The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 607 Guhuo Bird

Li Miao stepped out of the room, and was greeted by the sunlight reflecting off the armor, scabbards, and smooth, water-like silk.

He frowned in displeasure.

Immediately someone shouted.

"Put away your weapons and cover your armor!"

The sound of troops retreating filled the air, and within moments the blinding sunlight disappeared. Only then did Li Miao squint and scan the area.

Shiny armor and swift warhorses stretched out along the street, with a sedan chair guarding the middle, the furnishings extremely luxurious.

A dozen or so swordsmen stood silently around the palanquin. They were dressed as ordinary samurai, but their scarlet, unguarded swords at their waists revealed that they were swordsmen who had originally been hidden within Shintoism and were loyal to the former emperor.

At the very front of the group, a middle-aged man with a shaved head and dressed in a black robe was also secretly sizing up Li Miao.

"Is this Li Miao?"

"A celestial demon just like that person."

"His physique and demeanor are exceptionally outstanding, but his face is pale and his blood and qi are weak, and his breathing is labored... Even the Celestial Realm cannot suppress his injuries. Can this man really stand against the Shinto Cult?"

Despite his suspicions, he remained extremely respectful, stepped forward, and bowed in the most standard greeting among officials in the Central Plains.

"My name is Sai Harumi, and I greet Lord Li!"

"Well, let's go."

Without offering a return gift, Li Miao didn't bother with any formalities, simply nodding indifferently before heading towards the Imperial Palace.

"Ah...cough."

Sai Seimei coughed, took small steps to catch up with Li Miao, and said in a low voice.

"Lord Li, please get into the sedan chair."

Li Miao glanced at it.

"Is Nanako inside?"

"...Yes, His Highness is in the sedan chair."

"Let my two men go in."

"This……"

Sai Harumi glanced at Miyoshi Ryota with a troubled expression. It would be fine if Li Miao went in to provide close protection, but it wouldn't sound good to let a Japanese man of marriageable age in as well.

Even if it was Li Miao who made the request, he wanted to try to refuse... Although he now had to rely on Li Miao to set things right, he still wanted to gain some initiative and did not want to compromise unconditionally with Li Miao or the Da Shuo court.

So he put on a respectful but embarrassed expression, but kept his mouth tightly shut and didn't say a word.

Li Miao glanced at him with a smile.

"What, is it difficult to handle?"

"Lord Li..."

"Then I'll go?"

After saying that, he actually pretended to turn around.

Sai Haruaki was taken aback.

Thinking about Li Miao's life, he was horrified.

This man... is probably the most willful person in the world today!
He's not incapable of just quitting and walking away on a whim!
Having figured this out, he could only give Li Miao a forced smile, wave his hand behind him, and put Lu Wushuang and Miyoshi Ryota into the sedan chair.

The two lifted the sedan curtain and entered. Lu Wushuang's expression was a mixture of conflict and relief, while Miyoshi Ryota's face was full of joy and anticipation. Before he could even see clearly, he shouted out.

"Nanako! Are you alright?!"

There was no response after he finished speaking.

Deep within the palanquin, a young girl dressed in the Emperor's robes sat motionless. Her slender face and fair skin were almost translucent, like porcelain—beautiful yet fragile. Her almond-shaped eyes stared blankly ahead.

Without a doubt, it's Nanako.

But their expressions suddenly darkened.

Beneath Nanako's fair skin, bluish-black blood vessels meandered like tentacles and tree roots, their pulsations clearly visible. Her hands were folded on her knees, her slender fingers lifting a bronze mirror. Her right index finger touched the mirror's surface, and meandering trails of blood dripped from her fingertip onto the mirror, spreading, seeping, and disappearing.

"Nanako..."

Lu Wushuang gritted his teeth and reached out to feel Nanako's pulse, trying to check her current condition. But he suddenly stopped halfway through.

"..."

Lu Wushuang broke out in a cold sweat.

The internal energy system within her body was circulating wildly, with surging true energy striking her heart meridian. Meanwhile, the Gu worm that Ji Tianrui had left in her body for a long time without any movement had now awakened... and was screaming wildly inside her!
Danger!

Her intuition told her that if she touched Nanako, she would face a potentially fatal danger!
Ryota Miyoshi, who was standing nearby, saw her reaction and knew that something was wrong. He did not make any rash moves, but instead looked at Nanako and called out to her softly.

"Nanako, Nanako."

"it's me."

"I've come, I'm alive, I've come to see you."

no respond.

Nanako was like a delicate doll; apart from her calm and gentle breathing, there was no movement in her fingertips, pupils, nostrils, or even her hair.

crunch--

Miyoshi Ryo gritted his teeth.

"Big sister... what on earth is going on?!"

"Is this what you meant by 'it's safer to hand Nanako over to the Shinto Church'?!"

He didn't understand the Central Plains language, so he naturally didn't understand Lu Wushuang and Li Miao's conversation. He only managed to restrain himself because of his trust in Lu Wushuang... Now that he saw Nanako in this state, how could he possibly restrain himself?
Lu Wushuang remained silent for a moment, then suddenly remembered what Li Miao had just said.

"As long as I am here, no one connected to me will have to make a difficult decision."

Yes, the situation is different now.

Li Miao is here.

There's no need to think about anything else; just leave everything to that person... He can handle everything.

He turned around and reached out to grab the sedan curtain.

It's about to be unveiled.

In that very instant—BOOM!!!

An immense gust of wind exploded outside the sedan chair. Lu Wushuang's expression changed, and his hand movements instantly changed from lifting to pulling, while he drew his two swords at the same time!
The Shinto attack has arrived.

With a splash, a huge amount of viscous blood splattered all around the sedan chair, and the eight strong sedan chair bearers were smashed to the ground by the force before they could even let out a scream.

The sedan chair descended, and just as it was about to hit the ground, it suddenly stopped half an inch from the ground. A massive amount of protective true energy held the sedan chair in place, slowly moving it forward.

Li Miao, standing in front, used one hand to grip the sedan chair with a claw-like motion, while keeping the other hand behind his back. He looked at the rooftops on all sides with a half-smile.

A dense mass of plain white priestly robes stretched out, filling the field of vision like the first snow. If you raised your vantage point, you could see even more priestly robes leaping and rushing in from all directions.

The first dozen or so priests who arrived withdrew their outstretched hands and stood up from the rooftop—the attack was merely a probe, easily blocked by Li Miao's protective inner energy.

Next, it will be a head-on battle.

"Shout!!!"

The priest at the very front let out a roar like a wild beast, tearing his priestly robes to shreds and revealing his solid chest.

The flesh on his chest was twisting and contorting, becoming tangled and knotted, eventually forming a hardened, scaly mass. At the same time, his legs were also deforming, gradually withering and twisting, eventually forming a recurved shape like bird feet.

"Ha ha--"

Once the transformation was complete, the priest suddenly bent down, and white smoke billowed from around his plain white mask as he turned toward Li Miao.

The Divine Sword Technique - Ichiyu-ryu.

Visualize the deity as the Heavenly Emperor's daughter, the Night Wanderer, and the Childbearer—the Guhuoniao.

At the same time, similar changes were taking place in the other priests behind him.

(End of this chapter)