Midnight approached. A figure wrapped in dark clothes sneaked past the patrol guards, without anyone realizing, and soon approached the building where Mu Chen and his friends had been held.

The figure stopped several blocks away from the building, as if hesitating. Under the flickering light of the street lamp, the figure swayed and slowly melded into darkness and all that was left was a barely discernible shadow. The shadow moved swiftly through the courtyard and entered the building through a broken window.

The shadow didn't pause and continued toward the door to the dungeon. It silently opened the door and slipped through and in a few moments stood in front of the cell where Old Shi and the jailor had been locked. The shadow flickered and the figure reappeared.

"Old Shi?"

Old Shi, who had been dozing, snapped his eyes open. "Tan Jun, it's you!" Old Shi recognized the identity of the person dressed in black and stood up. "Did the Lord send you?" Old Shi's dull eyes regained their vigor. "I knew the Lord would realize something was amiss and send someone."

Tan Jun frowned. "What happened? Where are the kids?"

"Ugh! Don't mention those brats!" Old Shi said, "They tricked me…"

"What?" Tan Jun was surprised. "H-how come?"

"Blame my old age.'" Old Shi sighed and gave Tan Jun a brief explanation. "...but since you are here, it doesn't matter. Get me out of these shackles. I must teach those brats a lesson!"

"Phew!" Tan Jun breathed a sigh of relief. "So there isn't any expert behind those kids?"

"What?" Old Shi waved his hands. "No, no."

"I thought you got done in by some expert, so I was very reluctant to come―but I had my orders." Tan Jun harrumphed, his voice increasing with every word. "Do you know how nervous I was? I even used my Fleeting Shadows technique. And I can only use it once a month..." Tan Jun looked at Old Shi and spat the words at him. "Every time I use it, I have to suffer the pain of a thousand needles. My cultivation base will also regress a bit. Turns out, it's because of your incompetence!"

"That..." Old Shi was speechless. Seeing the man in black despise and resent him, he could only cough to cover his embarrassment. "Tan Jun, I will compensate you later. How about you get rid of these shackles first?"

"Hmph! Why don't you get rid of them yourself?" Tan Jun sneered. "Didn't those kids manage to remove them?"

"If I could, would I have to ask you?" Old Shi said.

"You are such an old guy, but you can't even compare to kids who are still wet behind their ears." Tan Jun taunted.

Old Shi's face turned ugly. "Are you done mocking me?"

"No," Tan Jun said without hesitation.

Old Shi's forehead, which was already wrinkled, had several more lines added to it.

"Look...whatever our grievances―they can be set aside for now..." Old Shi said, "Don't let them interfere with the task."

Tan Jun folded his hands across the chest. "That's not how you ask someone to help you."

"Can you help me get rid of these shackles?" Old Shi asked. When Tan Jun stood silent without any intention of moving, Old Shi became frustrated and added, "Please?"

Tan Jun nodded in approval. "That was better, but it's not enough."

"What else do you want?" Old Shi groaned.

"If you bow down and beg, maybe I will consider releasing you," Tan Jun said.

Old Shi glared at Tan Jun with fire in his eyes. "Tan Jun! Don't take things too far!"

"Huh? If you don't want to, it's okay." Tan Jun said, "I will be taking my leave then." Tan Jun turned to leave.

"You can't leave me like this...else Lord will punish you," Old Shi shouted.

"Tch! Lord won't punish me. He only asked me to check if you were dead or alive." Tan Jun grinned. "I've finished the task."

Old Shi couldn't help but curse Tan Jun. He and Tan Jun never got along with each other. Since he was in trouble, Tan Jun was deliberately making things harder for him. But he didn't have any choice. Who asked him to be the one in need of help? Old Shi clenched his fist, then bowed at the waist. "Tan Jun, I beg you. Please help me."

"It's not easy to have you lower your head," Tan Jun smirked in satisfaction, "but don't forget my compensation."

