Chapter 431: Escape by feigning death (5k)
No...this offer is different from what we agreed before...How could the old man from six hundred years ago be worse than the old Heavenly Master, increasing the price temporarily and extorting money? Can I refuse...
Zhao Duan's expression was dull, and the villain in his heart roared crazily.
He naturally made corresponding preparations for this raid and arrest, such as communicating with Pei Niannu in advance and rescuing him at a critical moment.
At this time, seeing Zhao Duan's silence, Pei Niannu implicitly agreed.
The eyes behind the dark gold mask swept across the crowd, and strands of red silk suddenly flew out of the wedding dress on his body, wrapping around several important people in front.
"We're going to fall!" Haitang couldn't stand still and looked horrified.
She rushed to the front, and the stone beneath her feet broke, and she fell down the cliff into the abyss.
At the critical moment, the female detective's waist was suddenly entangled by a "rope" condensed with flames, and she was forcefully pulled up.
"Ah!"
Next to him, the paralyzed face, who was also in dire straits, was also hung in the air in the same posture.
The two of them turned around and looked back in astonishment, their eyes widened. In their field of vision, Zhao Duan was floating in the air, surrounded by a faint crimson light.
At this moment, with cold eyes, he looked down at the crowd, and the end of the illusory "red silk" was held in his hand - Pei Niannu, as a spirit body, was invisible to both warriors and mortals.
Among everyone present, except for Ji Yue who was knocked down by a pillar, he saw the "ghost" floating behind Zhao Duan in a daze.
The rest of the people thought that Zhao Duan was using some kind of magic weapon to perform magic.
"Chichi——"
The third shot of red silk struck out, shattering the pillar with a "bang" and pulling Ji Yue up.
Then came the fourth one, picking up Zhuang Xiaocheng whose smile suddenly stopped.
The old lady was ready to die, but something unexpected happened. He tried to struggle violently, but ended up being wrapped up in red silk and made into a rice dumpling by Pei Niannu.
At this time, the entire mountain had collapsed, stones were falling one after another, and some of the young Kuangfu members were screaming and falling into the abyss.
"No——"
Yun Xi fell to the ground, her calf smashed by a stone and unable to move. Her hair was disheveled and she looked blankly at her "companions" who were falling one after another like a group of ants.
There was fear on Qingli's face. Just when she thought she was going to be buried here, the fifth line of red silk wrapped around her slender waist.
Pulling her to fly into the air, Yun Xi turned her head in surprise and looked at the god-like Zhao Duan who was smiling at her, his lips moving:
"I am not Zhuang Xiaocheng, and I will not abandon you."
Yun Xi's nose felt sour, and for some reason, tears came to her eyes.
"We can't stay here. Senior, please help us get out of here and hide our bodies for the time being."
Zhao Duan wanted to ask to be taken away, but then he realized that Pei Niannu's spells consumed his power, and with his current level of cultivation, there was simply not enough for the sorceress to extract.
I had to settle for the next best thing and talk about it later.
Pei Niannu said nothing, and the crimson light followed the silk, shrouding several people, and then in the deafening roar of smoke and dust, several people disappeared out of thin air.
……
"Rumble..."
On the mountain road, Gongshu Tianyuan and others witnessed the entire mountain collapse. Countless bricks and buildings fell into the abyss like an avalanche.
Due to the distance and the smoke and dust from the explosion, Pei Niannu was not seen rescuing people.
Almost in the blink of an eye, a piece of the steep and majestic mountain was missing. Soon after, a dull roar came from the valley.
quiet.
There was silence.
"They... are dead..." Gongshu Tianyuan's Adam's apple rolled, and he murmured dully with his fat face.
Jin Jian's face was pale, and he waved his staff in vain, almost falling down.
He rushed to the edge of the mountain road in a few steps and looked down at the abyss below. He knelt down, holding the scimitar in a daze: "Dead..."
There is no doubt about it.
Even Ji Yue, who was in the midst of such a massive mountain collapse, could not survive, let alone the others? At such a height, even if you don't die when you fall, you will be buried by the huge mountain and there will be no chance of survival.
