109: Chapter 109 The Crazy Plan

“Brother Gao... you...” Yue Changkong swallowed with difficulty, his voice raspy as he said, “Are you... serious?”

“I never joke.”

Gao Feng’s gaze, sharp as the keenest blade, swept across everyone’s face.

“Instead of dying like rats in a gutter, crushed to death in despair one by one...”

“It is better to transform into a Dragon and stir up a storm before we die!”

“Everyone!”

His voice suddenly rose, filled with an indescribable magic, as if it were about to ignite the last embers of blood deep within their Souls!

“We have nothing but our lives; why fear death?!”

“Do you dare to gamble this final life with me?”

“To do something that will shake the world, something that will make that Prince Ying’s heart ache until he vomits blood—”

“—A major event?!”

Silence.

After a deathly silence, there was a volcanic eruption!

“Let’s do it!!!”

The first to respond was Yue Changkong!

His dim eyes were ignited at this moment, rekindling the flames of “Battle Intent” and “unyielding spirit”! He slammed his thunderclap spear into the bluestone floor beneath his feet!

“Clang!”

Sparks flew!

“My Yue Family has been loyal for generations, yet we end up like this! Damn it, let’s rebel! I, Yue Changkong, have nothing to lose. If I can drag a Prince’s mining vein down to the grave with me before I die, it’s worth it!”

“Big Brother! Count me in!” Wulu followed, slamming his steel saber onto the table, sending dust flying. “My life was saved by you! Whether it’s climbing a mountain of blades or diving into a sea of fire, I’m with you!”

“Roar!” Big Fool hammered his steel-like chest, producing muffled “thudding” sounds, his eyes filled with bloodthirsty excitement!

“Count me in too!” Qin Fang, the usually shrewd and pragmatic blacksmith, was now like a madman, his eyes red. “The Liu Family, the Prince! I’ve long had enough of these bastards’ bullying! Blow them up! We must blow them up! I will personally concoct the most potent ‘fuse’ for you!”

“I... I’ll do it too!” Gong Qianxue wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and picked up her longbow from the ground. For the first time, a resolute murderous intent appeared on her delicate face!

“Since there is no way back,” Xu Changqing adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, his eyes flashing with wisdom and determination, “then we shall seek life through death!”

Everyone chose to stand up at this moment!

The fear and despair on their faces were replaced by a determination and passion born from being backed into a corner—not seeking survival, but seeking a grand and glorious end!

A crazy plan, destined to shock the entire Wangjiang City and even the entire Great Qian Dynasty, was born!

Inside the righteous cemetery, the suffocating, deathly silence was completely ignited by a resolute and fiery passion!

In everyone’s eyes, a crazy flame burned.

It was the brilliant radiance of seeking life through death after being driven into a dead end!

The air was filled with a peculiar mixture of dust, rotting wood, and intense Battle Intent, as if even this dilapidated building was trembling for the coming storm.

“Good!”

Gao Feng looked at the Battle Intent ignited in everyone, a hint of gratification flashing in his bloodshot eyes. He nodded heavily, his voice raspy from suppressed excitement.

“Since everyone agrees to go for broke, let’s discuss the specific details now. Time is tight; we cannot afford any mistakes in any part of the plan.”

His gaze turned to the team’s technical core, that antisocial but extraordinarily skilled Master blacksmith—Qin Fang. His expression became extremely serious.

“Brother Qin, our first key step, and the cornerstone of the entire plan, lies with you.”

“We need explosives with sufficient power. How big? Big enough to level a mountain! Ordinary black powder won’t do. Can you do it?!”

Hearing this, a fanatical light, bordering on obsession, erupted in Qin Fang’s single eye! He licked his cracked lips, a confident, proud smile appearing on his face, typical of a top craftsman.

“Brother Gao, don’t underestimate the path of smithing that I, Qin Fang, have spent my whole life immersed in!”

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of teeth yellowed by smoke and fire.

