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The dull sound of the clapper drifted further and further away, followed by the creaking of the prison cart over the stone road.

The man in the prison cart was disheveled, covered in blood, and his condition was unknown. The guard in charge of escorting the cart asked, "Why is Lord Jin sending Lu Wei to the Censorate in the dead of night?"

"Didn't you notice? Lu Wei is dying." Another constable said, "If we don't send him to Lord Xiao soon, he'll die at Lord Jin's hands. If the Emperor blames him, Lord Jin won't be able to bear the consequences!"

"Oh, I see!" the constable said in a low voice. "Lord Jin is indeed clever!"

"What are you guys whispering about up there?"

Jin Gongzheng, who followed closely behind, shouted, "Shut your mouths, all of you! If you disturb the surrounding people, I'll hold you accountable!"

Upon hearing this, the constables quickly shut their mouths, lowered their heads, and silently continued transporting the cart.

Jin Gongzheng's narrow, sharp eyes shifted to Lu Wei inside the prison cart, and then looked at Xiao Jinghan beside him.

"I'm so sorry to have summoned Lord Xiao so late at night. I originally planned to escort Lu Wei to the Censorate tomorrow, but plans change. Minister Wei suddenly sent me to Hengzhou to investigate a case, and there's no time left."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm the one who's troubling Lord Jin," Xiao Jinghan said with a faint smile. "It's kind of you, Lord Jin, to make this trip."

"I have no way to deal with Lu Wei," Jin Gongzheng shook his head. "The rest is up to you, Lord Xiao."

"Of course, of course."

Jin Gongzheng stared coldly at Xiao Jinghan's calm face, which showed no sign of anything amiss. He turned his head and glanced at the constable in charge of escorting the carriage, wanting to urge him to hurry up. Suddenly, a pure white lightning weasel appeared out of nowhere, opened its mouth, and bit down on the constable's foot.

"Ouch! Something bit me!"

"Ouch! It bit me too!"

As the constables were bitten one after another, the originally orderly procession of escorting the carriage suddenly descended into chaos. Some clutched their feet, some hugged their arms, some knelt on the ground wailing, and some rolled around on the ground, creating utter chaos.

"What are you yelling about? It's just a small animal, why are you shouting like that! Get up and escort the prisoner away!"

Jin Gongzheng strode toward the prison cart, but before he could get close, a dark-faced assassin with round eyes jumped in front of him and blocked his way.

Jin Gongzheng was taken aback and reached for the hidden sentry at his waist, but a white shadow flashed by and snatched the sentry from his body, throwing it on the ground and crushing it to pieces.

Immediately afterwards, an assassin, neither male nor female, appeared in front of the prison cart, her entire body shrouded in black robes, revealing only half of her foxy face, with long, bright red fingernails. She swayed her hips and stared at the crowd with a sinister smile.

The constables and accompanying guards stared blankly at the three strange-looking men, but Jin Gongzheng guessed their identities and purpose, shouting, "They're trying to hijack the prison cart! Quick, seize them!"

"yes!"

The guards drew their swords and rushed forward, surrounding the three men. Archers also raised their bows and fired arrows at them.

The peaceful night was shattered. Soon, the air was filled with the smell of blood, but the blood all came from the yamen runners and guards.

The three men, one of whom was as strong as an ox, wielded a pair of meteor hammers with incredible speed and power, making them impossible to approach. Another man moved with unpredictable movements, holding a silver longsword that whirled and twisted like a dragon.

The androgynous one specializes in hidden weapons, wielding a throwing knife in her left hand and a meteor dart in her right, always wearing a smile while killing.

Their martial arts skills were extremely high, so even though Jin Gongzheng led nearly a hundred guards to escort Lu Wei, they were still retreating steadily and were about to lose their hold.

"Fire! Quickly, fire!"

Jin Gongzheng, his eyes bloodshot with rage, snatched a bow and arrow from a guard and began firing wildly at the three men. Standing silently behind the prison cart, Xiao Jinghan murmured, "Lord Jin, if you order such a chaotic killing and accidentally kill Lord Lu inside the cart, wouldn't that be a greater loss than a gain?"

"Traitors and rebels, just kill them!"

Jin Gongzheng kicked away the constable whose throat had been slit by a flying knife and who was about to collapse on top of him. Gritting his teeth, he said to Xiao Jinghan, who was watching coldly, "Lord Xiao, where is your sword? Has it rusted from being unsheathed for so long?"

Xiao Jinghan smiled and slowly drew his sword, saying, "Don't panic, Lord Jin, I'll lend you a hand right away."

Having said that, he drew his sword and charged forward.

Seeing Xiao Jinghan attacking with his sword, Jiang Hua immediately stopped, leaped onto the roof, and took out a bamboo flute from her sleeve to play.

The flute's shrill and piercing sound, with its eerie and strange tone, was unbearable for the guards, who had no choice but to drop their weapons, cover their ears, and scatter in all directions.

Unaffected by the flute music, Jin Gongzheng continued shooting arrows at the three men. Amidst the chaos, the black-faced assassin cleaved open the prison cart door with a single blow, pulled Lu Wei out, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and ran away.

The white-clad assassin covered their retreat, while the androgynous figure smiled smugly and disappeared into the vast night.

"Damn it!" Jin Gongzheng, who had watched helplessly as Lu Wei was kidnapped, flew into a rage. "A bunch of useless trash!"

"They escaped?" Xiao Jinghan leaped onto his horse. "This is terrible! Lord Jin, we must split up and capture them immediately!"

