Chapter 202: Have You Eaten?

Huang Jin found Wang Zhi's corpse in the tomb chamber. His face was full of horror, and he died with his eyes wide open, as if he had seen a ghost before he died.

Huang Jin looked at Wang Zhi's corpse, his expression solemn, pondering for a long time, and let out a long sigh.

His relationship with Wang Zhi was not good.

In the eunuch profession, a wolf-like culture is quite prevalent; everyone competes for positions in a zero-sum game—if one eats more, others eat less. Coupled with a poor employment environment and severe internal competition, it leads to peers being either friends or enemies.

There is a saying, "The person who understands you best in the world must not be your friend, but your enemy."

Both of them were old people by the Emperor's side, and after fighting each other for many years, they understood each other immensely.

Huang Jin knew that Wang Zhi was heartless, acted extremely ruthlessly, didn't care about others, and didn't even care about himself, only being extremely loyal to the Emperor.

To be able to scare him like this... it could only be related to the Emperor. And it was definitely not a small matter.

Huang Jin collected Wang Zhi's remains, covered the traces of the tomb, and then took ten Heaven-Man experts, personally pursuing the traces left by the Jianwen Emperor.

By the time the sky was bright, Huang Jin had chased to the flat ground where Li Miao and the Jianwen Emperor had fought.

There was no one in sight, but just looking at the traces here, Huang Jin's expression became solemn.

"Everyone, go and investigate the surroundings, be careful and on guard, the distance between each other should not exceed a hundred zhang. If you hear any sound, everyone do not hesitate, immediately return to support."

Huang Jin said to the ten experts.

The experts nodded and acted accordingly.

These experts looked generally older than the ten experts brought by Wang Zhi, and some were even hairless and toothless, white-haired, looking like old people about to die.

Since they knew they were pursuing the Jianwen Emperor, these experts could not have not lifted the secret techniques and escaped the "Heaven-Man Five Decays" in advance. This aged appearance was their true appearance.

Cultivating to the Heaven-Man realm, they already had some characteristics of "seeing the divine without being damaged," and they would not show signs of old age until their lifespan was near. These aged appearances were not because of the Heaven-Man Five Decays; they were indeed nearing the end of their lives.

The secret technique of the imperial court to suppress the Heaven-Man Five Decays was, to put it plainly, to forcibly divide the Heaven-Man's life into two states: "suppress" and "raise."

Usually, they fall into a deep sleep, suppressing the progress of the "Heaven-Man Five Decays" to the slowest. Then, when useful, they are awakened, taking advantage of the time when the "Heaven-Man Five Decays" has not redeveloped to fight, and then fall into a deep sleep again.

This process has wear and tear. These twenty were the experts who were basically about to "expire."

Just looking at the state of these experts, one knew that the imperial court's family foundation, at least the family foundation that could be mobilized at any time, was almost bottomed out.

After all, wool comes from the sheep; the experts were also collected from the Jianghu. The imperial court suppressed martial arts, suppressed sects, suppressed the Jianghu, and Heaven-Man experts were becoming increasingly rare; being able to gather thirty was already quite difficult.

Let's go back to the present.

After the experts left, Huang Jin squatted down, took out a handkerchief from his bosom, and picked up flesh and broken cloth from the ground to check.

"Two people fought here. One wore a decayed bright yellow robe, which should be the Jianwen Emperor."

"There was another one, wearing brand new clothes, excellent workmanship, looking at the material and workmanship, it is the style of Beizhili, which should be produced in Shuntian Prefecture."

Huang Jin walked forward a few steps and squatted down, and after checking the traces, he actually struck a boxing pose on the spot.

"Exchanged a strike here, and then the Jianwen Emperor retreated, and this person followed up, and after over ten moves, they separated."

"Just this stance... can't tell what martial art it is, it should be self-created."

He walked forward a few more steps.

"Palm seal... Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms."

"Then this self-created martial art again, forcing back the Jianwen Emperor."

"The Jianwen Emperor flashed forward, using 'Sun and Moon Competing for Brilliance'."

"Afterward... it was a chaotic battle. Both were injured, and after the Jianwen Emperor fled, this person stayed here for a while, and then flew away."

In just a few words, he actually restored the battle between Li Miao and the Jianwen Emperor seven or eight times.

Huang Jin was a "Jiezi," and a Jiezi who achieved it purely by his own comprehension and after reading through the martial arts of a hundred schools in the imperial palace. It was not strange that he could see these.

Huang Jin squatted down, took out a handkerchief from his bosom, picked up two clumps of flesh and put them into his bosom. He picked two pieces of broken cloth, wrapped them up, and put them away.

"This person is not Ji Tianrui, nor is he the Ming Sect leader who impersonated Ji Tianrui."

Huang Jin closed his eyes and pondered.

"But I don't know who it is... actually able to beat the Jianwen Emperor into fleeing."

"Forget it, these two have left for a while, and it is too late to chase them now. It is better to return to the capital first and report the situation here to His Majesty."

"These ten experts, I fear, may not necessarily be able to deal with these two."

"And Wang Zhi, what did he know before he died, that he would die so unwillingly and fearfully."

Huang Jin let out a long sigh and looked up at the sky.

Today is the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, and tomorrow is New Year's Eve.

The day after tomorrow is the day the Emperor sacrifices to his ancestors, when the Emperor will depart from the capital to sacrifice to his ancestors at the imperial mausoleum.

What he fears now is that the rebels will take advantage of that time to cause trouble.

Not just the Ming Sect, now there is also the Jianwen Emperor, and this expert of unknown identity.

"Mountain rain is coming..."

————————

Capital, Zhu Mansion.

Zhu Zai had just gotten up, and his wife was putting on his official uniform and tidying his collar.

Suddenly, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Master, what's wrong?"

Lady Zhu asked with a smile.

"Is it Big Li causing you trouble again?"

"Hmph!"

Zhu Zai snorted coldly and did not answer.

"Master, the time Big Li has spent by your side is longer than our son's age, and he has spent every New Year in our house before. To be honest, he is like our adopted son. His personality, even I have figured it out."

Lady Zhu tied Zhu Zai's hair bun and said with a chuckle.

"He is like a donkey rolling; if left alone, he will just lie there in a lump; but if put in a pile of sesame seeds, he will immediately be covered."

"If you force him to do things, you have to be prepared to settle the accounts for him. Why get angry?"

"Woman's view!"

Zhu Zai glanced at her coldly and snorted.

You say it lightly!

He didn't go to dig your family's ancestral grave last night!

This could not be said to Lady Zhu, so Zhu Zai could only suppress his worry and anger.

He hadn't slept all night, and now he was full of anger, and instinctively wanted to smash something.

Suddenly, three soft sounds came from the roof.

Ding, ding.

Ding.

Two shorts and one long, it was the secret signal he had agreed upon with Li Miao. If it was inconvenient to use the main entrance, Li Miao would notify him like this.

Zhu Zai hurriedly said a few words to Lady Zhu, then hurried to a side room in the mansion.

Pushing open the door, Zhu Zai was about to scold, but seeing Li Miao, he suddenly swallowed his words.

"Big Li, you..."

At this moment, Li Miao was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking at Zhu Zai with a face full of blood and a smile.

"Yo, Commander, have you eaten?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 203 =====