"Dead..."
Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun were equally stunned. How could they think of continuing to fight?
"Go down! Take me down!"
Qi Yuchun suddenly turned his head and shouted to Ren Kun.
The latter opened his mouth and wanted to say that it was too late, but he still had to bite the bullet and grabbed the former commander, and the two of them jumped into the canyon!
At this height, Qi Yuchun would fall to his death, but as an Earth God Warlock, Ren Kun could wait before falling to the surface and use "Earth Escape" to soften the earth and ease the momentum.
In the blink of an eye, there were only three people left in the Forbidden Villa.
Lang Shiba had no choice but to use up all his magic power. Although Gongshu Tianyuan still had some magical weapons, he knew very well that in this situation, he would die if he waited for others to go down.
"How could this happen?" Gongshu Tianyuan murmured, and the three of them stood quietly on the top of the mountain, unable to accept it for a moment.
"Poof!"
At this moment, the sound of falling came from behind everyone, accompanied by painful cries of "ouch" and curses of "woo woo".
The trio turned around in shock, only to see Zhao Duan and others lying on the ground behind them.
"Brother Zhao?! You are not dead?" The short and fat priest was overjoyed, Jin Jian's eyes lit up, and Lang Shiba also staggered to his feet.
"Huchi...huchi..."
Zhao Duan was lying on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, breathing heavily and feeling dizzy.
Pei Niannu has disappeared, and the full energy in his sea of qi has almost bottomed out.
He didn't expect that just taking a few people to move a short distance would be so terrifying. Suddenly, he understood why Ren Kun refused to take one more Yun Xi with him when he snatched Zhuang Xiaocheng away from the temple.
"Zhuang... don't let him yell..." Zhao Duan struggled to get up.
At this moment, Zhuang Xiaocheng lost the silk wrapping and regained the ability to move. Although there was still a hairpin stuck in the back of his heart, Yun Xi avoided his heart in order to survive. Now his eyes widened and he wanted to shout.
"Bang!" Zhang Han threw his sword scabbard at him, "Be more honest!"
Zhuang Xiaocheng's vision went dark and he passed out decisively.
"What a risk... I almost died from this old dog. Fortunately, you have a trump card hidden in your body." Haitang looked frightened and glanced at Zhao Duan, not too surprised.
When she thought about it, if this guy dared to go out of the palace to arrest people, he might have gotten some protective treasure from His Majesty.
"Take the medicine quickly to regain your strength and prevent Qi Yuchun and the two from coming back again!" Zhao Duan took out several bottles of pills from the space scroll and distributed them to everyone.
Everyone immediately devoured the elixir and raced against time to restore their cultivation. With their numerical advantage, as long as they recovered 50%, they were not afraid of two powerful enemies.
After a while, Zhao Duan regained some strength and felt confident. He stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff to look down.
I saw a large amount of smoke and dust, almost like a sea of clouds, blocking the view, and the bottom of the cliff could not be seen.
"It seems that those two people will not be able to come back for a while. They will always search carefully for your 'corpse' first."
Gongshu Tianyuan came over and exclaimed: "Do you want to go down to find them?"
"No," Zhao Duan shook his head and said seriously: "The mastermind has been captured, there is no need to create more trouble."
Well, the main reason is that he is not sure... Although there are many people on his side, it is really difficult to keep the other side.
"Everyone, go first to the villa and do a quick search to see if there is any important information." Zhao Duan hesitated for a moment, but did not immediately go down the mountain to escape, then ordered.
The group of people nodded, and Lang Shiba tied Zhuang Xiaocheng on his back - unfortunately, neither the "Taixu Scroll" nor the "Xuangui Seal" could hold a living person, otherwise it would be easy to carry too much.
Everyone quickly entered the remaining half of the village and searched as quickly as possible.
"No, there is nothing. There are braziers in the house, and many letters have been burned." Haitang returned from the study.
"The counting room is also empty. There are only a few hundred taels of silver in the entire villa." Zhang Han also walked back.
