The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 436: Clever
"Commander Mei, it's been a long time."

The trembling voice was smoothed out by the alien soul. The woman stopped trembling, and slowly raised her head from the encircling arms, about to look at Mei Qinghe.

"you--"

puff.

Mei Qinghe strode forward and delivered a fatal blow to the throat.

"It's really you."

After the sword pierced her throat, it slashed horizontally, decapitating the woman.

The head rolled a few times on the ground before coming to a stop, its face turned towards Mei Qinghe. Although it was unable to speak due to the loss of its vocal cords, its lips were clearly moving, as if it wanted to say something. Its signature cold gaze fell upon Mei Qinghe, but it paused for a rare moment.

Mei Qinghe actually closed her eyes.

Without a cavity, it cannot make a sound, and Mei Qinghe cannot see the mouth movements it makes. The last efforts of this clone are in vain.

Mei Qinghe silently counted a few times in her mind. After a few breaths, she opened her eyes and found that the head had completely stopped moving and its eyes had lost their luster.

She cleaved it in two with a single sword stroke.

Only then did Mei Qinghe breathe a sigh of relief.

Liu Jin forcibly split himself without cultivating his spiritual cultivation, severely limiting the quality and quantity of his clones, making it impossible for him to create clones of exceptional quality. It can be said that Liu Jin's only strength now lies in his words.

If it were An Ziyang, he might have exchanged a few pleasantries with him to try and get some information out of him. But Mei Qinghe knew her own limitations; if she said a few words, Liu Jin would probably find out everything about her.

So she simply stopped talking.

First behead him, then close his eyes.

They did not exchange any information with Liu Jin.

She didn't give Liu Jin a chance to say a word.

For the first time, Liu Jin experienced the horror of emotional abuse.

Meanwhile, the deafening battle between heaven and man not far away also ceased. Two figures moved with incredible speed, stopping in front of Mei Qinghe and tossing a severed head to the ground.

The two worshippers bowed.

"Commander Mei, judging from his moves, this person doesn't seem to come from a prestigious or righteous sect. He should be from an unorthodox sect. His martial arts style is somewhat similar to that of Green Willow Manor from decades ago. I don't know if he is a remnant or a successor from a previous generation."

"We originally intended to capture him, but after seeing that he came from a heretical sect and there was no need to pursue him further, we killed him instead, which delayed us a bit."

Although the two were far more skilled in martial arts than Mei Qinghe, they were extremely respectful.

Mei Qinghe returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

"Thank you both for your hard work. My subordinates will take care of things here for now. We need to hurry to the next place."

She raised her hand and showed the two of them the Gu worm in her palm.

“Brother An gave me this Gu worm, and we both know each other’s location. From the moment before, Brother An’s position has been moving straight in one direction, so he must have discovered something… perhaps the key to today’s events.”

The two worshippers exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

"Understood... Commander Mei, please forgive me."

The two stepped forward and each reached out a hand to grab Mei Qinghe's shoulder.

The next instant, the two of them carried Mei Qinghe onto the roof and rushed off in the direction she pointed.

--------

Shuntian Prefecture, outer city.

This area was recently expanded during the reign of the current emperor, extending outwards from the original city gates to form an outer city with a radius of about one mile.

This is also the most chaotic place in the capital.

The outer city, as the name suggests, is located outside the city walls. The curfew and patrols inside the city do not apply here, and there is no need to check identities to leave. Therefore, the population mobility here is extremely high. Taverns and brothels are lined up one after another, interspersed with all kinds of haphazardly piled-up dilapidated houses, which can make people feel irritable at first glance.

As the camera zooms in, passing through dirty and muddy streets, and several dusty and filthy houses, one approaches an unremarkable house, where a faint smell of blood can be detected.

The house was packed with dozens of people.

A江湖人 (jianghu person).

According to their status, martial arts skills, and seniority in the martial arts world, they sat cross-legged from the base of the wall towards the center, their gazes focused on the three people in the very center. The three people in the very center, however, stared silently at the corpse wrapped in white cloth before them.

These three individuals can all be considered top figures in the martial arts world.

The elder of the Kunlun Sect, Yue Buzheng.

Liaokong, the abbot of the Discipline Hall at Shuijin Zen Temple.

And a middle-aged man whose appearance and physique were extremely ordinary, but whose temperament was so imposing and profound that he could not be ignored.

Qingluan Sect, Gaoming.

The celestial beings who won the "pinnacle" position at the moon-viewing banquet.

At this point, including the deceased Qiao Cailian and Liao Xing, all the celestial beings who had competed for the top spot at the Moon Appreciation Banquet, except for a few who had met Li Miao in private, had arrived.