"I won't." Old Shi gritted his teeth and stood up, his face twisted as if he had eaten a fly.

"That would be for the best." Tan Jun said. He stepped forward to unlock the door but paused. "By the way, who is that guy?"

"Just some guy I hired to do menial work," Old Shi looked at the jailor who was curled up in one corner of the cell. "Why?"

"That guy has been awake for some time now," Tan Jun said.

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"What?" Old Shi turned around and glared at the jailor.

On hearing Tan Jun's words, the jailor knew he was exposed and sat upright. "Sir...f-forgive me...I, I didn't want to interrupt your chat…"

Old Shi looked at the jailor with the daggers in his eyes. Since the guy was awake, he must have seen him beg. Knowing such a shameful scene had been seen by others, Old Shi felt an extreme pang of humiliation and his body shivered.

"You knew!" Old Shi realized something and roared at Tan Jun, "You knew, and yet, y-you made me do it―in front of others!" The previous humiliation had now turned into anger and resentment.

"Hehe!" Tan Jun chuckled. "Of course, it won't be any fun if there is no audience, don't you think?" He unlocked the doors of the cell and stepped in.

"Bastard!" Old Shi growled and punched Tan Jun. But his cultivation base was still sealed and his body was weak. Tan Jun dodged his punch without any effort.

"There is no need to be so angry," Tan Jun said. "You can just kill him, then no one else will know about your humiliation, right?" He looked at the jailor with a cold look.

The jailor pissed his pants when he heard Tan Jun. "No! Please don't kill me...don't kill me…" The jailor fell on his knees and began to sob. "I swear...I didn't see or hear anything."

"Do you think I will believe what you said?" Old Shi shouted.

"H-have mercy!" The jailor cried and hugged Old Shi's legs. "I'm just a nameless character...not worthy of attention…I won't say a word―no, I will forget everything! Just don't kill me!"

"Get off me!" Old Shi kicked the jailor away, leaving him breathless. But then he sighed. He was already so close to death, what use was the little face he had? "Forget it…"

"T-thank...you...for showing mercy." The jailor wiped his tears. He felt that he had just survived a disaster. His thumping heart calmed down, but it didn't last long.

"Actually, we might still have to kill him," Tan Jun said. He looked at the jailor with a playful look in his eyes.

"Why?" Old Shi asked.

Tan Jun picked up a shackle from the ground. "Look at this. What do you see?"

"This..." Old Shi observed the shackle and frowned. "It looks like it has been cut by some sharp object...I see, so that's it." Old Shi exclaimed. "One of them had such a treasure on him and cut the shackles off. Then once this person's cultivation was restored, he helped others unlock the shackles."

Tan Jun looked at the jailor. "After imprisoning them, didn't you confiscate their belongings? How come they still had something so sharp with them?"

Old Shi also looked at the jailor in suspicion. He had entrusted this guy with handling the captives. "Did you help them?"

"No...no!" The jailor panicked. "I didn't."

"Even if you didn't help them, you were careless." Tan Jun said.

"It's not me, not me...b–believe me…" The jailor began to whimper. "I'm innocent."

"It's because of your carelessness...because of you." Old Shi, who had just calmed down, almost exploded with anger. If not for this guy's negligence, would he have to suffer today's humiliation? "Tan Jun, uncuff me. I will deal with―"

But before Old Shi had even finished speaking, a black light pierced through the jailor's chest. The jailor's whimpering came to a halt and he looked down on his chest. A blotch of red was rapidly spreading from a hole in his chest, where his heart was. The jailor crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut off, his expression full of shock and fear.

Old Shi was stunned and stared at the dead jailor with a blank expression. He glared at Tan Jun. "You, why didn't you leave him to me?" Tan Jun didn't even let him vent his frustration, leaving him incredibly stifled.

"I thought if I left him to you, you would make a mess." Tan Jun chuckled, "so I did it for you. I hope you don't mind."

