Chapter 186: The Winner Leaves and the Loser Dies

Lin Hua pavilion of the tortoise male and bustard mother were both taken. The North Township Division of the torture chamber was able to pry open the iron man’s mouth, confirming that the pimp indeed knows nothing, and the turtle public finally could not survive, will he know the inside story as explained.

Shen Qi looked at the testimony presented by his men and distilled a few important points of information:

The relationship between the Hidden Sword Sect and the Seven Killers Battalion was similar to the relationship between a sect’s outer sect and inner sect, with one in the open and the other in the dark. The Hidden Sword Sect relied on the sect’s industries to provide funding for the Seven Kill Camp, recruiting and transporting manpower, and the sect master followed the camp master’s command. After the destruction of the Hidden Sword Sect, the Seven Killings Battalion retained most of its strength, and the financial support still existed, but it was unknown where the money came from.

The elite assassins of the Seven Killers Battalion are divided into three categories: Heaven, Earth, and Xuan, and the total number of assassins is not clear. I’ve heard that there are several hundred of them, and each of them is capable of taking on a unique role.

There was more than one underground stronghold in the capital, with secret tunnels leading to the bombed-out Mingtang.

Each stronghold has a gatekeeper, and Kamehameha only knows two of them, leaving a few unidentified.

Before last night, the Seven Kill Battalion Master was indeed in the capital, as to whether he secretly left the capital after the explosion, it is unknown.

No one had ever seen the camp master’s face, let alone knew his gender, age or martial arts depth, but all the assassins who had defied and challenged him were dead.

“…… brainworm.” Shen Qi said.

“What is your lordship talking about,” asked a puzzled Stone Eaves Frost, the Head Execution Thousand, “What kind of worm?”

“Nothing. Take these two into custody and guard them well. You and Wei Ying order 500 men to go with me to catch the other two ‘gatekeepers’ and see if you can squeeze something out of them.” Shen Qi stirred his injury when he got up, and his hand touched his chest and inhaled deeply.

Stone Eaves Frost busy said, “Your Excellency has an injury, and go rest, this small matter, I and Wei Qianhu can do it, no need for your Excellency to go in person.”

The medical officer of the Northern Zhenfu Division gave Shen Qi a dose of ointment to apply to his injury, saying that it could dissipate blood stasis, invigorate blood circulation and calm the pain, and promote the accelerated healing of the bone cracks, but the smell of the medicine was so strong that it could still be smelled through several layers of clothing.

Shen Qi thought briefly and said, “That’s fine. Then you ask someone to burn some hot water, I want to take a bath and change.”

He cleaned himself up and made sure he couldn’t smell the anointing odor anymore before he rode his horse slowly and went to the Su Mansion.

He had sent people to inquire several times before, and they all said that Su Yan was still sleeping, and that he had slept for six hours before and after and was still not awake. He couldn’t help but worry, so he didn’t care about the imperial guards who were like watchdogs and decided to visit in person.

It was dusk, and the sky of the capital still seemed to be shrouded by the smoke from the explosion, so the twilight color was particularly dim, and the cries that drifted faintly on the wind were heavy.

Just as they arrived at the entrance of the alley, they saw that the Su Mansion was surrounded by a group of guards, heavily guarded. Shen Qi could see that these were not ordinary guards, each of them exuded a shrewd and sharp aura, as if they had been baptized on the battlefield.

His heart fluttered, and he seemed to think of something, circling around to the back alley of the Su Mansion and quietly leaping onto the roof of his neighbor’s house.

Gao Shuo was indeed still hiding in the shadows between the eaves and teeth, nibbling on the jujube while stretching his neck and glancing hard at the main house in the backyard of the Su Mansion. Shen Qi slapped him on the shoulder, frightening him so much that the jujube core nearly got stuck in his throat.

Coughing up the date kernel, he was busy reporting to Shen Qi in a low voice: “The Imperial Master is in the main house on a private visit.”

Sure enough. Shen Qi frowned, “When did it come?”

“It’s been two quarters of an hour, I don’t see it coming out, and I don’t know if Lord Su has woken up yet.” Gao Shuo pondered, feel not quite right, “Tch, this to not wake up it, the Royal Master in the inside what to do, just watch? This is to wake up it, also do not see the subordinate to send water in, can not head not comb face not wash the ground saint it?

“不对不对，君主进入臣子卧房，这本就不合常理，尤其是我们这位皇爷……”

Shen Qi suddenly picked the back of his hand with the sheath of his knife.

A handful of red dates in his hand were forced into his mouth, and Gao Shuo choked and rolled his eyes.

Shen Qi’s face was as cold as frost, and he coldly said, “When did you become so talkative?” Gao Shuo shook his head repeatedly, spitting out one date after another, not daring to gossip any more.

As he spoke, the door to the main house was opened, and the emperor in his regular clothes was the first to walk out, followed by Su Yan in his cloak. The two of them walked and talked, heading towards the flower hall.

Turning through the corridor, the figure disappeared under the eaves. Not long after, servants dressed as attendants came out of the kitchen, and plates of dishes were brought to the hall like running water. The candlelight in the flower hall was bright, reflecting the shadows of the two men sitting at the table on the window paper.

