The First Lackey Under The Empress

No… This price is different from what we agreed on before… How can this old senior from six hundred years ago be even more ruthless than the Old Celestial Master, temporarily raising the price, extorting me? Can I refuse…

Zhao Du'an's expression was blank, the little man in his heart roaring madly.

For this sudden capture, he naturally made corresponding preparations, such as communicating with Pei Niannu in advance, to have her rescue him once at a critical moment.

At this time, seeing Zhao Du'an silent, Pei Niannu defaulted that he agreed.

The eyes behind the dark golden mask swept over the crowd, and the wedding dress on her body suddenly flew out strands of silk ribbons and red silk, wrapping around several important figures in front.

"We are going to fall!" Haitang found it difficult to stand firm, her face terrified.

She was at the forefront, and at this moment the stone beneath her feet broke, and she fell towards the cliff, into the abyss.

At the critical moment, a "rope" condensed from flames suddenly wrapped around the female constable's waist, pulling her up abruptly.

"Ah!"

Next to her, the poker-faced man, who was also in a desperate situation, was also hanging in mid-air in the same posture.

The two of them turned their heads back in astonishment, their eyes wide. In their vision, Zhao Du'an was floating in mid-air, surrounded by a faint scarlet light.

At this moment, his eyes were indifferent, looking down at everyone, the end of that illusory "red silk" was clenched in his hand—Pei Niannu, as a spirit body, was invisible to both warriors and mortals.

Among the people present, except for Ji Yue, who was stunned by the pillar, saw the "ghost" floating behind Zhao Du'an.

Everyone else thought that Zhao Du'an was using some kind of magic weapon to cast a spell.

"Chī chī—"

The third red silk struck out, smashing the pillar with a "bang" and pulling Ji Yue up as well.

Immediately afterwards, the fourth one picked up Zhuang Xiaocheng, whose smile had abruptly stopped.

The Old Tutor had already prepared for all his efforts to be in vain, but unexpectedly, a sudden change occurred. He tried to struggle violently, but Pei Niannu simply wrapped him into a zongzi with red silk.

At this time, the entire mountain had already collapsed, and rocks fell one after another. Some of the young Kuangfu Society members were already screaming as they fell into the abyss.

"No—"

Yun Xi fell to the ground, her calf broken by a stone, making it difficult to move. Her hair was disheveled, and she looked blankly at those "companions" who were falling like a group of ants.

A look of fear appeared on her delicate face. Just as she thought that she was going to be buried here as well, the fifth red silk wrapped around her slender waist.

Pulling her towards the sky, Yun Xi turned her head in astonishment and looked at Zhao Du'an, who was smiling at her like a god, his lips moving:

"I am not Zhuang Xiaocheng, I will not abandon you."

Yun Xi's nose felt sore, and for some reason, tears welled up in her eyes.

"We can't stay here. Senior, please help us leave this place and temporarily hide our figures."

Zhao Du'an originally wanted to ask to be carried away, but then he realized that Pei Niannu's spellcasting consumed his power, and with his current cultivation, it was not enough for this female mage to exploit.

He had no choice but to settle for second best, and just endure for a while.

Pei Niannu didn't say a word, and the scarlet light followed the silk, enveloping several people, and then in the deafening roar and billowing smoke, the few people disappeared out of thin air.

… …

"Rumble…"

On the mountain road, Gongshu Tianyuan and others witnessed the collapse of the entire mountain, and countless bricks, tiles, and buildings fell into the abyss like an avalanche.

Because of the distance and the obstruction of the smoke and dust from the explosion, they did not see the scene of Pei Niannu saving people.

Almost in the blink of an eye, a piece was missing from the steep and majestic mountain peak. Soon after, a muffled roar came from the valley below.

Silence.

A piece of silence.

"They… are dead…" Gongshu Tianyuan's Adam's apple rolled, and his fat face muttered blankly.

Jin Jian's small face was pale, and she waved her staff in vain, almost falling down.

Lang Shíbā rushed a few steps to the edge of the mountain road, looked down at the abyss below, knelt down with a thud, propped himself up with his curved saber, and stared blankly: "Dead…"

Without a doubt.