After saying that, without waiting for Jin Gongzheng's reaction, he chased after the three people in the direction they had left.

He sped along at breakneck speed, and finally, before dawn, he arrived at a long-abandoned City God Temple on the outskirts of the capital. He dismounted and entered the temple.

Inside the City God Temple, Jiang Hua was tidying her clothes when she saw Xiao Jinghan arrive. She asked in a soft voice, "Boss, why are you so slow?"

Xiao Jinghan looked around and saw Jiang Xue eating a steamed bun and Jiang Yue picking at the calluses on her fingers, each busy with their own things.

Judging from their appearance and demeanor alone, it would be difficult to associate them with the four disciples of Changfeng Sect and the four most notorious assassins in the martial arts world today.

Unfortunately, they were the three of them.

Xiao Jinghan took off his cloak, tossed his head at Jiang Hua who was still admiring herself, and asked, "Where's Lu Wei?"

Jiang Hua pointed to the temple gate with her delicate pinky finger, "There."

Xiao Jinghan turned around and saw that Lu Wei was huddled behind the dilapidated temple door, his eyes glazed over, his breathing weak, looking as if he was about to die.

"Ask whatever you need to ask quickly, he's about to die," Jiang Hua kindly reminded him.

Xiao Jinghan walked towards Lu Wei, squatted down in front of him, and asked, "Lord Lu, do you still recognize me?"

Lu Wei raised his cloudy eyes, "Lord Xiao."

Xiao Jinghan chuckled. "Very well, you're not confused after all." He took out a copy of the forbidden book from the previous dynasty that Liu Yuansheng had given him from his robes. "This is what you wanted. Take a look."

Lu Wei's cloudy eyes twitched, and he snatched the book, flipping through it.

Xiao Jinghan waited patiently. Half an hour later, Lu Wei put down his book. "Finished reading?" Xiao Jinghan asked. "How was it?"

A strange light flashed in Lu Wei's eyes. "Just as I thought!"

"How are they the same?"

Xiao Jinghan tried to persuade him patiently, but Lu Wei was very wary. "Why should I tell you?"

"Alright," Xiao Jinghan said patiently. "I've shown you what you wanted to see. Now, shouldn't you tell me what you promised to tell me?"

"I have nothing to explain," Lu Wei said hoarsely. "I have no idea where their base is located, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

"You're truly loyal," Xiao Jinghan said, "but unfortunately, your loyalty is to a dead man!"

"You are not allowed to insult the Crown Prince!" Lu Wei suddenly became agitated, grabbing Xiao Jinghan's collar and trembling as he said, "The Crown Prince is my benefactor, and I will not allow anyone to insult him!"

Lu Wei trembled violently, his chest heaving, dark red blood flowing from his mouth. Despite his imminent death, he spoke with a resounding voice: "Even on my deathbed, I'm not afraid to tell you that all these years, I've been secretly investigating the Crown Prince's treason case. Unfortunately, I was outnumbered and outmatched, and I never found any valuable evidence. Instead, I was framed by Jiang Zhihuan, and the charge of rebellion was confirmed! All my efforts have been in vain! Heaven is blind! Heaven is blind!"

"You mean, the evidence that Jiang Zhihuan found is fake?" Xiao Jinghan asked.

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Lu Wei glared at Xiao Jinghan with his bloodshot eyes. "You're Li Zhaoxi's brother-in-law! You're a man of that dog emperor and the Ming King! You're just as malicious as them!"

After saying this, he vomited a large amount of blood, closed his eyes, and collapsed to the ground.

Xiao Jinghan glanced down at the bloodstains splattered on his sleeve, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, died.

"Is this stubborn donkey finished?" Jiang Hua leaned closer and asked.

"He's stubborn enough." Xiao Jinghan struggled to his feet, handed the silent copy to Jiang Hua, and said, "Take these books with him, clean this place up, and leave while it's still dark."

-

As the night deepened to four in the morning, a solitary moon hung in the sky, and the surroundings were eerily quiet, leaving only a chill in the air.

Perhaps due to excessive thinking and worry during the day, which exhausted a lot of his energy, Liu Yuansheng couldn't sleep at night.

She had experienced the feeling of lying awake until dawn many times before, so this was no different. She simply threw off the covers and got out of bed to find some medical books to read.

She groggily lifted the gauze curtain, only to hear rustling sounds coming from inside the room.

She was startled, slowly raised her eyes, and suddenly saw a person standing in front of the rosewood cabinet.

The man was shirtless and was trying to put on a robe.

He must have just taken a shower; his hair was still wet and dripping water, which flowed down his muscular waist and soaked his snow-white underpants.

In the dim candlelight, the man's legs were faintly visible, and the tattoo on his waist was clearly visible. Liu Yuansheng only glanced at it briefly before her breath caught in her throat, and she almost fell to the ground.

She turned around hastily, asking incredulously, "You, what are you doing here?"

"Did I scare you?"

Xiao Jinghan, who had been too afraid to make a sound and might frighten Liu Yuansheng, quickly put on his undergarments. "Excuse me, I need to take a bath and change my clothes. There are no clothes for me in the east wing, so I came to your room."

Liu Yuansheng's head was buzzing; she didn't want to hear a single word. "Are you done yet?"

"alright."

Liu Yuansheng breathed a sigh of relief, "Now that you're all better, Your Highness should go back and rest."

She slowly turned around, wanting to see if Xiao Jinghan had left, but saw that Xiao Jinghan was standing right behind her, staring straight at her.