Star Trace Gate

Chapter 984 Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, Commander Liu Launches Night Raid on the Heavenly Pris

While various factions were scheming and preparing for each other these past few days, Wang Tudou wasn't idle either. He had only one thought in mind: how to leave Beifeng Town safely and smoothly.

To successfully evacuate and complete his mission at the Divine Monk's Mansion, he first needs to overcome two major obstacles. First, he has already obtained information about Jiuzhi, which is common knowledge; therefore, there must be others secretly watching him. To leave, he must identify and eliminate all his pursuers before departing, ensuring his team is not intercepted or had their information leaked when leaving the city.

He had pondered this matter for three or four days and devised a complete cleanup plan before handing it over to the two lieutenants to execute. Therefore, he was not surprised at all when Zhang Tan mentioned that someone was watching the inner palace.

Secondly, ever since the conflict between Niu Dali, Moro, and the successor of the Divine Monk became public, both sides have essentially stopped pretending. Niu Dali, who controls the Martial Monk's Mansion, had already sealed off the entire city several days ago, deploying heavy troops to guard the four city gates and implementing a system of joint supervision by two military officers.

People leaving the town during the day are not allowed to leave, but after the curfew at night, no one is allowed to leave Northwind Town, and anyone who wants to enter must undergo an extremely rigorous identity verification process.

Therefore, for Wang Tudou and his group to leave was virtually impossible. They had already been personally warned by Niu Dali: "You cannot leave before Master He Hong arrives, and I will have someone specifically watching you. If you insist on running away, then there's something wrong with you, and don't blame me for turning against you..."

Therefore, Wang Tudou and his group had no way of sneaking out of the city during the previous few days. Firstly, the inner palace was already under Niu Dali's surveillance; secondly, the inner palace was full of people and eyes, and if they suddenly left, the news would definitely not be kept secret.

If they want to leave, they can only wait until North Wind Town falls into chaos, until Niu Dali and other forces are too preoccupied to pay attention to them, and then they can secretly set off.

But when will the conflict in Northwind Town erupt?

It's obvious to anyone with a brain that it would happen after nightfall. And at that time, the city would be in chaos, and the guards at the city gates would be even tighter.

Their team of eight couldn't possibly break out in a direct fight, and they would almost certainly be intercepted and killed by those secretly seeking the Jiuzhi. Therefore, Wang Tudou's plan was to avoid any combat during their escape from Beifeng Town. Because if they revealed any personal divine power, they would be targeted, leading to endless, grueling battles until their demise…

Left with no other choice, he came up with a clever idea: to impersonate the monks guarding the city and sneak out of the city while the monks reinforced the city gates.

Previously, each of the four city gates of Beifeng Town was guarded by 150 monk soldiers on night watch. Sixty were stationed inside the city, and sixty more were stationed at the outer gates to monitor movements and enemy activity. There were also thirty on the city towers, but these were mostly monk soldiers' leaders who could slack off and sleep. However, the situation in Beifeng Town is now extremely tense, so Niu Dali has added 850 monk soldiers to each of the four locations. That is to say, each city gate is now guarded by a thousand-man battalion of monk soldiers.

The thousand-man battalion was divided into three large teams, each with more than three hundred men. They took turns on duty every three hours. In addition, a vanguard camp was set up near the city gate for the monks on duty to rest.

Therefore, if Wang Tudou and his group wanted to sneak out, they would have to pretend to be the garrison monks guarding the city gates; otherwise, if they were locked inside, they wouldn't be able to get out either. And if it went on for too long, they would most likely be exposed.

To sneak out of the city in disguise, they needed to figure out which group of monk soldiers was responsible for guarding the city gates. Their team was able to obtain this information thanks to the seasoned gambler Yang Sanhai.

Aside from his official duties, Yang Sanhai practically gambled with all his might. When the officials in the inner court had free time, he'd gamble with this group; but if they were busy and couldn't form a group, he'd go to some unlicensed gambling dens outside. Most of the regulars at these dens were monk-soldiers, roughnecks from military backgrounds. Because the common people were now "people of a fallen nation," struggling even to eat, they had no interest in gambling.

He frequented illegal gambling dens and thus got to know many monk soldiers, including two squads of men guarding the outposts outside the south gate. These men were certainly not friends with Yang Sanhai, but they were all familiar faces, all birds of a feather who had lost everything.

Wang Tudou's plan for today was to have Yang Sanhai's familiar face come into play after the uproar in the city and the monks in the vanguard camp poured out and rushed to the city gate to reinforce the defenses.

He planned to intercept the minor official in charge of guarding the area outside the city halfway, then lure him away and kill him under the pretense that the monks' mansion had some good orders. Afterwards, Yang Sanhai would disguise himself as the minor official and bring eight more men to kill them all. This way, the squad could disguise themselves as guarding the monks outside the city and slip out unnoticed…

However, this requires precise timing and finesse. If a major commotion breaks out in Beifeng Town, the monks in the vanguard camp will be extremely nervous, possibly rushing to the city gates before they've even properly dressed. Therefore, Yang Sanhai, who set off ahead of time, must ensure he remains fully alert, constantly monitoring the vanguard camp's movements, and adapting to changing circumstances. He must handle the monks without causing a disturbance, dealing with them neither too early nor too late, and obtaining their identification tokens.

Moreover, this task absolutely had to be done by Yang Sanhai, because the other members of the squad didn't know the group of monk soldiers at all, they couldn't talk to each other, and there was absolutely no basis for trust between them, so naturally they couldn't stop the group from quickly reinforcing their defenses.

In the inner palace, in a quiet courtyard.

After Zhang Tan left, Wang Tudou took two items from the room before immediately walking outside.

