"Fleeing won't end well."
"Better not cause trouble."
"Keep your voices down. Strip off these armors and disguise ourselves as prisoner escorts—we can escape and survive!"
Chen Jichuan urgently suggested to the panicked miners, including Sunx Fei and Shen Liang, who stood frozen.
These miners were unfortunate souls as well.
Chen Jichuan wasn't a saint, but he couldn't stoop to needless killing.
Besides, there were fourteen people present. Even if he and Chen Shaohu acted together, as long as one shouted out, everything could spiral out of control.
Better to offer them hope.
And prevent them from ruining things.
"He's right!"
"The Black Armor soldiers are dead. We have a chance to escape too!"
Unlike Chen Jichuan, who had planned his moves early on, the miners were thrown into chaos by the sudden turn of events. Chen Jichuan's proposal was like a refreshing rain after a drought, soothing their nerves.
Their faces lit up with excitement.
Sunx Fei was the first to strip the armor off Weii Guan, and the other miners quickly followed his lead.
Seven or eight hands scrambled over the task.
But putting on and taking off armor was no easy feat; it would take time to complete.
Seizing the moment, Chen Jichuan grabbed Chen Shaohu and darted straight for the left-hand Qingshi pathway.
At the pathway's end, he saw trees lining both sides of the road, creating a canopy of green.
The Wusheng Sect had a well-equipped army, their archers and armor unmatched. If they fled along the main road, it was likely they'd be surrounded by troops. Once the arrows rained down, escape would be impossible.
So from the very beginning, Chen Jichuan had formulated his strategy—
"Escape into the mountains."
"Avoid the brunt of their attack!"
Chen Jichuan moved with incredible speed.
He had practiced the 'Land Flying Skill' in the caves—carrying sand clothes and heavy sandbags on his back, often with Chen Shaohu strapped to him for added weight. Now, just like during his training, he carried Chen Shaohu on his back and sprinted in the opposite direction of the city walls.
Ten steps.
Twenty steps.
Thirty steps.
At fifty steps, they were still unnoticed. Chen Jichuan exhaled in relief. Killing eight Black Armor soldiers had bought this precious time, and it was enough.
Past fifty steps, even if there were archers on the city wall, hitting him would be far more difficult.
Eighty steps.
Ninety steps.
Chen Jichuan ran further and further away, becoming little more than a speck in the distance when viewed from Wusheng City.
Meanwhile, beneath the city walls, Sunx Fei and the others had just finished stripping off the armors. Nervous and clumsy, they couldn't manage to put them on properly.
"Damn, damn, damn!"
Sunx Fei, both furious and panicked, wiped his forehead, only to realize he was now bald. His heart sank—looking like this, even with the Black Armor, wouldn't he still be recognized?
"Chen—"
He turned to find Chen Jichuan, only to see that both he and Chen Shaohu had vanished. Far in the distance, he could just barely make out a faint silhouette.
"We've been tricked!"
Sunx Fei's heart was in turmoil.
He finally realized he'd fallen for Chen Jichuan's deceit.
Ignoring the idea of changing outfits, his mind was in disarray, consumed solely by the urge to escape immediately.
"Screw this!"
Throwing the Black Armor violently to the ground, Sunx Fei bolted.
The remaining miners, including Shen Liang, were still fighting over the armors. When they saw Sunx Fei running, some finally snapped to their senses: "Run! Run!"
Fourteen in total.
Some clutched pieces of Black Armor, others held Goose Wing Blades, while a few carried nothing at all—they just ran with all their might.
But they were mere mine slaves, sickly and frail. Even without carrying Black Armor or Goose Wing Blades, their emaciated bodies couldn't handle the urgency. After running barely twenty or thirty steps, they were gasping, their chests burning as if aflame.
They slowed, step by step.
Fourteen people fleeing chaotically made for a huge target, and their sluggish pace only made things worse. A bored sentry on the walls of Wusheng City casually glanced outside—and immediately froze.
"Who goes there?!"
Startled, the sentry grabbed his bell hammer and struck the copper bell with all his might—
Clang!
The bell's clang echoed.
Soon after.
Fifty archers and fifty swordsmen mobilized. Someone recognized them: "Those are Black Prison Mine Slaves!"
Another person looked down from the city walls.
Though the walls were five or six zhang high, obstructing the view somewhat, a sharp-eyed soldier spotted seven or eight corpses lying at the base of the wall, their clothes stripped and tossed aside: "Those are Black Armored soldiers! The mine slaves killed the Black Armor soldiers and escaped!"
These words were like throwing a stone into a hornet's nest.
Swish!
Out of impatience, one archer loosed an arrow.
Taking this as a cue, the rest of the archers followed suit, releasing their arrows in unison. Sunx Fei, Shen Liang, and the others had barely run thirty steps before more than half were shot dead. Only then did one of the officers caution: "Take them alive! Hurry, come with me to capture the survivors!"
But it was already too late.
The fourteen mine slaves had tried to flee as one. Against fifty archers at such close range, only twenty or thirty steps away, they had no chance. After several volleys, not a single one survived.
When the archers ceased fire,
all that remained outside the city walls were twenty-two still-warm corpses.
"Chen—"
"Chen—"
Sunx Fei collapsed to his knees, then face down on the ground. With great effort, he raised his head to look into the distance, arm outstretched as if to grasp something—only for his strength to give out, his hand falling limply. In his back, a single arrow quivered, piercing through his chest.
From the Black Prison to fleeting freedom, Sunx Fei perished.
Joining him in the underworld were Shen Liang and the other thirteen mine slaves, along with Weii Guan and the eight Black Armored soldiers.
One group.
All from the Black Prison.
Only Chen Jichuan and Chen Shaohu fled without a trace!