“Ordinary government-issued black powder is just a crude mixture of sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. Its power is indeed limited; it’s hard enough just to blow up a rock. However,” he changed the subject, his voice filled with uncontrollable excitement, “in the blueprints you gave me earlier, there are not only methods for forging Sharp Weapons but also a purification and refining technique called ‘Granulated Gunpowder’!”

“I’ve been researching it tirelessly for these two months and have completely mastered the secrets! As long as there are enough Materials, combined with my Qin family’s ancestral secret recipe, ‘Blazing Fire Oil,’ as a fuse and amplifier, I guarantee I can create a brand-new explosive for you!”

Qin Fang’s eyes shone with the brilliance of a creator as he said, word by word:

“I’ve named it—‘heaven-shaking thunder’!”

“I can guarantee that its power is absolutely more than ten times that of ordinary black powder! It will be enough to split mountains and crack rocks!”

“Materials are not a problem.” A cold glint flashed in Gao Feng’s eyes as he said without hesitation, “We ransacked the Liu Family’s treasury; the mountains of sulfur and saltpeter there are enough to blow up the entire Wangjiang City! How long do you need?”

“Give me two days and two nights!”

Qin Fang held up two fingers, which were unusually thick from years of blacksmithing, and said decisively.

“Even if I, Qin Fang, don’t sleep or rest, I will forge at least fifty ‘heaven-shaking thunder’ for you, enough to level that mine!”

“Additionally,” he added, “to deal with a Sixth-Rank Grandmaster, explosions alone won’t be enough. That old eunuch’s Protective Aura is extraordinary. I also need some time to perform final adjustments on those three ‘Aura-Piercing Divine Crossbows’ to ensure that every arrow can bring a surprise to that old eunuch dog!”

“Good! Then I entrust this matter entirely to you! If you need anything, tell Xu Changqing directly; he will fully cooperate with you!”

Gao Feng’s gaze turned to the seemingly weak but actually resourceful young scholar, the master of the Heavenly Secret Tower, Yan Qingyun.

“Brother Yan, the second step, and the most important move, public opinion, depends on you.”

Yan Qingyun gently waved the feather fan in his hand, a calm and confident smile on his face, as if this catastrophe that would terrify ordinary people was just an interesting chess game in his eyes.

“Brother Gao, rest assured. Manipulating people’s hearts and twisting the truth is my Heavenly Secret Tower’s specialty.” He said confidently, “Prince Ying privately mining strategic Materials is already a major crime that could shake the foundation of the country. I only need to embellish it slightly, turning ‘private mining’ into ‘colluding with the northern Tianlang Tribe, intending to rebel.’ Then, I will organize the Liu Family’s long history of bullying the people and taking lives into a pamphlet, spreading it with pictures and text.”

“I guarantee that overnight, Prince Ying and the Liu Family’s reputation in Wangjiang City will be completely ruined and stink to high heaven!”

“I don’t just want their reputation ruined.”

Gao Feng’s eyes became exceptionally deep, as if he could see through people’s hearts.

“I want you to create a sense of panic in the city, as if a storm is coming! Make everyone believe that a bloody mutiny and cruel purge are imminent! Especially make those two-faced old foxes in the Prefecture Governor’s Office and those generals in the city who hold military power but remain neutral feel insecure and on edge!”

Yan Qingyun was stunned for a moment, and then a brilliant light erupted in his eyes! He stared at Gao Feng, as if seeing this man for the first time.

“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”

He clapped his hands and laughed: “Brother Gao’s plan to pull the firewood from under the cauldron and use the momentum to suppress others is something I admire to the ground! This matter is on me! Not only will I make them panic, but I will also make them believe that the only way to survive is to stir the water even more!”

“Brother Yue.”

Gao Feng finally looked at Yue Changkong, his expression becoming exceptionally solemn, his tone much heavier.

“The most critical and most dangerous link lies with you.”

“Brother Gao, please speak! I will not refuse even if it means death!” Yue Changkong replied in a deep voice, his expression solemn; he knew it was his turn to risk his life.

