A figure descended nimbly, and when he saw the scene clearly, he nearly sprained his foot as he fell. 

“Zhanyuan, Young Master Liu, you’re here too?” He Lan looked at the two extra people in shock.

Huo Fenglie was trying to understand the sentiments of the people on behalf of the emperor before rejoining the investigation team, so he acted alone.

And as the people sent by the Jinyiwei and Dongchang, He Lan and Qin Yu naturally followed the investigation team straight south with great fanfare.

None of them expected to meet here. Taking advantage of the fact that the leader had fainted from the pain of having his hand severed, the four of them exchanged information.

Huo Fenlie explained the situation from when they had arrived and the progress of the investigation. Liu Zhenqing’s expression remained unchanged throughout the whole process, even though he knew Huo Fenglie was hiding something.

Liu Zhenqing was very surprised. Obviously, the emperor’s order for Huo Fenglie to investigate the incidents related to the rebels was a secret order, which meant that Yuan Jue didn’t want anyone in the capital to know that he was actively investigating. Therefore, Huo Fenglie told his two brothers that they had come here because they discovered something unusual by chance.

Liu Zhenqing knew that Huo Fenglie didn’t distrust the two brothers, and was just following orders. But why did he just…..tell Liu Zhenqing?

Was it because they had to work together? Or was it because the Liu family affair was closely related to the rebels?

“I still haven’t talked to you yet. Since we’re all heading south, why don’t you just wait for us and leave together? It’s only one day.” He Lan complained, “We’re so bored with the civil investigation team. They came slowly by boat, and we hurried ahead halfway. Unexpectedly, we arrived here a day early. Then we discovered that the Heaven’s Blessing Sect wanted to develop and grow this kind of thing without going through the review of our Jinyiwei. Isn’t it ridiculous? We didn’t know the consequences until after we investigated, but now that we’ve looked into it, it’s really shocking. These people are very bold.”

When He Lan said this, he smiled and raised his eyebrows at Qin Yu, then flippantly nudged the buns hidden on Qin Yu’s chest with his elbow. “We wanted to sneak in to investigate, so we made a bet. Whoever lost would come in disguised as a woman, and in the end, Beauty Qin made the sacrifice.”

He Lan’s actions were so roguish that even Liu Zhenqing standing opposite him felt that he deserved a beating.

As a result, there was a snap, and Qin Yu lived up to expectations as he slapped him with his backhand.

Neither light nor heavy, a lesson was given.

He Lan covered his face. Seeing Qin Yu’s gloomy expression, he didn’t dare to fight back, and looked at the two people across from him. He continued with a playful smile: “Lao Qin was responsible for blending in to find information. I looked around and found almost the same news as you. Then I came over to find Lao Qin. We initially wanted to capture the leader in secret. Now that we’ve met you, we’ll follow your arrangements.”

Huo Fenglie nodded. He Lan took charge of the sect leader, and Qin You seemed unable to bear how he was dressed up, so he went to directly change clothes.

The Jinyiwei naturally had methods to threaten people. After being threatened with severe torture, the leader could only grit his teeth and cooperate, leading them to the guest room where his father had resided before. They soon procured the first piece of evidence hidden under the screen. The leader’s expression was very ugly at that time. He had likely never expected that the evidence his father had always been thinking about was right under his nose.

Then they got the second piece in the main hall on the way back, and the rest was in the cave.

He Lan said: “I’ve been there before. There were a lot of people, so I couldn’t take action. We still needed to wait for the rest time you mentioned, otherwise no matter how high our martial arts are, we’ll be discovered.”

Thus, everyone took the leader back to the house where Prefect Wu was.

They had the young girl go to stay in the next room and take care of the girl who had been about to commit suicide.

When Prefect Wu saw that they had obtained two pieces of evidence and even brought the leader, he stepped forward in excitement and kicked the leader violently, as if he wanted to vent all the fright and torture he had suffered in the past two years.

Once Prefect Wu had calmed down, Huo Fenglie briefly introduced He Lan and Qin Yu. Prefect Wu was naturally in awe of the rumored Jinyiwei and Dongchang.

And the two people in front of him were even less trusting than Huo Fenglie. Meeting this stranger, they behaved as if they were interrogating a prisoner, let alone a so-called hostage witness.

Qin Yu gave a straightforward statement of suspicion, and the tone had a gloomy effect, making people shudder. “If I remember correctly, Prefect Wu once acted corruptly.”

