Chapter 608
Unfathomable
Wearing a straw hat, Uncle Hu stood on the eaves of the third floor of Liubiju, half of his body overlapping with the moon. His hands formed a mudra, his ten fingers flying, as if performing a silent shadow play under the moon.
He drove the Taotie and Feiyi rampage through Qipan Street. In just a few breaths, Qipan Street was turned into complete chaos.
A foot soldier blocked Taotie's path, but Taotie opened its blood-red maw and swallowed him whole.
The Taotie swung its long, python-like tail, sweeping across the land, causing people and horses to fall. The Fei Yi flapped its wings and skimmed low overhead, the resulting gust of wind extinguishing the torches and dragging half the street into darkness.
This was the first time Chen Ji had personally witnessed Master Hu's path to cultivation.
He had only heard about the scale of Hu Sanye's actions in Baidadan City from Zhang Xia before. Now it seemed that the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade was a technique of cultivating the Mandala Secret Seal to the Seeking the Dao Realm. The other party and Xiaoman should be from the same cultivation path, but he had never intended to kill Xiaoman.
Chen Ji stared at Hu Sanye on the eaves.
This is Qipan Street, right under the emperor's nose, adjacent to the Six Ministries.
Within a mile there is the Five Cities Military Command and the Imperial Guard Command, and within a hundred paces there is the Imperial Guard Command. Not to mention the Jie Fan Wei and secret agents next to the palace, there is also the mysterious Imperial Observatory.
Whoever attempts to break him out here is risking their life and fortune. But Chen Ji wonders, even if Master Hu manages to abduct him here, how will he escape the inner city? How will he escape the pursuit of the Jie Fan Guard and the Five City Garrison?
Chessboard Street is definitely not a good place to break a prisoner. Master Hu is an old hand, how could he not know that?
the other side.
More than twenty assassins in black, under the cover of Master Hu, quickly approached the prison van.
These men in black were highly skilled with their swords, each a high-ranking officer at the Acquired Realm. They worked together seamlessly, supporting and protecting each other, clearly seasoned veterans.
They met the Five Cities Military Command in a single encounter and slaughtered the Command's infantrymen, leaving them in disarray. In just a few breaths, they had charged into the prison carts within ten feet.
Chen Ji stood in the prison cart, watching through the gaps as the black-clad assassins swept through the formation layer by layer, getting closer and closer to him.
He carefully examined the figure of the man in black, finding it both familiar and strange.
Imperial Guards? No.
Chen Ji had spent every day with the Imperial Guards, and he could recognize them by their figures even if they were masked... But since they weren't from the Imperial Guards, where did this sense of familiarity come from?
Who else could send so many officials to rescue prisoners?
……
……
The assassins in black had already reached the prison cart, and the twenty-odd men who had fought their way here had only suffered minor injuries.
But Chen Ji frowned, showing no joy whatsoever.
It's certainly a good thing that someone is willing to rescue him, but this prison break has gone far too smoothly. The Qi family planned for a month, with the Minister of Justice personally presiding over a joint trial by the three judicial departments; how could they just stand by and watch themselves be taken away?
Chen Ji looked around, his gaze sweeping over every window on the street. Those dark windows were like closed eyes, and he didn't know which one would open at any moment.
Finally, his gaze settled on the face of the Vice Censor-in-Chief.
The Vice Censor-in-Chief was responsible for escorting him and She Dengke to the Ministry of Justice prison. They were only three steps away from the prison cart. The black-clad assassin was about to kill them, but the assassin remained calm and composed on his horse.
At this moment, the assassin in black kicked aside the foot soldiers blocking his way, came to the prison cart, and slashed at the cart with his sword.
Just as the blade was about to fall, a second-floor window of a tavern facing the street suddenly swung open.
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting a shadowy figure. The man was in his thirties, dressed in a short, grey cloth robe, like an ordinary tenant farmer. Yet, the way he stood there clearly indicated that he was a seasoned killer.
Qi Zhong.
He raised his right hand, and someone handed him a three-foot-long iron armor-piercing spike.
The armor-piercing spike is entirely black, with a triangular arrowhead and a blood groove, specifically crafted for armor penetration. It is extremely heavy; even an ordinary person would struggle to lift it.
