The First Lackey Under The Empress

Originally, Zhao Du'an wasn't sure what means Prince Jing would use to attack him.

Or whether he would really dare to do it.

But when the "spy" Wu Ling sent that secret letter, he understood everything.

Currently, the interests of the imperial court and the eight princes have just clashed, and neither side is ready to tear apart their facades.

Therefore, even if Prince Jing wanted to flex his muscles, he wouldn't personally take action. Then, the best person to bear the blame for "assassinating Zhao Du'an" is undoubtedly the Kuangfu Society.

It just so happens that the cooperation between Prince Jing's府 and Zhuang Xiaocheng is not a secret.

How many people will come to kill me today?

Zhao Du'an wasn't sure, but he didn't mind making some life-saving preparations before arriving at Yan Suo Lake.

For example, in recent days, he had promised Pei Niannu one chance to take action from the "Six Chapters Scripture" in exchange for storybooks.

And also... deliberately tying Xu Junling to his warship.

One reason was to eliminate the suspicion of Prince Huai'an's involvement in the assassination, but more importantly, he could use her as a shield at a critical moment.

Neither Prince Jing nor Zhuang Xiaocheng would ever assassinate Xu Junling along with him, because that would undoubtedly mean an irreconcilable feud with Prince Huai'an.

"You..."

The intelligent Xu Junling understood, but her oval face, wrapped in a red and white cloak, was still slightly pale.

This shrewd "social butterfly" hadn't expected that the Zhao envoy, who often flirted with her, had such a ruthless side.

After Zhao Du'an said "Shh", only one ship remained on Yan Suo Lake, and the entire lake became quiet.

Overlooking from high altitude, it resembled a pool of pure jade, a battlefield bestowed by heaven.

The officials, including Hou Renmeng, who had gone to drive away idlers, had all returned and quietly drew their sabers.

The surroundings fell silent, without any noise, only the wind brought some subtle anomalies.

......

......

At the same time.

Several miles away from Yan Suo Lake, in a dense forest, heavy footsteps could be heard.

Cloth shoes, a size larger than ordinary people's, stepped on the dead branches and fallen leaves in the forest, the dry branches snapped "crack", and shallow pits were left on the soft forest floor.

Walking in the forest was an old monk.

He was as burly as an ape, wearing plain but clean monk robes, with a string of thirty-six Buddha head-shaped jade stones hanging from his neck, each the size of an adult's fist.

The burly old monk held a black iron Zen staff, with a crescent shape at the top, weighing hundreds of pounds, but it felt as light as a walking stick in the monk's hand.

On the old monk's ruddy and solemn face, there was not a single hair, even his eyebrows were so light that they were almost invisible, but his eyes were light golden, mysterious and profound.

If there were people who knew about Buddhism, they would definitely recognize at a glance that this person was one of the three "Bodhisattvas" under Abbot Xuan Yin of the Shenlong Temple lineage in the current Dayu Buddhism, the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva.

He was also an old martial monk who had competed with Xuan Yin for the "Heavenly Human World Honored One" in the past and had been dormant until now.

Some time ago, the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva left his temple of practice and disappeared, but unexpectedly appeared outside Huting City.

"Crack."

"Crack."

The Dragon Tree Bodhisattva walked out of the dense forest, and a deserted winding path appeared in front of him.

Along the path, one could reach Yan Suo Lake.

In early winter, the path was covered with palm-sized fallen leaves, lonely and uninhabited.

However, the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva suddenly stopped, looking solemnly at a carriage quietly parked on the path ahead.

How could there be a carriage on the deserted, broken, and rugged path?

Moreover, the carriage was pure black, made of unknown materials.

The horses pulling the carriage were pure white, without any impurities, and quite handsome, unlike ordinary horses, with faint short protrusions on their foreheads.

At this moment, they were restlessly stomping their hooves, and two streams of white air spewed from their nostrils.

"Dragon Tree Bodhisattva, where are you going?"

There was no coachman on the carriage. At this moment, the curtain was rolled up, and a figure was sitting cross-legged inside the carriage, speaking calmly.

The Dragon Tree Bodhisattva, whose face was ruddy and hairless and whose eyes were golden, gently placed the Zen staff on the ground, instantly sinking into the ground by a foot.

The old monk put his hands together: "Amitabha, why is the Little Celestial Master of the Celestial Master's府 passing through this place?"

Inside the carriage, Zhang Yan's eldest disciple, the "Little Celestial Master", who was as unpredictable as a ghost in the Jianghu, seemed to smile after being exposed.

It was clearly a smile, but coupled with that ugly face, which was naturally fierce like a Rakshasa ghost, it seemed particularly hideous.

The Little Celestial Master sat cross-legged, wearing a loose black divine official robe, with his hair disheveled, and a large sword with a blade about five fingers wide lying across his knees.

The sword was named Crimson Tide, named for its scarlet color. From top to bottom, nine black seal characters were engraved on the sword: "Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Jie Zhen Lie Qian Xing."

Each character was outlined like a talismanic divine text.

The Little Celestial Master smiled: "I asked where you are going, but you asked me instead."

The Dragon Tree Bodhisattva sighed softly:

"We monks and Taoists should not interfere with each other. Little Celestial Master, please make way, and this old monk will pretend that he has never seen you."

The Little Celestial Master, who was ugly in appearance and ranked first among the six Celestial Master disciples in cultivation, said indifferently:

"Dragon Tree Bodhisattva, you cultivated early. This poor Taoist used to give you face and respect you as a Bodhisattva. Do you really think you are comparable to Xuan Yin?

