Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 301 Mechanism
Gu Jingnian could feel a buzzing sound coming from beneath his feet, and the entire city of Jusai was swaying slightly.

Although the shaking was slight, its range was extremely wide, making him feel as if it were the power of the sun, moon, stars, rivers, mountains, and rivers.

"What is this?" Gu Jingnian asked.

Shen Jichi said, "You said that Jusai City belongs to the Gu family, but you don't even know this secret?"

"explain."

The fiery wings scorched Shen Jichi, causing him immense pain, yet he remained calm, seemingly unconcerned, and spoke with considerable sincerity.

As he and Yu Moxian had said, the purpose of building Jusai City at the beginning was to refine a large number of superhumans and use black neodymium to suppress their abilities, thus creating a cage to capture them.

The underground refining site is a huge furnace.

"Refining furnace?"

Gu Jingnian quickly caught the flaw in Shen Jichi's words and sneered, "Your methods of refining superhumans are nothing more than raising snakes and exchanging blood. When have you ever needed a furnace?"

Shen Jichi said, "That's because you don't understand us at all. Do you think those red pills can only be made in the Realm? What was Zhao Boheng making before?"

Gu Jingnian frowned and thought for a moment, realizing that although the red pills Zhao Boheng originally refined were not as effective, they were based on the same method as those in the realm.

"In other words, you already knew how to make elixirs long before you established Jusai City."

“Even earlier,” Shen Jichi said. “This alchemy method existed long before the destruction of the Yue Kingdom. Compared to the methods of raising snakes and exchanging blood, this technique is many times more advanced, yet it is difficult to obtain easily. It is not that we know it, but that someone else does.”

"Who?"

Seeing that Shen Jichi was cooperating so well in confessing, Gu Jingnian stopped burning him with his fire wings.

Shen Jichi then countered with the question, "Who is Zhao Boheng's master?"

"Master Xuandao?" Gu Jingnian said, "So this alchemy method originated from Master Xuandao?"

“That’s right,” Shen Jichi said. “Back then, so many famous generals of Yue were imprisoned in the furnace of Dragon Ridge City and refined in one fell swoop.”

Gu Jingnian could imagine how terrifyingly powerful Emperor Rui would become if this alchemy method could preserve most of the strength of the extraordinary individuals.

But he still had doubts and asked, "When you destroyed the Yue Kingdom, Shi Xuandao had already died at the hands of the Undying Army, hadn't he?"

"In fact, before the fall of Yue, he was in charge of dealing with all the prisoners. Until the very last moment, he went to the Yue capital to capture the King of Yue and the Immortal Army, but he was defeated by Qiu Funan... who is your mother."

"Is my mother... very strong?"

“Yes, she is very strong,” Shen Jichi said. “The reason we were able to defeat her is because she was severely injured in her battle with Shi Xuandao and was very weak.”

"Can healers also get injured?"

“Of course,” Shen Jichi said. “You also suffered an injury that took a long time to heal, didn’t you? Your mother’s injury was much more serious.”

Gu Jingnian asked a few more questions, but did not find anything wrong with Shen Jichi's statement about the furnace.

Finally, Gu Jingnian said, "Stop it."

"Are you sure?" Shen Jichi said, "You should know that the group of extraordinary people imprisoned inside are the ones that Yong Kingdom offered as tribute. They harbor resentment towards you. If you refine them, your strength will be greatly enhanced."

"Stop it."

"Are you being sentimental again?" Shen Jichi said. "Have you forgotten what I told you? To destroy the powerful, you have to use any means necessary."

Before he could finish speaking, Gu Jingnian's fire wing suddenly grabbed his throat tightly, making it impossible for him to breathe. His face turned purple, and no matter how much he struggled, it was to no avail. All he could see were Gu Jingnian's fierce eyes.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Finally, Shen Jichi felt a release in his throat and was able to breathe again.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to,” Gu Jingnian said. “Those superhumans have different abilities than me. Training them is useless and will only invite retaliation from Yong Kingdom, leaving Jusai City vulnerable to attacks from both sides and unable to continue. I will become stronger and will stop at nothing to achieve my goals, but I will not listen to your instigation.”

"He truly deserves to be the son-in-law I chose."

Although Shen Jichi hadn't caught his breath yet, he let out a lighthearted laugh.

He recounted a long story from decades ago to gain Gu Jingnian's trust, indeed to seduce Gu Jingnian into refining the Yong Kingdom princess, provoking conflict so that he could act according to circumstances.

