Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 656 The Divine Arrow of Escape
"Yes." The woman in palace attire respectfully accepted the order and left, somewhat apprehensive, for she could tell that the Empress was truly angry.

Since he said he had time to wait, and Shan wasn't in a hurry, he waited there with his signature smile.

The group acted as if nothing had happened, all staring at the reflection in the overhead mirror.

Everyone else in the room was standing, but Shi Chun was kneeling.

However, Shi Chun also secretly turned his head to peek at the mirror a few times. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him and he couldn't speak, he openly turned his head to look at the execution ground scene in the mirror. He roughly understood how the mirror image came about. He thought to himself, "How luxurious it is to be far from the execution ground, yet feel as if I am there."

Of course, he would occasionally steal glances at the Queen again. To see such a legendary figure, he was filled with emotion and couldn't shake the feeling. Even if he really died this time, it wouldn't be an easy death.

In the mirror image, the public execution at the execution ground has ended, most people have softened and are gradually dispersing.

The Mingshan Sect group, Young Master Nan and his entourage, the Golden-haired Rat clan, the Wukang Mountain group, Mulan Qingqing and Miao Yilan's group, and so on, were all stunned and stood there, unsure whether to leave or not.

Especially the Mingshan Sect gang, we came here to collect the leader's body, and Young Master Nan even prepared a fine coffin, but this is what happened.

The royal court's men at the execution ground were all finishing up. Would their leader die or not?
"The prison has arrested the gang leader. What has he done this time?"

Once the number of passersby had decreased, Zhu Xiangxin turned to look at everyone and asked with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

By this time, news of the prison coming to arrest people had already spread among the crowd, and they knew about it.

Actually, everyone had the same question. If you asked if the leader had done something to provoke the Prison again, they wouldn't be surprised at all. They had been following him for so long. The Prison was indeed terrifying, but it was hard to guarantee that the leader wouldn't do something foolish, since they had all been through it together.

Nan Gongzi, standing to the side, couldn't help but sigh. "Did he provoke Sheng Yu again? He came from Sheng Yu, so he should know that Sheng Yu is not to be trifled with. This whole mess was supposed to be a quick and painless death, but now who knows how he'll die. Sigh, Sheng Yu specializes in destroying all kinds of relationships, and we can't get involved at all. I hope it's not a bad thing, and I hope they can recover."

Tong Mingshan tentatively asked, "Young Master Nan, what should we do now? Retreat or continue waiting?"

Young Master Nan shook his head and said, "Let's wait and see. I'll ask around and see if I can find out what's going on."

Just as they were whispering amongst themselves, Wu Jinliang, dressed as an old man, also left the scene. Qingye helped him out of the crowd as if supporting an old man, and Xiang Lan'er saw him scanning around.

After leaving the square, a carriage picked up Master Qing and Wu Jinliang and took them away.

The car headed to a remote area and stopped by the roadside on the outskirts of the city. Qingye then took Wu Jinliang and disappeared into the depths of the mountains.

After passing a few hills, Qingye suddenly became wary, stopped abruptly on the mountainside and looked around, hearing unusual noises.

Seeing that they had been discovered, the people who had been secretly following them stopped trying to hide and quickly moved through the woods on either side of him, directly encircling him. The four masked men in black startled Master Qing, who immediately grabbed Wu Jinliang and fled.

The figures on both sides suddenly closed in like phantoms, and Master Qing was shocked to realize that they were all experts whose cultivation far surpassed his own.

He didn't know how he had been targeted, but then he realized it was related to Wu Jinliang.

Seeing that he was doomed, he acted decisively, slapping Wu Jinliang on the forehead with his claw, intending to silence him first.

At the same time, he caught a glimpse of a purple light flashing by, which then vanished into thin air. Before he could even process what was happening, a black shadow suddenly burst open in front of his chest, and a beam of purple light shot out, leaving him no way to dodge or defend himself. He felt a violent jolt, which abruptly halted his escape.

With a loud bang, his breathing became completely disordered, and the five claws that were about to strike Wu Jinliang's forehead were abruptly stopped.

