The person had just been dragged from the edge of the pool when their stomach churned violently, and their wet clothes, wrapped around their limbs, caused them to fall downwards.
He coughed several times while lying on the stone slab. Just as he was about to look up, the scabbard in Xue Huan's hand pressed against his shoulder.
Song Wan covered his mouth and nose with a cloth and searched each of the eight men one by one, taking out daggers, short blades, and grappling hooks from their waists and boots.
The weapons were all finely polished, with no brand mark or traceable markings on the blades.
"Brother Xue, these people are no ordinary refugees. They can hide their weapons in the seams of their clothes, and they didn't scream or thrash around after falling into the pond. They've probably received special training."
Xue Huan used the back of his knife to pry open one of the men's hands, and saw that the tiger's mouth and the side of the palm were covered with calluses. He then raised his hand to the guards behind him.
"Hands and elbows bound, two men holding each one, crossbowmen standing guard three steps away; whether they have connections or not, we'll decide after the prince has examined them. Tonight, whoever dares to loosen the ropes will go into the pool with them."
Song Wan was still not at ease, so she ordered the jaws of the eight men to be removed and their soaked outer garments to be cut open for inspection. After confirming that there were no poison sacs or hidden weapons, she then led them to the front yard.
Gu Moran had just sat down in Murong Xue's room and hadn't even taken a sip of tea when someone from the front yard came to deliver a message.
When he arrived, he had already pinned the eight intruders to the bottom of the stone steps, and dirty water was flowing down his robes and onto the ground.
He stopped upwind, not getting too close, and only allowed Xue Huan to place the weapons he had found under the lamp.
"Your Highness, after they scaled the west wall, they didn't go to the storeroom or the workshop; they went straight to the vicinity of the abandoned well in the backyard. I suspect they have another purpose in entering the mansion, so I've kept them alive for now."
Gu Moran did not answer after listening. His Eye of Detection swept over the eight people one by one, and words such as Qingcheng Hall disciple, Pu Yunshan's personal follower, and infiltrated the Prince's mansion to meet the young master appeared one after another.
These eight people were trained by Pu Yunshan's father through secret agents, and the abbot of Green City Temple had received a favor from the Liu Clan in his early years.
Old favors may spare my life, but the score for breaking into the Prince's mansion at night must still be settled.
Gu Moran withdrew his gaze and pointed to the weapons on the ground.
"No torture will be carried out at the Prince's residence tonight, and no news of it is to be leaked."
They were registered as vagrants who had broken into the workshop at night, and were separately taken to the West Mountain quarry. They worked in staggered shifts during the day, and were brought back to the Prince's Palace dungeon at night to be guarded. Everything they ate, everyone they met, and everything they said to each other had to be recorded.
Xue Huan had originally thought that Gu Moran would interrogate him on the spot, but upon hearing this, she understood his plan.
"Does Your Highness want to see if anyone else is coming to pick them up?"
"The person behind the disappearance of eight people at the same time won't remain silent forever."
Corpses cannot speak, but the living can draw out hidden clues, so let's not disturb their master yet."
Song Wan still had reservations, considering the eight men's skills.
"Their internal energy is still intact, and the quarry isn't inside the city, so ropes alone might not be enough to hold them back."
"Give them the Essence-Locking Powder. We tried it on Lalong last time; after taking it, they couldn't circulate their internal energy for seven days."
Xue Huan accepted the order and immediately ordered his men to put the chains back on the eight men, and then dispatched two teams of crossbowmen to send them to West Mountain overnight.
As the leader of the assassins was dragged across the threshold, he glanced back at Gu Moran, only to see him standing outside the lamplight, examining the short blades that had been taken from their bodies.
The Prince's residence did not inquire about names, but instead prepared medicine to suppress internal energy.
This made him more uneasy than torture.
The next morning, Pu Yunshan stood at the alley entrance, leaning on his carrying pole. As soon as the manure bucket left the ground, his stomach started hurting again, so he had to put the carrying pole back down on the stone block.
