The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 434 Assassin
Last night, Li Miao's life-or-death explosion at Wanggongchang seemed to have truly driven An Qisheng to the brink of despair.

The perfect state of the four paths uniting as one is no more. Taking advantage of the situation, the people of Yingzhou rebelled. Ji Tianrui turned against them and disappeared without a trace. The civil official group that cooperated with them is being uprooted by Tang Lanzhou. Even the last collaborator, the Eastern Depot, has vanished without a trace.

On Li Miao's side, at least they still have the emperor as their trump card, which combines four forces. Even if they exchange pieces with Ji Tianrui, they still have nearly ten celestial beings, including the Xiaoling Guard and the surrendered retainers, who can be mobilized.

An Qisheng should have fled.

First, lie low, kill the Yingzhou Celestial Being to recover your strength, then take advantage of Li Miao's absence to exchange for the Emperor, and then go find Li Miao to settle the score—that's the right way to think about it.

But he didn't.

Zhu Shoujing was unaware of the information Li Miao obtained in his mental imagery, which led to a deviation in his judgment of An Qisheng.

Although he was the ruler of Yingzhou, he was not a Taoist priest with flowing robes and an otherworldly demeanor.

He was an assassin.

An assassin who attempted to assassinate the First Emperor several times, nearly rewriting the course of history on several occasions, leaving his mark on the annals of history.

Bolang Shalishi, An Qisheng.

Before he went overseas and founded Yingzhou, he was known as the strongest assassin in the world, alongside Jing Ke and Gao Jianli. His experiences of overcoming great odds, being trapped in desperate situations, and trading his life for another filled almost all of his memories before he set sail.

He won't run away.

Even now, An Qisheng is still thinking about killing people!
He deliberately lured the Yingzhou Celestials to appear in front of Tang Lanzhou, deliberately acted as if he couldn't catch Zhu Shoujing's thrown knife, and deliberately exposed the weakness in his left foot, all in order to make Zhu Shoujing and his men stay!

He intends to eliminate all the Celestials surrounding Li Miao!
In that instant, Zhu Shoujing felt a chill run down his spine.

"To suffer!"

The black blade suddenly withdrew, crossing with the white blade above their heads.

The next instant, an irresistible and powerful force crashed down! Zhu Shoujing's twin swords, which he had been struggling to support, were almost instantly pressed down and slammed into his back!

puff--

Zhu Shoujing coughed up blood, and the roof beneath his feet collapsed.

He fell into the ruins.

At the same time, Ruan Mei suddenly pulled the Emei dagger aimed at An Qisheng's ear canal, which produced a shower of fine sparks and a piercing, sharp sound.

The Emei dagger got stuck.

An Qisheng's face was blocked by an invisible protective aura.

An Qisheng's cold gaze shifted.

His protective inner energy had indeed weakened.

But it is not something that can be shaken by mere two celestial beings.

In that instant, all the worshippers who rushed around An Qisheng suddenly burst into countless tiny blood flowers.

Black Pagoda!

Using protective true qi instead of sword qi, although less powerful than Li Miao's Black Extreme Pagoda, it had the added advantage of being able to control its power freely. The two elders who had not yet cultivated Vajra were pulled back to An Qisheng by the true qi weapons, while the others were all flung away by the true qi weapons!

Bang, bang!

An Qisheng slapped the faces of the two retainers who had been pulled back.

wow-

Red and white things were splashed out.

The headless corpse fell to the ground.

Zhu Shoujing rushed out of the ruins, not even having time to wipe the blood spilling from his mouth, before raising his twin swords to slash at the back of An Qisheng's head, while shouting loudly!

"His Majesty is about to arrive; stall him!"

"kill!!!"

The white blade slashed straight at An Qisheng's face, but suddenly lost its force and slashed towards his eyes; the black blade burrowed into his ribs, but suddenly became fierce and unparalleled, sweeping towards An Qisheng's groin.

"When the rooster crows, the world turns white; when darkness falls, wind and rain rage," this is a sword technique! Black and white are one; a white sword can cut out a black sword, and a black sword can cut out a white sword! This is a timeless martial art passed down to the commander of the Xiaoling Guard after the founding of the dynasty by Emperor Taizu. It was the martial art he chose for his tomb guardians, so how could it be simple!
An Qisheng had not anticipated this bizarre change of tactics.

He made a swift retreat!

Zhu Shoujing followed up, thrusting his twin swords forward!
An Qisheng is withdrawing again!

The twin blades grazed An Qisheng's chest, their force waning, and fell into empty space.

It seems that Zhu Shoujing's sneak attack missed its mark.

Given An Qisheng's almost overwhelming performance against the retainers, Zhu Shoujing would probably not last more than ten moves against him in a head-on confrontation. Several retainers who had come with him were already considering retreating; they had switched allegiance to the Embroidered Uniform Guard after the incident at the imperial tombs and were hardly loyal.

Zhu Shoujing showed no sign of disappointment.

His eyes widened as he looked at the white knife in his hand.

A barely perceptible smear of blood stained the blade.

Looking at An Qisheng's chest, an extremely fine crack appeared on his clothes.

Zhu Shoujing suddenly realized what was happening and shouted.

"He's bluffing!"

"The injuries Lord Li inflicted on him are far from healed, and his Xuan Lan (a type of spiritual energy) has also been damaged, making him far less powerful than before—he can only control the flow of his protective true energy at any time!"

"He's trying to scare you into a rout, then kill you one by one, because he can't handle multiple enemies at once! If you run away, you're guaranteed to die!"

"I'll lead the attack. You all can use any moves you like, attacking every corner of his body! He can't balance offense and defense, so the outcome is still uncertain!"

As he spoke, Zhu Shoujing instantly unleashed countless blade beams, which collided with the protective true energy, creating sparks.

The worshippers who had initially considered retiring also realized what was happening.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's take a gamble. An Qisheng is indeed injured. Lord Zhu is right... As long as it's not a certain death situation, it's far more worthwhile than escaping and facing Li Miao's pursuit!"

"it is good!"

They are all extraordinary individuals, figures who have reached the pinnacle of their careers in the martial arts world.

Regardless of whether they come from the righteous or the heretical path, they will never lack the courage to make decisions.

"Death to the old thief!"

"Come die!"

"For Lord Li—I'll take this knife!"

Countless attacks overwhelmed An Qisheng.

Just as the group was besieging An Qisheng, a strange melody suddenly came from behind them—the sound of a xiao (a type of vertical bamboo flute).

It was the celestial being from Yingzhou who had just been rescued by Zhu Shoujing, who had returned and was now playing a long flute.

The group was initially wary, but as the sound of the flute reached the center of the battle, transparent ripples suddenly spread through the air.

An Qisheng's protective true energy!

The celestial being from Yingzhou gritted his teeth and roared angrily.

"I can make this old thief's protective aura manifest!"

"Let's join forces!"

"I only ask that after Yingzhou is destroyed, my life be spared!"

Zhu Shoujing was overjoyed.

As expected, the conflict between An Qisheng and the people of Yingzhou had been brewing for a long time.

An Qisheng had left a contingency plan on them, ready to reap the rewards at any time; but the Yingzhou Celestials had also prepared a way to deal with him. They had been caught off guard by An Qisheng before, but now they took advantage of the opportunity when An Qisheng was entangled to use it!
An Qisheng's protective true qi was already insufficient for both offense and defense, and now they could clearly see which part of his protective true qi was thinner!
Although he is still no match for An Qisheng, holding him back is no longer a pipe dream!

(End of this chapter)