Jiuxi

Chapter 865: 863 [End of the Road]

Yonghuafang, Duke Qin's Mansion.

Inner courtyard, a rather spacious atrium.

Qi Lianfu held a long sword, and seven masters stood on both sides of him, forming a semicircle.

Their condition did not look good. Almost everyone had injuries of varying degrees of severity. Qi Lianfu had blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, which was a rare sight.

As the leader of the Yin Hall of the Seven Stars Gang, Qi Lianfu is not famous in the martial arts world and is used to walking in the dark. Although he rarely fights in public, his martial arts skills are not inferior to those of the Shan Hall leader Dong Mian. The seven people standing beside him are talents selected from the younger generation of the Seven Stars Gang.

But they were still no match for the man standing in the courtyard with a sword in his arms.

At this moment, the entire Duke's Mansion was in chaos from the outside to the inside. Shen Yi, with hundreds of spies from the Weaving Bureau, and Li Yunshan, with nearly a thousand assassins secretly raised by Li Shizhi, started fighting with the two hundred personal soldiers and hundreds of other experts that Lu Chen left behind today. The two sides were in a fierce battle.

Those people outside could not break into the inner house of the Duke's Mansion in a short time, but the middle-aged man in the courtyard was unstoppable. He killed his way here before being stopped by Qi Lianfu and his seven confidants.

The situation is becoming increasingly difficult.

Qi Lianfu raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and said calmly: "Cold Sword Yin Qianjue is indeed extraordinary."

"Your name is Qi Lianfu?"

Yin Qianjue was not in a hurry, and said indifferently: "Lin Jie is indeed the best in the world. He has trained someone with your talent to become a master, and you can actually take three of my swords."

Qi Lianfu said nonchalantly, "What's the harm in ten more swords?"

"It's a bit courageous, but that's it."

Yin Qianjue took a step forward, his tone gradually colder: "Where is Yuchi Gui?"

Qi Lianfu suddenly laughed and shook his head, "Are you worthy enough to challenge Senior Yuchi?"

The seven men next to them couldn't help laughing.

Yin Qianjue no longer engaged in verbal argument. He simply snorted coldly, and then his movements became as fast as lightning, almost leaving a trail of afterimage. As he charged, he drew his sword from its sheath, and his fierce murderous aura instantly brought up a gust of wind.

Qi Lianfu and the others were not afraid at all. Although they knew that the attack of the swordsman ranked sixth on the martial arts list was extremely terrifying, they responded almost instinctively.

However, the sword wind suddenly dissipated, and Yin Qianjue stepped on the bluestone floor. Countless cracks appeared on the bluestone slab with his heel as the center, extending in all directions like a spider web.

The next moment, Yin Qianjue turned around, exposing his back to them.

Qi Lianfu and the others not only did not take advantage of this opportunity to launch a sneak attack, but instead quickly flew away, because a figure in front of them leaped down from the air and appeared in their sight. This was also the reason why Yin Qianjue suddenly stopped his attack and turned around.

The man was seen holding the saber tightly in both hands, with a whistling sound of wind and thunder, like a red phoenix descending to the world, slashing down at Yin Qianjue's head!
"Miss!"

Qi Lianfu and others shouted in surprise. At the same time, Yin Qianjue raised his sword, and the sword energy instantly left his body one foot away.

In the biting wind, Lin Xi's eyes were sharp, and his powerful internal energy surged out. Countless cyclones appeared around the blade. At this moment, the energy seemed to be real, cutting through the three-foot void in front of him and slashing straight at the sword body!

With a loud bang, a powerful energy swept in all directions, the flowers and plants in the courtyard turned into dust in an instant, and countless marks appeared on the pillars and walls.

Qi Lianfu and the others had already used their strength to protect their bodies, and had dodged in time, so they were not affected by the horrific aftermath.

"You guys go outside."

Lin Xi uttered a few words, then stepped on the tiptoes when landing, rose up again, and slashed down with another knife.

"Yes!"

Qi Lianfu and the others did not hesitate at all, they walked out immediately. At this time, outside the Duke's Mansion, hundreds of Seven Star Gang masters brought by Lin Xi had joined the battlefield, and Lu Chen's trusted subordinates immediately became full of energy.

"I haven't seen you for two years. You've made great progress—"

When Yin Qianjue was trying to assassinate Lu Chen, he had seen Lin Xi's skills from afar. With his vision, he could naturally see that Lin Jie's daughter was extremely talented and had the potential to be among the top ten in the world at such a young age. However, he felt that this young descendant was still a little lacking in quality.

But before he could finish, Lin Xi's second knife had already fallen. He could only turn sideways and push the sword horizontally, then turn around and stab Lin Xi's waist with the sword like lightning.

But Lin Xi loosened his left hand, turned his palm into a fist and hammered it on the sword in the nick of time. Then a dragon roar was heard. Lin Xi held the knife in his right hand, turned his body halfway, and chopped down again!

Yin Qianjue lost the initiative and was defeated by Lin Xi when he wanted to reverse the situation. He could only use extremely exquisite swordsmanship to continuously block Lin Xi's long sword.

The two men's figures rose and fell, twisting and turning in the courtyard. In a moment, Lin Xi slashed out twelve times in succession.

"Lin family girl, you are too presumptuous!"

Yin Qianjue shouted loudly. In his opinion, the opponent's tactics could not last long at all. Now it was his turn to fight back.

However, there seemed to be a raging fire in Lin Xi's eyes. The black hair tied behind her head swayed in the wind. Her body rushed out like an arrow. She held the tip of the handle of the knife with her left hand and the middle with her right hand. She drew a perfect circle while moving and chopped straight towards where Yin Qianjue was standing.