Old Shi could only stare at Tan Jun, then sighed. "Dead is dead. Uncuff me, we can―"

"Old Shi, the Lord trusted with you a task, but you failed." Tan Jun looked at Old Shi with disdain. "Instead, I have to wipe your ass."

"It's not yet failed," Old Shi said. "Those kids, they will be coming back."

"Oh? Is that so?" Tan Jun said, "Then let's wait for them to arrive." He sat on the wooden bench and entered a meditative state.

Old Shi frowned. Tan Jun still hadn't removed his shackles. He cursed Tan Jun in low breath and sat on the opposite bench, dejected.

The cell fell silent. As the night passed, other than the occasional squeaking of rats, there was no other sound. Neither Tan Jun nor Old Shi noticed in a dark corner of the dungeon, an innocuous looking rat had been peeping at them since the start.

Several blocks away from the prison building, three youngsters were huddled together around a round table. One of them sat with his eyes closed. At the center of the table, a recording stone kept rotating and projected a three-dimensional image.

"Brother Chen, you were right." Li Kun gasped. "It's good that we ran away quickly...that person is not weaker than Old Shi."

"And he looks even more ruthless," Xia Ping said, with his eyes closed. They had just witnessed Tan Jun kill the jailor.

"Things are not yet over," Mu Chen said. "Xia Ping, can you focus on Tan Jun's face?"

"Brother Chen, the angle is not right," Xia Ping said. "And I dare not let Hua Jin get too close or he might get exposed."

"Never mind then. Just focus on their dialogue," Mu Chen said. If they were exposed, it wouldn't end well for them.

Time flew by, and it was soon daybreak. Within the cell, Tan Jun opened his eyes, "Those kids haven't yet come."

"Be patient. It's still early." Old Shi said, "Besides, they had been imprisoned for several days before. They must be relaxing..."

The morning turned into noon.

"They are late," Tan Jun said, getting impatient.

"They said they will come back today―the day isn't yet over," Old Shi said. He hesitated a bit but asked, "Why don't you remove these shackles first?"

Tan Jun smiled. "Wait for those kids to return."

Seeing Tan Jun smile, Old Shi's heart jumped as a sense of foreboding rose within him. Since he came, he had been waiting patiently for Tan Jun to free him. It shouldn't take him so long, especially, after he even made him beg. But Tan Jun had been avoiding removing his shackles. Old Shi couldn't help but begin to worry.

The day passed and it was already late in the evening. Old Shi was sitting on pins and pricks for the entire duration, as he tried hard to maintain his calm. The situation was made worse as hunger assaulted his stomach, reminding him of the days of his childhood.

"Old Shi, looks like those kids aren't coming," Tan Jun said. The smile on his face became wider.

"T-they must have partied too hard and forgotten about me." Old Shi hurried to explain. Seeing Tan Jun smile, he felt a chill and the hairs on his neck stood up.

"Hehe! Old Shi, you need to face the truth," Tan Jun said, "Those brats saw through your little trick. They must have been wary of you."

"H-how could this be?" Old Shi's voice had turned hoarse.

Tan Jun shook his head. "Is it so unacceptable?"

"T-then, let's go back. There's no point in staying here anymore." Old Shi stood up and began to walk towards the gates.

"Go back?" Tan Jun blocked Old Shi's path. "Just like that?"

"Tan Jun!" Old Shi shouted. "What are you doing blocking my path?"

"You failed the task given by the Lord. You have to bear the responsibility."

"Whether I'm responsible or not, the Lord will decide," Old Shi said. "It has nothing

to do with you." His heart thumped hard as the sense of foreboding reached its peak.

"But it has to do with me," Tan Jun said.

"What do you mean―?" Old Shi wanted to speak, but he felt pain as something sharp penetrated his stomach. He covered his stomach and took a few steps back, however, he stumbled on the corpse of the jailor and fell on his rear.

"Y-you!" Old Shi felt something warm touch his hands. He raised his hand in shock and saw they were dyed in red.

"Did you think the Lord sent me to help you?"