The First Lackey Under The Empress

To return to the capital across thousands of miles without relying on or even needing to avoid any outside assistance?

Zhao Du'an also turned his head, looking towards the direction of the capital, but only saw the pale, cold rain outside the cracks of the broken temple.

Against the backdrop of烽烟四起, how easy would it be to accomplish this? Especially with Zhenbao seriously injured.

"Okay. We'll set off tomorrow." He nodded calmly without hesitation. If it was the only correct path, he had to face it, no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there were.

Surprise flashed across the eyes of the female emperor, who was sitting cross-legged on the offering table. She seemed surprised that Zhao Du'an would agree so readily.

But Zhao Du'an had already started talking to himself:

"The top priority is to help Your Majesty stabilize the injuries within your body, and then wait for this rain to pass and the sky to clear up a bit. This subject will go and determine the general direction. Well, generally heading north shouldn't be too far off.

If we encounter people along the way, we can determine the exact location, but we need to avoid the large cities along the way. This subject has a mask to change appearances, but unfortunately, it can't be used for two people.

The rebels must be stepping up their investigation of Your Majesty. Your Majesty urgently needs to change your appearance. This subject can use some disguise and makeup methods...

However, it is almost impossible to avoid the pursuit of the rebels by relying on disguise... This journey will be hard on Your Majesty."

Faced with disaster, ordinary people would probably be preoccupied with gains and losses, but after the female emperor made her decision, he immediately began to calmly analyze the next course of action.

However, Zhao Du'an didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

He had already died once.

A year ago today, he had nothing. It was nothing more than returning to the desperate situation he was in before.

Back then, facing the capital crime of "letting go of the rebellious party", he could find a glimmer of hope, let alone now that he was no longer the same as before?

Xu Zhenguan bit her lip, listening to the words of the minister behind her in the firelight, and a sense of peace arose inexplicably.

Well, if this guy's hands were more disciplined, these words would be more convincing.

"Have you touched the bottleneck of the 世间 realm?" the female emperor suddenly asked, out of the blue.

"Still a little short. Eunuch Hai said that if a martial artist wants to move forward, they must undergo the磨砺 of life and death," Zhao Du'an replied.

He was thinking about whether he could enter the 世间 realm by the end of this journey, or even break through halfway through.

Xu Zhenguan didn't speak again. The haggard woman closed her eyes, and Zhao Du'an did the same.

Neither of them mentioned the topic of dual cultivation. The most urgent task before them was...

To survive.

...

The night passed without incident. The rain stopped in the second half of the night.

The next morning, when a pale light came in through the crack in the door, the monarch and her minister, who had barely slept all night, roasted and ate the two rabbits and several sparrows they had caught.

Zhao Du'an handed the disguise mask called "Nine Changes" to the female emperor, and pushed open the door, climbing to a high place to find a way out of this forest.

Although it was already dawn, it was still a cloudy day. After a night of rain, the entire bamboo forest was damp.

Zhao Du'an didn't dare to go far. He climbed a large tree and looked around, and found that there were vaguely villages and houses in the northeast direction.

After returning to the Earth God Temple, he found that the female emperor had already changed her appearance, transforming into a relatively ordinary-looking palace maid.

Coupled with a plain men's long shirt, her three thousand black hairs were covered with a hat, like a delicate young lady from a humble family.

It was just that the aura and majesty cultivated over time were difficult to eliminate for a while.

After a night of breathing exercises, although she was still seriously injured, she could barely stand.

At this moment, she bit her finger, wrote words on a piece of cloth, and used a little magic power to condense a virtual jade seal, and stamped it on the cloth.

"Your Majesty? What are you doing?" Zhao Du'an was stunned.

The虞 Kingdom's female emperor, with a pale face and a rare gentle temperament, squeezed out a smile and calmly handed him the rolled-up "blood letter":

"I am seriously injured now. If you and I, monarch and minister, encounter a strong enemy on the way back to the capital, protecting me will only lead to both of us being captured.

This is the 'imperial edict' that I have drafted. Carry it with you. If it is a critical moment, take the edict and return to the capital alone. It is better than both of us being caught by the rebels."

Imperial edict!

The first thing she did after regaining her strength was to draft an "imperial edict" for herself!

Was it because she lacked confidence in whether she could break through the siege alive?

Zhao Du'an pursed his lips, his eyes meeting the female emperor's, who was smiling at him and handing him the imperial edict, without dodging.

