Chapter 60 Chapter 60: The Assassin

"Master, are we going back to Shangqing Palace?" Ming Chuangchen looked at Zi Mian with a burden on his back and asked a little bit confused. "En." Zi Mian answered vaguely, lowered her head and led her apprentice to Hebutou.He was demoted to a commoner, and the boats of the Zifu would naturally be confiscated, and he had to spend extra money to hire a boat in the river when he left the capital. He hasn't told Ming Chuangchen that he has broken with the Shangqing Palace, so he naturally has no face to go back at this moment - besides, he didn't plan to go back at all.Zi Mian decided to stay near the capital, in order to deceive others, he had to leave with the window dust for a while, and then quietly come back after a while.

"Master, let's hire a boat." Ming Chuangchen moved closer to Zi Mian, a little timidly afraid to look at passers-by.The new law was implemented and then abolished, and the people dared to be angry and dare not speak out after tossing, so that's all.It's just that the master didn't ask for rain for the people in the past two months, and missed the spring plowing. It is said that many farmers near the capital have run out of food.The common people now have a lot of complaints about Master, and they all watched them leave the capital with cold eyes. Zi Mian was also afraid of the eyes of everyone, so she deliberately chose a quiet place with few people.The capital has been suffering from drought for a long time, and along the way, the spring in front of me is always a bit withered.He recalled last year today, when the grass was growing and the warbler was flying, and the three people in a boat lived leisurely, he couldn't help but feel sad--in just one year, the changes have been so great...

When the two hired a boat to go out of the city, he softly told his apprentice: "Chuangchen, I don't plan to go back to Shangqing Palace." "Hey?" Ming Chuangchen was taken aback and asked, "Then where are we going?" "Whatever, anyway, it won't be too far away from the capital." Zi Mian paused, and told his disciples his plan, "We will return to the capital after a while." "Ah? Because Miss Long is still in the palace?" Ming Chuangchen laughed foolishly pretending to be smart, and shouted, "I heard that Princess Yunyang is going to get married. Now Miss Long is an ordinary court lady. When the time comes, she should find someone to clear her up. Will I be released from the palace? Do I need a teacher wife?"

Zi Mian looked at Tuer Wuzi's innocent and optimistic face, her bloodless lips finally curved slightly: "Yes... I will let her be your teacher's wife when I find a place to settle down..." Zi Mian looked down at the flowing water under the boat, lost in thought and stopped talking.The heavy rain caused the river to surge, and the river was more rapid than usual, and the light boat quickly sent them out of the capital.Zi Mian ordered the boat to stop at a pier in the outskirts, and the master and apprentice paid the money to go ashore, discussing that maybe they should find a Taoist temple for lodging.

"If you want me to say, just spend money to live in the Taoist temple, renting another house will be more troublesome." Ming Chuangchen said carelessly. "Chuangchen, remember to be cautious in your words and deeds when you go to the Taoist temple." Zi Mian reminded, this apprentice was really indulged too much by himself, and his words didn't have the strength of cultivating immortals at all... He was a bit like Bai Yue. "Oh." Ming Chuangchen agreed casually, walking in front of Zimian excitedly, the bag on his shoulder scraping against the dry reeds beside the path, making a rattling noise.Zi Mian smiled wryly and followed behind him, before walking a few steps, she suddenly stepped forward and held him down.

"What's wrong, Master?" Ming Chuangchen wondered. "Don't talk." Zi Mian frowned, and quietly dragged him into the reeds. The two got into the reeds, and just after hiding themselves, Zi Mian pinched his hands and began to practice.He recited the mantra silently for a while, but stopped in confusion. Strange, why does the spell fail? At this time, the surrounding reeds suddenly began to rustle, and there was a roaring dog barking from the depths of the reeds, and four-legged beasts rushed towards Zimian's master and apprentice from different directions, and the crackling noise of trampling on the reeds was frightening.

"No, let's go!" Zi Mian grabbed Ming Chuangchen and ran away. As soon as the two got out of the reeds, they saw several ferocious dogs chasing them out. Zi Mian hurriedly turned her head to see that around the necks of those dogs were the talismans of tribute from the Shangqing Palace.These talismans can only be obtained by the Taoist priests of the Qing Dynasty after seven or forty-nine days of sacrificial fasting.The Shangqing Palace will present a batch of talismans to the palace every year. The emperor and concubines often look down on them and give them to their favorite officials at will, but even animals can wear them, so the identity of the visitor is clearly revealed.

Is it the prince, the queen, or the Holy One?Zi Mian gritted her teeth, took out the seven-star sword in the bag to defend herself, took out a red fire talisman and threw it on the ground, turned around and struck it with the sword, the paper talisman burst into flames, and the flames shot up, licking the dry reed beside it, Immediately set fire to it.The vicious dog was so frightened that it didn't dare to approach, but it just pressed its front feet against the ground and roared, staring at Zi Mian. Seeing that the method was effective, Zi Mian simply swung his sword and chopped down some reeds to intensify the fire.The reeds on both sides of the path were burning, and the fire was getting fiercer. He took the opportunity to retreat to Hebutou with Ming Chuangchen.

Several masked men were forced out of the reeds, raised their crossbows, aimed at Zi Mian and shot.These tricks did not trouble him, he dodged the crossbow arrows familiarly and lightly, and felt Ming Chuangchen shrinking behind him, he pinched his hands and said: "I will send you back to the Shangqing Palace." The powerful strength of mana pushed away the swishing cold arrow, and also pushed away the air flow, and the thick smoke and flames were led to the assassin's location by the air flow.The assassins had to retreat, but even after retreating a few hundred steps, Zimian was still within their range.