Wu Jinliang still had basic senses, and he was almost scared out of his wits.

Floating in mid-air, Qingye glanced down at his chest and discovered a large hole in it. All his cultivation had been used to withstand the attack, yet it was as fragile as paper. His face showed resentment, and his eyes held confusion and bewilderment as he muttered to himself, "The Void-Escape Divine Arrow..."

Four masked men arrived suddenly. One of them pulled him away, while the other quickly took over the immobile Wu Jinliang.

Another masked man appeared ahead, carrying a large bow as strong as an ancient tree root. He shot through Qingye's purple light, circled in the air, and flew towards the bowman. In a flash, he landed in the quiver on the bowman's back, transforming into a dark purple arrow.

The group huddled together after landing. One of them squatted down to examine the heavily bleeding Qingye before looking up and saying, "There's no saving him. He was killed instantly."

The archer seemed a little regretful at failing to capture him alive, and sighed, "The situation was urgent, so I had no choice but to use the divine arrow. Let's search him and see if we can find any clues about his identity."

Wu Jin's eyes darted around as he scanned the group, trying to figure out their origins. Suddenly, he noticed the archer's body trembling abnormally, his eyes widening and staring blankly before he broke through.

That's right, his body was torn open, as if someone had stabbed him in the back. A figure burst through his body, and a cold glint flashed past everyone amidst the exploding flesh and blood.

The man's appearance was so bizarre and sudden that he knocked the two people, who were squatting on the ground examining the corpse without any warning, to the ground.

The other two quickly dodged away, one of them dragging Wu Jinliang away.

By the time the two masked men who had dodged aside could see who the attacker was, the masked man in the black cloak who had launched the sudden attack was already floating in the air, nocking an arrow and drawing his bow.

The bow looked familiar. The masked man who had dodged the attack suddenly turned back to look at the spot where the person who had been carrying the bow had stood, but found no trace of the divine bow. The two men were immediately filled with panic and turned to run.

Suddenly, the void in front of the black-cloaked, masked man with the bow trembled, and a beam of purple light shot out from the bow. It was silent, appearing and disappearing in a flash.

The masked man who had dragged Wu Jinliang into hiding in the mountains suddenly exploded in the head, and he and Wu Jinliang fell to the ground together.

The void trembled once more, and another beam of purple light shot out from the bow. The masked man, who had already disappeared into the mountains and forests and landed on a hillside to conceal his figure, still could not escape the purple light that appeared out of nowhere behind him. He watched the light and shadow burst through his chest, his vision swirling as he landed.

Wu Jinliang, who had fallen to the ground, was lying face down, biting the dirt, with blood streaming from his nose. He felt that he had probably broken two bones.

A masked man in a black cloak landed nearby, cautiously walking away. Two purple beams that had spun around once landed in the quiver behind him.

With his heavy bow, he turned the prone Wu Jinliang around, squatted down beside him, grabbed Wu Jinliang's beard, ripped off half of his disguise, and then pulled it apart again to reveal Wu Jinliang's true face. He then used magic to release Wu Jinliang from his restraints.

"Oh dear..." Wu Jinliang immediately covered his crooked nose and sat up with a strange cry, then looked at Yu Xuanbing with surprise and said, "Senior Yu, what brings you here?"

He recognized the other person immediately by their attire and height, which was indeed a huge surprise. He thought he was doomed, but the other person suddenly appeared to save him. He truly lived up to his reputation as the number one assassin. Those guys were obviously experts, but he managed to kill them and they didn't even know how he got close.

As he spoke, he got up, then touched the broken bone and cried out in pain.

Yu Xuanbing reminded him, "The person who kidnapped you before is connected to the most beautiful woman among you."

Wiping his nosebleed, Wu Jinliang immediately muttered who it was, "Xiang Lan'er..."

Then he realized who was behind it, and gritted his teeth, "No wonder she suddenly sent me two strange messages, that damn bitch..."

Suddenly, he looked up in surprise, realizing that the other party had gone to probe their territory.

