Chapter 153: The Pool

Realizing he had nowhere left to run, Hou Ping spotted a pool of water.

This pool was not large, spanning just over two hundred square meters, but it was quite deep—more than ten meters.

Before entering Qianjiang Prefecture, Hou Ping had carefully studied the terrain and knew this pool could be used for cover. Driven by desperation, he chose to dive into the water.

Long Chen reached the water's edge just as Chen Zu and his thugs rushed up, closely followed by Xu Zhi and Yuan Tengfei.

"Damn it! He jumped into the pool?"

Holding a crossbow, Chen Zu stared at the dark, murky surface and cursed.

Xu Zhi glared at the water, turned around, and barked, "Get some boats over here! Ready the harpoons! I'm a seasoned fisherman from the open sea—there is no way I can't fish him out!"

Yuan Tengfei waved a hand dismissively. "Why go to all that trouble? It's just a dozen meters deep. A few of you, get down there and haul him up!"

Many of them were former sea bandits with exceptional swimming skills. Yuan Tengfei figured that while they might not have the upper hand on land, they would surely dominate underwater.

Long Chen quickly intervened, "No! This fellow's swimming is top-notch. I almost died in a river because of him last time."

Chen Zu chuckled, "Don't you worry, Your Honor. We come from the sea; what is a little puddle like this to us?"

Several thugs stripped off their outer garments, grabbed their weapons, and splashed into the water one after another. Xu Zhi and the others waited on the bank for good news.

The water in the pool had a faint greenish tint, and once the thugs submerged, they quickly vanished from sight.

After a long while, there was still no movement. Growing anxious, Xu Zhi shouted, "You three, go in next!"

The three designated thugs were no fools. The men who had gone down earlier had yet to surface—they were likely already dead, and going in now was tantamount to suicide.

"Great-Grandfather Zu, we're afraid of water."

Furious, Xu Zhi cursed, "You dare tell me you're afraid of water? Afraid of your grandmother! Get down there!"

Xu Zhi's voice was hoarse and he struggled to shout, so he simply raised his foot and kicked them in one by one.

As the thugs hit the water, Xu Zhi stood on the bank with his saber drawn, glaring down at them. The three men had no choice; staying on the bank meant certain death, but entering the water offered at least a glimmer of hope.

"Let's go!"

All three plunged headfirst beneath the surface.

A long time passed, and still there was no sound or movement.

"You three, get down there right now!"

Xu Zhi's eyes were bloodshot with rage as he pointed at three more men. Terrified, the thugs kept retreating.

Long Chen stepped forward to stop him. "Brother Xu, calm down! Sending them down there is just throwing away their lives!"

"That man is an expert swimmer. Anyone sent down there is walking into a dead end. We need to think of another way."

Yuan Tengfei looked puzzled and surveyed the lake. "He has been underwater for so long. Doesn't he need to come up for air?"

There was a limit to how long a person could hold their breath. Even amphibious creatures like frogs and turtles had to periodically surface to breathe.

Long Chen explained, "With a water surface this wide, using a reed tube is more than enough for him to breathe."

In ancient times, there was no diving equipment; people essentially relied on holding a hollow reed tube in their mouths with the other end poking above the water.

Chen Zu asked anxiously, "Then what do we do? Just let him hide down there?"

If they waited until dark, the assassin might easily slip away under the cover of night.

Xu Zhi shouted furiously, "Drag the boats over! Search the water surface!"

At that moment, Zhang Qian and Wu Jian arrived with reinforcements.

Seeing the thugs behind them carrying jars of lamp oil—with even more loaded onto carts—Long Chen's eyes lit up. "We don't need to go to all that trouble. Pour this lamp oil all over the water and set it on fire. If he doesn't come out, he'll suffocate!"

Fire would consume the oxygen above the water's surface, rendering even a reed breathing tube useless.

Yuan Tengfei yelled, "Pour the oil down!"

Following orders, the thugs hurled jars of lamp oil across the water, and the oil quickly spread out in a slick sheen.

Zhang Qian and Wu Jian came forward and asked, "Your Honor, is that scoundrel hiding underwater?"

Long Chen nodded. "Several batches of men went down and never came back up. That fellow's aquatic skills are formidable."

With all the lamp oil poured in, the water's surface caught the sunlight, reflecting a multicolored glaze.

Yuan Tengfei commanded the thugs to surround the pool from all four sides. Xu Zhi produced a flint, lit a bundle of dry grass, and tossed it onto the water.