The thirteenth strike! Compared to the first strike that had been building up momentum for a long time, the power of this strike was not weakened at all, but increased by three points!
A hint of shock finally appeared in Yin Qianjue's eyes.

He could not have imagined that in just two years, this young junior's martial arts had advanced to such an extent.

Lin Xi pursed his lips tightly, a strange expression appeared on his face, as if he had entered a state of ecstasy. He did not give Yin Qianjue any chance to breathe or fight back. The blade moved forward, and the man and the blade became one!
With the seventeenth strike, there was a crisp sound, and the ordinary long sword in Yin Qianjue's hand broke into two pieces.

He could only retreat again.

Lin Xi slashed down three times in succession.

Yin Qianjue had nowhere to retreat.

"This is my home—"

Lin Xi, who had been silent but attacking frantically, finally uttered four words. The long sword in his hand swept up a strong wind and slashed down rapidly, completely blocking Yin Qianjue's space to dodge.

Yin Qianjue roared angrily, and threw the broken sword in his hand like a meteor, straight towards Lin Xi's chest. If she didn't withdraw her attack and dodge, even if she was not stabbed in the vitals, she would be injured by Yin Qianjue's cold and sharp sword intent.

There was no fluctuation in Lin Xi's expression. She just slightly turned her body, and the long sword continued to move forward. In Yin Qianjue's almost desperate eyes, she chopped it down resolutely!

The broken sword pierced Lin Xi's shoulder, and her saber finally hit Yin Qianjue's chest.

"Death to trespassers!"

As the last four words came out, Lin Xi swung his sword forward, pressing against Yin Qianjue's body and moving forward.

With a loud bang, Lin Xi nailed it into the thick and solid wall with a knife!

Yin Qianjue leaned against the wall and lowered his head with difficulty. A horrific wound appeared on his chest. The flesh was turned outward and the bone was visible. Blood gushed out.

Blood continued to flow from his mouth, and he smiled miserably: "What a... such a domineering... knife..."

Lin Xi put away his sword and stood, looking at the swordsman who had killed countless people. Without saying a word, he swung his sword again and a head rolled down.

She silently drew out the broken sword from her shoulder, tore off a strip of cloth to bandage the wound, then picked up the knife in one hand and jumped onto the roof. Looking at the enemies outside the Duke's Mansion who were obviously at a disadvantage, her cold voice spread all around.

"Don't let any one go!"

……

The Imperial Palace, inside the Duancheng Hall.

When Ding Hui had vented his feelings to his heart's content, the situation did not immediately show signs of becoming one-sided.

The reason was that Ding Hui's accusation involved too many old events. Even if he secretly recorded a lot of evidence, it would not be a task that could be completed in a short time to verify them all. For now, he could only prove that the assassination in Dingzhou had nothing to do with Lu Chen, and could not attribute it to Li Shizhi without a doubt.

The most crucial thing is that he had no evidence to conclude that Li Shizhi was the mastermind behind the regicide case - since Li Shizhi wanted to kill him, how could he tell him the secret of the matter?
Hearing Lu Chen's angry rebuke, Li Shizhi did not argue, but looked at Queen Mother Xu and said: "Queen Mother, Lu Chen's wolfish ambition is obvious. Ding Hui became his lackey after a trip to Jiangbei, which shows how vicious and cruel he is. If we can't eradicate this beast immediately, the country of Da Qi will be in danger!"

At this moment, there were nearly two hundred guards surrounding the hall. These burly, armored and sword-wielding warriors looked at each other eagerly, as if waiting for someone's order.

Queen Mother Xu was still hesitating.

Although she had the idea of ​​fighting to the death before, after Ding Hui appeared, the positions of civil and military officials changed obviously. More and more court officials had no intention of hiding their suspicion of Li Shizhi. At this time, except for officials like Jing Qingshan who followed Li Shizhi wholeheartedly, not many people believed that Lu Chen was plotting to assassinate the monarch.

Faced with this situation, Empress Dowager Xu was already feeling timid.

She thought about it carefully and realized that the five palace maids were arranged by Li Shizhi. Apart from the verbal promise, Li Shizhi had no handle on her. As for the killing of Chen Hong and others and the promotion of his confidants such as Wei Zhen, Empress Dowager Xu did not care much.

What's so strange about her wanting to take back power in the harem?
She simply used the excuse of the emperor's sudden death to take advantage of the situation and do something.

In comparison, even if she could kill Lu Chen by force, she would be suspected of participating in the regicide, and she would have to carry out rounds of purges in the future, provided that she could fully control all the court officials.

It might be a good choice to give up on Li Shizhi and put all the blame on him.

In the heart-wrenching silence, how could Li Shizhi not guess what that stupid woman was thinking?
He sneered and raised his voice: "Queen Mother, what are you still hesitating about? Aren't you afraid that Lu Chen will slander you for killing the king and his son in the future?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Queen Mother Xu's expression changed and she clenched her hands violently.

Li Shizhi was obviously going crazy. If she broke her promise, there was no telling what he would say.

The head of the Military Merit Class, Lu Chen, shook his head and said expressionlessly, "Li Shizhi, you are still dreaming and trying to drag the Queen Mother into this. Who in the world would believe that the Queen Mother would do such a thing? Half a year ago, the late Emperor pardoned Lieutenant Li Zongjian of Fengguo, and the Queen Mother and the late Emperor became closer. At this time, you still want to deceive the people with lies, so you might as well save your energy."

Hearing these words, Empress Dowager Xu suddenly felt relieved. Lu Chen's image didn't seem as hateful as before.

Li Shizhi stared at it intently, and suddenly let out a shrill and mocking laugh.

When he stopped laughing, he suddenly squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "Kill the traitor Lu Chen and reward him with the title of Marquis!"

(End of this chapter)