Indeed, this was the case. After Yu Xuanbing learned that Shi Chun and his accomplices were in Dongsheng Capital, he was afraid that Shi Chun and his group would go back on their word. He wanted to learn more about Shi Chun and his group so that he could retaliate in the future. However, he accidentally discovered the communication between Xiang Lan'er and Qingye and learned that they were going to take action against Wu Jinliang.

Of course, Wu Jinliang was a sensible man, and he couldn't care less about that right now. He immediately asked, "Who are the next group of people?"

Yu Xuanbing weighed the divine bow in his hand. “I don’t know. This treasure is extremely difficult to forge. It should be controlled by a few people. I didn’t know exactly who it was, let alone eight hundred years later.” As he spoke, he looked at the demon cultivator corpses that had appeared over there. “Including those who died on the back of the mountain, they were all demon cultivators.”

“Demon cultivator…” Wu Jinliang limped back and looked around, pondering.

Yu Xuanbing didn't want to say much more, and finally said, "I promised to kill one more person for you. Now, in order to save you, I've killed five more, which is enough to settle the debt. From now on, we're even, and we'll leave each other alone!"

With that, he threw down the divine bow and quiver.

Wu Jin's eyes lit up after two pauses. "You don't want it? Give it to me?"

Yu Xuanbing turned around and glanced back at him. "How do you know that this artifact hasn't been tampered with? The person who can possess this treasure is no ordinary force. It will be very troublesome if they find it. I suggest you don't take it. They will find you quickly if they notice something is wrong. You should leave as soon as possible."

Having said all that, he vanished in a flash, a farewell that seemed to last forever.

Wu Jinliang, who was limping, chuckled and said, "You're afraid, but I'm not. You don't want it, but I do." He quickly picked up the divine bow and kissed it twice.

He knew very well that since they were after him, even if he didn't take this set of items, and they didn't leave, they would still come looking for him later. He decided to find a place to hide first.

He was only concerned with the valuable treasure and didn't care at all whether Yu Xuanbing was truly saying goodbye this time. He grabbed the treasure and quickly made his escape. If he wasn't afraid that the deceased's accomplices would come looking for him, he would have definitely searched the body...

At the entrance of the main hall, a woman in palace attire appeared in a hurry, carrying a jade slip that she had finally managed to find. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, she quickly walked up to the Queen and presented it with both hands, saying, "Your Majesty, I have found it."

"Really?" Queen Xin's eyes blazed with anger. She snatched the document and examined it. She realized that she seemed to have some recollection of the case. It involved Qi's alleged involvement in a disturbance at the Shengyu prison a few years ago. Due to a dead end in the leads, the case was temporarily suspended. However, the Shengyu prison did not give up the investigation and issued a notice for assistance to the outside world.

In short, I don't have evidence at the moment and can choose not to pursue the matter, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up the investigation. If any parties discover any clues, or if I discover clues in the future, I hope that all parties will cooperate. Those who conceal information will bear the consequences!
Anyone with eyes can see that they still suspect the Qi family, but they just lack evidence.

However, after reading the entire filing twice, she still couldn't find anything that had anything to do with Shi Chun. She looked up at the woman beside her and asked in confusion, "Where did Shi Chun come from in the filing?"

The woman in palace attire looked somewhat embarrassed. She pointed to the jade slip and said weakly, "The bandit leader of Dongjiuyuan and others refers to Shi Chun."

"..." Queen Xin was a little confused. Upon closer inspection, she realized that there was indeed such a sentence.

Good heavens, it's a miracle she even remembered Shi Chun's name. Now she finally understands why her subordinates neglected this, but she can't blame them.

She glanced coldly at Qieshan, hesitating to speak.

And Shan seemed to know what she wanted to say, and immediately explained: "At that time, he was just an insignificant nobody, not worth writing about in detail. Being mentioned in a brief mention is already what the report needed. Oh, right, there's also Wu Jinliang, Shi Chun's accomplice, who is also among the 'bandits of Dongjiuyuan.' We can't find him anywhere. If he has also been captured by Dongsheng, please hand him over to me for a thorough interrogation."

(End of this chapter)