Chapter 371

The Battle of the Imperial Mausoleum was the first time Li Miao had seen three opponents who could truly stand on par with him, or even surpass him. And in that battle, Li Miao had also obtained "stipends" far exceeding all his accumulations from the previous twenty-plus years.

It was just that because of this, he had also felt for the first time the pain of "having money but nowhere to spend it."

He had stipends, but no cultivation methods to practice. The two cultivation methods left behind by the Emperor and the Jianwen Emperor were both evil paths; Li Miao used his stipends to deduce them, and also obtained several "Jizhao" cultivation methods that seemed correct but were not.

But he only practiced them slightly and knew that this was absolutely not the right path. The person who gave the cultivation methods to the Jianwen Emperor had cut off the possibility of deducing the correct cultivation method from them from the very beginning.

Practicing these few cultivation methods would only block his own path.

So Li Miao could only retain a portion of the stipends for deducing nature cultivation in the future, while the others were used to deduce means of fighting.

The sword Qi method that the Emperor kept at the bottom of the box was one of them.

Fourteen meridian points, extraordinary points, and indeterminate points—seven hundred and twenty strands of peerless, sharp sword Qi erupted from the seven hundred and twenty acupuncture points on his body, expanding from the thickness of a little finger to the width of a palm the moment they erupted.

Cold light engulfed Li Miao and Zheng Anqi.

Swish swish swish swish—

There was no grand momentum, nor was there splashing dust and smoke; the cold light flashed by, submerged into everything around, and vanished.

"Ha—"

Li Miao opened his mouth, hot blood Qi steaming from it, rising in the early winter air, and then slowly dissipating.

Yingzhou's heritage was indeed not ordinary, and could even be said to be the most insidious martial art Li Miao had ever seen. Right now, Li Miao didn't look like he had any injuries on the surface, but in reality, his skull and brain were aching incessantly, and his four limbs' meridians were covered in hidden injuries.

Fortunately—the outcome was decided.

The surrounding houses made creaking sounds and collapsed with a roar.

Dust and smoke rolled toward Li Miao; he gathered the true energy that had recovered in this short time to disperse the dust and smoke, and looked at Zheng Anqi in front of him.

The dharma robe on Zheng Anqi's body slowly peeled away, like paper scraps burned during ancestor worship, lifted by the wind, gradually becoming smaller and vanishing.

The arm blocking in front made a sticky sound, the section above the forearm sliding slowly along the cross-section, finally falling to the ground, revealing his eyes that had lost their luster.

His mouth opened slightly, as if he wanted to let out an angry roar before dying, but half his chin and tongue fell off together, as if it were the signal for the opening, more and more flesh cut by the sword Qi falling off, finally leaving only a torso and head.

Li Miao reached out and gripped his neck, carrying this miserable corpse, and turned to walk toward the palace city.

A live one, he couldn't keep.

But for Li Miao, the dead could say more than the living sometimes.

After walking for a while, he suddenly slapped his forehead.

"Oh right."

He took a turn, lifted his palm to collapse a piece of ruins, and fished out a blood gourd from within.

Zheng Qi.

"Can't leave a flaw in Xiao Yizi's mental state; before Hai'er and the others grow up, I still have to rely on her to hold the fort for me."

A Qi in the left hand, a Qi in the right hand.

Behind him were ruins like a hurricane having passed through for hundreds of zhang, and countless gold, silver, wealth, and flesh embedded in the ground and walls.

Li Miao swayed as he walked toward the palace city.

————————

"Battalion Commander Li, how is it?"

Cao Hanyan said, rubbing his hands.

In the secret chamber, Shou Xia lay on his back on a stone bed, a gash opened in his chest, from which countless rustling, sticky, greasy sounds came.

Xiao Si withdrew the small hand she had inserted inside, wiped the blood stains on her sleeve, shook her head, and said.

"It won't work."

"Brother Cao, are you sure that person didn't touch this eunuch?"

