while, and the liquid in the pot slowly began to solidify.

"Brine curdling tofu! So it's making tofu!"

Undoubtedly, this was the best target carrier.

This tofu would certainly be sent to Black Furnace City; how much could a village eat?

Moreover, it had to be delivered every day!

"A tofu workshop!" Zhuang Bifan shouted excitedly, "It's eight hundred meters inside the village!"

Shen Bei hissed, "An excellent target. I need to find a place to hide. Eight hundred meters..."

Shen Bei looked around the village and began to move towards the North side of the village.

This area was a rocky wasteland, enough for Shen Bei to hide himself.

"Is the distance enough?" Shen Bei asked, leaning against a large rock.

Zhuang Bifan in the mirror nodded: "Enough, just right."

"Good, tonight I'll infiltrate the tofu workshop. The rest is up to you."

"Let's do this!"

Zhuang Bifan responded.

...

Night fell.

Shen Bei, carrying the mirror, quietly crept into the tofu workshop.

He quickly found the flatbed cart used to transport tofu in the yard.

He rubbed his hands and feet, then squeezed under the cart.

Shen Bei pulled out a small mirror and firmly glued it to the wooden board.

After finishing, he immediately retreated.

And under the cover of night, he left the village.

He rushed to the outside of the Black Furnace City gate.

In a field, he found a ditch and quietly submerged himself.

For the rest of the time, he just had to wait for Fang Han to notice, or rather, to walk out of Black Furnace City, either impatiently or completely bewildered!