Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1951: Demon Slayer (XI)

"I need to observe and test for a long time to find the pattern, and then try to find a loophole, but..." Dao Zhi spread his hands and said in embarrassment, "I don't even have a clear goal now, how can I observe?"

The overly strict defenses made it impossible for Dao Zhi to sneak directly into the mirage in an improvisational way, so he had to switch to a more secure method, which was to plan a route, explore the rules, and infiltrate gradually.

But this method has a prerequisite, which is that there must be at least a rough goal.

Mirage belongs to an 'open world' with a smaller map, not a linear level. If there is no target, Daozhi has to fully understand the defense situation of the entire ship - this task will take at least three or two months, if not a year or two.

Dao Zhi obviously didn't have that much time - even if he had time, his memory wasn't strong enough to remember the entire defense situation of the Mirage.

He is the king of thieves, not the brainiest.

Therefore, the most urgent task now is to give Dao Zhi a target.

"Let's go to Mirage again tomorrow and take me with you." Shao Yu immediately said to Dao Zhi.

"Take you with you?" Dao Zhi was confused and asked, "What's the point of taking you with me?"

Master Ban was rubbing his brow with a headache. Hearing this, he waved his hand and said, "Take him with you. He may be able to obtain some valuable information."

"What...is the principle behind this?" Dao Zhi asked with a smile.

"Don't ask so many questions, just do it."

Because he had promised not to leak Qianlong's affairs, Master Ban did not explain too much to Daozhi and just gave a vague and perfunctory answer.

Out of trust in Master Ban, Dao Zhi did not ask any more questions and turned to look at Shao Yu, "Is it enough to take you on board? Do you have any other requests?"

"Uh..." Shao Yu replied after a moment of confusion, "It would be best if we could get to the sacred Fusang tree, or get as close to the Toad Palace as possible."

Dao Zhi touched his chin and said, "The former is easy, I can give it a try, but the latter is difficult. The Toad Palace is one of the most heavily guarded areas. It's difficult for me to get in by myself, let alone with you."

"This... doesn't matter. Just do your best." Shao Yu did not force it.

He just wanted to increase the chance of contacting Qian Long as much as possible, but he couldn't say whether it would be effective, so he didn't force it.

"That's no problem." Dao Zhu snapped his fingers and finalized the matter. "We'll take action tomorrow."

After saying this, Dao Zhi left quickly to rest.

He traveled day and night to get back and was really exhausted.

After Dao Zhi left, Shao Yu looked at Master Ban, "Master Ban, when will Mr. Gai and the others be able to come back?"

"It will probably take a few more days." Master Ban made a rough estimate and concluded that it would take more than a day or two to return.

If they rush back to Sanghai regardless of everything, it won't take too long. After all, the Mo family has the mechanical Suzaku, which can fly a few hundred miles without any problem, even if it can't travel a thousand miles a day.

But Gao Jianli and his men left Sanghai to deal with the Book Burning Order, as they had a lot of things to do.

Even if the giant Tianming was caught, they couldn't just abandon everyone and rush back without caring about anything. They still had to try their best to deal with it first, postpone what could be postponed, hand over what could be handed over, and resolve what really couldn't be resolved as soon as possible.

It would take at least five to seven days to go there and back, and another two or three days to come back, so they can't come back in a short time.

Shao Yu was a little disappointed, probably because he felt it was too slow, but considering that Gao Jianli and the others were helpless, he didn't say anything, got up and left with Shi Lan.

The last remaining Master Ban sighed to himself, his round chubby face full of sorrow and bitter smile, and he seemed to have lost some weight.

........................

The next morning, Shao Yu followed Dao Zhi to Sanghai Port, preparing to board the ship to contact Qian Long.

Then I ran into trouble at the first step.

Now not only is the Mirage heavily guarded, but the port of Sanghai is also tightly blocked. All personnel and materials entering and leaving the ships must undergo two careful inspections.

With their inspection strength, it is basically impossible for Dao Zhi and Shao Yu to fish in troubled waters... unless these inspectors don't know these two wanted criminals.

Since they didn't want to gamble on such a tiny probability, they had to change to another route.

But other routes are equally difficult.

There were at least dozens of Gongshujia's mechanical bat-wing aircraft flying in the sky, patrolling back and forth around the Mirage's airspace. There were basically no blind spots, and it was impossible to find loopholes as before.

As for the sea, patrols and monitoring are also carried out by single-person speedboats made by Gongshujia, and there are no loopholes either.

These are all the support provided by the Gongshu family as mentioned by Gu Xun.

