Chapter 114

Dai Li called Hu Bao over and asked about the situation at the time.

Hu Bao answered truthfully, "Madam Dai, I am actually not very clear on the specific details. Initially, I received a message from the Third Young Master's attendant, asking me to bring men for support. When I followed him to a small noodle stall, we met a city guard who pointed the way. This happened one after another until we finally arrived at a small cabin. But before I could even enter, I suddenly heard a loud explosion."

When Hu Bao mentioned the loud explosion, both Dai Li and Qin Shaozong froze for a moment.

They both coincidentally thought of the booming sound from not long ago.

Hu Bao continued, "At first, I thought it was an earthquake, but then I saw flames shooting up into the sky not far away, so I knew my guess was wrong. I immediately led my men quickly inside. There was a secret passage in that cabin, and part of it had collapsed. Young Master Qin and the others were trapped inside at the time."

For a moment, Dai Li thought it was explosives.

But as soon as this guess formed, she denied it.

The Sui Dynasty established the gunpowder system, and gunpowder only officially appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi wrote in his poem New Year's Eve, "After the fire dies and the lamps go out at dawn, I will be an ordinary man of sixty." The phrase "fire dies and lamps go out" here refers to the firecrackers finishing and the lanterns burning out.

It wasn't until the Song Dynasty that gunpowder began to be widely used in the military, with the government taking the lead in building gunpowder workshops and creating a batch of firearms like cannons and rockets.

No matter how much the butterfly effect changed things, the timeline was far from reaching that point.

Besides, if the Green Lotus Sect really possessed such a weapon of mass destruction as explosives, why would they hide? Wouldn't it be easier to just send people to infiltrate the mansions of the major warlords and throw explosives inside to blow them all to death?

Dai Li furrowed her delicate brows in thought but couldn't figure out the reason.

Just then, two horses galloped closer outside. One of the riders was actually Shi Rongyue.

Shi Rongyue reined in her horse at the courtyard gate and dismounted on her own without anyone's help.

The young lady, who had been bright and beautiful when she left, now had a crooked hair bun with a jade hairpin dangling precariously. A few strands of black hair hung down from her temples, brushing across her small, dirty, ash-covered face.

Not only was she covered in dirt, but the hem of her skirt was also torn in many places by gravel or something else, and its bright colors were obscured by dust.

Seeing Qin Shaozong and Dai Li in the courtyard, Shi Rongyue was visibly stunned for a moment, looking dazed, but she quickly recovered and bowed to them.

"Second Uncle, Madam Dai."

Her movements were standard; if one didn't look at her attire, there was absolutely nothing discourteous about her.

Dai Li was still thinking about the gunpowder. Now, seeing Shi Rongyue in such a sorry state, she knew she must have been at the scene, so she immediately called her by her pet name to come over. "Rongrong, you were there, right? Tell me what happened then."

Shi Rongyue started from when Qin Yanzhou first saw Fan Muqi.

She recounted how they chased her and followed her into a seemingly abandoned house that had a secret passage; she also repeated Fan Muqi's words.

"...My little cousin and I suggested she come with us to the mansion to see you. She seemed persuaded and gave up on using traps to kill Young Master Qin. Later, Young Master Qin asked her if Diting had come to Yuyang and where he was now. Lady Fan said he was originally in the bookstore but left later. However, through the secret passage in that house, one could reach another place. She also said there were traces of another minor leader there, whose status in the sect was on par with Diting," she recalled.

Hearing the word "bookstore," Qin Shaozong raised his voice and called over Hu Bao, who hadn't left yet. "Lead a squad of soldiers and immediately control all the bookstores in the county, as well as the places Qin Yanzhou paid attention to earlier. Lock down the city early today; only entry is allowed, no exit."

Pausing slightly, Qin Shaozong added, "Send another squad to the large and small inns in the county, and keep a close eye on the travelers who settled there this afternoon."

Hu Bao cupped his hands in obedience.

Dai Li thought of Ding Lianxi saying her son was crushed by a heavy object, guessing that after they entered the passage, it collapsed, causing the Chidan poison in her son's body to accelerate its rampage.

But, the passage collapsed?

If the passage was visibly unreliable, Zhouzhou and the others would never have risked entering. So that passage must have been very sturdy initially. But if explosives hadn't appeared yet, what could have blown the passage into a collapse?

"What did you encounter in the passage?" Dai Li asked with a frown.

Speaking of this, Shi Rongyue was still confused. "We went down the stone steps. That passage was equipped with many small bronze mirrors for lighting. By the light of the mirrors, we could barely see our surroundings. The passage was shaped like a funnel, narrow at first and then wide. Later, I saw many empty wooden shelves, all covered in dust, who knows how long they hadn't been moved."

