Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 18: Prison Break
The autumn sun is warm, and the pavilions and flowers in Wanchun Palace are arranged in great style.

Walking in it was like waking up from a bloody nightmare.

Liu Ziyan walked into a remote palace garden, and Gu Jingnian followed him in. Liu Ziyan heard the footsteps following behind him, and turned to look at him in surprise, but didn't say anything.

Across the corridor is a palace with elegant decorations and a huge screen in the middle.

This time, Liu Ziyan signaled Gu Jingnian to wait outside the door, went in alone, bowed and called out to the screen.

"Master."

"Ah."

Gu Jingnian listened outside the door and was puzzled, wondering if the person behind the screen was the imperial physician Liu Heng. But Liu Heng was said to be dead, so why would he be here?
For a moment, he guessed that Liu Heng might be an alien similar to himself.

Liu Ziyan then walked around the screen. As the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs gradually faded away, there was no other movement.

Gu Jingnian wanted to go over and listen, or even subdue the master and disciple, but he had a strong premonition that this place was not simple. If he acted rashly, he would be the one to get into trouble, so he just stood there motionless.

The iron bells hanging on the eaves rang in the breeze. After a long time, Gu Jingnian vaguely heard a slight rustling sound coming from behind the screen, as if someone was observing him and then changed his movements.

Finally, another young man in a gray robe came quickly and entered the attic.

Then a waitress came out from behind the screen, and the two of them whispered a few words. After a while, Liu Ziyan came down.

"Come with me."

This time, Liu Ziyan seemed to trust Gu Jingnian more and took him to meet a burly man with great dignity.

"Commander Cui is finally here."

Just by hearing this address, Gu Jingnian guessed the other party's identity.

Cui Hao, the commander of the left army of the emperor, was Lu Yanning's superior. He had heard before that Huang Hu said that the case in Fengning Town was closely related to the emperor's army, and it turned out to be true.

"I don't bother to talk to a mere servant. Let your master come."

"Commander Cui also knows that my master is not in a position to receive guests." Liu Ziyan said, "Besides, it is not something that my master needs to decide on."

Cui Hao looked domineering and snorted to show his displeasure.

Liu Ziyan hunched his shoulders and bent his waist, becoming more respectful, and said, "Before, when Lu Yanning suddenly came to investigate, Commander Cui said that he would give my master an explanation, but last night, a rat entered Wanchun Palace again, and my master was very uneasy."

Cui Hao said, "Something happened in the western suburbs. Isn't it normal for someone to come and investigate? Who is it this time?"

"Kaiping Division's detective Pei Nian."

"I'll tell the Southern Court." Cui Hao said, "Where's Lu Yanning? Leave it to me."

"Since he knows about our affairs and won't confess where he got the clues from, I'm afraid it will be very troublesome." Liu Ziyan said, "Since he is top-notch material, why don't you let me kill him?"

"Don't cause trouble. Pei Wujiu is only a concubine of the Pei family, but Lu Yanning is the legitimate son of a marquis and a relative of the emperor." Cui Hao said, "Leave him to me, I will persuade him to join us."

Liu Ziyan said: "I don't think he can be persuaded."

"Since he is Gu Beiming's son-in-law, how could he not know about this?" Cui Hao said without allowing any argument: "I will convince him."

Gu Jingnian stood in the dark, with his head slightly lowered. His thoughts drifted away because of the conversation between the two men, and the strange father emerged in his mind.

When Gu Beiming's name appeared, he felt it was both unexpected and reasonable.

I still remember that year, when the tall man took him back to the Gu family. After saying "I'm home", the first thing he did was to pick out his tendons in his hands and feet and feed them to the crippled Gu Jizu...

If Liu Heng raised leeches here for use as medicine, how was his action different from others?
Although they were birds of a feather, Liu Heng was at least a tiger that would not eat its own cubs.

After much investigation, this is the result. Gu Jingnian doesn't mind Gu Beiming's infidelity, but he increasingly hates the fact that he does things without considering his family.

"Commander Cui, do you really think you can convince Lu Yanning?" Liu Ziyan asked.

"His wife is pregnant." Cui Hao said, "If he has a soft spot, he can be persuaded."

Hearing these words, Gu Jingnian, who was somewhat distracted, narrowed his pupils slightly and looked at Cui Hao deeply.

"OK then."

