Chapter 295: The Thousand-Year Old Man

Gao Anyu was not the only one astonished by the strange situation on Cao Hanyan's side.

He thought his glance back was hidden, but to old Jianghu hands like Hua Zhixiu and the Profound Clarity Sect elders, his thoughts were no different from being written on his face.

When he looked back, Hua Zhixiu had secretly found it amusing.

"You only have two paths to take: either fight your way out or take a hostage. Do you really think I wouldn't notice?"

He had seen Cao Hanyan's martial arts clearly and felt that there was no way Cao Hanyan could succeed. Luo Mingcheng had left most of the garrison troops by his side precisely to guard against this move.

When Gao Anyu's face showed shock and astonishment, Hua Zhixiu realized something was wrong, immediately turned his head to look, and his mouth dropped open.

"This... what evil art is this!?"

How could he not see that Cao Hanyan was acting?

Rather, Cao Hanyan's acting was too poor! His face was red, his moves were not as smooth as before, and his hands and feet were stiff, as if he were a child forced by his master to perform on stage.

Yet, it was precisely these awkward and funny movements that brought an indescribable, chilling coldness to Hua Zhixiu's heart.

Human lives were fading away in a way he couldn't understand.

There was no struggle, no wailing, no screaming, no blood, no wounds. Every time Cao Hanyan swung his blade, the person in front of the blade would suddenly stop moving, the light in their eyes would suddenly vanish, and then they would be hacked to the ground.

It was as if those people had died on their own when they saw who Cao Hanyan was going to hack.

It was like a ghost or god at work in a storybook! Hua Zhixiu had been in the Jianghu until now, and even counting that profound Heavenly Human realm, there was no martial art that could do such a thing!

"It's him!"

Hua Zhixiu shifted his gaze to Li Miao.

From the beginning, he knew Li Miao was not right. Gao and Cao were both rare prodigies in the Jianghu, but they were clearly led by this person, so he couldn't be simple.

In the end, a person who didn't know martial arts standing in this occasion always seemed out of place. It was just that with the Heavenly Human Inheritance in front of him, Hua Zhixiu couldn't give up for the sake of some uncertain factors.

Li Miao seemed to notice his gaze and suddenly turned to smile at him.

Hua Zhixiu gritted his teeth: "No!"

"With life and death at stake, I cannot hesitate!"

"This person's methods are strange; even if I go over, it might not help, and I might even get myself involved. The best plan now is to take this boy first and hold the Heavenly Human Inheritance in my hands!"

"Even if this bird official dies, he will die in public at the hands of these people. As long as I find an opportunity to flee the Great Ming before the Embroidered Uniform Guard discovers the truth, everything today will be worth it!"

In the blink of an eye, Hua Zhixiu had a plan and raised his sword to charge at Gao Anyu again.

"Beast!"

Lord Luo, on the other side, saw that he stopped paying attention to him after one look and couldn't help but curse in his heart.

He didn't understand martial arts and couldn't see the trickery in it. But it was an indisputable fact that Cao Hanyan was getting closer and closer to him.

At this rate, in another twenty or thirty breaths, Cao Hanyan would be in front of him!

With life and death at stake, Lord Luo first gestured for the surrounding garrison guards to step forward and block Cao Hanyan, then stepped back a few steps and said loudly.

"This young hero, just now this official looked, and the place where the Embroidered Uniform Guard Platoon Leader Xue died was outside the main hall of the Profound Clarity Sect, quite far from you; this matter seems to have some strange points."

"Why don't you stop now, and after this official investigates, if you have any grievances, this official will definitely preside over justice for you, how about that?"

As expected of someone from the capital, as expected of an old fox who came out of the Ministry of Personnel, his waist was as soft as noodles. His face also wore a kind smile, completely different from the coldness of a moment ago.

But Cao Hanyan turned a deaf ear and just kept charging at him.

Lord Luo stepped back again, swallowed his saliva, and his expression changed again.

"Madman! Do you know who this official is? This official is the Prefect of Guangxin Prefecture, a former Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel!"

"If something happens to this official, it will definitely reach the ears of the Emperor! You are having a good time today, but aren't you afraid that the Embroidered Uniform Guard will come to your door later and implicate your relatives, friends, wife, and children!"

"Why not leave now and not make mistakes worse! If you are in need of money, this official can decide to raise some for you from the wealthy families in the area!"

Cao Hanyan was only five zhang away from him.

Lord Luo's hands inside his sleeves clenched.

Running would only lead to death faster.

He didn't know what the Profound Clarity Sect was planning, but it was clear that they had put his life aside and would not come to protect him. The military formation could not be taken away, and stepping out of the formation to flee was handing his life to the opponent; he would not make such a stupid choice.

There was no time to regret getting involved with the Profound Clarity Sect; Lord Luo had to find a way to survive.

"What to do, what to do..."

His mind raced, and Lord Luo suddenly remembered something.

He didn't understand the Jianghu, didn't understand Jianghu affairs, and didn't know what these people were fighting over. But there was one thing he had handled, a bargaining chip that Jianghu people would definitely be interested in!

"This young hero, do you know about the Ming Cult?"

Cao Hanyan paused, his eyes wide.