This kind of mountain collapse with such momentum, even Ji Yue, who was in it, could not survive, let alone the others? At this height, even if they didn't die when they fell, they would be buried by the huge mountain and would have no chance of survival.

"Dead…"

Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun were also stunned. Where did they still have the idea of continuing to fight?

"Go down! Take me down!"

Qi Yuchun suddenly turned his head and shouted loudly at Ren Kun.

The latter opened his mouth, wanting to say that it was too late, but he still braced himself and dragged the former Grand Commander, and the two of them jumped down into the canyon!

At this height, Qi Yuchun would also be摔死, but Ren Kun, as a Earth God Mage, could cast "Earth Escape" before falling to the ground, softening the earth and alleviating the impact.

In the blink of an eye, only three people were left in Zijin Mountain Villa.

Lang Shíbā had no way, Jin Jian's magic power was almost exhausted, and although Gongshu Tianyuan still had some magic tools, he knew very well that in this situation, he and others would be sending themselves to death if they went down.

"How could this happen?" Gongshu Tianyuan muttered, the three of them quietly standing on the top of the mountain, unable to accept it for a while.

"Plop!"

Just at this moment, a falling sound came from behind everyone, accompanied by a painful "ouch" and "woo woo" curses.

The trio turned their heads in astonishment, only to see Zhao Du'an and others lying all over the ground behind them.

"Brother Zhao?! You're not dead?" The short, fat divine official was overjoyed, Jin Jian's eyes lit up, and Lang Shíbā also staggered to his feet.

"Huff… Huff…"

Zhao Du'an lay on his back, gasping for breath, only feeling dizzy.

Pei Niannu had already disappeared, and the Qi energy filling his Qi Sea was also almost bottoming out.

He didn't expect that just taking a few people to move a short distance would consume so much energy. Suddenly, he understood a little why Ren Kun was unwilling to take Yun Xi with him when he rescued Zhuang Xiaocheng from the Earth God Temple.

"Zhuang… Don't let him shout…" Zhao Du'an struggled to get up.

At this moment, Zhuang Xiaocheng lost the entanglement of the silk cloth and regained his ability to move. Although there was still a hairpin piercing his back, Yun Xi avoided the heart in order to capture him alive. At this moment, his eyes widened, and he was about to shout.

"Bang!" Zhang Han smashed over with a sword scabbard, "Be honest!"

Zhuang Xiaocheng's eyes went dark, and he decisively fainted.

"What a close call… I was almost killed by this old dog. Fortunately, you had a trump card hidden on you." Haitang looked at Zhao Du'an with lingering fear, but she wasn't too surprised.

In her opinion, this guy dared to leave the palace to arrest people, maybe he got some life-saving treasure from His Majesty.

"Quickly take the medicine, restore your strength, and prevent Qi Yuchun and the others from coming back!" Zhao Du'an took out several bottles of pills from the space scroll in one breath and distributed them to everyone.

Everyone immediately devoured the pills, racing against time to restore their cultivation—with their numerical advantage, as long as they recovered 50%, they would not be afraid of the two strong enemies.

After a while, Zhao Du'an recovered a little strength, and he felt confident in his heart. He got up and walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

He only saw a large area of smoke and dust like a sea of clouds, obscuring the view, and he could not see the situation at the bottom of the cliff.

"It seems that those two people won't be back for a while. They will always have to carefully search the rubble of the mountain and look for your 'corpses'."

Gongshu Tianyuan walked over, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Are you going down to find them?"

"No," Zhao Du'an shook his head and said seriously: "The mastermind has already been captured, there is no need to create extra problems."

Well, the main reason is that he is not sure… Although his side has more people, it is really difficult to keep the other side.

"Everyone, enter the villa first and quickly search to see if there is any important information." Zhao Du'an hesitated for a moment, did not immediately go down the mountain to escape, and ordered.

The group nodded, and Lang Shíbā tied Zhuang Xiaocheng on his back—unfortunately, neither the "Taixu Painting Scroll" nor the "Mystic Turtle Seal" can hold living people, otherwise it would be too easy to carry.

The crowd quickly entered the remaining half of the village and searched quickly.

"No, there's nothing, there's nothing, there are braziers in the house, and many letters have been burned." Haitang returned from the direction of the study.