Now that his efforts have been exposed, he shows no embarrassment, his smile is hearty, as if it were just a test.

"Stop now. Controlling this furnace mainly involves several mechanisms, which I will demonstrate to you."

Shen Jichi spoke calmly, telling Gu Jingnian to put him down, and then said, "The mechanisms are distributed throughout the Marshal's Mansion. Let's go." After saying that, he took a deep breath without making a sound, and felt that the scent of incense in the air had faded considerably.

For him, this might not be a bad thing. Since he was already poisoned and unable to use his supernatural abilities, once the fragrance dissipated, Gu Jingnian would also be unable to use them, which would be his chance to escape.

Shen Jichi did not delay noticeably and quickly found a mechanism, saying, "Push this stone in forcefully."

Gu Jingnian reached out, but his first attempt failed. He had to flap his fire wings and use even more force than he could muster before he heard a "click" as he slowly pushed the stone into the wall.

The faint tremors beneath my feet subsided slightly.

"There are four more over there..."

"over there!"

Suddenly, shouts came from the direction of the Marshal's Mansion.

With the clanging of armor, a large troop of soldiers arrived, drew their bows and arrows, and surrounded Gu Jingnian.

Although there weren't many superhumans in the Xiaoyi Army, they had been fighting against them for many years and were quite experienced. Moreover, the army clearly had many rare treasures. Shields were erected one after another, and arrows pointed at Gu Jingnian like a forest.

"Eleventh Young Master, I am here on the orders of the Marshal to capture you and bring you back to report. Please do not make things difficult for me."

Gu Jingnian said, "Can your arrows hurt me?"

"Although it won't harm you, young master, this arrow is coated with an anesthetic intended for you. Please forgive me."

As the leading general spoke, he raised his hand to give the order to fire the arrows.

Gu Jingnian frowned slightly, suppressing his urge to fight them. After all, these were loyal retainers of the Gu family, and if a group of them were injured, the situation would only become more difficult to control.

Firewing merely flapped twice before Gu Jingnian scolded, "Idiot! Can't you see? Father has been taken hostage."

"When I saw the Marshal, he was only accompanied by Miss Pei."

“I want to marry Pei Nian, but Pei Nian has ordered my arrest. Isn’t that strange?” Gu Jingnian paused, and in order to stabilize the situation, he finally said, “It is clear that Pei Nian is very likely a spy sent by the enemy country.”

He didn't want to say it that way, but he had no other choice for the time being, so he sighed slightly, his tone tinged with helplessness.

This actually added some credibility to his words.

The soldiers who had surrounded them were taken aback and hesitated.

Gu Jingnian's face hardened, and he rebuked again, "Father is seriously ill and has been taken hostage. Instead of thinking about rescuing him with me, you're just standing here foolishly. Are you trying to kill him?!"

These words carried great weight, and the soldiers became even more hesitant.

Gu Jingnian simply ignored them and had Shen Jichi point out the mechanism to him so he could continue pushing the stone.

Shen Jichi knew that others couldn't hurt Gu Jingnian in a short time, but Gu Jingnian could kill him at any time, so he obediently cooperated.

Seeing this, the leading general couldn't help but ask, "Eleventh Young Master, what are you doing?"

"I'm saving my father," Gu Jingnian replied matter-of-factly.

He pushed four stones in a row without regard for anyone else, when suddenly a loud "thud" came from the ground, and the entire Marshal's Mansion shook.

"Young master! What are you doing?!"

The soldiers dared not allow Gu Jingnian to continue and shouted, "Young master, please stop immediately and come with us to confront the commander-in-chief."

Gu Jingnian didn't stop, but asked Shen Jichi, "Where is the next mechanism?"

Shen Jichi did not answer, but deliberately glanced at the forest of arrows behind him with a somewhat wary look.

"Fire arrows!"

The next moment, the arrows left the bowstring and rained down on Gu Jingnian.

They might only have a numbing effect on Gu Jingnian, but they could still harm Shen Jichi.

Since Gu Jingnian had not yet cracked the mechanism, he could not allow Shen Jichi to get into trouble, so he grabbed him and flew high into the air.

He flew over the city of Jussai.

The moonlight illuminated the mountains and rivers, and on the rugged and treacherous mountain road outside the east gate of Jusai City, a troop of soldiers was galloping towards them.

(End of this chapter)