Chapter 119

After Li Miao finished speaking, he stood up immediately and was about to set off for Shaolin with Yong Jie.

"My lord!"

He heard a soft shout from behind; Li Miao turned his head to look, and it was Yin Minjun who had walked over.

"Let me go with you."

Li Miao looked her up and down and smiled: "Elder Yin, don't you need to watch over the Miao people's affairs?"

Yin Minjun shook her head: "I have already explained clearly to my fellow sect members; with so many major sects taking action on the Miao people's side, they don't lack me."

"Moreover, my Hengshan Sect is already a subordinate of yours; if I watch you go to Shaolin alone, I have lost my duty."

"My martial arts are not good, but at least I can handle some miscellaneous affairs for you."

Yin Minjun is, after all, the number two figure of the Hengshan Sect and is used to welcoming and sending off guests; these words were said in a high-sounding manner, without revealing at all her intention of just wanting to follow Li Miao.

Li Miao nodded: "That's fine, then let's go together."

After saying this, he took Yin Minjun and Yong Jie, led the horses, and set off.

The three of them were all experts with successful internal energy, and without stopping, they arrived at Shaolin in just a few days.

Before the three of them approached the Shaolin Temple mountain gate, they heard a greeting from afar: "Battalion Commander!"

Li Miao looked over and saw a person wearing the official uniform of the Imperial Guard, galloping with light martial arts. It was the Battalion Commander surnamed Zhang who came with the eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen in Tai'an City that day, and he was also Li Miao's subordinate.

That day he followed Cheng Yuanzhen to the Taishan Sect, and as a result, he ran into Yun Zelin. His martial arts were also quite good, so he also escaped with his life.

Li Miao greeted him, looked him up and down, and asked: "Who came from home?"

After the Tai'an City matter, the imperial court was already preparing to deal with the Ming Sect, and Bu Lei of the Northern Imperial Guard had already appeared in the land of Hubei and Hunan. Such a big thing as the Ming Sect breaching the Shaolin mountain gate, it was reasonable for the Imperial Guard to send people over.

Battalion Commander Zhang glanced at Yong Jie and Yin Minjun beside him.

Li Miao waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to care about these two, and could just speak directly.

"Commander Bu sent back news, and the Commander-in-Chief came personally. The Battalion Commander came at the right time; we also just arrived, but the Shaolin mountain gate is closed, and the Commander-in-Chief is afraid that there are ambushes by Ming Sect thieves inside, so he hasn't gone in for a moment."

Li Miao nodded: "Take me to see the Commander-in-Chief."

Battalion Commander Zhang accepted the order and led Li Miao toward the Shaolin mountain gate.

Right now, outside the mountain gate, it was already densely packed with people, who were currently preparing, and there were even some fire guns and fire cannons.

Li Miao scanned over, and almost all the Battalion Commanders of the Northern Imperial Guard were present, so he knew that the imperial court had already made up its mind to eradicate the Ming Sect.

From afar, Li Miao saw Zhu Zai standing with his hands behind his back, talking to Bu Lei; he should be deploying manpower, preparing to storm the Shaolin mountain gate.

Li Miao wanted to walk over.

Zhu Zai looked up and saw him, but raised his hand to make a gesture of stopping, and his eyes were clearly signaling Li Miao not to come over.

Li Miao stopped his steps and frowned at Zhu Zai.

The two had a friendship of more than ten years; Zhu Zai knew what Li Miao was thinking with a blink, and Li Miao knew which bowl Zhu Zai was going to throw with a glare.

Without conversation, Li Miao could understand the emotions contained in that one look from Zhu Zai.

"Old man, is he... worried about me?"

"Why?"

The Tai'an City matter had already been told to Zhu Zai by Wang Hai; Zhu Zai already knew what realm Li Miao's martial arts had reached.

What could be in this Shaolin Temple that could threaten Li Miao?

Moreover, right now outside the mountain gate were all Imperial Guard personnel, all his own people; why would Zhu Zai be worried about Li Miao and not let him come over?

Li Miao felt strange in his heart, but he knew very well that Zhu Zai was not a person who would shoot without a target. If he did this, there must be a sufficiently full reason.

Li Miao turned around and gave a few instructions to Yin Minjun and Yong Jie, telling them to find a place to hide first.

After the two left, Li Miao gave a few instructions to Battalion Commander Zhang, telling him not to reveal the news that he had arrived.

And then Li Miao flashed into a dense forest, tapped his feet lightly, climbed onto a treetop, stepped on a branch the thickness of a finger, and observed the situation outside the mountain gate from afar.

Seeing Li Miao understand and hide, Zhu Zai seemed to heave a sigh of relief and turned to say a few words to Bu Lei.

Bu Lei accepted the order and left, and Zhu Zai turned to face the mountain gate, standing with his hands behind his back.

Li Miao clearly saw that Zhu Zai made a "three" gesture behind his back.

"Three o'clock."

This meant for Li Miao to wait until the third watch of the night to secretly meet him.

Li Miao waited for a while longer and saw a wooden carved colorful sedan chair slowly moving to Zhu Zai's side.

This sedan chair was vermilion lacquer with mud gold, lined with embroidery, pearls, tassels, and paintings, incomparably luxurious. It can be said that this sedan chair alone was worth thousands of taels of silver.

One must know that the founding emperor of the Great Shu had issued an edict restricting the riding of sedan chairs; generally, only officials of the third rank or above, or the elderly and disabled, could ride them. Although this rule was gradually abolished later, ordinary people would not decorate their sedan chairs too much to avoid overstepping.

Looking at the four people carrying the sedan chair, they were actually all second-rate experts!

The sedan chair stopped at Zhu Zai's side, and a person following on the side hurriedly stepped forward, actually plopping down directly in front of the sedan door. It was clearly to act as a "human sedan stool," letting the person inside step on him to get down.

Li Miao focused his attention to look; the person lying on the ground was shockingly the eunuch in charge of the Directorate of Ceremonial who led people to snatch credit at Taishan that day, Cheng Yuanzhen!

Who exactly was sitting in this sedan chair, making a peak fourth-rank eunuch act as a human sedan stool?

He saw the sedan curtain slowly lifted, and an old, withered arm stretched out from inside.

A sedan carrier stepped forward to support that arm and helped that person down.

He saw that person was decrepit, with temples like frost, sparse hair and loose teeth, a face full of wrinkles, walking shakily, as if he were an old man in the twilight of his years.

Looking at his clothing, he wore a narrow-sleeved yisa, with python patterns embroidered on his chest. He was actually wearing the bestowed clothing of the same rank as Zhu Zai.

This person stepped on Cheng Yuanzhen and got off the sedan, shakily supported by others, and walked to Zhu Zai's side.

Zhu Zai turned and bowed to him: "Big Brother."

"Hmm." That person accepted this bow calmly, without any intention of returning it, as if he said it as a matter of course.

"Don't wait, fire a few cannons first to see. If that thief Ji Tianrui is still there, it's just right to capture him."

"Yes." Zhu Zai turned to instruct the Imperial Guard, actually preparing to directly bombard this thousand-year-old ancient temple.

Li Miao was far away and couldn't hear the conversation between the two. But with his eyesight, he had already taken everything into his eyes.

He smiled: "Indeed."

"If there were no such characters in the imperial court, it would be impossible to sit firmly on this land."

That person looked decrepit, but he wasn't really that old. Judging by his bones, this person was probably only fifty-something.

Li Miao was very familiar with this appearance. He had just seen it a month ago at the Taishan Sect.

"Five Decays of Heaven and Man."

This person was shockingly also an expert "above the peak" who possessed more than two paths!

(End of chapter)