Liu Ziyan turned around and said to Gu Jingnian, "Take Commander Cui to the dungeon to see Lu Yanning."

Since Gu Jingnian wanted to see Lu Yanning, this matter was just what he wanted, but he didn't know where the dungeon was, so he asked, "What about the safety of the gentleman?"

Liu Ziyan yawned and said, "I'm sleepy. I'll be fine if I take a short rest here."

"Yes, do you need more help?"

Liu Ziyan suddenly got angry and shouted, "Commander Cui is one of us, why do you have to say more?!"

"Yes."

Gu Jingnian walked in front and left the palace.

He thought, since it was a dungeon, it would be easier to dig into Wanchun Mountain than underground, so he walked a short distance in the direction of Wanchun Mountain, then naturally slowed down his pace and said, "Someone explored Chunchi last night and killed four people. I was worried about the safety of the commander, so I said too much."

Cui Hao snorted coldly and ignored him.

Gu Jingnian clasped his fists to apologize and deliberately fell behind. He knew that Cui Hao knew where the dungeon was, so he pretended not to dare to go forward and fell behind the six guards.

Sure enough, the dungeon was rebuilt from a cave, with a fine iron gate and two silver-armored guards inside.

"Commander Cui wants to see Lu Yanning."

As these words were spoken, the prison door opened and Cui Hao entered first.

This dungeon may look inconspicuous, but it actually occupies a large area. Looking inside from the long tunnel, it should be a space for imprisoning huge monsters.

As for the ordinary cell, there was only one person imprisoned there, and that was Lu Yanning. His hands and feet were handcuffed, but other than that, he did not suffer too much torture.

He looked up at Cui Hao and shook his head in disappointment, but did not notice Gu Jingnian standing beside him.

"I'll talk to him alone." Cui Hao said.

Gu Jingnian did not retire, which was a difficult situation.

But Cui Hao, as the commander of the left army in front of the emperor, was not subject to such constraints at all. With a wave of his hand, six of his bodyguards drew their swords and forced Gu Jingnian to leave with them.

They sat down at the cell door.

The two silver-armored guards looked at Gu Jingnian, and one of them asked, "Haven't I seen you before?"

"Just arrived, replacing a poor guy who was fed."

"Shhh."

The silver-armored guard glanced at the six personal guards of Cui Hao beside him and stopped talking.

Everyone sat there in a dull mood. Gu Jingnian observed and considered whether to wait until Cui Hao left before robbing Lu Yanning, or to do it now that the prison door was open.

The key to the cell was hung on the wall of the bunk room, and a water bag was placed on the table below.

Suddenly, he noticed that the two silver-armored guards frowned from time to time, with pain on their faces. "Are you feeling sick?"

"Ah."

Gu Jingnian looked at the water bag again and realized the reason.

He also showed a look of pain and whispered, "Me too."

"We're not going to get hit, are we?"

"How is that possible?" Gu Jingnian said, "I think someone poisoned our water."

"Who?"

Gu Jingnian leaned close to the ears of the two silver-armored guards and whispered, "Only Cui Hao came today, and Lu Yanning is his subordinate. I'm afraid he wants to kill us to save others."

"No way……"

Before he finished speaking, Gu Jingnian turned around and chopped down with the sword in his hand.

The six guards stood straight, actually chatting in low voices, one of them was talking excitedly, with a beaming face.

"Although Xiangwanlou is a bit expensive, it is very exciting..."

"puff."

Gu Jingnian swung his knife and cut the man's neck in half, with blood splattering high.

The other five were stunned and enraged, and drew their swords to chop. Gu Jingnian raised his sword to block the vital part of his neck, and was immediately stabbed twice in the leg.

He screamed in pain, fell to the ground, and shouted, "Kill Cui Hao!"

They were all warriors who were used to being domineering. Without saying a word, they drew their swords and attacked.

The setting sun in the sky is like blood, and the ground is dyed even redder by the blood.

The silver-armored guards were obviously more skilled in martial arts, but they were outnumbered, and coupled with the unbearable stomachache, they gradually fell into a disadvantage.

Seeing this, Gu Jingnian rushed forward, regardless of his injuries, and stabbed wildly with his knife, killing one person in a very heroic manner. The two "comrades" were inspired by this and their morale was boosted. They each killed one person and won the game.