Hehe, this poor Taoist is too lazy to play riddles with you. I heard that some time ago, in this battle between the two families, your disciple named Tianhai was beaten up by a young man from the imperial palace. This time, that Zhao surnamed young man came to Huting, and this poor Taoist simply came to see what he looks like, who is familiar with Jin Jian'er and Tian Yuanzi.

But you... sneaking around in the deep mountains, I'm afraid you're going to do something insidious?"

The Dragon Tree Bodhisattva's thoughts were exposed, and his already flushed face became even redder, but he said in a deep voice:

"Since Tianhai is this old monk's closed disciple, how about this old monk go to see that Zhao Du'an?"

"Ha, the Buddhist masters really taught a group of bald donkeys who bully the small,", the Little Celestial Master grinned, revealing a mouth of yellow teeth:

"What if this poor Taoist doesn't allow it?"

The Dragon Tree Bodhisattva put his hands together and said coldly:

"You want to stop me?"

While speaking, his light golden eyes lit up slightly, and the fist-sized Buddha heads hanging on his chest rotated at the same time, facing the other party with "Buddha faces" with different expressions.

The Little Celestial Master joined his fingers together and slowly wiped the blade of the Crimson Tide sword on his knees. The blood color on the sword surged like a tide, and the talisman seal characters emitted a faint light.

A smile appeared on his ferocious indigo face:

"Happy to accompany you."

......

......

"Listen to what?"

On the second floor of the ship, Xu Junling's heart was beating like a drum, but she pretended to be calm. The cold wind brushed her face, and she pricked up her ears but only heard the sound of the wind blowing across the water.

Zhao Du'an didn't speak. Ji Yue, who was standing behind him, suddenly said softly:

"There are people underwater, many people, with knives."

This white-eyed female warlock stood by the boat, quietly looking at the calm lake water, raising her wet palm, as if she wanted to grab it, but retracted her hand, and said blankly:

"They have water-avoiding talismans on them."

The female warlock turned her head and cautiously asked for instructions: "I... go...?"

Zhao Du'an shook his head and didn't speak. Shen Juan, who was standing on the first floor deck, suddenly threw away his long saber, drew a dagger, bit it in his mouth, and took off his outer robe at the same time.

Hou Renmeng followed closely behind.

The group of imperial guards, carefully selected from the capital for this trip, who were extremely good at fighting, followed suit, skillfully taking off their outer robes, holding daggers in their mouths, and their eyes overflowed with the fierce aura that could only be honed by killing people.

Then, as if it had been arranged in advance, the soldiers jumped into the water with "plops" and "plops".

With a twist of their waists, they were like swimming fish, heading towards the group of Jiancheng Taoist soldiers underwater.

"The elite of the capital's imperial guards, in addition to those who are good at a certain field, are all proficient in both land and water warfare, but for a landlubber like me, falling into the water, although I won't die, I will become a lamb to be slaughtered, so it's best to avoid things like hollowing out the boat," Zhao Du'an said softly.

Xu Junling looked over, unable to see his emotions.

"Princess..."

The maid Lvshui approached with a pale face, a little panicked. The Wangfu's big maid, who usually bossed people around, felt her legs weaken in the face of real swords and soldiers.

Xu Junling looked nervously at the water, but couldn't see anything. The entire lake was unusually calm, until about dozens of breaths later, a group of scarlet suddenly bloomed on the distant water surface.

That meant that the soldiers on both sides were engaged in close combat, but it was only the beginning of the assassination.

"Here it comes."

The old eunuch said softly. This python-robed eunuch, who was respected in the imperial palace, looked into the distance with his hands behind his back.

Zhao Du'an also saw a familiar figure stabbing like a sharp sword.

Unsurprisingly, it was the Qing Shan senior brother, Duan Shuiliu, who had fled a few days ago.

Duan Shuiliu was still wearing a gray short shirt, stepping on the wooden hairpin that tied his hair, crossing the river alone.

When he came from a distance, a vast mist rose from the lake behind him, which really corresponded to the words "smoke lock".

"Zhao surnamed! Grandpa Duan is here, quickly offer up the treasure armor, otherwise I won't be as merciful as last time!"

Duan Shuiliu laughed loudly, still the same reason as last time, but this time, Xu Jinglong was no longer by his side.

"A defeated general, coming and going, is annoying."

Hai Gonggong sneered. Without waiting for Zhao Du'an to speak, he stepped down from the ship.

When his figure swept out, his wrist hooked, and the Frost Sword "swished" out of its sheath and fell into the hands of the old eunuch.

But he said to the back:

"Last time I took you to the capital to watch the battle and break through the realm. This time, if you can't break through, you still have to watch carefully."

Hai Gonggong didn't use any leverage. He stepped on the lake surface as if walking on flat ground. His figure flashed out for more than ten feet, blocking Duan Shuiliu, who was crossing the river alone, on Yan Suo Lake.

"It's easy to say, but I have to have the mind to be distracted,"

Zhao Du'an shrugged helplessly, ordering the group of boatmen, led by the dock officials, who were responsible for supporting the ship and were already frightened, to work hard to keep the ship away from the two masters of the world as far as possible.

He took the time to smile at Xu Junling:

"By the way, Princess, can you swim? If this ship can't withstand the tearing of the air and splits into two halves later, our talented woman from Jiangnan will become a drowned chicken."

Xu Junling's eyes widened, not understanding why this person still had the mind to joke. Just as she was about to retort, she suddenly heard a Jianghu guest flying from the mountain behind the ship, from the other side:

"Zhao thief, receive your death!"

The former commander of the Imperial Forbidden Army, Qi Yuchun, spear out like a dragon.

......

Update next chapter at midnight

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