The next moment, he reached out and took the edict, and threw it into the burning charcoal in the bonfire, letting it be lit.

"Please forgive this subject for disobeying the order!"

Zhao Du'an said seriously in the female emperor's surprised gaze:

"This subject will never abandon Your Majesty and escape alone. Please take back your order."

Xu Zhenguan's eyes were complicated. She wanted to say something, but she let out a soft groan and was carried on Zhao Du'an's back, striding out:

"Your Majesty is weak and seriously injured, making it difficult to walk. This subject has found a route and will set off now."

Xu Zhenguan was stunned, her mind blank, and he carried her out of the temple.

Feeling the warmth and steadiness from the broad back below her, she hesitated for a moment, didn't struggle, and let him carry her north.

Suddenly, Zhao Du'an heard a gentle and indifferent voice from behind him: "Can I trust you?"

"You can," Zhao Du'an said without hesitation.

"Can I really trust you?"

Zhao Du'an paused, lifted the female emperor with one hand, and tied the female emperor on his back to himself with a rope made of a strip of cloth.

Very hard.

As if to rub her into his body, and also to express some kind of determination:

"You can."

"If the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

...

...

Just after Zhao Du'an left this bamboo forest, that afternoon.

A team of dozens of people arrived in this mountain forest range.

This elite team of Jing Wangfu's secret agents was ordered to be responsible for finding the whereabouts of the female emperor and Zhao Du'an.

The leader of the team was the "secret agent leader", who was wearing a hood that covered half of his face.

That is: the person in charge of the entire secret agent intelligence system, holding great power.

He seemed to be deliberately covering his face, but his exposed hands were slender and pale, and he wore a narrow Miao sword around his waist.

In the entire power map of Jing Wang, the secret agent leader was a mysterious figure, who was hidden in the shadows all year round.

Only a few people knew that this person was a "thief and exile" who was assigned to Lingnan, whom Jing Wang had saved with his power many years ago.

It was faked that he died of illness on the way to exile, but the real person was replaced and brought back to the Wangfu to serve.

"Are you two sure that the pseudo-emperor's escape direction yesterday was correct?"

At this moment, the secret agent leader stopped in the forest, staring at the two people beside him with unkind eyes:

"Don't say I didn't remind you, chasing the pseudo-emperor is an important matter personally ordered by Wangye, which must be completed. If it is because of your misjudgment and you go in the wrong direction, but instead let the person escape, Wangye will blame you. I don't mind pulling you down to be buried with me."

The two people in front of him, one male and one female, were not Wangfu's secret agents, but術士 from the "Fa Shen Pai".

Yesterday, the female emperor fell into the cloud sea and disappeared suddenly, and chasing her became the top priority. However, Wangfu's army was good at frontal fighting, but didn't know how to chase.

They had to transfer two術士 who were good at tracking to help.

The male術士 was about forty years old, and his messy hair was all white. He was wearing a indigo blue法袍, with whistles made of animal teeth hanging around his waist, and a bone flute. He had a bit of fierceness when he smiled.

The female術士 looked like she was in her early thirties, with a curvy figure. The術士袍 had also been tailored. Her face was covered with thick脂粉, her lips were as red as blood, her fingernails were colorful, and her eyes were charming and soul-stirring.

At this moment, she smiled foolishly:

"Master Ouyang, don't scare the slave family. Wangye wants to win the world, so how could he be angry with us? Wouldn't that be a loss of status?"

Ouyang Ye stared at her coldly, without any pity for her:

"Wangye won't blame you, but I will."

Feeling the murderous gaze from under the secret agent leader's hood, the female術士 suddenly felt a chill, and the teasing smile froze on her face.

The white-haired male術士 ignored Ouyang Ye's threat, looked at the forest ahead, and said:

"Yao Shi Niang's intuition can communicate with the gods. She said that the direction is correct."

At the same time, he took off a bone whistle from his waist and said:

"As for the specific location, living beings will give us the answer."

He blew the bone whistle, and a circle of strange sound waves that mortals could hardly hear spread out.

Soon, the secret agents were surprised to see a large group of birds and beasts running in the mountains and forests.

It seemed to be summoned by this術士.

The curvaceous Yao Shi Niang explained with a smile:

"White-headed Eagle is good at close-range tracking. He can control birds and beasts. As long as the pseudo-emperor appears, he will definitely be seen. People can't see, but birds and beasts can always see, not to mention, there is also the female emperor's blood as a guide."

