Rebellious officials bow their heads

At this moment, Xu Yan had already left the city quickly, and found Duyun Temple on the mountainside outside the city. After walking around this carved beam and painted building, he climbed over the snow-white wall from the bushes. There were no guards inside the temple, and the night was silent. , it seems that Qing Ci is not here.

He came to the houses where the Taoist priests lived, and groped through each room as quietly as possible. Most of the rooms were empty, and a few Taoist priests had already fallen asleep. mouth, with one hand hanging the blade in front of his eyes.

The Taoist priest who was sleeping soundly was awakened, Xu Yan blocked the subconscious scream, stared at the blade in front of him in fear, and made a whining sound.

Xu Yan let go of his hand: "Where is Qingci's room?"

"Don't kill me!" The Taoist hurriedly said, "The room of the master of the country and the master of the country is in the East Pavilion..."

After getting the news, Xu Yan slapped the opponent unconscious, and entered a quiet room in the East Pavilion through the window.

The interior of the house is plain and clean, with bamboo mats on the floor, a few desks, a few old books, an unfinished game of chess, and a yellowed landscape screen in the corner.

The furnishings are too clear at a glance, and there is no extra place for people to search. Xu Yan frowned, suppressing his anxiety, and groped around the walls, but found nothing unusual.

He was silent for a while, and then his eyes fell on the chess set on the table. The chess pieces were made of ordinary clay, intertwined with each other.

He stretched out his hand to pick up one, stared at the chessboard for a long time, and suddenly remembered the file he read this morning, the hunting ground where Emperor Zhaode died, and the Mu family, Ji family, He family and other famous families present. Their positions are arranged in the chess game, so how can He Jifeng and Beiluo Assassin kill Emperor Zhaode under the protection of Xuanxie Guard after they disperse in the paddock...

Qingci is not among them, how many people are there beside Emperor Zhaode...

Xu Yan thought about it to no avail, but with the meticulous mind of the first emperor, he should not die in the hunt no matter what.

He stood up irritably, thinking about going to another place in the Taoist temple to check, just when he was about to open the door, suddenly he was taken aback, and turned around, if someone could take advantage of the late emperor's position, and catch him by surprise...

He sorted out the intricate chess game, and if he took advantage of the position of Queen Huijin next to the king to knock down the "He" who was eyeing the "king", across the mountain...

He raised his hand to move the chess piece, and the next moment he heard a click, and a dark tunnel suddenly appeared under the screen.

The secret path in front of him was no longer enough to shock Xu Yan. He looked at the chessboard that had become a foregone conclusion, and his mind was in a daze. Could it be that the assassination of the late emperor was really related to his deep love for Queen Huijin?

Is He Jifeng capable of getting in touch with Queen Huijin?

He was in a daze for a moment, no longer hesitated, and walked down the secret passage with a torch.

Sure enough, there were various letters piled up inside, as well as some memorials from previous years, and countless volumes of scriptures, but no antidote was found.

Xu Yan opened a few letters, which were only letters with various people who asked piously. Qing Ci was indeed extremely cautious, and did not put any important documents here.

He rummaged for a while, and suddenly noticed the high-quality Chengxintang paper sandwiched among the many letters. When he unfolded it, it was the imprint of Ji's family. It came from the late old lady Ji, who was the adoptive mother of Queen Huijin. hand.

The secret room was quiet, and the content of the letter was nothing more than some opinions on the scriptures. Xu Yan still remembered that the old lady Ji had always been in poor health, and she had always been devoted to Taoism, and often came to the Taoist temple to offer incense.

His face gradually changed. According to his speculation, it is impossible for He Jifeng to have contact with Queen Huijin. If He Jifeng was the mastermind behind the assassination of the late emperor, but Qingci, then everything Then there is an explanation.

If Qingci used Mrs. Ji's words, it would be easy to get in touch with Queen Huijin, and Queen Huijin was the only person who could make Emperor Zhaode let go of his guard, but how could she attack Emperor Zhaode...

Xu Yan couldn't figure it out, since he couldn't think of a result for a while, and couldn't find an antidote, he planned to leave here.

When walking around the table, he accidentally knocked down an ancient book, picked it up and found it was a medicine book, he turned out the creased page, on which several herbs were marked with a cinnabar pen, and the poison was refined. The method of poisoning, he almost thought it was Frosan's formula, but there was a line of obscure small characters at the end, which said "seeing blood to seal the throat".

What didn't disappoint him was that he continued to scroll down, and there was indeed a record about Fo Luosan. In the densely packed handwriting, it was written: Feeding the mother gu with blood can make people lose their minds and control their bodies... …

"Folosan has no antidote at all, and the mother Gu is on Qingci's body..." Xu Yan murmured, stunned, and realized that something was wrong, stuffed the book into his arms, rushed to the secret room, opened it The door of the quiet chamber—

Impressively, he saw more than a dozen Xuanxie guards who had been waiting for a long time outside.

