Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Under the cover of night and in the heavy rain, Gu Xun drove the carriage, slowly moving through the rain.

Although it is said to be slow, it is actually a few points faster than the speed of the East Tour convoy. If nothing unexpected happens, we will reach Sanghai after dawn.

Beside Gu Xun, the seriously injured Dian Qing was covered in blood and had sword marks of varying sizes all over his body.

These scars were all caused by Tianming's sword energy.

For ordinary people, it is basically a fatal injury, but for Dian Qing it is not so bad, it is just a superficial injury.

Now that the bleeding has stopped, we can just apply medicine on the wound and wait for it to heal. It will be almost recovered in half a month at most.

What is really serious is the backlash after his hard skills are broken, which will at least make Dian Qing bedridden for ten days, and it will take more than a month to fully recover.

However, with Gu Xun personally using the Yuhua Qi to nourish the internal organs and meridians, this time can be greatly shortened.

Gu Xun was treating Dian Qing's injuries while driving the carriage leisurely.

Amid the roar of the rainstorm, Ying Zheng's voice came from the carriage - due to the separation of the carriage and the interference of the rain, Ying Zheng's voice was already very vague. Fortunately, Gu Xun's hearing was good enough.

"How does the Mechanical Azure Dragon compare to Loulan's Soldier Demon God?"

Gu Xun smiled when he heard this.

It seems that Mo's assassination tonight really left a deep impression on Ying Zheng.

Ever since Gu Xun met Ying Zheng, there were only two things he really cared about - power and immortality.

Apart from this, Ying Zheng rarely asked about matters other than this.

For things like assassinations, Ying Zheng would always let them pass and never mention them again.

The fact that he could ask him about the Azure Dragon mechanism again tonight showed that Ying Zheng really took this matter to heart.

Of course, Gu Xun would not tease Ying Zheng for this. After laughing, he replied calmly:
"There is no comparison between the two. There is a world of difference between them."

"The Mechanical Azure Dragon is still a mechanical device after all. It is not an exaggeration to call the Soldier Demon God a Demon God."

After a while, Ying Zheng's voice sounded again, "If that's the case, why did the Imperial Master destroy the Soldier Demon God but leave behind the Mechanical Azure Dragon?"

It can be heard that Ying Zheng actually hopes that Gu Xun will directly destroy the mechanical Qinglong.

The emperor certainly wouldn't like having something that could threaten his life not in his own hands.

Gu Xun explained calmly, "It's not that I want to keep it, it's just that it's inconvenient to destroy it now."

"The Soldier Demon God is a creation from a long-lost era. The famous Xuanyuan Chiyou and others are just a title now. The Soldier Demon God should naturally disappear with that era."

"The Mechanical Azure Dragon, maybe it's not time yet - it may be related to what Your Majesty wants, and the Yin-Yang family should know this better."

After another long silence, Ying Zheng spoke again:
"It seems that the Imperial Master knows many secrets that I don't know."

Gu Xun replied calmly, "I don't necessarily know more than your majesty. Most of the information is specious. It's just that what I want is different from your majesty. It doesn't matter if many things are vague."

"And if Your Majesty doesn't understand the whole situation, I'm afraid it will be meaningless."

Ying Zheng stopped talking altogether.

What Gu Xun said made sense, but not much, the fact was that he knew much more than Ying Zheng.

Although Ying Zheng has far more powerful intelligence forces than Gu Xun, there is some information that cannot be obtained by intelligence spies at all.

Moreover, although Ying Zheng had many channels to obtain intelligence, it was not always a good thing. The amount of false intelligence that needed to be screened and identified would be several times more, taking up a lot of manpower, material resources and time.

After the carriage moved forward for a while, the unconscious Dian Qing groaned and soon woke up.

If it weren't for Gu Xun's treatment, he would have been in a coma for at least two or three days.

Dian Qing took two deep breaths when he woke up, and looked around with his eyes covered with sackcloth. He didn't know if he could see anything, but he knew the current situation anyway.

"Thank you sir for coming to the rescue."

Dian Qing thanked Gu Xun.

Gu Xun raised his hand casually and said, "It's just a small favor. You've suffered a loss today."

"I was careless." Dian Qing replied in a muffled voice.

He said this not to save face for himself, he was indeed careless.

With his strength, even if Tianming could break his hard skills, he would not be able to hold on for such a short time and would be seriously injured on the spot.

If you choose to deal with the issue, you can not only delay a little more time, but also avoid getting hurt to this extent.

"It's at least a bit good for you, so your injury isn't in vain." Gu Xun consoled with a smile.