*Whoosh...*

A thin sheet of flames ignited across the water, billowing thick black smoke that completely obscured the pool.

As the lamp oil burned, the thugs continued to splash more oil onto the water.

Calculating the time in his head and guessing that Hou Ping's air supply must be running out, Long Chen shouted, "Watch out, the assassin is about to come up!"

Tensely, Xu Zhi and his men kept their eyes fixed on the water, aiming their crossbows...

*Splash!*

A shadow suddenly burst out from the edge of the bank, instantly cutting down several thugs before darting into a nearby house.

Like Long Chen, Hou Ping had swum quietly to the shore to lie in wait before launching a sudden ambush.

Recovering from his surprise, Xu Zhi roared, "Fire at will!"

A volley of arrows flew toward the building, but Hou Ping had already vanished inside. When Long Chen rushed in with his long spear, the assassin was already gone.

"Damn it, he got away!" Yuan Tengfei cursed loudly.

Long Chen crouched down to examine the damp footprints on the ground and noticed traces of blood mixed with the water.

"The bastard is injured."

Long Chen said with absolute certainty.

Chen Zu asked, "Did our arrows hit him?"

Long Chen shook his head. "Hard to say. It's also possible one of the brothers who went into the water earlier wounded him."

"Follow the trail of water! Seal the city gates and conduct a thorough search. I refuse to believe we can't find him!"

Xu Zhi immediately ordered a comprehensive search of the entire city.

Long Chen, Zhang Qian, and Wu Jian also led troops to join the street-by-street sweep, killing any agents of the Secret Guard or the Imperial City Directorate on sight. The city was thrown into absolute chaos.

As the sun sank westward and night descended, neither Wuming nor Hou Ping had been found. Though more than half of the assassins within the city had been eliminated, a few dangerous fish still slipped through the net.

Seated in the prefectural yamen, Long Chen tallied the number of slain assassins and shook his head. "We must be cautious tonight. There are likely still around thirty assassins hiding in the city, and they may well launch a retaliatory counterattack."

Chen Zu sneered, "What's thirty of them? We'll just slaughter every last one."

Long Chen shook his head. "We cannot let our guard down. These assassins are hiding everywhere, adept at concealed weapons and poison. If they manage to sneak into your homes, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Xu Zhi and Yuan Tengfei felt a jolt of anxiety. They immediately instructed, "Send word back home to maintain patrols throughout the night and watch out for assassins!"

After dispatching the thugs, Xu Zhi said with a heavy tone, "Lord Long, we really paid a steep price this time."

They had originally thought these were merely some scouting government soldiers who would be easy to slaughter, but they hadn't expected them to be so tenacious. By the end of the day, nearly a thousand men had died, not to mention the wounded and poisoned.

The cost of hunting down these assassins far exceeded anything they had imagined.

What they didn't realize was that Long Chen knew the situation inside and out. This time, the Secret Guard had deployed Wuming and brought their absolute elite.

The Imperial City Directorate had also dispatched Chief Inspector Hou Ping, accompanied by their own elite forces.

Fighting against such opponents made losing a thousand men entirely normal—and they should actually thank Long Chen for obtaining intelligence beforehand regarding their hiding spots, otherwise the casualties would have been even more devastating.

"Lord Long, have you been keeping something from us?"

Monk Fayin wore an unkind expression, eyeing Long Chen with deep suspicion.

Long Chen sighed. "Jing Tianlie's Secret Guard possesses formidable combat prowess. The casualties today are indeed heavy, but the two of you shouldn't feel shortchanged."

"You both know the Emperor is fully committed to eradicating Jing Tianlie's faction. I will memorialize your contributions to the court, stating that you protected me. Leaving aside the silver reward for this year, I will personally recommend Brother Xu to be the Prefect and Brother Yuan to be the Vice-Prefect. What do you think?"

Chen Zu had been posing as the prefect, and while they controlled Qianjiang Prefecture, their position lacked official legitimacy. If Long Chen submitted a memorial and the Empress officially appointed them as prefect and vice-prefect, they would become legitimate local officials.

Yuan Tengfei muttered darkly, "Lord Long, I contributed just as much. Why is he getting to be Vice-Prefect?"

Monk Fayin burst out laughing. "Lord Long, you are truly using one peach to kill three swordsmen."

Yuan Tengfei instantly grasped the implication and raged, "You're trying to sow discord between us!"