The術士 nicknamed "White-headed Eagle" threw a piece of cloth stained with the female emperor's blood to several wolves in the forest, and seemed to "ask" the birds above his head something.

After a while, a group of crows reacted, "cawing" and flying away into the distance, and several wolves also turned around and ran.

"Follow them," White-headed Eagle said, his warlock robes billowing in the breeze as he trailed after them.

Demon Tenth Sister also wore a smile, swaying her body, following like willow catkins in the wind.

"Follow!" The secret agent leader waved his hand, leading dozens of secret agents around him forward.

Before long, the group heard several wolves ahead 'woo-hooing' around a small earth god temple.

The secret agents were greatly excited and rushed forward, quickly returning and saying:

"Lord Ouyang, there are indeed traces of people inside the temple, someone must have spent the night here last night. It's just that it looks like they've already left."

The White-headed Eagle, with his white hair and fierce smile, sniffed the faint bloody scent in the room, his expression intoxicated:

"It's the scent of the false emperor's blood, unfortunately, yesterday's heavy rain washed away the bloodstains in the forest, otherwise I could have discovered it sooner."

"Lord, there's also this in the fire pit." A secret agent walked out holding a burnt, unrecognizable piece of cloth, as if presenting a treasure.

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Ouyang Ye took it and carefully examined it, seeing a small part of the jade seal imprint from the burnt corner of the cloth.

"They can't escape far, they will definitely try to return to the capital as soon as possible, so it's very likely that they will escape towards the populated areas in the north. Chase!"

Ouyang Ye couldn't hide his excitement and ordered:

"Release carrier pigeons, and have the Prince send troops to set up checkpoints along the route from here to the capital, and strictly investigate. Hmph, just a deposed emperor, as long as we capture him, we will all be rewarded and credited with first-class military merit!"

"Yes!" A large group of secret agents responded excitedly.

Demon Tenth Sister crossed her arms, her red lips like fire, her eyes like a viper:

"I'm more interested in that Zhao Du'an, I wonder what the man chosen for the female emperor tastes like."

… …

… …

Zhao Du'an, carrying Xu Zhenguan on his back, quietly arrived at a nearby town after leaving the mountains and forests.

He finally learned their location.

As expected, they were still within Jianning Prefecture. The good news was that they hadn't been transported further south, but rather in a northwest direction.

The bad news was that they weren't too far from Luo Mountain.

Zhao Du'an bought a carriage at a premium in the town, and also purchased some food, then chose the shortest official road to leave Jianning Prefecture, driving away.

"Your Majesty, look, we are currently at this location on the map. There is no news of rebels in this town yet, indicating that the rebels have not completely and fully controlled this territory... This is good news for us."

Zhao Du'an acted as the coachman, wearing a straw hat, while handing a scroll of map to the Empress in the carriage.

In feudal dynasties, maps were confidential, especially those of the entire territory, and even large state maps were only accessible to a small number of officials.

Fortunately, when Zhao Du'an went south, he had specially obtained several scrolls of maps to familiarize himself with this world, which played a huge role at this time.

Xu Zhenguan slumped in the bumpy, drafty carriage, looked at the map for a while, then raised her eyes and said:

"You want to take advantage of the fact that the other party hasn't had time to block it off, and leave Jiancheng Road as quickly as possible? Head north to the Huai River?"

Zhao Du'an nodded:

"Prince Jing has been entrenched here for many years, and once he raises troops, the court officials are all in Luo Mountain for the Feng Chan ceremony, leaving their stationed offices, making it difficult to counter in time. I'm afraid the entire Jiancheng Road will be completely lost in just a few days.

After that, Prince Jing will inevitably lead his troops north as soon as possible to rush to the capital…

Huai River… Prince Huai'an is the richest in the world, with amazing financial resources, but he lacks troops. If I guess correctly, he will pretend not to see the rebels and will not make much effort to stop them…

Prince Jing's rebels will soon enter the Huai River, however, the army's departure always takes time, and the swallowed territory also needs time to digest…

Moreover, once they enter the Huai River, will Prince Mu of Yunfu Road in the southwest and Prince Chen of Binhai Road in the east… let Prince Jing go north recklessly? They will definitely hinder him.

This can buy us some time to escape.

As long as we can escape from this encirclement before Prince Jing seals off Jiancheng Road and enter the Huai River, the pressure will be much less… Heh, if Prince Huai'an closes his door and acts like an ostrich, he won't come to catch us either."

Xu Zhenguan glanced at him, once again admiring Zhao Du'an's calm mind under crisis.