"Master," Ming Chuangchen's clothes fluttered in the twisted air, he shouted anxiously, "Master, come in quickly!" "No, you go back alone." Zi Mian firmly believed that the master would take in his apprentice, he could fight alone, there was no reason for the innocent window Chen to suffer with him. "Master, I don't want to go alone!" Ming Chuangchen looked at Master's resolute face, suddenly felt uneasy and frightened, and began to cry uselessly. "Let's go!" Zi Mian's eyes became serious, it was the first time she glared at her apprentice so viciously—it was very difficult to practice such a Dafa, and he was still here to argue with him!

"Master, I don't want to go back—I was kicked out of the Shangqing Palace..." Ming Chuang cried out tearfully, and began to crawl outside the legal domain. Ming Chuangchen's words made Zi Mian flicker, his face turned pale, and his mana suddenly weakened—damn it!Zi Mian hated herself for not being as good as her master, for not being able to sweep away her mother-in-law's bright window dust to the Shangqing Palace with a whisk, and could only watch him leave the legal domain she painstakingly set up. "You—" before Zi Mian reprimanded him, a crossbow arrow took advantage of the flaw in the formation and shot him on the left shoulder. "Master!" Ming Chuangchen paled in shock, rushed to Zi Mian to help him up, but fell to the ground with a scream. The arrow pierced into the muscle, making Zi Mian dizzy for a while. Hearing the scream, he hurriedly raised his head, and saw Chuang Chen curled up on the ground, with an arrow in his abdomen, and blood was gurgling out.He hurriedly took out the Taoist talisman and stuck it on his disciple, another arrow hit Ming Chuangchen, Zi Mian had no time to do anything, so he simply stretched out his left arm to block the arrow for his disciple.After suffering the severe pain, he took out the Taoist talisman and stuck it on himself, gritted his teeth and broke the arrow, hugged Ming Chuangchen with one hand, and retreated to the river while reciting the spell.On the other side of the raging fire, only the barking of dogs could be heard, and the crossbow bolts fired at them became more and more aimless and directionless. It seemed that the thick smoke and fire had blocked the assassin's sight. Although the random arrows were fierce, they couldn't hurt Zi Mian. He looked at where the assassins were, his eyes turned from despair to hatred—are you determined not to let him die?Could it be that there is no king in the world, if they want to kill them all, where can he escape? What he embarked on was a dead end, and once he got involved in disputes, there would be no way out.Zi Mian hugged the dying apprentice tightly in her arms, glared at the raging flames, gritted her teeth and said in a trembling voice: "Okay... very good..." He hugged Chuangchen and jumped into the rushing river covered in blood. The river quickly washed away their blood. After a while, the outflanking assassins arrived by boat, but there was no trace of Zi Mian. "Continue to search, the crown prince said, if you die, you will see the corpse."
"You mean, Zi Mian is missing?" Long Baiyue took out the letter that Zi Mian sent her through Bao'er, and looked at it in disbelief. It clearly said that she should wait for him at ease, but now why did he lose his name? information? "Well, some say that he left the capital by boat to go back to the Shangqing Palace, and some say that he was killed by robbers on the way. Anyway, I haven't heard of anyone seeing him recently." Bao'er scratched his head. "I don't believe that Zi Mian will be no match for mere robbers." Long Baiyue scoffed at the rumors, but she was still a little worried, "Bao'er, can you ask me?" Bao'er was very ashamed: "I have already asked..." Long Baiyue stared at her guilty eyes, a little annoyed: "The result is nonsense again, isn't it?" "Not necessarily..." Bao'er laughed dryly, "I've made progress this time, and I've found eight characters—follow it back and forth, and the road will be long and difficult. Haha, it's still a very meaningful word, right?" Long Baiyue patted Bao'er's head, chewing on these eight words, becoming more and more restless: "Forget it, I beg the princess to go." "Haven't you touched enough nails?" Bao'er said gloomily, "I don't mind talking about my aunt, she's so stubborn." "Is there any way?" Long Baiyue slumped her shoulders, and said helplessly, "I can only ask her, alas... I was counting on He Lingyun before, but this guy, after getting the medicine from Zi Mian, only cares about it. Run to the battlefield." "He can't help it. The official is only as big as a sesame seed. What can he do?" Long Baiyue couldn't help but laugh: "Who did you hear that from?" "Lingbao," Bao'er said sullenly, "He Lingyun is leaving for the north the day after tomorrow, and she has been obsessing over the past two days to go with him. In the past two months, she has fiddled with a lot of weird things for him. It's a pity that He Lingyun Ling Yun refused to accept her responsibility, I laughed at her, but she yelled at me." "Well, He Lingyun is not a big official, so he can't send people into the barracks at will, not to mention that Lingbao is still a girl." Long Baiyue thought for a while and said, "But if his father, He Zhengshi, leads the army, he can put someone in the army." Isn't it reasonable for a baby-faced boy to change his son's medicine?" "Hey, you really have a way, I'll go and find out." Bao'er jumped up and ran outside Cuiying Hall, shouting back as she ran, "My aunt won't be soft and hard, don't beg her, wait for my news Already!" Long Baiyue gave a wry smile, turned around, only to see Princess Yunyang leaning against the bead curtain in the inner hall with a sneer and leering at her.Long Baiyue was taken aback, and said in embarrassment: "Princess..." "Hey, stop talking nonsense," Princess Yunyang twisted her waist, pulled the embroidered shoes, turned around and left, "Anyway, I don't like soft and hard..."