"Captain, I'm back...!" Just then, Qin Heizi, riding on horseback, hurriedly walked in from outside the courtyard and whispered, "The illusionary traps we set up along the way are all done. The moment we step out of the city gate, we can use the teleportation array to leave. Once we reach Xihong City and meet the people from the Divine Monk's Mansion who are there to meet us, we'll be safe."

Wang Tudou looked at him with some surprise, then frowned and asked, "Why did you come back by yourself?"

"what!"

"Didn't he come back with you?" Wang Tudou asked again.

Who is it?!

"Huh?" Wang Tudou was stunned for a moment, then immediately raised his voice and asked, "He didn't come looking for you?!"

……

In Beifeng Town, less than two miles from the location of the Heavenly Prison, lies an empty house.

Liu Wei, leading dozens of his men dressed in black and all using disguise talismans, was patiently waiting.

A few days ago, just as he was about to let go of Yi Pu at the Embroidery Courtyard, he was poisoned by the gray-robed woman Bai Zhenzhen with several rare and incurable poisons. She also threatened him that if he didn't help rescue Wang Anquan's entire clan and control the Nanshan Illusion, he would definitely die from the poison, and even that insignificant little chicken would rot into dust.

For the past two days, Liu Wei had been secretly visiting renowned doctors in the city, hoping to find a way to cure the poison. But how could those "low-level doctors" possibly understand the various deadly poisons administered by Master Chu?! They shamelessly claimed that Lord Liu was in good health, had a good appetite, and was completely free of any ailments…

This awkward situation, where he couldn't even identify the specific poison, made Liu Wei completely give up any thought of resistance. He clearly realized in his heart that he had to "bow down and submit" to that evil divine spy.

Not cooperating means death; but cooperating would mean failing the kindness of Master Shinichi, the confused faith in my heart, and the boundless Buddhist light that the Tensho Temple casts over my head.

Finally, faced with this dilemma, he wholeheartedly chose to be true to himself...

Having finally made it this far, he had finally found a foothold in this vast migration area, so he absolutely did not want to die.

He had considered telling Lord Shinichi the truth about the gray-robed woman threatening him... but after hesitating for a long time, he chose to give up.

He figured that Master Zhenyi was probably helpless against the poison in his body, and wouldn't be able to detoxify him for at least three days. Even if he told him, he would still die.

Secondly, he carefully considered in his mind that the gray-robed woman's purpose was actually to rescue Wang Anquan's entire family and control the Nanshan Illusionary Realm; while Master Zhenyi's purpose was even simpler, which was to take something from Wang Anquan... In other words, what these two people wanted to do was not actually in conflict, and could be manipulated and reconciled.

So he came up with the most ingenious and perfect solution in the history of human civilization.

After coming up with this idea, Liu Wei once embraced a woman of the night in a private room of the Embroidery Courtyard and said with great seriousness, "I am simply a reincarnation of a strategist! My dear sister, really no one can survive in such a complicated situation and intrigue... unless he is the most outstanding member of the Liu family—Mr. Liu Wei."

The woman was deeply moved and blurted out, "Good brother, no one can keep someone else's Star Source forever, unless the person taking the money is his father."

"Snapped!"

Liu Wei slapped his buttocks, watching the flesh tremble: "You've got quite a knack for quick thinking! Come on, give this old man a handstand split for his amusement!"

Outside the monks' residence, countless divine spells and radiant light illuminated almost half the sky.

Outside the prison, Liu Wei waited for a full quarter of an hour before seeing the nearby night patrol soldiers rushing towards the Martial Monk's Mansion. The fighting there was too intense, and the leading patrol officer sensed something was wrong, fearing the mansion would be breached and Lord Niu would perish… so he had no choice but to lead his troops back to reinforce it.

"brush!"

Liu Wei drew his long sword, his sharp gaze fixed on the prison gates, and whispered, "Ranxiang, send the signal to the other brothers... Charge into the prison and fight the North Wind for Lord Zhenyi!!!"

"Hurrah!"

At this command, the dozens of cooks who were lying in ambush all stood up and made their way toward the main gate of the prison with grim expressions.

Before long, more than two hundred people gathered, and in no time at all, they arrived at the gate of the prison.

The military officers and jailers guarding the front yard stared at the group in shock, their feet instinctively taking a step back, their fear instantly showing.

The military officer, brandishing his steel saber, shouted, "Who are you, daring to trespass into the imperial prison?!"

Liu Wei thrust his sword forward, his aura as a fourth-rank martial artist suddenly surging, and he sneered, "Heh, wasn't Niu Dali always looking for Divine Court spies?! Little did he know, there are more than a hundred Divine Court spies in Beifeng Town!!! Since you're about to die, I might as well tell you, I am Hei Tiaotiao, the husband of Bai Zhenzhen from Qingcheng Mountain! Today, the fall of the Heavenly Prison is a sign that Beifeng will never exist!"

"Brothers, kill them all!!!"

"boom!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Wei smashed the main gate of the prison with a single slash, led his troops into the front yard, and captured only a group of second-rank prison guards, slaughtering them in a frenzy. He was incredibly fierce.

On a dark and windy night, endless flashes of swords and shadows surged within the prison, turning it into a sea of ​​blood in an instant.

Since the monk soldiers around the prison had returned to reinforce, and Liu Wei had brought high-ranking veterans who had followed him for many years, the elite of the elite, the outer perimeter of the prison was cleared in less than a quarter of an hour... However, during the battle, he deliberately released the military officer who had just asked questions at the gate.

As the saying goes, a defeated army collapses like a mountain, let alone... just a group of jailers guarding one place?