Chapter 294: Charging and killing

Let us speak of this Lord Luo.

Although he looked calm and relaxed, ever since he saw the corpse of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, his heart had been thumping against his ribs, and the hands inside his sleeves were sweating profusely.

He could almost not help but squeeze a "tsk" between his teeth!

Before being kicked to this Guangxin Prefecture, he was a Vice Director in the Ministry of Personnel! Controlling the selection and appointment of officials, he was an official among officials in the capital.

Although he had been kicked out of the capital, the connections and insights he had accumulated over the years would not disappear. He knew very well what the Embroidered Uniform Guard's current agenda was.

At the end of last year, for some reason, the Emperor suddenly held a Great Ancestral Sacrifice that was full of strangeness.

No one knew what happened at the Imperial Mausoleum that night, but from that night on, almost all officials in the capital felt a change radiating from the Emperor himself, gradually changing everything in the Great Ming court.

The most obvious point was that the Great Ming imperial clan, which had been suppressed since the Jianwen Emperor, began to return to the center of power with the support of the Emperor himself.

The most prominent among them was the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander-in-Chief—Zhu Zai. This old clansman, who was thought to be "retiring" last year, suddenly gained the Emperor's full trust and unconditional support.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, which had gradually handed over the power of monitoring the court to eunuchs and only focused on monitoring the Jianghu, purged almost the entire palace overnight, using hundreds of eunuch heads to declare one thing—

The current Embroidered Uniform Guard was no longer a "knife in hand," but the "wielder of the knife."

The imperial clansmen, who had been kept to eat and wait for death, swarmed in under the Emperor's decree, filling these vacancies and replacing the eunuchs.

He, this Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel, was driven out of the capital in a demotion disguised as a promotion precisely because he was involved in the struggle between the civil official group and the imperial clan.

And at this critical moment, a Platoon Leader of the Embroidered Uniform Guard died in his jurisdiction.

What would Zhu Zai think if he knew? What would the imperial clansmen, who were fighting the civil official group to the death, think?

Was it intentional, or accidental?

And he happened to be colluding with the Profound Clarity Sect, so he couldn't withstand an investigation at all!

So he made a choice after just one look—he had to distance the Profound Clarity Sect immediately and lead this matter toward the direction of a Jianghu vendetta. It didn't matter who the murderer was, but it couldn't have anything to do with him!

These three Jianghu ruffians standing in front of him, with no roots, were the only choice!

"Kill!"

His wide sleeves suddenly fell, rolling out a crisp sound.

Armor, long blades, and sharp swords surged like a tide!

Blood flashed!

"Brother Cao, I'll open the path! You bring Uncle Li and follow!"

Gao Anyu snatched a long blade, stabbed it back into the chest of the person in front of him, turned to dodge the weapons stabbing from all sides, and kicked the hilt of the blade in mid-air, stringing two people together and knocking down a whole row.

Following the gap he had smashed open, Gao Anyu charged left and right, forcibly smashing a narrow path through the crowd with his fists!

Simple stacking of numbers was useless! Rather, these garrison troops and the Profound Clarity Sect disciples were not familiar with each other, and they hindered each other, making it even easier for Gao Anyu to kill than before.

But Gao Anyu knew that the murderous intent surrounding him had already manifested.

Right there—in front of him!

A cold light drilled out from under the armpit of a garrison soldier, and in an instant, it was in front of him!

It was Hua Zhixiu!

Although Gao Anyu had been prepared, he was outnumbered, and after tilting his head to barely avoid the blade, he was still left with a bloody scratch.

He laughed in anger, raised his fist, and prepared to use his own inheritance to smash Hua Zhixiu's long sword.

A smug smile appeared on Hua Zhixiu's face. He reached behind his back with his other hand and actually pulled out Gao Anyu's black ruler, holding it horizontally in front of Gao Anyu's fist.

*Clang! —

Gao Anyu staggered back several steps, his face flushed.

"You!"

Hua Zhixiu threw his own sword on the ground, transferred the black ruler to his right hand, and flourished it like he was showing off.

"You really didn't know? No wonder you dared to throw this weapon on the ground so carelessly and let me pick it up."

"You can break blades, you can break flesh and bone, but you cannot break this black ruler. This weapon is most suitable for your inheritance, but it is also the weapon that counters your inheritance most in the world!"

Having said this, Hua Zhixiu looked closely at Gao Anyu and gave a light "oh."

"Are you the madman who has been wandering around Guangxin Prefecture lately, asking about your origins?"

"So that's it, so that's it, you really don't know anything! You have no sect-mates, and killing you will have no future consequences!"

"It's a pity that those two companions you dragged into this will also die because of you—truly a pity, and a joy!"

"Hahahaha!"

Gao Anyu wanted to retort, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the Profound Clarity Sect disciples and garrison troops had already surrounded him.

Taking advantage of the time Hua Zhixiu was engaging him, the two groups had divided the work. The garrison troops formed a formation, forcing Gao Anyu's room for maneuver; the Profound Clarity Sect disciples interspersed among them, taking the opportunity to sneak attacks.

Even the Profound Clarity Sect elders, whose cultivation was no less than Gao Anyu's, and Hua Zhixiu himself had joined the fray!

This was the standard method for the imperial court to strangle Jianghu experts—experts to restrain, military formations to continuously advance, and finally, consume all the opponent's room for maneuver and trap them to death!

Gao Anyu's plan to kill his way out had completely fallen through. He looked anxious, but his peripheral vision swept toward the back.

There was still a way to break the situation: he would restrain the opponent's experts, and Cao Hanyan would take the opportunity to hold the Prefect hostage.

As long as this fourth-rank official was in hand, not to mention whether the Profound Clarity Sect would be afraid to act, the garrison troops would definitely stop. If their top official died under their protection, it was a capital offense.

Although the two did not communicate, Gao Anyu believed that with Cao Hanyan's brain, he would definitely think of this.

"Brother Cao must have charged to—hmm!?"

Gao Anyu's eyes widened.

Cao Hanyan was indeed charging toward the Prefect as he had thought, and his progress was extremely rapid; in just this moment, he had already forced his way to within ten zhang.

But the strange thing was, he shouldn't have been able to charge so fast.

The two had similar cultivation and martial arts, and they had sparred many times during this period. What Gao Anyu couldn't do, Cao Hanyan shouldn't have been able to do either.

Gao Anyu focused his gaze again and finally discovered the clue.

Cao Hanyan wasn't so much killing as he was trying hard to hack his blade onto the corpses.

The opponents in front of him had already become corpses before he even made a move.

Gao Anyu shifted his gaze behind Cao Hanyan.

That "Uncle Li who doesn't know martial arts" was walking with his hands behind his back, leisurely stepping over a corpse, following Cao Hanyan like he was strolling, walking toward the Prefect.

Seeming to notice his gaze, "Uncle Li" turned his head and gave him a playful smile.