I Can See Your Combat Power
Chapter 1661: One hundred - s: Smooth sailing

Chapter 1661: One hundred Chapters: Smooth sailing

Shi Sanke was unable to answer Fu Yuanshan’s question.

For someone of his origin as a loose cultivator, living life as a village tyrant, a strongman in a town or county, or relying on a master, or opening a third-rate martial arts hall would have sufficed to settle his life.

But ever since Shi Sanke set foot on the path of cultivation, his heart harbored a fierce tiger, longing to ascend to new heights, yearning to roar defiantly.

This fierce tiger, nourished by hardships and pleasures, eventually fermenting during the courses at Unparalleled Academy, grew stronger with each breakthrough in his realm, giving Shi Sanke a sense of newfound enlightenment in life.

No longer willing to see clans lord over all, the graduates of Unparalleled City who were loose cultivators became the perfect targets for recruitment; hence, the Unparalleled Collegium Alliance came into being.

For its members, it was a loose alliance of classmates helping each other, resisting the oppression of the noble families; but for Shi Sanke, who coordinated it all, the association was his greatest aid in climbing the social ladder.

In just half a month, among the dozens of actions against the noble families of Yancang, several were truly against oppression, but many more were for Shi Sanke’s own pursuit of resources and slaughtering of the noble families.

The arrest operations of the Dutian Heavenly King were justifiable both morally and rationally, but people were accustomed to sympathizing with the underdog, and more accustomed to viewing enforcers like the Heavenly King’s hawk dogs with malice. Currently, every piece of intelligence reported by Wind Media across Xiehe favored the Unparalleled Collegium Alliance, which was unexpected to Shi Sanke.

Riding on this public sentiment, Shi Sanke felt that his struggle was not yet over. Once he managed to break his injured friend out of prison, he would surely incur his gratitude, and the loose alliance would then transform into a tight-knit one rallying around him.

As the news of the prison break spread, his name, Shi Sanke, would become known throughout Xiehe, and with fame, whatever he wished to do next would be as easy as a fish swimming in water.

This was his unique challenge and opportunity. If the matter were to reach Unparalleled City and provoke the intervention of his masters, he would lose his leadership as the initiator. What’s more, if the Heavenly King revealed the suppressed information, the situation might turn against him.

Therefore, he had to race against time to rescue his friends from prison right away. Afterwards, even if the Heavenly King leaked everything the association had done, others would only see it as a smear campaign in a fit of embarrassment and revenge, which would not affect his reputation.

He was only one step away from success now; how could he divulge this to Unparalleled City!?

"Since ancient times, disciples have served their masters; there’s no reason for masters to wipe their students’ asses."

Shi Sanke said solemnly to Fu Yuanshan: "Besides, with an unending stream of disciples heading to Red Cloud Mountain to study, how can we bother the academy head with such trivial matters!"

"Chairman Shi is absolutely correct. If the local clans hadn’t pressured us excessively due to the reflection of their broken mirror, why would the association have had frequent conflicts with the noble families? The Heavenly King claims to uphold stability in Xiehe, yet he pins all the blame on the association, which is truly despicable!"

Lu Zhongyan clearly didn’t understand the insider details of the association’s numerous fights, and remained indignant about the Heavenly King’s targeting.

Shi Sanke was pleased to hear this and went along with him, saying: "The Heavenly King is nothing but a hound dog for the Three Realms Holy Land, happy only when noble families enjoy eternal wealth, and most fearful of the sudden rise of loose cultivators. Isn’t his targeting evidence that our alliance has already threatened the status of the noble families?

Today, our jailbreak is for the justice of loose cultivators, for the spirit of martial artists who refuse to be subjugated; if we fail and die, so be it, but we must not let this affect the academy’s normal teaching!"

A true man has his convictions and knows what he must and must not do. Shi Sanke’s words stirred passion and fighting spirit within them.

"I pledge to join the Chairman in drawing the sword for justice and righteousness in Xiehe!"

"I share the same sentiment!"

With Lu Zhongyan and Fu Yuanshan’s solemn agreements, the morale of the prison break team had already united.

Several of them hid in the dense forest a few miles outside Luyang City, concealing their presence and resting, quietly waiting for the right moment.

The patrols within the prison went about as usual, strolling around the large prison named after the city.

For over a hundred years, there had been no record of Luyang City being attacked; after all, the world knew that the Dutian Heavenly King Patrol belonged to the Wind Media Organization of the Three Realms Holy Land, adept at discovering secrets and tracking without leaving any stone unturned.

Breaking into the prison was easy, but the only way out after a prison break was likely to drift on the sea as fish people or hide in the lightless underground.

This cost would make anyone contemplating a prison break weigh whether it was worth losing everything to rescue a prisoner who may have already become demented.

The wide-open gates were not due to slackness, but confidence. Although Luyang City was a large prison, it only held prisoners of ordinary rank, and to pull off a prison break, one had to be from a family of at least a medium-sized noble status.

Yet which noble family would be willing to give up everything they had and offend the Dutian Heavenly King Patrol?

The most crucial display of higher intelligence is to follow experience and rules, so even though Luyang City was now the largest prison in Xiehe, the Dutian Heavenly King Patrol still had no intention of appointing additional hands.

This greatly facilitated Shi Sanke and the others’ actions; timing the departure of the third patrol team from the watchtower, the three of them stealthily approached Luyang City undetected amidst the clouds.

They were already leaders within the Mortal Realm, and although the secret techniques and divine powers of the Mysterious State might be rare, when it came to methods of the Mortal Realm, they were indeed varied and intricate.

With the presence of a soul, some Yellow Rank secret techniques were cleverly manipulated. Several wisps of purple smoke that entwined around the tower were like spiraling serpents, causing the guards who were watching the tower to stiffen and collapse to the ground without even having a chance to react.

Successful in avoiding the patrols and incapacitating the guards who could give an early warning, the smooth progress of the plan made Shi Sanke feel as if fortune was on his side at this moment.

"Brother Lu is of similar build to this guard, put on his clothes first and stand outside the door. If the patrol returns or there’s any disturbance in the prison, immediately sound the alert!"

After briefly instructing Lu Zhongyan, Chairman Shi led his men to open the main door of the watchtower and rushed inside.

The watchtower, devoid of lamps, was extremely dim on the first floor, and the stinging smell of blood was somewhat intoxicating. Several Fierce Realm warriors glanced towards the dozens of stone chambers in the dim light of the first floor.

Most prisoners locked in the stone chambers were suspended in midair, pierced by numerous iron chains nailed into the walls, unable to sit or lie down.

The "drip-drip" sound was the dark red of blood pooling on the ground, striking and pungent.

Disheveled and in tattered clothes, whether eyes closed or open, their faces only showed numbness.

Killing someone doesn’t require a complete breakdown, but such intense torture was something the people present had never encountered before; their minds greatly disturbed, their steps halted at the door, unable to move forward.

Only Shi Sanke, who firmly remembered the mission, was not overly emotional due to the horrific state of the prisoners. After quickly inspecting the stone prison cells on the first floor, he hurriedly signaled to the others, "He’s not here, let’s go up quickly."

Like receiving an amnesty, the relieved group heard his words, and with heads down, they hastened through the first floor of the dark and damp watchtower.