At midnight, the Imperial Guards changed shifts; Lin Butou’s two constables took turns keeping watch inside the temple.

One of the charcoal merchants seemed to have stomach problems, having gotten up three times during the night. When he rose for the fourth time, the constable leaning against the earthen wall with his blade, upon hearing the movement, was too lazy to even glance over.

The mountain forest was silent, with only occasional wolf howls in the distance, so faint and indistinct they could barely be heard.

Meng Jianqing suddenly felt his spirit jolt and unconsciously opened his eyes.

What was wrong?

The temple was very quiet, so quiet he could hear everyone’s breathing—

He suddenly understood what was wrong.

He couldn’t hear the breathing of the night-watch constable!

At that very moment, a point of light suddenly flashed in the darkness.

Meng Jianqing immediately smelled the pungent odor of sulfur. From the corner of his eye, he saw the charcoal merchant who had remained in the temple creeping stealthily yet moving with lightning speed toward the temple entrance.

Almost at the same instant he glimpsed this scene, Meng Jianqing’s body had already instinctively sprung up, short blades flying from his hands—one shooting toward that point of light in the darkness, the other toward the fleeing charcoal merchant’s back.

As the short blade severed the sizzling burning fuse, the charcoal merchant also groaned and collapsed.

Meng Jianqing swept over before the charcoal merchant’s body could hit the ground, catching him with his left hand while striking the back of his neck with his right palm, ensuring that even if the merchant wasn’t dead, he was knocked unconscious and could make no more sound. Only then did he slowly lower the man to the ground.

The package of gunpowder lay quietly in the corner.

Meng Jianqing casually poured a bag of fresh water over it, and only then did he quietly exhale.

Such a package of gunpowder would have been enough to blast the entire mountain god temple into ruins.

Inside and outside the temple remained equally quiet.

Turning around, he checked the night-watch constable’s breathing and found that the man had somehow already died. With a gentle shake, the constable’s body softly collapsed, blood slowly seeping from a knife wound in his back.

Meng Jianqing frowned slightly to himself.

Though this earthen wall wasn’t particularly sturdy, a weapon capable of penetrating such a wall and then piercing a human body was still quite rare. For the assassin to remember the positioning so clearly through the wall was equally impressive.

Meng Jianqing quietly walked out of the small temple.

As he had expected, the charcoal merchant outside the earthen wall who had been pretending to relieve himself had waited in vain for the gunpowder explosion. Knowing something had gone wrong, he could no longer worry about alerting the sentries and was hastily fleeing into the mountain forest.

Meng Jianqing waved his hand, signaling the two subordinates guarding outside the mountain god temple to pursue that charcoal merchant. He returned inside, lit the oil lamp on the altar, woke the others, sent Lin Butou with the surviving constable to keep watch outside the temple, and dispatched one of his men to the rooftop to maintain surveillance.

Two guards pulled the short blade from the unconscious charcoal merchant’s back. As blood gushed out, the merchant cried out in pain and awoke. One guard applied medicine to stop the bleeding while the other quickly wrapped the wound with white hemp bandages. At the same time, they stuffed a pill into his mouth and, gripping his jaw, forced him to swallow a small bottle of medicinal liquid. The men Meng Jianqing had brought were certainly skilled at binding and killing people, but they were equally competent at saving lives.

The charcoal merchant was dragged before the altar, his face ashen gray, head hanging in silence.

Meng Jianqing glanced at him and said indifferently, “We can reach Golden Rooster Fort by noon tomorrow. Hand this man over to those charcoal burners at Golden Rooster Fort. Tell them this person tried to blow up the Chen Lao Xianggong temple at Big Camphor Tree Village, and we caught him. They can do whatever they want with him.”

The charcoal merchant, who had originally steeled himself for death at worst, trembled all over upon hearing this. Those lawless charcoal burners were capable of any kind of torture…

Without waiting for his reaction, Meng Jianqing struck him unconscious with another palm blow.

By dawn, the two Imperial Guards who had pursued the other charcoal merchant returned uneasily. That merchant was familiar with the terrain and fleet of foot. In the night, he was indeed difficult to track. They had pursued him for only half a watch before losing his trail. Fearing Meng Jianqing’s wrath, they dared not return immediately and searched the vicinity further, but with no real results, finally returning to report.

Meng Jianqing waved his hand and said, “If he escaped, so be it. We’ll spare him this time.”

The monk may flee, but the temple cannot run away.

The two Imperial Guards knew this latter statement was also directed at them. While breathing sighs of relief, they were also secretly alarmed, reminding themselves never to make such errors again—Meng Jianqing’s tone indicated he would give them only one chance.