Ruffians Become Cheng Shifei, Undefeated Mischief

The Dragon Guard Manor's four secret agents, codenamed Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow, had been active for over a year.

It was unlikely anyone would have guessed that one position among these four secret agents remained unfilled.

The top secret agent, code-named Heaven, was Duan Tianya.

The second secret agent, code-named Earth, was Gui Hai Yidao.

The third secret agent, code-named Black, was Shangguan Haitang.

As for the secret agent code-named Yellow...

In the Imperial City, there were hundreds of thousands of people.

There were high officials and nobles, and naturally, there were also poor commoners.

There were legitimate businessmen, and naturally, there were also swindlers and ruffians.

Cheng Shifei was one such ruffian.

Entertainment was scarce in this era, and his daily life of swindling had only one hobby: gambling.

However, he had his limits; he never borrowed money. At most, after losing all the silver he had on hand, he would immediately leave.

But one day, he went to a gambling den and ran into his old partner in crime.

Seeing Cheng Shifei, his partner, who was in a hurry, led him to the gambling den's boss and then turned to leave.

It was only then that Cheng Shifei realized that his partner owed money at the gambling den and had directly handed him over to the boss as collateral.

Since the gambling den boss couldn't get any money from him and couldn't find his partner, he simply stuffed Cheng Shifei into a jar and sent him to Donghua Gate in the Imperial City.

Decades ago, this city gate was just one of several gates to the Imperial City, but now it was famous.

This was because a notorious force was stationed here.

The Eastern Depot!

It turned out that Cao Zhengchun of the Eastern Depot had lost some of his power and his elite Black-Clad Arrow Team, so he decided to expand the Eastern Depot.

Expansion required manpower.

Where would the Eastern Depot get its manpower?

Naturally, they would select from the eunuchs!

However, the eunuchs in the Imperial City were limited in number, so the Eastern Depot employed some tactics and spent money to buy people.

This was why the gambling den boss had sent Cheng Shifei, intending to exchange him for silver from the Eastern Depot.

Fortunately, that day was the first Hai day of mid-spring.

That is, the first Hai day of the second lunar month.

According to custom, on this day, the Emperor would offer sacrifices to the god of grain and personally plow the fields, a practice known as "Fulfilling the Plow Personally," to encourage agriculture.

All civil and military officials were required to participate.

This was also the first time the young Emperor had personally participated in Fulfilling the Plow, so it was given special importance.

To protect the Emperor and all the officials, the Eastern Depot, the Dragon Guard Manor, the Imperial Guards, and others had to dispatch a large number of elite forces to guard the surroundings.

Therefore, on this day, both the Imperial Palace and the Eastern Depot were short-handed.

As a result, Cheng Shifei was not dealt with immediately. Instead, he was locked up in a prison cell and scheduled to be processed the next day.

Even so, he had only managed to avoid trouble for that one day.

Tomorrow, he would still be "cleared of his troubles" and become a talent for the Eastern Depot.

Cheng Shifei, anxious, shouted and cried in the prison, throwing tantrums and rolling around, but no one paid him any attention. Unexpectedly, by chance, he broke through a corner of the wall and discovered a hidden opening.

The cave was pitch black, and a cold, chilling aura rushed towards him, making Cheng Shifei shiver.

Cheng Shifei gritted his teeth and thought, "No matter what's ahead, how much worse can it get than my current situation?"

If he couldn't escape this prison, he would have to say goodbye to Kun Kun tomorrow.

He immediately crawled into the cave and headed deeper.

The deeper he crawled, the colder it became.

Cheng Shifei felt something was wrong, but at that moment, a powerful suction force erupted from the depths, pulling him directly down until he hit the ground.

"Ouch..."

Cheng Shifei cried out in pain as he landed, and then looked around.

He saw that it was dark all around, with only a faint light illuminating the area.

It was an underground cave, with traces of excavation everywhere, and dozens of iron chains crisscrossed the cave like a spiderweb.

"Where... is this?"

"This is the Heavenly Prison, specifically used by the Great Ming Dynasty to imprison martial arts experts!"

"A ghost!"

The sudden voice startled Cheng Shifei greatly.

"Hmph!" the voice spoke again. "I thought it was food from Zhu Tiedan, but it turns out to be a unlucky ghost!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Shifei gathered his courage and looked. He saw a figure vaguely visible under the dim light, bound by several interwoven iron chains. The person had long, unkempt hair, looking more like a ghost than a human.

"You... who are you?"

The person replied, "I already said this is the Heavenly Prison. Naturally, I'm a master imprisoned here."

"A master?"

"Undefeated Mischief, Gu Santong. Ever heard of me?"

Cheng Shifei was momentarily confused, then his eyes widened in surprise. "Undefeated Mischief... Gu Santong! Are you the Grandmaster who fought a decisive battle with Iron Gallant Divine Marquis atop Mount Tianshan? I heard you disappeared after losing that battle. I never expected you to be imprisoned here!"

"Imprisoned?"

Gu Santong snorted. "This Heavenly Prison can't even hold that sewer rat; he dug a tunnel and escaped. How could it possibly hold me? What's keeping me here are those four words behind you!"

Cheng Shifei looked back and saw a stone tablet as tall as a person. Four large characters were carved onto it.

Iron

Gallant

Divine

Marquis

It turned out that after Gu Santong and Zhu Wushi's decisive battle ended in defeat, they made a pact: from then on, Gu Santong would not take a single step forward if he saw the words 'Iron Gallant Divine Marquis'.

Zhu Wushi had thus erected this stone tablet to trap Gu Santong.

Gu Santong, also adhering to the pact, had been confined on the ninth level of the Heavenly Prison for a full twenty years without leaving.

The upper levels of the Heavenly Prison were ordinary prisons, but this ninth level held those who, at the very least, possessed the combat power of a Grandmaster. They couldn't be killed by ordinary means, which was why they were imprisoned here.

Without food or water, the intention was to starve them to death.

Yet, Gu Santong had endured here for twenty years and was still alive.

Zhu Wushi always considered him a great threat. Therefore, every two years, he would send a martial arts expert from the jianghu to test Gu Santong's strength.

If Gu Santong showed any weakness, Zhu Wushi would personally step in and kill him.

However, for twenty years, every expert sent had entered but never left.

Not only that, but Gu Santong had also used this opportunity to learn the unique martial arts techniques possessed by each expert.

But after twenty years, no matter how much Gu Santong persisted, he was now at the end of his rope, his energy depleted.

Thinking this, Gu Santong said, "Kid, come a little closer."

"Huh? What for?" Cheng Shifei felt no particular guard against the man bound by chains. Upon hearing the request, he walked right up to Gu Santong, completely forgetting how he himself had ended up there.

Gu Santong reached out and sent a wisp of vital energy into Cheng Shifei's body. His eyes lit up.

Excellent, excellent, excellent!

Just moments ago, seeing the young man fall from such a height and then get up in the blink of an eye, he had already sensed that this person had extraordinary potential.

This investigation only confirmed that he was indeed a promising talent for martial arts.

Just as his own life force was about to fade, heaven had sent him such a promising talent.

Could it be that the heavens truly felt his peerless martial arts should not be left to rot in the Heavenly Prison?

If that was the case... then he would pass on his martial arts!

Gu Santong activated his vital energy, instantly causing Cheng Shifei to lose consciousness.

"It's starting!"

Zhou Ming immediately stopped what he was doing and, through the Mark, began to watch intently.