Although it has little combat power, it is very useful and almost eliminates the possibility of outsiders sneaking in.

Shao Yu, who was observing the situation from a high place outside the port, was dumbfounded. He was stunned for a long time before turning to look at Dao Zhi and asked, "How did you get up there last night?"

Dao Zhi shrugged, "Last night it was cloudy, the stars and the moon were all hidden, it was pitch black, I rode the mechanical Suzaku and jumped down directly from a high altitude, without being discovered by those patrolling 'bat spirits'."

The size of the mirage is there, and dozens of mechanical bat wings patrolling at the same time can theoretically ensure that there are no blind spots in vision. However, humans are not machines, and it is impossible for them to always have clear vision and be energetic. It is normal to be distracted and not pay attention or not see clearly.

But this is okay at night when visibility is poor, but not during the day.

Shao Yu looked at the cloudless sky and the glaring sun, and couldn't help but gritted his teeth.

"So...what should we do?"

"Let me think about it..." Dao Zhi also looked troubled.

Last night he came and left in a hurry, and still did not really appreciate how tight the Mirage's defense was today. It was only today that he truly witnessed it.

Then I was stumped.

If it were just him, there would be several risky but feasible plans. But with Shao Yu added, the difficulty would be on another level.

"It seems that I have to take some risks." After thinking for a while, Dao Zhi really couldn't find a foolproof method, so he could only smile bitterly and said to Shao Yu.

Shao Yu smiled bitterly in response, and then guessed, "Go to the sky?"

Dao Zhi nodded and said firmly, "Go to the sky!"

They can take any of the three routes: sea, land and air, but all of them carry the risk of being exposed.

The place with the highest chance of not being exposed is in the sky.

The flying altitude of the Mechanical Bat Wing is generally about thirty feet above the Mirage deck. If Dao Zhi and Shao Yu jump directly from a higher place on the Mechanical Suzaku, they can land on the deck in three or two breaths at most after free fall. If they are lucky, they can just avoid the surveillance of the Mechanical Bat Wing.

If they go by sea, they will have to climb up the mirage. Even with Dao Zhi's lightness skills, it will take at least five breaths. For Shao Yu, it will take even longer, and the risk of exposure will increase sharply.

As for the land route, it is purely a gamble on probability, to see if you will be discovered or not. The risk of being exposed is only higher than the other two methods, not lower.

"Let's go out of the city first. I'll go back to find Old Man Ban to activate the Suzaku mechanism. You find a place to wait for me." Having made the decision, Dao Zhi did not delay at all and immediately pulled Shao Yu into action.

Half an hour later, a shadow passed across the clear sky and rushed towards the mirage.

On the mechanical Suzaku, Dao Zhi and Shao Yu stood side by side and looked at the situation below, their clothes rustling in the strong wind. A huge mirage as big as a city stood on the sea, and the mechanical bat wings and sea speedboats circling around it were like flies, just a black dot from a distance.

Master Ban was at the front, driving the Suzaku—this time he was in person again.

"We're almost there. I'll fly the Suzaku through the mirage. You guys choose the right time to jump!" Master Ban turned around and shouted to the two of them.

The two of them didn't say anything, but just gestured to Master Ban.

Master Ban continued to remind them, "Remember, when you want to retreat, send a signal, and I, the old man, will come to support you as quickly as possible."

You must be careful to hide when entering, because once you are exposed on the boat it will be difficult to move.

But it didn't matter whether they were exposed or not during the retreat, so Master Ban decided to pick up the people himself.

After Dao Zhi Shao Yu jumped off the Suzaku, he would continue to fly it over the Mirage, waiting for their retreat signal.

With the speed of the Mechanical Suzaku, Master Ban was confident that he could rush over to pick up the person within a third of an hour (five minutes) at most after receiving the signal.

The danger level of the mirage is now rising sharply, but unless Dao Zhi and his companions are unlucky enough to have several Yin-Yang elders strolling nearby, this period of time will not put them in danger.

After hearing this, Dao Zhi Shao Yu still didn't say anything, and gestured to Master Ban again.

Then Dao Zhi found a suitable opportunity and jumped towards the area with the least mechanical bat wings.

Shao Yu paused for a moment, leaving a little time between him and Dao Zhi, and then jumped in the same direction.

With Dao Zhi's lightness skills, he could land safely and silently even if he jumped from such a high place, but Shao Yu could not do that.

He could guarantee that he would not fall to his death, but it was hard to say how big a noise the fall would make, but it would definitely not be small.

So he had to be half a beat slower, let Daozhi land first, and then take action to catch him.

