The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 485 Tsukahara
Huangfu Hui used almost all of his lightness skill to run, and blood kept gushing from the wounds he had torn open on his body, but he didn't care at all.

A short while later, he arrived at the innermost courtyard of the Huang residence.

Two men in tight-fitting clothes were guarding the door. They were startled when they saw a bloodied and mangled person rushing towards them. They immediately drew their knives and shouted at him.

"who!"

"it's me!"

Huangfu Hui called out.

"Master! It's the master!"

The two men then recognized his voice and, thinking he had been injured in a fight, rushed forward to help him up.

"You—!"

As the two drew closer, Huangfu Hui caught them off guard and punched them both in the throat.

The two collapsed to the ground, clutched their throats, rolled around a few times, and then fell silent.

Huangfu Hui stepped over the corpse and strode into the courtyard.

This is an extremely spacious and luxuriously furnished courtyard. The courtyard is paved with bluestone slabs, and a small pond has been dug in the ground. Around the pond, a circle of flowers and plants are planted, swaying gently in the wind.

But if you shift your perspective to the surrounding houses, you'll feel a chill run down your spine.

The houses surrounding this small courtyard have no doors or windows.

All the walls were made of bluestone, which was neither windproof nor lightproof. Dew condensed on them and was slowly sliding down the bluestone walls.

At the base of these walls, near the ground, every three feet or so, there was a one-foot-wide, one-inch-high opening. Outside each opening was a dirty, empty plate with some dried food on it.

As Huangfu Hui's footsteps echoed in the courtyard, rustling sounds came from the sealed-off houses.

From the opening closest to the door, a hand slowly reached out, trembling as it groped towards the empty plate.

This is a small, delicate hand, a woman's hand.

However, she had lost all of her feminine delicacy; her flesh was withered and dry, her skin was covered with a thick layer of ash, and all her nails were gone, leaving only ten bare fingers with a thick layer of scabs on the wounds.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

More and more hands reached out from the openings at the bottom of the house.

They were all equally thin and pale, all without fingernails, and all trembling involuntarily reached for the empty plate on the ground.

Once they realized there was no food on the plate, they abruptly withdrew their hands.

From these openings came the soft sound of a woman weeping.

As the woman's sobs began, another kind of weeping gradually rose up.

"Wow-wow-"

The sound of a baby crying.

Huangfu Hui ignored him and quickly walked to a corner of the courtyard. After arriving, she squatted down and pressed a stone on an inconspicuous corner of the wall.

Karaara—

The sound of the expansion machine turning rang out, revealing an entrance about one foot square.

Huangfu Hui jumped down.

After descending one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters), you will reach the ground.

He walked along the secret passage and after a few breaths he arrived at a door.

A window in the door was opened, revealing a pair of eyes.

"Who?"

"Yamashita-kun, it's me."

Huangfu Hui said in a deep voice.

"Huangfu Jun?"

Those eyes narrowed slightly, the window closed, and the door opened.

A man in a kimono reached out and took Huangfu Hui's arm, leading him inside.

"Who hurt you like this! Where is Sato-kun?"

Huangfu Hui waved her hand.

"The situation is urgent, there's no time to explain. Sato-kun is holding off the enemy, but he can't hold them off for long... We can't let Sato-kun's sacrifice go to waste. We must destroy everything before the enemy finds us, and we absolutely cannot let it fall into their hands!"

The man in the kimono frowned.

“It’s that serious… Well, I trust Huangfu Jun’s judgment. Come with me.”

After saying this, he led Huangfu Hui into a hidden door.

As soon as he entered, Huangfu Hui involuntarily frowned and covered his mouth and nose with his hand. An indescribable stench was filling his nostrils.

The flickering firelight cast a dim glow that illuminated the view behind the hidden door, revealing it to Huangfu Hui's eyes.

This is a long corridor, with only enough space for one person to walk in the middle.

On either side of the corridor were two rows of cages. They were made of wood, each cage bar was wrapped with a thick layer of soft cloth, and the bottom was also covered with a layer of soft cloth. There was an opening in the middle, under which was a metal tray with some yellowish-white stuff on it, resembling a birdcage.

The cage contained people.

A pregnant woman.

Some of them were still somewhat energetic. When they saw someone coming, they rushed to the edge of the cage, roaring and cursing.

"Beast! Beast!"

"You beasts! When my sect finds you, we will tear you to pieces!"

The reactions of those who had stayed longer varied. Some shrank back to the edge of the cage, clutching their chests and trembling; others seemed to have lost their minds, banging their heads against the cage, but the soft cloth covering it dampened their strength, and after a while, only their foreheads turned slightly blue.

Seeing Huangfu Hui frown, the man in the kimono smiled and said.

"There's no other way, space is limited, so I can only do it like raising birds. It smells a bit bad, please forgive me, Mr. Huangfu."

Huangfu Hui shook her head.

"It's alright, was there any progress?"

The man in the kimono shook his head.

"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. The time is too short, and the children born are not yet fully grown, so it is impossible to tell whether they have the aptitude for martial arts."

"Fukang County is still too small. There are few people, few martial arts practitioners passing through, and even fewer women with good qualities. For now, we can only make do with what we have... Sigh, if we had a prefecture to use, it would be much faster."

Huangfu Hui sneered inwardly.

"Returning a prefecture? Do you really think the Embroidered Uniform Guard is made of clay?"

"Finding Fukang County is already a stroke of good fortune. Do you really think you can occupy a prefecture? Is the Central Plains a chaotic and powerful place like your Japan?"

"Like a frog in a well, arrogant and ignorant, cooperating with these Japanese was a mistake from the very beginning."

He felt contempt in his heart, but showed it on his face, and simply smiled as he walked towards the second hidden door at the end of the corridor.

Pushing open the hidden door, Huangfu Hui's brows finally relaxed.

Just one door separates you from another world.

Behind the hidden door was a spacious stone chamber. Although it was also lit by firelight and was somewhat dim, a faint, elegant fragrance permeated the air. Soft carpets were laid on the floor, and paintings depicting bamboo, chrysanthemums, landscapes, and other scenery hung on the surrounding walls.

In the center of the stone chamber was a futon.

An old man sat on a prayer mat.

Thin, withered, disheveled hair and beard, and dull skin.

His breathing was barely audible; were it not for the slight rise and fall of his chest, he would have looked like a corpse.

But as Huangfu Hui stepped into the room, the old man suddenly opened his eyes.

A cold glint suddenly flashed inside the room.

Huangfu Hui felt as if a blade had sliced ​​through his neck; his whole body shuddered violently, and he froze on the spot. Only when the old man slowly closed his eyes, the cold light in them fading, did he finally let out a long breath.

The old man spoke slowly.

"Lord Huangfu, what has happened?"

Huangfu Hui walked quickly to the old man and sat down cross-legged.

"Lord Tsukahara, how is your training going?"

He looked down at the pages of a book that was open in front of the old man.

One corner of the page was soaked in blood, with a sword wound running through it from front to back. The cover was tattered and torn, as if it had been ripped apart and fought over several times, with some dried, blackened bits of flesh stuck to it.

Huangfu Hui reached out and stroked the pages of the book a few times.

Everything in Fukang County came into being because of this book.

Since last year, half of the turmoil in the martial arts world has been due to what is recorded in this book.

Countless martial arts practitioners died for him.

“Xuanlan”.

The book in front of the old man was one of the dozens of original copies that had been leaked from the capital two years ago.

The foundation of Yingzhou's heritage lies in the Xuanlan Kung Fu.

(End of this chapter)