Qi Zhong twisted his waist and hips, his arm like a fully drawn bow, and threw out the armor-piercing cone.
The armor-piercing spikes shot out with a whooshing sound.
In the darkness, only a muffled "thud" was heard as the awl pierced the shoulder of the leading man in black from the side, sending him flying backward. The armor-piercing awl continued its trajectory, piercing two more infantrymen from the Five Cities Garrison beside him before finally stopping.
Qi Zhong remained unfazed when he saw that the armor-piercing spikes had accidentally injured the infantrymen of the cavalry. He simply raised his hand again, and his attendant handed him another armor-piercing spike.
Uncle Hu stood on the eaves and turned to look at the window.
With a change of hand seals, Taotie leaped through the crowd and pounced on the second floor of the tavern.
Qi Zhong turned his head and saw the armor-piercing cone shoot out. The heavy armor-piercing cone, accompanied by a whistling sound, pierced through the gaping maw of the Taotie, shattering it into pieces and turning it into a cloud of black smoke that drifted away.
Qi Zhong hurled one armor-piercing spike after another, pressing the black-clad assassins back from his high position until they were pinned to the ground one by one.
The black-clad assassin's blood splattered on the prison cart, and specks of it landed on Chen Ji's face.
Chen Ji looked at Qi Zhong through the wooden fence. This was probably the assassin that the Qi family had been raising for many years.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
The next moment, Chen Ji heard shouts of killing suddenly erupt outside Qipan Street while he was in the prison cart.
He squinted and saw that fires were lit on both the east and west sides of Qipan Street.
More infantry and fire-armored soldiers from the Five Cities Garrison arrived nearby, carrying torches and converging on Qipan Street like fiery dragons, surrounding the area.
Qi Zhong stood in the dark window, waiting to see what other tricks the prisoner-rescue thieves had up their sleeves, but he waited for a long time without seeing anything. He didn't throw the last armor-piercing spike in his hand, but handed it to his attendant, and turned to walk downstairs: "All bark and no bite, leave them alive."
……
……
At this moment, the assassins in black were completely surrounded, leaving only five people struggling desperately.
Seeing that the prison break had failed, Qi Zhenzhu gritted his teeth, drew his sword from his waist, and took advantage of the chaos to spur his horse toward the prison cart, pretending to break the iron lock on the prison door: "Master, let's go quickly!"
The Vice Censor-in-Chief blocked the prison cart and shouted angrily, "Qi Zhenzhuo, have you gone mad?"
Qi Zhenzhuo, panting heavily, shouted: "Get out of the way!"
Instead of retreating, the Vice Censor-in-Chief spurred his horse forward, forcing Qi Zhenzhuo's warhorse to retreat repeatedly: "Do you want to drag the Qi family down with you? You can't understand the classics, you can't master martial arts, and now that the path to heaven has been paved for you, you still can't see it. You're more trouble than you're worth!"
Qi Zhenzhuo looked at the prison cart in silence. Chen Ji shook his head slightly: "Go and call the Imperial Guards. They should have been instructed by Grand Secretary Qi to be on standby at the Governor's Mansion today. If they don't come now, it will be difficult for Lord Li, as Qi's son-in-law, to explain to the Qi family. Moreover, this place is less than a hundred steps away from the Imperial Guards' Governor's Mansion. It would be a serious crime for them not to come and quell the rebellion."
The Vice Censor-in-Chief laughed: "Viscount Wu Xiang sees things more clearly than you. The Qi family has laid a trap today, and even if you cut down the prison cart, you won't be able to save him."
Qi Zhenzhu stood frozen in place. Chen Ji looked at the black-clad assassins who were surrounded in the distance and said softly, "Go."
Qi Zhenzhuo spurred his horse and charged toward the Imperial Guard Commander's Mansion.
The Vice Censor-in-Chief straightened his back and slowly said beside the prison cart, "Viscount Wu Xiang has extensive connections. Even under the emperor's nose, people dare to stand up for you and break prisoners. I truly admire him. It's a pity that he's now being paraded through the streets in public, his reputation ruined..."
