Yuan Hong was stunned and hurried over to the man who had just arrived.
The others quickly followed to see what was going on, surrounding the man in an instant.
Seeing that the newcomer was covered in blood, Yuan Hong immediately demanded,
"Explain it clearly. What exactly happened?"
The man replied, "It was like this: tonight we were guarding the prison as usual when a group of people suddenly forced their way in. There were too many of them. We tried our best to block them at the entrance, but one of them was incredibly strong—we can barely hold him back. My lord, please send reinforcements quickly. If you come any later, I'm afraid all the prisoners will be rescued."
Yuan Hong instantly connected this report with what had happened earlier that day. He spun around and glared murderously at Qin Fen.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Qin Fen felt his heart sink. He instinctively stepped back, his voice trembling as he stammered,
"I… I don't know."
But Yuan Hong advanced on him one step at a time, his eyes filled with killing intent.
"You don't know? Weren't you colluding with them to rescue the captives?"
Though worded as a question, his tone made it clear he had already found Qin Fen guilty.
"My lord, you think I betrayed you? Even if I had ten times my current courage, I wouldn't dare!"
"You've got some nerve saying that. How many people have you already sold out? A fence-sitter like you is capable of anything. If I keep you by my side, it's only a matter of time before you harm me. Better to get rid of you now."
Qin Fen was horrified. He opened his mouth to defend himself—but not a single word came out.
All at once, breathing became nearly impossible. No matter how wide he opened his mouth, no matter how desperately he tried to draw in air, it was useless.
The lack of oxygen scrambled his thoughts. He clutched at his own throat with both hands, as if that could somehow change anything.
As the seconds dragged by, Qin Fen's face turned a ghastly bluish color. His eyes rolled upward, and his entire body convulsed in agony.
Then, suddenly, the convulsions stopped. His body crashed to the ground with a dull thud and lay there motionless.
Such was the terror of the slave contract. If the contract holder wished, he could grant the contracted a painless death—or make them suffer unspeakable torment before the end.
Seeing the twisted expression frozen on the corpse's face, not a single onlooker felt any sympathy. Everyone wore indifferent expressions, as if this had nothing to do with them. They had never thought much of Qin Fen in the first place.
Yuan Hong only looked down at him with contempt. He regretted ever trusting this man and letting himself fall into the enemy's scheme because of it.
Yuan Hong raised his voice.
"Listen up, all of you! You're coming with me to stop the rebels from breaking the prisoners out!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Every cultivator in the City Lord's estate rose into the air with Yuan Hong, flying toward the prison.
The distance between the estate and the prison was only a few kilometers. Flying at full speed, they would arrive very quickly.
Things should have gone smoothly—but something unexpected happened along the way.
Two groups of enemies were lying in ambush along their route, hidden in the darkness and throwing concealed weapons at the cultivators streaking through the sky.
Their minds were focused entirely on reaching the prison as fast as possible; none of them had prepared for such a sudden ambush.
Many were struck by the hidden weapons. Some, less fortunate, were hit in vital spots and plunged from the sky, smashing into the stone-paved streets below and turning into mangled heaps of flesh.
Realizing they were under attack, everyone instinctively halted in midair, trying to locate where the enemy was hiding. They had no idea this brief pause would cost them so dearly.
Suddenly, Yuan Hong sensed a powerful surge of spiritual energy converging at a point on the ground.
His heart lurched. He shouted to those around him,
"Watch out!"
But it was already too late.
A massive pillar of fire erupted from the ground, roaring upward toward the cultivators hovering in the air.
Because Yuan Hong had sensed something wrong a heartbeat earlier, he managed to throw up a spiritual defense in time. His subordinates, however, were not so lucky.
They had been flying in a tight formation, packed closely together. In a single blast, at least half of them were engulfed by the fire pillar.
The blazing light illuminated everyone nearby. Those who hadn't been hit all stared in horror. The scale of that pillar of fire was simply overwhelming—anyone caught in it was doomed.
When the pillar finally vanished, hundreds of charred corpses were left behind, still trailing wisps of smoke as they fell from the sky and tumbled to the ground.
Of all those struck by the attack, only Yuan Hong survived.
As he recalled what had just happened and looked down at the scorched bodies, he couldn't help but feel a chill run through him. He had almost died as well.
He shifted his gaze toward the direction the pillar of fire had come from. The light was poor, and he couldn't clearly make out the figure there, but his instincts told him the man standing in that spot was Lie Feng.
Seeing the devastation he'd wrought, Lie Feng couldn't help silently admiring Ji Wushi's strategy.
He remembered how Ji Wushi had laid everything out earlier when the few of them had been sitting together.
"Since your plan is to use Qin Fen to mislead Yuan Hong, we'll build our strategy around that. First, we let them believe your real target is the City Lord's estate, so they concentrate their forces there. That way, we can seize the opportunity to rescue the prisoners. With all their attention focused elsewhere, we'll be able to take the prison in one swift move; they don't have many guards there.
"After that, we send someone disguised as a prison guard to inform Yuan Hong that we're all at the prison."
Curious, Lie Feng had asked, "Why inform him? Shouldn't we get the prisoners safely out first?"
Ji Wushi had smiled.
"They've been imprisoned and tortured for days. Their injuries won't be light. Escorting a large group of wounded people out safely won't be easy.
"Besides, once Yuan Hong learns the prison has fallen, he'll definitely rush over with the main force he gathered at the estate. All we have to do is lay an ambush along the route, and we'll be able to cripple Zhongzhou's troops. Lie Feng, that's where you come in."
"You want me to face all of them by myself?"
"Hah, of course not. Once Yuan Hong reacts, his men will be in a panic, rushing to the prison like a swarm of bees. I remember that large-scale spell you used at the Zhongzhou Tournament. Its power is tremendous, but under normal conditions it's difficult to kill many people with it.
"But if we let them bunch up like this and you hit them at the perfect moment, I won't claim you'll wipe them all out—but I guarantee their forces will be devastated.
"In other words, we gather them together, and you wipe them out."
"That's right. We'll create the opening for you. And I can guarantee Yuan Hong won't be able to leave Zhongzhou City."
Now, looking over the field of charred corpses, Lie Feng thought that under normal circumstances, even with a spell of this scale and power, killing a dozen people would already be impressive—after all, no one in their right mind would just stand there and serve as a living target.
He had never imagined that with just a small adjustment from Ji Wushi, the spell could unleash such terrifying results.
Since everything so far had unfolded exactly as Ji Wushi predicted, there was no need to worry about what came next.
With that thought, Lie Feng slowly rose into the air, his sharp gaze locking onto Yuan Hong.
At this moment, Yuan Hong stared at the scene in disbelief. The range of Lie Feng's attack just now was at least twice as large as what he had unleashed at the Zhongzhou Tournament, and the resulting casualties were horrifying.
He glanced around. The troops he'd brought with him had already been reduced by at least half.
Realizing he had been tricked from the very start and led around by the nose all this way, his whole body trembled with rage.
He ground his teeth and snarled,
"Well now, you little brat, you sure know how to surprise me. Let's just hope you don't tuck your tail and run like a coward this time."
Lie Feng replied coldly,
"Since I'm here… I'm not going anywhere."