The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 286 Are you looking for me?

An Ziyang narrowed his eyes, examined it carefully, and then smiled.

"Who do we have here? It's none other than Senior Zhou Zijing, the 'Black Crow'."

The old man clasped his hands in greeting, but ignored An Ziyang. Instead, he slowly walked to the bottom of the high platform to the north, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the seat at the highest point and the figure hidden behind the light gauze.

"Your Excellency, I have something to say."

An Ziyang wasn't annoyed and smiled.

"Please speak, Senior Zhou."

The old man said in a deep voice.

"Firstly, we have all come here today at the invitation of the Garrison Commander. But now, the Garrison Commander refuses to even see us."

"The sects that arrived first to attend the banquet have been on the mountain for a month. As someone from an unorthodox sect, I even had to break through the barriers to get in, following the rules of the Town Governor. But to this day, we don't even know whether the Town Governor is male or female, fat or thin."

"Is this how the Garrison Commander treats his guests?"

"Secondly, the Embroidered Uniform Guard keeps saying they won't interfere with the seating arrangement and will let the martial arts world decide it themselves. But who decided on these ten chairs? Why can't there be nine? Why can't there be eleven!"

"I believe I am no weaker than those on the stage, but to sit down here, I must fight them. We are all fellow practitioners of the martial arts world, yet we must fight to the death for the chair set up by the imperial court. This inevitably reminds me of... the story of Gongsun Jie, Tian Kaijiang, and Guyezi!"

These three names are generally incomprehensible to uncultured, rough-around-the-edges martial arts practitioners, but those from established sects will readily understand their meaning. These are the names of the "three warriors" in the story of "Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors".

He went around in circles, but it was practically the same as being direct.

"Thirdly, it's him!"

The old man pointed at Liu Chengxuan.

"Why does he have the right to sit there? Why does he have the right to look down at us?"

At this point, he suddenly turned around and looked at all the martial arts practitioners.

"Gentlemen, there is nothing shameful about learning martial arts and literature and serving the imperial family. If the Embroidered Uniform Guard had left a Qingcheng Sect member or even a Blood Robe Tower member there today, I wouldn't have come out!"

"But the Huanhua Sword Sect is no good! Liu Chengxuan is not worthy!"

"What you dare not say, I will say!"

"What you dare not do, I will do!"

After saying that, he suddenly turned around and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the figure above.

"Governor, can the plaque of the Supreme Commander be changed?"

"Also, could the garrison commander say a word and allow us to meet him?"

An Ziyang frowned and stepped forward to block his gaze from looking upwards.

"Senior Zhou, isn't this a bit rude of you?"

"rude?"

The old man suddenly chuckled and pointed directly at the figure beneath the light veil above.

"When has the Garrison Commander ever treated us with any courtesy?"

"Ever since I reached the summit of this majestic peak, I have been watching that figure. At first, I was puzzled as to why I couldn't sense even a trace of true energy. Initially, I thought it was because the Commander's martial arts had returned to their original simplicity, or that my level was not high enough to sense it."

"But, it has been two hours now."

"This so-called garrison commander hasn't even made a move!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an uproar erupted around him.

Many people suddenly realized what was happening, looked closely at the figure above, and compared it with their impression of him when they came up the mountain. They immediately knew that what the old man said was true.

"Could it be that the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard has never been here?"

"Ever since Bu Lei died last year, everyone knows that there is such a person who has taken over the position of the Northern Garrison Commander, but who has actually seen him?"

"Could this person have never existed in the first place? I found it strange that the rumors said his martial arts were unfathomable. He never ventured into the martial world, he just practiced martial arts in seclusion in the capital, and suddenly he became invincible?"

"They have no background whatsoever, and they've never done anything or made any name for themselves in the martial arts world before. It's too suspicious that they suddenly appeared!"

Suddenly, the voices that had been quiet began to surge again and grew louder.

More and more people stood up and looked toward the figure on the platform.

