Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Outside the East Tour Caravan, on the cliffs on both sides of the Xixiang Valley, Zhang Liang, dressed in a Confucian blue shirt, stood with his hands behind his back, quietly gazing at the turmoil in the valley.

The firelight from the convoy illuminated the sky and was also reflected in Zhang Liang's eyes.

In the dim firelight, a figure slowly approached him from behind.

Zhang Liang said without turning his head, "Brother Wei Zhuang, you are here very quickly."

As he finished speaking, the dark figure approaching behind him gradually became clearer in the firelight. It was Wei Zhuang who had been trying to intercept Zhang Han before.

He walked to Zhang Liang with the shark tooth in his hand, and cast his eyes towards the chaotic East Tour convoy. He replied in a deep voice, "I have already delayed enough time. If the Mohists still haven't succeeded, there will be no chance tonight."

"Assassinating the emperor is no small matter after all. Brother Wei Zhuang should also be considerate of the brothers in the Mohist school." Zhang Liang replied with a smile.

Wei Zhuang glanced at him sideways and said, "It seems that something unexpected really happened."

Zhang Liang sighed and nodded, "Ying Zheng has moved."

Wei Zhuang frowned upon hearing this, "This is not like the emperor's character, nor is it something Zhao Gao would do."

In fact, moving during the chaos is a good choice.

No matter who initiated this assassination, it would not last too long. The safest way to ensure Ying Zheng's safety is to delay time, and direct transfer under strict confidentiality is the best way to delay time.

Of course, there are risks.

In order to ensure sufficient secrecy, not too many people can be mobilized for escort and protection, and the defense force around Ying Zheng will be reduced to a minimum.

But in this case, it's a matter of weighing the two evils. In any case, covert transfer is the more appropriate option.

However, whether it was Zhang Liang's estimation, Mo Jia's judgment, or Gai Nie's opinion, they all agreed that Ying Zheng would not do this, so they could plan this assassination with confidence.

"People's hearts are fickle. No matter how tough the emperor is, he can back down in the face of danger in a split second." Zhang Liang shrugged and smiled, "He is afraid of death after all."

"As for Zhao Gao... he certainly wouldn't interfere at this time, but the occurrence of this incident had nothing to do with him."

"It was Dian Qing who took Ying Zheng to transfer."

"Dian Qing..." Wei Zhuang frowned slightly. After a moment's thought, he realized who was interfering. "Fusu sent him..."

"Why don't you leave then?" Wei Zhuang, who understood the situation, immediately asked Zhang Liang.

Since Ying Zheng had gone into hiding beyond expectations, the assassination attempt could be declared a failure.

Apart from forcing a gamble on the probabilities, the Mohists had no chance of re-locking Ying Zheng's position in a short period of time.

As for the possibility of success in betting on probability...it can be ignored.

Zhang Liang calmly replied, "The show hasn't ended yet, why rush to leave?"

"You interfered?" Upon hearing Zhang Liang's answer, Wei Zhuang immediately understood his hidden meaning.

"Tianming and Shaoyu should have arrived at Ying Zheng's current hiding place by now." Zhang Liang did not say what he did, but directly stated the result.

"You..." Wei Zhuang pondered for a moment, probably thinking about what Zhang Liang had done, "You used the information from Liusha?"

Since Ying Zheng was taken away and hid by Dian Qing, there is no way for the empire to find out their current location, whether it is within the court or within Luowang.

But the reality is that Zhang Liang learned Ying Zheng’s latest whereabouts very quickly.

The only way to obtain intelligence is from Dian Qing, that is, from within Liusha.

"Although this is most likely not Brother Gu's intention, but... Liusha intervened after all." Zhang Liang explained nonchalantly, "Since it intervened, Master Fusu can use it, so of course I can too."

At this point, Zhang Liang couldn't help but laugh, "It was also a fluke. I have been paying attention to the movements inside the Quicksand, so I was able to know that Dian Qing was coming early and made arrangements in advance."

"Otherwise, I'm afraid that this play tonight won't go well."

"It seems that you believe in the ability of those two guys." Wei Zhuang replied in a low voice when he saw this.

"Brother Wei Zhuang, you know Dian Qing's strength." Zhang Liang raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and replied with a smile on his face, "It is difficult for even a master like Gai Nie to capture the target he is protecting."

"On the contrary, dawn may be able to create a miracle."

"Really..." Wei Zhuang remained noncommittal.

………………

The core of the East Tour convoy, where the emperor's carriage is located.

Faced with the reality of seeing only the shattered remains of a carriage and no human figure in sight, Gao Jianli and the others immediately understood everything.

Ying Zheng had left here at some point in time.

