Chapter 14 Assassination

Yun Bai paid no more attention to the people around him; he focused on feeling the changes within his body.

His Dantian quickly absorbed the medicinal efficacy of the Medicinal Pill.

He could clearly feel that the injuries in his body had improved significantly—this was completely unlike an ordinary Medicinal Pill, and certainly not the kind of common stuff handed out to people in prison to stave off hunger.

Yun Bai frowned, but after a long while, he couldn't figure out why.

Immediately, he took out another Medicinal Pill, consumed it, and began to silently mobilize the spiritual power within his body to circulate through his Dantian.

The Cultivation Technique he had always been practicing was the cheapest basic one on the market. This Cultivation Technique was cheap not only because it was simple, but also because it was a basic Cultivation Technique vigorously promoted by the State Religion; it was inexpensive precisely because it was so widely circulated.

This Cultivation Technique only introduced the basic Cultivation Realms and provided the fundamental path for an ordinary person to temper their body, become an Initial Realm Cultivator, and then achieve a Breakthrough to the First Realm.

The Cultivation Technique provided simple cultivation methods up to the Early Stage of the First Realm; as for how to Cultivate afterwards, the Cultivation Technique book did not say.

Yun Bai's current cultivation level was exactly at the Early Stage of the First Realm, and he practiced breathing techniques according to the experience provided by the Cultivation Technique.

As they say, day after day, there will be progress.

Yun Bai didn't care how fragmented his cultivation time was; to him, even a mosquito is meat. He had to seize every moment to Cultivate, and then go earn Spirit Stones to treat his younger sister's illness.

He quietly felt a surge of energy from between heaven and earth start from his Lower Dantian, flow through his Middle Dantian and Upper Dantian, and finally flow back into his Lower Dantian. When the spiritual power circulated through his Meridians, the spiritual power from between heaven and earth continuously entered his Meridians through various Acupoints, like water droplets merging into a river.

In a corner that Yun Bai hadn't noticed, a fatty was staring at him from afar.

"Big Brother, is it this kid?" The fatty's voice was extremely low, like a poisonous snake slithering through the grass.

Beside him, a man who was not tall but exceptionally sturdy, with a Face full of flabby flesh, nodded slowly, his eyes sinister: "That's right. We've already communicated with Boss Zhao, and things are arranged with Wang Jingang's side too. The higher-ups are pushing hard; we'll make our move in a while, all three of our groups."

"I heard this kid managed to escape from the jaws of a First Realm demon beast and even took down two Late Stage Initial Realm ones." The fatty's tone carried a trace of imperceptible gravity.

"Who cares!" The fleshy-faced man pulled his mouth into a cruel arc. "That hotheaded fool last time who claimed to be at the Early Stage of the First Realm, didn't he also fall into our hands? What's more..." He paused, and the fatty understood, chuckling as his fat fingers inconspicuously rubbed the inside of his sleeve.

Hidden there was a cold arrowhead quenched with a dark blue, poisonous light, reflecting a deadly luster in the dim light.

Soon, it was time for the meal.

Amidst the dull footsteps and the sound of dragging shackles, the prison guards appeared like ghosts, shouting and driving the prisoners toward the cafeteria. A stench mixed with the smell of low-quality food, sweat, and mold rushed toward them.

"All of you, behave yourselves!" The leader, with a loud voice and unquestionable authority, said, "Tomorrow, the 'good job' of repairing the city wall is back! Every year, a few cheap lives have to be thrown in; cherish this last meal of yours today!" His gaze swept over the crowd as if he were looking at a herd of livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

"Repairing the city wall?!" Suppressed commotion and low curses erupted in the crowd. In this dark, sunless prison, the prisoners were the cheapest consumables; daily labor was accompanied by injury and death. That Yun Bai managed to catch this rare "break" today was already a stroke of immense luck.

The cafeteria was crowded with people, and the prisoners, like hyenas scrambling for food, pushed and shoved to receive their meals.

Yun Bai expressionlessly took the lunch box handed over by the prison guard—inside was a lump of unidentifiable, sour-smelling mush. He fought back the churning in his stomach, found a corner to sit down, and swallowed mechanically. Since his cultivation had not yet reached the level of Inedia, food was a necessity to maintain his physical strength.