It’s not surprising that Zhao Duan gathered intelligence:
"Sure enough, it seems that what Zhuang Xiaocheng said is true. The Forbidden Villa is indeed the place he prepared for the decisive battle with me, so all the key things were moved in advance. In this general altar, except for him as the 'leader', Almost an empty shell.”
After a pause, he smiled again:
"However, I should be content with catching this old dog."
As the saying goes, "Capture the thief first, capture the king first." Although Zhuang Xiaocheng is an ordinary man, his life is enough to pay for most of the entire Kuangfu Society.
"Let's go. It's not suitable to stay here for a long time. We have to return to the city as soon as possible to prevent Qi Yuchun from finding him again."
Zhao Duan's eyes were excited, with a hint of calculation:
"However, when we go back this time, we have to keep a low profile."
……
……
Fengcheng County Government.
The prefect, Luan Cheng, stood behind the official case in the lobby of the Yamen, constantly processing the news that came in one after another.
The atmosphere in the entire county government office was extremely agitated. There were soldiers from imperial government offices and military government offices going back and forth inside and outside the courtyard.
After Zhao Duan took Gongshu Tianyuan away, Luan Cheng no longer had the need to stay in the execution ground.
He immediately returned to the county government office and learned from Lihuatang Jinyi that "Zhao Shaobao" had already planned an attack on those who rebelled against the party, and told him to stay calm.
After that, Luan Cheng would see a group of officers and soldiers escorting the captured "rebels" every once in a while and sending them to prison.
The county government prison cells were quickly overcrowded, and as a last resort, all the county government offices were used as temporary "prisons."
With 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, there were a few places where the fire was successful, but Luan Cheng was already satisfied and even felt lucky.
"Master Magistrate, we have brought back a few more prisoners. They should be the last batch. There are also many rebels who have taken advantage of the chaos to escape or hide. My soldiers are searching, but it is difficult to make any big gains."< br>
Deputy General Yuanji, wearing heavy armor and holding a war hammer, walked into the courtyard.
The bored Hou Renmeng and others stood up under the eaves and said with a smile:
"Just leave it to us to rebel against the party."
Magistrate Luan didn't care about going against the party, he hurriedly said:
"Can you see any trace of Zhao Shaobao?"
Yuanji shook his head.
The round-faced secretary Qian Kerou smiled and said:
"Prefect, don't worry. My family has always planned before taking action. Once we have arrangements, we must have important things to do."
"I know Zhao Shaobao's talent, but... I can't help but worry about it." Luan Cheng sighed, waved his hand, and sent Yuan Ji away.
Sitting in the courtroom, he was full of anxiety. He stood up from time to time and looked outside. He paced and sighed repeatedly, feeling anxious.
I don't know how long it took, but several Jinyi people from Lihuatang suddenly walked out of the door, and returned after a while to clear out the rest of the crowd.
He closed the door of the lobby again, and in the eyes of Magistrate Luan with doubts, he said to the air:
"My lord, everyone has been cleaned up."
Suddenly, a huge "red hijab" like an umbrella appeared in the air. Gongshu Tianyuan raised his hand to put away this invisible artifact.
In the courtroom, Zhao Duan and his party lifted their invisibility and emerged.
"Ah, Mr. Zhao? Are you back?"
Magistrate Luan was stunned for a moment and looked happy. He was not surprised by this practice method:
"You don't know how worried I am, for fear of... Huh? This is..."
Magistrate Luan noticed an old Confucian scholar with white beard and white hair on Lang Shiba's back, who looked familiar.
"Zhuang Xiaocheng?!" Luan Cheng had seen this grand master in Beijing before. He was shocked. He approached in disbelief and stared at the unconscious old master for several times before looking at Zhao in shock. Du'an:
"Sir...you...you captured this thief?!"
Zhao Duan smiled and nodded: "It's a fluke."
It's true!
The rebel leader was captured!
A surprise smile appeared on Magistrate Luan's dull face, his face was rosy to the naked eye, and he was surprised and happy.