No matter how angry and upset everyone was, the reality was that the person was gone and their actions could stop here.

Without any unnecessary communication, Gai Nie and the others simultaneously shook off their opponents and ran away on the spot.

Zhao Gao looked at their fleeing figures with a gloomy expression, and had no intention of chasing them.

Although in a sense, they can be considered as collaborators in tonight's assassination, Zhao Gao will obviously not show leniency to Gai Nie and others.

The reason for not chasing is very simple, because there is no point in chasing.

The most frustrating thing about top martial arts masters like Gai Nie is that even the imperial court finds it difficult to kill them.

Back then, Chen Sheng transformed himself into a black swordsman and roamed the seven kingdoms. Almost every time he was imprisoned, he was captured by martial arts masters like him, such as the Qin Kingdom who sent Gai Nie.

They may not have the strength to scare away thousands of troops, but they have the ability to escape from thousands of troops, and it is very strong.

Although Zhao Gao's side had significantly more people, it would be difficult to gain anything if they really sent people to hunt them down.

What's more, at this juncture, Zhao Gao's primary responsibility must be to protect the emperor, not to hunt down the assassin.

He sent all his men out to hunt down the assassin. If anything happened to Ying Zheng who was in hiding, he would be in big trouble.

………………

"Huh...huh..."

Tianming rolled over and landed on the ground, at the same time he waved the ink sword in his hand, and the ink sword energy surged and intertwined, dispersing the knife energy that was slashing towards him.

Immediately afterwards, Shao Yu was also chopped back by Dian Qing's sword. He slid for a long distance with the Overlord Spear, plowing a groove on the ground before he was caught by Tian Ming and stopped beside him.

Tianming panted heavily, gritted his teeth and looked at Dian Qing, who was muscular, with a look of pain on his face. He couldn't help but complain to Shao Yu:

"What the hell is this!"

"It doesn't take any damage, what's the use of this!"

Shao Yu laughed bitterly and said to himself, "He is more difficult to deal with than a hammer. At least the hammer can still hit."

No wonder they both got a little defensive.

The two of them teamed up to fight Dian Qing for dozens of rounds, dealing tons of damage, but in the end, Dian Qing was unharmed except for the explosion of the shabby quality white equipment on his body.

If Dian Qing doesn't break down his defense, it will naturally be their turn to do so.

Dian Qing also held back on the two men and did not pursue them too much. He even tried to persuade them:

"You don't have much time left, leave now."

"What a joke!" To Tianming, any persuasion from the enemy to retreat was equal to a provocation. He waved his hand and said with great strength, "I will not give up halfway!"

Shao Yu was not provoked, but he was unwilling to give up this unique opportunity.

But he also knew how difficult it was to deal with Dian Qing, a man with a head of copper and an arm of iron, so he chose to open his mouth:

"Senior Dian Qing, the Pijiamen was the last pillar of the Wei army and the last continuation of the once invincible Wei Wuzu. Why would you choose to stand on the side of the tyrannical Qin today?" "You must know that the culprit for the demise of the Pijiamen was also the Qin State!"

Dian Qing reacted indifferently to Shao Yu's instigation.

He is a person who attaches great importance to essence rather than appearance.

He doesn't care whether the Pijiamen signboard is destroyed or not. As long as his fellow brothers and sisters are safe, he will be satisfied.

As for the feud between Wei and Qin, it was too grand for Dian Qing.

He was neither the king of Wei nor the head of the army, and national hatred meant nothing to him.

Seeing that his words were useless, Shao Yu could only try to increase his strength:
"Senior Dian Qing, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as we kill Ying Zheng, everything can be restored!"

"It's not too late for you to turn from evil to good now!"

Shao Yu is still immature after all. He doesn't understand the essence of verbal attack at all, and he doesn't know enough about Dian Qing.

The last two sentences, although very tempting to him, were still meaningless to Dian Qing.

He had no good feelings towards the Qin State, but he also had no attachment to the Wei State - he had always been caught between the Wei court and his fellow junior brothers and sisters, and had long wanted to give up.

It's good to be a worry-free and heartless guard now. He has nothing to redeem.

Seeing that Dian Qing remained silent, Lian Tianming felt embarrassed for his good brother and quickly interrupted to put the verbal attack aside:
"It's impossible to reason with such a person, so let's see who's the real deal."

After saying that, Tianming raised his sword and rushed forward again.

Shao Yu grinned and shook his head, and could only follow helplessly.

It has come to this point, there is no way to retreat. I can only continue to fight and see if I can seize the opportunity to bypass Dian Qing.

………………

At the core of the convoy, Zhao Gao, with a gloomy face, was about to give the latest orders to his assassins and direct their next move when Zhang Han finally arrived late.

