Chapter 431 Faking Death and Escape

Chapter 431 Faking Death and Escape

Chapter 431 Faking Death and Escape (5k)

No... This offer is different from what we agreed on before... How could the old predecessor from six hundred years ago be even worse than the old Heavenly Master, raising the price at the last minute and extorting money? Can I refuse...

Zhao Duan's expression was dull, and the villain in his heart was roaring wildly.

Naturally, he also made corresponding preparations for this surprise arrest, such as communicating with Pei Niannu in advance and rescuing him at a critical moment.

At this time, seeing that Zhao Duan remained silent, Pei Niannu tacitly assumed that he agreed.

The eyes behind the dark gold mask swept across everyone, and strands of red silk suddenly flew out of the wedding dress on her body, wrapping around several important figures in front.

"We are going to fall!" Haitang could hardly stand and looked terrified.

She was rushing in the front, but the rocks under her feet broke and she fell off the cliff into the abyss.

At the critical moment, a "rope" made of flames was suddenly wrapped around the waist of the female police officer, and she was pulled up.

"what!"

Next to him, the man with the paralyzed face, who was also in a desperate situation, was hanging in the air in the same posture.

The two turned their heads back in shock, their eyes widened. In their sight, Zhao Duan was floating in the air, with a faint crimson light surrounding him.

At this moment, his eyes were cold as he looked down at everyone. The end of the illusory "red silk" was held in his hand - as a spirit, Pei Niannu could not be seen by warriors or mortals.

Among the people present, only Ji Yue who was knocked down by the pillar was stunned to see the "ghost" floating behind Zhao Duan.

The others all thought that Zhao Duan was using some magic weapon to perform magic.

"Chichi-"

The third red silk was shot out, smashing the pillar with a "bang" and pulling Ji Yue up.

The fourth dish followed, and Zhuang Xiaocheng, whose smile suddenly stopped, was picked up.

The old tutor had already prepared to die, but unexpectedly something strange happened. He tried to struggle violently, but ended up wrapping Pei Niannu up like a dumpling with red silk.

At this time, the entire mountain had collapsed, rocks were falling down, and some of the young members of the Kuangfu Society were screaming as they fell into the abyss.

"Do not--"

Yunxi fell to the ground, her calf broken by a stone, unable to move. Her hair was disheveled and she looked blankly at her "companions" who were falling like a group of ants.

There was fear on her beautiful face. Just when she thought that she was going to die here, the fifth piece of red silk wrapped around her slender waist.

Pulling her into the air, Yun Xi turned her head in astonishment and looked at the god-like Zhao Duan who was smiling at her with his lips moving:

"I'm not Zhuang Xiaocheng. I won't abandon you."

Yunxi felt a lump in her throat and for some reason, tears welled up in her eyes.

"We can't stay here. Senior, please help us leave here and hide our bodies temporarily."

Zhao Duan wanted to ask for a ride, but then he realized that Pei Niannu's spell consumed his strength, and with his current level of cultivation, it was not enough for the sorceress to exploit.

I had to settle for the second best and wait for a while.

Pei Niannu said nothing. The crimson light followed the silk and enveloped the few people. Then, amid a deafening roar with huge smoke and dust, the few people disappeared out of thin air.

……

"Rumble..."

On the mountain road, Gongshu Tianyuan and others witnessed the entire mountain collapsing, and countless bricks, tiles, and buildings falling into the abyss like an avalanche.

Due to the distance and the smoke from the explosion, we did not see Pei Niannu saving people.

Almost in the blink of an eye, a piece of the steep and majestic mountain was missing, and soon after, a dull roar came from the valley.

Quiet.

A silence.

"They... are dead..." Gongshu Tianyuan's Adam's apple rolled and he murmured dully on his fat face.

Jin Jian’s face was pale, and he waved his staff in vain, almost falling down.

Lang Shiba rushed to the edge of the mountain path in a few steps and looked down at the abyss. He knelt on the ground, leaning on his scimitar, staring blankly: "Dead..."

no doubt.