Dian Qing's practice of the Pijia School's hard skills has reached the highest level, with a flawless golden body, a copper head and iron arms. There is no room for further improvement.

If you want to make further progress, following the routine practice is no longer effective. You can only rely on breaking down and then building up to hone your skills bit by bit.

This is a stupid way, but it is the only way.

The limit of hard work ends here, which is equivalent to the end of the road. If you want to move forward, you can only pave the way forward step by step.

Dian Qing nodded silently, not caring about it.

He had given up hope of making any further progress over the years, and the effect of this kind of training of breaking down and then building up was very weak and not worth mentioning.

After a moment of silence, Dian Qing asked tentatively, "Emperor..."

"It's okay." Gu Xun replied directly, "Now we are going to Sanghai City."

"That...that boy..."

"They all ran away. You can find out what happened later. Anyway... it was quite exciting." Gu Xun replied calmly.

Dian Qing stopped talking and began to heal his injuries in silence.

………………

As the emperor continued to move towards Sanghai, Sanghai became lively.

Although it was late at night, there was a huge fire in Sanghai City. Looking down from a high place, it seemed as if several fire dragons were dancing in the city.

Those were soldiers patrolling the city.

After the news of the emperor being attacked spread, local officials in Songhai immediately assembled local garrisons to go to the rescue, and also immediately imposed the strictest curfew and martial law on the city of Songhai.

In order to welcome the emperor's arrival, Songhai had already started a curfew, but the intensity of the curfew could only be described as a face-saving project.

Zhang Han was not serious about it, and it was unrealistic to expect local officials in Sanghai to strictly rectify the public security in Sanghai. Moreover, even if they tried hard, it was hard to say how much effect they could produce.

If everything were fine, there would be nothing to say about what they did.

But now the emperor had been attacked, and even though the place of the attack was far away from Sanghai City, the local officials were still afraid.

They were worried that something might happen to the emperor, and they were even more worried that something might happen to themselves. However, they had neither the ability to resolve the issue of an attack on the emperor nor the confidence that they could escape unscathed from an attack on the emperor.

In order to protect themselves, they could only try their best to prove to the emperor that they were working, so they increased the degree of martial law in Sanghai City and arranged a large number of people to patrol the city non-stop. Of course, this was also to ensure that Sanghai City would not cause any trouble in the future.

After the Eastern Tour convoy resolves the attack, it will definitely escort the emperor to Sanghai as quickly as possible. They must ensure that the emperor will not be assassinated again after he arrives.

Otherwise, their official hats and heads would be separated from their bodies.

The sudden noise woke many people up from their sleep, but the people of Sanghai were experienced and they still stayed in their homes obediently, waiting for dawn.

Above Xiaoshengxian Manor, on a cliffside observation deck, the head of the manor, Fu Nian, looked solemnly at the fire in the city below the mountain.

Behind Fu Nian, Yan Lu stood quietly with a faint smile on his face.

After a long time, Fu Nian, whose clothes fluttered in the night wind, asked Yan Lu in a deep voice:
"Where's Zifang? Is he resting?"

"He is not in the manor tonight." Yan Lu answered truthfully without hiding anything.

Zhang Liang would know if he wasn't interested in the matter once he asked, so there was no point in him hiding it from Fu Nian at the moment.

Fu Nian glanced at Yan Lu, his face becoming more serious, and continued to ask, "He is not in the village, where did he go?"

"He said he was going to meet an old friend." Yan Lu carefully considered his words and responded cautiously to Fu Nian.

"Old friend?" Fu Nian asked in a deep voice, "What kind of friend would meet in the middle of the night?"

"Perhaps it is inconvenient for the other party." Yan Lu replied, "Big Brother should know that many of Zifang's friends have sensitive identities."

"Don't you know his friend?" Fu Nian asked back.

"I don't know him. Maybe I know him, maybe I don't." Yan Lu tried his best to distance himself from the matter while fooling Fu Nian.

"Then what is he going to do when he meets this friend?" Fu Nian changed the question.

If possible, Yan Lu wanted to continue to casually get by with it, but he also knew that he couldn't let it go without giving Fu Nian enough explanation.

After a little consideration, Yan Lu replied, "I'm not sure either, probably...it has something to do with a business deal."

"Big Brother knows that Zifang seems to have a lot of expenses recently."

"Business..." Fu Nian muttered softly, and then confirmed, "Just a business deal?"

"I'm sure we'll catch up, but that's probably all." Yan Lu shrugged and replied, pretending to be relaxed. "Zifang has always been the most steady in his work, so I don't think you need to worry too much."