Dai Li's red lips pressed tightly together.

Bronze mirrors for lighting, wooden shelves in the room, these all sounded very ordinary...

"Besides the wooden shelves, there were many small open jars on the floor. In the center, there was a table and chairs, and on the table sat a coiled dragon lamp." Shi Rongyue carefully described the rotating scenes on the coiled dragon lamp.

"Did you see clearly what was inside the small jars?" Qin Shaozong asked.

"It looked like some white stuff, but I didn't pay special attention to what exactly it was. I was focused on looking at the lamp at the time." Shi Rongyue felt a bit ashamed.

"...Not long after seeing this coiled dragon lamp, for some reason, Young Master Qin suddenly grabbed me and my little cousin, turned around, and ran. Later, just as he threw us forward, there was a huge noise from behind. A stone slab from the ceiling collapsed. Fortunately, we had reached the corner by then, and the stone slab tilted into a small angle, which gave us a breathing space."

Dai Li was terrified hearing this.

Qin Shaozong also furrowed his long brows. "You didn't see anyone else in the passage?"

Shi Rongyue shook her head. "No. At that time, besides that Lady Fan, only me, Young Master Qin, and my little cousin were there."

A blurry image suddenly popped into her mind, and Shi Rongyue hurriedly said, "Right, when I was pulled away by Young Master Qin and turned around, I seemed to see that coiled dragon lamp slowly rising into the air. However, I don't know if my eyes played tricks on me. We'll have to wait for my little cousin to come back and ask him."

At that time, after rescuing Young Master Qin, her little cousin immediately sent him back to the mansion for medical treatment. Later, feeling that the place was dangerous and there might be remnants of the Green Lotus Sect, he told her to go back first while he stayed there to continue leading the troops in the excavation.

"The lamp rose into the air?" Dai Li muttered.

Suddenly she shuddered. "Wait, Rongrong, when you say it slowly rose into the air, do you mean the whole lamp rose, or just the lampshade?"

Shi Rongyue's small face scrunched up. "It seems... not the whole thing! Yes, just the lampshade rose, because the scenes on the coiled dragon lamp became incomplete, leaving only a small half."

That scene was too bizarre. If Shi Rongyue hadn't been influenced by her mother since childhood and didn't really believe in supernatural things, she would have thought she encountered a monster.

Dai Li closed her eyes, and tiny nodes were connected by invisible threads. "It was a dust explosion. You encountered a dust explosion. If I am not mistaken, there must have been wind blowing into the passage at that time."

Shi Rongyue's pupils contracted slightly. "Yes, there was indeed a gust of wind blowing from behind. At the time, I even wondered why there would be wind underground. But why would a passing breeze cause the room to boom so loudly that even the stone slabs on the ceiling fell?"

It was just a gust of wind, after all. The impact was simply too massive.

Qin Shaozong was also looking at Dai Li. "Madam, what is a dust explosion?"

"A dust explosion occurs when combustible dust floats in a relatively enclosed space. When this dust encounters an open flame, the local temperature sharply rises, triggering an explosion. Rongrong, the white powder you saw earlier stored in small jars was actually flour," Dai Li explained.

The limited space of the room satisfied the condition of being relatively enclosed. When the lampshade of the coiled dragon lamp was lifted, an open flame appeared.

At the same time, wind was blown into the room. With all these conditions perfectly met, it would indeed trigger a dust explosion.

Shi Rongyue listened in a daze; this was an area she had never encountered before.

Hearing Dai Li's words, Qin Shaozong suddenly recalled a past event.

Six years ago, several incidents of "divine miracles" occurred in Jingzhou. Initially, members of the Qinglian Sect publicly declared that certain places had fallen out of the deities' favor, and that the gods would release earth dragons to punish those areas.

At first, not everyone believed it. That was until the "earth dragon" turned over at a specific location, precisely destroying houses while swallowing several people whole.

After the incident, the commoners were in an uproar, and the elites paled in fear.

At the time, he only thought the rumors were grossly exaggerated. After all, such things had happened frequently in the past, whether it was insects eating leaves to form characters, or fox cries coming from bonfires, all were meticulously orchestrated schemes designed to build momentum for those seeking power.

Therefore, when he heard of those "divine miracles," he merely assumed they had deliberately found some dilapidated houses so the subsequent "earth dragon" could appear smoothly.

But looking back now, that was not the case at all. That so-called precise "divine punishment" was most likely the dust explosion his wife had just described.

