Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

Mencius turned around and saw his Confucian disciples lying haphazardly on the ground on the battlefield.

Some people were performing magic on the wounded, some lay motionless in pools of blood with armor piercing their chests, and some were unconscious.

The young face was stained with blood and ink.

His gaze shifted from a young disciple whose face was covered in blood to another female disciple huddled by the roadside, clutching her severed arm and groaning.

These are all students he taught personally. Some have followed him for over ten years and are just beginning their self-cultivation, while others have only just entered the academy this year and are traveling far from home for the first time.

Master Meng was furious. He looked up and saw dozens of armored soldiers still besieging Xu Xian and Yang Xu, while the leader of the soldiers was still fighting fiercely with Hua Xi.

Without uttering a word, he formed a hand seal, and the phantom image of the bamboo scroll unfolded in the air, all the golden light receding into his body at that moment.

He uttered a single word – “Stay”!

The entire battlefield froze in that instant.

All the soldiers froze in place; some held their swords in a swinging stance, some shouted "Kill!" with their mouths agape, and some stumbled and fell to the ground.

The armored soldier leader's crescent blade stopped less than three feet in front of Hua Xi, the cold light on the blade freezing.

The armored soldiers who were besieging Xu Xian and Yang Xu also froze, like a row of lifelike sculptures.

Xu Xian slashed his sword at the frozen armored soldier in front of him. As the sword sliced ​​through, the soldier and his armor shattered into ink-like pieces.

He stood with his sword at his side, panting heavily.

The eight-sided sword was covered in ink, which dripped down its blade.

His clothes, face, and arms were covered in patches of black and red; the red was his own blood, and the black was ink left by the soldiers in the paintings.

He glanced back at the dozens of armored soldiers frozen in place, then turned to look at Master Meng.

Mencius stood in the middle of the official road and uttered the second word—"collapse!"

All the armored soldiers who were immobilized by the Word of Power exploded at the same time, turning into ink that splattered everywhere.

Ink dripped onto the official road, onto the wild grass, and onto everyone.

  

The armored soldier leader's crescent blade shattered first, then his arm, then his torso, and finally his face, devoid of features.

Ink splattered on Hua Xi's face. She wiped it off, flipped the tortoise over, placed it on the ground, and sat down on it.

Yang Xu threw the broken hilt of his knife to the ground and lay down on his back on the official road.

Ouyang Ruiming walked out from behind the carriage, looked at the ink stains all over the ground, then looked at Xu Xian who was sitting on the ground panting heavily, and silently walked to the water bag, took it off and handed it to him.

Xu Xian took a swig and drank it down, then wiped the blood and ink from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

He put down the water pouch and looked at Master Meng, a fourth-rank Confucian scholar who was squatting next to an injured young disciple, pressing his fingers on the disciple's wrist to check for his pulse, his face showing pain.

Four bodies of Confucian disciples, covered with white sheets, lay on the ground, while several pale-faced, bandaged wounded were being helped onto a carriage by their fellow disciples...

Xu Xian felt a pang of pain in his heart. After a moment of silence, he walked up to Master Meng, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed.

"I've dragged my fellow disciples into this mess. If it weren't for escorting me back to the capital, they wouldn't have..."

Master Meng reached out and supported his arm to help him up.

The old scholar's hands were withered yet strong.

"Young Master, you are mistaken. These soldiers are after you, but you were not the one who killed them. It was that painter from the hidden world who was manipulating things. I will find that person and make him pay with his life!"

Xu Xian straightened up and looked at Master Meng. After a moment of silence, he nodded emphatically and didn't say anything more polite.

Some debts cannot be repaid with words.

After a short rest, the group made proper arrangements for the injured and deceased disciples and then set off again.

Xu Xian rode at the head of the group, with Hua Xi still sitting in front of him, her back against his chest. Her face was a little pale, clearly indicating that she was having some difficulty fighting despite her injury.

He leaned close to Hua Xi's ear, "Xiao Xi, last time in the secret passage of the dye house, that Gu master didn't remember you at all after you knocked him unconscious. Could you use your method of making people forget you on these people?"

Hua Xi stood out too much this time. You went head-to-head with a Golden Body Realm expert by Luoxia Lake, and then fought with the leader of the armored soldiers for so long.

Although these people are traveling with them now, the news will spread once they return to the capital.

Hua Xi is his trump card. His origins are unknown, his identity is a mystery, and his strength is so great that attracting others' attention would cause trouble.

"Okay, brother."

Hua Xi herself didn't want others to notice her.

An invisible ripple emanated from her body, spreading outwards and sweeping over everyone behind her.

Hua Xi's face paled even more, and she quietly swallowed the blood in her mouth.

