Semua Bab Heir of the Sacred Dragon Sword : Bab 11 - Bab 20

The Quzhou royal prison was divided into two main sections: the aboveground and the subterranean. Conditions above ground were markedly better than those below. There, prisoners were treated, if one could call it that, with a sliver of humanity.The underground, by contrast, held those condemned for the gravest offenses: murder, treason, and the like. For that reason the members of the White Tiger Sect had been thrown into the depths.The dungeon stank of stale air and darkness; a handful of torches fought the gloom like dying fireflies. Each cell was a cramped coffin of stone, crammed with at least five bodies. Food was dispensed only twice a day, and even then it was meager. One bowl of porridge was often alloted for an entire cell, set outside the bars so the inmates had to spoon it through iron like animals at a trough.“Eat up! Tomorrow you’ll start working! Don’t drop dead on the job!” the head jailer barked as his men shoved rations in front of the cell. Not a single prisoner s

“Move aside! Don’t help him! Let him get up on his own!” a guard barked under the blazing sun. Several nearby slaves paused in their work before the warning from another sentry drove them back to it.The female guard who had been shoved by a colleague when she tried to assist a fallen slave frowned. Unafraid, she called out, “Cao Yunding, can’t you see? He’s old and his leg is injured.”Cao Yunding was the same guard who had kicked a member of the White Tiger Sect while they were being led toward the palace. He had also been the first to strike the slaves when no one answered Chen Long’s questions in the prison yard.“Shut up! Don’t you know who he is? He’s Feng Yin, elder of the White Tiger Sect. He refused Emperor Huang’s kindness. Now let him rise by his pride!”The woman clenched her fist at Cao Yunding’s cruelty, then walked away, glancing back now and then to see whether the old man, his leg bleeding from a crushing stone, had managed to stand.“Get up! Weakling!” Cao Yunding je

“What happened?”“I heard some guards say they found a corpse near the fort construction.”“Really? Whose body?”“I’m not sure. But it seems to be a guard.”This morning the prisoners of Quzhou Palace were thrown into a hush by word of a guard found slaughtered in gruesome circumstances. Though there were no blade cuts to mark the body, it was obvious the man had been murdered. The question hung in the air: who could have done it?From how the killer had snapped the guard’s bones, it was clear the perpetrator was a formidable martial artist. More troubling still: the dead man was not a common sentry but a senior guard who commanded several others.“Silence!” a guard shouted, smashing iron against iron until the clamor split the enclosed prison yard. The prisoners immediately fell quiet, lest their tongues be silenced forever.Before them Chen Long stood tall, glaring like a beast. His brows knitted and his jaw jutted, making him look harsher than usual. “Today, Cao Yunding was found m

“Brother Jian…” Chen Yufei whispered anxiously when Xiu Zhangjian was flung backward by Chen Long’s powerful shove.Hearing his niece address a slave so intimately, Chen Long’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He immediately yanked Chen Yufei’s hand so she wouldn’t approach Xiu Zhangjian again.“You two, teach this boy a lesson, then drag him back to his workplace!”“Yes, Sir!”The two guards promptly grabbed Xiu Zhangjian and took him away from the weapon-forging area.Knowing exactly where they were taking him, Chen Yufei could no longer hide her worry. For a moment, she regretted deeply that she had dragged him into trouble.“Uncle, please spare him. This is all my fault…”She never expected that simply getting close to Xiu Zhangjian would infuriate her uncle this much. It wasn’t the first time she had teased a handsome prisoner. Normally, Chen Long would just let her “have fun”. After all, Chen Yufei had never gone beyond the line.So why was it different this time?Chen L

Xiu Zhangjian fixed his gaze on a grand crimson–painted mansion surrounded by towering iron fences, just as Li Min had described. Though the fence was tall with razor–sharp spikes at its peak, the young man still forced himself to leap over it. 'That was close,' he exhaled silently in relief after landing safely inside the estate.“Who’s there?!” a guard shouted the moment he heard the sound of Xiu Zhangjian hitting the ground. The guard raised a torch and said to his companion, “I’ll go check it out.”Pressed against the trunk of an agarwood tree, Xiu Zhangjian watched the dim light draw nearer… until he realized the guard was standing right beside the tree.Peeking forward, he saw the guard crouching, fingers brushing the soil where he had landed. 'No choice… he has to die,' Xiu Zhangjian thought grimly.He slowly drew his sword and stepped forward. But as fate would mock him, his foot pressed down on a tiny branch. Though the sound was faint, it was enough. The guard’s head snapped