Prison

The Forbidden Ground is a place the Mad Saber Sect members avoid. No one is allowed inside except for the Sect Master, Taishu Sheng, himself.

Chen Xian, who was just one step away from catching Jiang Shuo, was furious. Standing at the edge of the encirclement wall, he didn't know what to do. A moment later, the other disciples guarding the Forbidden Ground returned, heads hung low in dejection. They had lost Sun Daoming.

Chen Xian's mood worsened. Just then, Li Yi, who had been sent to inquire, rushed back, accompanied by their Senior Disciple Brother, Shi Gangwei.

Upon hearing that someone had used his name to try and sneak into the Forbidden Ground, Shi Gangwei immediately sensed something was wrong and hurried over. Seeing Chen Xian, his heart sank, and he asked, "Second Disciple Brother, what happened?"

Chen Xian immediately reported the incident of Jiang Shuo and Sun Daoming forcefully entering the Forbidden Ground: "Senior Disciple Brother, Master is inside the Forbidden Ground. Should we find a way to notify him?"

Shi Gangwei pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "The Forbidden Ground cannot be entered. With Master inside, those two can't cause much trouble. Deploy more disciples to guard the outside. If Master comes out first, report the situation to him. If those two come out first, kill them on the spot. As for the Hundred Flowers Sect... don't fall out with them for now. Let's see their attitude before we make any corresponding moves."

Shi Gangwei was unaware of the Hundred Flowers Sect's intentions, so he decided to wait and see, leaving the final decision to the Sect Master.

Chen Xian nodded in agreement and immediately went to make arrangements.

Meanwhile, Jiang Shuo was unaware of the Mad Saber Sect's rules regarding the Forbidden Ground. After leaping over the courtyard wall, fearing Chen Xian would catch up, he ran deeper into the Forbidden Ground with his head down.

At first, he worried about encountering enemies and proceeded with extreme caution. However, after walking for a while, Jiang Shuo didn't run into anyone. The vast Forbidden Ground was eerily quiet, with no one around.

Chen Xian, who had been chasing him, also disappeared. Jiang Shuo's tense nerves relaxed slightly. He hid in a corner and simply treated his wounds, finally having the leisure to examine his surroundings.

Similar to other buildings in the Mad Saber Sect, the Forbidden Ground compound, though vast, had a very simple structure and appeared extremely spacious.

"It's called the Forbidden Ground for a reason; I should still be careful." Since he was already in the Forbidden Ground, Jiang Shuo naturally wanted to investigate it thoroughly.

The corpses of the Dream Red Pavilion disciples were all missing a bone, which the killer likely took. Jiang Shuo planned to start his investigation from here.

He began searching the rooms one by one – the study, living room, bedroom, etc. The furniture and items inside were ordinary, and he couldn't find anything unusual.

An hour passed. Jiang Shuo had searched most of the rooms but found nothing, not even a single person. At this point, he stood before the last room, gasping for breath, taking a short rest.

It was a low, dilapidated, dust-covered house tucked away in a corner, a stark contrast to the other tall buildings. It looked like a woodshed for storing miscellaneous items.

Not giving up this last sliver of hope, Jiang Shuo pushed the door open and went inside.

The inside was filled with broken wooden tables and chairs, blocks of firewood, and several bookshelves against one wall, holding bowls and basins covered in dust.

The situation inside was clear at a glance, with nothing suspicious. Just as Jiang Shuo was about to leave, his peripheral vision caught sight of a bowl on a bookshelf that was clean and smooth, as if frequently used.

"It seems this woodshed has been abandoned for a long time, yet there's no musty smell of decay, which is clearly unreasonable." Sensing the various anomalies, Jiang Shuo's heart stirred. He walked forward, bent down, and touched the clean porcelain bowl. He tried to remove it but couldn't, so he attempted to turn it left and right.

"Creak—"

Jiang Shuo twisted it, and the bowl turned half a circle to the left. Immediately, a sound like a mechanism turning came from behind the wall. The bookshelf then vibrated and slowly slid outwards, scraping against the ground with an ear-grating sound.

As the bookshelf opened, it revealed a person-sized opening in the back wall, leading to a staircase going directly down. On either side of the passage, an oil lamp was embedded in the wall every ten feet. Two flickering flames extended into the unknown darkness.

This must be the Mad Saber Sect's secret location. Fearing traps or ambushes, Jiang Shuo cautiously descended.

The bare walls and monotonous scenery gave Jiang Shuo the illusion that the cave had no end, as if he were walking inside some animal's esophagus. The feeling made him very uncomfortable.

At the end of the cave was a stone door. Pushing it open, Jiang Shuo saw a row of rooms before him. The rooms were built of rock, with only the front made of steel-welded bars. Heavy locks and chains hung on the iron doors.

Continuing along the adjacent corridor, the rooms on both sides were still identical. Just as Jiang Shuo thought this was an abandoned prison, he saw a person in the next room.

The person was a middle-aged man with heavy iron shackles on his hands and feet that clanged with the slightest movement. When Jiang Shuo spotted him, the man was curled up on some dry grass in the corner, facing inward with his back hunched, fast asleep.