“Ya, is there such a thing? Now that Prefect Wu has changed his mind, he dares to take such risks to avenge the common people?” He Lan sang in harmony with a playful smile.

Huo Fenglie had always led his troops all year round while ignoring the affairs of the court, and naturally didn’t know about this sort of matter.

“What happened?” Huo Fenglie asked.

Qin Yu: “It has something to do with Liu Zhenqing. Do you want to hear it?”

Huo Fenglie’s expression changed slightly.

Before Huo Fenglie could speak, Prefect Wu himself said: “I know the methods of the Jinyiwei and Dongchang. I’ll say it myself. I was indeed one of the criminals in the disaster relief corruption case that was investigated nine years ago, but at that time, it was my foolish mother who collected that sum of money behind my back. I didn’t know that it was a total of two thousand taels. When the authorities investigated, I learned that my mother died of shock, and I was charged with the crime.”

Prefect Wu said with a downcast expression, “The most ridiculous thing is that several colleagues and I jointly filed a petition to report the corrupt officials, but Prime Minister Liu ignored it. They were allowed to be corrupt until it aroused public outrage, and the emperor ordered an investigation. Then he came and just perfunctorily arrested a few of the most corrupt ones, and officials like me and Prefect Wang, whose embezzlement did not exceed 5,000 taels, were left in place to continue to deal with the disasters. That was how my life was accidentally saved.”

“Why didn’t he catch all of you?” He Lan asked doubtfully.

“Who knows what the traitor was thinking?” Prefect Wu said with a bitter smile: “Perhaps he was waiting for us to show filial piety? In any case, I did not. Perhaps Magistrate Wang was promoted because he flattered him.”

“Not possible, Liu Zhenqing had already passed away when he was promoted,” Qin Yu said bluntly.

Prefect Wu was taken aback, and said, “Then I don’t know. In any case, that is my crime. I wholeheartedly wanted to be a good official for the Great Zhou Dynasty, but unfortunately encountered two disasters.”

Officials like Prefect Wu who were willing to stand firm in a place of suffering and not go astray were indeed valuable.

It was just…..he wasn’t very smart, and hadn’t figured it out after so many years.

Liu Zhenqing complained silently in his heart, but it was fine as long as there were a few smart first generation officials who could do practical things.

When it was time to rest at the furnace, the group of people decided to split up.

Qin Yu and Liu Zhenqing stayed behind to wait, while Huo Fenglie and He Lan went to collect things.

Qin Yu was bored and intended to interrogate the leader, but at this moment, something unexpected happened.

When they were conversing before, they hadn’t been paying attention to the half-dead leader, and he had unexpectedly broken free from his ropes. When Qin Yu approached, he rolled directly to Prefect Wu’s side and grasped his neck from behind, saying sternly: “Don’t come closer, or I’ll kill him!”

“Calm down, ah, do you think you can run away like this? Even without Prefect Wu, we still have the evidence, and you have no way out.” Liu Zhenqing quickly said, “Why don’t you think about how to atone for your crimes. Perhaps you can make up for it with meritorious credit and preserve your life.”

Qin Yu watched coldly from the side, his hands behind his back.

“Don’t lie to me. Based on what I’ve done, once the court knows about it, how can I still live? The only way to survive is for all of you to die,” the leader said presumptuously.

Liu Zhenqing probably looked as if he was gazing at a fool, which directly angered the other person.

“Do you think they can get out of the cave alive? I asked experts to set up mechanisms there. How could we be careless enough to let someone just break into the cave and find out what we’re doing? Hahaha, the god of war General Huo, the Jinyiwei, and the evidence will all be destroyed in the cave!”

When these words were spoken, the expressions of Liu Zhenqing and Qin Yu changed, and the two exchanged glances. They heard the leader say: “Don’t move, ah, or I’ll kill Prefect Wu. Now it’s your turn to beg me.”

As he spoke, the leader opened his mouth to call someone, but the moment he did so, there was a flash of silver light.

Along with the screams of Prefect Wu and the leader, Qin Yu’ soft sword penetrated their bodies coldly.

Because of where they stood, it impacted Prefect Wu in the shoulder and the leader in the chest.

By the time Qin Yu pulled out his sword, the leader had lost the strength to hold onto Prefect Wu, who looked at Qin Yu in disbelief. “You, how dare you attack me!”

