Chapter 622
Rescue
Qi Zhong ran wildly across the white rooftops, his black outfit making him swift as an owl.
With each stride, he covered several zhang (approximately 33 meters), traversing the hundred-zhang distance from Fuyou Street to Tiejian Hutong (Blacksmith Alley) in an instant. The rooftops of the tiled houses creaked under his weight, causing the snow on the roofs to fall in a rustling sound, revealing the gray tiles beneath.
When Qi Zhongyue reached the blacksmith's alley, he suddenly stopped on a roof ridge and looked back.
A wolf's gaze and an eagle's look.
Qi Zhong's gaze swept across the rooftop behind him, not missing a single inch of it.
A hint of suspicion flashed in his eyes. His plan to kidnap Pao Ge and Er Dao was flawless. Jiao Tu and Yun Yang searched the whole city but couldn't find any clues. How could it be such a coincidence that he saved the two of them at the very moment of the wedding?
Is it a scam?
Or is it true?
If it's a trap, the other party is trying to use me to find the whereabouts of the Pao Ge and Er Dao, and there must be someone following them.
But in this vast expanse of white snow, no one can hide; apart from a few stray cat footprints on the roof, there is no other clue.
After much deliberation, Qi Zhong continued speeding south. When he reached Zaoshu Hutong, he looked back warily again to make sure no one was following him before leaping into the courtyard and slipping into the house.
He pushed open the door to the main house and entered. A couple inside, seeing a stranger enter, immediately asked in confusion, "You are...?"
Before he could finish speaking, Qi Zhong had already flashed in front of the two men and snapped their necks.
He discarded the two corpses, hid by the window, held his breath, and listened to the sounds outside.
After an incense stick had burned, Qi Zhong walked out of the courtyard, jumped back onto the roof, and looked around, but still found nothing amiss.
Still not entirely at ease, he circled the area again, finding only his footprints in the snow on the alleyways and rooftops.
Nobody was following me.
Qi Zhong stood on the rooftop for a moment, pondering, before finally setting off westward.
After an incense stick had burned, Qi Zhong leaped into the Chun'an Hall. Several of Qi family's elite warriors came out to greet him, clasping their hands in greeting: "My lord."
Qi Zhong frowned: "What about the other two?"
The assassin bowed his head and replied, "Reporting to your Excellency, those who are locked up inside have never left the temple."
Qi Zhong pushed aside the assassins and stepped into the main hall.
This small nunnery was originally a place where the Liu family, one of the eight major merchant families, supported nuns. Inside, there was only a clay statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, flanked by Sudhana and the Dragon Girl.
A bodyguard opened a hidden door behind the Bodhisattva for Qi Zhong, revealing a narrow, dark stone staircase leading underground.
Qi Zhong bent down and crawled into the secret passage. After walking down three zhang, the room suddenly opened up. Inside, there were tables, chairs, benches, beds, and bathtubs, and the furnishings were no less than those of a grand mansion of a noble family.
Inside the room, the two men, Pao Ge and Er Dao, were tied to the ground back to back, their eyes blindfolded and mouths gagged.
Just as the assassin said, the Gelaohui and Erdao never left.
Qi Zhong frowned as he returned to the main hall. He drew his sword from the waist of the assassin and silently approached the door, opening a crack to peek outside. But it remained quiet outside.
strangeness.
If Jiao Tu was trying to lure him into leading the way, why did no one follow?
He closed the door and solemnly instructed the Jiazi assassins, "Don't let these two die. They are now the biggest bargaining chip for the Third Miss to force Chen Ji to submit... But if anyone breaks in, kill these two first, leave no survivors."
The Jiazi Death Squad bowed and clasped their hands in a fist salute: "Yes."
Qi Zhong pondered for a moment, then opened the door to leave. But just as the door opened a crack, a slender hand reached in from outside, as fast as lightning.
The palm of that hand suddenly revealed the Eight Trigrams: Qian, Kun, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui, and Zhen, appearing and disappearing in sequence, finally settling on the Zhen trigram the instant the palm pressed against Qi Zhong's chest.
In an instant, a black remnant soul behind Qi Zhong flew backward.
Qi Zhong spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, peeking through the crack in the door at the woman outside as he retreated.
The person was dressed entirely in black, wearing a black veiled hat, their face completely obscured by the veil. Suddenly, a gust of wind lifted half of the veil, revealing half of their face beneath the hat, with a faint scar running across their nose across their cheek.
Qi Zhong couldn't see Lu's eyes, but the murderous intent in them was so real that it made his brow twitch.
With a thud, Qi Zhong's back slammed against the huge bronze incense burner in the courtyard, finally bringing him to a stop.
He slowly straightened up and patted the shirt on his chest: "Bagua Youlong, what is your relationship with Qing Wentao?"
Lu stepped over the threshold and strolled leisurely toward Qi Zhong: "There aren't many officials in the Seeking Dao Realm who can withstand one of my palms without injury; they're all in Buddhism. Let me guess what you're cultivating... Vajra Protector Seal? No, that official path is in the Bitter Jue Temple of the Jing Dynasty. If it's not the Vajra Protector Seal, then it must be the Bodhisattva's Original Vow Seal, but you've indiscriminately killed innocents and haven't upheld the full precepts, so you have no hope of attaining enlightenment in this life."
Qi Zhong sneered, "Nonsense..."
However, at that moment, a small, thin figure climbed over the wall from the other side. Bao Hou ignored Qi Zhong and headed straight for the main hall of Chun'an Hall.
Save people!