“You need to incite your father’s former subordinates, the West Camp Colonel, Li Yan, to defect.” Gao Feng said slowly, every word heavy and resonant, “But I don’t want you to just tell him to start a rebellion for the sake of so-called ‘loyalty’; that would be tantamount to sending him and his brothers to their deaths in vain.”

“You need to tell him that Eunuch Wei’s trip is ostensibly to arrest us, but actually, he holds a secret order from Prince Ying to purge all forces in the local military that do not obey him. And he, Li Yan, as your father’s most trusted former lieutenant, is on the first list for the purge!”

“This is ‘fake intelligence’ that Brother Yan just bought at a high price from inside the Prefecture Governor’s Office, but you need to make it real.”

He paused and continued: “You just need to get him to make full preparations and act according to the situation after we make our move. When the city is in chaos and Eunuch Wei is too busy to care about anything else, what he needs to do is not to rebel, but to ‘rectify the court and protect the people’! Protecting his own life and the lives of his brothers is the greatest help to us.”

A solemn expression appeared on Yue Changkong’s face.

He knew the difficulty of this task was immense. People’s hearts are unfathomable; after so many years, no one knows what the other person has become. Going there, if he is not careful, he will be walking into a trap and will be doomed.

But he knew even better that this was the most critical move in their entire plan to leverage the situation!

“Brother Gao, rest assured.”

He took a deep breath and bowed solemnly to Gao Feng.

“I, Yue Changkong, even if I die, will definitely deliver the message!”

“Good!” Gao Feng looked around at everyone, an unprecedented passion surging in his chest, as if it were about to burst out, “Qin Fang is responsible for manufacturing the ‘heaven-shaking thunder’ and the ‘Aura-Piercing Divine Crossbows,’ Yan Qingyun is responsible for public opinion, Yue Changkong is responsible for inciting the defection, Xu Changqing and Gong Qianxue are responsible for coordinating intelligence and logistics, and Wulu and Big Fool will act with me as the final assault force!”

“Everyone, we don’t have much time. From now on, act separately!”

“The sky of Wangjiang City is about to change!”

...

Over the next two days and two nights, the entire Wangjiang City fell into a strange calm and undercurrents.

On the surface, Eunuch Wei sat in the Prefecture Office, mobilizing the entire city's forces to conduct an extremely rigorous search.

Countless City Guards and bounty hunters, their eyes reddened by the lure of heavy rewards, tore the entire city apart like mad dogs, yet they failed to find even a single hair of Gao Feng and his companions.

This display of incompetence made Eunuch Wei's expression grow gloomier by the day, and the atmosphere within the Prefecture Office became terrifyingly oppressive; it was said that several officials who failed to perform their duties had already been beaten to death by his orders on the spot.

Yet, in the shadows, a storm capable of overturning everything was quietly brewing.

Inside Qin Fang's secret workshop, the furnace fires burned day and night, bathing the entire underground chamber in a deep crimson glow.

He seemed to have lost a significant amount of weight, his eyes were bloodshot and terrifying, his sockets deeply sunken, but in that single eye, a near-obsessive, frenzied light flickered.

Before him, heaven-shaking thunders, each the size of a human head, pitch-black, and inscribed with complex energy-gathering runes in cinnabar on their shells, were being continuously manufactured.

At the same time, three ferocious-looking "Aura-Breaking Crossbows," crafted entirely from century-old profound iron ore hearts, with bow arms shimmering with a strange energy luster, had also taken shape.

Each of the specially made crossbow bolts, half a zhang long, had a bizarre spiral tri-edged arrowhead, and within its hollow design, a thin layer of blood flame stone powder had been carefully packed.

Qin Fang believed that as long as this thing hit its target, even the Protective Aura of a Sixth-Rank Grandmaster would be torn open!

On the other side, Yan Qingyun's intelligence network, like countless invisible hands, overnight plastered flyers filled with "shocking secrets" all over the streets and alleys of Wangjiang City, and traces of them even appeared in the latrines of the Prefecture Office.