It could only be said that he was unfortunate. Huo Fenglie or He Lan may have hesitated, but how could someone from the Dongchang be easily threatened? 

It wasn’t as if the leader’s life must be preserved. The main culprit was Magistrate Wang.

Qin Yu watched coldly as the leader fell, then shook the blood from his sword and said to Liu Zhenqing: “You stay here, I’ll go find them.”

Liu Zhenqing grabbed Qin Yu, and his tone was more serious than ever before: “No, take me with you, I know mechanisms!”

Qin Yu frowned slightly and didn’t talk any nonsense. He left the injured Prefect Wu behind and rushed to the cave with Liu Zhenqing.

Two unconscious guards could be seen at the entrance of the cave from a distance. It must be their work.

But just as they approached the entrance of the cave, they felt the ground shake slightly, and a sound similar to rolling stones came from inside along with a flash of fire. A bad feeling came over the two of them.

Qin Yu rushed toward the cave entrance in an instant, and discovered at this moment that Liu Zhenqing was not inferior to him in speed. It wasn’t that he knew martial arts, but that he was truly running with all his might.

When they arrived at the entrance, they didn’t see the two others. They only saw various stoves and tools that had been dumped, along with a bottomless pit in the ground. There was fire inside the pit, and no telling what was underneath.

Qin Yu was about to step forward and investigate, but found that the entire cave was shaking more violently. Gravel fell, as if the cave would collapse at any time.

Liu Zhenqing was extremely flustered, but surprisingly calm. He glanced around and suddenly pointed at a stone behind him, saying: “Qin-daren, stop that stone over there from moving!”

The tone of Liu Zhenqing’s command was extremely strict. Qin Yu instinctively looked over and saw a strange stone moving on the mountain wall. 

With a hiss, the soft sword flew out and inserted into the mountain wall to block the stone. Sure enough, the cave became quiet for a moment, but the force of the stone’s movement was too great, and Qin Yu had to brace the sword to resist it.

Seeing this, Liu Zhenqing could only rush to the edge of the pit and look inside. The moment he looked, he was almost forced back by the heat. There was actually a huge furnace deep down, and it seemed that there were several levels of melting silver.

Liu Zhenqing also instantly saw the figures hanging on the stone wall on the opposite side of the furnace.

It was Huo Fenglie and He Lan!

Liu Zhenqing finally exhaled half of his stagnant breath, but half was still stuck in his throat.

At this time, Huo Fenglie had inserted the Chunjun sword into the mountain wall and was holding on with one hand while holding onto He Lan with the other. One of He Lan’s legs seemed to have been severely burned.

Liu Zhenqing called out at once, not noticing the tremor in his voice.

Huo Fenglie heard this and raised his head, his eyes lighting up. He Lan’s eyes also widened in surprise. He shouted: “There’s a chain nearby, find somewhere to fix it in place and then throw it over.”

Liu Zhenqing turned around to look for it, and saw a chain being thrown toward him.

It turned out that the chain had fallen at Qin Yu’s feet due to the tremors just now. When Qin Yu heard, he understood immediately and picked it up with his foot, throwing a section of the chain over and tying the other end to himself.

Not wasting any time, Liu Zhenqing threw the chain right away.

Diagonally opposite, Huo Fenglie seized the opportunity and threw the injured He Lan over. He Lan wrapped his hands and feet around the chain and used qinggong to fly up.

He Lan was startled when he came up and saw Qin Yu on the other side, but before he could speak, the chain on his body was torn off by Liu Zhenqing and quickly thrown down again.

He Lan was about to open his mouth to stop him, but was too late.

He watched as Liu Zhenqing stared at Huo Fenglie in the distance intently, shouting, “Brother Huo, come up quickly!”

He looked anxious, as if he couldn’t pay attention to the outside world at all. He Lan really doubted that he didn’t care about Huo Fenglie because of his amnesia. 

And just as Liu Zhenqing was nervously waiting for Er-gou to fly over and grab the chain, there was a sudden crack from the mountain wall that had been scorched for a long time. The place where the Chunjun sword was inserted completely shattered, and Huo Fenglie fell straight down into thin air.

There was a furnace beneath.

At that moment, all of Liu Zhenqing’s intelligence and resourcefulness was useless. His pupils shrank at once, and he felt his constricting heart stop. 

The image of Huo Feihan dying in battle flashed before his eyes.

