Chapter 211

Zhu Shoujing stared fixedly at the shadow, his heart gradually sinking.

That shout of his was both a deterrent and a warning.

After the great commotion caused by the three parties at the Imperial Mausoleum last night, how could he not guard against rebels coming to the Imperial Mausoleum to cause trouble tonight? To prevent the other party from killing him, the person in charge, first, all the Heaven-Man Realm experts under the Xiaolingwei were living nearby; as long as there was the slightest unusual sound, they would immediately rush to support him.

The Xiaolingwei soldiers, usually scattered in various places, had also gathered, not removing their armor at night, sleeping with their weapons ready, and could be assembled at any time. As long as the other party was delayed for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they would fall into a heavy encirclement.

This bedroom of his, which looked like it had lax security, was itself a trap.

Logically speaking, after that shout of his, the Heaven-Man Realm experts living nearby should have rushed over immediately to surround this place tightly.

But, they did not.

There was no sound at all.

His voice seemed to have been firmly locked inside this room, while outside, there was only the cold air of the twelfth lunar month and the silently flowing moonlight.

Zhu Shoujing pulled his blade into his hand, holding his breath and focusing his attention as he waited.

Suddenly, the shadow slowly crawled down along the window.

Zhu Shoujing watched the shadow disappear outside the window.

Then he slowly stood up, listening intently to the movement outside the window while slowly walking to the side.

He suddenly raised his hand and pointed!

There were no fancy moves, just a stream of pure true energy that opened the window with a "Bang!"

Bang!

At the same time the window opened, Zhu Shoujing kicked open the door, crouched down and rushed out, continuously changing his form, and finally flashed into the courtyard.

With his long blade held vertically in front of him and his left hand held horizontally to protect his chest and abdomen, Zhu Shoujing then scanned his surroundings.

The courtyard was empty, as if that shadow were just an illusion, and all his previous actions had been a battle of wits against the air.

But Zhu Shoujing knew very well that he could not possibly have seen it wrong.

Click.

Suddenly, a light sound came from behind him!

Zhu Shoujing turned his head abruptly and saw a corner of a garment falling from the roof, disappearing from his field of vision.

————————

The eight attendants walked slowly into the Xiaolingwei encampment, and before they had walked many steps, they heard a sharp shout.

"Stop!"

A person jumped down from a hidden spot, hand on the hilt of his blade, looking at them.

An attendant scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision, his heart secretly saying that things were bad.

In the forests, on the roofs, and in the corners on all four sides, dense gazes were firmly locked onto their vital points.

And in the distance, dense footsteps could be heard faintly; clearly, they had been drawn over by this person's sharp shout.

The attendants suddenly turned their heads to look at the surrounding roofs.

Several figures were standing on the roofs, looking at them coldly. Without needing to fight, the attendants could all see that these were the Heaven-Man Realm experts of the Xiaolingwei.

"Bad, there really is an ambush!"

"We've walked right into it!"

The attendants secretly thought things were bad.

And the Xiaolingwei Heaven-Man Realm experts opposite were also full of hostility, one of whom, with an impatient temperament, spoke urgently.

"Where is the Commander!"

"Was he secretly kidnapped by you!"

They recognized one of the attendants, who had come to the Imperial Mausoleum with Huang Jin last night.

The reason the Xiaolingwei Heaven-Man Realm experts said this had to be traced back to when the attendants chased the Jianwen Emperor to Tianshou Mountain.

Let us turn the time back a moment.

Zhu Shoujing had arranged for the Xiaolingwei to strengthen their defenses, and the Heaven-Man Realm experts were all meditating and regulating their breathing at night, not sleeping at all.

Suddenly, a scout came to report that a loud noise had come from outside the Imperial Mausoleum on Tianshou Mountain, as if Heaven-Man Realm experts were fighting.

They dared not delay and hurriedly went to find Zhu Shoujing to report, but they did not expect that after arriving at Zhu Shoujing's courtyard, they could not find his figure.

They searched everywhere, but found Zhu Shoujing's sword in a ditch outside the courtyard.

Apart from that, there were no other traces, as if Zhu Shoujing had evaporated from the world.

The Xiaolingwei were fathers and sons succeeding each other, comrades for generations; their attitude toward Zhu Shoujing was like Mei Qinghe's toward Li Miao—willing to be driven, never turning back even in death.

Seeing that Zhu Shoujing's personal weapon was lost, and he was missing and his life or death unknown, they were immediately anxious and burning with impatience.

One of them said.

"With the Commander's Wu Gong, I don't believe anyone could take him away silently without us noticing at all. So there is only one possibility: the Commander—left with them voluntarily."

The implication was self-evident.

Who could make the Xiaolingwei Commander leave voluntarily without notifying his subordinates or putting up the slightest resistance?

Naturally... the imperial court!

Last night, Huang Jin suspected the Xiaolingwei of colluding with the Ming Sect; although he did not attack immediately, he did find a few battalion commanders to question them carefully.

Logically speaking, with such a big thing happening at the Imperial Mausoleum, it was only right to ask those present.

But, "questioning" is a matter where not only the person asking the question can get an answer.

For the person answering the question, some questions themselves are a kind of answer.

Questions asked under the attitudes of "inquiring about the situation at the time" and "suspecting you are a rebel party" are different. No matter how Huang Jin tried to cover it up, it was impossible to completely conceal his attitude.

At the time, a battalion commander noticed this, and although he was dissatisfied, he suppressed it and answered one by one.

If the matter had ended there, it would have been fine.

But Zhu Shoujing happened to disappear on the second day after Huang Jin left.

They searched everywhere but could not find the slightest trace of Zhu Shoujing.

It just so happened that the attendants entered the Imperial Mausoleum, so they hurriedly rushed over, only to recognize at a glance that one of the attendants was one of those who had come with Huang Jin last night.

Thus, it was not strange that the Xiaolingwei Heaven-Man Realm experts asked the question, "Where is the Commander?"

But, when the attendants heard this, they were confused for a moment.

What did "we kidnapped Zhu Shoujing" mean?

"You—"

An attendant was about to open his mouth to ask what the other party meant, but had only said half a sentence.

Suddenly.

"Careful!"

An attendant beside him roared, covering the wound on his waist and abdomen with one hand, while swinging his fist with the other to repel a figure wearing Xiaolingwei gear!

That figure used the force to retreat rapidly, disappearing into the darkness.

And the injured attendant took away the hand covering his wound; the blood flowing out was already pitch black.

That person's weapon was coated with potent poison! Clearly, they intended to put him to death!

"The Xiaolingwei have indeed rebelled!"

"Rebels!"

"Kill our way out!"

"Good!"

"Don't run! Where is the Commander!"

"Go to the underworld and ask!"

"How bold! Die!"

"Kill!"

The situation, already tense, instantly spiraled out of control. For a time, angry shouts, screams, the sound of weapons clashing, and the sound of bowstrings being released all erupted together!

Blood was splashed on the spot immediately!

And that figure who triggered the fight had already used the cover of the night to quietly retreat from the battle circle, traveling several miles before slowly stopping.

"Heh—they finally started fighting."

She took off the helmet on her head, tore off the gear, and let her hair hang down. She reached out and pulled at her face, tearing off a mask as thin as a cicada's wing.

Revealing Ji Tianrui's smiling face.

(End of chapter)