Three days later, on the fifteenth of February, prison official Du An departed for the Capital City to report on his duties right on schedule.
The personnel of the Death Prison were ordered to reduce their outings and strictly stick to their posts.
This was especially true for the fourth level. Its main gates were locked at all times, requiring two people to open them whenever someone needed to enter or exit.
Over the year since the Cat Girl's escape, several prisoners had been escorted into the first level and Second Level.
Their food rations were cut off for the month to ensure they wouldn't have the strength to cause trouble.
Meanwhile, Jingyan Hall—Du An's office—was completely sealed off. No one was allowed in or out.
Strict guard was maintained everywhere, and the newly arrived slaves were thoroughly inspected from head to toe.
The entire area was placed on strict lockdown to prevent a repeat of last year's prison break.
After Du An left, Li Ban didn't step outside the Death Prison.
Although his spiritual rhinoceros was already full, using his element would consume it, so he still needed to cultivate daily to replenish it.
A daily cultivation of one or two shichen was enough to make up for the spiritual rhinoceros consumed outside of combat.
The Death Prison was eerily quiet.
That was, until the sixteenth of March arrived.
At dawn.
Li Ban left the Death Prison for the first time since the lockdown and headed to the small woods outside the sinkhole.
The passageway leading to Jingyan Hall was guarded by Tree-man Ding, but the path cutting through the slave sinkhole to the woods was largely unmonitored.
Lord Du was expected back today or tomorrow, so everyone had relaxed their vigilance somewhat. They no longer had to report every outing or find a companion to travel with like before.
Li Ban had obediently stayed inside the Death Prison for a whole month, only venturing out on the final day.
He was already the most well-behaved person in the entire prison.
Walking to the edge of the woods near the official road, he immediately spotted the large tree where the Cat Girl and the other fugitive had once hidden.
They had hidden in a pit beneath that tree to evade pursuit.
In the end, it had been left as an unattended dirt pit.
After a year of wind and rain, the pit had gradually filled in, becoming nearly imperceptible.
But Li Ban had a deep impression of this place. After all, when the Cat Girl and the other fugitive leaped out back then, he had been scared half to death. He quickly stepped forward and poked at the dirt pit with a wooden branch, sure enough, discovering traces of a recent excavation.
Digging and scraping, Li Ban unearthed a small object from the spot. It looked like a honeycomb and was only about the size of a fist.
He sniffed it gently but didn't catch any scent of smoke or fire.
'It doesn't look like gunpowder. What could it be?'
Li Ban tucked the object into his sleeve.
His wide cuffs concealed it completely.
Li Ban kicked some dirt over the spot with his foot. He didn't linger outside, quickly returning to the Death Prison.
The chicken and duck pens down in the prison's sinkhole had already been abandoned.
Li Ban had originally set them up with his own money to nourish his body.
But the current handymen preferred to save their money to buy elements, so no one thought about eating meat anymore.
The small thatched sheds from back then were kept and hadn't been sold off, likely out of consideration for Li Ban, who had now become a prison guard.
A slave from the Water Room saw Li Ban through the window, hurriedly pushed the door open, and trotted over.
"Lord Li, do you have any orders?"
Li Ban had never seen this slave before. Over the past few months, the slaves in the Death Prison had been replaced who knew how many times.
Just like the other prison officials and prison guards, he simply didn't care about these matters anymore.
"Who is responsible for delivering the food now?"
"Replying to my lord, this lowly one is currently in charge."
"You're doing two jobs?"
"Yes. The slave who delivered food yesterday was accidentally bitten to death by a prisoner. Lord Liu told me to cover both jobs for now and said we would buy new slaves in a couple of days."
The "couple of days" Liu Mu mentioned likely meant waiting until Lord Du returned.
It seemed that after the prison break a year ago, all those with guilty consciences were behaving very obediently.
Li Ban nodded. He had no intention of helping Liu Mu manage the slaves.
He waved his hand to dismiss the short slave and walked back into the gloomy Death Prison.
The sky gradually brightened.
In the northern outskirts of Qingcheng County, a horse carriage arrived from the fork in the road to the west.
Inside the carriage was none other than Du An, who was hurrying back from the Capital City.
It was a two-horse carriage. The driver was not Lu Qinghe, but a coachman Du An had brought back from the Capital City.
There weren't two people inside the carriage, either, but three.
Lu Qinghe, who usually wore plain clothes with minimal jewelry, had uncharacteristically changed into a goose-yellow and warm-white ruqun dress. With three-colored velvet flowers pinned in her hair, she lost some of her aloofness and gained a touch of gentle grace.
At this moment, she was kneeling beside Du An, massaging the sides of his forehead as the lord rested his eyes.
The annual work report was never a pleasant experience.
It was mentally and physically exhausting, and in the end, it might still yield undesirable results.
However, Lu Qinghe massaging Du An's forehead right now wasn't entirely to make him feel better.
It was partially an act, a show meant for the third person in the carriage.
This third person had also been brought back from the Capital City.