Three years after the Xuanmen Coup, Zhuang Xiaocheng was facing a sea of arrests from all over the world, coming and going without a trace. What kind of cunning rabbit has three holes?
When Luan Cheng first learned that Zhao Duanben, the bandit leader, had come, he had no hope in his heart. He only hoped that nothing would happen to the young security guard.
As a result, what did he see?
It had only been seven or eight days since Zhao Duan entered the city. The rebel leader, who had left the entire court helpless, was captured alive.
"Incredible!"
"Magical tricks!"
This local official, who was also considered a famous official in the Binhai Road area, admired sincerely, with a complicated expression.
Being famous is not as good as meeting him. Although he has heard of many deeds of this "King of Hell Zhao", he will inevitably doubt whether they are exaggerated.
But after seeing it with my own eyes today, I realized that the rumors were completely untrue.
"I beg you to give me some advice on how to capture this thief?" Magistrate Luan asked seriously.
Although Haitang and others experienced it personally, they actually didn’t know the whole story.
Now that the man had been captured, Zhao Duan thought for a moment, sat down and narrated the whole process, only concealing the ability of "Feng Yue Bao Jian" and saying that Yun Xi had left marks along the way.
After hearing the entire game, the eyes of everyone present changed. They looked at Zhao Duan, including Zhuang Xiaocheng, who was unconscious on the ground, with extremely complicated eyes.
Is this how powerful the civil servants in the court are?
All of them have deep thoughts and scheming, traps within traps, falsehoods within truths, alienation and alienation.
Although the process is not complicated, a review shows that Zhao Duan and Zhuang Xiaocheng started playing games when they exchanged prisoners last year.
Everyone used their own methods to achieve today's seemingly lightning-quick arrest.
Everyone secretly wondered, if they were to face off against an old thief like Zhuang Xiaocheng, would they be able to win? The answer is no.
"Brother Zhao, you are still the culprit." Gongshu Tianyuan admired sincerely.
...If you don’t know how to praise, you don’t have to praise it. Shutting up is also a virtue... Zhao Duan’s mouth twitched, he coughed lightly, and changed the subject:
"Everyone, the matter is far from over. Not to mention that there are important figures who rebelled against the party and have evacuated early and have not been brought to justice. It is Zhuang Xiaocheng alone. How to bring him back to the capital is a problem."
Of course, such an important person cannot be stabbed to death.
Not to mention whether we can dig out information from this old thief, his identity as the leader is of great significance.
Bringing a living Taifu back to the capital is worth far more than a corpse.
"Although many rebels have been arrested today, most of them are abandoned by Zhuang Xiaocheng. There are still many people from Kuangfu Society scattered in various places. The two masters Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun are still there. And the road back to Beijing is long, with high mountains and long rivers. ……
Oh, the last time I returned to Beijing from Huting, I was assassinated and almost died... I don't want to step into the same trap a second time. "Zhao Duan said calmly.
Haitang analyzed:
"Are you worried that if the news is leaked on the way back to Beijing, it will lead to crazy interceptions and killings by Kuangfu Society along the way?"
"It's not just Kuangfu Society." Zhao Duan looked serious.
The implication: If the eight kings knew about it, they might take action.
At least for the moment, the existence of Kuangfu Society is beneficial to the Eight Kings.
"Shaobao is right to worry," Magistrate Luan frowned and said:
"This is indeed a difficult task. What if we summon a large army to escort us? With the gold medal in Shaobao's hand, we can summon the military mansions of Binhai and Linfeng to escort us along the way?"
Zhao Duan objected:
"Inappropriate. Not to mention that although I have a gold medal, I can't mobilize too many troops... Even if there are many people, rushing along the road is not a battlefield formation after all. The enemy's strong men only need to sneak attack, no matter how many troops there are, It’s hard to be careful, not to mention the more people there are, the greater the damage will be caused by people eating horse chews along the way.”
The treasury has just recovered, and there is really no need to go to war.
"This..." Everyone looked at each other for a moment, unable to think of a way.