Two black shadows quickly fell from the sky one after another and disappeared in an instant without attracting anyone's attention.

After landing, the two hid first.

Today's mirage is different from the past. We cannot act rashly, otherwise we will be easily exposed.

Dao Zhi took Shao Yu and carefully avoided wave after wave of patrols and bypassed many sentries. It took them half an hour to finally cover a straight-line distance of no more than half a mile and arrive at the sacred Fusang tree.

In the past, Shao Yu, Tian Ming and his companions only needed half an incense stick of time to run this short distance on the Mirage.

Compared with other areas of the mirage, the Fusang sacred tree is still as peaceful as before.

The Yin-Yang School did not arrange for anyone to guard the Fusang sacred tree. There were even fewer outposts and patrols in the area around the Fusang sacred tree.

"Okay, we're here." Dao Zhi looked at Shao Yu, "What are you going to do?"

"Uh..." Shao Yu was stunned for a moment, then thought for a moment and replied, "I want to climb a tree, you just wait for me down below."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Dao Zhi was surprised when he heard that.

I was puzzled by Shao Yu's request to act alone, and I was also confused as to why he suddenly wanted to climb a tree.

Could it be that the tree is hiding information? Or is it hiding someone who can provide information?

"No, no." Shao Yu waved his hand to refuse, and without waiting for Dao Zhi's response, he went straight to the upper part of the Fusang sacred tree.

Seeing this, Dao Zhi shrugged his shoulders and did not follow him. He just found a corner and hid there waiting for Shao Yu.

He didn't wait too long. Less than an incense stick of time later, Shao Yu jumped down from the tree with a grim face.

Dao Zhi's heart skipped a beat when he saw this, knowing that there might be bad news, and he hurried over to greet him, "What happened?"

Shao Yu waved his hand and said, "Retreat first, and we'll talk later when we get back."

Dao Zhi also knew that this was not the place to talk, so he did not ask any more questions and instead said, "How about we just withdraw from the top of this sacred tree?"

"Uh... forget it." Shao Yu thought about it and rejected it. "The Fusang sacred tree is an obvious target, and the top of the tree is relatively close to the Toad Palace. I am worried that it will alert the two Yin and Yang guardians, Moon God and Star Soul."

"We are not exposed, so we should just find a secluded edge of the deck and retreat."

When it comes to understanding mirages, Shao Yu is better than Dao Zhi.

After hearing what Shao Yu said, Dao Zhi gave up his own strange idea and began to retreat.

………………

The retreat process went just as Master Ban had expected, without any danger.

Although the fireworks signal immediately attracted enemies, they were all ordinary small fry who posed no threat to Shao Yu and Dao Zhi in the short term. They easily jumped onto the arriving mechanical Suzaku and flew away.

The mechanical bat wings tried to catch up, but could only follow behind Suzaku and be left behind.

After returning to the base, Master Ban couldn't wait to start questioning Shao Yu.

"How is it, did you get any valuable information?"

Shao Yu shook his head dejectedly, hesitated for a moment and then nodded:

"Tianming's location is unclear. We can only confirm that he is safe now... or rather, he is safe until the Mirage sets sail again, but he is not free."

"It's very difficult to save people!"

Upon hearing this, Master Ban immediately understood why Shao Yu looked so unhappy.

Unlike Dao Zhi, he knows Shao Yu's intelligence channels.

If Qianlong, the daughter of Guxun, cannot confirm Tianming's location, they will probably have even less hope.

In contrast, Dao Zhi, who knew nothing, thought it was not bad. "It's not bad. At least we know that the person will be safe for the time being. We can save him... We can study it slowly. We are not all here yet."

Master Ban could only smile bitterly at Dao Zhi's optimism. Without further explanation, he continued to ask Shao Yu:

"Is it temporary that we can't determine Tianming's location, or is it... completely hopeless?"

Shao Yu scratched his head, organized his words, and replied, "I can't say there is no hope at all, but... the hope is probably not great."

Master Ban couldn't help but close his eyes when he heard this, and felt a pain rising in the back of his head.

He patted his forehead to try to relieve the pain, then opened his eyes and said:
"It seems that there is nothing we can do before the others come back... Xiao Zhi, you should keep an eye on the situation of Mirage these days, and we will discuss it after Xiao Gao comes back."

Right now they are short of manpower and have no shortcut to break the impasse, so they can only lie dormant for the time being and wait for the opportunity.

Shao Yu was unwilling, but there was really nothing he could do. He responded dejectedly and left.

Dao Zhi sighed, then got up and left.