He brought a team of shadow guards with him, and almost everyone, including himself, was injured and looked very embarrassed.

Looking at the mess, Zhang Han's face turned darker than Zhao Gao's. He did not care about maintaining superficial harmony with Zhao Gao and asked in a cold voice, "Mr. Zhao, where is the emperor?"

Zhao Gao also replied in a bad tone, "Should General Zhang Han ask me this? His Majesty the Emperor has been taken away by your people!"

"Our people?" Zhang Han was stunned. "What do you mean our people?"

He knew nothing about Dian Qing, so he was naturally confused by Zhao Gao's words.

Seeing Zhang Han's ignorant look, Zhao Gao understood, but sneered and said, "It seems that General Zhang Han is unaware."

"Prince Fusu is concerned about the safety of His Majesty, so he specially transferred Mr. Dianqing to protect His Majesty the Emperor."

"Before the rebels caused chaos, Mr. Dian Qing was worried that these useless people under my command would not be able to provide adequate protection, so he took His Majesty and moved away."

"I don't know where His Majesty is now."

After hearing Zhao Gao's answer, Zhang Han's face became even uglier.

The fact that Dian Qing took the emperor away does not sound like bad news in itself.

As long as the number of people who know about it is small enough and the emperor's whereabouts is kept secret enough, the emperor will be safe.

However, it was hard for Zhang Han not to think too much about the fact that the eldest prince Fusu secretly sent Dian Qing here without telling him.

No matter how hard he thought, Zhang Han couldn't figure out why Fusu had hidden it from him.

But the reality is that he knows nothing.

In official circles, this situation can generally be seen as Zhang Han being ostracized within the faction, or even further seen as the eldest prince Fusu, the leader of the faction, abandoning him.

No matter which result, it would not be a good thing for Zhang Han.

This is also the reason why Zhao Gao looked gloating and sarcastic.

Zhang Han was not interested in Zhao Gao's sarcasm and ridicule. He calmed down and responded coldly, "The emperor's safety is the most important thing. In this case, I will not disturb Zhao Fuling."

After saying that, he left with his people.

Zhao Gao didn't care about it. He just wanted to disgust the other party, and his goal had been achieved.

However, with Zhang Han's support, Zhao Gao's mood improved a lot. His face was not as gloomy as before, and he began to assign tasks to his subordinates.

In fact, there is no particular mission. It all comes down to three words - find the emperor.

This group of assassins basically can do nothing but kill people. The matter of the convoy has to be handled by Zhao Gao himself, so it is not their turn.

All they can do is find someone.

………………

At the same time, outside the convoy, Gai Nie and others who had fled separately reunited.

They didn't really run away.

The reason is naturally that they are unwilling to give up.

Everything went basically smoothly at the beginning of tonight's operation, which created the current excellent opportunity. If they were to give up and fail at the critical moment, naturally few people would be willing to do so.

However, the problems they face are indeed difficult.

However, before they began to discuss the crucial issue of locking down Ying Zheng's position, a voice interrupted everything.

"It seems that you are not going to give up yet."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Zhuang, dressed in a loose black robe, walked out from the darkness.

Seeing Wei Zhuang, Gao Jianli and Xue Nu were shocked. The former asked directly:
"How could you..."

Wei Zhuang interrupted him, "My mission has been completed. What I do next has nothing to do with you, right?"

These words successfully stopped Gao Jianli from further questioning.

Wei Zhuang's task was only to try his best to delay Zhang Han's progress, rather than letting him delay forever.

With so many people in the Shadow Secret Guard, even if Wei Zhuang only targeted Zhang Han, he would not be able to delay for too long.

Gai Nie understood his junior fellow apprentice and knew that Wei Zhuang must have something to say, otherwise he would not have come to him specially.

But there are not many things worth Wei Zhuang coming to find them now.

"Do you know where Ying Zheng is going?" Gai Nie asked bluntly.

"I don't know." Wei Zhuang smiled with his usual hint of sarcasm and gave a negative answer, which disappointed everyone. He then took a deep breath and added, "But someone knows, and he asked me to tell you."

"By the way, your young master and his friend have passed away."

"What!?"

This answer startled Gao Jianli and the others. Xue Nu hurriedly confirmed, "Tian Ming went to find Ying Zheng? With Shao Yu?"

Wei Zhuang didn't answer, but just shrugged his shoulders to express his affirmation.

Gao Jianli was about to urge Wei Zhuang to take them there quickly, but Gai Nie was calm and composed. Even though Tianming was involved, he still asked calmly:
"Who is protecting Ying Zheng now?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, it's only Dian Qing." Wei Zhuang gave a straightforward answer. (End of this chapter)