Gao Shuo suddenly came back to his senses, and said awkwardly, “This, the emperor gives favors to his subjects, and it is customary for them to have meals together …… Your Excellency doesn’t have to be too …… too… …”

The shadow raised his glass in a toast. Shen Qi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and ribs, tugging at his heart like a cut and file, and every breath he exhaled was a burning karmic fire. He gripped the embroidered spring sword tightly, his voice was hoarse and terrible: “What is the crime of disturbing the Holy Spirit?”

“Great, great offense.” Gao Shuo stuttered in shock, “Knowingly committing a crime is a greater offense, Your Excellency!”

Shen Qi’s five fingers tightened and loosened on the hilt of the knife, loosened and tightened again. Bone knuckles branched out unwillingly from under the thin skin, and were dragged back by the tugging muscles.

He gritted his teeth and asked Gao Shuo, “Is it also customary for the emperor to stay in his minister’s house at night?”

Gao Shuo replied, “Not really! In previous generations, there were records of emperors favoring their servants, and even encountering beautiful people on a whim, but the foreign officials …… are really not! It will be criticized by the court and the public, so it is not a decent thing to do, our long-lived master can’t do it!”

He changed his tone and added, “What is the disposition of the Imperial Master, is Your Excellency not aware of that?”

Of course Shen Qi was aware of this, but he was even more aware of how attractive Su Qinghe was. And he was always grateful and admiring to Emperor Jinglong, although “never serve the king with color” did come from his heart, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t be impressed by the other party’s grace and mercy and deliberate planning.

Even if he held on, this defense in the face of absolute power is unbearable. If the emperor is so selfish that he doesn’t even want to be decent, what can he do? Is hanging up his crown and fled, or fight to the death? His family has been an official for generations, his father Su Zhifu is still in office!

In this hook pulling, there is a disparity in strength between the two ends. If you exhaust your strength and lose, I will not blame you – these words were not only excusing Su Yan, but also adding a heavy chain to the beast within himself. But now, he once again heard the fierce roar of the beast, and the sound of the chains clanging to break.

“Keep watching. In case something ‘out of practice’ does happen, come find me at the wonton stand at the end of East Market Street.”

Gao Shuo watched Shen Qi disappear behind the ridge with a few leaps and scratched the back of his head, “The matter of the personal guards isn’t over yet, so how did it involve the emperor again? Mr. Su is really sinful …… not right ah, we Shen Tongzhi still in the mood to eat wontons?”

–

Although the East Market is bustling, the wonton stall at the end of the street is depressed, because the owner does not know how to do business, the taste of wontons is not very good, and the scallions and vinegar have to be paid for separately. In addition, the owner’s brain seems to be a bit of a problem, and the change is always three without two, so the customers are getting fewer and fewer.

In this way, the stall is still open rain or shine, probably diligence can make up for clumsiness, actually survived for several years.

Under the dim lantern, Shen Qi slowly walked over from the dark corner of the wall, sat on the crooked bar stool, and rested the Embroidered Spring Sword on the edge of the table.

The middle-aged owner, with a dirty cotton towel over his shoulder, came over to greet his customers, “What’s to eat?”

Shen Qi said, “Face.”

“No pasta, I only sell ravioli here.”

“Then why are you asking me what I’m eating?”

The owner froze and asked instead, “How many bowls of ravioli?”

Shen Qi stared at him, “One bowl, pork wontons without filling.”

The boss was stunned, his dull eyes wheeling, like a wooden sculpture suddenly coming to life. He said, “Please wait, sir.”

Not long after, a bowl of cooked wonton skins was placed in front of Shen Qi. The boss said, “One price for stuffed and unstuffed. The scallions and vinegar cost extra, want it?”

Shen Qi did not answer, and added a spoonful of scallions and three drops of vinegar to the bowl by himself, and finished the wonton skins.

The boss sat down across the table, a smile floating on his face, “The Northern Zhenfu Division’s Jinyiwei co-conspirator, Lord Shen. You are the one who sent the former chief official, Lord Feng de-wicked Feng, to the guillotine.”

“You’re wrong, it’s not a severed head, it’s a waist cut.” Shen Qi coldly said, “Before dying, he told me a secret.”

–

At the edge of the large pit where the ground had collapsed, Fuyin crawled out from between the rocks on his hands and knees. His blood-covered fingers clutched the crane-bone flute as he ran a few steps, then planted himself off his feet again.

It was the deepest and thickest hour of the night before the dawn, and a hook of the waning moon in the western sky was obscured by rushing fires and black clouds.

The sword light replaced the moonlight and cut through the night, directly reaching Fuyin’s brow.

Jing Hong chasing body clothes tattered, face dust, powder and blood paste to do a place, only a pair of eyes are still like the morning star like the ice river, azure and indifference. He said, “You lost.”

Fuyin gasped for air, her voice breaking, “Having come this far, I didn’t want to ……”

Jinghong chased after him, “But it has been.”

