Shang Xiangyu received two slim-necked white porcelain bottles from Duan Rong. He opened one bottle’s stopper, took a sniff, and a trace of intoxication appeared on his face.
Shang Xiangyu pocketed the two bottles neatly, his gaze sweeping over the two corpses not far away, saying: "You two clean this place up."
Pan Yong asked: "Do we still treat it as a disappearance?"
Shang Xiangyu glared at Pan Yong, and Pan Yong immediately lowered his head.
Shang Xiangyu said: "Make it look like the furnace exploded again here, and have Old Qin from the Lower Courtyard come by tomorrow to take a look, tell him the furnace exploded again."
"But..." Pan Yong muttered inwardly, hesitated, and said: "Last time it was a furnace explosion, do we make it a furnace explosion again this time?"
Shang Xiangyu listened to Pan Yong’s words, silent and speechless.
Duan Rong saw Shang Xiangyu not speaking, then said: "Exactly because the furnace truly exploded last time, we should make it look like a furnace explosion this time. Because last time’s furnace explosion was genuine."
Shang Xiangyu scrutinized Duan Rong with deep eyes, turned to Pan Yong, and said: "Duan Rong sees things more deeply than you."
Pan Yong frowned, a complex look flashed in his eyes, and he hurriedly said: "Two consecutive furnace explosions might alarm the Judgment and Rectification Department, wouldn’t it be troublesome?"
Shang Xiangyu said: "Even if the Judgment and Rectification Department’s people come, it doesn’t matter. You two stick to the story that both times you were refining the same medicine and both times the furnace exploded. Let them come and question me for the rest. I will handle them myself!"
After speaking, Shang Xiangyu walked out of the cave.
Pan Yong gave Duan Rong an odd look, fleetingly replaced with a smile, and said: "You’re young, Junior Brother, yet you act very mature!"
Duan Rong smiled and said: "Senior Brother, since we are fellow disciples, it’s best to harmonize and assimilate."
"Naturally, that is natural." Pan Yong said: "Junior Brother, look at this scene, how should we manage it?"
Duan Rong folded his fists, said: "Just follow Senior Brother’s arrangement, I will lend a hand."
Pan Yong cursed slyly in his heart, smiled and said: "Then Junior Brother, let’s make it look like last time the furnace exploded by tilting this pill furnace over."
Duan Rong nodded, and the two began channeling their Inner Breath, tilting the bottom layer of the pill furnace to one side.
The heavy pill furnace, with a bang, smashed at an angle to the ground, causing the rock floor beneath to tremble slightly.
Pan Yong’s gaze swept over the corpses of Yin Cong and Chen Hu, said: "Should these two guys be smashed together?"
Duan Rong glanced over, Chen Hu’s body was headless, Yin Cong’s heart was exploded, so it wasn’t impossible to smash them together.
Pan Yong looked at Duan Rong, said: "Smashing them together seems a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it? Why did you have to chop off Chen Hu’s head, making the arrangement so difficult now?"
Duan Rong touched his nose, saying nothing.
How could he have foreseen so far? Back then, he didn’t even know if he’d survive under Shang Xiangyu’s control.
After some deliberation, they ultimately smashed both Chen Hu and Yin Cong’s bodies under the bottom layer of the pill furnace.
Chen Hu’s head and neck were crushed to pulp by the furnace’s edge, obliterating traces of his decapitation.
Yin Cong’s chest was also crushed, concealing the signs of his exploded heart.
In truth, there were other methods, but both corpses bore traces of torturous killing, and to disguise their true causes of death, smashing was the cleanest cover-up; other methods would inevitably leave clues.
After dealing with the corpse issue, Pan Yong looked at the tilted bottom layer of the pill furnace, his gaze shifted.
There should be burnt dreg in the exploded furnace!
Pan Yong’s eyes swept across, suddenly looking at the Great Cauldron in the corner, he walked over slowly, wrapped the remnants of Shang Xin’s corpse in cloth, and put them into the pill furnace.
Pan Yong took three trips to mix all the corpse remnants from the cauldron into the pill furnace.
Then he picked up the large stone pot, knelt by the fissure beneath the pill furnace, scraped open the surface ash and scooped half a pot of the still warm red lava beneath, and poured it into the furnace.
A sizzling sound echoed, and thick smoke began billowing from the tilted furnace mouth.
Standing there, Pan Yong coughed repeatedly from the smoke.
Next, Pan Yong scooped another half pot of lava, poured it in, but the furnace no longer smoked, nor did it sizzle.
Duan Rong, standing not far away, could smell the strong burnt odor.
Pan Yong looked into the pill furnace, saw the black dregs at the bottom now closely resembled the last explosion.
Pan Yong set down the stone pot, already quite scorching to the touch, looked at Duan Rong, and said: "Junior Brother, see if there’s anything missed?"
Duan Rong took a few steps, picked up the nearby Nine-Section Whip, carrying it to the corpses of Chen Hu and Yin Cong, winding the whip’s tip around Yin Cong’s leg. Then, he walked to a certain spot, pocketing the three Willow Leaf Sabers Pan Yong had knocked down.
Pan Yong watched Duan Rong, eyes flickering.
He had to admit, Duan Rong was a meticulous fellow, no wonder Master Shang chose to keep him.
After finishing the arrangements, the two walked out of the cave one after another, through the thick forest, arriving at the edge of the cliff.
Duan Rong maintained a distance of about ten feet behind Pan Yong.
Along the way, neither spoke a word.
The moment they exited the cave, it seemed a certain cold atmosphere solidified between them.
Walking by the cliff, in the dark night, Duan Rong watched Pan Yong’s silhouette.
If his guess was right, Shang Xiangyu would only keep one controllable person by his side, leaving one more person to die between him and Pan Yong.