"The accounting room is also empty, and there are only a few hundred taels of silver in the entire villa." Zhang Han also walked back.

Zhao Du'an gathered information and was not surprised:

"As expected, it seems that what Zhuang Xiaocheng said is true. Zijin Mountain Villa was indeed prepared by him as the place for the decisive battle with me, so all the key things were transferred in advance. This main altar, except for him, the 'leader', has almost become an empty shell."

After a pause, he smiled again:

"However, it is enough to be content with catching this old dog."

The so-called capturing the thief first captures the king. Although Zhuang Xiaocheng is an ordinary mortal, his life alone is enough to抵得过 most of the Kuangfu Society.

"Let's go, this place is not suitable for a long stay, we have to return to the city as soon as possible to prevent Qi Yuchun from coming back."

Zhao Du'an's eyes were excited, revealing a calculating taste:

"However, we have to be more low-key when we go back this time."

… …

… …

Fengcheng County Yamen.

Prefect Luan Cheng stood behind the public case in the main hall of the yamen, constantly processing the messages that were gathered.

The atmosphere in the entire county yamen was unusually restless, and Jinyi of Zhao Yamen and soldiers of the military government shuttled back and forth inside and outside the courtyard.

After Zhao Du'an took Gongshu Tianyuan away, Luan Cheng had no need to continue to stay at the execution ground.

He immediately returned to the county yamen and learned from the pear blossom hall Jinyi that "Zhao Shaobao" had arranged the attack on the rebel party early in the morning, and asked him to notify him to be calm.

After that, Luan Cheng would see a team of officers and soldiers escorting the captured "rebel party" into the prison every once in a while.

The county yamen prison quickly became overcrowded. As a last resort, all the houses in the entire county yamen were used as temporary "prisons".

Under the obstruction of many spies and the timely handling of the officers and soldiers, the losses caused by this massive attack were not great.

However, several locations caught fire smoothly, but Luan Cheng was already satisfied, and even felt fortunate.

"Sir, another few prisoners have been brought back. It should be the last batch. Many rebel parties took the opportunity to escape or hide. The soldiers under my command are searching, but it is difficult to have a big harvest."

Deputy General Yuan Ji, wearing heavy armor and holding a war hammer, strode into the courtyard.

Under the eaves, the bored Hou Renmeng and others stood up, smiling, and said:

“Just leave the rebels to us.”

Prefect Luan didn't care about the rebels; he hurriedly asked:

“Have you seen any trace of Zhao Shaobao?”

Yuan Ji shook his head.

The round-faced little secretary, Qian Kerou, smiled and said:

“Your Excellency, Prefect, there's no need to worry. My lord always plans before acting. Since there are arrangements, there must be important things to do.”

“This official knows Zhao Shaobao's talent, but… I can't help but worry.” Luan Cheng sighed, waved his hand, and saw Yuan Ji off.

Sitting in the public hall, he was full of anxiety, occasionally standing up to look outside, pacing back and forth, sighing, his heart burning with anxiety.

After an unknown amount of time, several Jinyi from Lihuatang suddenly walked out, and after a while, they returned and cleared the area of idlers.

Then, they closed the door of the main hall, and under Prefect Luan's puzzled gaze, they spoke to the air:

“My lord, everyone has been cleared out.”

Suddenly, a huge, umbrella-like “red veil” appeared in the air. Gongshu Tianyuan raised his hand and put away this invisible suppressing item.

Inside the public hall, Zhao Du'an and his group deactivated their invisibility, revealing themselves.

“Ah, Lord Zhao? You're back?”

Prefect Luan was taken aback, a look of joy on his face. He wasn't surprised by this cultivation method:

“You don't know how worried this official was, fearing… Eh? This is…”

Prefect Luan noticed that Lang Shiba was carrying an old Confucian scholar with a white beard and white hair on his back, who looked somewhat familiar.

“Zhuang Xiaocheng?!” Luan Cheng had been in the capital and had seen this Grand Tutor before. He was shocked and disbelieving as he walked closer, staring at the unconscious old Grand Tutor for a long time before looking at Zhao Du'an in astonishment:

“My lord… you… you captured this traitor?!”