“Shifu, give me a pain ……” Fuyin reached out her other hand and tried to tug at the hem of his skirt.

Jinghong chased it to the side and avoided it, “I’ll give you a hard time.”

Floyd’s eyes, like a fire under deep water, lit up slightly.

“But before that, you’ll have to give a full account of everything you know, including the battalion master, and the forces behind the battalion master.”

“…… Are you going to force a confession on me? Or are you going to take me to the infamous Northern Zhenfu Division to be tortured?” A pained and twisted smile appeared on Fuyin’s face, and as he laughed, he coughed out several mouthfuls of ebony blood. He sat up with difficulty against a collapsed pillar and clutched the bloodstained flute body in his palm, “Senior brother, ah senior brother, you are always like this, seemingly showing mercy under the sword, but in reality pushing me into an even more painful abyss……. When I was in the Seven Slaughter Camp ‘Compulsive Battle’ ‘ It was like this when I was there, and it’s still like this now!”

Jing Hongchu heard the depressed hatred in his tone, and after a moment of silence, he asked, “You hate me because I pleaded with the battalion master in the beginning to leave you alive?”

“Pleading? Yes, your swordsmanship has never been the most sharp and effective, straight to the target. Your pleas for mercy are the same, using the simplest and most effective words to impress the camp master.”

Jing Hong traced back to what he had said to the camp master at the time:

How many people has the camp master met who have recovered their consciousness from bloody pupils?

Wouldn’t he be a good study?

These two questions made the camp owner finally break his silence and answer: good.

“You remembered? I did survive, the only assassin in the ‘Compulsion Battle’ who lost, but managed to stay alive. But I’d rather die on the spot, by your sword! Do you think I was organized into another squad, so you hardly ever see me anymore?”

Floyd sneered in a strained, sharp laugh, dimpled swirls pulling at her cheeks like a gruesome scar, “You’re wrong, I really did become ‘a very good study subject’ as you put it.”

“The art of nightmare charm makes us powerful and also makes us prone to going insane. How to bring insane ‘blood pupils’ back to their senses and avoid waste has always been a problem the camp master wanted to solve. Now an excellent sample has been delivered to him – do you know what I’ve been through?”

Fuyin’s five fingers clasped the ground rubble, but how could he not stop the twitching of his fingertips, as if just recalling that scene could cause him to fall into hell, “I was poured with all kinds of medicines, subjected to a hundred kinds of tortures, and forced to repeatedly catapult myself between bloody pupils and wakefulness in order to observe my body’s reactions and changes in my sanity… …Do you know how painful and desperate I was at that time, how I couldn’t beg for life and couldn’t beg for death?”

The cold pool under Jing Hongchu’s eyes rippled vaguely, but the sword in his hand was still smooth and cold and sharp, “You hated me for not relieving you with a sword in the first place.”

Floating Voice hissed, “Shouldn’t I hate you? You have escaped, but what about me? Still trapped in hell, in the life and death agonizing juncture, still dream you will fold back to pull me a hand! But I was wrong, you never came back, and you didn’t even think about it once, there is still a senior brother who has a senior brother who has a senior brother who has a senior brother who has a senior brother!”

“I’ve never considered the Hidden Sword Sect or the Seven Slaughter Battalion as a division.” Jing Hong pursued.

“…… Indeed, you never called me a senior brother either. In your opinion, that place is a rotten quagmire, crowded with a bunch of inhuman beasts and monsters! It’s not easy for you to live a ‘human’ life again, so of course you must love yourself and the main family you’re attached to, so how come you’re still willing to take the risk of coming back to save me?” Fuyin shouted shrilly.

Jing Hongchou looked at him with a strange look, as if before him was not a companion and enemy he had known for seven years, but an incomprehensible stranger. He gave an unbelievable look, ”I can escape, why can’t you?

“What obligation am I under that I must turn back to save you, to save the others? On the off chance that you will thrust your blades into my chest at the sound of a command?

“If I had been the loser in the ‘compulsion fight’, would you have risked offending the camp master by pleading for me?

“Ask yourself, if it was you, Floyd, who escaped, would you have folded back to save me?”

I will …… No, I won t! If I can break free from the nightmare at that time, even if all the people in the world die out, I will not go back …… Fuyin’s body trembled for a moment, and her thoughts began to be confused, but she still said with strong words, “But even if I escaped, you refused to take me in, and you didn’t even want to have anything to do with me. “

Jing Hongchou tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing the shadow of a sarcastic smile, ”Why should I be involved with you?

“You have someone you want to protect the most, and that’s yourself.

“And I have. As long as I am alive and can still hold a sword, I will never put him in danger. As you say, I was a beast, a monster, and when I finally became a man, how could I let other beasts and monsters get to him?”

The last bit of shimmering light in Floyd’s eyes was completely swallowed by the thick darkness.

That darkness settles to the extreme, turning as viscous and fishy as blood.

From within the crane bone flute, Fuyin slowly drew out a short sword like a spike, his face pale, pupils like blood, like a ghostly spirit driven by hatred and obsession, “The old rules, the winner goes, the loser dies.”