He had barely taken two bites when a bulky figure carried a lunch box and sat down opposite him with a plop, causing the simple wooden stool to creak.

"You are Yun Bai? Number 153?" The fatty piled a smile all over his Face, his eyes squinting into two thin slits, looking just like a venal Maitreya Buddha.

Yun Bai raised his eyes and glanced at him coldly: "Something up?"

"My surname is Yuan. The brothers in the trade give me some Face, so they call me Fatty Yuan." Yuan Qiu was all smiles, and as he spoke, he slowly opened his own lunch box—inside lay half a roasted chicken, glistening with oil and fragrant, forming a stark, glaring contrast to the "mush" in Yun Bai's bowl.

"Oh? Nice meal." Yun Bai raised an eyebrow, his tone unreadable.

"Hahaha, Fatty Yuan, trying to scam a new fat sheep again?" A rough, raspy voice cut in.

A burly man with a shiny bald head reflecting the dim light swaggered over. He crossed his arms and stared at Fatty Yuan with ill intent. "Where's that 'big meal' you owe me, you bastard? Let me tell you, if you don't pay it back, don't even think about doing your 'business' in this cell block!"

"Wang Jingang! Stop spouting bullshit! It makes me sick just looking at you!" The smile on Fatty Yuan's Face vanished instantly, replaced by undisguised disgust, and he made a move to get up and leave.

"Oh? Trying to welsh on a debt?!" Fierce light erupted in Wang Jingang's eyes. He took a sudden step forward, and his fist, the size of an alms bowl, struck toward Fatty Yuan's fat Face with a whistle of wind! "You son of a bitch!"

"Hmph!" The fleshy-faced man (Three-Eyed Wolf), who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly made a move, blocking Wang Jingang's fist with his arm!

Bang! A dull thud.

Wang Jingang's punch was heavy and powerful, actually shaking Three-Eyed Wolf so much that he staggered back repeatedly. As luck would have it, he slammed right into the corner of the table where Yun Bai was sitting. The huge impact made the table shake, and Three-Eyed Wolf's back was almost pressed against Yun Bai's side!

Yun Bai frowned; this sudden chaos made him wary.

He had originally just been watching this "dog-eat-dog" scenario common in prison with a cold eye, but he hadn't expected the flames of war to burn right next to him so quickly.

"Damn bad luck." Yun Bai cursed under his breath. Not wanting to get involved in trouble, he picked up his lunch box and wanted to get up to change places.

Just as he stood up! A sudden change occurred!

The cafeteria, which had been noisy and filled with cursing and chewing sounds, seemed to be instantly gripped by an invisible giant hand, and the air suddenly froze!

A cold murderous intent surged in from all directions.

Countless cold, snake-like gazes hidden among the crowd of prisoners suddenly lit up the moment Yun Bai stood up and exposed himself.

Like countless hungry wolves lurking in the pitch-black night of a vast grassland simultaneously opening their ghostly green, greedy pupils, Yun Bai now stood alone in the very center of this deadly encirclement.

Three-Eyed Wolf, who had just been staggering and seemingly unable to stand steadily after being struck by Wang Jingang's punch, curled his lips into a cruel, ferocious grin.

His back, which was pressed right against Yun Bai's side, twisted violently, and his wrist, hidden in his sleeve, flipped out like lightning.

A sharp blade, thin as a cicada's wing, like a poisonous snake flicking its tongue, silently yet viciously and cunningly stabbed straight at Yun Bai's defenseless flank!

At the same time! Among those few prisoners who had appeared to be Wang Jingang's subordinates and were clamoring to gang up on Fatty Yuan, a guy with a thin, monkey-like figure had somehow silently and ghost-like maneuvered behind Yun Bai's side.

Fierce light exploded in his eyes. A gleaming dagger gripped tightly in his hand, carrying a sharp whistle as it tore through the air, fiercely stabbed toward Yun Bai's back from another extremely insidious angle.

"Hm?!" The moment he stood up, an instinctive warning signal honed from countless life-and-death battles surged through his entire body like an electric current, making his eyelids twitch wildly.

Following that, the suffocating sense of stagnation in the atmosphere, and the two distinct yet equally deadly sounds of wind breaking that clearly pierced his eardrums, made the hairs all over his body stand on end instantly.

The breath of death was already close at hand!