Zhao Du'an smiled and nodded: “By luck.”

It was true!

The rebel leader had been captured!

A look of surprise appeared on Luan Cheng's stagnant face, his complexion visibly reddening, both shocked and delighted.

Three years after the Xuanmen coup, Zhuang Xiaocheng, facing a nationwide manhunt, came and went without a trace. How cunning was he?

When Luan Cheng initially learned that Zhao Du'an was heading for this rebel leader, he had no hope in his heart, only hoping that this Shaobao wouldn't have an accident.

But what did he see?

Zhao Du'an had only been in the city for seven or eight days, and this rebel leader, who had stumped the entire imperial court, had been captured alive.

“Inconceivable!”

“Divine skill!”

This local official, who was also considered a famous minister in Binhai Dao, sincerely praised with a complex expression.

Hearing about it was not as good as seeing it. Although he had heard many stories about this “King Yama Zhao,” he couldn't help but suspect whether they were exaggerated.

But seeing it with his own eyes today, he realized that the rumors were not false at all.

“I implore you, my lord, to guide me and clear my confusion. How exactly did you capture this traitor?” Prefect Luan earnestly asked.

Although Haitang and the others had experienced it firsthand, they didn't actually know the details.

Now that the person had been captured, Zhao Du'an thought for a while and simply sat down and recounted the entire process, only concealing the ability of the “Fengyue Baojian,” only saying that Yunxi had left marks along the way.

After listening to the entire process of the game, everyone present changed their expressions, looking at Zhao Du'an, including the unconscious Zhuang Xiaocheng on the ground, with extremely complex gazes.

Was this the power of the civil officials in the imperial court?

Each one was deeply thoughtful, scheming, a trap within a trap, illusion within reality, alienation and counter-alienation.

Although the process wasn't complicated, looking back at the replay, Zhao Du'an and Zhuang Xiaocheng had begun the game since the exchange of prisoners last year.

Each used their own methods, which led to today's seemingly lightning-fast capture.

Everyone secretly pondered, if they were to face this old thief Zhuang Xiaocheng, could they win? The answer was no.

“Brother Zhao, you are still insidious.” Gongshu Tianyuan sincerely praised.

…If you can't praise, you don't have to praise. Silence is also a virtue… Zhao Du'an's mouth twitched, he coughed lightly, and changed the topic:

“Everyone, the matter is far from over. Not to mention that there are still important figures of the rebels who withdrew in advance and have not yet been brought to justice, just this Zhuang Xiaocheng, how to bring him back to the capital is a difficult problem.”

Such an important person, of course, cannot be stabbed to death with a knife.

Not to mention whether information can be dug out of this old thief's mouth, his identity as the leader alone is of great significance.

Bringing the living Grand Tutor back to the capital is far more valuable than a corpse.

“Although many rebels were captured today, most of them are pawns thrown out by Zhuang Xiaocheng. There are still many people from Kuangfu Society scattered in various places, and the two great experts, Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun, are still at large. And the road back to the capital is long and arduous…”

“Heh, this official was assassinated on the way back to the capital from Huting last time, and almost died… I don't want to step into the same pit a second time.” Zhao Du'an said calmly.

Haitang analyzed:

“Are you worried that the news will leak on the way back to the capital, which will attract Kuangfu Society's crazy interception along the way?”

“Not just Kuangfu Society.” Zhao Du'an's expression was serious.

The implication was: Even the Eight Kings might take action if they knew.

At least for now, the existence of Kuangfu Society is beneficial to the Eight Kings.

“Shaobao's worry is reasonable,” Prefect Luan frowned and said:

“This is indeed a difficult matter. What if we summon a large army to escort him? With the gold medal in Shaobao's hand, can we summon the armies of Binhai and Linfeng prefectures to escort him along the way?”

Zhao Du'an rejected it:

“Inappropriate. Not to mention that although I have a gold medal, the large army I can mobilize cannot be too large… Even if there are many people and great power, after all, traveling along the way is not a battlefield formation. As long as the enemy's experts sneak attack, no matter how many troops there are, it will be difficult to defend against. Moreover, the more people there are, the greater the consumption of food and horses along the way.”