"There are still experts!?"

"Stop talking, stop courting death!"

"Too many people have died today! Do you really have to get yourself wiped out to be happy!?"

He paused, intending to rush forward and stop Lord Luo's words. But his figure suddenly stopped.

An invisible internal energy came from behind, stopping his movements.

And Lord Luo, seeing him stop, felt that the other party had been moved by his words, smiled, spread his hands, and talked eloquently.

"Do you know about the destruction of the Ming Cult? This matter happened in the capital!"

"After the Ming Cult thieves were wiped out, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, together with local garrisons, confiscated the strongholds, property, and personnel left behind by the Ming Cult. Nearly a hundred such strongholds were found throughout the world."

"A few months ago, I was still a Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel. It just so happened that an Embroidered Uniform Guard Battalion Commander had a relative who wanted to be promoted and wanted to use my path, but was suffering from having nothing to offer—so he secretly embezzled one of the strongholds and gave it to me."

As Lord Luo spoke, he saw Cao Hanyan's expression becoming more and more strange, and the look in his eyes was not only devoid of hostility but full of pity.

It was as if he were watching a pig gorging itself and fattening up during the holidays.

Lord Luo didn't understand, but seeing that Cao Hanyan really didn't charge at him anymore, he continued.

"This official knows that you Jianghu people might not care much about money, but you are crazy about martial arts."

"That Embroidered Uniform Guard Battalion Commander thought there was only some money in this stronghold, so he dared to hand it to me with confidence. But later, when I went to get things, I accidentally discovered a secret room in this stronghold."

"In the secret room, there was a woman's boudoir."

"And on the desk in this boudoir, there were several martial arts manuals, and a manual recording some things that looked like Jianghu secrets."

"I wonder if these can move you, young hero?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a voice came from behind Cao Hanyan. Li Miao, who had been watching the show since entering the gate, spoke for the first time.

"Was that boudoir as messy as a pigsty?"

Lord Luo's eyes lit up; this was someone who knew the details! He smiled quickly.

"Exactly."

"Were the words in the manual written like dog scratches?"

"Exactly."

"Was the manual only full of broken words, like a heavenly book, as if it were deliberately written so that people couldn't understand it?"

"Exactly!"

Li Miao nodded.

He knew who the owner of this boudoir was.

His short-lived rebellion companion, the demoness who calculated him to death. The Miao medicine person who recognized no relatives, had no father or mother, and was the only woman in the world younger than him and with a higher cultivation than him. She was also the only opponent he felt a toothache fighting.

The Ming Cult leader who went missing at sea—Ji Tianrui.

"You've read the manual, right? Do you remember any words? Say a few, and we'll confirm the truth, how about that, my lord?"

Li Miao said.

Lord Luo quickly recalled. He was a top-tier scholar, and in terms of memory, he was probably among the best in the Great Ming. Trying his best to recall now, he immediately remembered a lot of content.

He pondered, and from those broken words, he picked out three according to the categories of location, person, and unknown nouns, and said loudly.

"This official only flipped through it, and I don't remember much now, just listen."

"He Shang."

"Xuan Lan."

"An Qi Sheng."

He didn't know what these three words meant, but these three words were relatively large and at the top of those pages, so he picked these three.

After speaking, he carefully observed Li Miao's reaction. If Li Miao also didn't understand this, he would continue to find other content from the manual to say, and he would always be able to move him.

But he didn't expect that after Li Miao heard these three words, his brows furrowed, his arms crossed, and his fingers twisted unconsciously, as if he had fallen into deep thought.

It wasn't until a cup of tea later that he slowly lowered his hands, a playful smile on his face, and he shook his head and laughed.

"Leader Ji, oh Leader Ji, I really don't know how your brain grows, how you always walk in front of me... How much have you investigated in these fifteen years."

"Next time we meet, I must capture you alive and interrogate you thoroughly."

The three words Lord Luo said, "He Shang," had no clues to support speculation for the time being, so they could be put aside.

The key was the remaining two words.

"Xuan Lan."

In the manual left by Xue Bangzhu, Li Miao learned that the foundation of Yingzhou's inheritance was the "Intent Realm"—Xuan Lan—among the three realms of "Heart, Spirit, and Intent."

There were hundreds of other names of historical figures with the surname Zheng from a thousand years ago to the present, but Li Miao couldn't draw a conclusion from them at the time.

If Lord Luo had only said this one "Xuan Lan," Li Miao couldn't be sure that the information left by Ji Tianrui was related to Yingzhou. But with the name behind it, it was different.

An Qi Sheng.

The "Biographies of High Scholars" records: "An Qi Sheng was a man from Langya, studied under Master He Shang, sold medicine by the sea, old but did not serve, people of the time called him the Thousand-Year Old Man. The First Emperor traveled east, asked to speak with him for three days and three nights, and gave him gold and jade worth tens of millions."

The "Sheng" in "An Qi Sheng" is just like the "Zi" in "Confucius," just an honorific, not part of the name.

Among other titles for An Qi Sheng, one is "Zheng Xian," which uses his original surname as his name and honors him as an immortal. That is to say, the original surname of this legendary figure was Zheng.

Zheng, An Qi.