Master Meng, who was riding in the middle of the group, suddenly felt a sense of confusion.

He clearly remembered that he had just wanted to ask the young master where that little girl came from... Who was that little girl again?

He glanced at Hua Xi on Xu Xianma's back...

Oh, that's the young master's younger sister, I think her name is Hua Xi. She usually likes to carry a turtle around with her.

As for what's so special about this little girl... well, there doesn't seem to be anything special about her.

He stroked his beard, thinking that he was probably a little dazed from the exertion he had just experienced.

Yang Xu scratched the back of his head while riding his horse.

He always felt like he had forgotten something important, but he just couldn't remember it.

He remembered being surrounded and attacked by Luoxia Lake, and he remembered someone saving them... a small one... What exactly happened by the lake that day?

It seems they waited for Xu Xian to come out of the academy, and then went back to the capital together. That's about it.

"I'm not even old yet, how come my memory is so bad? I'll have to ask Old Sun for some brain-boosting medicine later."

Ouyang Ruiming shook his head, feeling as if something had been gently pulled from his mind.

She remembered being captured by Xu Xian at the Jiaofangsi that day, being interrogated at the academy, and being abandoned by her master by Luoxia Lake, but there seemed to be another person in these memories, a very important participant.

Who was it again? What did she do? I can't remember...

...

On the hillside beside the official road, a young man stood with his hands behind his back, watching the convoy gradually disappear into the distance, his face ashen.

With a hundred people at the Meridian Opening Realm and a leader of armored soldiers at the peak of the罡气 (罡气 is a term referring to a state of being invincible), they thought they had it in the bag, but they were held back by the spiritual power of the Confucian disciples' words and that inexplicable little girl.

Finally, with a single move, the "Fix" and "Collapse" techniques, all one hundred armored soldiers turned into ink.

He lost not only a battle map, but also the trust the organization placed in him.

The rule of Haozailai is that once a job is accepted, it must be completed. Now the butcher is dead, the artist has not yet completed the job, and Xu Xian is still alive.

If this deal falls through his hands, he won't be able to withstand the Fourth Young Master's wrath.

"So many people at the Meridian Opening Realm couldn't defeat him. I underestimated him. I need to go back and discuss this with the young master. This Xu Xian is no longer a problem that can be solved by simply not paying more money."

He turned and disappeared behind the hillside.

...

After traveling for another two days, the majestic walls of Kyoto finally appeared on the horizon.

The Confucian group bid farewell to Xu Xian at the city gate.

Mencius bowed with his hands clasped in greeting, and the Confucian disciples behind him also bowed in unison.

Xu Xian solemnly returned the greeting and watched their carriage head towards the direction of Kyoto Academy.

He took Hua Xi home, and as soon as the little girl got home, she hugged the turtle and rolled onto the bed, falling asleep without even taking off her shoes.

Xu first covered her with a blanket, took the turtle out of her arms and placed it on the table, then put a bag of candied fruit on the table, and then quietly closed the door.

He and Yang Xu took Ouyang Ruiming back to the Inspection Department.

The faded vermilion wooden door of the General Headquarters was still discreetly half-closed, and the old gatekeeper was still dozing at the door.

Everything was exactly the same as when he left, except that he felt like he had lived a lifetime.

Yang Xu settled Ouyang in a room next to the interrogation room so she could rest first, and then walked with Xu Xian toward Mo Feichang's public housing.

Mo was sitting under the old locust tree revising his poem.

A sheet of Xuan paper was spread out on the table, on which a few lines of poetry were written in a crooked manner.

Seeing Xu Xian and Yang Xu enter, he put down his pen and glanced at their faces. Xu Xian looked thinner, with dark circles under his eyes, and faint bloodstains seeping from the bandages on his right shoulder and left arm.

Yang Xu's left arm was in a sling around his neck, and there were several new scars on his face.

"It looks like this trip won't be easy..."

"We almost died, Si Zheng!"

Xu Xian sighed and began to speak.

"Twenty percent of the cold iron ore from Qingzhou is secretly transported to the Di Kingdom every year. Li Shanyu, the governor of Qingzhou, was executed along with his entire family after discovering the theft of the cold iron. Sun Buhai, the magistrate of Qingzhou, is a pawn planted in Qingzhou by the crown prince. Sun Buhai has a warrant stamped with the seal of the Crown Prince."

"The mission case disrupted the alliance, the tax silver case stole money and grain, the children case turned children into Gu soldiers, and the cold iron case supplied resources to the Di Kingdom. The mastermind behind all these cases is the same person, with only one goal: to rebel!"

After listening, Mo remained silent for a moment, then stood up.

"Come with me to the palace to meet the Emperor."