She was a woman wearing a green dress with her hair combed into a slanted bun.
Her eyes occasionally darted toward the two people sitting in the back. She pouted slightly, her waist completely soft and relaxed as she sat.
When she looked at Lu Qinghe, her gaze revealed disdain, but when she looked at Du An, her eyes brimmed with resentment.
It was just that neither of them paid her any attention, leaving her with no choice but to stare out the window in boredom.
She had been a singer at an Assistant Minister's banquet, only to be suddenly gifted to prison official Du from remote Yu Province.
She had no right to say no and could only accept her fate.
But prison official Du only liked that aloof Lu Qinghe, not touching her even once throughout the entire journey.
This naturally made the singer a bit frustrated.
However, she hadn't given up.
As she watched the scenery outside, she pondered how to compete with Lu Qinghe for favor in the future.
Just as the singer was imagining her future, a flash of light suddenly caught her eye.
The singer subconsciously raised her head, trying to shield her eyes.
Who would have thought that the flash of light would grow closer and closer until, with a wet thud, it pierced right through the carriage's wooden panel and plunged directly into the singer's chest.
The singer's half-raised hand froze in place.
Her mouth hung open, her lips trembling as she drew sharp, short breaths. Her eyes shifted downward, finally seeing that the object embedded in her chest was actually a steel arrow as thick as a forearm.
Wearing an expression of sheer terror, the singer collapsed.
Aside from the arrow that struck the singer, even more thick, long iron arrows bombarded every part of the carriage.
In no time, the carriage frame was blown apart by dozens of massive iron arrows.
Even the coachman driving in the front had his head pierced by an arrow.
The two horses were fortunate enough to only suffer grazing wounds, but, thoroughly spooked, they bolted wildly forward.
The carriage was soon dragged until it broke into pieces.
Right then, several masked men burst out from the woods on both sides, intending to intercept the carriage and inspect the situation inside.
The collapsed carriage suddenly exploded outward in all directions.
With a thunderous boom, a figure shot out from the top of the carriage.
Du An sprang straight up, pulling an onion from dry land, before suddenly landing right in front of the incoming assailants.
The masked men were shocked to discover that although Du An had bloodstains on his clothes, he didn't have a single wound.
They recoiled in shock, never expecting that the iron arrows used for siege warfare wouldn't even scratch him.
This man's strength likely far exceeded that of an ordinary 4th Tier Spirit Practitioner.
Naturally, the ones who had charged to the front were mere cannon fodder. Knowing full well that they were absolutely no match for Du An, they immediately turned and fled the moment they saw he was unhurt.
But how could Du An let them go?
With a murderous look and an imposing, icy aura, hundreds of thin silver flashes suddenly shot out from his hands.
Like a swarm of dancing bees or a continuous drizzle, they completely surrounded the two masked men lagging at the back.
By the time all the silver flakes returned to Du An's hands, the two burly men had been sliced into countless layers, just like roast ducks.
Seeing the gruesome scene behind them, the fleeing men ahead were scared out of their wits, vomiting as they ran.
Yet Du An merely tapped his feet lightly, effortlessly catching up to them.
He didn't release the shiny silver flakes again. Instead, he raised his hand and drew a long, slender black whip from his waist.
The whip looked to be only two meters long, but upon being swung, it instantly extended to five meters.
Moreover, its force didn't diminish in the slightest after the change in length. A single lash struck one of the fleeing men.
As if cleaved by a blade, the man's back instantly became a bloody mess of torn flesh and skin.
He let out a miserable shriek and collapsed to the ground.
Meanwhile, riding its momentum, Du An's whip had already turned toward a fourth person.
The fourth man finally knew to turn back and resist, raising his saber to try and chop Du An's long whip.
However, the long whip was incredibly resilient and completely unfazed. Following the blade's edge, it wrapped the man and his saber tightly together.
Du An's expression didn't change. He swung his hand, sweeping up the burly man and instantly turning the long whip into a meteor hammer to smash through all the enemies ahead.
The few enemies blocking the road were cleanly dispatched by Du An in just a couple of moves.
After killing everyone in sight, he stopped, flicked his wrist to shorten the long whip, and put it back at his waist.
Du An looked coldly in the direction the iron arrows had come from, with no intention of going over to check.
The true mastermind had surely retreated the moment they realized he hadn't been killed by the barrage.
Otherwise, they would have taken advantage of their numbers and swarmed him by now.
Having vented some of his anger by killing a few grunts, Du An finally returned to the carriage.
Lifting the broken carriage roof, he took a glance inside but only retrieved two important bundles.
Even now, Lu Qinghe hadn't come out.
And Du An didn't seem to have any plans to collect the bodies.
He untied the two horses, mounted one, led the other, and actually continued his journey back just like that.
The horses, which had been neighing in fright just moments ago, were now completely obedient beneath Du An, not daring to kick up their hooves at all.
Leading the two horses alone, Du An didn't enter Qingcheng County but instead bypassed it via a nearby mountain trail.
