Chapter 62: Finding the Real Culprit
"Enemy attack!"
Duan Gujin's heart leaped fiercely. This was the moment he was the most vulnerable; his internal Primordial Power had almost been depleted. If the enemies really charged at him, he feared he wouldn't be able to withstand them for the time being.
His mind stirred, and he hastily scattered Fire Poison Powder around him.
A faint fragrance quickly dispersed into the air.
His current position was upwind, just as a fierce gust blew over, carrying the Fire Poison Powder he had scattered swiftly towards those below.
The bandits below saw Duan Gujin scattering something, realizing what he was doing.
He hastily covered his mouth with his hands to prevent himself from inhaling whatever was being scattered.
However, he didn't know that the Fire Poison Powder concocted by Duan Gujin was no ordinary powder. Even if he did not breathe, as long as some of it touched his skin, if the poison wasn't neutralized promptly, he would quickly lose his combat power.
Just as he thought he had successfully dodged the powder Duan Gujin had scattered, his body flashed, transforming into a streak of light as he swiftly charged towards Duan Gujin.
"Die!"
The bandit shouted explosively, his body turning into a streak of light, holding a treasure sword, rushing at extreme speed towards Duan Gujin.
However, just as his body was still some distance away from Duan Gujin, his pupils suddenly constricted ferociously, his body shuddered a few times, and then he rapidly fell backwards.
His body tumbled from a high place to the ground below, where a soldier shot him dead with a bow and arrow.
Among those soldiers, many were skilled in using bows and arrows.
Though their cultivation was average, their proficiency with bows and arrows held the bandits back from launching a fierce attack.
Some soldiers still had many arrows in their storage rings, so they could withstand the attacks from the bandits.
Seeing that their side was holding off the bandits' attack, and that about half of the bandits had been shot dead, while more than ten of their own had died.
For the moment, neither side could gain the upper hand.
"Damn it! How could this happen? Where are Ah Hu and Ah Lang?"
Among the bandits, a few of the leaders discussed.
"I don't know, let's look for them!"
So, those few bandit leaders secretly surveyed Duan Gujin's side.
After a while, they finally found Ah Hu and Ah Lang, who had been killed by Duan Gujin using Fire Poison Powder and Hidden Weapons.
"They were killed? Who killed them? How did this happen?"
Initially, the bandits hadn't paid special attention to the whereabouts of Ah Hu and Ah Lang.
After all, the attack had come suddenly.
Moreover, Ah Hu and Ah Lang hadn't reached their preset ambush point.
One could say their raid had failed.
That's why they had suffered heavy losses without having defeated their enemies.
If Duan Gujin and others had truly entered their previously set ambush, Duan Gujin and his group might have been completely annihilated by now.
"We were discovered too early!"
"It's such a pity! Our operation failed!"
"What do we do now? Are we really going to be stuck here?"
One of the bandit leaders pondered for a moment, then ordered a complete retreat.
"Let's retreat immediately! Ah Hu and Ah Lang are dead, it's very possible there are experts hiding among those people! We were discovered early by this expert! That expert noticed something odd about Ah Hu and Ah Lang and dealt with them! We should retreat without delay!"
"Okay!"
The other leaders were worried that the expert might call for reinforcements to enter this area.
If they, the bandits, were trapped here, they would become sitting ducks, vulnerable to capture—a scenario they couldn't accept.
So, they chose to retreat.
Soon, everyone saw that group of robbers retreating.
Those students and soldiers discussed for a while, and decided not to pursue those robbers.
They collected the corpses on the ground into the storage ring, and then all retreated.
Duan Gujin was among those retreating, his body extremely weak at the moment.
At this point, if a cultivator with a cultivation above the red Postnatal Ninth Layer attacked him, he would be killed instantly.
This group of depleted troops finally made it back to their team, and the people of this group told everything that happened to the vice dean of Star Moon Academy.
After hearing this, the vice dean inspected the ranks.
What made the vice dean's heart skip a beat was that he didn't expect Duan Gujin to still be alive.
"My god! I don't know how Prime Minister Cao is going to blame me!"
The vice dean was coerced by Prime Minister Cao's men, although he didn't hear Prime Minister Cao order him to eliminate Duan Gujin.
But as an old fox of the worldly society, he knew from that command what the other party intended to do.
"My god! The person Prime Minister Cao wants dead is still alive, what should I do?"
The vice dean's eyes flickered as he thought for a while, and then figured out how to shift the blame.
"Right! I'll just push all the blame onto the military!"
After pondering for a while, the vice dean thought of a possibility: the robbers ambushing on the mountain path were actually assassins sent by Prime Minister Cao.
Seeing the vice dean of Star Moon Academy with a peculiar expression, Duan Gujin guessed a possibility.
"Could this vice dean know who is trying to act against me?"
After thinking for a while, Duan Gujin judged from the vice dean's facial expression that he should know the answer.
Although Duan Gujin suspected that this affair was done by Prime Minister Cao, so far, he has found no evidence.
"Damn it! The script was not supposed to go like this! Prime Minister Cao's men told me to just send Duan Gujin up, and his men would take care of Duan Gujin! What should I do now?"
The vice dean racked his brains thinking, then he sighed and decided not to send anyone into the high mountains ahead.
"Hehe! It seems that the vice dean really does know the truth!"
Duan Gujin, watching the vice dean's departing back, felt moved and thought of a method to deal with the vice dean of Star Moon Academy.
"Since you abetted tyranny, don't blame me for poisoning you!"
Duan Gujin exhaled deeply and quickly took some Elixir Pills, knowing his enemies were too powerful.
One two-hour period later, Duan Gujin and the others returned to the Capital City of Country Gulai.
Duan Gujin specifically chose the main streets of the Capital City to return to the Duan Family, as he did not want to be tracked by those assassins lurking in the shadows.
After returning to the Duan Family, he felt somewhat relieved.
He quickly sat cross-legged, conditioning his body and recovering his strength.
Time flowed swiftly, and soon, it was the next day.
At this time, Duan Gujin had fully recovered his strength, his spirits and essence Qi reaching the peak.
"It seems I need to craft some very special Elixir Pills!"
Duan Gujin knew he had provoked some very formidable people now, so he needed to create more protective treasures for himself.
"Today I barely escaped one calamity, but that doesn't mean similar events won't continue! I must find out the real culprit!"
The next day, Duan Gujin sneaked into Star Moon Academy to gather information about the vice dean.
Soon, he learned that the vice dean of Star Moon Academy was named Wu Meng, and also managed to find out some of his whereabouts.
Since his class schedules clashed quite a bit with Vice Dean Wu Meng's, he had Ye Tang infiltrate Star Moon Academy to figure out Wu Meng's patterns of activity in the academy.
Three days later, Ye Tang informed Duan Gujin of the intelligence he had gathered.