At this moment, footsteps were heard in the dark tunnel, and Cui Hao walked out without saying a word, but just drew his knife.

Gu Jingnian came forward with a knife in hand, and as soon as they started fighting, Cui Hao swung his knife down and knocked him to the ground.

Seeing that they were no match for their opponents, the other two silver-armored guards were entangled in the fight and could only retreat while walking.

Cui Hao did not quicken his pace, but in just a few steps, he caught up with the two men and knocked them down one by one with his sword.

"what happened?!"

"I don't know, they suddenly came to kill us..."

The smell of blood in the wind grew stronger.

Suddenly, with a shrill roar, the silver armor on the ground broke open, and a leech jumped out of its belly, biting the throat of the person who was speaking, and quickly sucked his blood with a "squeak".

Cui Hao reacted very quickly, chopping off the leech's head with one blow, retreating two steps, and slashing the oncoming blade with another blow. When he looked back, his remaining guard had already fallen to the ground screaming...

From the direction of Wanchun Palace, there were dense footsteps coming towards this side rapidly.

It was another team of silver-armored guards, shouting and asking questions as they hurried on their way.

"what happened?!"

However, the headless leech seemed to be calling its kind with a shrill roar. Some of the silver-armored guards who were running gradually began to fall behind, their expressions distorted with pain.

Finally, with the first sound of flesh being broken, another leech came out and bit the neck of the silver-armored guard in front.

Then came the second, third...

Ren Cuihao was knowledgeable and his expression finally changed.

Gu Jingnian heard the noise outside becoming more and more intense, so he got up from the ground, went to the bunk room to get the key hanging on the wall, and quickly walked to the cell to open the door for Lu Yanning.

"You are……"

Lu Yanning was halfway through his words when he recognized Gu Jingnian and hurriedly lowered his voice and asked, "Why are you here?"

Gu Jingnian said: "Liu Heng is in Wanchun Palace. If we capture him, we can prove our father's innocence."

He actually thought that he would have a scapegoat if he captured Liu Heng, but the truth was not important to him. He just didn't want his sister to encounter a major change in the family when she gave birth.

"Boom."

The handcuffs and shackles fell to the ground. Lu Yanning stretched his body a little, then walked out with Gu Jingnian.

He looked at the cells on both sides and frowned, "Where are my guards?"

Gu Jingnian did not respond, thinking that they would all become good material here.

Although Lu Yanning was concerned about his subordinates, he did not slow down. He bent down to pick up a knife on the ground, rushed out of the dungeon, rushed straight towards Cui Hao, and slashed him with the knife.

"call--"

Cui Hao was struggling with the leech when he heard the sound of breaking wind behind him. He quickly dodged and shouted angrily, "Lu Yanning, kill the leech first!"

However, Lu Yanning was filled with murderous intent and stabbed Cui Hao in the vitals with another blow.

Cui Hao didn't dare to fight with him. He took two steps back, avoided a swooping leech, and turned to flee.

Behind him, Lu Yanning swung his sword and cut off the head of the leech in the air. At the same time, the blade chopped Cui Hao's back.

Cui Hao felt pain and did not dare to stop. He rushed forward, but suddenly another person bumped into him. It was Gu Jingnian in silver armor, who knocked him almost to the ground.

Yu Guangzhong saw a leech coming towards him, and Cui Hao grabbed Gu Jingnian with both hands and turned around.

The blade of the leech pierced through the silver armor and the body it covered.

Cui Hao was about to shake off this meat shield, but he saw Gu Jingnian's fierce eyes, filled with the pleasure of hunting.

Gu Jingnian lunged forward, and the blade in his body stabbed into Cui Hao's body.

The leech smelled edible blood, arched its head forward, and completely pierced Gu Jingnian. Its sharp fangs bit Cui Hao's flesh, and it skewered the two men and lifted them high up.

Gu Jingnian smiled with satisfaction, as the uneasy feeling he had felt when Cui Hao mentioned Gu Caiwei finally dissipated.

Cui Hao felt the blood in his body rapidly draining away. He stared blankly at the young man in front of him, wondering why the other party had such a strong murderous intent towards him.

He saw Lu Yanning rushing over with sword in hand, and saw that the team of silver-armored guards rushing over were transforming into more leeches.

As night falls, the lights of Wanchun Palace begin to light up...

(End of this chapter)