Zhu Zai and Li Miao's analysis was correct. After the incident at the imperial tomb, the hearts of people in the martial arts world had been thoroughly stirred up. Even though Li Miao had suppressed the pent-up discontent with the court through a combination of kindness and coercion, it would still erupt at a certain time.

Yingzhou and the Eastern Depot simply gave them this opportunity.

Now, back to the present moment, the room fell silent.

After a long pause, Elder Yue Buzheng of the Kunlun Sect finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

“My Kunlun Sect’s Celestial Being, Sect Leader, and True Disciple perished in last night’s battle. In the future, the sect will inevitably be wiped out by the imperial court. The centuries-old lineage is about to end in my hands.”

Liaokong of Shuijin Temple also put his hands together and sighed.

"My Shuijin Zen Temple will also inevitably suffer this calamity."

"If we're talking about the courage to fight to the death, we're not lacking. But last night, the Emperor went on a killing spree and killed Senior Brother Xing in an instant. His martial arts are no less than those of Lord Li Miao."

"We dared to come to the capital to compete for the Xuanlan martial arts manual because we thought that the emperor himself was weak and frail, and that Lord Li was too busy to spare, so he might be wary of our assassination attempt... But now it seems that we were wrong from the very beginning."

He smiled bitterly.

"In the world today, the only one who can pose a threat to the emperor is probably Lord Li... but they are on the same side anyway."

"It seems we have no other way out but to run for our lives."

These words made the atmosphere in the room even more oppressive.

Liao Kong is right.

The martial arts world has been suppressed for too long and too severely.

An assassination attempt that was feasible in An Qisheng's era would be impossible to execute in today's martial arts world, where even a single person capable of challenging the emperor would be impossible to find. The balance between the imperial court and the martial arts world has long been completely disrupted.

You can escape... People can escape, but can you escape through the mountain gate?

Elders can escape, Celestials can escape, but can outer and inner disciples escape?

He fled, and the lineage of his sect was severed.

If we don't escape, there's nothing we can do.

Ahead lay an abyss, behind lay an abyss, and there was no direction in which they could fight to the death.

Someone gritted their teeth and shouted angrily, "I don't care anymore! If the emperor isn't going to kill Li Miao, I'll just go and kill a few corrupt officials to make my money back!"

Someone retorted: "Today, at least eight hundred or a thousand officials have been killed in the city. If you go to assassinate one, you're actually helping the court! What, do you think the court doesn't have enough reasons to exterminate your entire family?"

Some people still held onto hope: "Perhaps we can go and search for the Xuanlan cultivation method again. Even if we die, passing on the cultivation method will at least give the sect a means of survival."

Someone sneered, "But you don't even know where the cultivation technique is!"

The argument escalated, and although each side held their own version of events, their words were filled with despair.

"Shut up."

Suddenly, a deep voice, filled with powerful true energy, erupted from the center of the room, stunning everyone on the spot.

Qingluan Sect's Gao Ming slowly rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping over the faces of everyone in the room.

"If you want to die and don't want to implicate your sect, just slash your face and throw yourself into the river. Why make such a fuss here? Everyone here is a disciple of a prestigious sect. They should be trying to find a way to save their sects, not even trying to. What good does it do to argue with a woman like this?"

"What, have you learned martial arts but ended up on a dog's head?" With that, he cursed everyone in the room.

Most of the martial arts practitioners had flushed faces.

"Senior Gao makes it sound so easy!"

Whether out of extreme fear or extreme anger, someone disregarded the superior martial arts skills and seniority of the person in question, abruptly stood up, and retorted with a flushed face.

"Today's situation is simply due to the imperial court's power being greater and the martial arts world being weaker. The mistakes were made because of the weakness. Everyone present has a share in it. Do you think you, Senior Gao Ming, can escape responsibility?"

"If you had a way to break this deadlock, why would you need to hide here with us? We have no shortage of courage to fight to the death, but even if we wanted to give up our lives, it wouldn't make a difference. Is that our fault?"

Gao Ming let out a cold laugh.

"So what's the point of you spouting nonsense?"

"I told you, if you don't want to implicate your sect, go out and slash your face and throw yourself into the river. Today, the moat is full of corpses, the Imperial Guards can't trace it back to you... Or are you just too afraid?"

The man's veins bulged.

"Why don't you dare!"

To everyone's astonishment, he immediately drew his sword and slashed his own face, leaving it mangled. He then strode to the door, intending to push it open and jump into the river.

My hand had just touched the door when it was pressed down.

The person who stopped him was brilliant.

Confused and angry, he asked, "Senior Gao, what else do you want? Do you intend to humiliate me?"

Gao Ming patted him on the shoulder, then reached out and pinched his pulse point, circulating his healing technique to channel his true energy into his body to heal the injuries on his face.

That person was almost completely bewildered by Gao Ming's skill.