"This Qinglian Sect is full of tricks. If one doesn't understand the underlying mechanics, it's incredibly easy to be deceived," Qin Shaozong clicked his tongue softly.

Dai Li remembered that Shi Rongyue and Qin Qinian had been pulled away. She asked about Fan Muqi, "What about the young lady from the Fan family? Is she still alive?"

Shi Rongyue shook her head, saying she didn't know. "When my little cousin told me to come back, I hadn't seen her dug out yet."

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Following the earlier cave-in, this secret passage had seen the light of day again. No, it couldn't exactly be called seeing the light of day, the ceiling above had collapsed, crushing and compressing more than half of the space below.

Fearing a second collapse, everyone moved to the very top to dig through the dirt.

A dirt-streaked Qin Qinian also moved up to direct the efforts. "We can move the small stones, so clear those first. Go find more wooden buckets and shovels; it'll be easier to carry the small rocks in buckets."

The soldiers received their orders and went.

By the time they returned with the tools, the excavation progress had noticeably sped up.

The entire area had been cordoned off, but some curious commoners still gathered around to watch.

"Isn't this Old Li's house? How did it collapse?"

"Probably because it's been empty for too long. I remember Old Li took his wife and children south over two months ago. When a house is left unoccupied, problems are bound to happen."

The soldiers waved them away. "Go back to your homes. Don't gather here."

...

In the blink of an eye, over two hours had passed.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Third Young Master, we can see the young lady's dress hem!"

Qin Qinian, who had just picked up his waterskin for a drink, felt a jolt of energy. Holding the waterskin, he hurried over. Indeed, amidst a pile of rubble not far away, a patch of aqua-blue fabric was visible. He led his men to move the rocks. As soon as the first slightly larger stone was shifted away, Qin Qinian saw bloodstains.

He paused for a second before digging even more frantically. "Hey, how are you doing? Are you still alive?"

"I'm... doing okay."

Hearing her response, Qin Qinian worked with even more vigor. As he continued to clear the stones with his men, he kept talking to Fan Muqi. "After this ordeal, you should finally believe that there are no good people in the Qinglian Sect. They were just using you as a pawn, exploiting you. If it weren't for our good luck, we really would have died here today. By the way, the bookstore you mentioned earlier, which specific bookstore is it?"

"The Laimo Bookstore in the west of the city," the voice from underneath replied weakly, though slightly better than at first.

Qin Qinian asked again, "Do they only have one hideout? Besides that bookstore in the west, where else have you gone with them?"

"I was arranged to stay at the bookstore. Diting and White Elephant have a different residence. However..." At this point, the person underneath coughed twice. The sound made Qin Qinian's heart leap into his throat, terrified she might suddenly die before finishing her sentence.

"However what?" the young man pressed.

"They took a donkey cart every time they came. Twice, I noticed a few osmanthus petals stuck to the cart's wheels. There must be osmanthus trees near where they live. Also..."

Her voice unexpectedly grew louder. "Once, I needed to find them. The servant was ordered to pass on the message, and about half an hour later, I saw White Elephant. They must live not far from the bookstore!"

After clearing away some of the surrounding stones, Qin Qinian finally saw clearly that Fan Muqi was pinned down by a rather large stone slab.

The slab had missed her head and was only crushing her from the waist down.

"You guys lift from over there, and I'll lift from this side with them," Qin Qinian ordered. He then turned to Fan Muqi. "Hold on just a little longer. Once you're out, I'll take you to get treated. Then you can tell me more inside information."

They were all strong, able-bodied elites, and they had tools on hand. Soon, the heavy stone slab pinning Fan Muqi was slowly shifted away.

Overjoyed, Qin Qinian was about to speak when he saw Fan Muqi suddenly vomit a mouthful of blood. The young girl, who had seemed so spirited just moments ago, now withered rapidly like a dying flower.

Qin Qinian froze in place. "Wh-what's wrong with you?"

Hu Bao, who had returned later, was also present.

He had followed Qin Shaozong onto the battlefield far more times than Qin Qinian had. He remembered one instance after a siege where, perhaps due to the city wall's long-standing disrepair, a small-scale collapse occurred, burying several soldiers who happened to be right below it.

Captives held value, so naturally, once everything settled down, they had to be rescued.

However, the men who had still been able to answer back died within a very short time after the heavy stone slabs were lifted off them.

Later, Hu Bao learned from Mr. Ding that blocked blood circulation could cause internal organs to undergo necrosis, which was no different from severe internal injuries.

"Third Young Master, I'm afraid she won't survive," Hu Bao said.