[Shocking Black Curtain! Prince Ying colludes with the northern Tianlang Tribe, intending to trade the strategic material blood flame stone for one hundred thousand warhorses, plotting mischief!]

[Tearful Accusation! A major exposé of the Liu Family's crimes in Wangjiang City over the years; who will pay for the hundreds of lives lost!]

[Inside News! Eunuch Wei holds a purge list; Wangjiang City will face a bloody storm, and you are next!]

These messages, half-true and half-false yet highly inflammatory, acted like heavy bombs, detonating intense panic and suspicion among the citizens and Government Soldiers of Wangjiang City.

For a time, hearts were filled with fear, and military morale was unstable.

In particular, that so-called "purge list" made many generals holding military power and local wealthy clans in the city feel a tangible threat, and they began to secretly connect with each other, seeking ways to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, Yue Changkong, through the secret channels arranged by Yan Qingyun, successfully avoided all eyes and ears, infiltrated the heavily guarded West City Camp, and met with that deputy general his father once trusted most, now a colonel commanding five thousand troops, Li Yan.

A secret talk that would determine the fate of Wangjiang City took place quietly in the commander's tent late at night.

No one knew what they discussed, only that when Yue Changkong left, Li Yan's eyes were filled with struggle, fear, and a trace of long-suppressed ambition.

...

Inside the charity cemetery, the cold and damp air was permeated with a palpitating, violent energy fluctuation.

Gao Feng sat cross-legged, and before him lay several pieces of blood flame stone, captured from the Liu Family treasury, emitting an eerie red light.

He knew that all their plans and all their preparations had one final prerequisite—that was, someone must be able to hold off that unfathomable Sixth-Rank Grandmaster, Eunuch Wei, on the front lines, even if only for the short time it takes for a stick of incense to burn!

And that person could only be him!

"Big Brother, this thing is just too overbearing. Are you really going to use it to forcibly increase your strength?" Wulu's face was filled with undisguised worry.

He could feel a destructive energy from the blood flame stone that was violent enough to tear everything apart; this was simply not something human strength could control.

"Rest assured, I have my own measures." Gao Feng's gaze was as firm as iron, without any wavering.

He looked at Xu Changqing and Gong Qianxue beside him and said in a deep voice: "I need an absolutely quiet environment. For the next two hours, no matter what happens, even if the sky falls, do not let anyone disturb me."

"Brother Gao, this move is too dangerous, what if..." Xu Changqing still wanted to persuade him otherwise.

"This is an order." Gao Feng's voice carried no emotion, yet was filled with unquestionable authority.

Xu Changqing and Gong Qianxue looked at each other, could only nod helplessly, led the others out of the charity cemetery, and set up the tightest possible guard.

Gao Feng took a deep breath and hesitated no longer. He first took out a jade bottle from his bosom and drank the concentrated spirit spring stock solution, which was as rich as nectar, in one gulp.

A gentle yet majestic life energy instantly flowed through his limbs and bones, adjusting his physical state to an unprecedented Peak.

Then, he picked up a piece of blood flame stone and gripped it tightly with both hands.

At the same time, he took out a red Medicinal Pill wrapped in oil paper from Du Kang's belongings; it was the long-lost forbidden drug—"boiling blood powder."

He looked at the Medicinal Pill, a flash of complex emotion in his eyes, and finally, he swallowed it in one gulp!

The next moment, he closed his eyes and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique, guiding the three terrifying energies—one righteous, one evil, one overbearing; one gentle, one violent, one scorching—to circulate endlessly within his body.

...

Meanwhile, in the study of the Prefecture Office, the lights were bright.

Eunuch Wei sat upright in the grand master's chair, his fingers rhythmically tapping on the table, listening to his subordinates' reports about the city-wide search, which had still yielded nothing.

His face was as calm as an ancient well, showing no emotional fluctuations at all.