While people in the martial arts world fear the Embroidered Uniform Guard, their fear is not unconditional. A commander who can only obey orders is not the same as a garrison commander of the Northern Garrison, who represents the imperial court's attitude towards the martial arts world.

In the current situation, if that "Governor" is really not here, then relying solely on An Ziyang, a first-rate commander, he really shouldn't expect to set rules for the people of the martial arts world!

People kept shouting.

"Commander An, it's getting late, and we don't have much time left before the banquet. Let the Garrison Commander lift the veil and let us see him, so we can feel at ease, right?"

"Yes, what's the point of this seating arrangement if it doesn't have the endorsement of the Garrison Commander? Can Commander An represent the court's will?"

"The Garrison Commander!"

"The Pacification Commissioner!" "The Pacification Commissioner!"

The voices gradually merged, and the people of the martial arts world shouted in unison.

People's hearts have been thoroughly stirred up.

But the gazes below, which were eyeing Li Miao, grew increasingly unpleasant.

"He's really not there?"

"Where did he go?"

He lowered his head in thought, and suddenly a bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

“An Ziyang killed Tang He, and he already knew that someone would cause trouble at the moon-viewing banquet.”

"If he weren't up there..."

"It's down there!"

He suddenly turned around and was about to disappear into the crowd.

A hand was placed on his shoulder.

The powerful true energy penetrated his body, flowing through the Shaoyang Sanjiao Meridian into his heart, instantly destroying his dantian. Then it churned throughout his entire body along the meridians, almost causing him to faint.

He struggled to lift his head, slowly turning it along the hand on his shoulder, finally fixing his gaze on an ordinary face.

And on that ordinary face, a chilling smile slowly appeared.

"Are you looking for me?"

His fingers dug deep into his shoulder; he had lost all his martial arts skills and could only stumble and be dragged away from the crowd.

A faint voice came from ahead.

"I knew someone was going to cause trouble. Did you think I'd just lie on the platform and sleep, waiting for you to cause me trouble?"

"What I'm best at is reducing my own burden. If someone can be killed, I kill them on the spot, never leaving them until the next day. The more people die, the less trouble there is."

"However, your technique is quite advanced, no less than the one from the Ming Cult. If it weren't for the fact that your reaction was different from the others just now, I would have had a hard time distinguishing you from the others."

As they spoke, they had already left the crowd.

Suddenly, the scenery in front of him rushed backward, and the flesh on his shoulder let out a mournful cry as if it were about to burst. He howled and reached out to try to pry away the claws digging into his shoulder, but he couldn't budge them an inch.

A moment later, he was thrown to the ground, his already mangled shoulder hitting the ground, and he immediately turned pale with pain.

But he knew that the suffering was far from over.

Because the person who captured him is slowly revealing his true colors.

The bones and flesh shifted, the body grew taller, and a crisp sound rang out from all over.

Li Miao slowly stretched.

"Ah—that feels good."

"Alright, tell me, who sent you? What do you want?"

"I don't need to explain its origin. I already knew when the true energy entered your body just now—the blood and qi in your perineum are stagnant, and the true energy is also a path of yin and yang. Only eunuchs can practice this kind of technique."

"You're a dead eunuch."

Li Miao smiled as she looked at the person in front of her.

“After things were settled last year, I checked the accounts with the commander and found that many eunuchs were missing from the palace. The little eunuch who escorted the imperial family was also nowhere to be found.”

"You are the emperor's backup plan?"

Li Miao squatted down in front of him and reached out to hold his head.

Then, slowly squeeze it tight.

“The people up there are still courting death. I don’t have much time to waste on you. I’ll give you the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to talk—”

Suddenly, Li Miao stopped.

He turned to look down the mountain.

"If I hadn't deliberately gone down to the halfway point, I really wouldn't have been able to hear it—it was such a loud noise, I could hear it from this far away."

"It would take at least two or three worshippers to make this commotion... Interesting."

His fingers were deeply embedded in the eunuch's skull.

Then, ignoring the eunuch's struggles and cries, he stopped in his tracks.

It rushed down the mountain like a meteorite.

(End of this chapter)