Qi Zhong sneered and stomped his foot on the ground. One by one, the blue bricks on the ground were lifted up, and two blue bricks shot towards Bao Hou like cannons.
The bricks struck with great force, one hitting the monkey's face and shattering the wooden monkey mask, revealing the face of the Six-Eared Macaque underneath. Another brick slammed into the monkey's chest, and he jerked his face to the side. When his face returned to normal, the Six-Eared Macaque's mask had transformed into a brown-patterned, black-background bull demon's face.
With a loud crash, the blue brick shattered in front of his chest. Bao Hou hurriedly uttered a hoarse "Damn it!" and flew backward, crashing heavily into the courtyard wall of Chun'an Hall.
Bao Hou lay on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. A woman exclaimed in surprise from his throat, "He can still be this fierce after being ambushed by a Bagua Palm strike?"
A shrill voice cried out, "You damned bull demon, are you any good? Don't get us killed!"
The hoarse voice roared, "If it weren't for me, who among you could have taken that hit?"
Qi Zhong stood in the courtyard, his gaze cold as he looked at Bao Hou, then turned to look at Lu Shi who had crossed the threshold: "I've never heard of anyone like you in the Secret Service."
Lu calmly walked towards Qi Zhong again: "I'll deal with him, you go and save the people."
Bao Hou let out a cry, got up, and pounced back into Chun'an Hall. Qi Zhong turned back and ordered the Jiazi Death Squad, "Go and kill those two!"
As he spoke, he used his foot to lift two blue bricks and headed straight for the monkey. The blue bricks were much faster than the monkey.
This time, the monkey's head shook, and it wore a new black-patterned blue mask. In the center of the mask's brow was a yellow, oval-shaped eye, clearly the mask of Lei Zhenzi from the storybook.
But then the monkey twisted its body and managed to avoid the two blue bricks.
At this moment, Lu started fighting.
A mocking look appeared in Qi Zhong's eyes. He kicked Lu Shi in the chest, but Lu Shi was caught off guard and crossed her arms in front of her chest to block the kick. She flew backward.
Qi Zhong ignored Lu Shi, a golden swastika appeared between his brows, and he slammed his hands on the bronze incense burner beside him: "The eunuch faction is bringing disaster to the country!"
In an instant, the bronze incense burner shattered into pieces, and hundreds of fragments enveloped the precious monkey, leaving it with no way to escape.
But just then, a weary, aged voice rang out from Bao Hou's throat: "Let this old man do it."
The monkey's cheek twitched for a moment, and the black-patterned blue mask on the monkey's face suddenly changed into a black-patterned white mask for the Little Formless.
Just as the bronze fragments were about to hit him, the Monkey King transformed into a cloud of black mist and surged into the Spring Nunnery. Hundreds of incense burner fragments pierced straight through the black mist without harming it in the slightest.
Qi Zhong frowned, and just as he was about to step forward to stop her, he heard Lu Shi's voice in his ear: "Look this way."
A gust of wind swept in, blocking him outside the main hall of Chun'an Hall.
Inside the main hall, black smoke swirled around the dome before engulfing the group of Jiazi Death Warriors.
Each time a Jiazi Death Warrior passed by, the black mist would completely envelop them. Once the black mist left the Jiazi Death Warrior, only smooth skin remained on their face, devoid of features, as they collapsed to the ground.
In just a few breaths, only one Jiazi Death Warrior remained alive in the main hall.
The Jiazi assassins had arrived behind the Bodhisattva, opened the hidden door, crawled into the secret passage, and then closed the hidden door again, running down the stone steps.
However, the hidden door could not stop the black mist transformed from the precious monkey. The billowing smoke broke into smaller pieces, poured in through the gaps, and then condensed into a ball in the secret passage.
The Jiazi assassin had already entered the secret chamber, and he drew his sword and slashed at the Gelaohui (a secret society).
Just as the blade was about to strike the Gelaohui's neck, the black mist enveloped the Jiazi Death Squad, and the blade stopped just in front of the Gelaohui's neck.
Two breaths later, the Jiazi Death Warriors fell out of the black mist like disassembled shadow puppets, sprawled on the ground, their faces devoid of features.
The black mist landed and transformed into the thin, small figure of a precious monkey.
Bao Hou glanced at the Pao Ge and Er Dao, then at the fallen sword on the ground, and became restless.
The next moment, the monkey's head began to tremble uncontrollably, and the mask changed back to that of the Six-Eared Macaque.
He didn't open his mouth, but the original voice of the precious monkey said, "Liao Zhong, this is not your place to make decisions. They are people that Lord White Dragon wants to protect, and you cannot be presumptuous."
A weary, aged voice came from Baohou's throat: "So be it, they're just two insignificant people. Killing them won't make Chen Ji feel bad for long. Remember, I want the Crown Prince's life, otherwise I won't let you achieve Dao."
The precious monkey calmly replied, "I know."
A hoarse voice said, "I'm going to take Xu Chuanxi's life!"
A shrill voice said, "I will leave no one, not even a chicken or a dog, in the Liu family!"
A deep, muffled voice said, "My solution is simple. As long as Qi Xun dies, he won't live much longer."
The woman's voice said, "I can't leave until I see you all disperse... but what will happen to Nannan if we all leave?"
"There's a white dragon; let him take care of things. He's a friend!"
At this moment, the Monkey King's original voice solemnly said, "Shut up, these two can hear you."
The lively sounds in the secret room vanished. Bao Hou untied Pao Ge and Er Dao: "Stay here and don't go out. We'll talk after we kill Qi Zhong. Lord Bai Long ordered that this man must die." (End of Chapter)