He drank too much garlic water yesterday, and he barely slept a wink in the latter half of the night; his complexion was also worse than in the previous days.
As agreed, the eight attendants should have received news last night, but now that it's dawn, there has been no reply from the city.
If the plan goes smoothly, they will not be late; if they discover that the Prince's residence is on guard, they should try to warn the Prince.
Having nothing at all is the worst news.
Pu Yunshan did not rush to escape, nor did he go to the agreed location to check.
He is still a migrant worker from out of town who earns a living by carrying manure. As long as his identity is not exposed, he still has a chance to find out where the eight people went.
When Tuoba Mang returned from the street corner, he saw him leaning against the wall, unable to stand steadily, so he handed him the hot porridge he was holding.
"Your stomach ailment hasn't healed from yesterday, so carry only half a cartload today and drink the porridge first; if you die by the roadside, people will say that Yi Prefecture forced people to their deaths because of building latrines."
Pu Yunshan took the rough porcelain bowl, smelled the ginger shreds in the porridge, and the fatigue between his brows subsided slightly.
"Thank you, Brother Tuo. I'll be back to work as soon as I'm rested, and I won't miss my job in the south of the city."
Hearing that he could still speak, Tuoba Mang patted him on the shoulder and turned to urge the other manure carts on.
Pu Yunshan lowered his head to drink his porridge, his eyes glancing at the crowds passing by at the street corner.
At the same time, the dull thud of stone hammers hitting the ground echoed from the West Mountain quarry.
After taking the Essence-Locking Powder, the eight assassins were unable to circulate their internal energy. With their wrists and ankles bound by iron chains, they could only take turns swinging twelve-pound stone hammers to break the bluestone needed for the roadbed into suitable sizes.
The foreman stood under the wooden shed, reviewing the roster sent by the Prince's mansion. He instructed the two guards, "These eight men broke into the workshop at night and are carrying knives. Don't mistake them for ordinary vagrants."
"No whispering during the day, separate gates at night, and any missing person must be reported to the Prince's residence."
The lead assassin gripped the hammer handle, no longer glancing at his comrades.
The fact that the Prince's Mansion did not reveal their identities indicates that Gu Moran is not planning to kill anyone for the time being. However, the fact that the Essence-Locking Powder and the method of disarming martial artists also suggests that the other party has already mastered a lot of information.
Making trouble now will only get you killed.
He picked up the stone hammer again and smashed it against the bluestone at his feet, deciding to first figure out the rules for changing guards and distributing medicine before trying to find the young master.
Tubo's Silver City.
After escaping from Yi Prefecture, Lalong changed horses along the way. When he entered the tent, his robes were covered in mud. He didn't bother to drink water and recounted the black-clad warriors, Lei Huo, and the filthy pool he had seen in Yi Prefecture.
"Those people crawled out of the filthy pool, dressed in black, their eyes gleaming, and said that this was only the first batch; if Prince Yi were given a few more months, he could turn many more people into sorcerer soldiers who obeyed him."
Chisang did not respond immediately, but instead had someone place the weapon fragments that Lalong had brought back on the table.
"You say they are invulnerable to swords and spears, but the fact that you were able to return from Yi Prefecture proves that they are not invincible;
Clearly state what you witnessed firsthand, distinguishing which statements came from Prince Yi and which were your own judgments; do not mix them together.
Lalong was stopped by the questioning and could only recount how he sneaked into the city, how he found the public toilet and the manure truck, and how he encountered the group of men in black.
Putting aside the speculation about witchcraft, it is true that incredibly powerful gunpowder appeared in Yi Prefecture, and a group of elite martial artists of unknown origin gathered there.
Chisang pressed the map down with his palm.
The existence of witch soldiers may be uncertain, but Prince Yi's training of troops and manufacture of new weapons cannot prevent them.
If Yi Prefecture were to repair the passes and gather its old troops, the price the Tubo would pay to seize the supply lines would be even greater.