Cao Hanyan recalled it carefully again and nodded.

"Certain."

Xiao Si sighed.

"In that case... Gu technique."

"That person used Gu technique, the kind of Gu technique that the imperial family used to control the offerings before. After he approached this eunuch, he crushed a pair of Gu insects, causing the Gu insects in this eunuch's body to sense it and erupt."

"If I had been at the scene, I should have been able to stop it, but the time it took to send him here was a bit long, and I have no way."

Cao Hanyan paused, but didn't show frustration, instead slowly furrowing his brows, thinking for a moment before saying in a deep voice.

"No matter, the Nanjing matter is already concluded; even if all four Garrison Commander Eunuchs are dead, they still have countless subordinates, so we can always investigate the matter clearly."

"Let's look at what's in front of us first."

Cao Hanyan paced back and forth in the secret chamber, looking at Shou Xia's corpse with a frown, thinking for a moment, and said in a deep voice.

"I am a bit worried about the Commander right now."

Xiao Si heard this and looked at him strangely.

"Brother Cao... what kind of heart are you worrying about?"

Cao Hanyan shook his head.

"Battalion Commander Li, you have been with the Commander for too long, perhaps you are used to his towering posture, but things are ultimately 'the authorities are confused, the bystanders are clear'... The Commander is not a god."

"He will also get tired, also get hurt, also feel pain."

Cao Hanyan reached out and pointed at Shou Xia.

"The person who killed Shou Xia is undoubtedly a Heaven-Man expert. And it is highly likely to be a eunuch expert who escaped from the imperial palace, an expert who knows the foundation of the Commander's realm."

"And Zheng Anqi is an opponent the Commander had to go all out to defeat... Battalion Commander Li also knows how cruel the struggle of Heaven-Men is; the Commander might have won, but he should also have suffered not-light injuries."

"What if they make a move at this time?"

Cao Hanyan said with a frown.

"They know the Commander's realm; if they make a move, they will be fully prepared... At least in their view, there should be a few points of certainty."

Xiao Si heard this, but tilted her head.

"Then what does Brother Cao plan to do?"

Cao Hanyan thought while saying.

"We can't get involved in the Commander's fight, so we can't get close... Senior Zheng can, and the military formation can too."

"Battalion Commander Li, you wait here; I will go find Senior Zheng, let her return to support the Commander, and then I will use the Commander's waist medallion to mobilize troops to protect the Commander!"

"Let's do it like that!"

After speaking, Cao Hanyan turned around and walked toward the secret chamber door.

Reaching out to touch the stone door to push it open, he suddenly paused, his whole body stiffening in place, unable to move, only a pair of eyeballs spinning around.

"Ai..."

A light sigh came from behind Xiao Si.

"Brother Cao had better stay here with peace of mind."

She walked around to Cao Hanyan's front, shook the Gu insect crawling on her fingertips, and smiled sweetly.

"I left Gu insects when I was treating your injuries; it was originally to stabilize your injuries, Brother Cao, don't blame me."

Cao Hanyan looked at Xiao Si, thinking about the Gu insects still crawling in his body, feeling a chill in his heart, but he had no leisure to argue, only stiffening in place and saying urgently.

"Battalion Commander Li didn't understand what I said just now, you—"

"No no no."

Xiao Si shook her slender, fair fingers and said with a smile.

"I understood, that's why I stopped you, to save you from also getting beaten by the Commander... The previous example is very painful; Brother Hai took a full half-month to get out of bed, Brother Cao, don't try it."

Cao Hanyan was stunned, not understanding what Xiao Si was saying, opening his mouth to continue persuading her, but was sealed by Xiao Si operating the Gu insects, along with his mouth.

"I know the Commander is not a god."

Xiao Si tilted her head and smiled sweetly.

"But I know, the Commander will definitely win."

"No matter who the opponent is."

"So, Brother Cao, you had better stay here with me with peace of mind!"

(End of chapter)