Even Ji Yue, who was in the middle of such a collapse, could not survive, let alone others? From such a height, even if they did not die when they fell, they would be buried by the huge mountain and there would be no chance of survival.

"died……"

Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun were equally stunned. How could they have any intention of continuing the fight?
"Go down! Take me down!"

Qi Yuchun suddenly turned around and shouted loudly to Ren Kun.

The latter opened his mouth, wanting to say it was too late, but he still gritted his teeth, grabbed the former commander, and the two of them jumped into the canyon!
Qi Yuchun would also fall to death from this height, but Ren Kun, as an earth magician, could use "earth escape" to soften the ground and relieve the impact before falling to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, only three people were left in the Forbidden City Villa.

Lang Shiba was helpless. The Golden Tablet's magic power was almost exhausted. Although Gongshu Tianyuan still had some magic weapons, he knew very well that in this situation, he and others would be killed if they went down.

"How could this happen?" Gongshu Tianyuan murmured. The three of them stood quietly on the top of the mountain, unable to accept it for a moment.

"Pfft!"

At this moment, the sound of falling was heard behind everyone, accompanied by cries of "Ouch" and curses of "Woo woo".

The trio turned around in shock, only to see Zhao Duan and others lying on the ground behind them.

"Brother Zhao?! You are not dead?" The short and fat priest was overjoyed, Jin Jian's eyes lit up, and Lang Shiba also staggered to his feet.

"Hu Chi... Hu Chi..."

Zhao Duan was lying on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, gasping for breath and feeling dizzy.

Pei Niannu has disappeared, and the energy in his Dantian is almost exhausted.

He didn't expect that just moving a few people a short distance would consume such a terrifying amount of energy. Suddenly, he understood why Ren Kun refused to take Yunxi with him when he rescued Zhuang Xiaocheng in the Temple of the Earth.

"Zhuang...don't let him shout..." Zhao Duan struggled to get up.

At this moment, Zhuang Xiaocheng was no longer wrapped in silk and regained his mobility. Although there was still a hairpin pierced on his back, Yunxi avoided the heart in order to capture him alive. Now his eyes were wide open and he was about to shout.

"Bang!" Zhang Han smashed his sword sheath at him, "Behave yourself!"

Zhuang Xiaocheng’s eyes went dark and he immediately passed out.

"It was a close call... I almost got killed by this old dog. Luckily you had a trump card on you." Haitang looked scared and glanced at Zhao Duan, not too surprised.

She thought that this guy dared to leave the palace to arrest people, maybe he got some protective treasure from His Majesty.

"Take the medicine quickly to restore your strength and prevent Qi Yuchun and the other two from coming back!" Zhao Duan took out several bottles of pills from the space scroll and distributed them to everyone.

Everyone immediately wolfed down the pills, racing against time to recover their strength - with their numerical advantage, as long as they recovered 50%, they would not be afraid of two powerful enemies.

After a while, Zhao Duan recovered some strength and felt confident. He stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

All I saw was a large cloud of smoke and dust, which blocked my view and made it impossible to see what was happening at the bottom of the cliff.

"It looks like those two won't be coming back anytime soon. They'll have to search the rubble on the mountain carefully to find your 'corpses' first."

Gongshu Tianyuan came over and said in amazement: "Do you want to go down and look for them?"

"No," Zhao Duan shook his head and said seriously, "The mastermind has been captured. There is no need to create more complications."

Well, the main reason was that he was not sure... Although he had more people on his side, it was still difficult to keep the enemy away.

"Everyone, go into the villa first and search quickly to see if there is any important information." Zhao Duan hesitated and did not immediately go down the mountain to escape, but gave the order.

The group nodded, and Lang Shiba tied Zhuang Xiaocheng on his back - unfortunately, neither the "Taixu Painting Scroll" nor the "Black Turtle Seal" could carry living people, otherwise it would be easy to carry too many.

Everyone quickly entered the remaining half of the village and searched as quickly as possible.

"No, nothing. There were braziers in the room, and many letters were burned." Haitang returned from the direction of the study.

