Chapter 344

Xue Shangshuang was stunned, his eyes wide, unable to utter a word. Tie Qiuyi finally came to his senses, trembling as he was about to cry out in alarm.

"Li... Li..."

"Shh."

Li Miao turned his head and smiled at him.

"Mmph!"

Tie Qiuyi suddenly raised his hand, tightly covering his own mouth.

"Behave... Oh, I remember now. That night before I went to the Taishan Sect last year, you two seemed to be drinking at Yan Xiaosheng's banquet, right?"

Tie Qiuyi nodded vigorously while covering his mouth, a wail echoing in his heart.

Heavens!

If you really want me dead, just split me open, give me a punch right in the middle, and let me die quickly, can't you? How did I run into this devil again! I was lucky enough not to die last time; can I still escape unscathed this time!

Yet he heard Li Miao ask with a smile.

"I quite enjoyed the stories you two were telling just now. Are there any others? Even hearsay or vague rumors will do."

The two were stunned in unison, but not daring to ask more, they nodded vigorously and spilled out everything they could remember in one breath.

When they finished, the two were stunned again.

Was there this much?

The bizarre incidents they had heard of, witnessed, or sensed from afar, added to the two they had mentioned before, actually totaled seven or eight!

The two were merely gate guards, and inexperienced ones at that, who couldn't even access many parts of the Yan Fu, yet they had already seen so many... This bizarre situation was likely already rampant throughout the Yan Fu!

"My, my lo-lo-lord, my..."

Tie Qiuyi opened his mouth, but started stuttering. Xue Shangshuang took over: "My lord, whatever orders you have, we will climb mountains of blades, descend into seas of fire, hack through thorns, spill our hearts and blood, and—"

"Enough, if you haven't read any books, don't try to show off your vocabulary."

Li Miao waved his hand.

"Where is Yan Song now?"

The two pointed in unison.

When they turned back to look for Li Miao, he had already vanished.

The two looked at each other, sat down on the ground with a thud, first gasping for air and shedding tears, then patting their chests and shaking their shoulders, and finally gritting their teeth to stand up and run out of the Yan Fu as if their lives depended on it, swearing that even if their own fathers died in Shuntian in the future, they would never come to collect the bodies!

Now, back to Li Miao.

When Zhu Zai came to find him during the day, the two had already determined—Yan Song must die.

If the other party was using a "lure the tiger away from the mountain" tactic, the Emperor was in the palace, and Li Miao could rush back if there was any commotion; if it was "inviting the guest into the urn"... if Li Miao wanted to leave, no one in the world could stop him!

Since you dare to use bait as heavy as the current Grand Secretary, what harm is there in me swallowing it whole!

Flying across the eaves, Li Miao drifted in the direction pointed out by Tie Qiuyi and Xue Shangshuang, his gaze sweeping around along the way, his eyebrows arching.

"As expected."

Just as he had a thorough grasp of Qi and force after mastering the Three Paths of Life, after mastering the Profound Observation, he could also see from a distance whose "nature" was abnormal.

And with this casual glance, he saw four or five people with abnormal "natures," and the closer he got to Yan Song's residence, the more people there were.

"It seems this current Grand Secretary is the key link between the civil officials, the Eastern Depot, and Yingzhou."

Li Miao passed by a corridor, raised his hand to grab through the air, and a maid dozing at the door was snatched over and held in his hand. The maid was just about to scream when she was suppressed by Li Miao's internal energy.

Internal energy drilled into her meridians, checking briefly.

Raising his hand to throw the fainted maid onto the roof, Li Miao's figure suddenly paused—and then a loud bang!

With incomparable ferocity and momentum, Li Miao smashed directly into the room where Yan Song was! He punched into the floor!

The ground shook, and the building collapsed with a roar!

Countless luxurious and expensive furniture and items were blasted into powder, flying in all directions.

At this instant, Li Miao's gaze shifted to his side.

A zhang away, those flying fragments suddenly lost their speed, stopping abruptly in mid-air, forming a plane a zhang wide.

And behind this plane, Yan Song stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Li Miao.

And in front of him stood an old man.

A decrepit old man with sparse hair, who had even lost his teeth, his cheeks sunken into his mouth. He wore a simple, tattered robe, revealing gaunt ribs. He was staring at Li Miao with dim, yellow eyes. Without a doubt, the means he used to block the flying fragments was exactly the same protective internal energy as Zheng Anqi's. And compared to Zheng Anqi's tangible dharma robe, his intangible, formless protective internal energy, which Li Miao couldn't even detect until it touched something, was clearly much more profound.

Furthermore, his decrepit appearance was not caused by the Five Decays of Heaven and Man... but because his lifespan was truly nearing its end, and he was on the verge of death.

Wu Gong superior to Zheng Anqi, and a nearly exhausted lifespan.

There was only one person who fit both.

The Master of Yingzhou.

"An Qisheng?"

Li Miao stood up and clenched his fists.

"Hmm."

The old man responded.

Li Miao laughed out loud.

"I thought you had prepared some grand scene, but it turns out you just lured me here to decide who lives and who dies? Why go to such trouble? You could have just blocked me on my way back to the capital; wouldn't that have been more straightforward?"

The old man slowly spat out one word.

"No."

And then there was no follow-up, as if he were truly like a candle in the wind, lacking the energy to say a few more words.

Seeing him like this, Li Miao was in no mood to talk to him further, shifting his gaze to Yan Song, he said.

"Grand Secretary Yan, you deliberately leaked information to the Commander during the day to lure me here, right? Now that I've come, don't you have anything to say?"

Yan Song flicked his robe sleeve, frowning at Li Miao.

"You are Li Miao?"

"So, the Emperor's abnormalities since last year, that old scoundrel Zhu Zai's sudden rise, and the eunuchs in the palace suddenly losing power, are all because of you?"

"So, what Liu Jin and Mr. Zheng told me is the truth. The turmoil in this Great Ming and the world over the past year is all because of you?"

His words and gaze were filled with thick disdain.

"A fourth-rank martial artist?"

As Yan Song spoke, Li Miao's feet moved slightly, but An Qisheng opposite him moved his feet at the same time, as if they were puppets pulled by a single thread.

Li Miao showed no abnormality on his face, only smiling at Yan Song.

"So, Grand Secretary Yan lured me here today just to confirm whether this martial artist who has caused turmoil in the world really exists."

"Oh, I understand."

"It seems neither Liu Jin nor Yingzhou has fully gained your trust, so there were only a few small fry documents in Nanjing... Now that you've seen me, how is it?"

Li Miao spread his arms and said with a smile.

"Do you want to try tonight to see if you can kill this disaster?"

Neither An Qisheng nor Yan Song spoke.

Instead, from outside the building, came a sound, uniform as if rehearsed for a long time, a mix of men, women, old, and young.

"Not today."

Li Miao followed the sound.

Outside the building, seven or eight figures walked toward them. Judging by their attire, there were cooks, gate guards, servants, and maids, but their faces were all equally cold.

"Liu Jin."

Li Miao raised his hand and pushed out a palm, killing these people.

"Dead people shouldn't keep popping up."