The First Lackey Under The Empress

No one expected that on this day, the cavalry, who should have been charging on the battlefield, would suddenly appear on this street.

Even fewer people knew that behind such a large-scale operation stood the renowned Zhao.

“Rumble…”

The sound of hooves was like thunder, exceptionally clear, and the ground trembled.

“Ah!”

A child squatting at the door, observing the strange man with pigtails, widened his mouth and exclaimed subconsciously, only to have his mouth tightly covered by his mother who rushed over.

“Get inside! Hurry inside!”

The middle-aged boss tending the fire lowered his voice, his face filled with fear. As an ordinary citizen, he didn't know what was happening.

But he vaguely recalled that winter three years ago.

On the day of the Xuanmen coup, heavily armored imperial guards roared past on the street.

Anyone who failed to dodge in time was buried under the hooves of the horses, mixed with the accumulated snow, becoming minced meat.

It wasn't just him.

At this moment, all the living people in the shops on both sides of the street closed their doors and covered their windows with great understanding.

Visitors from other places were dragged into the shops in a daze.

In the blink of an eye, the long street fell into silence.

However, pairs of eyes peered out nervously through the cracks.

They then discovered that at the other end of the street, more than two hundred riders also surged out, blocking both sides.

The leaders were not just one person, but several military experts wearing light armor, some with sabers and some with swords.

Amidst the rumbling.

Accompanied by the leader raising his hand.

In an instant, the thunderous sound came to an abrupt halt.

Well-trained elite soldiers dismounted simultaneously, and with dense and orderly steps, black shields that could be pieced together, leaving only piercing holes, were erected.

In the blink of an eye, walls of steel rose on both sides of the street.

The sound of drawing swords spread like a dense carpet.

Moreover, at some unknown time, ropes were thrown from the roofs of the street.

Then, densely packed crossbowmen climbed up, firmly locking onto the targets below with those magic crossbow bolts that cost at least a hundred taels of silver each to craft.

The entire process, apart from the initial sound of hooves and footsteps, was eerily silent.

Not a single person spoke, not a trace of commotion.

However, the heavy, dense, and cold killing intent in the air filled and blocked this area.

Looking from afar, no one dared to approach.

From extreme motion to extreme stillness.

When Chai Keqiao slowly lowered his hand, he realized that he was already trapped in an airtight encirclement.

“Clang.”

The sound of armor clanking arose, and the muffled voice of the leading Iron Float Troup soldier was like a club hammer hitting everyone's heart, making their eardrums tremble:

“The person in front, is he Chai Keqiao of Wudi City!?”

The young man, wearing a straw raincoat, grass sandals, and looking like a mountain woodcutter, had no fear on his wheat-colored face.

On the contrary, he was unexpectedly calm, as if he had expected this scene.

But he was still slightly surprised by such a grand display.

He nodded and said: “It is I.”

The armored strongman said sternly:

“Suspect Chai Keqiao, defying the imperial court's ban, is to be arrested immediately! Who will step forward to capture this person?”

Instantly, several obscure but ruthless figures from the military on both sides, who had been tempered on the battlefield, were eager to try.

However, the Iron Float Troup soldier preemptively answered:

“I'll go first!”

As he spoke, while still on horseback, he sank his knees in a bow stance, and the horse under him, whose physique far exceeded ordinary horses, wailed and knelt down on its hind legs.

The Float Troup general, whose true face was hidden by his helmet, leaped up.

Discarding the two-meter-long iron spear in his hand, which was only suitable for mounted combat.

Barehanded, like a meteorite, he leaped out of the shield and armor formation and smashed onto the cold, wet street.

… …

Not far away, on an abandoned watchtower.

Zhao Du'an, dressed in luxurious clothes, stood with his hands behind his back. From this height, he could clearly overlook the distant fighting.

Behind him stood the subordinates of Pear Blossom Hall with their heads bowed.

A gust of cold wind blew into the watchtower, and Eunuch Hai, dressed as a wealthy old man, wearing a melon-skin hat, and with white temples, appeared with a smile.

Looking at the distant scene, he clicked his tongue in wonder:

“You kid still knows how to show off your power. His Majesty only taught you not to let chaos break out in the capital. Is this how power is used?”

Zhao Du'an raised his eyebrows and said with a grin:

“What the Imperial Advisor teaches is correct. Otherwise, I will order them to withdraw? And let the Eunuch take action to punish this delusional person?”

Eunuch Hai glanced at him:

“This old one is teaching you how to cultivate, not to be a bodyguard for you kid.”

Zhao Du'an sighed softly, but his eyes were filled with a smile:

“But I'm doing all this according to the Eunuch's wishes. If the Eunuch didn't allow it, why would you reappear at this moment?”

Imperial Advisor Hai smacked his lips tastelessly.

He suddenly felt that it was meaningless for young people to be too smart and clever, which made him lose a lot of joy.

At this moment, he slowly walked to his side and squinted his eyes and smiled:

“Stop talking nonsense, watch carefully. The battle between the direct descendant of Wudi City and the strongman in my Dayu army is more precious to you than the battle between Buddhism and Taoism.

After all, you can't learn anything from the battle between sorcerers.

But you kid, how did you guess that I would be satisfied with such an arrangement?”

Zhao Du'an looked into the distance, leaning on the railing, and smiled like a little fox:

“The Eunuch said not long ago that taking me to the teahouse to watch the martial artists fight was to accumulate experience for breaking through the divine chapter, then watching this fight must accumulate even more.”

Mobilizing troops and generals for the sake of face was one thing.

But the second purpose, to add bricks and tiles to one's own cultivation and further approach the goal of the divine chapter, was known to few people.