Xu Yan's uneasiness settled down, his expression became serious, and he reached out and pulled out the long knife at his waist. In the night, the blade reflected a cold light, just like a man's emotionless eyes.

The group of Xuanxie guards standing opposite felt the murderous aura emanating from him, and they couldn't help being startled. They didn't dare to step forward for a while, but they were ordered not to back down, and they were extremely vigilant and attacked Xu Yan from all directions!

A few miles away from the Taoist temple, in the Taixuan Hall shrouded in night fog, the atmosphere in the sleeping hall was stiff. Xie Linze and Qing Ci confronted each other, and he let go of the dagger in his hand, "Where is Xu Yan?"

Qingci raised his hand without moving his eyebrows and eyes, caught the dagger, drew the knife out of its sheath, the cold knife light illuminated his clear eyebrows inch by inch, and said softly: "You care about him so much?"

Xie Linze didn't speak, a drop of sweat slowly trickled down from his forehead, he frowned tightly, as if he was suppressing some kind of surging pain.

Qing Ci smiled when he didn't get an answer, and wiped off his sweat with his sleeve robe, "Don't bear it."

As he said that, he stretched out his fingers and pushed Xie Linze's biting lips away without any refusal. Blood flowed out from the corner of his mouth and stained Qingci's hand.

Xie Linze suddenly stretched out his hand to push him away, stepped back, and coughed violently against the corner of the bed. His body weakened rapidly overnight, his shoulders were thin, his face was pale, every cough was accompanied by blood, dripping on the brocade quilt.

Qingci looked down at the scarlet blood on her finger, raised her hand to her lips, and licked it away bit by bit.

"Ji Yan should have gone to Duyun Temple by now to find the so-called antidote for you. It is worth mentioning that there are more than ten Xuanxie guards waiting for him there."

Xie Linze struggled to make a sound while coughing, his sanity seemed a little blurred, and he just repeated stubbornly: "Let him go, let him go, no matter what you ask, I will promise you..."

Qingci stared at the emaciated man counting breaths, and smiled slightly, "Don't worry, I won't kill him, I just sent someone to catch him so that he won't continue to be an eyesore. After all, I don't want to be with you forever, Azer."

Xie Linze slowly suppressed his cough, raised his eyelids, and laughed mockingly, "It turns out that we haven't died together yet, let me ask you—"

"I know what you are doubting. You want to ask me if the death of the first emperor has anything to do with me, right?" Qing Ci said, "After all, after his death, I am the one who has benefited the most."

Qing Ci slowed down his tone, and met the man's gaze, "If I say yes, what will happen to you?"

Xie Linze gritted his teeth, his voice seemed to be bloodshot, "I will kill you, at all costs."

Qing Ci said without any haste: "The price? Does it include Ji Yan?"

Xie Linze fell silent.

"It's not as bad as you think." Qingci said, "I know you won't believe my words, but I still have to say that the death of the first emperor has nothing to do with me."

The man's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Qing Ci stroked the piece of white jade around his waist with his fingers, and stood up calmly, "Follow me in two days to go to Linghetai to deliver scriptures and preach. If His Majesty appears in person, it will definitely make Linghetai an unprecedented event."

After a pause, he added, "As a condition to spare Ji Yan."

Xie Linze: "What exactly do you want to do?"

Qing Ci didn't seem to be hiding anything, he smiled and said softly, "I want the imperial power of the Xie family to collapse, and I want you to perish. Do you think I can do it?"

Leaving the last sentence, he walked out of the main hall, the cold wind was blowing outside, and there was a vague smell of blood. Nanzhen Fusi and Ji's guards fell to the ground, and the remaining Xuanxie guards were disposing of the corpses.

Crossing the cloud view.

Xu Yan sheathed his knife, and behind him was the corpse of Xuanxiewei and the winding blood. He got on his horse, and his sharp eyes looked in the direction of the palace.

He rode his horse all the way into the city, but stopped not far from the palace. He was keenly aware of the change of the guards guarding the city, and planned to turn in from the side, but found that the defense of the palace was impermeable at the moment, as if it was an impregnable wall, and he couldn't get closer.

Xu Yan understood that there was a change in the palace, so he stopped outside, thinking about it anxiously, turned his horse and rushed to Ji's mansion.

The guard guarding the gate of the Ji Mansion was dozing off when he heard a sound of horseshoes and quickly woke up, shouting: "Who is it?"

The visitor reined in his horse and said condescendingly, "Xu Yan, Secretary of the Nanzhen Prefecture, has something urgent to come to see Bachelor Ji."

The guard looked at him with bloodstains in surprise, "Master Ji has already fallen asleep, so don't check what time it is if you have something important to do!"

Another guard beside him raised the lantern, saw Xu Yan's face clearly, and quickly patted his companion: "That's the sixth son! The sixth son is back to the mansion, open the door soon!"

The two hurriedly opened the door, and saw that Xu Yan didn't even get off the horse, and after a drink, he drove the horse directly into the mansion. Looking at his back in the distance, the two couldn't help opening their mouths.