The national treasury had just recovered, so there was really no need to make a big fuss.

“This…” Everyone looked at each other for a while, unable to think of a solution.

Sitting in the corner of the crowd, Yunxi, who had been silent, suddenly raised her head, her bright eyes staring at Zhao Du'an:

“You already have a plan, right?”

Zhao Du'an smiled and glanced at the girl, who had already proven her loyalty and reliability through her actions, and nodded:

“That's right, I'm going to go with the flow and fake my death once.”

“Fake death?”

“That's right, apart from those of us in this hall at this moment, no one else knows the details of Zijing Mountain Villa, and Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun even witnessed us perishing together with Zhuang Xiaocheng.”

Zhao Du'an said seriously:

“I'm thinking, if we announce to the outside world that I and Zhuang Xiaocheng fell off the cliff together, and our corpses are gone, and at the same time send a large army to **** the many rebels captured in the city to the capital to attract people's attention.

I, Gongshu brother, Jin Jian junior sister, and Ji Yue, the four of us, secretly **** Zhuang Xiaocheng back to the capital, is it feasible?

Well, we can say to the outside world that the two Celestial Master Mansion priests were invited by me, and now that I am dead, the two of them want to continue traveling the world, so they will not return to the capital with the large army. This reason is plausible.”

Well, in his familiar idiom, it was:

Pretending to mend the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang Pass!

“This… but can Ren Kun believe it? Didn't he go to the bottom of the canyon to find…” Haitang questioned.

Zhao Du'an turned his head and looked at Gongshu Tianyuan:

“I estimated on the way back that the collapsed mountain was extremely large. How long would it take for Ren Kun, with his 'World' realm cultivation, to fully explore it?”

Gongshu Tianyuan thought for a while and said:

“It will take a long time. He is only in the World realm, not the Celestial Human realm, he is not that powerful. Earth escape and stone escape are not the same difficulty, otherwise, there would have been no need for him to fight with us on the mountain road before, wouldn't it be okay to directly escape into the mountain…”

“Moreover, I suspect that they won't be stupid enough to dig three feet into the ground to find your 'corpses'. The chance of survival under that kind of collapse is extremely slim.”

“That's fine!” Zhao Du'an smiled and said:

“As long as the two of them don't have complete certainty in their hearts, they will tend to believe what they see with their eyes, plus we spread the news, it's enough to mislead people.”

Prefect Luan hesitated and said:

“It sounds feasible indeed. But is it really necessary? Even if it's fake news of death, it can be clarified quickly, but the rumors will definitely spread faster than you travel…”

Zhao Du'an smiled indifferently:

“If I die, the people all over the world will only applaud, and it will not shake the stability of the court. As for the real big shots, they will naturally know it's a rumor when I return to the capital. In comparison, if Zhuang Xiaocheng is rescued, or dies on the road, the loss will be much greater.”

After a pause, he said seriously:

“Zhuang Xiaocheng must die, but there is a world of difference between dying silently on the road and being executed in the capital after being publicly tried and announcing his crimes to the world, exposing the lies he fabricated about the Xuanmen coup!”

Inside the public hall, several decision-makers looked at each other and nodded silently:

“If you decide, we will cooperate.”

Zhao Du'an smiled slightly, and discussed the details of the fake death with several people. After the discussion was completed, he turned his head and smiled:

“I almost forgot, you have to come with us too, after all, you also 'died' at the bottom of the cliff.”

Yunxi looked indifferent:

“This is too complicated, you can just kill me directly, I have no use value anymore.”

After completing the backstab, she was in a state similar to “sage time,” feeling that life had no goals.

Zhao Du'an smiled and pinched the girl's face:

“You underestimate yourself too much, don't you want to witness Zhuang Xiaocheng being beheaded with your own eyes?”

A glimmer of light flashed in Yunxi's eyes, somewhat tempted.

“It's decided then!”

Zhao Du'an stood up and curled his lips: “We have to act quickly.”

…

ps: I looked at the chapter comments at the end of the previous chapter… I'm honest, please let me go. Ten chapters exceed the limit of the human body, I will try to force myself to write big chapters or something tomorrow and the day after tomorrow… Try to write as many words as possible