"Senior Gao, what's wrong with you...?"

Gao Ming reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"If you're not afraid of death, you might as well shut up and do your job."

Do you think I went through all that trouble to gather you all together just so I could have company before I die?

The man was first stunned, then surprised, and finally delighted.

"Senior Gao, do you have a way to break this deadlock?"

Gao Ming shook his head.

"No."

“But someone has it, and it’s right here in this room.”

The man paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the room.

After searching for a long time, all I saw were people with the same bewildered expressions as myself. In terms of martial arts skills, background, and sect, there were no unexpected figures, and I couldn't think of anyone who could break the deadlock.

Gao Ming turned around and stared at one person.

"Your Excellency, you heard what I just said. We have been driven to a dead end, and your plan has succeeded. Now is the time for open and honesty... Are you still going to hide anything?"

Everyone turned their gaze to Gao Ming, and looked at a middle-aged man.

"what?"

"Who is this?"

"It seems to be a true disciple of the Qingyang Sect, top-notch... but I've never heard of anything particularly extraordinary about it?"

All of this is puzzling.

Even the middle-aged man looked utterly astonished.

Gao Ming did not hesitate at all, and walked towards him, saying in a deep voice.

"Do you think that all people in the martial arts world are uncouth and naive fools?"

"From the moment I received Xuanlan's message, I deliberately paid attention to the location of the sects of my fellow martial arts practitioners who were heading to the capital, their arrival time, and their manpower."

"If the news was spread by word of mouth, then the more distant the sect, the later it would arrive and the worse the quality of its personnel should be. After all, not all experts are hiding in their sects, and it takes time to gather them... But the situation is not like that at all."

Gao Ming walked up to the middle-aged man.

“I discovered that the larger the faction that mobilized its entire force, the more varied their locations, even if they were close together. If we calculate based on distance and arrival time, their departure times were almost all on the same day… This is a plan that someone deliberately orchestrated.”

"I spoke with people from several major sects and found that their sources of information were different. But what they had in common was that they all had very important figures within their sects who were pushing this matter."

"Disguise? Disguise? That was my first thought, but last night... I secretly followed them to Wanggongchang and witnessed An Ziyang's conversation with a female disciple of the Kunlun Sect."

Gao Ming said in a deep voice.

"Although it was bizarre and hard to believe, I saw it with my own eyes... An Ziyang called her Eunuch Liu."

Possession? A clone? Reincarnation?

“These things are not important right now, but you brought us to the capital, surely you must have something to say? If you don’t speak up now, it may be too late.”

Gao Ming looked down at the middle-aged man.

The atmosphere inside the room became heavy.

Some people understood, and some did not.

But everyone understands that this is a matter of life and death. Whether they live or die depends on whether Gao Ming has mistaken the wrong person.

Dozens of eyes were fixed on the middle-aged man.

After a while, the middle-aged man's expression changed.

All emotions vanished from him; his gaze was as calm as still water, as if he had become a soulless puppet.

he said calmly.

How can you be sure it's me?

Gao Ming answered calmly.

“I’m not sure, but I bet on it right.”

Liu Jin asked again.

"You knew all along that I was going to use you as weapons, so why did you still come?"

Gao Ming smiled.

Why didn't you come?

"Is it true that the imperial court is suppressing the Celestials? Is it true that Li Miao is suppressing the martial arts world? Is it true that the path of martial arts is cut off...?"

"The martial arts world is weak. If we rely on ourselves, we will probably have to grovel at the feet of the imperial court for the rest of our lives, wagging our tails and begging for mercy from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, watching ourselves grow old day by day, but our martial arts will not improve at all... We can clearly cultivate two or three paths of celestial beings, but we cannot take that step."

"If this life is to be wasted day by day, it's better to throw it away in the right place. Someone has done what we can't, and that's how they can pose a threat to the court that we can't."

"I'll give it a try and lend you a hand. Let's see if I can pave a path for the future generations of martial arts practitioners. Is that not allowed?"

Gao Ming spoke of it with ease and nonchalance.

"Time is running out. The Imperial Guards could arrive here at any moment. Do you have any other questions?"

"If not, you might as well bring out the plan sooner rather than later."

"We have thoroughly offended the imperial court, and the court is determined to destroy us. We have no other way to go, so you can rest assured."

Liu Jin stood up.

He glanced around at everyone in the room, finally fixing his gaze on Gao Ming.

"I am Liu Jin, the chief eunuch of the Eastern Bureau of Investigation and Statistics."

"Time is short, please follow me."

“I have something to give you: a secret passage and a hiding place.”

At the same time, An Ziyang and the two retainers stepped into the outer city, greeted Mei Qinghe, and walked side by side toward Gao Ming's location, following the direction indicated by the Gu worm.

(End of this chapter)