But the County Commandant Wang Tong, who was kneeling before him, was already sweating profusely, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, as if bearing the immense pressure of Mount Tai pressing down on him.

"Trash."

After a long while, Eunuch Wei gently spat out these two words.

"A bunch of useless fools!"

His voice was still neither masculine nor feminine, sharp and piercing, yet it made Wang Tong feel as if he had instantly fallen into the Nine Nether Ice Cave, his blood almost freezing!

"You can't even find a few small insects. What use is there in me keeping you trash?!"

"Eunuch, please calm your anger! Please calm your anger!" Wang Tong kowtowed like he was pounding garlic, his voice trembling, "That Gao Feng and his group are extremely cunning, like mice in the ground; they are really... really too hard to catch!"

"Enough." Eunuch Wei interrupted him impatiently, "I don't have time to listen to your useless nonsense."

He slowly stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the blood-colored crescent moon hanging in the night sky, as if stained by blood. In those long, narrow phoenix eyes, a palpitating, cruel light like a venomous snake flashed.

"Since they refuse to come out of their hole like mice."

"Then I will set a fire and burn their mouse hole down."

"Pass on my order."

"Tomorrow at high noon, at the city's vegetable market, take the family of that rebellious thief called Yue Changkong—regardless of gender or age—and tie them all to the execution racks. Execute them by slow slicing in public!"

"I want to see if this so-called 'Hidden Dragon' will throw himself into the net for a few insignificant ants!"

...

Inside the charity cemetery.

"Boom—!"

A violent, unparalleled force of blood and Qi, as if it would pierce a hole in the heavens and earth, suddenly erupted from Gao Feng's body and soared into the sky!

It forcibly blew off the already dilapidated roof of the charity cemetery, turning it into fragments filling the sky!

The people guarding the courtyard were all blown back repeatedly by this terrifying wave of air, their faces filled with shock!

In the ruins, Gao Feng slowly stood up. His skin presented a bizarre crimson red, as if magma were flowing in his blood vessels.

The veins all over his body bulged like coiled dragons, and an indescribable, terrifying sense of power that seemed capable of tearing apart mountains and rivers spread wildly from his body!

"boiling blood powder?!"

Nearby, Yan Qingyun, who had just snuck back, saw this scene and exclaimed in shock!

He recognized that this was a domineering forbidden drug that had been lost to the Jianghu for over a hundred years, capable of crazily burning a Martial Artist's life potential in a short time to forcibly increase their strength!

Those who take this drug can obtain powerful strength for a short time, but after the effects wear off, their blood and Qi will inevitably wither, their Meridians will be severed, and they will become cripples!

"No, it's stronger than that, and more stable."

Gao Feng felt the unprecedented, surging power within his body, as if he could punch and explode a mountain, and slowly spoke.

His voice had become somewhat hoarse, but it contained a terrifying pressure that could make the heavens and earth change color!

He had not truly achieved a Breakthrough to the Fifth Rank.

But under the wonderful combination of "boiling blood powder," the violent energy of the blood flame stone, and the gentle nourishment of the spirit spring water, his explosive power at this moment was infinitely close to that of a true Fifth Rank!

This was a trump card that could shake a Grandmaster, exchanged for his life!

However, at this very moment, Yan Qingyun brought a piece of bad news that made everyone's eyes split with rage!

"Brother Gao! It's bad! That old eunuch dog, Eunuch Wei, has ordered that tomorrow at high noon, he will publicly execute Yue Changkong's family at the vegetable market!"

"What?!"

Everyone's expressions changed instantly!

"Despicable! Shameless! Beast!"

Yue Changkong's eyes were red, and he was furious to the point of splitting his eyes; he punched the stone wall beside him fiercely, and the hard bluestone was actually smashed into a deep pit by him, his knuckles a bloody mess!

"They are forcing us to go out and die!" Xu Changqing's face also became incomparably ugly, his eyes filled with anger and helplessness.

This was an overt plot!

A naked, undisguised overt plot that forced them to jump into it even though they knew it was a trap!