Xuanxia

Chapter 701 Dragnet
"Prefect Wen, are you sure Jiang Baichuan is in the city?"

At the gate of Luoyi City, Li Jingzhe had just jumped off his horse when he was greeted by a question.

Behind him, a group of secret envoys from Mingjian Pavilion were riding towards them with great momentum, raising a large amount of dust. The sounds of their horses' hooves were not uniform, and there was no momentum of a huge army, but the defenders at the city gate felt like they couldn't breathe.

Wen Renjun, who had gone out of the city to greet him in person, was stunned when asked this question.

Are you sure?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before!
Hua Wuying said all of this himself!

Li Jingzhe saw his hesitation and frowned, "What's going on? We received your message and rushed here from thousands of miles away. Did you tell me that you are not sure?"

"How dare I, how dare I!"

Wen Renjun lowered his head and said, "It's just that Jiang Baichuan is in the fifth realm of the Cave Heaven, so I dare not get close to him... At this moment, he is being held back by his disciple Hua Wuying in the library of the Old Wulin Alliance headquarters. There has been no accidents in the past three days, so he should be... should be inside."

"Humph."

Li Jingzhe snorted coldly and said, "If there is any mistake, you are the one to blame!"

Wen Renjun's forehead was covered with cold sweat. He wiped it and smiled apologetically: "Nothing will go wrong, nothing will go wrong, Lord Li. I have prepared a welcoming party for you..."

"What are you talking about? Can't you tell priorities?"

Li Jingzhe scolded again: "I will go and take a look first, you wait here and prepare to welcome Ning Louzhu and Hong Tongzhang. They will be here soon if they are a little slower."

"Commander Hong?" Wen Renjun's pupils shrank: "Which Commander Hong?"

"Of course it's the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards."

Li Jingzhe glanced at him indifferently, turned his head and said, "Secret envoy of the Secret Sword Pavilion, dismount and follow me."

"Yes!" All the secret envoys of Mingjian Pavilion responded in unison.

Soon, Li Jingzhe led a large group of secret messengers into the city, leaving Wen Renjun and the officials in his yamen standing there trembling with fear.

"Master Ning and the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards are here too..."

Wen Renjun's face twitched: "These two are the sons of Master Xiangjian and Marshal Hong... If something goes wrong, my career will be over..."

The master beside him tried to comfort him: "Sir, think positively. If you really catch Jiang Baichuan, you will be promoted to a high position..."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Wen Renjun glared at him and said, "Why don't you hurry up and bring some people to welcome them... Forget it, bring the horses, I will go to pick them up myself."

On this side, Prefect Wen was anxious and busy, while on the other side, Li Jingzhe had steadily arrived outside the former headquarters of the Wulin Alliance.

He looked up at the large plaque on the door, which had the words "Xuanmeng" written on it.

"Xuanmeng..."

He sneered: "You are quite arrogant. If I remember correctly, the guy surnamed Fu is now using the name of our pavilion to recruit people from the underworld to participate in the ceremony..."

"Your Excellency the Commander."

A secret envoy beside him said cautiously: "Master Fu is the master of our pavilion, no need to use a title."

Li Jingzhe turned his head and glared at the man, and the secret envoy immediately shrank his neck.

The wind is gentle and pleasant today. Although it is winter, the sun is shining brightly and it doesn't feel cold at all.

"First, investigate the surrounding situation and evacuate the people at the same time."

Li Jingzhe ordered: "After the eldest son arrives, he will lead the Pai Shu Lou to set up the battle array outside. In addition, after he and Commander Hong arrive, bring them to me as soon as possible."

"Yes." The secret envoys saluted in response, then quickly dispersed and disappeared among the surrounding buildings and streets in the blink of an eye.

Not long after, Ning Wuwang and a 30-year-old strong man in full armor arrived, and under the guidance of the secret envoy, they met Li Jingzhe. At this time, Li Jingzhe was holding a drawing and sketching on it with a pen.