In an instant, it seemed as if an invisible hand grabbed Liu Zhenqing’s throat.

That was Boss’s only little brother, the Er-gou they wanted to protect.

He was the general of the Huo family and the god of war of the Great Zhou Dynasty. How could something happen to him here?

How could something happen when he was by Liu Zhenqing’s side?

“Er-gou!”

The sharp cry reflected its caller’s panic, because in the face of this unexpected situation, he was unable to do anything.

But in the next second, he saw Huo Fenglie rise up, flying diagonally to the opposite wall as if he was stepping on air, then flying back and forth in an upward motion using his internal strength.

He Lan saw Liu Zhenqing looking as if he was about to jump down, and quickly stopped him. “Young Master Liu, don’t be anxious, ah. He is better at qinggong than any of us. It was inconvenient for him to take me with him just now, but alone, he can fly up without the chain.”

His frozen brain gradually thawed out, regaining its consciousness and IQ.

Right, ah, he could fly with him onto such a high city wall. Although the height here was also great, how could he not be able to do it alone!

When he was able to react, Liu Zhenqing’s scalp gradually became numb, and he had no expression on his face. Then Huo Fenglie landed lightly in front of him, stared at him for a moment, and said: “I’m okay.”

Only two words flashed through Liu Zhenqing’s mind: It’s over!

But Liu Zhenqing had a strong desire to survive, and couldn’t help but try to compensate for it. “It’s…..good that you’re okay.” Perhaps Er-gou didn’t hear it?”

He Lan interjected doubtfully, “By the way, what did you call Zhanyuan just now? Er-gou. Did I hear you wrong?” He said in amusement, “You secretly gave Zhanyuan a nickname? How bold you are!”

Liu Zhenqing: Damn it!

“That is my nickname,” Huo Fenglie replied calmly.

“Ah?!” It was He Lan’s turn to exclaim in surprise. “Wait, nickname? Er-gou, we didn’t know you had this nickname, so how does Young Master Liu know about it, ah?” And he even shouted it out. This, this, this…..he didn’t understand. Could it be that Lao Qin’s previous guess was true?!

Liu Zhenqing’s throat tightened, and he had already scolded himself a thousand times for not keeping his calm.

“I…..heard Yunci and Yunqian say it before.”

Would he believe it? He would be exposed after the others returned to the capital, but he would have already flown away by then, so it didn’t matter.

Wait, didn’t this confirm that he had used the big yellow dog to tease him before?

God, what kind of luck did he have now, ah. His evil deeds had been exposed!

Liu Zhenqing’s entire heart was full of tangles and pain, but his face remained calm. 

But He Lan believed him right away. “Those two little brats. Even though I always treat them so well, they didn’t even tell me such an interesting secret.”

He Lan was complaining when he heard Qin Yu say: “Hey, enough talking. What should I do?”

When everyone turned their heads, Qin Yu was still holding the mechanism.

Liu Zhenqing said quickly: “There’s no use. This sort of mechanism cannot be reversed. This place will collapse, they will soon discover it when they return. We must act quickly.

Qin Yu pulled out the sword, and the cave really did start up again. The four of them left quickly.

Huo Fenglie directly picked up Liu Zhenqing and flew out. Although Liu Zhenqing was tense, he cooperated obediently as suspicion gradually arose in his heart.

He Lan’s reaction was normal.

Huo Fenglie didn’t even ask anything.

Liu Zhenqing’s eyes gradually narrowed, and he suddenly reached out to grab Huo Fenglie’s arm around him. 

Huo Fenglie didn’t have any extraneous reaction, and just glanced at him as he hurried on.

Liu Zhenqing gave a stiff smile: “I’m a little worried about your situation, so I wanted to take your pulse.”

Huo Fenglie just said quietly: “I’m fine, there’s no use worrying.”

Liu Zhenqing smiled faintly and withdrew his hand.

Martial arts practitioners would not easily allow someone to touch their vital points. Even if they knew that the other person was familiar or harmless, a sudden move would make them instinctively tense. 

Only, Liu Zhenqing had practiced taking pulses with Er-gou before, so Er-gou was already immune to him and wouldn’t react if he was suddenly caught while half asleep and half awake.

Liu Zhenqing’s heart steadily sank to the bottom, and as he looked at Huo Fenglie, his eyes became deep and distant.

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Chapter Thirty-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-One