Sitting in the corner of the crowd, Yun Xi, who was silent, suddenly raised her head and stared at Zhao Duan with her bright eyes:
"You already have a plan, right?"
Zhao Duan smiled and glanced at this young girl who had proven to be loyal and reliable through her actions, nodded and said:
"That's right, I'm going to go with the flow and fake my death for a while."
"Fake death?"
"Yes, except for those of us in the hall at this moment, no one else knows the details of the Forbidden Mountain Villa. Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun even witnessed us and Zhuang Xiaocheng die together."
Zhao Duan said seriously:
"I'm thinking, if we announce to the outside world that Zhuang Xiaocheng and I fell off a cliff together, and there are no bones left, and at the same time send a large army to escort many rebels captured in the city to Beijing to attract attention.
Is it feasible for me, Brother Gongshu, Junior Sister Jin Jian, and Ji Yue to secretly escort Zhuang Xiaocheng back to Beijing?
Well, it can be said to the outside world that the two Tianshi Mansion priests were originally invited by me. Now that I am dead, the two of them have to continue traveling around the world, so they do not return to Beijing with the large army. This reason can be explained. ”
Well, to use an idiom he is familiar with, it is:
The plank road is built openly and secretly to Chencang!
"This...can you believe that Ren Kun? Didn't he go to the bottom of the canyon to find..." Haitang questioned.
Zhao Duan turned his head and looked at Gongshu Tianyuan:
"I made some estimates on the way back. The collapsed mountain is extremely huge. With Ren Kun's cultivation in the 'World' realm, how long will it take to detect it completely?"
Gongshu Tianyuan thought for a while and said:
"It will take a long time. He is only in the human world, not in the heavenly realm. He is not that powerful. Earth Escape and Stone Escape are not the same difficulty. Otherwise, he would not have had to fight with us on the mountain road before. He could just escape directly into the mountain... …
Moreover, I doubt they would be stupid enough to dig deep into the ground to find your 'corpse'. In a collapse of that scale, the chances of survival are extremely slim. ”
"That's enough!" Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"As long as the two of them are not completely sure in their hearts, they will tend to believe what they see with their eyes, and the news we spread is enough to mislead people."
Magistrate Luan hesitated and said:
"It sounds feasible. But is it really necessary? Even if the news of death is fake, it can be clarified quickly, but the rumors will definitely spread faster than you can go..."
Zhao Duan smiled indifferently:
"If I die, the people all over the world will only applaud and cheer, and it will not shake the stability of the court. As for the real big shots, when I return to Beijing, they will naturally know that it is a rumor. In contrast, if Zhuang Xiaocheng is rescued, or If you die on the way, the loss will be much greater.”
After a pause, he said seriously:
"Zhuang Xiaocheng is definitely going to die, but there is a huge difference between dying silently on the road and being executed in the capital city, after being sentenced to death in order to expose the lies he fabricated about the Xuanmen coup!"< br>
In the courtroom, several decision-makers looked at each other and nodded silently:
"If you decide, we will cooperate."
Zhao Duan smiled slightly and discussed the details of suspended animation with a few people. After the negotiation was completed, he turned back and said with a smile:
"I almost forgot, you have to come with us, after all, you also 'died' at the bottom of the cliff."
Yun Xi looked indifferent:
"This is so complicated. You can just kill me. I'm no longer of use."
After completing the backstab, she was in a state similar to the "Sage's Time", feeling that her life had no purpose.
Zhao Duan laughed and pinched the girl's face:
"You underestimate yourself too much. Don't you want to witness Zhuang Xiaocheng being beheaded?"
Yun Xi's eyes lit up slightly, and she felt a little moved.
"That's it!"
Zhao Duan stood up and raised the corners of his mouth: "We have to act quickly."
……
ps: I read this chapter at the end of the previous chapter and said... I have been honest, please let me go. Ten chapters are beyond the limits of the human body. I will try to force myself to write a big chapter tomorrow or the day after tomorrow...Write as many words as possible
(End of chapter)