She put away the map and looked out with worry:

"Taking the official road and driving a carriage is still too conspicuous after all."

Zhao Du'an didn't say anything.

He didn't want to either, but the Empress's injuries were too serious. Although he could also carry the Empress over mountains and ridges and take remote paths, the speed would be greatly reduced.

But right now, what the Empress lacks most is time!

The sooner they return to the capital, the greater the chances of stabilizing the situation!

If they were to choose to delve into the deep mountains and old forests for safety, by the time the two of them returned to the capital, the capital would probably have been captured long ago.

Xu Zhenguan also understood this truth, so she had to close her eyes, speed up her breathing, and slowly heal her injuries, trying to gradually expel the palm force of the Xuan Seal.

On the road ahead, the two tried their best to hurry, with almost no rest at all.

After dark, they didn't dare to go to towns, and didn't light campfires. If it wasn't for the draft horse pulling the cart needing to eat fodder, sleep, and rest, otherwise it wouldn't be able to move, Zhao Du'an couldn't wait to travel 24 hours a day.

Even so, he was almost overdrawing the life of this horse, trying his best to hurry.

… …

"Halt!"

Zhao Du'an suddenly tightened the reins. Xu Zhenguan, who was closing her eyes and breathing in the carriage, opened her eyes and asked:

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Du'an leaned against the car curtain, holding the whip, his face heavy:

"Something's not right, there's a checkpoint ahead on the official road."

He had just turned a corner while driving and found that there were scattered pedestrians and merchants' carts lined up ahead.

At the forefront, the official road was blocked with chevaux de frise, and a team of officers and soldiers were ferociously checking the people along the way.

"Although this is near the county town, we didn't go to the county town. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be a checkpoint here."

Zhao Du'an said with a grim expression. When he saw from afar that those officers and soldiers were especially "attentive" to young women, his heart sank suddenly.

Did Prince Jing's hands reach so quickly? How long has it been?

"Can we avoid it?" Inside the carriage, Xu Zhenguan also frowned and asked.

Zhao Du'an shook his head: "If we detour, it will be very far. We can't afford to waste time, it seems we can only break through."

Xu Zhenguan pondered: "But I'm afraid it will startle the snake and expose our existence."

With Zhao Du'an's martial power, a team of ordinary soldiers can naturally be easily killed.

But the problem is that the rebels nearby will soon realize the "disappearance" of this group of people, and realize that they have appeared here.

Killing them will startle the snake and expose their location… Not killing them will prevent us from detouring… Zhao Du'an frowned, thinking about what means he could use to break through the checkpoint.

Not just this one in front of him, since even such a remote place has roadblocks, then there will definitely be more as we go forward…

He subconsciously recalled the many methods he had in his mind, and suddenly said:

"I do have a way to deceive them…"

He reached out and took out a palm-sized scroll from his arms, the Taixu Painting Scroll.

He had always used this town treasure as a storage bag, but he had not forgotten that this thing could record real scenes as paintings, thereby creating a false illusion.

If used properly, it should not be difficult to deceive this group of ordinary soldiers without killing anyone.

"However… I'm not a warlock, and neither is Your Majesty, so we can't drive this thing with mana. At most, we can use it a few times, and then we will enter a 'cooldown period'... And the closer we get to the border of Jiancheng Road, the more checkpoints there will definitely be. If we are in a hurry, we will still be exposed afterwards…"

Is that so… Xu Zhenguan was stunned for a moment, and also felt it was tricky.

But Zhenbao was a decisive person, and immediately said:

"Then break through directly, don't waste the town treasure's ability. It will take time for the rebels to react and send strong men to intercept us."

Zhao Du'an frowned, this seemed to be the only option, but… a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed in his mind, and the corner of his mouth suddenly curled up, saying:

"It seems that this is the only way, but I thought of a way to delay a little more time."

"What?" Xu Zhenguan asked curiously.

At this time, seeing that this suspicious carriage had been still, several soldiers with sabers walked over warily and shouted loudly:

"The people in the car, come down for inspection!"

Zhao Du'an looked at the approaching group of rebels, and the Golden Crow Flying Knife in his sleeve roared out, only to see a golden thread flashing across the air.

As many as seven or eight arrogant rebels almost simultaneously had a thin line of bright red appear on their necks, and then they thumped and fell to the ground, dying unexpectedly.

Zhao Du'an turned his wrist and shook off the blood beads on the flying knife, his mouth raised:

"Give the pursuers a little confusion."

… …

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