Seeing the two of them coming, he stood up calmly: "Young Master, Commander Hong."

Ning Wuwang smiled and saluted: "Lord Li always comes very quickly."

"This time, I'll have to trouble Lord Li to direct." The sturdy man also clasped his fists.

This man is nine feet tall, with a broad back and a square face. Normally, he should be a rough guy, but his facial features are quite delicate, with willow-shaped eyebrows, phoenix eyes, a straight nose and pearly lips. If he were not a tall and strong man, this face would belong to a beautiful woman.

But both Li Jingzhe and Ning Wuwang had already gotten used to this somewhat disharmonious appearance.

Hong Zhi, the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards - he is also a child of an aristocratic family.

He is the only son of Hong Ruohai, the Grand Marshal of Northern Frontier.

In fact, he was not supposed to be the only son. After Hong Ruohai got married, he gave birth to three sons and one daughter.

But except Hong Zhi, all of them died on the battlefield!
This Hong Zhi also joined the army at the age of sixteen and personally went into the battlefield to kill the enemy. When he was in his early twenties, he was already a captain in the Northern Frontier Army and had made countless military achievements, both large and small.

The emperor was grateful for the loyalty of the Hong family and could not bear to see them die out, so he issued an imperial decree to transfer Hong Zhi to the capital and appoint him to an important position in the imperial guards. In the following years, he himself climbed to the position of commander.

As for Hong Ruohai's dissatisfaction with not having any "children" around him whom he could fully trust to fight the enemy together, and the fact that he asked Ning Baimei for a daughter to be his adopted daughter, these were his words.

The reason for inviting Jiang Baichuan to the siege this time was, besides the fact that he could mobilize the strongest group of people in the capital - the Imperial Guards, there was of course another very important reason.

He himself is also a powerful person in the Cave Heaven Realm!
"Commander Hong, you are too serious."

Li Jingzhe clasped his fists and saluted Hong Zhi in return: "May I ask how many people Commander Hong brought with him this time?"

"One hundred elite soldiers."

Hong Zhi responded, "The Imperial Army is not good at charging, but if they are used to defend, they should be fearless."

"Brother Hong, you are too modest." Ning Wuwang smiled at him and said, "You are a warrior from the Northern Frontier Army. If you are not good at charging and fighting, who is?"

"Our sister is much more capable than me." Hong Zhi also laughed.

"Alright, you two."

Li Jingzhe did not smile, his expression was extremely serious: "Let's hurry up. We don't know when Jiang Baichuan will notice us and when he will come out. We must hurry up."

He showed the map in his hand: "All the people within a three-mile radius have been evacuated, but in order to avoid alarming Jiang Baichuan, no one in the Xuanmeng headquarters knows that we have arrived."

"At this moment, the people walking outside the main altar are all my secret envoys from Mingjian Pavilion."

"Next, I will send a few people to follow Prefect Wen into the Xuanmeng headquarters, bring the people inside out as quickly as possible, and set up battle flags inside."

"Before that, Master, please lead everyone in the Pai Shu Lou to set up a large formation immediately. We must trap Jiang Baichuan and ensure that even if he has the energy to escape, we can leave a mark on him."

"Commander Hong, please lead the imperial guards into the main altar and defend the library."

At this point, Li Jingzhe subconsciously reached out to hold the hilt of the knife at his waist: "This official will personally kill into the library."

"The Imperial Guards are our first line of defense."

"The Secret Sword Pavilion's secret envoys are the second line of defense."

"The Book Collection Building is the third line of defense."

His face was solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "There is only one opponent, but I used the word 'defense line'. This is not to destroy my prestige, but to tell you... According to the joint speculation of Qianfang Baixiao Tower and my Mingjian Pavilion, Jiang Baichuan is very likely..."

"The Xuanxing has been lit up."

(End of this chapter)