"The accounting office is empty. There are only a few hundred taels of silver in the entire villa." Zhang Han also walked back.

Zhao Duan gathered intelligence and was not surprised:

"As expected, it seems that what Zhuang Xiaocheng said is true. The Forbidden City Villa is indeed the place he prepared for the decisive battle with me, so all the key things were moved in advance. This headquarters, except for him as the 'leader', has almost become an empty shell."

After a pause, he smiled again:

"But now that we have caught this old dog, we should be content."

As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you must first catch the leader. Although Zhuang Xiaocheng is just an ordinary man, his life alone is enough to be worth most of the entire Kuangfu Society.

"Let's go. We can't stay here for long. We have to return to the city as soon as possible to prevent Qi Yuchun from coming back."

Zhao Duan's eyes were excited, revealing a calculating look:
"However, we have to keep a low profile when we go back this time."

……

……

Fengcheng County Government Office.

The prefect Luan Cheng stood behind the desk in the lobby of the yamen, constantly dealing with the information that came in.

The atmosphere in the entire county government office was extremely restless, with soldiers from the imperial court and the military government shuttling back and forth inside and outside the courtyard.

After Zhao Duan took Gongshu Tianyuan away, Luan Cheng no longer had any need to stay at the execution ground.

He immediately returned to the county government office and learned from Lihuatang Jinyi that "Zhao Shaobao" had already made arrangements for the attack on the rebels and told him to be patient.

After that, Luan Cheng would see a group of soldiers escorting the captured "rebels" to prison every once in a while.

The county government’s jail cells were soon overcrowded, so all the rooms in the county government had to be used as temporary “prisons.”

With the blocking of many spies and the timely handling of officers and soldiers, the damage caused by this massive attack was not great. However, there were several places that were successfully set on fire, but Luan Cheng was already satisfied and even felt fortunate.

"Sir, the prefect has brought back a few more prisoners. This should be the last batch. Many rebels have taken advantage of the chaos to escape or hide. My soldiers are searching, but it is unlikely that we will get any big gains."

Deputy General Yuanji, wearing heavy armor and holding a war hammer, walked into the yard.

Hou Renmeng and others who were bored under the eaves stood up and said with a smile:

"Leave the rebels to us."

Governor Luan didn't care about the rebels. He said hurriedly:

"Have you seen any trace of Zhao Shaobao?"

Yuanji shook his head.

The round-faced secretary Qian Kerou smiled and said:
"Don't worry, sir. My lord always makes plans before taking action. If there is any arrangement, it must be something important to do."

"I know how talented Young Master Zhao is, but... I can't help but worry about him." Luan Cheng sighed, waved his hand, and sent Yuanji away.

Sitting in the court, he was full of anxiety. He stood up from time to time to look outside, paced back and forth and sighed, feeling extremely worried.

After an unknown amount of time, several guards in royal robes from Lihua Hall suddenly walked out of the door, and returned a moment later to clear the place of outsiders.

He closed the lobby door again, and under the puzzled gaze of Governor Luan, he said to the air:
"Sir, everyone has been cleared."

Suddenly, a huge "red veil" as big as an umbrella cover appeared in the air, and Gongshu Tianyuan raised his hand to put away the invisibility charm.

Inside the court, Zhao Duan and his group lifted their invisibility and revealed themselves.

"Ah, Lord Zhao? You're back?"

Governor Luan was stunned, then showed a look of delight. He was not surprised by this method of cultivation:
"You don't know how worried I am. I'm afraid... Eh? This is..."

Prefect Luan noticed that Lang Shiba was carrying an old scholar with white hair and beard, and he looked familiar.

"Zhuang Xiaocheng?!" Luan Cheng had met this Grand Tutor before in the capital. He was horrified and walked closer in disbelief. He stared at the unconscious old Grand Tutor for several times before looking at Zhao Duan in astonishment:
"Sir...you...you have captured this thief?!"

Zhao Duan smiled and nodded: "Lucky."

it is true!
The rebel leader was captured!