Unknowingly, Chai Keqiao and the imperial guards masters had become a part of Zhao Du'an's play.

Providing nourishment for his state of mind to break through.

Eunuch Hai took a deep look at him, didn't say anything, and pointed forward:

“The Wudi City lineage is the most orthodox and pure path of martial arts cultivation. The martial artists who come out of there are somewhat crazy.

As for the masters in the army, they are two completely different paths from martial artists. Look at that Iron Float Troup soldier, if he were in the Jianghu, he would be clumsy and unsightly.

But if he is in the military formation, cooperating with the formation on the battlefield, forcing the enemy into a situation where they cannot dodge, then his strength will be revealed.

This heavy armor, like an iron shell, weighs more than a hundred pounds. Only a fierce general with strong qi and blood can wear it.”

Zhao Du'an squinted his eyes and said faintly:

“I want to see how powerful it is.”

… …

Cold rain drizzled.

The Float Troup general slammed onto the ground with a “thump”, and the ground under his feet cracked.

Without any nonsense, the Iron General wearing a mask strode forward, approaching Chai Keqiao like a small mountain.

“Finally here…”

Chai Keqiao muttered in a low voice, and with a flick of his wrist, the golden ginkgo leaf spun and flew out.

Unlike the fierce generals who often cause landslides and earth fissures and have terrifying momentum.

This leaf, when thrown, was like smoke from a village chimney, a bonfire in the mountains.

Silently, it spun and flew over a dozen feet in the fine cold rain.

The Float Troup general didn't dodge or avoid it, and his movements weren't affected in the slightest.

He allowed the golden leaf to cut into the thick plate armor, cutting out a string of dazzling sparks, and didn't care at all.

He just delivered a punch as usual.

Chai Keqiao's pupils shrank, and he didn't even touch the iron axe at his waist, but instead fought back with his bare hands.

His legs trembled slightly, and his body twisted and shifted between millimeters, avoiding the frontal blow of this armored iron fist. His right hand opened his five fingers, gently covering the iron fist, and twisted his wrist!

It was as if… …

Just like before, he twisted the ginkgo leaf stem!

“Crack, crack, crack…”

A force almost like a ripple was guided along his arm into the iron arm.

The scale armor on the Float Troup general's arm made a crisp cracking sound.

Like water waves oscillating, pieces of iron the size of fish scales, connected by silk threads, opened at the same time.

“Hmph!”

Under the mask, the eyes of this strongman who had fought mammoths with the Gu tribe in the border army turned cold, and his qi sea erupted with the roar of metal.

“Chih chih — —”

In an instant, hot steam spewed out from the gaps in the opened scales.

A huge force was born out of thin air, forcibly shaking Chai Keqiao's arm away.

The latter took advantage of the situation, tapped his toes, rose into the air, and kicked the enemy's face fiercely with a foot wearing grass shoes.

Eunuch Hai narrowed his eyes, a little dazed, as if recalling the past, and said:

“This Vajra Leg seems ordinary, but if he kicks it, even a rock will explode.”

Zhao Du'an hummed:

“If he is not even as good as a stone, I will smash the door of the Jinwu Guard Commander's house tonight.”

“Bang! !”

With a muffled bang, between lightning and flint, the Float Troup general blocked with both arms.

The heavy body, like a small mountain, was actually kicked back several feet by this kick.

His feet rubbed against the ground, sparks flying everywhere, and then he stabilized his figure.

And Chai Keqiao was forcibly lifted into the air by him, and was shocked to roll towards the air like a kite.

… …

“Is that the woodcutter taught by Martial Immortal Kui? He doesn't look very good, and he doesn't fight very coolly at all.”

Farther away from here, on a more distant roof ridge.

Gongshu Tianyuan, who was short and fat, wearing a wrinkled Taoist robe and carrying a large bamboo tube on his back, was watching the battle with a pair of special “glasses”.

There was an umbrella without a handle rotating on its own above his head, sheltering him from the wind and rain.

“Hehe, no, no, the strength of a martial artist does not lie in the mystery and splendor of spells, but in the seemingly ordinary fists and feet.

The Celestial Master's Mansion only specializes in the magic of the gods, and it is normal not to understand this very well.

My Shenlong Temple martial monks are also considered half martial artists. If Divine Official Gongshu is interested in the future, this monk can lend you a few martial arts scriptures.”

On the same roof ridge.

Dressed in white, with a handsome appearance and a gentle smile, Monk Bianji put his hands together and explained patiently.

He stood quietly on the roof ridge, and the wind and rain in the sky bypassed him on their own.

As a "Worldly" realm, he was a great realm higher than Gongshu Tianyuan.

At this moment, his words had some meaning of elders teaching juniors.

The little fat man snorted coldly and sneered:

“Can you die if you don't speak, you bald donkey? Don't think that just because your cultivation is higher than mine, you can teach me a lesson. If you have the ability, go talk nonsense to my senior brother and see if my senior brother hammers you to pieces.”

The senior brother in his mouth was the eldest disciple of Old Celestial Master Zhang Yan Yi, and was not in the capital.

He was revered as "Little Celestial Master", and it was rumored that his appearance was fierce and ugly, like a Rakshasa ghost.

Back then, Bianji was traveling in the Jianghu and accidentally ran into the Little Celestial Master and fought a battle.

It is said that Bianji closed his doors for three full months after returning.

“…Amitabha,”

Bianji smiled and said: “This monk also wants to compete with Little Celestial Master again as soon as possible. Huh…”

At this time, he turned his head to look and found that the fighting in the distance had changed again.