Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 71 He's the mole
They are the moles.

These words stuck in Tianxuan's throat, becoming his last words that he could never utter.

Zhou Zhao suddenly pulled out the Green Fish Dagger, and at the same time Su Changying's longsword was also withdrawn. Liu Huang's fist was already close by, directly knocking Tianxuan's corpse away. He lay on the ground with his eyes wide open, his mouth agape, and blood flowing from his seven orifices.

When she swung the blade, she was careful not to pierce the artery directly and cause blood to spurt out.

It only pierced the skin shallowly; the poison applied to the bluefish dagger was lethal upon contact with blood.

If the people of Tiandou Village saw this, they would definitely recognize it.

Tianxuan's current state of death is exactly the same as Cheng Dong's, who died suddenly after eating the food fed by Sun Youshan; black blood is flowing from all seven orifices.

"Master! Qi Ming, you're a traitor! You actually killed our Master! I'll kill you!"

Zhou Zhao wiped the dagger and hid it in his sleeve. He then heard Su Changying beside him open her mouth and make an unfamiliar sound.

Qi Ming and his group belonged to the Tianji Hall. They would immediately take the antidote to any sleeping pills they saw. Now, hearing someone trying to pin this on him, he couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "I didn't! Stop slandering me!"

Just then, a whooshing sound rang out, and the pink smoke thinned out a bit. Everyone could vaguely see that the roof of the county government office was now covered with archers.

Qi Ming and the other four members of Tianji Hall were lively and energetic, quite different from the others who looked sickly and under the influence of drugs.

The people Tianxuan brought were all lying on the ground. Only Xu Yuan and Lingxing were still standing. When they saw Tianxuan's body, they looked at Qi Ming with grief and indignation.

"You, Qi Ming! All three hall masters have fallen for the trap, but only your Tianji Hall was prepared! Our hall master is bleeding from all seven orifices; it's clear he's been poisoned by your Tianji Hall!"

Xu Yuan used his long sword to support himself on the ground, speaking weakly and swaying precariously.

Qi Ming was speechless with grievances. He roared, "That arrow..."

His words caught in his throat, his face flushed red, and a barrage of arrows rained down, aimed at the others who hadn't been drugged. But the spot where he stood remained empty, without a single arrow.

If his head weren't still on his shoulders, he himself would have thought that he had colluded with the government, which was why this situation had occurred.

He tiptoed to look at Tianxuan's corpse, and his expression changed drastically.

He was all too familiar with that manner of death; it was Tianji's signature move, a single touch and the person would fall.

Even a tiny bit of it will cause blood to flow from all seven orifices, resulting in a sudden death.

"Qi Ming, was our sect leader also killed by you?! You are so vicious!"

Qi Ming turned around abruptly and saw that two of his Tianji brothers who had come with him had fallen, leaving only two still desperately resisting the arrows.

almost!

Zhou Zhao and Su Changying exchanged a glance and shouted at the same time, "Retreat!"

Su Changying pulled Xu Yuan up, Zhou Zhao also grabbed a Tianxuan Hall member who was still resisting, and Liu Huang easily carried two Tianji disciples behind Qi Ming. The three of them struggled to climb over the city wall and jumped out.

The three of them sped along, ignoring the pursuers behind them, and flew straight out of the city until they reached the grove where they had stopped earlier, where they finally stopped by leaning against a tree.

Out of the corner of Zhou Zhao's eye, he saw that when Su Changying landed, she staggered a few times, almost causing Xu Yuan to fall to the ground.

Unable to resist imitating him, he stood there bewildered for a moment, clearly somewhat confused and disoriented. As for Liu Huang, he didn't follow suit, because to outsiders, he usually appeared as if he didn't understand anything.

Upon seeing this, the disciple of Tianji Hall angrily rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a bottle of medicine. With trembling hands, he opened the cork and distributed the pills inside to the others. "This is medicine refined by our Tianji Hall. It can cure sleeping pills."

"Qi Ming actually... actually... no wonder someone as capable as the old hall master would suddenly have an accident and die at Dai Jun's hands."

"No wonder we didn't see the hall master's body. Qi Ming made us wear mourning clothes and say that the city lord was dead."

Seeing that Su Changying and Zhou Zhao seemed to be deep in thought after hearing his words, the Tianji disciple became even more confident: "No wonder he insisted on going to the Xu residence. It turns out that he knew there was an ambush in the county government office, and we would be drugged if we went in rashly. He sent us away because he was afraid that we would give the brothers the antidote."

Zhou Zhao listened attentively, his expression solemn, and he couldn't help but admire this young man as a true talent.

How can someone be so good? Not a single one of their ideas is correct, yet they can still make their own sense of it.

Every spy should have ten or eight such talents by their side.

Tianji died at the hands of the three of them, as did Tianxuan. Qi Ming went to the Xu residence to find out how his uncle died and to collect his body; he didn't send you to the Xu residence, and you didn't administer the antidote in time, so you were beaten like quails.

Humans just love to embellish themselves without any limits.

Zhou Zhao thought silently, glancing towards the city gate not far away. Sure enough, Yan Junyu and Chen Yan led a group of defeated soldiers back in a sorry state.

"Sister Zhao! We've been ambushed! Those Dai soldiers weren't asleep at all; they're playing a game of trapping us like turtles in a jar! I thought I'd lured them away, but they actually led us into a dead end. Aren't they the imperial army? They're even using buckets to drown us..."

Yan Junyu, panting heavily, stared wide-eyed at the pink powder on Zhou Zhao's head and body. "You've been drugged too!"

Zhou Zhao nodded, and Su Changying interrupted Yan Junyu's long-winded explanation, "Qi Ming is the traitor. Give the one from Tianji the antidote, and we should leave quickly to avoid the Dai army coming after us."

The disciple nodded and quickly distributed the medicine.

They were bandits, so why were they hiding in Tianying City? It was because they didn't want to be captured and beheaded by the imperial court. If they were caught tonight, wouldn't all their previous hiding have been for nothing?

Seeing that everyone had regained their strength, Su Changying did not hesitate and immediately led everyone back to Tianying City.

"Sister Zhao, our mission failed. Will the city lord punish us? Will I be able to enter the Inner Seven Halls later? This Tianying City is really dangerous. I almost died just now! I could tell that kid was no good at all! A little cunning dog, truly a traitor."

After taking the antidote, Yan Junyu immediately regained his energy.

He huddled close to Zhou Zhao, muttering to himself, completely oblivious to whether anyone else could hear him.

The remaining two members of Tianji Hall had a completely different mindset this time, and couldn't help but nod upon hearing this.

The group headed straight for Tianying City, where the high city walls were faintly visible. Su Changying raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop, and bowed to the front, saying, "City Lord, the mission has failed. We encountered an ambush by the Dai army, and Tianxuan is dead."

He spoke succinctly, and Xu Yuan stepped forward angrily, "City Lord, it was Qi Ming who poisoned our hall master with a single swipe!"

Zhou Zhao watched silently. Qin Tianying's mission had failed, but their mission had been completed perfectly.

If she wasn't mistaken, this Xu Yuan should be the next Tianxuan Hall Master that Su Changying mentioned, and also one of his people.

Qin Tianying listened with a calm expression. His gaze swept across the faces of everyone present, finally landing on Zhou Zhao's face. "If I remember correctly, this pink aphrodisiac fragrance comes from the Xuanwu Hall's Tiannv Village. It seems that there is a traitor in our Tianying City. Don't you agree, Hall Master Zhou?"