However, at this moment, instead of leaving the heavily surrounded Liubiju rooftop, Master Hu urged the Xiezhi to leap out of the encirclement of the Five Cities Military Command and charge towards the Vice Censor-in-Chief.
The Xie Zhi resembles a sheep, is entirely black, has a single horn on its forehead, and can distinguish right from wrong.
As the Vice Censor-in-Chief was speaking, the Xie Zhi rushed in front of him, pierced his chest with its single horn, and lifted it high into the air, as if in a show of defiance, and swung the Vice Censor-in-Chief twice in the air.
Qi Zhonggang had just stepped out of the tavern when he saw this scene. He immediately turned and stared at Master Hu on the roof of Liu Biju: "Grab him!"
But Master Hu had already driven Fei Yi back to his side. Fei Yi was a strange snake with six legs and four wings, and now the world was suffering from a great drought.
The enormous Fei Yi spread its four wings on the roof and carried Master Hu San as it glided dozens of feet through the night sky, flying over rows of eaves and disappearing outside the encirclement.
Qi Zhong said coldly, "Chase!"
Chen Ji looked at the body of the Vice Censor-in-Chief in the prison cart, blood flowing out. The scene just now happened too fast, too ruthlessly, and too accurately, as if it had been brewing for a long time.
Having succeeded in his attack, Master Hu immediately fled without any hesitation.
Chen Ji suddenly realized that how could an old hand like Master Hu not know that a prison break in Qipan Street was almost impossible to succeed?
But Master Hu still came, because he wasn't there to break the prisoner tonight; he was there to kill the Vice Censor-in-Chief and avenge Chen Ji's public humiliation.
……
……
Chessboard Street has returned to calm.
The Imperial Guards finally arrived. All of them, clad in silver armor, stood at attention, staring at Chen Ji in the prison cart from afar, their eyes blazing with anger but daring not to approach.
The Imperial Guards' silver armor was extremely cumbersome to put on; it would take at least the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to get them properly donned. More than a hundred Imperial Guards had been ordered to wait inside the Governor's Mansion, and they only arrived to quell the rebellion after Qi Zhenzhuo went to urge them.
Chen Ji and Li Xuan looked at each other from afar, and in the firelight he could see that the other's face was full of exhaustion.
Chen Ji stopped looking at the Imperial Guards and instead looked at Chessboard Street, which was covered in blood. The infantrymen of the Five Cities Garrison were dragging corpses to one side. He turned his head again, but the four zodiac animal figures on the Zhengyang Gate tower had vanished.
The prison break tonight came quickly and subsided just as fast. The Qi family had laid a trap, and no one could take him away right under the emperor's nose.
But Chen Ji always felt something was off.
This strange feeling didn't just start tonight; it started when rumors about She Dengke began circulating in the teahouse.
No, even earlier.
From the moment the Grand Chancellor went to Changping to guard the imperial tombs, the capital city became somewhat enigmatic.
Bai Long, Jin Zhu, Tian Ma, and others have been missing for a month. Wu Xiu is not in a hurry to consolidate the power of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Instead, there are rumors that Wu Xiu has sealed up the Jie Fan Lou and is only reviewing drafts in the Eagle Room.
The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, which should have been a time of power transition and undercurrents, was unusually calm for a month.
At this point, Qi Zhong, having failed to catch up with Master Hu, returned to Qipan Street.
He walked up to the five assassins in black and reached out to pull the black cloth off the face of one of them.
Chen Ji stood there, stunned.
West wind?
How could it be a westerly wind?
Xifeng, who once impersonated the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau in Los Angeles and got too into character.
Wasn't the other party already promoted to Hai Dongqing and put in charge of Luocheng's secret agents? Why would they appear in the capital, which is thousands of miles away?
Qi Zhong didn't recognize Xi Feng. He grabbed Xi Feng's hair and forced Xi Feng to raise his head: "Who are you?"
Xi Feng was forced to kneel on the ground. Ignoring the blood on his face, he looked up and sneered, "Kneel down and kowtow three times to Grandpa, and Grandpa will tell you."
Qi Zhong glanced at Chen Ji in the prison cart and said expressionlessly, "Take them all to the Ministry of Justice prison for interrogation tonight." (End of Chapter)