A smile of surprise emerged on Magistrate Luan's dull face, his cheeks were visibly flushed, and he was both surprised and happy.

Three years after the Xuanmen coup, Zhuang Xiaocheng was hunted down by the whole country. He came and went without a trace. What a cunning person he is!
When Luan Cheng first learned that Zhao Duan was coming for the bandit leader, he had no hope and only hoped that nothing would happen to this young guard.

As a result, what did he see?
Zhao Duan had only been in the city for seven or eight days when the rebel leader, who had left the entire court helpless, was captured alive.

"Incredible!"

"Supernatural means!"

This local official, who was also considered a famous official in Binhaidao, admired with sincere admiration and a complicated expression.

Hearing about someone is not as good as meeting him in person. Although he had heard of many deeds of this "King of Hell Zhao", he couldn't help but doubt whether they were exaggerated.

But after seeing it with my own eyes today, I realized that the rumors were not false.

"I beg you to give me some advice, sir. How can we catch this thief?" Magistrate Luan asked seriously.

Although Haitang and others experienced it personally, they actually didn't know the whole story.

Now that the person has been captured, Zhao Duan thought about it and simply sat down and narrated the whole story. He only concealed the ability of the "Mirror of Wind and Moon" and only said that Yunxi left marks along the way.

After hearing the entire game, everyone present had a changed look in their eyes. They looked at Zhao Duan, including Zhuang Xiaocheng who was unconscious on the ground, with extremely complicated eyes.

Is this the power of civil servants in the court?

Each of them is deep-minded, sinister and calculating, using tricks within tricks, being real while lying, and sowing discord again and again.

Although the process was not complicated, looking back, Zhao Duan and Zhuang Xiaocheng started the game when they exchanged prisoners last year.

All of them used their own methods to make today's seemingly lightning-fast arrest possible.

Everyone thought to themselves, if they were to fight against this old villain Zhuang Xiaocheng, would they be able to win? The answer was no.

"Brother Zhao, you are still the cunning one." Gongshu Tianyuan praised sincerely.

...If you don't know how to praise, you don't have to praise. Keeping your mouth shut is also a virtue... Zhao Duan's mouth twitched, and he coughed lightly and changed the subject:
"Everyone, the matter is far from over. Not to mention that some important figures of the rebel party have evacuated in advance and have not yet been brought to justice, just this Zhuang Xiaocheng, how to bring him back to the capital is a difficult problem."

Such an important person certainly cannot be stabbed to death with one blow.

Not to mention whether it is possible to get information out of this old thief, his identity as the leader alone is of great significance.

Bringing the living Taifu back to the capital would be far more valuable than a corpse.

"Although many rebels were arrested today, most of them were abandoned by Zhuang Xiaocheng. There are still many people in the Kuangfu Society scattered around, and the two masters Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun are still there. The journey back to Beijing is long, with high mountains and long rivers...

Haha, the last time I returned to Beijing from Huting, I was assassinated and nearly died... I don't want to fall into the same trap a second time." Zhao Duan said calmly.

Haitang analyzed:
"Are you worried that if the news leaks out on the way back to Beijing, the Kuangfu Society will frantically ambush you along the way?"

"Not just Kuangfu Society." Zhao Duan's expression was serious.

The implication is: if the eight kings knew, they might all take action.

At least for now, the existence of Kuangfu Society is beneficial to the Eight Kings rather than harmful.

"The young master's concern is justified," said Magistrate Luan, frowning.
"This is indeed a difficult task. What if we gather a large army to escort them? We can use the gold medal in the hands of the Shao Bao to gather the military offices of Binhai and Linfeng to escort them along the way?"

Zhao Duan rejected it:

"Not appropriate. Not to mention that although I have the gold medal, I can't mobilize too many troops... Even if there are many people, we can only rush along the way. It's not a battlefield. After all, if the enemy's strong men attack by surprise, no matter how many troops there are, it will be difficult to guard against. What's more, the more people there are, the greater the loss of food and horses along the way."