After trotting for another shichen, he finally saw the main gates of the Death Prison in the distance.
A head poked out from a window before shrinking back in.
Just as Du An neared the gates, they suddenly opened. The newly arrived prison official, Zhao Kangnian, walked out with Yu Li, chatting and laughing.
When they looked up and saw the returning Du An, they were both surprised and delighted, hurriedly stepping forward to welcome him.
But as he drew closer, Zhao Kangnian's expression changed. "My lord, you're injured?"
He quickly picked up his pace, seemingly wanting to inspect Du An's wounds.
Right as he was about to reach Du An, Du An suddenly furrowed his brows and yelled sternly, "Halt!"
However, Zhao Kangnian turned a deaf ear to him and continued running forward.
Du An raised his hand and released hundreds of silver flakes.
When someone before him was acting suspiciously, he didn't hesitate in the slightest to use his greatest killing move.
Even so, Zhao Kangnian actually ignored the attack, charging head-on into the barrage of hundreds of silver flakes.
Just as the silver flakes were about to tear Zhao Kangnian to shreds, a massive cloud of green mist suddenly hissed out from his body.
The green mist rapidly exploded outward as if it had been detonated.
Du An pushed off the stirrup with one foot, sending his entire body flying backward.
But the mist spread even faster, threatening to swallow Du An's figure.
At that exact moment, a shield resembling white mist abruptly materialized around Du An.
This was precisely Du An's other element—Air Shield.
The toxic green mist engulfed Du An and his surrounding Air Shield.
The poison mist expanded for another ten zhang before finally stopping.
The next moment, Du An, encased in his Air Shield, broke out of the poisonous mist.
Afterward, he retreated dozens of steps in succession before finally halting in the distance, quietly watching the mist.
Sizzling sounds came from within the poisonous mist, as if someone's flesh had been pressed against a red-hot iron wok.
The commotion here naturally attracted the attention of others.
Li Ban, who had been cultivating in the front yard, was the first to arrive outside the main gates. He immediately spotted the dispersing green mist.
Uncle Qin, who was only a step behind Li Ban, was horrified at the sight of the green mist outside.
"That's poisonous mist! Absolutely do not go over there!"
He grabbed Li Ban's sleeve, seemingly trying to warn him, but in reality, his own limbs were trembling.
However, Li Ban pushed Uncle Qin's hand away. "I heard Official Zhao say that Lord Du had returned. It's possible Lord Du has been attacked. I must go out and check. You go and call Official Zhang."
"Ah, yes, alright." Hearing that he didn't have to go out, Uncle Qin immediately felt relieved and turned around to run back into the Death Prison.
Li Ban leapt out of the main gates, equally appalled by the massive green mist before him.
If such a large-scale green mist was also highly toxic, just how terrifying of a killing move would it be?
Li Ban didn't approach rashly; if a strong gust of wind were to blow the poisonous mist over, it would be disastrous.
Staying far away, he shouted loudly, "Lord Du! My lord, are you in there?"
At this moment, the poisonous mist began to gradually thin out.
It was probably not a very stable substance.
After dispersing into the air, it slowly underwent a qualitative change.
Near his side of the mist's edge, Li Ban saw a person lying on the ground.
It was handyman Yu Li.
Judging by his appearance and the posture he had fallen in, he had desperately tried to run back the instant the poison mist exploded.
Unfortunately, he still hadn't made it out of the danger zone.
Li Ban remembered that Yu Li had bought Hai Dakui's Windwalker Boots. He likely hadn't cultivated them enough, so his speed hadn't reached its peak.
A bit further away, there seemed to be something else lying in the middle of the road.
Li Ban circled halfway around the poisonous mist. Just as he was intensely observing the situation inside, he spotted Du An standing on the other side of the road, bearing some bloodstains but no visible wounds. It was unclear if he had been injured.
However, looking at his face, there were no signs of poisoning.
Li Ban breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly went up to him. "My lord, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," Du An waved his hand.
But the sharp-eyed Li Ban noticed what seemed to be a green mark on Du An's wrist.
He immediately looked at Du An, just about to say something, but saw Du An staring at the green mist, giving an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
Li Ban quickly shut his mouth.
Lord Du was likely poisoned, but he didn't want to make it public.
Li Ban was astonished. The waters of the Assassin Hall were deeper than he'd thought.
Lu Qinghe and the carriage Du An had taken out were nowhere to be seen; they had presumably met with an accident on the road as well.
And when Du An returned alone, he was attacked once more.
Given the location where the poisonous mist appeared, it was unlikely to have been set up by outsiders.
That meant the Assassin Hall still had a mole in the Death Prison!
The new prison guard, Zhao Kangnian, was the biggest suspect.
Looking back at the lump of unidentified matter in the green mist, Li Ban could already guess what it was.
Just a second Tree-Person B, nothing more.
Though this one was a bit more gruesome.
It was just that the Assassin Hall probably knew the success rate of assassinating Du An wasn't high, so—they had also arranged their own backup plan.