"Did he say when he would be back?"

"This one……"

Yan Lu was about to answer when Zhang Liang's gentle voice, which contained a hint of smile, sounded:
"Two brothers, haven't you rested yet?"

As Zhang Liang spoke, he walked onto the terrace and stood on the other side of Fu Nian.

Yan Lu seemed very surprised and asked, "Zifang, you are back from meeting your friends? How was the business talk?"

Zhang Liang immediately understood what he said, nodded and replied, "Everything is going well."

"I spent a lot of money to help a friend before, and I just happened to wait for this opportunity to make up for it."

Yan Lu heard this before Fu Nian did, and said with a laugh, "It's only a few points, it seems it's still not enough."

Zhang Liang pretended to sigh and explained lightly, "After all, we are friends. We just talk about business. We can't ask for too much. It's good enough to make up for it a little."

Fu Nian ignored the nonsense the two brothers were saying to each other, turned his head to look at Zhang Liang, and asked seriously, "Did you just go to meet a friend?"

Zhang Liang did not feel guilty at all, and immediately nodded and replied, "I just met a friend. We have known each other for many years, but we didn't communicate much in the past."

Fu Nian did not comment on Zhang Liang's answer. He stared at him for a while before he vaguely understood something. Then he warned:

"Sanghai is in a turbulent time right now. If there is no urgent matter, please stay away from the villa for the next two days. The library is undergoing renovations and adjustments, so please help out."

Fu Nian didn't know what Zhang Liang did tonight, and even if he knew, he would be powerless to change the reality.

So what he has to do now is to make sure that Zhang Liang doesn't do anything behind his back for the next period of time.

The emperor is about to arrive, so it is better for Xiaoshengxian Manor to stay safe.

Yan Lu and Zhang Liang naturally had no objection to Fu Nian's arrangement and agreed readily.

Yan Lu didn't really plan to do anything, so it would be fine for him to go to the library to help count the books.

Zhang Liang had done everything he should do, and there was nothing left to do.

Looking at the two well-behaved junior brothers, Fu Nian's plain and simple face showed no emotion at all. He just sighed in his heart, and finally left after leaving a few words in the night wind:
"It's late, go to bed early."

………………

The next morning, ten miles outside Sanghai City, a large group of local officials from Sanghai were waiting here early.

Some time after receiving the news of the emperor's attack and his request for help last night, they received another instruction from the General's Mansion - the plan to leave the city to welcome the emperor was brought forward, and Zhang Han, the commander of the Shadow Secret Guard, would not be there to lead them.

This is certainly not a good thing for local officials in Songhai.

Having Zhang Han, a close minister of the emperor, personally come forward to welcome the emperor into the city could serve as a buffer for them to some extent and reduce their contact with the emperor.

The less they communicated with the emperor, the less likely they were to expose their problems.

Moreover, even if they put aside the pros and cons and only considered their mood, they were unwilling to contact the emperor who was said to have an erratic temper and act in a domineering and decisive manner.

But no matter how bad this matter was for them, they had no choice but to prepare everything and come to welcome the emperor.

Moreover, it is not without benefits for these officials. At least it allows them to confirm the emperor's condition at the first time.

From the time the turmoil in the Eastern Tour convoy subsided until dawn, just half a night had passed, and the news of the emperor's attack had already begun to spread widely.

Of course, what is being spread are so-called "rumors" and "top secret intelligence", containing a lot of groundless speculation and various dangerous and sensational conspiracy theories.

The most widely spread and most concerned issue was the safety of the emperor himself.

The Eastern Tour convoy did not immediately report the latest situation to Sanghai City, so even the local officials were very curious about what had happened to Ying Zheng.

The person may not have died, but was he injured? If so, was he seriously injured?

This is all valuable and important information.

As the Sanghai officials were waiting with different emotions in their hearts, Gu Xun drove his carriage slowly into their sight from the other end of the road.

Last night, there was a sudden but not particularly long rainstorm on the Xixiang Valley Road. Part of the road was washed into mud pits. Gu Xun drove the carriage all the way, and the body of the carriage was also covered with mud spots.

However, it has not rained in Sanghai. Last night, there were only dark clouds covering the moon and stars, and the ground was completely dry, which did not affect the movement of the carriage at all.

The appearance of a single carriage left the local officials of Songhai a little stunned.

This is obviously against etiquette!

Is the Emperor really in the car? Or is he just someone coming to make advance contact?
Soon, all these doubts and speculations disappeared, because as the car got closer, they could see the driver clearly. (End of this chapter)