The national treasury has just recovered, so there is really no need to make a big fuss.

"This..." Everyone looked at each other, unable to think of a solution.

Sitting in the corner of the crowd, Yun Xi, who had been silent, suddenly raised her head and stared at Zhao Duan with her bright eyes:
"You already have a plan, right?"

Zhao Duan smiled and looked at the girl who had proven her loyalty and reliability through her actions, and nodded:
"Yes, I'm going to go with the flow and fake my own death."

"suspended animation?"

"That's right. Apart from those of us in the hall, no one else knows the details of what happened at the Forbidden City Villa. Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun even witnessed us perishing together with Zhuang Xiaocheng."

Zhao Duan said seriously:

“I was thinking, what if we announce to the public that Zhuang Xiaocheng and I fell off a cliff together and our bodies were not found? At the same time, we send a large army to escort the many rebels captured in the city to Beijing to attract people’s attention.

Is it feasible for the four of us, Brother Gongshu, Junior Sister Jinjian, Jiyue and I, to secretly escort Zhuang Xiaocheng back to the capital?
Well, we can tell the public that the two Heavenly Masters were invited by me, and now that I am dead, they want to continue traveling around the world, so they did not return to Beijing with the main group. This reason makes sense."

Well, to use the idiom he is familiar with, it is:

Repairing the plank road in the open while marching through Chencang in secret!

"This... But can we trust Ren Kun? Didn't he go to the bottom of the canyon to look for it..." Haitang questioned.

Zhao Duan turned his head and looked at Gongshu Tianyuan:

"I estimated on the way back that the collapsed mountaintop is extremely huge. With Ren Kun's cultivation in the 'Worldly' realm, how long will it take to fully explore it?"

Gongshu Tianyuan thought for a moment and said:

"It will take a long time. He is only in the mortal realm, not in the heavenly realm. He is not that powerful. Earth escape and stone escape are not difficult at all. Otherwise, he would not have had to fight with us on the mountain road before. He could have just escaped into the mountain...

Besides, I doubt they would be stupid enough to dig deep into the ground to look for your 'corpses'. In a collapse of that magnitude, the chances of survival are extremely slim."

"That's all!" Zhao Duan said with a smile:
"As long as they are not completely sure, they will tend to believe what they see. Plus, the news we spread is enough to mislead people."

Governor Luan hesitated and said:

"It sounds feasible. But is it really necessary? Even if it's a false death news, it can be clarified quickly, but rumors will definitely spread faster than you can travel..."

Zhao Duan smiled indifferently:

"If I die, the people of the world will only applaud and the stability of the court will not be shaken. As for the real big shots, when I return to Beijing, they will naturally know that it is just a rumor. In comparison, if Zhuang Xiaocheng is rescued or dies on the way, the loss will be much greater."

After a pause, he said seriously:

"Zhuang Xiaocheng will definitely die, but there is a world of difference between dying silently on the road and being executed in the capital after being publicly announced, thus exposing his lies about the Xuanmen coup!"

In the court, several decision-makers looked at each other and nodded silently:

"If you decide, we will cooperate."

Zhao Duan smiled slightly, and discussed the details of the fake death with a few people. After the agreement was completed, he turned back and said with a smile:

"I almost forgot. You have to come with us, too. After all, you're also going to 'die' at the bottom of the cliff."

Yunxi looked calm:

"This is so complicated. You can just kill me. I am no longer useful to you."

After completing the backstab, she was in a state similar to "sage time" and felt that her life had no purpose.

Zhao Duan smiled and pinched the girl's face:

"You think too little of yourself. Don't you want to witness Zhuang Xiaocheng being beheaded with your own eyes?"

There was a slight light in Yunxi's eyes, and she was a little moved.

"That's it!"

Zhao Duan stood up and raised the corner of his mouth: "We have to act quickly."

……

ps: I read the ending of the previous chapter and it says... I'm honest, please forgive me. Ten chapters are beyond the human limit, I will try to force myself to write a long chapter tomorrow or the day after tomorrow... write as many words as possible

(End of this chapter)